CIC Makes Consumer Impact the Focal Point of Conversation

by Alana Quartuccio

The Collision Industry Conference (CIC) brings all segments of the collision repair industry together on a quarterly basis to drive discussions and explore solutions for the betterment of the industry. Ultimately, it’s to best serve the heartbeat of the industry – the consumers and their families who are symbolically represented by “the empty chair.”

The July CIC held in Schaumburg, IL was no different. However, for this particular conference, each committee made “consumer impacts” the theme of their presentations. From effective communication to safety to technology challenges and more, every discussion had the best interest of the consumer at heart.

Led by Co-Chairs Danny Gredinberg (DEG) and Erin Kilcoyne-Solis (Square One Systems), the Estimating and Repair Planning Committee gave the audience an opportunity to hear the consumer’s perspective on the claims and repair process right from the source, truly driving home the theme of the day.

It had been 18 years since Roxanne Raffaelli filed her last claim, so she was grateful for the support the body shop gave to her following her recent collision. “It’s upsetting when you have a car accident,” she shared with the CIC audience. “You’re looking for relief and I immediately found it when I reached out to Body Builders Automotive. In my thought process, I didn’t expect to have to navigate through the claims process with my insurance carrier and the person I dealt with at the shop really prepared me for that. He couldn’t have explained it any better and he made me feel very comfortable.”

When asked what her expectations were about the process, Raffaelli stated, “I was  impressed with my shop, but I was not impressed with my insurance company.” She relayed her appreciation for  everything the shop did to advocate for her and include her in all communication with her carrier.  When prompted, Raffaelli declined to mention the insurance company by name but she did penalize them for keeping her in the dark about things she wished she knew about when she bought her policy.

“I have a masters degree, but I didn’t understand OEM versus aftermarket,” she admitted. “I did not know this would be something that would be part of my life. I wish that when I bought my new vehicle – that had only 2,000 miles on it when I had the accident – my carrier had suggested that if I spent a few dollars more I could have an OEM rider in my coverage.”

Audience members applauded when she added, “I don’t think there should be a rider. In my opinion, I think it should just be standard with insurance companies. But it wasn’t. They could have offered it and I would have bought it had I known what would happen to me. I am a dutiful, faithful customer of this insurance company who had not made a claim in 18 years and I paid $3,000 out of pocket including my $500 deductible. That is not reasonable for someone who has been a faithful insurance customer.”

The Talent Pool and Education Committee set out to tackle what co-chair Bud Center (I-CAR) referred to as the single largest friction point in the industry today: post-collision safety inspections.

Panelists weighed in on the heavy consequences involved when one fails to perform these inspections while also examining why repairers fail to miss this step and exploring what can be done industry-wide to improve.

This is not a “no DTCs, no lights on dash” situation, according to Mike Anderson (Collision Advice).

“I can truly say that every OEM has procedures in their electronic service manuals that state inspections need to be done when a vehicle is in a collision,” he noted. “These could include but are not limited to seat belts, airbag components, airbag mounting locations, airbag sensors. It could also involve the steering column. Some OEMs give pretty clear definitions as to when this needs to be done; other OEMS are probably a lot more general.”

Center pointed out many repairers believe that if they don’t see damage, they don’t believe there is need for inspection; however, there is always a chance unseen and secondary damage is present. Anderson concurred, recalling many situations where an airbag was just partially deployed and a steering column collapsed with zero codes or DTCs displayed on the dash.

Gerry Rosenbarker (Mohawk Collision Center; NY) suggested the process could be intimidating to the average shop. “I think that is where some of the problems lie. Technicians have to gather all the information, understand it and document it. It can be intimidating to a shop, especially if you do a few of these safety inspections and don’t find anything. Once a shop does find a collapsed column or partially deployed airbag they have an aha moment and buy into it more.”

“Safety inspections are just as important as ADAS,” observed Anderson. “We don’t put enough emphasis on it.” Panelists agreed that all facets of the industry need to come together on this including insurance companies who may not fully understand this step and OEMs in regard to how procedures are communicated.

“Everyone has to come to the table,” suggested Rosenbarker, “to have a trickle-down effect where in the end the customer gets a safe and proper repair, the shop doesn’t have to take on liability and it’s not ridiculously expensive for the insurer.”

On behalf of the Governmental Committee, Co-Chair Justin Lewis (Accurate Auto Body; WA/Washington Independent Collision Repair Association) shared the CIC stage with Illinois shop owners along with consumer and legal advocates to talk about the latest with Right to Appraisal law in light of Illinois’ recent efforts to pass legislation to include mandatory appraisal rights in all insurance policies.

Sean Preston (Coverall Law) emphasized that Right to Appraisal is a tool consumers should be informed on. Instead of talking about what RTA is, he steered the focus on the why factor: RTA offers a dispute resolution. “Someone took something you owe; how are you going to go about getting that? The courts are there in that you could sue, but in this industry, does it make sense to sue over a $1,200 short pay? It just never makes sense. If you are able to find an attorney to take a case, is it actually someone who understands the industry, repairs and property damage claims?”

Education is needed, as most consumers are unaware of their rights to appraisal. Kenneth Klein (Consumers’ Auto Detective) stated, “Not enough people are taking advantage of the appraisal clause for total loss claims.”

Counterfeit airbag components continue to plague consumers as a menacing problem that has claimed the lives of one too many. Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS) Executive Director Aaron Schulenburg brought Teena Bohi (Automotive Anti-Counterfeiting Council) to the stage to talk about the dangerous consequences of counterfeit airbag components, what is being done to eliminate these life-threatening parts and how shops should react if they were to come in contact with a vehicle containing one.

As the pair explained, this is much more than a trademark or brand value issue – some counterfeit airbags have literally exploded, causing people to die in collisions that were not even considered severe.

“If anything comes out of these tragedies, it’s that we all become more aware and work to prevent them from happening,” Bohi stressed.

While the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) ban of the Chinese airbag inflator company known as DTN is encouraging news, it’s unfortunately not a complete solution. It’s believed DTN isn’t the only source of these dangerous products, according to Bohi.

“We think it’s the tip of the iceberg,” she stated. “We are excited to see NHTSA investigate this as it’s brought more attention to it and we hope they don’t stop there.”

Bohi believes there are other entities supplying fake inflators to build airbag assemblies. These faulty airbag assemblies can be put into vehicles pulled from salvage yards and sold as viable, while the opposite is true.

She went on to note that the total loss process isn’t very cut and dry and varies based on location. “There’s a lot that goes into determining whether or not a vehicle is totaled and whether it goes to public auction. There may be a different process where if an airbag is deployed, it gets reported and the national motor vehicle title may step in. If it goes through a wholesale auction or private auction, the information about the airbag may not be documented anywhere. Once they are sold and get repaired, the process they go through varies.”

Schulenburg asked Bohi if there is potential for repairers to come in contact with these counterfeit parts, to which she said, “I hope not.” She emphasized that the market for counterfeit parts isn’t limited to OEM brands – it affects aftermarket manufacturers just as frequently.

Bohi acknowledged that while repair professionals are unlikely to purchase counterfeit airbags themselves, a rebuilt vehicle with undetected fake parts could still end up in their shop.

The necessity of performing safety inspections was brought up for the second time on the CIC stage that day, with Bohi noting the importance of identifying issues and communicating with customers as a way to help prevent future tragedies. She reminded shops, “Be diligent and always work to educate your consumers.”

In other CIC news, the July meeting marked the conclusion of Dan Risley’s (CCC Intelligent Solutions) term as CIC chair. He was joined by other former CIC Chairs to welcome Trent Tinsley (Entegral) as the next Chair. Tinsley will begin his term at the November 3 CIC held in Las Vegas in conjunction with SEMA. For more information, visit ciclink.com.

Want more? Check out the September 2026 issue of New England Automotive Report!