Longtime New Jersey shop owner and AASP/NJ Hall of Fame member Joe Lubrano (J&E Auto Body, Clark) used the Open Mic portion of the Collision Industry Conference (CIC) at the 2016 SEMA Show to voice his concern over the future direction of CIC and encourage greater action from the forum’s committees and participants.

A CIC attendee since the 1970s, Lubrano noted a steady decline in the number of industry members who take the time to travel to CIC’s quarterly meetings across the country.

“When CIC was first put together, we had a room bigger than this – standing room only…People came there because there was hope. When they saw there was nothing but talk, hope led to despair and they just basically faded away.”

As a way to possibly encourage greater numbers to attend CIC, Lubrano suggested that the group return to focusing on past topics of discussion, such as the rekeying of insurance estimates.

“That should be a dead issue. But unfortunately, it’s not.”

Additionally, he pointed to body materials reimbursement as a topic of value that CIC could address for the benefit of the industry.

“Do you realize how much we spend on body materials? In 2007, I looked at a year’s worth of invoices; I spent $26,000 on body materials. Why we weren’t paid for that, I have no idea. That’s another topic I think CIC could address…If we could resolve it, that would be something that we can say, ‘Look, this is what we did. This is what makes CIC a viable entity. This is why you have to join CIC.’” Lubrano’s sentiments drew applause from many attendees in the crowd.

According to its website (ciclink.com), the Collision Industry Conference “is a forum made up of participants from all industry segments for the expressed purpose of discussing and exploring the issues that occur among them. Through discussion and research during meetings and extensive interim committee work, CIC attempts to form consensus on various issues, aware that all such findings are nonbinding and voluntarily accepted. CIC is not a trade association.” The next Collision Industry Conference is set for January 11-12 in Palm Springs, CA.

For more information on AASP/NJ contact Charles Bryant at (732) 922-8909.

For more information on the NORTHEAST® Automotive Services Show, please visit www.aaspnjnortheast.com.