Automotive Repair News Today

Braxton Critcher [00:00:05]:
This is automotive repair news today. I'm Braxton Kricher, and this podcast is designed to help keep the automotive repair industry informed and help you learn how to take part in the change that's happening in the aftermarket. So let's get to the top. Stories happening this week starting off got some great news causing a sigh of relief across the industry, at least for a little while. The International Longshoresmen's association and the United States Maritime alliance have reached a tentative six year agreement. According to a press release from the Autocare association, the deal states that workers will see wage increases of 62% over the length of the contract. That number is a compromise between the Longshoresmen's association request for 77% and the United States Maritime Alliance's initial offer of nearly 50. While wage issues issues have been resolved, discussions of automation and benefits will continue.

Braxton Critcher [00:01:05]:
They have till January 15 to resolve them or another strike could be looming. The agreement means all work under the master contract will resume, helping to alleviate backlogs that have impacted the industry. With estimates of up to 340 million in losses for each day a strike continued. We'll keep you posted on this three shop owners in Michigan have gathered needed supplies to take western North Carolina this weekend. Eric Merchant, Corey Rosima and Elijah McMillan have collected nearly ten truckloads of non perishable food, water, baby supplies and more. They plan to leave Friday for distribution on Saturday. In Spruce Pine, North Carolina, Hurricane Helene wrecked parts of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee and North Carolina. And in North Carolina, there are still more than 100,000 homes without power and water.

Braxton Critcher [00:02:03]:
Here's Elijah McMillan with more.

Elijah McMillan [00:02:05]:
It's part of, I mean, it's why we're in business, really. It's one of our core values is going the second mile, and we want to do that for others that are suffering. So that's why we're trying to help in any way we can.

Braxton Critcher [00:02:19]:
If you have supplies you'd like to donate and or in Michigan, reach out to Eric Merchant on Facebook at Merchantautomotive LLC. Staying with Hurricane Helene relief, the ASta Expo is hosting an online auction to support their ongoing GoFundMe me to help their members rebuild their shops and repair homes for their families. The auction will run for a week and is on the ASTA Expo Facebook page, where you can bid on items like toolboxes, a top Dawn Phoenix Lite, two scan tool, a one day on site shop evaluation from the Institute for Automotive Excellence, and more. Again, visit the ASta Expo Facebook page for that auction running through October 14 in a new market force information study, discount Tire ranks the highest in drivers looking for new tires 33.8% of respondents selected discount Tire as their go to retailer. Walmart was second at 17.7. Costco was third at 16.9. That's a total of 68.4% between Costco, Walmart and discount tire, taking the top three how did independent repair shops fare? Well, 37% of consumers polled chose to go with local independent repair shops over the big box stores. And according to the report, Costco is the most trusted brand, as they also ranked the highest in customer satisfaction.

Braxton Critcher [00:03:49]:
National Automotive Service Task force members in the United States can now vote for the 2025 board of directors election, which runs from October 4 through November 2. To vote, simply log on to the Nastiff website and follow the instructions. In response to industry changes, Nastif has updated its bylaws, adding a new locksmith repossession seat to the board and two additional executive committee members to better represent its growing membership. Again, the deadline to vote is on November 2, and link to their site to do that is in the show. Notes a hybrid vehicle caused a large fire in Virginia last week. Fire crews arrived at 03:43 a.m. to Summerlin Heights apartment complex in Woodbridge, Virginia, to find multiple cars ablaze. Although they did quickly extinguish the flames, eight vehicles were destroyed and three others sustained damage.

Braxton Critcher [00:04:46]:
The fire originated from an electrical malfunction in a hybrid vehicle exacerbated by leaking gasoline. The make and model of the car that caused the fire has not been disclosed. Epcor has acquired Selenium Group and Visual SKus, two long time partners that provide a number of solutions for the automotive aftermarket. The acquisition will help manufacturers, distributors and retailers streamline operations, getting parts to market faster while improving product data management. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Jeff Koviak will take over as CEO of the automotive Parts Services group on January 1, 2025, following the retirement of current CEO Larry Pavey. Pavey, who plans to spend more time with his family and focus on charitable work, said he also plans to continue supporting the University of the aftermarket foundation. Pavey will assist with the leadership transition as Coviak steps into the role beginning January 1.

Braxton Critcher [00:05:51]:
The National Auto Body Council has opened nominations for its 2024 awards, including the NABC Changing and Saving Lives Award and the NABC Presidents Award, which honors individuals and companies for their leadership in the collision repair industry. A new award for 2024, the NABC Community Partner Award, will recognize the charitable partners doing outstanding work locally or nationally. Nominations are open through October 15 and a link to nominate is in the show. Notes ICAR has been designated as a registered apprenticeship hub and awarded over 7 million in funding through the Department of Labor's Apprenticeship Building America grant under the Investing in America initiative. The grant is for four years and will help icar expand its apprenticeship programs. The funding will support education benefiting repair centers and technicians in the automotive industry. Employers like gold class repair centers and iCAR academy participants will implement these programs. Chrysler is recalling over 150,000 Jeep, Wrangler and Grand Cherokee plug in hybrid vehicles from model years 2020 through 2024.

Braxton Critcher [00:07:12]:
Due to a fire risk. Owners are urged to park outside away from structures and avoid charging the vehicles until they are repaired. Two injuries have been reported. Chrysler dealers will update battery software and inspect or replace batteries when needed. Inform drivers of these vehicles today of this risk. SteC manufacturing has launched its new hold a rotor tool kit designed to secure disc brake rotors on cars and light trucks during repairs. The kit includes professional grade plugs that fit in most common 20 millimeter and 14 millimeter wheel mounting studs. Covering over 90% of domestic and european vehicles, this tool helps speed up brake pad, wheel bearing and other rotor related repairs.

Braxton Critcher [00:08:06]:
The plugins are color coded, made in the USA and small enough to store in your toolbox. That's going to wrap up today's podcast highlighting the top stories from across the automotive repair industry. And remember, if you have news to share, as always, send me an email braxton automotiverepairnews.com dot that's braxton@automotiverepairnews.com. hey, if you're still here, thank you so much for listening to this episode of Automotive Repair News today. If you enjoyed the show, please take a moment. Like share, subscribe to the podcast. It'll help us out a big deal and help grow the show. And you know what? While you're at it, slap on a review, too.

Braxton Critcher [00:08:51]:
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