The Collision Industry Conference (CIC) will hold its first 2025 meeting on Jan. 22 in Palm Springs, California.

The meeting will be held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Hilton Palm Springs Horizon Ballroom. Pre-registration closes Jan. 10. A reception will follow at 6:30 p.m.

“CIC is different in the way that it fosters discussion; it’s meant to be interactive and where people can come and share their opinions and thoughts,” said CIC Administrator Jordan Hendler. “It’s meant for every segment of the industry. There’s a strong focus on challenges that repairers face or challenges within the industry and coming together to talk about them.”

The Palm Springs meeting is typically one of the top two that most people attend, making it a great choice for networking opportunities, she added.

Hendler encourages attendees to take advantage of the open mic sessions that are always a part of CIC meetings to ask questions and voice concerns on topics being discussed or others related to the industry.

During the meeting, I-CAR Industry Relations Vice President Jeff Peevy will lead a special session on industry interactions with customers, focusing on the “empty chair,” when carrying out safe and proper repairs. An empty chair has been placed on the stage of CIC meetings for more than five years to remember the consumer and the human element of repairs.

Throughout his prior tenure as CIC chairman, Peevy placed an “empty chair” on the stage at every meeting to remind the gathering of insurers, vendors, OEMs, and collision repair facilities of the customers whose safety is at stake.

Discussions about substandard repairs ramped up following a Texas lawsuit against John Eagle Collision Center for an improper repair in 2017. The case is often referred to when mentioning the empty chair.

A jury found the shop liable for injuries Marcia and Matthew Seebachan sustained from being trapped in the burning vehicle following a crash.

Experts for the plaintiffs said in court documents that the severity of the crash and the couple’s injuries were the result of the body shop not following OEM replacement procedures on the Seebachans’ Honda Fit roof during a hail repair for a previous owner.

Another special session will be held in the afternoon by CIECA Executive Director Paul Barry about the association’s API Standards (CAPIS) and their impact on the collision repair industry. First launched in 2023, CIECA developed CAPIS to be used with the XML-based Business Message Suite (BMS) framework for developers to create collision industry software, or as an alternative to it.

CIECA has encouraged the collision repair industry to use CAPIS and/or BMS standards instead of EMS for the sake of data privacy, especially when it comes to personally identifiable information (PII).

Concerns raised about EMS involve large sets of data being sent from repair centers, a lot of which is unnecessary to send, putting data privacy at risk.

Presentations will be given throughout the day by CIC’s Marketing Council and Parts and Materials, Estimating and Repair Planning, OEM Industry Relations, Emerging Technologies, Repair Process and Procedures, and Data Access, Privacy and Security committees.

The Parts and Materials Committee plans to provide an overview of the South Coast Air Quality Management District Governing Board’s recently approved plan to phase out two solvents used in low volatile organic compound (VOC) paint manufacturing due to a toxicity report from the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment.

Representatives from South Coast AQMD, the American Coatings Association, PPE manufacturers, and collision repair facilities will present and discuss the rule changes and what they mean to the industry.

A session from the Estimating and Repair Planning Committee will cover recent updates within the Guide to Estimating including special precautions, estimated work time premise, and refinishing procedures.

The OEM Industry Relations Committee will provide information about new requirements or changes to OEM certification programs and how new programs or initiatives help educate consumer awareness about using a shop that is OEM-certified.

In the afternoon, the Emerging Technologies Committee will discuss the results of performance tests on modified vehicles conducted at the SEMA Garage in Detroit when looking at advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) calibrations, and how upcoming ADAS safety standards could be affected.

A new CIC committee, Repair Process and Procedures, will bring together a panel of industry leaders to look at inconsistencies in vehicle measuring across the industry and when liabilities present themselves during repairs. Liabilities could likely arise when measurements are done improperly or not at all. Measuring effects on structural alignment, parts, safety systems, and more will also be reviewed.

To wrap up the meeting, the Data Access, Privacy and Security Committee will provide updates on customer information and data privacy legislation and litigation.

Other industry meetings and events will also be held the week of CIC’s meeting. A full list is available on the CIC pre-registration page.

Patrick Dorais, chief of the Bureau of Automotive Repair (BAR), and Mathew Gibson, BAR program manager will speak during an open meeting of the Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS) Board of Directors on Jan. 21.

In 2023, California passed AB 1263, providing the BAR authority to address storage fees, codify its guidance, and unify existing law on the subject.

Throughout 2024, BAR held workshops to discuss proposed regulations on storage and towing fees. The bureau is working to finalize its draft regulations and will file them with the Office of Administrative Law to begin the official rulemaking process. The process includes a 45-day public comment period for all stakeholders.

BAR has also proposed changes to the California Code of Regulations that will change requirements around teardown disclosures collision repair shops and automotive repair dealers provide to consumers before disassembly.

Dorais and Gibson will present both proposed regulation changes, the process the bureau undertook to collect feedback and its impact on final proposals, and an update on where the BAR is in the process. There will also be time for Q&A and discussion with attendees.

The meeting will be held from 2-5 p.m. in the Tapestry Room at Hilton Palm Springs.

Images

Featured image: Collision Industry Conference (CIC) Definitions Committee Co-Chair Barry Dorn and CIC Administrator Jordan Hendler at CIC’s April 17, 2024 meeting in Seattle, Washington. (Lurah Lowery/Repairer Driven News)