Foundation Seeking Donations for Schools

The Collision Repair Education Foundation is seeking collision industry members to provide product donations of tools, equipment and supplies to be distributed to secondary and post-secondary school programs this fall.

Product donations through the Education Foundation are tax-deductible and allow collision students the opportunity to gain hands-on experience with current products during their technical education.

For more information, contact Brandon Eckenrode, the foundation’s associate director of development, at Brandon. Eckenrode@ed-foundation.org or (847) 463-5244.

ASRW Named Top Show

Automotive Service & Repair Week (ASRW) has been named to the 2011 Trade Show News Network’s U.S. Top 250 Trade Shows list.

ASRW 2011 was held last October in Orlando, Fla.

This year’s event is scheduled for Oct. 10-13 at the Morial Convention Center in New Orleans.

ASRW is comprised of the International Autobody Congress & Exposition (NACE) and the Congress of Automotive Repair & Service (CARS). For more info on this year’s shows, please see our ASRW Preview on pages 14-15. And for scholarship info to help you get to the shows this year, please see page 27.

I-CAR Announces Road to Gold Program

The Inter-Industry Conference on Auto Collision Repair (I-CAR) is collaborating with the Assured Performance Network in the development of the Road to Gold program, a new dedicated planned approach to achieving I-CAR Gold Class Professionals designation for its network of more than 3,000 collision repair shops.

Organizations that enroll in the program commit to earning the I-CAR Gold Class Professionals business designation, which is a requirement for earning Assured Performance certification. The Gold Class designation is the highest training recognition available to businesses in the collision repair industry.

iATN Introduces Two New Websites

The International Automotive Technicians Network (iATN) has introduced two new public-facing websites: the main public site (www.iatn.net) to familiarize automotive service professionals with iATN, and a consumer site (autorepair.iatn.net) with a new auto repair shop finder to help consumers quickly locate an iATN facility from their desktop or mobile device.

“The main public site is clean and concise to show potential new members who we are and what we do, while the goal of the consumer-oriented website is to drive more consumer traffic to iATN member businesses, especially our business premium members,” said Scott Brown, iATN president.

NASTF Sets Fall Meeting

The National Automotive Service Task Force (NASTF) has announced that its fall general meeting will be held in October during Automotive Service & Repair Week (ASRW).

ASRW will be held in New Orleans Oct. 10-13; the open General NASTF meeting is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 13, from 1:30 p.m. - 4 p.m.