The Collision Vision

Today, we're continuing our Safety First: Prioritizing Health in the Workshop series by diving into best practices for workplace safety. Joining us today is Stephany Birkholz, regulatory project manager at KPA. Stephany is an expert in workplace safety and compliance, helping collision repair shops implement tools and strategies to protect their employees and improve operations. Today, we'll explo...

Our guest for this episode is Andrew Batenhorst, Body Shop Manager at Pacific BMW. In addition to being all over the industry and very active in his volunteer work, Andrew is a leader with a vision for how to embed safety into the day-to-day practices of auto body shops. Today, we'll discuss his strategies for building a strong safety culture, reducing risks on the shop floor, and how prioritizing...

We're kicking off our brand-new series, Safety First: Prioritizing Health in the Workshop. In this first episode, we're diving into a critical aspect of workplace health—employee well-being and the role of benefits in collision repair shops. Joining us is Richie Seaberry, Vice President of Business Development and Enterprise Portfolio Manager at Decisely. Richie is here to talk about how offering...

On this episode, we're diving into one of the most exciting and highly anticipated events of the year for the automotive industry: SEMA 2024. Our guest today is RJ de Vera, Vice President of Marketing at SEMA, and an influential figure in the world of car culture, customization, and the aftermarket industry. RJ has seen it all at SEMA, and we'll discuss what attendees can expect from this year's s...

We are continuing our Art of Restoration series by talking with Ryan Basseri, founder of Rywire Motorsport Electronics. Ryan's known for his work in high-performance custom builds and his expertise in wiring and electronics. More recently, he's been making waves with his EV conversion builds, a couple of which he will be showing at SEMA 2024. Today, we'll discuss his journey, the evolving world of...

As SEMA 2024 gets closer, we continue to highlight some of the most innovative and exciting creators in the automotive industry. Today we have a fellow southerner who puts a signature flair on his hot rod builds. Jonathan Goolsby is the Owner of Goolsby Customs, an award-winning hot rod shop fueled by their passion for bringing automotive visions to reality for their customers. Jonathan and I talk...

Welcome to another episode of the collision vision. As SEMA quickly approaches, we continue to highlight some of the most innovative, exciting creators in the automotive industry. Eddie B. is the Founder and CEO of Revolt Systems, a manufacturer of electric motors for high-performance vehicle, and Snow is his right-hand man at Revolt, as well as… basically a rocket science. Today, Eddy, Snow and I...

Welcome to our newest series titled Art of Restoration. With SEMA just around the corner, we're bringing the who's who of custom cars and classic car restorations… and we're starting with one of the very biggest names in the industry…. Dave Kindig. Dave is an industry giant, and insanely talented artist, and a great guy to speak with. The passion he has for what he does—and that is, of course, cre...

Today's episode is all about new technologies and their relationship with insurance. More specifically, we'll dive into how ADAS calibration and insurance are working together, and what the future of that relationship might look like. Our guests are Mike Anderson, president & owner of Collision Advice, and Steve Dawson, Washington DC Regional Manager for Hunter Engineering. Enjoy the show! Connect...

Today's guest is Billy Walkowiak, the founder and president of Collision Safety Consultants. During our conversation, Billy provides helpful insights on how to properly negotiate with insurance providers, the importance of detailed documentation on repairs, and the value of doing right by your consumers. Enjoy the show! Connect with Bill Walkowiak: Website: https://collisionsafetyconsultants.us/ L...

On this episode we speak with Patrick Crozat , COO of G&C Auto Body , a fast-growing California based MSO. During our conversation, we discuss how to utilize insurance relationship and DRP's to fuel growth in your shop. Pat has become an authority on how to approach DRP business with a lazer focus on efficiency. We love Pat's perspective on diversifying your profit centers and we think you will ga...

Welcome to the first episode of a new series for the Collision Vision podcast titled Insurance Talk: Navigating Insurance and Repairs. For the first episode we had the pleasure of talking with John Yoswick, a seasoned journalist in the collision repair and working columnist for Autobody News. John also runs his own publication focused on insurance and the collision industry called the Crash Networ...

Today's guest is Steve Olson, Managing Partner of Louisville Collision Center out of Kentucky and, more recently, Manchester Collision Center out of New Hampshire. With two shops so far apart, we'll talk about how Steve uses technology and software to help his business scale and run smoothly and efficiently. Additionally, if you know anything of Steve, you know he's a culture fanatic, so it's no s...

Today's episode marks yet another in our series titled Operational Excellence: Shop Strategies for Success. Today's conversation is all about the talent side of your operation, an update on the talent shortage, and how to solve for it in YOUR shop. Today's guest is kind of THE guy in the talent space, a multi-time guest here on the Collision Vision, and a good friend of mine. Jay Goninen is the Co...

Thank you for tuning in to the Collision Vision, driven by Autobody News. As always, I'm your host, Cole Strandberg. Today's episode represents another episode of our latest series, Operational Excellence: Shop Strategies for Success. Today, we're going to talk about streamlining operations for efficiency, and finding some profit centers you might be overlooking. Our guest today is Steve Dawson, W...

Today marks the very first episode of our latest series titled…. Operational Excellence: Shop Strategies for Success. This is going to be an impactful, and actionable series, offering real ways to improve the operations of your business. Today's guest is a good industry friend of mine and someone I consider to be one of the best operators in the business. Walt Link was most recently a Division VP...

Today's episode represents the last in our MSO Chronicles series, so we're ending it with a bang. We've had many great MSOs represented so far, from the small up-and-comers to some well-established juggernauts, and everything in between. It's only fitting then, that we end this series with the largest of the MSOs. Today's guest is Todd Dillender, COO of Caliber Collision. Caliber obviously needs n...

We continue our MSO Chronicles series with a guest who's had high-level experience work for a national consolidator then making the leap into building his own regional MSO. Chris Ray is the owner of One Twenty-Two Collision, an Atlanta-area MSO with three locations planning to double in size by the end of the year. Today, we start by diving into Chris' background and what led him to start One Twen...

Today's guest is a different type of collision repair leader… we've had a few franchisees here on the Collision Vision, but we've yet to have a franchisor… until today. Domenic Ieraci is the President of Simplicity Car Care, a Canadian franchisor of collision repair centers with over 100 locations at the time of this recording. We discuss the growth avenue of franchising and why it may be a fit fo...

Today's guest is the CEO of an MSO quickly approaching that 50-store mark, and they've also been in the news recently for a big-time private equity re-cap. Vartan Jerian Jr. is the CEO of VIVE Collision, a fast-growing, northeast-based MSO. Vartan and I will cover a variety of topics today, and his passion for the industry- and general optimism as a leader- make this one a fun and insightful liste...

Thank you for tuning into another episode of The Collision Vision's latest series, The MSO Chronicles. Today's guest is the founder and CEO of a fast-growing regional MSO who has a heck of a track record and big-time goals. Jonathon Best is the CEO of Better Collision , a Carolina-based MSO with seven stores, and growing quickly. We're going to talk a lot about scale today, and the different ways...

Today's episode is the third installment of our MSO Chronicles series where we host some dynamic leaders of multi-location organizations across the collision repair space. Today's guest is currently leading a 50+ location MSO. Joe Morella is the CEO of Puget Collision, a large consolidator originating from the Pacific Northwest. We're going to dive into Joe's background, Puget Collision, private e...

Today marks the second installment in our series titled the "MSO Chronicles," and today's guest is the CEO of one of the most interesting and innovative operators in the industry. Michael Giarizzo Jr. is the CEO of DCR Systems, a dealer-focused body shop group with four distinct business units and 10 locations at the time of this recording. You've probably seen Michael online or at conferences, an...

Welcome back to the Collision Vision. We are excited dive into a new series over the next few months titled "The MSO Chronicles." We will be featuring titans of industry currently leading or who have led MSOs from around the country, ranging from national juggernauts to the regional up-and-comers. Today's guest has been both, though today he is currently well within the juggernaut status… Matt Ebe...

We have two all-stars on today's show, each coming from unique perspectives. Kelly Logan, a return guest on the Collision Vision, is the Director of Collision Repair Programs at Rivian and Kris Burton is the Owner of Rosslyn Autobody, an OEM-certification centric collision center out of Alexandria, VA and a Board Member with SCRS. They spend much of today's conversation around how exactly body sho...