Auto-Wares Tech Expo Grows Customers & Skills
Every spring, Auto-Wares grows customer skills through a full weekend of technician training. Inside the Lansing Convention Center in Michigan, a line snaked out of the door that lead to a room where scores of automotive technicians were preparing to take the State of Michigan Mechanic Certification test, the state’s mandatory version of the ASE exam. Inside the Lansing Convention Center in Michigan, a line snaked out of the door that lead to a room where scores of automotive technicians were preparing to take the State of Michigan Mechanic Certification test, the state’s mandatory version of the ASE exam.
ASA Calls for Support of AHP Legislation
The Automotive Service Association (ASA) is asking automotive repairers to help support Association Healthcare Plans (AHP) legislation that allows associations to band together to purchase health care insurance for employees. The AHP legislation, H.R. 660, has passed the U.S. House of Representatives and is supported by President George W. Bush, but the U.S. Senate has not acted on its companion legislation, S. 545. With the Senate set to adjourn on Oct. 1, ASA is encouraging repairers to contact their senators and ask them to support and co-sponsor S. 545.
NASTF Reports on March 8 Meeting in Detroit
The National Automotive Service Task Force (NASTF) held its regular winter meeting on March 8 in conjunction with the SAE World Congress in Detroit. The task force meets twice yearly to maintain a forum for discussion and resolution of service-related issues. Approximately 55 people attended the meeting.
Delphi Promotes National Car Care Month
Delphi Corp. announced its support of National Car Care Month, a vital part of the Be Car Care Aware educational campaign designed to increase public awareness about the benefits of good vehicle maintenance and repair.
AADCO Named a Preferred Supplier for Collision Care Canada
AADCO Automotive Inc., a leading supplier of Like, Kind and Quality (LKQ) used auto parts, has signed an agreement to provide LKQ and aftermarket parts to Collision Care Canada Inc. (CCC) facilities. AADCO Automotive Inc., a leading supplier of Like, Kind and Quality (LKQ) used auto parts, has signed an agreement to provide LKQ and aftermarket parts to Collision Care Canada Inc. (CCC) facilities.
ASA Launches New Government Affairs Web Site
The Automotive Service Association (ASA) has launched a new Web site to help communicate with federal and state representatives about issues impacting the automotive repair industry. According to a press release issued yesterday, the new Web site will help ASA and its members “mobilize support or dissent for issues directly impacting the automotive repair industry on both federal and state levels.”
New Import Parts Specialist Certification Tests Available
Aftermarket firms can begin the new year with a competitive edge by encouraging employees and customers to take the newly updated Auto International Association (AIA) Import Parts Specialist and Master Import Parts Specialist certification tests. Better-trained counter personnel and service technicians are vital to ensuring quality repairs and satisfying import nameplate customers. These tests address the pressing need for professionals with knowledge and training to help drive improved sales and provide the best customer service to import nameplate owners.
Campaign to Bring Back the “Midas Touch”
Midas wants to return to its core value of trust with the resurrection of a marketing campaign first used in Midas advertising in the 1980s. The company’s new national advertising agency DDB Chicago is collaborating with Ogilvy & Mather Toronto on the “Trust the Midas Touch” campaign. The campaign will include commercials that take place in a Midas shop and show a humorous dialog between a customer of Midas and a Midas service employee, who is hooked up to a polygraph machine. The commercials are the first in a long-term campaign to grow Midas’ category-leading shares in brakes and exhaust and to support the expansion of its services, including oil changes and other routine maintenance services.
Parts Distributor Leverages Technology to Achieve Growth Profitability
Georgia parts distributor, Powertrain Inc. of Savannah, has reported a 25 percent growth in the company’s billed labor time since it began using DST Inc.’s DSTWare Service module to manage both its parts distribution and service business. With 33 percent of its business mix consisting of service, the Durrence’s have said they attribute this growth to the software’s ease of use.
Lord Corp. Opens New Michigan Facility
Lord Corp. — which makes specialty adhesives, polyurethane coatings as well as electronic, vibration and noise control solutions for the automotive market — has expanded its Detroit area facility in an effort to better serve the automotive market. Located on 4.8 acres in Wixom, Mich., the newly constructed 19,020-square-foot facility houses the company’s automotive sales office and includes a 7,736-square-foot high-technology formulation and testing laboratory, automotive aftermarket training classroom, and a garage for hands-on automotive application training.