MI D WEST E DI T I ON
AUTOBODYNEWS.COM
IL / IN / IA / KS / KY / MI / MN / MO / NE / ND / OH / SD / WI
41 YEARS
Vol. 12 / Issue 5 / February 2023
REGIONAL NEWS
Carvana, Michigan Reach Deal That Leaves Used Car Megastore Without License in State By Jamie L. LaReau Detroit Free Press
Romans Group Releases 2021 Profile of the Collision Repair Marketplace The Romans Group announced its 16th annual white paper, A 2021 Profile of the Evolving U.S. and Canadian Collision Repair Marketplace, is now available. The pinnacle year for the collision repair industry was 2019, with an alltime high total addressable market (TAM) of $38.3 billion. Repair facilities were flush with repairable vehicles and had the manpower and parts to service the demand. The recovery years of 2021 and 2022 were and continue to be awkward and choppy, as the collision repair industry attempts to bounce back within the constructs of numerous macro industry challenges and opportunities, U.S. economic and geo-political headwinds despite the many post-pandemic recovery advances within the collision repair
industry and throughout the broader interconnected auto physical damage landscape. In 2021, despite a continued reduction in repairable claims, the industry’s TAM recovered to $38.6 billion despite fewer repairable claims, which were primarily supported by an offset increase in higher severity.
Collision Repair Industry Our near-term future view sees a coalescing of several trends that portend industry growth with both risks and opportunities. From the beginning of the pandemic in 2020 and continuing throughout 2022, demand for collision repair services exceeded technician capacity for most of the l CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
Used-car megastore Carvana said Jan. 11 it is back to “business as usual” in Michigan, but state officials say not quite because the company’s Novi location is no longer a licensed dealership. But Michigan car buyers can make a purchase with Carvana online and get a car. Carvana and the state reached a settlement as part of an ongoing dispute over the state’s assertion that Carvana committed violations of the Michigan Vehicle Code, which Carvana admitted to doing. In early October, state officials suspended the license of the Carvana dealership in Novi for
“imminent harm to the public,” a claim Carvana has called “baseless.” The state said Carvana LLC, owned by Paul Breaux and located off of Novi Road near I-96, committed several violations of the Michigan Vehicle Code. The violations, which centered on untimely delivery of titles after vehicle sales, were discovered during an investigation by the state regulatory staff of multiple complaints l CONTINUED ON PAGE 22
REGIONAL NEWS
3 Missouri Men Sentenced For Scheme To Transport Stolen Catalytic Converters Three Rogersville and Springfield, MO, men have been sentenced in federal court for their roles in a scheme to transport tens of thousands of stolen catalytic converters across state lines as part of a multi-million-dollar business. “These three defendants were the ringleaders of a scheme that impacted thousands of area residents,” said U.S. Attorney Teresa Moore. “We worked closely with a number of our law enforcement partners to shut down their multi-
million-dollar operation and bring the perpetrators to justice.” Evan Marshall, 25, of Rogersville; Cody Ryder, 31, of Springfield; and Camren Joseph Davis, 25, of Rogersville, were sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool on Dec. 19. Marshall was sentenced to five years and 10 months in federal prison without parole. The court also imposed a $750,000 money judgment against Marshall, ordered him to pay l CONTINUED ON PAGE 12
INSIDE THIS ISSUE 8
Columnist Mike Anderson: Alignments Are Too Critical for Collision Repair Shops to Not Do Them In-House
14
Columnist Abby Andrews: UAF Accepting Applications for Scholarships from More Than 40 Organizations
40
Columnist Ed Attanasio: Auto Painter Invents Linear Blocking Tools While Looking for a Better Paint Job
31
Columnist John Yoswick: Auto Body Shops Struggle to Control Access to, Use of Estimate Data
PERMIT #288 ANAHEIM, CA
PAID
Change Service Requested P.O. BOX 1516, CARLSBAD, CA 92018
PRESORTED STANDARD U.S. POSTAGE