SCRS Encourages Community and Communication for the Greater Good

by Alana Quartuccio

It really does take a village to build a community.

Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS) Executive Director Aaron Schulenburg reflected during the Open Board Meeting in Palm Springs, CA this past January on the positive impact members of the national association continue to make to help better the industry for all.

“Community is really important,” Schulenburg observed. “It matters. But it doesn’t exist on its own. It’s not a logo or a phrase. It’s not a membership count, and it’s not just one group. It’s built one voice at a time. Every truly successful association starts with the individual voices that come together. It starts with those who care enough to raise their hand, speak up, share a view and understand what others see and experience in the real world and seek out ways to bring that in front of others. When those voices are pulled together in an intentional, thoughtful and authentic way, something really powerful happens. The voices don’t get diluted; they amplify. They get louder. I think we’ve seen examples of this recently via some of the things we’ve been a part of.”

Schulenburg professed he was in awe of those members who took the time recently to stand before a Congressional House Commerce Manufacturing and Trade Subcommittee meeting on behalf of certain industry concerns. He commended them for their genuine willingness to “step up, share letters, to communicate not because they were told to or asked to but because it was important for them to do so. It demonstrated a clear understanding of the issue, of the implications and the realities that shop owners all across this country face and why we come together on a quarterly basis. Those who participated weren’t reacting – they were engaging, and that shows credibility and leadership.”

Carolina’s Collision Association (CCA) President Kyle Bradshaw took the floor to inform the SCRS audience about the launch of a first-of-its-kind integrated membership model between the regional auto body association and SCRS.

“It all started with just one phone call to Aaron,” relayed Bradshaw. The CCA president reached out in response to hearing the needs of his members, recognizing that many didn’t even know about the national association.

Bradshaw says CCA has achieved great success via partnerships, referring to their alignment with WMABA for the Southeast Collision Conference (SCC) over the past three years. Now, members can appreciate the health care and 401(k) benefits of SCRS through this new membership model.

“It’s all about providing more benefits for our members,” he boasted.

Danny Gredinberg (Database Enhancement Gateway) informed the audience that more than half of the 2,141 inquiries submitted in 2025 resulted in some type of change.

Gredinberg highlighted noteworthy labor time changes such as the refinish time for the Volkswagen ID. Buzz bumper, which increased from three hours to 4.7. “The suggested refinish time was simply not enough time to perform that operation. If you look at the complexity of that bumper cover, every hole has to be prepped individually. It’s complex and time consuming.”

Guest presenters Patrick Dorais, chief, and Bill Thomas, deputy chief, of the California Bureau of Automotive Repair (BAR) gave the audience a thorough overview of proposed towing and storage fees that are currently in review.

Storage fee issues date back nearly 60 years, according to Dorais, who provided recent history including passage of bill AB2392 back in the 2017-2018 session which established that storage rates must be ‘comparable’ to rates charged by other facilities in the same ‘locale.’

In 2022, a proposed bill that would have created a new vehicle towing and storage board under the Department of Consumer Affairs, where BAR also resides, died in committee.The BAR leaders stressed this was a positive as the proposed legislation would have deleted the fact that automotive repair dealers (ARD) can have rates that are found to be reasonable to others in their locale.

Believing it was time to take their own action, BAR set out to create a storage fee referral program so ARDs could contact BAR about storage rates. More than 1,500 referrals came in – 450 in 2025 alone – with the average of 30 percent resulting in reduction. Thomas stressed that the message they repeatedly give insurers is that the rates they see “are typical for California.”

BAR is still reviewing the comments regarding their current proposal submitted during the public comment period, which closed at the end of 2025; they hope to have the final package by this summer.

“Storage rates must be reasonable. That’s consumer protection, and that’s our job,” Thomas stressed.

Other meeting highlights included demonstrations of innovative tools scouted out by members of the Education Committee during the SEMA 2025 event and a recap from the Media Relations Committee of the valuable video content SCRS has created to share with the entire industry.

Excitement for the 2026 Repairer Driven Education series is already underway as speaker submissions were sought earlier this year in preparation of registration opening this spring. Schulenburg reflected on the great outcomes from SEMA 2025, making note of the “unique virtual competition” that took place in the SCRS booth. Attendees got to test welding and painting skills via a virtual set up. Schulenburg noted the six winners included two collision repair students, two instructors and two body shop owners. “There’s something really awesome about the fact that the people who are training and developing the next generation of technicians stood out in the competition,” he highlighted.

SCRS’ healthcare program with Decisely continues to flourish in its fourth year of open enrollment. Schulenburg reported 100-plus employers are participating in the program, which represents 3,000-plus individuals. The plan operates in 33 states with the ability to serve all 50.

The client reach includes everyone from small one-employee businesses to those with more than 1,000 employees. “The ability to support different types of businesses that represent the broad range in those entities is really important,” Schulenburg emphasized. He pointed out that the large business with over 1,000 employees had actually acquired a smaller business that was on the SCRS health plan and chose to adopt it because the benefits were that superior to what the company had prior.

The program has achieved 33 percent year over year growth with an average 15 percent savings over individual marketplace costs, he added.

Now in its eighth year, the association’s 401(k) program is also thriving, with 36 employer participants and 850 individuals. The plan is currently active in 17 states and is available in all 50, including Puerto Rico.

The next SCRS Open Board Meeting will be held Tuesday, April 21 in Charlotte, NC preceding the Spring Collision Industry Conference (CIC) and SCC. The Board’s annual election will take place during this meeting. Four seats on the board will be up for election: Tony Adams (AkzoNobel), Andrew Batenhorst (Pacific BMW) and Michael Giarrizzo (DCR Systems) will all seek re-election to a three-year term. The nomination committee was open to nominations to fill the fourth open seat.

Want more? Check out the March 2026 issue of Hammer & Dolly!