Niagara Falls, Ontario — Consolidated Collision Services (CCS) held its National Network Meeting on October 19, where more than 80 members partook in a full day of thoughtful presentations, discussion and general merriment.
The event was in collaboration with the Automotive Conference and Expo, or ACE held next door at the Niagara Fallsview Casino. The Hilton Niagara Fallsview served as CCS’s venue.
Mike Beier, general manager of CCS, and Sandy Liguori, president of CCS and Woodchester Auto Group, opened the meeting with a look back at the event’s history and how far CCS has come since its inception.
Following the CCS duo, attendees first witnessed presentations from Aviva Canada, who held a short presentation and Q&A session with the crowd.
Nicky Woerner of OE Connection was next up, who wowed the audience with her explanation of the upcoming OE parts sourcing tool, RepairLink.
The product has yet to launch—it’s coming soon, said Woerner—but after three years of development, she’s certain it will transform ordering parts for the automotive industry.
Venessa di Vito, Collision Repair mag columnist and founder of Auto+ Performance, was next to the stage to discuss her tried-and-true tips for a seamless estimation the first time around.
She presented her checklist to the group, with the steps sourced from di Vito’s own lifelong experience in the auto industry and her time as an estimator. For insight on this checklist, reach out to Auto+ Performance via the company website.
She also covered line items she says you can get paid for, so long as you provide proper documentation and reasoning,
Janette Andrade from Consolidated Dealers and Trista Anger from BASF were next to the stage to cover some of the details about the exciting new Women’s Industry Network (WIN) chapter for Canadians in the industry.
Plenty of CCS members and WIN representatives alike commended Andrade’s commitment to the cause.
Just before lunch, the CCS team awarded some of the most prestigious awards the company had to offer that day—the President’s award, given to the eight members that first believed in CCS’s cause—the inaugural facilities to join the network.
Recipients included Highland GM Centre in Aurora, Ontario; Bennett GM Collision Centre in Cambridge, Ontario; Heffner Toyota Lexus Collision Centre in Kitchener, Ontario; Raceway Chrylser Collision Centre, Mississauga, Ontario; Imperial Collision Centre in Sudbury, Ontario and Premier Chevrolet Collision Centre in Windsor, Ontario.
Next, the organization announced the winner of the BASF Leadership Award, in recognition of the CCS location that has demonstrated itself as the clear and definitive market leader in the community that they serve. The award when to Performance Collision Grimsby.
The group then honoured Sandy Liguori with a surprise award, which was met with humble gratitude from the industry leader.
After lunch with a gorgeous view of the Falls, an industry panel of CCS members to discuss some prevailing topics in the collision industry—HR, profit, parts, OEM certification and more.
Trent Dayton of South Pointe Collision and Glass; Michael St. Germain of Mercedes-Benz Oakville Collision Centre; Sandy Liguori of Woodchester Auto Group; Daniel Segretto of Scarborough Toyota Collision Centre and Bing Wong, the managing director of Canadian Hail Repair, co-founder of Collision Builders Inc. and managing partner at E-Sheets.
Following the thought-provoking panel, Lisa Burns of the BFA group joined CCS’ Mike Beier for a conversation on top-notch ways to market your collision centre.
The CCS meeting concluded with more award presentations, with Trent Dayton of South Pointe Collision claiming the 3M Innovation award; the team from Imperial Collision from Sudbury, Ontario snagged the top net promoter score award; and Danny Zita of Eastside Old Mill Collision Centre received honours for touting the lowest LOR–the only CCS facility to do so this year, said Beier.
Finally, to conclude the meeting, CCS delivered the Facility of the Year award, which went to Capital Collision out in Mount Pearl, Newfoundland.
Attendees headed over to the ACE Conference next door, where Canadian Astronaut Chris Hadfield delivered an inspiring keynote presentation, chock-full of interesting tidbits from his time in space.
All in all, attendees were all thrilled with the event’s programming and venue.
Check out Collision Repair mag’s photo album from the event below!
