LAS VEGAS, Nov. 8, 2019—The IDEAS Collide Showcase kicked off the last day of the 2019 SEMA Show. SCRS brought together 10 innovative thinkers and expert operators in the industry to present their new ideas. Ryan Taylor, CEO of Bodyshop Booster; Mario Dimovski, CEO of Tradiebot Industries and Kyle Holt, president of S/P2, were among the speakers and presented new ideas to the audience.
Taylor was the first on stage with his idea to make body shops similar to dentist offices. After experiencing the customer checkout process at his dentist's office, he thought, why don't repairers take this on?
Taylor suggests that body shop operators take on the task of filing the insurance claim for the repairer. The repairer can ask a few questions and then transfer the claim to an independent agency that has licensed adjusters. He says this could open the need for less DRPs and less insurance company Dimovski shared how augmented reality can help the repairer. Tradiebot's new software, WorxAR, helps repairers perform repairs by accessing digital repair processes and manuals. Augmented reality in the form of virtual glasses can help the technician see the real world with a digital information overlay.
Dimovski says companies like Ferrari and Porsche are offering augmented reality in the form of showrooms. Consumers can build virtual cars in the showrooms.
Holt also took the stage to offer solutions to the technician shortage. He says that a body shop has to present itself as the right first employer for the candidate. And, body shop operators need to look toward high school students and for candidates outside of the collision repair industry and schools, to find technicians.
Often, the body shop owner will hire a new technician and train the technician by pairing him or her with one of the shop's A techs, Holt says. This process is not ideal because an A tech can then have the power to make or break the technician training program.
