Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan — March 7, 2017 — The Saskatchewan Association of Automotive Repairers (SAAR) met recently for the association’s annual meeting. The meeting took place in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.
Approximately 130 stakeholders attended the meeting, with representatives from approximately 60 shops and 22 suppliers in attendance. Executive Director Bill Ziebart provided updates on the current state of SAAR and negotiations with the province’s insurer, Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI).
The meeting also provided an opportunity to elect three new members to the association’s Executive Committee. The new members are Shane Goller from P.A. Autobody, Brayden Neufeld of Parr Auto Body and Raj Kavia of Kavia Auto Body. The new members replace three people who have recently left the Executive: Neil McGregor, Tom Bissonnette and Pat Quinney. SAAR would like to thank McGregor, Bissonnette and Quinney for their service and hard work.
The morning session was rounded out by a presentation from Saskatchewan Polytechnic Program Heads Dale Hawkins and Scott Kucharyshen and Ryan Bast of MSA Safety. Hawkins and Kucharyshen provided an update on the state of programming and apprenticeship in the province. In short, their messages to the association members was to make their voices heard for training requirements and get apprentices into the program. Bast gave an update on what MSA Safety can do for member shops, specifically the company can provide safety and OHS training, give toolbox talks, do surveys and provide other kinds of safety related support.
The afternoon was devoted to SGI and what will be coming down the pipe in the future. Ciaran Downs was introduced to the membership as the Director of the Appraisal Program at SGI. He, along with Sid Petrisor and Brian Smuk of SGI, provided a general update on the current key performance indicators (KPIs) and the new KPIs that SGI will start tracking, specifically cycle time and customer service indices. The representatives of SGI also shared the 2017 Auto Appraisal Manual that will officially come out in spring of this year. Wrapping up the afternoon, Ann Vincent of Mitchell Canada showed the new Mitchell Connect Platform that will be taking over for Eclaim in the near future for better communication with SGI.
Chelsea Stebner is the co-owner of Parr Auto Body in Saskatoon and a member of the association. She notes that SAAR is grateful for the support it gets from both insurance suppliers.
“Thanks to Bill Ziebart for pulling together an informative and engaging meeting for our members and thank you to the sponsors for helping bring it all together,” she says. “SAAR is lucky as an association in general for its excellent support from both collision repairers and suppliers. We have a strong association willing to partner with SGI to continue to better our industry.”
For more information, please visit s-a-a-r.com.
