ABAT’s Tuggle Shares IDEAS at SEMA
by Alana Quartuccio
The Society of Collision Repair Specialists’ (SCRS) IDEAS Collide Showcase is a popular segment in its Repairer Driven Education series held every year during SEMA in Las Vegas.
This year, ABAT’s very own executive director, Jill Tuggle, was invited to take part in this 10-minute “TED Talk” style presentation series that makes up the IDEAS Collide Showcase. As SCRS’ Executive Director Aaron Schulenburg put it, IDEAS Collide is “a very special event for SCRS. It’s about how we can take a big perspective of what we can look at differently to shake things up and do more for those within the industry.”
Tuggle shared her vision for how to “Un-Divide and Conquer” by creating more community among body shops. Tuggle envisions a world where every shop gets “off their own island” and changes perceptions about negative aspects. “I want to inspire you today to be part of a culture. Let’s rise from the ashes of the fiery crash.”
In the past, collision repairers were led to believe they shouldn’t interact with one another and came to see other shops as competitors, and competitors don’t talk to each other. Auto body shops were also told they were “greedy” by being told, “You’re the only one who’s asking for that,” which easily led shops to think, “‘If I’m the only one asking, then I must be the greedy one here,’ or ‘If I’m the only one asking, that means the guy down the street’s not asking or doing it, so he’s a hack.’ So, you can start to see how some of these terms crept into the industry and created a lot of division.”
What she referred to as a “technological tsunami” of ADAS and other advanced technology changing the way cars are repaired has created a new enlightenment as repairers had to seek out more training and resources to navigate through. The $42 million Seebachan case helped repairers start caring as they realized, “We absolutely have to fix cars safely.” Since then she’s seen body shops playing to win, not playing in order to “not lose.”
Tuggle proposed a change to the negative terms the industry inadvertently adopted – suggesting “greed” be seen as “proper compensation” and “hack” as “competition”.
“I’ve noticed that a lot of the most successful body shops in the nation are also a part of their state association. Do you think they’re successful because they’re part of their association, or do you think that they’re part of their association because they’re successful? And I really think the answer is both.
“Being a part of your state association is like ‘take a penny, leave a penny,’” she added, encouraging the pay-it-forward mentality.
Tuggle shared her passion for association participation. “The keys to success in industry is going to be community, not division,” she stressed. “Stay away from the things you see that create division, and be a part of your state association.”
The audience also heard from Cole Strandberg (FOCUS Investment Banking), who spoke of his belief that “The Era of the Single-Store Generalist Body Shop is Coming to an End.” Christian Ruecker (DEKRA North America) spoke about “Sustainability’s Role in Every Layer of Collision Repair.” Bill Park (Crunchit Financial Services) presented “Peak Blue-Collar: The Evolution of Collision Repair Shops into White-Collar Enterprises.”
Jeramy Holloway (Spanesi-Americas) gave strong evidence to back up the benefits of “Earning Return on Capital Spending.” Wayne Weikel (Alliance of Automotive Innovation) used his 10-minute presentation to highlight “The Fine Print of REPAIR Politics,” and Molly Mahoney (Collision Engineering Program) shared her message of “Building the Future Together: Uniting Education Industry and Community.”
Want more? Check out the December 2024 issue of Texas Automotive!