By Mike Davey
Ottawa, Ontario — December 7, 2016 — The Canadian Collision Industry Accreditation Program (CCIAP) has announced a change that should make it easier for repairers to join the program and track their progress. There is now no charge for a repair facility to create an account and start tracking their progress. They’re only charged when they are ready for the audit.
CCIAP accreditation requires collision repair facilities to meet established standards in three areas: Core Business Operations, Structural Repair Capabilities and Advanced Repair Capabilities. Details of exactly what is required under each of these broad categories are available at cciap.ca/cciap-guidelines.
CCIAP is managed by AIA Canada, a national not-for-profit association that also manages I-CAR Canada and the Canadian Collision Industry Forum (CCIF). Andrew Shepherd administers the program on behalf of AIA Canada. In an interview with Collision Repair magazine, Shepherd noted that progress is being made in synchronizing CCIAP with the accreditation program run by the Automotive Retailers Association of British Columbia (ARA of BC).
“We’re on the verge of a memorandum of understanding on program coordination,” he says. “One of our goals is to make sure the programs are synchronized. Nobody wants to see shops pay twice.”
Shop owners can get started with CCIAP by creating an account at cciap.ca. From there, they can access the self-reporting form. Essentially, this consists of a list of “must-haves” for a shop to be accredited under CCIAP. By clicking yes and no on the various items, operators can track their progress and see when they’re ready for the audit. CCIAP accreditation is granted once the audit is passed.
Currently, about 100 body shops are engaged in the process, but Shepherd expects this to grow to over 200 before the end of the month. Fix Auto North Bay was the first facility to actually achieve accreditation under CCIAP. Others are expected to receive their accreditation soon.
“Fix Auto, CARSTAR, Assured Automotive and CSN Collision Centres have all made public commitments to support the program,” says Shepherd. “There is a very strong signal from the Canadian collision repair industry and that’s going to become evident to the OEMs as we move forward.”
CCIAP is backed by a national field staff of auditors with a rigorous set of audit standards, and will also measure shops against participating OEM requirements. AIA Canada says the program will thus serve vehicle manufacturers who are seeking shop audits to support their certified repair network programs.
“AIA is very pleased to be providing a not-for-profit Canadian solution to meet the qualification needs of shops,” said AIA President Jean-François Champagne in an official statement at the time of the program’s launch. “CCIAP has been built by our industry, for our industry, and we welcome both vehicle manufacturers and insurers to rely on this new essential industry service.”
