FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                               August 9, 2005

For More Information call:                         Fred M. Iantorno                      (847) 498-6945

                                                                        Executive Director                   (847) 562-0739 FAX

CIECA’s First Repairer Advisory Panel Meeting Held in Scottsdale

Northbrook, IL – The Collision Industry Electronic Commerce Association (CIECA) announced today that the newly commissioned Repairers Advisory Panel (RAP) held its first meeting in Scottsdale, Arizona on July 26.

In a gathering of about 11 attendees, the first CIECA Repairer Advisory Panel met to discuss a variety of electronic commerce topics affecting them and the collision repair industry. Among the topics discussed were SCRS’ “two-way communications” project, the CIECA Resource Center, incorrect expectations in the marketplace regarding what CIECA can do for repairers, and the proliferation of different Status Message systems (to report the repair status of the vehicle).

Jerry Burns, Automotive Impressions, said that “CIECA needs to communicate in (what Jerry called) ‘Shop-eze’ and less in technical language.” CIECA Board Chairman Paul Krauss of Craftsman Auto Body said that he hoped that this panel would “go a long way toward bridging the language gap between repairers and the standards developers.”  Work on developing an effective method of communication with the Repairers will be the topic of future RAP meetings.

In a unanimous vote, the RAP recognized the importance of addressing the proliferation of Status Messages and systems. Barry Dorn, Dorn’s Body and Paint, said that “a standardized method of reporting vehicle repair status is needed.” “Without a defined standard, the industry potentially will have a similar situation that we had before the EMS was developed by CIECA,” Fred Iantorno, CIECA’s Executive Director, added.

Fred Iantorno reported that CIECA’s Resource and Knowledge Center has been receiving many questions regarding the actual repair of vehicles. These types of questions were originally outside the scope of the Center. Jerry Burns announced that ASA (Automotive Service Association) would provide CIECA with the answers to those questions. Dan Risley, SCRS Executive Director, added that SCRS (Society of Collision Repair Specialists) would also provide answers. The RAP decided to accept these offers and outlined a procedure where these repair questions would be forwarded to both ASA and SCRS with the answers posted on the Collision Industry Resource Center provided by CIECA: www.crclink.org.

“The concept of the Repairer Advisory Panel for CIECA is BIG!  The open dialogue between all participants will prove to be a valuable tool as CIECA pushes toward a cleaner more concise manner for all parties to communicate and conduct business electronically.  Our industry revolves around the exchange of information. I am excited to be a part of identifying "Repairer Friendly" initiatives and results,” said Gary Wano, GW & Sons Auto Body.

After the meeting, Gary Wano accepted the ongoing Chairmanship of the Repairer Advisory Panel. Congratulations and thank you to Gary. The next meeting will be held on September 14 in San Francisco. Those repairers that would like to participate please contact Fred Iantorno at CIECA or any Panel member.

More information about CIECA and the Repairer Advisory Panel can be viewed on the CIECA web site: www.cieca.com.

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About CIECA: CIECA assists the Collision Industry in the effective use of electronic commerce and the National Information Superhighway. It is directed by a Board of Trustees and has offices in Illinois. Its members jointly work on Standards Development Committees (SDC) addressing standards for Electronic Data Interchange, Interoperability, XML and Imaging. CIECA addresses Electronic Commerce issues on a national scale. It has developed processes for identifying and prioritizing industry issues, establishing SDCs to design solutions, and then working these solutions through the broadest base of acceptance mechanisms possible, such as the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).