Education, industry, and community were three topics that formed a common connection between what speakers had to say during the Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS) 2024 IDEAS Collide Showcase held Wednesday at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas.

Speakers touched on the power of the collision repair industry coming together as a community rather than focusing on divisive terms and mindsets, getting involved with state and national associations to change policy and support each other, and educating with real-world participation for the industry’s future.

“[E]ducation, industry, and community when united create not only a powerful pathway but a transformation for the future of the industry,” said Molly Mahoney, Collision Engineering Program (CEP) national marketing and engagement director. “In recent years, the shortage of skilled technicians has become a global crisis. And I believe we stand at a pivotal moment in our industry… We need to innovate together, invest in our people together, and build the future together.”

CEP is a national workforce development program founded by Enterprise Mobility and Ranken Technical College. It offers a two-year apprenticeship to attract and develop entry-level talent to fill essential roles in the collision repair industry. CEP students learn in classrooms and modern collision engineering facilities where industry experts provide real-world education as students work toward earning their associate degrees. So far, it’s offered at seven schools.

“The way we educate and train our workforce no longer meets the demands of today, let alone the challenges of tomorrow,” Mahoney said. “Our current system is out of step with the future but with every challenge comes opportunity. The power of collaboration between industry, education, and community is our solution.

“Collision engineering was born out of the need to innovate, to move beyond traditional vocational training models and rethink how we bring people into the industry… We reimagine education not as an isolated experience but as something directly integrated with the real world. Because education isn’t just about learning facts. It’s about equipping students with the mindsets and tools to adapt and thrive in an ever-evolving world.”

That’s where in-shop apprenticeships come in, and as Mahoney noted, students are just learning facts and skills — “they’re building careers equipped with industry-recognized certifications that allow them to be valuable to their employers on day one.”

“Education provides the foundation, industry sets the real-world standards, and community offers the support system that allows this model to thrive,” she said. “We work directly with industry leaders to ensure our curriculum reflects the real-life challenges and tools used by today’s technicians. This isn’t about yesterday’s training for tomorrow’s workforce.”

Mahoney also shared some key successes CEP has had so far:

• • Increased wages: For example, in North Carolina, students start their apprenticeships earning $15, that’s more than double the state’s minimum wage.
  • At Contra Costa College in California, the same approach led to a 30% increase in post-graduation salaries
  • Debt-free Contra Costa graduates thanks to industry support.
  • An 87.5% retention rate.
  • 100% job placement rate prior to graduation.
  • Continued enrollment increases every year.

Funding and a partnership with Ford that began in 2023 saved a collision repair program in Parkland, Illinois, creating “an increasing workforce for that community and more students have the opportunity to thrive in their chosen careers,” Mahoney said.

The Ford Fund provided scholarships to CEP students and paid for program startup costs, instructor training, and school equipment including lab materials as well as access to toolkits, uniforms, PPE, certifications, tuition assistance, assessments, and other student-centered resources at the new school.

Crash Champions has mentored and employed 26 of CEP’s graduates and plans to donate funds raised from its Dec. 5 golf tournament to the program.

“Even with their own training program, they continue to seek to hire our students and collaborate, recognizing that there is no one perfect solution to this problem and the power of working together,” Mahoney said.

Wayne Weikel, Alliance for Automotive Innovation (Auto Innovators) vice president of state government affairs, also spoke on the importance of getting involved but at the policymaking level.

“A problem exists. Policymakers assess the problem. They evaluate, they make a decision, and then they implement that policy,” Weikel said. “And then they evaluate that policy. That is garbage.

“While I studied politics for many years, there was one single model of policy development that made any sense. It was called the ‘garbage can model.’ The way the garbage can model works is it just has problems, solutions, and participants in the garbage can. There’s no logical way to assess how these things are going to fit together. Just like in a garbage can — it’s your coffee grounds, your banana, your can. It all just gets stuck together. There’s no real way to predict how that’s going to happen.”

“Garbage can” policymaking is what’s happening in state and federal governments here in the U.S. when it comes to “right to repair,” Weikel said.

“What we have here is a whole bunch of people making decisions for your industry who may not actually represent your industry,” he said.

Weikel listed some of the organizations and businesses he made reference to:

• • Consumer Access to Repair Coalition (CAR Coalition)
  • Automotive Body Parts Association (ABPA)
  • Certified Automotive Parts Association (CAPA)
  • LKQ
  • Diamond Standard
  • AutoZone
  • Carparts.com
  • Partstrader.com
  • Allstate Insurance
  • Farmers Insurance
  • American Property Casualty Insurance Association (APCIA)

He then asked the audience what “right to repair” means. Access to diagnostic information needed to complete a repair? The audience agreed. Public parity with dealers and giving consumers more choice and control? The audience agreed. Selling more aftermarket parts. The audience somewhat agreed. Removing patent protections in automotive design. The audience didn’t agree.

Yet, all of the above are in the federal Right to Equitable and Professional Auto Industry Repair (REPAIR) Act that’s being pushed, he said.

“We know what people generally think of when they say ‘right to repair’ but that’s not actually what’s in these bills,” Weikel said.

“Someone has a solution, and then they go find the problem that it can fit to fix,” he said. “And that’s what’s happening today. A lot of people are getting paid a lot of money to do that. The garbage can also start with participants. These are the people that are pushing the REPAIR Act… These aren’t repairers.”

He quoted part of a bill summary provided by the CAR Coalition: “Guarantees vehicle owners can get the parts, tools, and information they need to choose aftermarket parts.”

Weikel added, “This is not about making sure you get paid for proper repairs. This is not about OEM repair procedures. This is learning nothing from the Seebachan case. This is about choosing more aftermarket parts.”

He encouraged repairers to trust but verify. “Ask who’s paying for this? Who’s putting it out there? What are their motivations for doing so?”

Then, get involved with state and national associations that are doing great work and representing repairers, Weikel added.

“Educate and advocate,” he said. “Invite your legislators to your shops. Talk about your business with them. They want to know about you. They want to know about their constituents, explain your challenges servicing your customers, because understand there are people out there who are telling them what you need if you’re not out there in front of them.”

Other IDEAS Collide speakers included:

• • Cole Strandberg, FOCUS Investment Banking managing director — “The Era of the Single-store Generalist Body Shop is Coming to an End”
  • Jill Tuggle, Auto Body Association of Texas (ABAT) — “UN-Divide and Conquer”
  • Christian Ruecker, DEKRA North American mobility sales vice president — “Sustainability’s Role in Every Layer of Collision Repair”
  • Bill Park, Crunchit Financial Services founder — “Peak Blue-Collar: The Evolution of Collision Repair Shops into White-Collar Enterprises”
  • Jeramy Holloway, Spanesi-Americas aftersales director — “Earning a Return on Capital Spending”

Images

Molly Mahoney, Collision Engineering Program (CEP) national marketing and engagement director, speaks during the SCRS IDEAS Collide Showcase at the 2024 SEMA Show on Nov. 6. (Lurah Lowery/Repairer Driven News)

Wayne Weikel, Alliance for Automotive Innovation (Auto Innovators) vice president of state government affairs, speaks during the SCRS IDEAS Collide Showcase at the 2024 SEMA Show on Nov. 6. (Lurah Lowery/Repairer Driven News)