The Growing Divide Between Certified and Non-Certified Shops
The collision repair industry is splitting in two — and it's not just about equipment.
At a panel discussion hosted during NORTHEAST 2018, six industry veterans gathered at the Meadowlands Exposition Center to address what many consider the most uncomfortable reality in today's auto body landscape: a deepening gap between shops capable of properly repairing modern vehicles and those that are not.
"There are a couple hundred really good shops in this country," said Aaron Clark, vice president and general manager for the Assured Performance Network, which oversees OEM certification programs for Fiat Chrysler, Ford, Hyundai, Infiniti, Kia, and Nissan. "The next 200 are half as good as the first 200. The next 400 are half as good as the first 400."
Clark made clear that as certification programs scale to thousands of shops, the quality bar inevitably drops — and what you get is the average shop, which he described as "a completely different body shop, a completely different process."
The Investment Threshold Is Just the Beginning
Larry Montanez, co-owner of P&L Consultants, put a number to the challenge: shops pursuing aluminum or hybrid certification for the first time are looking at an estimated $250,000 in tooling and equipment before they can even begin. But Montanez was quick to point out a more basic problem — most shops don't even have the right tools to properly repair a steel vehicle.
"Your 1974 purchase of a frame machine from your father who you inherited the shop from is not cutting it anymore," Montanez said bluntly.
The equipment investment is substantial, but it's only half the equation. The harder part, according to every panelist, is cultural change.
A Mindset Shift, Not Just a Toolbox Upgrade
Barry Dorn, owner of Dorn's Body & Paint in Mechanicsville, Virginia, framed the challenge this way: "If your team isn't passionate about certification, if you don't have a culture of learning and you don't remain a perpetual student, this is going to be a very difficult endeavor for you. It's a culture shift."
Mark Allen, collision programs and workshop equipment specialist for Audi of America, echoed that sentiment and pushed it further: "It's not just a change in the shop — it's a change in the front end. It's a change in the way you do business, the way you do your blueprinting, the way you do your estimating, the way you do your parts procurement."
Audi's description of their position in the market wasn't comforting for shops still on the fence. Dave Gruskos, president of Reliable Automotive Equipment, noted that Audi's European product pipeline "makes it look like we're all living in the stone ages." The technology trajectory is clear — and it's moving fast.
Two Types of Shop Owners
Gruskos drew a sharp distinction between two types of shop owners operating in today's market. One is using the business to fund a personal lifestyle — buying a waterfront home, a boat, the trappings of success. The other is reinvesting everything back into the operation to stay competitive.
"You have to do something very similar to that right now," he said, making clear which path leads to long-term viability.
The panel's message wasn't just about survival; it was about relevance. Clark stated it plainly: "There is a huge gap out there, and there is a lot of room for improvement. You have to get there. It is your time to start making an investment in the training, the tooling and the equipment if you're even going to be in the mainstream programs. The industry landscape is changing."
The Danger of Stagnant Experience
Perhaps the sharpest critique from the panel was aimed at the mindset of experience-as-competency. Dorn challenged shops who operate on the assumption that two decades in the trade equals proficiency:
"A wise man once told me, 'Have you done it for 20 years, or did you do it one year and replicate that for 20 years?' Because that's what most people do — they learn it one way and they continue on."
He called that static mindset "the cancer" of progress in the collision industry. The antidote, according to Dorn: treating learning as perpetual, never treating any certification as a final destination.
"We all have to keep learning," Dorn said. "It's never a destination. It's a journey. It will never stop."
For shops evaluating the path to OEM certification, that message is as important as any equipment checklist. Technical compliance can be audited and verified. A shop culture that resists growth cannot be fixed with a purchase order.
