Collision Industry Conference panelists at a meeting in Las Vegas last week discussed how collision repair shops can get involved in the government process. 

Panelist Andrew Batenhorst, Pacific B&W Collision Center body shop manager, has participated in California Bureau of Automotive Repair (BAR) workshops discussing proposed state storage and towing fee regulations. 

The passage of AB1263 last year gave BAR the authority to address storage fees, according to BAR documents. It also allows the bureau to codify its guidance and unify existing law on the subject. 

BAR’s most recent proposal includes a public database that will provide median and average storage rates by radius. It also requires shops to allow a minimum of three days for authorization after teardown before charging for storage. A third concern raised by repair shops includes language that would force shops to use public storage or towing rates if no repair is completed on a vehicle brought to the shop. 

Batenhorst said he believes many of BAR’s concerns could be fixed by increasing the requirements to be a repair shop in California. 

“There is not a lot of regulation in terms of what you have to do to earn a license to do body work,” Batenhorst said. “It’s more challenging to practice cosmetology in California than it is to get a license to do that.” 

Currently, in California, there are shops that are not certified or equipped to work on vehicles that have vehicles towed to their facility to charge storage fees, Batenhorst said. 

“BAR is looking to create a different situation that would exclude a shop from charging storage in that manner,” Batenhorst said. 

Batenhorst said California already has a storage rate law that isn’t clear and causes some frustrations for consumers trying to interrupt it. 

“That has led to a lot of additional heartache for our customers,” Batenhorst said. “It has led to a lot of additional administrative time talking to different managers and vehicles being held hostage sometimes, which could cause major stress for everybody involved.” 

Clarity of the law could be helpful, he said. ‘

“But I think also some of these are drastically going into the other direction and not addressing the root problem of why this is happening,” Batenhorst said. 

BAR has been responsive to many suggestions provided by the collision industry, he said. However, it takes business owners clearly addressing concerns. 

“You have to separate your personal feelings on what’s happening,” Batenhorst said. “That’s where I think some shops get frustrated and they may misuse the ability to have a voice.” 

The ultimate goal is consumer protection, Batenhorst said. 

“You may not always get what you want, but I find that if you are active and you’re participating, they want to hear what you have to say,” he said. “As long as you’re being constructive and you’re not slinging mud and you’re willing to analyze the language and come up with valid points about what it’s doing or what a potential result could be from having that type of language out there.”

Darrell Amberson, Lamettry’s president of operations, also said it is important to keep the focus on the consumer. 

“The insurers have armies of attorneys and representatives that the average repair group cannot compete with,” Amberson said. “But if you have the noble effort, then you have an opportunity to do something.” 

In Minnesota, Amberson was involved in passing legislation requiring an in-person inspection of physical damage before disputing the cost to repair. The legislation also prevents the reduction of costs used by an estimating system agreed on by both parties. 

“We have some of the best statues in the country,” Amberson said. “And certainly, the good news is that when they were passed, we observed a behavioral change within the industry, not just insurers, but repairers. There was a good net effect. The challenge is in Minnesota we don’t have an insurance commissioner or a department specifically for insurance.” 

Collision repair shops can submit complaints to the department, Amberson said. 

However, Amberson said the department is often slow and “terrible” at communicating. He said the department sometimes enforces the law but usually does not report to the complaint maker. 

“It’s a heavy task to just get legislation passed,” Amberson said. “It takes a lot of activity, a lot of meeting with the various representatives and senators, some politicking, a lot of testimony before commerce committees and things like that to get it done. Changing the Department of Commerce is even more complex. Changing that would be a monumental task.” 

Amberson said it can be key to maintain relationships with insurance associations in your state.

“Often when we propose legislation on either side, we can negotiate a meeting and talk about it,” Amberson said. “A best-case scenario is that we resolve any concerns and come to a solution without regulation because it inevitably complicates things. If you can’t get to that point, try to maintain a relationship and discussion so that if there are compromises along the way, that can be done.” 

At first, Amberson said he worried that getting involved in industry relations at the state level could hurt his relationship with insurance companies. 

“I truly concluded that if you do it right, if you do it professionally and with the right thing in mind, it can actually help your relationship with insurers,” Amberson said. 

Batenhorst said that insurance representatives often outnumber collision repair shops at meetings in California. 

“There are a lot of insurance people present in those workshops,” Batenhorst said. “There are 5,000 repair facilities in California. A very small percentage actually gets involved with the workshops and tries to help.” 

California officials have yet to respond to a request from Batenhorst to create an advisory board made up of professionals from different sectors of the collision repair industry, he said. 

Both panelists were asked if they wanted more federal oversight over the industry. 

Amberson said it can be difficult to get legislation passed in each state. He said it would be appealing to have simplification of the process at the federal level. 

“But then it’s got to be done right because everybody is going to share the end result,” Ameberson said. 

Batenhorst said he would rather see more involvement from his state departments than have more federal oversight. 

Aaron Schulenburg, Society of Collision Repair Specialists executive director, said it’s important for those in the industry to pay attention to what happens in other states. 

“What happens in one state can trickle down to other states,” Schulenburg said. 

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Andrew Batenhorst, Pacific B&W Collision Center body shop manager, and Darrell Amberson, Lamettry’s president of operations discuss their involvement in state issues aduring a CIC meeting July 5/Teresa Moss