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Vol. 13 / Issue 12 / February 2023 REGIONAL NEWS
GA Legislative Study Committee Endorses Pilot Mileage Tax Program By T.A. DeFeo The Center Square
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.
The Joint Study Committee on the Electrification of Transportation has endorsed the Georgia Department of Transportation’s pilot program taxing motorists based on vehicle miles traveled. Charging a mileage tax would recoup what state leaders see as a potential loss in revenue via the gas tax. Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, suspended the gas tax to help Georgians counter rising inflation. So far, the state hasn’t seen much of an impact from not collecting the gas tax, which typically totals about $170 million per month. The state has seen its other revenues increase and
has turned to federal handouts for various initiatives, such as grants to increase broadband across the state.
“The market for electric vehicles continues to expand both across the state and nation,” — RICK JASPERSE STATE REPRESENTATIVE
In the report, the committee said it supports enforcing a “fair methodology to replace the loss in revenue from motor fuel taxes” and recommends legislative action l CONTINUED ON PAGE 16
REGIONAL NEWS
Independent Adjusters Charge Florida Insurers With Doctoring Damage Estimates By William Rabb Insurance Journal
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
Do some Florida property insurance companies hire independent adjusters to inspect property claims, then routinely alter their inspection reports to reduce estimated losses? Yes, and it’s a widespread and fraudulent practice, according to three adjusters who spoke Dec. 13 at a Florida House of Representatives committee hearing.
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Mark Vinson at the House committee meeting Dec. 13. Credit: House Commerce Committee/The Florida Channel
INSIDE THIS ISSUE 14
Columnist Mike Anderson: Alignments Are Too Critical for Collision Repair Shops to Not Do Them In-House
20
Columnist Abby Andrews: UAF Accepting Applications for Scholarships from More Than 40 Organizations
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Columnist Ed Attanasio: Auto Painter Invents Linear Blocking Tools While Looking for a Better Paint Job
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Columnist John Yoswick: Auto Body Shops Struggle to Control Access to, Use of Estimate Data
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