OEC is excited to announce the addition of Tanya Sweetland, Senior Vice President of Collision, and Matt Curtin, Senior Vice President of Enterprise Sales, to the organization, strengthening the global strategic leadership team. Tanya and Matt join as OEC continues to expand our global market footprint to help all stakeholders in the automotive aftermarket industry streamline the repair and supply workflow. 

With a passion for innovation and a deep understanding of the collision industry, Tanya’s leadership and expertise will be invaluable. Bringing more than 30 years of experience to OEC, Tanya previously led OEC’s Advanced Repair Technologies division, bringing the RepairLogic repair planning platform from startup to its 2022 market launch. In her role as SVP of Collision, Tanya will oversee the company’s collision strategy, ensuring continued innovation, value delivery, and exceptional service to stakeholders, partners, and customers in collision repair. 

 “I’m rejoining OEC at a pivotal time for the repair industry,” said Sweetland. “And I’m energized to work with this talented team to address the market dynamics our customers and partners face daily – OEC is uniquely positioned with its solutions, technology and tenacious team to create value through innovation across our collision platforms to the benefit of a broad range of stakeholders.” 

 A highly accomplished software executive, Matt brings more than 25 years of leadership experience in go-to-market operations and scaling enterprise-class, high-growth software organizations, including previous experience in the automotive sector. With a proven track record in global sales strategy and a passion for delivering results to customers worldwide, Matt will help us expand our reach, strengthen our partnerships, and drive continued success for our global customers. 

 “I’m eager to contribute to OEC’s global success,” said Curtin. “With a strong foundation and a commitment to excellence, we have an incredible opportunity to expand our reach and deliver even greater value to our customers worldwide.” 

2025 marks OEC’s 25th anniversary. This significant milestone represents both the strong foundation the organization was built on, and OEC’s continued commitment to helping customers navigate the industry’s ever-evolving landscape in the years ahead. The additions of Tanya and Matt will only serve to strengthen our ability to deliver dynamic solutions to our growing customer base, including shops, dealers, alternative parts suppliers, manufacturers, insurers, and tire distributors. At the same time, the strategic insight and expertise provided by our newest executive leaders will position OEC for another 25 years of growth and success.  

For customers who recently became familiar with OEC and the many connections we create across the industry, it may be surprising that our original mandate was singular and direct: Help wholesale dealers sell genuine parts to shops. Why? Back in 2000, the automotive aftersales industry’s biggest challenge was the endless manual processes and inefficiencies needed to sell parts via phone and fax. This challenge ultimately led to the formation of OEC – known then as OEConnection – a joint venture between Ford, GM, Chrysler (now Stellantis), and Bell & Howell (now Snap-on Business Solutions).

Seeing how much we’ve grown over the years, our original mission seems simple. However, more than two decades ago, it was anything but simple and also had never been done before. OEC’s founding led to the development of the first online parts procurement tool designed to help shops order OE parts from dealers: CollisionLink. While the platform itself wasn’t necessarily an overnight success, its growth in the past two decades has created a robust network of 9,000+ dealers and 40,000+ shops with more than 26 manufacturers and 47+ special pricing programs. 

Following the launch of CollisionLink, OEC experienced true breakthrough success with our second solution, D2DLink, a dealer-to-dealer parts locator platform, followed shortly by D2D Express, a backorder fulfilment solution. These supply chain platforms made it easier for dealers to find parts they didn’t have on hand or were on backorder. By using the network’s expanded virtual inventory, dealers could now access the parts needed for customer repairs. The newly developed supply chain solutions, paired with the continued CollisionLink expansion, advanced our original mandate and allowed OEC to deliver its promise to help dealers sell more parts.

From there, our growth was driven by product expansion and enhancements with the development of our business intelligence solution, LinkIQ (later evolved into PSXLink). At that point, OEC also expanded into the mechanical market with RepairLink, the mechanical market’s counterpart to CollisionLink. The early and fast-paced innovation at OEC streamlined parts sales for OEMs​, making it easier for dealers and shops to buy and sell parts while establishing trusted relationships across the industry. 

Prior to the launch of D2DLink, the OEC dealer network only featured a few hundred dealers. Today, that expanded network includes:  

• 45+ OEMs 

• 30,000+ dealers  

• 135,000+ shops  

• 100+ parts suppliers 

• And growing!  

In 2016, the team diversified our product offerings to feature broader solutions and integrated new technologies to further support workflow efficiency and connectivity with our growing network of dealers, fleets, and insurers.​ From there, we extended our reach globally with major acquisitions in the UK in 2017 and 2018, allowing the value of our core platforms to be realized by customers worldwide.

As the industry continued to evolve in its complexity, OEC made the strategic decision to expand its collision repair service offerings beyond the ordering platforms that make it easier to find parts needed for proper repairs. OEC’s portfolio of collision solutions now includes tools that allow shops to quickly and comprehensively conduct repair planning research and build repair plans with RepairLogic, write and optimize accurate estimates by leveraging EstimateIQ, and enhance business and repair practices through OEM certifications with the Certified Performance Network (US) and Certified Collision Care (Canada). 

The move into these categories reflect OEC’s belief that the best way to serve our customers is by building connections across the aftersales industry, supporting efficient repair lifecycles, providing OEM parts and procedure solutions, and driving proper vehicle repair. Collision repairers are now able to further drive profitability, efficiency, consistency, and quality into their operations with a more robust set of offerings to address their most common challenges across the repair lifecycle. 

Even as OEC evolved beyond the original mandate to support the dealership wholesale business, the parts aftersales market remained a critical part of our solutions and network. In late 2021, OEC acquired Overall Parts Solutions (OPS) to provide additional parts sourcing and order management options to customers who can, in turn, offer improved customer service to the vehicle owner. The OPSTrax platform, an online parts procurement and order management solution, strengthens the parts supply chain and supports a consistent, accurate flow of all-part types across manufacturers, dealers, shops, and parts suppliers.

Our growth has continued in 2025 with the acquisition of PartsTech, enhancing our support of the mechanical repair market. The PartsTech platform connects auto repair facilities to a network of more than 225 parts and tire suppliers across 30,000 locations. Like RepairLink, PartsTech provides repair shops with access to one of the industry’s most connected, accurate and efficient mechanical parts procurement systems. Together, RepairLink and PartsTech bring industry-leading fitment information to repair facilities, streamlining workflows for quoting and ordering to boost repair efficiency. 

While the origins of OEC begin with CollisionLink, a first-of-its-kind platform, 25 years later the OEC story is one about building connections across the parts and repair ecosystem and eliminating the pain in the vehicle repair process for all stakeholders. OEC solutions currently account for more than $14 billion in North American ecommerce transactions, $30 billion in annual trade facilitation, and continue to be the leading platforms for dealers and suppliers, repairers, manufacturers, insurers, and fleets.   

The OEC team is thrilled to celebrate 25 years of serving the automotive industry in 2025 – a milestone worth applauding! That said, we are equally excited about the opportunities ahead. We’ve seen firsthand how people across the industry evolve and grow with technology to provide stronger customer service, deliver safe vehicle repairs while adapting to evolving vehicle technology, and stay connected across an ever-expanding parts and repair network. While our 25th anniversary is special for us, it truly speaks to the growth and evolution of the automotive industry.  

As we celebrate this year, we remain deeply grateful to our partners, current and former team members, and especially to our customers – from the folks behind the parts counter and under the hood, to the countless individuals we connect with across the automotive ecosystem. Here’s to a quarter century of working to eliminate the pain in the vehicle repair process​! 

For more information on OEC or to check out all of our solutions and products, visit the OEC homepage.  

Customers expect their cars to look and drive like new while also wanting to get back on the road right away. At the same time, you’re likely facing overwhelming workloads, staffing shortages and training for new team members, delayed parts orders and shortages, and what feels like overnight changes in vehicle technology. Keeping up with it all feels nearly impossible. You want to stay on top of everything, but you’re not even sure where to begin.

The good news: one way to optimize your shop is to make sure you have the right products and processes in place. When you have the right solutions and setup, you not only keep up with industry demands, but you can also get ahead and grow your business. By leveraging advanced software solutions and expert training, your shop can consistently and efficiently deliver safe, quality repairs.

1. Implementing a Repair Planning & Documentation Process

Do you follow a standardized repair planning process in your shop? If not, here’s why you should: having a consistent repair process maximizes efficiency and can prevent time-consuming and potentially expensive rework. A standardized process helps ensure that every repair is done correctly, minimizes errors, and enhances overall productivity. This leads to higher customer satisfaction and a more profitable business, since doing it right the first time saves both time and money.

A standardized process helps ensure that every repair is done correctly, minimizes errors, and enhances overall efficiency.

A key to successful repair planning is using up-to-date, complete OEM repair procedures. Vehicles are highly complex, with numerous independent systems, making it essential to follow OEM recommendations. Consistently sticking to these guidelines means you minimize the risk of improper repairs, which compromise safety, lead to liability issues, and create costly rework. You’ll also feel confident that your team is producing high-quality repairs, maintaining or, better yet, boosting your shop’s reputation.

This is where repair planning tools add significant value. A comprehensive repair planning tool gives your team easy access to complete, up-to-date OEM repair procedures. These solutions can also quickly identify single-use parts, such as clips and fasteners, ensuring efficient disassembly and availability of necessary replacements. RepairLogic, for example, provides updates in active repair plans whenever OEMs publish changes or release new versions of repair procedures. By staying current with OEM updates through RepairLogic, you reduce the risk of errors and help ensure repairs are completed correctly the first time.

2. Accurate Estimates

Writing complete and accurate estimates is another important consideration for enhancing collision repair operations. It goes hand-in-hand with using the correct repair procedures, helping ensure all necessary labor operations are included in the estimate the first time. Some commonly missed operations, like seatbelt inspections, for example, are quick, easy, and required by every OEM, and can also add up in cost when they’re not included in the estimate. Your technicians may be performing all the required operations, but without the right tools, documenting them is easy to forget.

This is where estimating tools, like EstimateIQ, are extremely helpful. Estimating solutions are designed to help estimators write complete and accurate estimates from the start. By capturing all necessary work in the estimate, your team can improve profitability and support more efficient operations.

Commonly missed operations add up in cost when they’re not included in the estimate.

3. Parts Order Management

One of the major challenges collision shops face is inefficiency and inaccuracy in the parts ordering process. Efficient parts ordering ensures timely access to necessary components, reducing downtime and speeding up repair times. For example, imagine your shop needs a specific part for a repair. Your parts manager might spend hours calling multiple dealers or searching online to find the part, often encountering delays due to limited availability. When you’re looking at multiple parts needed for a collision repair, the process could take days. In that time, the vehicle sits idle in the shop, causing a backlog and customer frustration.

Utilizing parts order management platforms can transform how you place your parts orders. For instance, many parts ordering platforms address the common problem of limited parts availability. These platforms grant access to thousands of enrolled dealers and suppliers, helping create numerous options for parts sourcing and reducing delays caused by unavailable parts. Additionally, several platforms provide catalog images, which help ensure complete orders and verify that parts fit the vehicle, eliminating the risk of incorrect parts being ordered. Likewise, these solutions, like CollisionLink and TraxCollision, simplify the parts ordering process by offering upfront pricing and easy order tracking. This reduces the time spent on manual tasks, helps avoid errors, and ensures timely access to the right parts. By using these platforms, you can significantly enhance the efficiency and accuracy of your parts ordering process, leading to smoother operations and higher customer satisfaction.

4. Certifications and Coaching

Considering the competitive nature of the collision repair industry, maintaining high standards and differentiating your shop can be a real challenge. It’s essential not only to implement the right tools, but also to align yourself with industry-leading standards and earn OEM collision certifications so your business can continue to grow and profit.

OEM certifications address these challenges by establishing your shop as a reliable, high-quality service provider. Certifications serve as a competitive advantage, while instilling confidence in customers looking for high-quality repairs. For instance, imagine a shop decides to deviate from OEM repair procedures to save time and costs. If a repair is performed incorrectly, it could lead to vehicle malfunctions or safety issues. Imagine a situation where a critical component, such as an airbag system, is not replaced and restored according to OEM specifications. If the airbag fails to deploy correctly in an accident, it could result in severe injuries or even worse. Such an incident would not only harm the customer, but may expose the shop to significant liability, legal consequences, and damage to its reputation. By adhering to proper tooling, equipment, education, and utilization of OEM repair procedures, your shop can minimize risks and produce repairs that meet the highest industry standards.

OEM certifications address challenges by establishing your shop as a reliable, high-quality service provider.

The OEC Certified Repair Network (CRN) offers more than 35 certifications. Certifications can also open doors to referrals through OEM-certified shop locators, creating a stream of customers to your shop and driving business growth. Plus, certification verifies a shop’s investment in the tools, equipment, training, and business practices to provide safe and proper repair. To maximize the benefits of certification programs, your team can also consider consulting with an expert. On-site, in-shop coaching sessions are designed to cover critical areas, such as estimatics, repair quality, vehicle protection, parts storage, repair procedures, and workplace safety.

Bringing in an industry expert helps standardize your repair processes and improve overall shop performance. Data even shows that shops implementing coaching programs see tangible benefits, including increased revenue — on average, an additional $750 in gross dollars per repair order and improved cycle times, with an average reduction of 1.5 days per repair. In addition, you can be confident that your team is being coached by industry professionals to provide consistently high-quality and proper repairs.

Right Tools, Stronger Results

Staying ahead in the collision repair industry requires more than just hard work and dedication. You need the support of the right solutions and services to overcome the industry challenges that are likely preventing you from optimizing your repair business. The proper combination of these tools and certifications empowers your shop to meet (and even exceed) the high expectations of your customers, driving growth and profitability. By embracing these solutions, you can put your facility and team in position to become a model of consistency, efficiency, and quality.

Questions? Click here to connect with an expert and to learn about the OEC Collision Shop Solutions.

This leads to inefficiencies in current repair planning practices and increased supplements, resulting in a loss of 39 million man-days. That’s roughly equivalent to 1,337 individual lifetimes and about $1.5 billion in lost productivity – all in one year. This creates a lot of wasted time and, from the perspective of your bottom line, lost profits.

Today’s vehicles are equipped with sophisticated systems and components that require up-to-date tools and knowledge of repair procedures, a trend that’s only going to continue. From advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) to complex hybrid and electric drivetrains, vehicles demand a higher level of expertise for repairs to be completed safely and properly. This underscores the importance of standardizing a repair planning process and putting technicians in the position to make consistent, efficient, and quality repairs.

Breaking down the repair planning process

Standardizing and optimizing repair planning allows your collision repair facility to adapt to evolving vehicle technology and promotes consistent, efficient, high-quality repairs. Using a structured approach to repair planning helps enhance operational efficiency, employee productivity, and overall customer satisfaction. What’s more, repair planning removes barriers, improves collaboration, increases data access, and promotes accountability.

These advancements not only benefit individual repair facilities, but also contribute to the broader goal of standardizing repair planning across the industry, ultimately leading to safer, more reliable vehicle repairs for consumers.

Check out the following steps for implementing and optimizing a repair planning practice:

1. Customer check-in

The first step in your repair planning process should be to perform an active intake. This means walking the customer around the vehicle, identifying pre-existing damage, and collecting the collision details. This should always include written documentation and quality photos.

This check-in is your opportunity to ‘wow’ your customers. You also have a chance to learn the details of the collision from the vehicle owner first hand. Set expectations by giving clear information about what’s happening with their repair. Customers should understand when you’re going to reach out and how (text, email, phone calls, etc.), the complexity of their repair, and the approximate number of days you’ll have the vehicle.

It’s important to keep in mind, however, that every intake is different. Think about how you might adjust your wording and approach when speaking to customers with EVs or hybrid vehicles. What additional information do they need? When speaking to the customer, it’s important to break it down for them and ask, “do you have any questions about what we’re doing?”

The check-in is your opportunity to ‘wow’ your customers, setting expectations & providing clear information.

2. Pre-disassembly

Before any disassembly takes place, several steps need to be performed consistently. The first step is to wash the vehicle thoroughly. Thorough means cleaning mechanical components, the underbody, anything that could create uncertainty in the pre-diagnostic inspection process. The first part of the pre-diagnostic process is scanning. This is where the vehicle is inspected for prior repairs, and all damage is mapped and documented, including photo documentation. This aids in accurately assessing the extent of the damage and serves as a valuable reference throughout the repair process.

The first part of the pre-diagnostic process is scanning. This is where the vehicle is inspected for prior repairs, and all damage is mapped and documented.

3. Disassembly

Disassembly is where the rubber meets the road. You’ve probably heard different perspectives on what 100% disassembly means. Here’s what industry experts recommend: any part that requires removal or disassembly for repair should be addressed during this stage. This includes damaged wheels, fenders, doors, bumper covers, and grills—each should be fully disassembled for repair or replacement. Label the damaged parts clearly as “scrap” or “waste” to prevent them from being mistakenly reused.

During disassembly, it’s important to be methodical and consistent with your approach. Even seemingly straightforward tasks like bumper replacements require careful consideration of safety aspects, such as reinforcements, sensors, and identifying single-use parts. Newer vehicles often have clips, fasteners, and other pieces of hardware that can break during a collision or in disassembly. These small parts are easy to overlook, leading to delays if not ordered in advance.

During 100% disassembly, any part that requires removal or disassembly for the repair should be addressed.

You’ll need to separate reusable and replacement parts and organize them neatly for documentation purposes. There are software solutions that can be great tools for single-use part identification, helping facilitate communication between estimators and technicians, and ensuring the repair plan aligns with repair needs. According to data from an industry leading software solution, 42% of repair plans contain at least one single-use part.

During disassembly, you should review the most up-to-date OEM structural and procedural documents to help make decisions (store repair documents in a clear sleeve for easy reference). From there, complete measurements and perform pre-pulls as necessary and determine if a pre-alignment is required. Conduct R&I (remove and install) and triage damaged parts, storing them securely. Use sealable storage containers for clips, fasteners, and hardware. From there, complete any required measurements, pre-pulls, or pre-alignments to help determine both the extent of damage and repair verses replacement decisions. These practices help maintain organization and efficiency during the disassembly process.

Review the most up-to-date OEM structural and procedural documents to help make decisions.

Protecting the vehicle while in the care of the collision center is a top priority. This includes protecting electrical connections from weather, dust, metal shavings, and corrosion. Taking these protective measures is critical to maintaining the vehicle’s electrical viability. This can be achieved with indoor storage or by using protective coverings like CrashWrap (some shops even cover plugs and open fittings with balloons). Whatever measures you take to protect the vehicle, it’s important to inform the customer and document these measures to build trust with customers and insurers.

4. Estimate accuracy audit

Missed operations on the estimate lead to supplements and profit loss. Your shop can help prevent these issues by ensuring your estimate is accurate and complete the first time. The first step is one that you’ll hear again and again: documentation. All procedures must be thoroughly documented to provide a clear outline of the repair process. Next, labor operations without a valid labor time should be identified and addressed. Then the verification steps, including:

• Checking the correct labor profile.
• Confirming accurate coding of labor operations and parts (OEM, AM, LKQ, etc.).
• Verifying parts price differences and availability.

Additionally, it’s important to include consumables in the estimate, the items you use or that get damaged during the repair process (paint, adhesives, etc.). Plus, verify that outsourced repair estimates, towing, and storage are added. Last, but not least, remember to include correct taxes for all taxable items. These steps help your team write a comprehensive estimate that reflects the true cost of the repair, making sure you’re getting paid for all your work and the materials used.

Estimating solutions help:

• Reduce supplements
• Maintain compliance
• Improve cycle time

5. Collaboration

Be sure to involve and inform all relevant parties throughout the repair planning process. This leads to more accurate estimates, better decisions, and smoother operations. Key stakeholders include repair technicians, estimators, parts suppliers, insurance adjusters, and the vehicle owner. Or, in short, make sure everyone is on the same page. This includes reviewing required documentation to check that the necessary steps and procedures are followed. Each stakeholder brings unique expertise and perspectives that can help create a comprehensive repair plan and ensure the repair is completed efficiently and effectively, following manufacturer repair procedures.

6. Submissions and approvals

Now it’s time to submit the estimate and the repair plan for review and approval by the customer and (in some cases) the insurance company or a third party:

• First, the paperwork must be accurately prepared to maintain compliance with relevant laws and regulations.
• Next, contact the customer and/or insurance company to discuss the repair plan and get approvals.
• Once you have approval, the responsible party needs to agree to cover the costs associated with the repair plan.

Clear communication with customers and insurers during this stage supports a successful and compliant repair process.

7. Parts procurement

You’ve got approval, now what? Is it the ‘hair on fire’ approach to parts ordering, having a dealer fax over quotes or spending valuable time waiting on hold while a parts person “checks on it”? Or do you embrace a more efficient approach, using software that promotes more efficient parts ordering, provides real-time availability, and offers price matching?

Online parts ordering streamlines the procurement process, improves cycle time, and reduces errors. Then, once you receive the parts, it’s important to mirror match them with the damaged parts and discard the damaged ones properly. Lastly, minimize delays by preparing carts or storage areas to organize the necessary parts for a repair job.

8. Dispatching

This is the part where you assign the right technician to the job to optimize efficiency and deliver quality. Before you choose, ask yourself, ‘Does this team member have the appropriate skill set and workload?’ It’s also important to consider, before starting the repair, the vehicle’s placement in the shop’s production system. Is the vehicle in the correct location to carry out the repair process? If not, make the proper adjustments to promote a smooth repair process, reduce downtime, and help your team get the repairs done efficiently. Assign the right technician to the job to optimize efficiency and deliver quality.

9. In process & final QC

Quality control is critical throughout the repair process, ensuring the vehicle has been repaired according to manufacturer procedures. This helps you avoid expensive rework and meet (or exceed) customer expectations. This includes performing in-process quality control (QC) checks before advancing the repair process. Once the repair is complete, a final QC check should be conducted to verify that all the work is correct and meets quality standards.

At this point, it’s also important to check that the necessary paperwork is in order and ready for review by performing a file audit. This step is essential for invoicing and maintaining accurate records prior to returning the vehicle to the customer.

What’s next?

As you navigate repair planning and look to standardize and optimize the process, keep in mind that you should approach change strategically and incrementally to minimize disruptions. This is where you can take advantage of comprehensive solutions that encompass all aspects of repair planning. These solutions coupled with guidance from expert coaches and consultants provide ongoing learning and adaptation – all key to implementing a standardized (and optimized!) repair planning process. Give yourself a competitive edge with OEM certification programs and gain access to tools, knowledge, and resources to support your facility’s growth.

The benefits of certifications include:

• Enhancing repair quality
• Optimizing estimatics
• Preserving vehicle integrity
• Ensuring structural repair integrity
• Adhering to OEM repair procedures

These practices also help improve job profitability and enhance repair outcomes without causing significant disruptions to your operations.

Questions? We’re happy to help! Click here to connect with an expert or to learn about all of the OEC Collision Shop Solutions.

Imagine scrolling through endless articles, videos, and advertisements, all promising the latest and greatest in electric vehicle (EV) knowledge and training. Of course, you want to ensure your shop is ready to handle EVs safely and efficiently, but with so many training and certification options, it’s hard to know where to start. In fact, it can be overwhelming.

The OEC Electric Vehicle Handling Qualified (EVHQ) training program is designed to provide technicians and shop owners with the specialized knowledge and skills needed to work on EVs safely and effectively.
Here are five reasons why EVHQ should be at the top of your list:

The EV market is growing

EVs have been steadily gaining popularity since around 2008, and there are more EVs on the road now than ever. According to Cox Automotive, EV sales in the U.S. saw an impressive increase of 60% year-over-year from 1 million in 2022 to 1.6 million in 2023. According to industry analyst IHS Markit, by 2035 45% of new car sales could be electric. At that rate, about half of the cars on the road would be electric by 2050. Your shop can’t afford to sit on the EV sidelines, and you need to be prepared to handle these vehicles.

As EV technology continues to evolve, so do the challenges associated with repairing and maintaining these vehicles. Understanding the risks involved in working with high-voltage components is vital to the safety of both your customers and shop employees. Whether you’re a collision, mechanical, glass, ADAS, or paintless dent repairer, you need to know how to safely handle EVs.

Since there’s an increased likelihood of unseen damage with EVs, even bringing them into your shop can pose safety concerns. This includes not only repairing them, but also just physically moving them into the building. Mishandling or accidental contact with high-voltage components can lead to serious injuries to your employees and damaged EV or hybrid batteries are a fire or explosion risk, putting your facility in harm’s way.

Enhanced safety practices

With the presence of high-voltage components, working on EVs requires heightened awareness of safety protocols. Anyone working on EVs should be able to identify potential hazards and mitigate risks effectively. The biggest dangers include:

• Risk of electrical shock
• Arc flash (produces intense heat & light) causing burns & other injuries
• Fires & explosions from lithium-ion batteries
• Chemical hazards from batteries
• Higher risk of being crushed due to increased vehicle weight
• Noise & vibration risks causing hearing loss or other problems

Sound intense? It is, but by identifying potential risks, using the correct personal protective equipment (PPE), and implementing effective safety measures, technicians can create a safer working environment for themselves and their colleagues.

Identifying potential risks, using the correct personal protective equipment (PPE), and implementing effective safety measures, creates a safer working environment for technicians and their colleagues.

Specialized knowledge required

You likely know that working on EVs requires knowledge that goes beyond conventional automotive repair practices. This means knowing where high-voltage components are located, the dangers of regenerative braking systems, what PPE is required, the one-hand rule, and much more. Plus, knowledge of the various types of batteries used in EVs and hybrids, as well as their charging systems, vehicle control systems, diagnostic tools, and built-in safety systems are all important for your team to understand. Luckily, all of this and more is included in the OEC EVHQ program.

Compliance & risk management

EV repair professionals must comply with various safety standards and regulations set forth by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). This includes guidelines for PPE, like insulated lineman’s gloves & hand tools, dry chemical fire extinguishers, and more. Guidelines for PPE are provided in the EVHQ program and can help you equip your team with adequate protection.

Additionally, proper disposal of EV components, especially batteries, is critical to minimizing the environmental impact of EV repair. According to the International Council on Clean Transportation, EV batteries that are improperly disposed of can cause fires or contaminate lands and waters with toxic chemical substances. By completing EVHQ training, technicians demonstrate a commitment to safety and compliance, which can reduce risk and liability issues.

Competitive advantage

Completing an EV safety training program demonstrates to customers and insurers that your team has the knowledge and expertise needed to handle these vehicles safely and effectively. It can also instill confidence in your technicians.

With EV market adoption expected to reach (or surpass) 50% by 2030, getting qualified prepares you for the increased business likely to result from this rapidly growing market. The reality is, unless you’re qualified to handle these vehicles, each percentage increase in the EV market is a percentage of business you may not be prepared to handle. By investing in OEC EVHQ training now, you can position your business to not only capture a share of this expanding market, but also prioritize the safety and satisfaction of your customers, enhancing your reputation.

As a bonus, the OEC EVHQ training program covers your entire shop, not just individual technicians. While each team member will need to complete the training, you won’t incur additional costs per team member.

Be prepared for the future

EV purchases are expected to continue to increase year-over-year for the foreseeable future, so unless you’re ready to handle these vehicles, you’re missing out on business opportunities or risking the safety of your employees and facilities. Getting qualified to handle EVs enhances your current customer prospects and prepares your technicians for future opportunities in the growing field of EV repair and maintenance.

EVHQ is more than just a training program, it’s a strategic investment. By prioritizing safety and staying informed, EV repair professionals can confidently navigate the challenges of working with EVs and contribute to a safer, more sustainable future of transportation.

• EV market is growing
• Enhanced safety practices
• Specialized knowledge required
• Compliance & risk management
• Competitive advantage

Questions about EVHQ? Click here to learn more or to connect with an expert!

When we talk about accuracy in the context of VIN decoding, we’re talking about the precision and detail available through a full VIN decode versus a VIN mask. That said, gaining access to the meaning behind each digit is a challenge because that level of insight and detail is tightly guarded information. This means complete accuracy relies heavily on the available solutions at the shop – and not all VIN tools provide the same, highly accurate vehicle information.

Accessing the VIN

While repairers and shops take different approaches to getting accurate insights into vehicles, especially for parts orders, when it comes to accessing VIN information, there are a few primary approaches:

• VIN Mask: A VIN Mask is a partial VIN that consists of the first 10 characters of the 17-character VIN. The 9th character in this sequence is a check digit created when the complete VIN is assigned. The VIN Mask doesn’t provide full details about the vehicle because it does not include the last 7 characters, which contain specific information about the vehicle’s assembly plant, serial number, specific configuration, options, and exact build data.
• Full VIN Decode: This involves using all 17 characters of the VIN. The last 6 characters are especially crucial because they provide the vehicle’s unique serial number. With a full VIN decode, you can access detailed information into the vehicle’s specifications, options, and build data. This level of detail is necessary for ordering the correct parts the first time around.

Why this matters

If you’re in the repair business, you already know that accuracy is critical – and it’s been repeated time and time again. VIN decoding proves that, when it comes to ordering parts, accuracy really matters. With the seemingly endless amount of sophistication in vehicles, minor inaccuracies have significant downstream effects. Accuracy in vehicle identification & repair is essential for several reasons:

• Complexity: Vehicles are complex with numerous variations in models, trims, and components. Accurate identification of these specifics is needed to ensure that the right parts are ordered and installed.
• Safety & liability: Using the correct parts is necessary for the safety and performance of the vehicle. Incorrect parts compromise vehicle integrity, leading to potential safety hazards and increased liability for repair shops.
• Efficiency: It’s no secret the industry – across the board – is facing labor shortages, making efficiency more important than ever. Accurate parts orders minimize delays and rework, allowing shops to maintain high throughput and customer satisfaction.
• Returns & rework: Ordering the wrong parts not only causes delays but also increases the likelihood of returns and rework. This damages the shop’s reputation and profitability. If a customer needs to bring a vehicle back because the wrong part was installed, the shop didn’t just lose one customer, it lost all the customers that one person tells.

The advantage of the right parts ordering platform

Most parts ordering software only allows users to input the first several characters of the VIN, limiting access to specific data, like whether the car is a hatchback or a sedan, if it’s the sport model or hybrid with different engine specifications, and so on. As a result, the shop team often needs to gather all the detailed information from the customer. This creates extra paperwork, additional back-and-forth communications, and other steps that slow things down. Without built-in precision and accuracy, shops may even start the process by ordering every version of the part for the vehicle repair, using the correct one, and then returning the others, creating an inefficient and costly process.

Repairers are better served by a parts ordering platform that allows for full VIN-based parts lookup and ordering, meaning the full 17 VIN characters and access to comprehensive vehicle data.

Fortunately, a few parts ordering platforms, like RepairLink, offer this level of detail, allowing users to quickly and easily order parts based on data from the full VIN. These platforms streamline the parts ordering process while reducing returns, saving time and money, and supporting a smoother workflow. By leveraging detailed VIN decoding and accurate parts data, repair shops can navigate vehicle complexity and, ultimately, drive customer satisfaction and shop profitability.

Does your shop leverage accurate, precise vehicle data?
Interested in leveraging a full VIN decode in your facility? Click here for more insight and how to get started.

OEC plays many different roles for many different people in the automotive industry – we want to take a moment to share our story: 

Back in 2000, OEMs faced a huge hurdle selling parts into dealerships, mechanical shops, and collision shops. Every transaction was handled manually, by phone or fax, creating a real need for an efficient way to do business. This is where OEC entered the market. Several major auto industry players, including GM, Ford, Chrysler, and Bell & Howell, formed OEConnection (OEC as we’re known today) to help facilitate part sales between dealers and repair facilities.  

Like the automotive industry itself, growth was not inevitable but essential for keeping pace with customer needs within an evolving market. OEC continued to develop and acquire key software solutions to better manage every aspect of maintenance and repair. By strategically growing the business, the OEC customer network expanded to include aftermarket parts suppliers, MSOs, fleets, insurers and, of course, dealers, collision & mechanical repairers, and manufacturers.  

Now customers throughout the industry and around globe use OEC technology and data services to connect with each other and get vehicles back on the road safely. From our early focus on parts to our now expanded solutions and customers, OEC connects those involved in the vehicle parts and repair ecosystem so they finally have an easier way to get their job done. 

The current availability of parts and repair data for collision repairers and parts dealers seems unlimited and easily accessible. That said, not all data is the same. Much of the parts and repair data currently available to repair customers comes from ambiguous or unofficial sources, including third-party suppliers. These data sources often lack quality assurances and affect parts accuracy, repair quality, and even pricing information.

When accessing parts data, it’s critical that the parts buyers and sellers consider the source of the data. Having information is good, of course. But when it’s unclear where the information is coming from (or if it’s reliable), it creates adverse, downstream effects, including inaccurate parts numbers & orders, outdated pricing, and unnecessary returns & delays.

For parts & repair information, OEM data is the clear source of truth. This is why the OEC solutions, supported by data direct from the OEM, deliver high-quality parts and repair information that is reliably accurate and consistently up to date. The OEC solutions, including CollisionLink & Trax, provide shops and dealers with the ability to:

• Validate each OEM part number to increase order accuracy by confirming (at the VIN level) whether a part is correct, incorrect, or if additional parts may be required. This level of accuracy streamlines the ordering process and promotes a stronger customer experience starting at the beginning of the process.
• Access an OEM parts catalog to identify and order the right parts – and all necessary parts – the first time, reducing the hassle of returns and the need to order additional parts that, with accurate data, could have been identified and procured at the beginning of the repair process.
• Receive recall notifications when the VIN on the order has an open recall, creating an opportunity for the shop and the dealer to promote proper vehicle repair and demonstrate expert awareness of vehicle safety for the customer.
• Access full option codes for visibility into vehicle options to ensure accurate parts orders for the shop based on the specific vehicle’s model and features. This is a significant advantage given the complexity and variation in vehicles on the road.
• View OEM price tapes that feature accurate parts numbers for up-to-date pricing, including current promotions, parts programs, and opportunities to price match, allowing for the creation of accurate estimates and invoices.

When shops and dealers take advantage of solutions that leverage OEM data, daily tasks are easier and performed with greater efficiency. Simply put, shops and dealers can:

• Work together effectively & productively
• Promote proper parts ordering & vehicle repair
• Experience streamlined workflows
• Increase profits & reduce costs
• Return the vehicle to the customer in a timely manner

More than that, though: the real value of leveraging OEM-sourced data is keeping the customer safe by ensuring the right parts go into the right vehicle for the right repair. This is why leveraging solutions, like the OEC platforms that feature OEM data, ensure customers always have accurate, up-to-date parts and repair information. When the repairer and dealer can trust the data, they can make – or guide – the correct part choice for the proper repair and deliver safe, efficient results for the vehicle owner.

1. Share Customer Testimonials

Most business owners would love to believe that their customers trust them and take them at their word. In many instances, this is true. But customers really trust what other customers say about a business or an experience. Think about it, it’s why people read product reviews or look to eat at restaurants with four- or five-star ratings. Customers are more likely to believe or take recommendations from other customers. For this reason, it is worth your time and energy to ask a few customers to provide you with a testimonial you can use to promote your shop.

Once you have a testimonial – and you are certain your customer is okay with you sharing it – make sure your testimonials are in an easy-to-see spot on your website or social media, like pinned to the top of your page. This is a terrific way to show your future (and existing) customers the great work your business does through the voice of someone who has experience with you and your services.

How do you get a testimonial? Consider offering incentives or raffle prizes to customers who offer you a testimonial. It’s also important to be interactive and thoughtful toward the people who appreciate your work. Plus, it’s good customer service to make them feel like their business matters. After all, they are providing you with a free advertisement – a testimonial from a satisfied customer – that you can share anywhere you promote your shop.

2. Maintain a social media presence on multiple platforms

Sometimes it can seem like social media only exists for cat videos and vacation photos, but if your shop doesn’t have its own page, you’re missing an opportunity to connect with a larger audience. Being present on social media is a great way to stay top of mind, provide business updates, and interact with the community.

When you create a business page for your shop, not only can you offer coupons and daily deals, but you can also interact with future and existing customers. Interacting with your customers shows you care about them and want their business. It’s also a terrific way to get your name out there and spread the word about your excellent services. You can share a poll online or give them a chance to share their experience at your shop. Giving your customers a chance to speak to you and share feedback gives your shop credibility and makes their interaction personal.

Another way to engage with your customers on social media is by sharing facts and tips. This keeps them engaged, informed, or even entertained. You can consider themed posts, such as Fact Fridays, Tip Tuesdays, or Daily Deals. These are just a few ideas to start with. It takes less than 10 minutes to find an interesting fact or tip from a reliable source and share it with your followers! Posting interesting and thoughtful information, especially on topics related to the industry, keeps followers attuned to your online presence and they may even consider your social media page to be a trusted resource.

Your presence on multiple social media platforms shows you care about your appearance and reputation. Maintaining a social presence also makes it easier for your customers to find you. Plus, you can take the opportunity to help your customers get to know your employees (Employee Spotlight posts!) and learn about the background of your business. Whether you opened a year ago or you’ve been around for a while, your customers are curious about your business!

3. Make sure to have a user-friendly website

It is incredibly frustrating to log on to a website that’s basically unusable or difficult to navigate. We’ve all been there – you visit a page that is difficult to navigate, the information you’re looking for is hard to find, and, by the end, you just log off and choose a different option. Even though you’re not in the web design industry, your website is an extension of both your shop’s brand and your customer experience. You don’t want your customers to be annoyed or frustrated before they even interact with you.

This is why it’s important to make your website attractive and easy to use: it’s a reflection of your business and capabilities. Is this fair? Not necessarily. Is this how things work sometimes (especially in a very online society)? Yep.

Nowadays, the easiest way to book an appointment or to make a request is through a company’s website, making it extra important to have your credentials, achievements, reviews, appointments, and any other bit of information customers might need on your website. Plus, it needs to be easily accessible to anyone who wants to bring their vehicle to your shop. When a customer logs onto your website, you want to make sure they know they will get the best service possible, and maybe even learn a thing or two about your business.

As a small piece of advice, if you’re ever in doubt, just keep the site clean, simple, and direct.

4. Be responsive and easy to contact

When a company is difficult to contact or unresponsive to queries, it sets a bad tone from the start. If a business doesn’t answer the phone or respond to emails or social messages, how optimistic can a customer be about the service? A key part of promoting your shop is communicating with your customers. If a customer calls and you’re not able to answer, make sure you return the call or respond to a message. It’s important to let your customers know they’re not just another call and that they are, in fact, important to you and your business. Quick responses to email questions or a voicemail will help ensure you’re not losing business.

You likely understand this, but when a customer needs to have their car fixed, they probably don’t have days to wait around for a call back from you. Also, it’s not only important to respond, but to be pleasant when you pick up the phone and be ready to answer the callers’ questions. It’s also a good practice to make sure your employees are knowledgeable and can talk about your company in a clear and insightful manner while also being able to answer customer questions or address concerns.

When it comes to interacting with customers, a strong commitment to the soft skills can go a long way toward promoting your shop and providing a strong customer experience.

If you’re looking for additional new ways to find parts and provide faster service to your customers, let us know and our experts can help!

5. Create a brand experience

It’s been said that a brand is not a logo, but a promise – it’s what your customers can expect from your shop every time they engage with it. It’s important that your shop provides – and delivers – on the promise it makes to customers. By making sure you have consistent signage, attire, and collateral (t-shirts, business cards, stickers, pens, key chains, etc.), you can establish a clean and consistent experience for customers.

This doesn’t mean, however, that you need to have full renovation or large rotating sign in front of the business. It just means using a consistent logo, having professional looking employees, creating branded stickers, business cards, and signage, all of this inspires confidence and trust within your customers.

People, especially customers, appreciate consistency; it makes them feel comfortable and confident. When someone walks into your shop, you want them to feel the same way the first time as they do the sixth time, meaning:

• They see the same thing: employees in matching, branded shirts, and hats
• Hear the same thing: Responsive, well-informed employees
• Experience the same thing: High quality, timely service

This is all about making the customer comfortable and confident – it is also likely to have a positive effect on your employees, too.

Deliver on your promises

While your marketing and promotion strategies can evolve, what does not change is your main goal: providing excellent service to your customers and growing your business. If your business strives to create a stellar customer experience – from the initial point of contact to the moment the customer gets their keys back – all while serving the community and your target audience, you and your team are already on the right track. With these tips in mind and your mission to achieve brand recognition and customer satisfaction, you have all the right tools to keep your customers loyal and your shop’s reputation sparkling.

For more information and insights check out our other blog posts. For additional shop tools, check out the OEC shop solutions.

By now, most of us have seen signs hanging on the businesses’ doors that say things like “Please be patient, we’re understaffed at the moment.” Or something similar, right? It means resources are tight. And by resources, we’re talking about the employees, their time, and the ability to get work done. In most industries, including repair shops, restaurants, retailers, and others, the resources needed to run the business are getting tighter. For collision repair shops, this understaffing often means the technicians’ availability is limited and shops are running longer cycle times or, even worse, losing business.

Now, you don’t have to hold an MBA from a top-tier business school to understand that providing a bad customer experience by making customers wait longer than expected or providing an experience that turns customers away is not a good business practice and is certainly not sustainable.

In the auto industry, understand that you’re not alone. There’s an ongoing squeeze when it comes to employees, time, and productivity, impacting the business’ overall profitability. The squeeze on these resources is happening everywhere, too. Dealerships are not immune to this type of crunch. Parts departments are running with thinner crews as well. Order processing times are on the rise, leading to shops, at least the ones that have not made the transition to online ordering, sitting on hold for longer than usual and slowing down the repair process.

Kind of sounds like it’s all connected, huh? Well, it is. The stress of having limited resources adds friction to the workflow between shops and dealers. But there is good news: there are tools and solutions that exist to not only help shops and dealers work together in smart, productive ways, but also in new ways that help maximize resources, minimize time-draining tasks, and help improve the bottom line.

For most, saving time really means spending less time on certain tasks. It’s not “saving time” exactly, but rather reallocating time into more productive measures. At the shop, spending less time on the phone, writing emails, or reordering parts means more time for repairs that lead to greater profitability. At the dealership, it means more time with more customers and selling more parts.

No matter where your role falls in the parts purchasing and ordering process – from buyer to seller to installer (two out of three, even?) – it’s unlikely that you’re not looking for ways to get more (there’s that word again – more) out of the resources you have available to you and your team. And since you can’t clone yourself or snap your fingers and double your staff, it’s worth considering the tools that do exist and are designed to help you get more out of the workday.

Here are a few ways to help maximize resources and promote greater profitability – even in times like these, ones full of change and transition – that provide benefits to your shop:

Embrace more efficient parts ordering

Look into tools that provide shops with access to Manufacturer catalog section images and allow users to easily access catalogs and identify parts missing from an estimate. The more accurate and complete you can be early in the repair process, the more time you can save. There’s nothing worse than that sudden moment of realization when you learn you need to go back and rework your project. Tools that give you access to Manufacturer catalog section images help you minimize calls and emails to dealers, freeing up the team – on both ends of the line – to focus on the work that brings in profits. Saving time is great of course, but what you can do with the added time is even more important to think about.

Reduce returns & limit supplements

Available tools and solutions, like parts order scrubbing by VIN, reduce costly parts returns and supplements by flagging parts that don’t fit the VIN. This makes it possible for you to send a more accurate parts order, see flagged parts that don’t fit the vehicle, and view alternative parts, all to help ensure that your parts orders are complete and accurate the first time. If you order a part that doesn’t fit the vehicle you’re working on, you need to – obviously – return that part and submit a new order for the right part.

Meanwhile, the clock keeps ticking, delaying repairs and, likely, the time when you return the vehicle to its owner. This also means you or someone on your team needs to take time away from revenue-generating work to go through the administrative hassle of returning the part, ordering the correct one, and possibly calling the customer to let them know about the delay. Returns and supplements cost you productivity and time – two things most shops don’t have enough of right now.

Access parts availability

While this level of information and insight can vary from dealer to dealer, using a tool that allows you to know what’s in stock helps you effectively schedule jobs and communicate with your customers with greater accuracy. When you have access to parts availability information, you not only know the stocking situation for the parts you need, but you’re able to accurately evaluate your cycle time, provide your techs with more critical uptime for repairs, and manage customer expectations.

That last one is huge, too. Level-setting expectations and then delivering on those promises will likely go a long way toward establishing a strong customer relationship. When you operate a collision shop, your customers have likely experienced something traumatic or, at the very least, inconvenient. The more you can do to provide a smooth process throughout their interactions with your shop, the more your reputation will benefit from it.

Downstream advantages to dealers & vehicle owners

If you’re thinking, “these ideas sound like a great way to extend the resources around my shop,” you’re spot on! They primarily help shops, but there are secondary benefits that go beyond the increased efficiency your shop will experience with a greater ability to accurately order parts, limit returns & supplements, and gain access to part inventory levels.

When you order parts more efficiently, you’re helping the dealer out by allowing them to process these orders faster and with fewer hassles. If the dealership’s parts department runs more efficiently, there’s no doubt that the impact will ultimately circle back around and help you even more in the long run… like the next time you order parts… and the next time. The same is true about returns: you don’t have to process them and neither does the parts department on the receiving end.

Let’s recap real quick:

New parts ordering tools and upgrades to existing solutions help your shop and the dealership’s parts department:

• Limit administrative work (i.e., non-revenue generating tasks)
• Reduce redundant tasks, including parts returns or supplemental orders
• Take advantage of greater efficiency, allowing you to work more productively by knowing if parts are available – limiting phone calls & emails

Plus, there’s the vehicle owner (aka: your customer!): you don’t have to go back and explain that you ordered the wrong part. Awkward conversations that you don’t need to have are the best kind of awkward conversations. When you use tools that provide faster, more efficient ways to order parts AND provide more information, the benefits go beyond your collision repair shop. All of this helps you provide a better experience for your customers in the end.

For information on the tools and solutions outlined above or for insights on additional services, click here.