I-CAR’s 2025 National Conference Feb. 28-March 2 in downtown Houston celebrated innovation and industry leadership with engaging keynote speakers and a comprehensive look at the latest I-CAR initiatives, bringing together professionals who share a commitment to learning education and safety.
Jeff Peevy, vice president of industry relations, spoke on the importance of I-CAR’s commitment to complete, safe, and quality repairs. He recalled how he first placed "the empty chair," now on the stage at all Collision Industry Conferences, in 2019 at his first meeting chairman.
"The chair represented the consumer, the families that entrusted their lives and their well-being in our industry's hands when we repair their car," he said. "You all know that education, the role that all of us play, plays a huge part in our ability to perform a complete, safe, and quality repair. Every decision that we make, regardless of the segment that we're in, we need to always consider those who entrust their lives with us."
Mike Anderson of Collision Advice later echoed Peevy's sentiments, pointing to his father's life-changing jumping injury as a paratrooper in Vietnam. In having a consumer sign an authorization form, writing a repair plan, or researching repair procedures, he urged all stakeholders to ask themselves if they are "packing the parachute properly." Anderson was recognized at the conference with the Chairman's Award, presented by Chair Jennifer Goforth.
Milestones
CEO and President John Van Alstyne spoke of some of I-CAR’s accomplishments since its 1979 founding and during the past 15 years he’s been at the helm. (He will retire at the end of the year.) During the welcome reception, he was recognized with the True North Visionary Award.
"A lot has changed in our industry since 1979," he said. "Repairs today are more advanced in nature than ever before, and I-CAR has responded over the years with innovations in our curriculum, credentialing, standards, or what we refer to as protocols, and related technical services.”
From 2010, he said, the organization has quadrupled the number of course offerings (now 467) to perform complete, safe, and quality repairs, including introducing vehicle-specific curriculum in 2016.
In 2014, the Repairability Technical Support platform was introduced, followed by the RTS app in 2024, which was runner-up for the Best New Collision Repair Product at the SEMA Show. The Academy won the SEMA Best New collision Repair product award
Out of approximately 1,000 school programs, 656 schools were using the previous I-CAR curriculum, and 456, or about 70%, have transitioned to the new I-CAR Academy, with more set to transition this year. Also, 94 shops are using the Academy, which launched in late 2024.
And this year for the first time, there are 10,000 Gold Class-recognized shops, the first of many milestones Van Alstyne predicted for the program.
Winning Strategy
Retired NASCAR Crew Chief and Fox Racing commentator Larry McReynolds spoke in part on the importance of communication in building a winning team, recalling a number of talented drivers who, once they were no longer paired with the crew chief with whom they "clicked," found further success difficult to achieve.
"Bad communication, or a lack of communication, Is like a vibration in a race car. If that driver ever came on the radio and told me, 'Larry, I've got a bad vibration,' I could have said, '10-4; it’ll be OK.' Well, the next thing that's probably going to happen is we were going to be the next caution and we were going to blow a tire and hit the wall."
Out-of-this-World Advice
José Hernández had dreams of becoming an astronaut as a child. The son of migrant farm workers from Mexico, the family worked the fields months at a time each year from southern to northern California. After being rejected 11 times by NASA, he was accepted into the astronaut program. And after 18 months of rigorous training, he was selected to be a flight engineer on the 14-day STS 128 Discovery mission, the second-to-last mission for the Space Shuttle.
He wrote a book (given to attendees) about his experience, Reaching for the Stars: The Inspiring Story of a Migrant Farmworker Turned Astronaut. It was also turned into the Amazon movie A Million Miles Away.
He recalled to the audience that he'd met the minimum requirements. But after his sixth rejection, his wife pushed him to take a look at what the successful applicants had that he didn’t. It’s what led him to earn his pilot’s license and learn to SCUBA-dive, both skills he noticed in successful applicants.
"So, compare yourself with successful people. Ask yourself what they have that you don't."
