Toronto, Ontario — Tough times can sometimes raise tensions among the various partners in the collision industry, but Lane Bailey, vice president of ELC Solutions and former insurance industry investigator, urged a CCIF Toronto audience audience on Friday not to paint all towers with the same brush when negotiating.
Bailey’s talk was entitled “Navigating the Pitfalls of Towing and Storage,” and frequently called for empathy from the collision industry when negotiating with the often maligned towing industry, saying that “every industry has those that are not ‘perfect.’”
That is where his company helps. ELC Solutions offers data insights to the many wings of the automotive industry that partner with towing and storage companies, including collision, allowing them to make informed decisions when working alongside these companies.
He says that one of the main contributors to tension between the factions of collision and towing is that for as long as a vehicle is in the hands of a towing or storage company, repair facilities feel as though the cycle time is completely out of their control, directly affecting production.
Services offered by his company allow repair facilities to compare tow companies based on delivery success, as well as if they offer things like 24-7 dispatching, or the ability to conduct appraisals.
On the towers side of things, ELC also puts a significant portion of their efforts into staying current on any changes to towing legislation in Ontario municipalities.
The point that only 25 municipalities in Ontario have specific towing legislation, compared to more than 400 that don’t, drew a noticeable murmur of surprise from the room of collision experts.
Bailey says the company works tirelessly to provide regionally accurate data to its partners, by way of tracking local legislation, which also helps inform repair facilities on what is fair market value for their area.
An understanding of fair market value is one of the key things standing between our two industries and respectful, good faith negotiating, according to Bailey.
The post Common Goals: ELC Solutions v-p speaks on co-operation between repairers, tow truck operators at CCIF Toronto appeared first on Collision Repair Magazine.
