AKZONOBEL ORGANISES SKILLS TRAINING IN ACCIDENT REPAIR ESTIMATING
Story by MICHAEL VAVAROUTSOS
At the end of July, AkzoNobel held a course on “Acoat damage assessment, consistency and documentation” for 15 students.
The course, which was designed to review and refine an estimator’s skills related to collision repair cost estimation, was held at AkzoNobel’s headquarters and training center in Ontario and led by Aaron Hebb, an AkzoNobel service consultant. Participants were provided with knowledge on how to optimize profitability per repair job while meeting insurers’ DRP requirements.
The course was divided into nine topic areas including writing a consistent estimate, estimating guidelines, estimating approach, key estimating decisions, assessment time, P-pages and justifying time needed for rework, assessing structural damage, and negotiation.
Hebb said the aim of these meetings is to unite the industry and support its continuous improvement and development.
“It’s about coming together as an industry and supporting the growth and development of the industry. I think it’s so important that one of the keystones of our future comes together.”
“The goal of today is to make sure that the students leave with a new mindset that they will later apply to estimating. When they do estimating in their daily work, how they approach estimating and how they approach the client is what matters.”
Collision Repair magazine also spoke to four students who took the course and all of them agree that taking a course like this is extremely useful.”
“I only got into the business 10 months ago, so it’s been great for me to learn a lot from like-minded people in the same industry and just get a better picture of cost estimating,” said Sietzi Stelpstra of CSN Hutten in Fergus, Ontario.
“I would recommend this training to others, especially people who are new to estimating. It is very informative,” added Andrea Payawal of Intact Service Centre in Markham, Ontario.
Nathan Elcich, CSN Glen Merritt, St. Catharine’s, Ontario, said he gained some valuable new insights.
“I learned some new things, some tips and tricks. I hope I can pass some of them on to my colleagues,” he said.
Davie Pereira of Color Compass Corporation and PBE Distributors said he chose to attend the session to be informed about the issues relevant to his clients. “I need to be more relevant and valuable to my clients by teaching them or assisting them with anything I can help them with. I want to be involved in anything that helps them be more successful and profitable.” By attending this event, students will receive a certificate for completing the course as well as I-CAR points that can be applied toward certification.
