On this episode of Ron Ananian, The Car Doctor, Ron takes a deeper dive into the story behind NABC Recycled Rides with guest Shyllo Michaelis, Chief Strategy Officer for Texas Collision Centers. Shyllo explains how their 16-shop operation teamed up with insurers and local charities to refurbish and donate 16 vehicles to veterans for Veterans Day—how the cars are selected, what qualifies, how recipients are vetted, and why it takes a small army of techs, vendors, and partners to pull it off. Then the conversation widens out: Ron and Shyllo talk about what it really takes to run a modern collision business—ADAS calibrations, EVs, commercial trucks, training, tooling costs, labor shortages, and repairing tech-heavy cars at Texas speeds. It’s a rare inside look at the collision side of the industry and the people using it to give something real back to veterans.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
You're listening to Ron and Nanian The Car Doctor, nationally
recognized auto expert trusted by Mechanics, Weekend wrenchers and vehicle
owners alike. Ron brings over forty years of hands on
experience and deep industry insight to help you understand your vehicle.
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(00:25):
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and be sure to subscribe to the Car Doctor YouTube
channel for exclusive videos, real repair footage and more. Now
start your enginies. The Car Doctor is in the garage
(00:47):
and ready to take your call.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
If you've been paying attention and you listen to our
last show, we were talking with Dale Ross. He is
the program director for ANYBC Recycled Rides. And as a
result of that interview and conversation about the Veterans Day
giveaway and everything that that entailed, I got a little curious.
Curiosity is always a good thing in the mechanical industry,
(01:12):
and I said, you know, there's a bigger story here
and I've reached out and I've got with us today
to start our Shilah Mchaalis, Did I say that right? Shiloh, Yes, Sir,
I did that? Look at that? Huh? And she's the
chief strategy officer for Texas Collision Centers, which is the
main proponent that's creating the NABC ride giveaway? Am I
(01:34):
saying that right? And correct me? So laid out for
the audience and welcome aboard to the car doctor, tell
us all about the NABC giveaway. How you guys participate
in that?
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Absolutely so. We have been a partner of the NABC
Recycled Rides program for the last six years since we
started Texas Collision Centers, and prior to this latest giveaway,
we had already given away seven vehicles through the program
over course of that six years, and we just had
an idea, knowing that we were going to have sixteen
(02:05):
locations open in twenty twenty five, we wanted to repair
one vehicle per location to give sixteen away at a
Veterans Day specific event supporting the military and recipients that
needed a vehicle. So we went to Dale Ross and
Debbie and said, hey, we'd like to do this. How
(02:25):
about this crazy brained idea, And they said, hey, we're
all in. We want to partner with you. And so
it was definitely a collaborative team effort coming up with
those vehicles. It took about seventy for us to whittle
down to sixteen that actually qualified for the program. They
were donated by our insurance partners several different ones. Geico
(02:48):
contributed ten, all State two, and then we also had
Mercury Travelers as well as Liberty Mutuals donate vehicles. We
then refurbished those one at each of our sixteen active locations.
The NABC Recycled Rides program does a phenomenal job of
partnering with local veteran charities and identifying worthy recipients. And
(03:12):
along with that, they also have a partner in Ars
Cars that do the titling and paperwork behind the scenes.
So overall, very much a collaborative team effort that brought
us to be able to donate those sixteen vehicles to
those sixteen very worthy veterans on Veterans Day Shilah.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
What are some of the qualifications you know, how do
we decide we're looking for a particular type of vehicle,
and then how do you know, let's say, let's say
we're looking for a Toyota Highlander. We want to give
somebody a small suv or mid sized suv. How do
you know that that stolen recovery is capable of being resuscitated,
so to speak. What's the criteria there?
Speaker 3 (03:52):
That's a great question. So once a vehicle is identified
and they're not all recovered tests, recovered tests are generally
a great vehicle, but there's also you know, minimal mileage
requirements that needs to be you know, within five to
ten years old. We actually did several we had some
hail here this year in Texas and the DFW market
(04:13):
and so several of the vehicles that were given away
were actual hail damage vehicles. So it's a mixed bag overall,
but definitely mileage is a requirement. You know, you have
to make sure that it's in good working order obviously,
and regardless of what is needed, once a vehicle is identified,
we have to go put eyes on it. So all
(04:35):
of these are located at local copart facilities. So we
actually had our regional managers go out and look at
about seventy like I said, to get down to those
sixteen in particular.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Do you you know is there an age limit three years,
five years, ten years.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
I believe it's less than ten years. And that's an
NABC requirement, you know that they dictate of what that
year right, right.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
And then mileage under one hundred thousand, two hundred thousand,
We don't care. It's Texas. Everything's dry and rust free,
so we'll just keep driving it forever.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
There is definitely a mileage requirement as well, and well,
I'm going to look that up here of what their
requirement is while while we're chatting.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
You know, it's Texas is really a great state for
a car. And I say this very sincerely in that
you know, I remember seven years ago I found a
seventy two Monte Carlo in Minard, Texas, right, And Minard
is like in the middle of nowhere, and it took
(05:41):
forever in a day to convince the truck driver to
go pick up the car and Minard bring it to Houston,
and then from Houston it was no problem to get
it to New Jersey. But when I tell you this,
Monte Carlo spent all of its life in Minard in Texas,
that I went to take the exhaust off and the
nuts came up the exhaust manifold like it was nineteen
(06:02):
seventy two, you know. Now, Now in New Jersey we
get that experience for about eight months and then we
get this stuff called snow and then that corrosive material.
So I've got to think, I've got to think Texas
collision repair has to be a whole lot different than
than New Jersey or the Northeast, right.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
I would definitely agree with that that the corrosive nature
of the snow. We definitely that's a rarity here. You know,
in Texas in general, we have a pretty mild winters overall.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Yeah. Can I just ask you, on a personal note,
what do you drive?
Speaker 4 (06:36):
Shiloh?
Speaker 2 (06:37):
How many miles are on it?
Speaker 5 (06:39):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (06:39):
I actually just got a brand new vehicle a couple
of months ago, so I currently And if you're a
car guy, you might appreciate this, and I'm certain that
you are on but I drive a Porsche PanAm Marria GTS.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
And I like to speak and how many what did
you drive before? How many miles did the other car
have on? I mean, do you drive cars to the
two three hundred thousand mile mark.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
You know, no, not myself. I prefer to have a
new vehicle every few years, so I choose the po
and prior to the Pan America I had a Cayenne,
just a small SUV.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
And I guess in Texas there's places to utilize.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
That, absolutely, yeah and no question. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
So I do have.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
The vehicle information here for the nabc's program, handy, So
no older than eight years right, also less than one
hundred thousand miles, no major structural damage, good working mechanical condition.
And they do not want any electric vehicles, hybrids, no
luxuries like a Corvette.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Right, We're just looking. We're looking for wheels in basic
transportation to keep people, you know, get them on the road,
get to the supermarket, family stuff, and get them back
on their feet. And they're running this NABC Recycle Rights program.
This is an every year thing.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
Correct, Oh, absolutely, yes, they are constantly you know, partnering
with charity seeking out vehicles from the insurance partners and
you know, taking on those recipient candidates that are nominated
by the local charity partners.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
And are there other body shops across the country involved
in this or is this a Texas collision center thing only? No, sir.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
So the NABC is a widespread program throughout the country
and they partner with you know, everybody from a single shop,
mom and pop all the way up to the national MSOs.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
So for Texas collision centers, and let's stay with this
for a minute. For Texas collision centers to be involved
in this sixteen stores, family run organization, this is a
big deal. I mean, this isn't okay, We're going to
take this car and resuscitate it, you know, offhand? I mean,
is there a way can we measure this? You know,
(08:48):
how many cars does the average Texas Collision center shop
repair in a month? Thirty three hundred one thousand where
the average.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
So we have really large boxes. You're in Texas, and
so our average facility is forty five thousand square foot,
so a lot larger than what you might see in
other parts of the country. So each of our locations
on an average month are in excess of one hundred
vehicle repairs. So we we are also DRP friendly. We
(09:20):
have many OE certifications, so we're well known here in
the market. And so therefore we have a lot of
different avenues of doing business.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
So if you're if the average size of a Texas
Collision Center store is forty five thousand square feet, I'm
trying to think of how many that's got to be
thirty bays, Yes, sir, some.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Of them have an excess to that. So you know,
several of our locations do over a million in revenue
every month. So again, some very very large boxes.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Everything's bigger in Texas, Kittle, I gotta tell you. So
you take this. You know you've got your you're doing.
You know how many cars in a month you decide
to add this one car. But it's not just oh,
I'm just gonna have one more cheeseburger. This isn't like
you're going through the driving at McDonald's and you just
want to add to the order. This is a lot
(10:14):
of maneuvering, right, This is a lot of thought process
and due process and running that car through its paces
to be sure that you come out the other side
with a finished product. And I'll tell you what, Shilah,
Before you answer that, let me pull over and take
a pause. We're here with Shilah Michaelis. She is the
Chief Strategy Officer of Texas Collision Centers. We're talking about
the NABC recycled rides and the recent Veterans Day giveaway
(10:37):
and some other things and collision business in general. So
it's a lot going on in this conversation. We'll both
return right after this. I'm Ron an Ay and the
Car Doctor. Don't go anywhere, and we're back. We're here
(11:00):
with Shilah Mikaylas. She is the Chief Strategy Officer of
Texas Collision Centers, one of NAMI and the Car Doctor
at your service, obviously, Shilah. When we pulled away for
the pause, we've been talking about a bunch of things,
an ABC recycled rides, the Veteran Car giveaway, and we
were kind of talking about, you know, you pick a
car from one of the sixteen Texas Collision Centers down
(11:22):
there in Texas, and you know you're gonna add one
more to the mix, one more to how many cars
do you guys do on average a month?
Speaker 3 (11:29):
Last month we did eighteen hundred and twenty four for
the month of October, and that's generally where we kind
of land on a monthly basis.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Wow, and you're gonna add sixteen more cars right one
each center. So just one in a center. It's it's
gotta be a lot, because you know, in a well
oiled machine like this, you're you're you're adding one more.
And you know, how does that process get started? Who
gets that car first and what do they do with it?
Speaker 3 (11:58):
Well, that's a great question, Ron, and I'll tell you really,
the first thing that we did with this program is
get the buy in from our team. Everyone needs to
understand what the overall mission is and what we were
looking to accomplish. And so what we ask is that
our team of skilled technicians donate their labor in order
to perform the repairs on the vehicle. We also go
(12:20):
to our parts vendors, those that we frequently buy parts
from and ask them for donations as well of you know,
some of the parts that are required, and the NABC
does a great job of formulating relationships with a lot
of the parts vendors also, so you know, it's definitely
a labor of love and a collaborative effort across the board.
(12:41):
So as far as getting it to the facility that
those vehicles were all towed by coparts and they covered
the expense on that, and then we go through a
complete you know, blueprinting evaluation to determine what repairs are
going to be needed to bring the vehicle back to
like new condition and it just follows the traditional repair
(13:01):
phases from that point on, a thorough QC process. And
then behind the scenes are all the administrative duties that
go into the titling, you know, working with the charity
partners to determine a recipient, also vetting that recipient. There's
a very extensive vetting process for these veteran recipients. They
(13:22):
go through a background ground check to make sure they
don't have, you know, any criminal records of substance. They
also go through an income verification to make sure that
in the long term they'll be able to sustain covering
their own costs for auto insurance, registration, maintenance, so on
and so forth as well. So they're definitely, like you said,
(13:42):
run a lot of moving parts and a lot that
goes into ensuring we're prepared for, you know, such an
event like this now.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Does TCC textas collision center. You know, who's paying for
all the parts, the material to time that you guys
are just donating that.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
It is definitely a mixed bag. There are some you know,
parts that were able to get donated through our you know,
our our parts vendors. There's also some sublet functions that
were donated. Some we pay more out of pocket. Again,
you know, our technicians donate their time. So it's definitely
a mixed bag. A lot of the expense, you know,
(14:17):
we handled ourselves, but you know, it definitely wouldn't have
been possible without some of those parts vendors and sublet vendors.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
Also, is the program growing? Shiloh? And for those of
you just tuning in, we're talking with Schila Michaelas. She's
the chief strategy officer with Texas Collision Centers and there
were involved that have been for the past six years
with the ANYBC Recycled Rights program for veterans. You know,
is the program growing? Is it? Is it status quo?
Or do you see an uptick every year?
Speaker 3 (14:44):
I would definitely say I have personally seen an uptick.
And I'll tell you how ron is that every a
week does not go by that I don't see another
giveaway on LinkedIn from a competitor, another giveaway from a
national mso, another giveaway from a MO and pop independent operators.
So I definitely feel strongly that this program has grown
(15:06):
and will continue to grow. The NABC also does their
own golf tournaments throughout the year where they asked for
repair partners to you know, repair vehicles for that purpose.
They just did a giveaway at SEMA. So definitely whipout
it out. In my opinion, it has grown. I don't
have you know, stats to tell you per se on
the amount of growth they patch, but I definitely know
(15:28):
that it has grown and will continue to grow.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
Now, you know, veterans organizations are the VA right, the
Veterans Administration? Do they recognize this? Does this work through
them at all? Or is this just something as an
aside from the VA.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
That is a great question. So yes, sir, there were
several of the recipients that were identified and nominated by
the local VA and some VA related programs also. So
again it was a mix of different charity organizations, but
the local VA was a representative of s of the recipients.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Now you know what's the next step for for for
you know, recycled rides. Is it is it more exposure,
more car giveaways? Next year? Do we expand the program?
Is it in all is it in all the states?
Is it coast to coast or is it just select
parts of the country.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
I believe it is. I believe it's across the country
and you know, something that I know they need. So
for example, this our event that we held at Texas
Collision Centers was Mercury Insurance it's first stint in partnering
with the Recycled Rights program. And after the event was
done and those individuals for Mercury Insurance were leaving, they said, hey,
(16:37):
this was our first that we've done, but it will
definitely not be our last because they saw how impactful
it was of taking you know, a recovered fact for example,
and just the overall you know, impact and difference it
made in a veteran's life.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
I've got to think in our in our closing minute
for this segment, Shiloh, I've got to think that the
veterans are are overwhelmed and they actually get the cars.
Do they know ahead of time or is it more
of a surprise.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
They do know ahead of time because they are required
to handle, you know, go and take the registration paperwork
to the Department of Public Safety to get that process.
They have to obtain their own insurance prior to drive away.
Of getting to take the vehicle with them, so they
definitely know ahead of time. And I mean talk about gratefulness.
(17:24):
You know, many times there's not a dry eye in
the house, right and their stories.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Right right, Hey, you know, when we come back, let's
let's take a pause. When we come back, I want
to talk a little bit. I want to get away
from this for a minute if we can, and talk
a little bit about what it's like running a collision
center in this modern age. So if Shilah Michaelis, you'd
stay put on Ron and Ny and the car doctor,
we'll both return right after this. Don't go anywhere the
(17:50):
city street, studio road.
Speaker 5 (17:56):
If your Ridney doctor's done that.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
So we're talking about everything from recycled rides for veterans
to the collision industry. We're here with Shiloh Michaelis, who
is the chief strategy officer for Texas Collision Centers. Shiloh,
you know we've covered an ABC I think, and before
we go at the end of our our conversation today,
we're also going to put up about the website and
how veterans can find out more, et cetera. But I
(18:35):
want to talk a little bit about the collision business.
All right, you've been in the collision industry how long?
Speaker 3 (18:42):
Oh gosh, Ron, it has been the collision industry alone
about fourteen years, so you've.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Seen a change, you know, in a fourteen to fifteen
year time span. You think about the cars, right, so
you started when twenty tens were out, Now twenty twenty
five's are out out. You know, the difference in the
electronics on that vehicle alone, it's like Ripe Brothers biplane
to Space Shuttle.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
You could not be more spot on its technology advancements
have been tremendous.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
You know, the.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
Rising cost, skilled labor shortages, you know, all these are
things that we deal with on a day to day basis.
And you know a lot of that comes back to
just the changing vehicle technologies. You know now ad as
is everywhere, right, you know, so many calibration requirements as
that vehicle technology expands. So absolutely, there's been huge changes
(19:39):
over the last fifteen years.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Because the issues a body shop has. And let's go
back even further, because I know a little bit about
your history. You worked for or with Service King, which
was a Texas based collision repair group twenty years ago.
Is that correct? Did I understand that right?
Speaker 3 (19:58):
That's that's correct. So Service King founder Eddie Lennox began
Service King in the DFW Metroplex in nineteen seventy six,
and my husband Dan Mchaylis and I both worked for
Service King. Eddie Lennox's son, Jared Lennox is actually our
partner in Texas Collision Center, so we all worked there together,
(20:19):
and you know, then we decided to branch off after
Eddie had taken on private equity partners. Now today Service
King merged over with Crash Champions, and so that's the
entity that you see today. But yes, we all cut
our teeth on you know, old school service King back
in the day.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
Look at how look at what a big business collision
repair is. If I can point out the obvious, right,
you're you're you're talking about corporations and multiple shop locations
and you know major you know, talents of labor pool
and your your How can I say this, What you
(20:59):
guys spent non office supplies and pencils every year has
to be bigger than half of you know, the municipal
budget in some of the towns in New Jersey. You
know what, how do you manage all that? I mean,
you know how many employees does Texas Collision Centers have
do you think roughly?
Speaker 3 (21:15):
Do you know?
Speaker 2 (21:16):
I mean, I'm sure you know I do.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
Yes, sirs. So it's funny because I was just ordering
Christmas cards today. So we have three hundred and forty
two teammates currently at Texas Collision Centers. We also own
a Ados calibration company called Complete Collision Solutions, and we
have forty two teammates there.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
So this isn't you know, three bays and mom and pop.
This is this is a huge undertaking. And yes, that
gives you guys the competitive edge in a sense because
body shops and this is where I'm going with this, right.
You know, we were talking before about rejuvenating a recycled
ride for a veteran through with the ANABC Recycled Ride program.
(21:59):
Body shops have to be cutting edge. I mean mechanical
shops have to be cutting edge too. But chances are
a mechanical shop, which obviously that's me. You know, I'm
not going to see that car till it's out of warranty. Well,
I actually see them when they're warranty, but that's a
different conversation because I'm trying to help somebody fix it.
But you know, you know it's it's it's a body shop.
(22:19):
You know, when you drive that twenty twenty five Porscho
off the off the dealer, a lot if that thing
gets re're ended in two weeks, somebody's got to fix it.
That's a lot of that's a lot of technology.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
To deal with, absolutely, and what you'll find is, you know,
those brand new vehicles right off the lot, many times,
you know, get in an immediate accident and sometimes the
parts aren't even available yet. So you know, you definitely
have to be creative. You have to be you know,
up on the you know, most current repair procedures. There's
(22:51):
a lot involved as far as training and equipment to
stay on top of how vehicle technology is advancing.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
Where are you pulling your technicians from Shiloh? If I
can ask, I mean, are you grooming technicians? I mean
you have to build a technician the way you would
build a car.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
In a sense, right, we do, we do, and so
you know, I'll tell you that up until this point,
you know DFW being where you know, are two of
our MSO national competitors headquarters are we have been able
to to date we haven't had any difficulty, you know,
(23:26):
hiring technicians. However, I will tell you that, you know,
we have two more locations under construction that will open
later this year, within the next month or so. We
have another one that will open next year. And so
it's definitely something that you know, we're thinking about as
we grow into the future, we're going to need those
homegrown technicians. And you know how it is today most
(23:47):
young people, they want the cool, sexy job, they want
the it they want, you know, they don't want to
bust their knuckles and climb under cars anymore. And we
have actually hired a lot of We've got a lot
of generational families that work for us that are helping
to groom their own technicians, take them under their wing
and take their nephews and you know, sons and teach
(24:10):
them the business. But we you know, we're definitely thinking
about While we haven't had an issue to date in
hiring technicians, we're definitely thinking about the future and you
know what we're going to do to plan to grow
our own technicians.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
Because you've got to figure each location. Texas Collision Center
is just to refresh everybody's memory. It's sixteen facilities, three
hundred let's say it's four hundred employees. Between that and
the ads stuff. You've got to have, I don't know,
twenty five thirty employees each location.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
Yes, sir, that's that's ballpark. That is exactly where we're at.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
So you tend to gobble up the labor pool, you
know there there. You've got to be ICAR certified, right, yes, sir,
you know. And every time a manufacturer decides, well we're
going to paint the car this way, now, I'm sure
your painters all go and they've got to go back
to school for procedure, and you know it's a daunting task.
(25:09):
Do you have a training division? Do you have somebody
that just manages the training side of it, making sure
the eyes are dotted and the taser crossed. That's got
to be a daunting job unto itself.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
We do. We have an individual that's in charge not
just our IPAR training, but also you know QC, you know,
our quality assurance all of the above, and you know
that's all that he focuses on, because we, of course
always want to ensure a safe repair.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
Is Texas different? You know the way they repair new
in Texas versus let's say New Jersey, for example, I
had a situation with a mechanical customer. Her car got
rear ended and totaled. Well, they said it was total
was an O two Honda Odyssey, higher mileage, and the
insurance company said it needed forty six hundred dollars worth
(25:58):
of repair, which seated the value of the car. They
totaled it and she was able to go back to
the insurance company buy it back for half that price,
and then she took it to a body shop and
they kind of cabled it back together just to keep
it running. And are the laws the same in Texas?
Does that still apply?
Speaker 3 (26:16):
They are, yes, sir, that the laws are the same.
Something that we see different in Texas is that because
the speed limits are higher, we see heavier hits, higher
severity overall. You know, in Texas, a lot of the
vehicle population or trucks. You know, you are in a
you know, twenty ten Honda Civic and you get rear
(26:37):
ended by a FQ fifty truck, it's going to cost
significantly more damage than you know, if you were hit
ya hyndaia launtra right. So's that's some of the differences
that we see that you might not see as much
of in New Jersey or those two you know items
in particular.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
That's that's interesting, right, the higher speed limits. What what's
the average speed limit in Texas? Is there an average
seventy five?
Speaker 3 (26:58):
Eighty or seventy five?
Speaker 2 (27:00):
Yes, sir, well and what does everybody really do?
Speaker 4 (27:02):
Do you think?
Speaker 5 (27:03):
Well?
Speaker 3 (27:03):
I got eighty five?
Speaker 4 (27:05):
What do you?
Speaker 2 (27:06):
What are you doing that? Portia. I'm not gonna tell anybody.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
I'm talking from personal experience. Ron, Yes, I.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
Bet you you've exceeded eighty five. I have.
Speaker 3 (27:17):
I have once or twice. We like to call the
Dallas or totally here the autumnawn Now, yeah, of course,
of course safely, yes.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Of course. Well, hey listen, you know what. I'm not
gonna lie. There were moments in youth, might have been
last week when you know, I sort of got a
little bleary eyed, and uh, you know, and if I
take out the hot rod, that's a whole nother story. Hey, Shilah,
we're gonna, we're gonna, We're gonna pull over and take
a pause for our last segment. And and for the record,
see I told you there was an hour of radio
(27:45):
here and you didn't believe me. I knew there was
a bunch of stories here. When we come back, I'd
like to close up, maybe talk a little bit about tooling,
where you guys are finding your tools from. We'll talk
a little bit about scan tools if we can, and
what you're doing for the electronics, and you know, have
you run into the scenarios of cars that you're waiting
on the technology from the manufacturer. I thought we'd cover
those bases as well, So if you'd stay put, we're listening.
(28:08):
If you're listening, we're talking to Shiloh Michaylis, the chief
strategy officer for Texas Collision Centers. Obviously I'm Ron and
Ai and the Car Doctor. We'll both return right after this.
Speaker 4 (28:16):
Don't go away.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
Well, welcome back to the fastest hour of radio. The
Car Doctor's done in a while, and here with Shiloh Michaalis.
She is the chief strategy officer of Texas Collision Centers.
We started out talking about the NEYBC recycled rides for
veterans and the recent giveaway. Now we're into a whole
other venue regarding collision centers and how do they how
(28:54):
do they survive or how do they grow? And the
whole inner structure, and I appreciate you guys letting me
do this this hour as we kind of step out
of our normal role of taking calls. Shiloh Uh. You know,
let's finish the first question. Right the technology side, it's
it's not like you guys have one scan tool and
that covers the gamut, right OE stuff OE direct from
(29:15):
the manufacturer, No, sir, So we.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
Have all tail scanners as well as individual OE scan
tools based on the certifications that we have. So like
for example, Mercedes requires their own scan tool where they
have a flasher. It's basically you know, one technician that
has the capability to use that because it has fatial recognition.
So it's a mixed bag. But yes, we definitely have
(29:41):
several OE specific scan tools also based on the certifications
we have.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
Now, you know, what are you doing for electric vehicles?
What are you doing? Do you do? You know, just
up the pickup trucks? Do you do big trucks? Where's that?
Where's that? What's the variety of vehicles that a body
shop system like Texas Collision Centers would would see today?
Speaker 3 (29:59):
A great question, and so you know, for us, we
do a little bit of everything. So everything from you know,
gas vehicles, we call them to EB. We have testa
Certification Rivians, which are ramping up here in Texas. We
also have several Commercial Certifications RON because we actually perform
commercial repairs everything from a sprinter vand to medium duty
(30:23):
vehicle all the way up to Class eight SEMIS. So
you know, those have certification requirements, equipment requirements. You know,
we have to send technicians off for training certification. So
it's again, you know, a mix across the board.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
Wow, So it's it's it's a needlets say, this is
a full time job, a full time career in a sense.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
Yeah, and you have to you know, you learn to pivot.
You know, the last couple of years, claims volume has
been down, and so we decided to pivot and evolve
our overall strategy by getting into those commercial repairs.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
So would you say that the collision industry, you know,
where's where? Where do you think the future is? You
guys must sit down and go, well, we've got to
be prepared for this. You know, you've got to be
looking your head to that car that isn't even out
yet two years from now, and how do you prepare
for that?
Speaker 3 (31:16):
Yeah? That and that's a great question there. I think,
you know, when we think about the future, the biggest
thing for us is the skilled labor like we talked about,
you know, and then also just the evolving vehicle technology.
And that's exactly what led us to start our own
you know, ad OS calibration companies because we see that,
you know, more and more, that's going to be a
(31:37):
you know, requirement in the future as more sensors and
things are added to vehicles.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
Are you I'm trying to think of how to ask
this question, Shiloh, are you numb to expensive things? I mean,
you know, you go out and you buy an ADS
calibration system and it's thirty five thousand dollars. You welcome
too a restaurant and buy one hundred dollars steak. Yeah,
no big deal, right, it's it's it's just becomes a
number after a while. No fair, That is fair.
Speaker 3 (32:04):
And that's a great analogy there. And I'll say that,
you know, an individual expense, okay, no big deal. But
when you know, you sit down and you look at
those you know, P and L reports on a monthly basis,
those numbers definitely add up. There's definitely advising costs to
collisi repair, no question.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
Right, And I'll bring it back to where we started.
So you know, you've got tight budget, you're trying to
make things work, you're trying to buy tooling, you're spending
you know, thirty five thousand dollars on a US calibrations,
and then you very generously step up and put out
one vehicle per Texas Collision Center facility for an ABC
the recycled rides. That's that's a heck of an undertaking.
(32:42):
You guys really deserve some kudos for that, as well
as the other body shops that are part of this
this this great program that you're involved in.
Speaker 3 (32:50):
Thank you very much, Ron. We appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
Where can the listeners go get more information first for
ANYBC recycled rides that's.
Speaker 3 (32:57):
A great question. So the NABC has a web web
site National Autobodycouncil dot org where you can see all
the different programs that they are involved with and heading up,
including the recycled Rides program in particular. And then if
anyone's looking for more information about Littlewold Texas Collision Centers,
we are also at Texas Collisions Centers dot com.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
Thank you, Shiloh we appreciate you taking the time to
be with us today. I'm ronning Any and the car Doctor.
We're back right after this, back to wrap it up. Boy,
(33:45):
was that a great radio hour, Kate. You know you
look at body shops, and that's why I stayed with
that story. Obviously, the NEABC Recycled Rides aspect very important,
right regarding the way they were helping the veterans and
cars for the veterans. But as soon as I started
talking to Shiloh, you know, as part of that other interview,
(34:06):
we were talking back and forth. She wasn't even slated
to be the guest, and I said, there's a lot
of knowledge here, there's a lot going on, and you know,
I just thought you guys would like that, and I
hope you don't mind me presenting it the way I
did in that look at what it takes to run
a sixteen collision repair facility, that's just that's huge, right,
(34:27):
That's a small city being managed down there, Texas way,
So our hats are off to them and being part
of the NABC Recycled Rides. But anyway, it's been great
being with you today till the next time. I'm running
Any in the car doctor, reminding you good mechanics aren't expensive,
they're priceless. See you, Doctor Carr.
Speaker 5 (34:46):
Advice to ride se
You're listening to Ron and Nanian The Car Doctor, nationally
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(00:25):
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(00:47):
and ready to take your call.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
If you've been paying attention and you listen to our
last show, we were talking with Dale Ross. He is
the program director for ANYBC Recycled Rides. And as a
result of that interview and conversation about the Veterans Day
giveaway and everything that that entailed, I got a little curious.
Curiosity is always a good thing in the mechanical industry,
(01:12):
and I said, you know, there's a bigger story here
and I've reached out and I've got with us today
to start our Shilah Mchaalis, Did I say that right? Shiloh, Yes, Sir,
I did that? Look at that? Huh? And she's the
chief strategy officer for Texas Collision Centers, which is the
main proponent that's creating the NABC ride giveaway? Am I
(01:34):
saying that right? And correct me? So laid out for
the audience and welcome aboard to the car doctor, tell
us all about the NABC giveaway. How you guys participate
in that?
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Absolutely so. We have been a partner of the NABC
Recycled Rides program for the last six years since we
started Texas Collision Centers, and prior to this latest giveaway,
we had already given away seven vehicles through the program
over course of that six years, and we just had
an idea, knowing that we were going to have sixteen
(02:05):
locations open in twenty twenty five, we wanted to repair
one vehicle per location to give sixteen away at a
Veterans Day specific event supporting the military and recipients that
needed a vehicle. So we went to Dale Ross and
Debbie and said, hey, we'd like to do this. How
(02:25):
about this crazy brained idea, And they said, hey, we're
all in. We want to partner with you. And so
it was definitely a collaborative team effort coming up with
those vehicles. It took about seventy for us to whittle
down to sixteen that actually qualified for the program. They
were donated by our insurance partners several different ones. Geico
(02:48):
contributed ten, all State two, and then we also had
Mercury Travelers as well as Liberty Mutuals donate vehicles. We
then refurbished those one at each of our sixteen active locations.
The NABC Recycled Rides program does a phenomenal job of
partnering with local veteran charities and identifying worthy recipients. And
(03:12):
along with that, they also have a partner in Ars
Cars that do the titling and paperwork behind the scenes.
So overall, very much a collaborative team effort that brought
us to be able to donate those sixteen vehicles to
those sixteen very worthy veterans on Veterans Day Shilah.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
What are some of the qualifications you know, how do
we decide we're looking for a particular type of vehicle,
and then how do you know, let's say, let's say
we're looking for a Toyota Highlander. We want to give
somebody a small suv or mid sized suv. How do
you know that that stolen recovery is capable of being resuscitated,
so to speak. What's the criteria there?
Speaker 3 (03:52):
That's a great question. So once a vehicle is identified
and they're not all recovered tests, recovered tests are generally
a great vehicle, but there's also you know, minimal mileage
requirements that needs to be you know, within five to
ten years old. We actually did several we had some
hail here this year in Texas and the DFW market
(04:13):
and so several of the vehicles that were given away
were actual hail damage vehicles. So it's a mixed bag overall,
but definitely mileage is a requirement. You know, you have
to make sure that it's in good working order obviously,
and regardless of what is needed, once a vehicle is identified,
we have to go put eyes on it. So all
(04:35):
of these are located at local copart facilities. So we
actually had our regional managers go out and look at
about seventy like I said, to get down to those
sixteen in particular.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Do you you know is there an age limit three years,
five years, ten years.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
I believe it's less than ten years. And that's an
NABC requirement, you know that they dictate of what that
year right, right.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
And then mileage under one hundred thousand, two hundred thousand,
We don't care. It's Texas. Everything's dry and rust free,
so we'll just keep driving it forever.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
There is definitely a mileage requirement as well, and well,
I'm going to look that up here of what their
requirement is while while we're chatting.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
You know, it's Texas is really a great state for
a car. And I say this very sincerely in that
you know, I remember seven years ago I found a
seventy two Monte Carlo in Minard, Texas, right, And Minard
is like in the middle of nowhere, and it took
(05:41):
forever in a day to convince the truck driver to
go pick up the car and Minard bring it to Houston,
and then from Houston it was no problem to get
it to New Jersey. But when I tell you this,
Monte Carlo spent all of its life in Minard in Texas,
that I went to take the exhaust off and the
nuts came up the exhaust manifold like it was nineteen
(06:02):
seventy two, you know. Now, Now in New Jersey we
get that experience for about eight months and then we
get this stuff called snow and then that corrosive material.
So I've got to think, I've got to think Texas
collision repair has to be a whole lot different than
than New Jersey or the Northeast, right.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
I would definitely agree with that that the corrosive nature
of the snow. We definitely that's a rarity here. You know,
in Texas in general, we have a pretty mild winters overall.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Yeah. Can I just ask you, on a personal note,
what do you drive?
Speaker 4 (06:36):
Shiloh?
Speaker 2 (06:37):
How many miles are on it?
Speaker 5 (06:39):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (06:39):
I actually just got a brand new vehicle a couple
of months ago, so I currently And if you're a
car guy, you might appreciate this, and I'm certain that
you are on but I drive a Porsche PanAm Marria GTS.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
And I like to speak and how many what did
you drive before? How many miles did the other car
have on? I mean, do you drive cars to the
two three hundred thousand mile mark.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
You know, no, not myself. I prefer to have a
new vehicle every few years, so I choose the po
and prior to the Pan America I had a Cayenne,
just a small SUV.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
And I guess in Texas there's places to utilize.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
That, absolutely, yeah and no question. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
So I do have.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
The vehicle information here for the nabc's program, handy, So
no older than eight years right, also less than one
hundred thousand miles, no major structural damage, good working mechanical condition.
And they do not want any electric vehicles, hybrids, no
luxuries like a Corvette.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Right, We're just looking. We're looking for wheels in basic
transportation to keep people, you know, get them on the road,
get to the supermarket, family stuff, and get them back
on their feet. And they're running this NABC Recycle Rights program.
This is an every year thing.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
Correct, Oh, absolutely, yes, they are constantly you know, partnering
with charity seeking out vehicles from the insurance partners and
you know, taking on those recipient candidates that are nominated
by the local charity partners.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
And are there other body shops across the country involved
in this or is this a Texas collision center thing only? No, sir.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
So the NABC is a widespread program throughout the country
and they partner with you know, everybody from a single shop,
mom and pop all the way up to the national MSOs.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
So for Texas collision centers, and let's stay with this
for a minute. For Texas collision centers to be involved
in this sixteen stores, family run organization, this is a
big deal. I mean, this isn't okay, We're going to
take this car and resuscitate it, you know, offhand? I mean,
is there a way can we measure this? You know,
(08:48):
how many cars does the average Texas Collision center shop
repair in a month? Thirty three hundred one thousand where
the average.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
So we have really large boxes. You're in Texas, and
so our average facility is forty five thousand square foot,
so a lot larger than what you might see in
other parts of the country. So each of our locations
on an average month are in excess of one hundred
vehicle repairs. So we we are also DRP friendly. We
(09:20):
have many OE certifications, so we're well known here in
the market. And so therefore we have a lot of
different avenues of doing business.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
So if you're if the average size of a Texas
Collision Center store is forty five thousand square feet, I'm
trying to think of how many that's got to be
thirty bays, Yes, sir, some.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Of them have an excess to that. So you know,
several of our locations do over a million in revenue
every month. So again, some very very large boxes.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Everything's bigger in Texas, Kittle, I gotta tell you. So
you take this. You know you've got your you're doing.
You know how many cars in a month you decide
to add this one car. But it's not just oh,
I'm just gonna have one more cheeseburger. This isn't like
you're going through the driving at McDonald's and you just
want to add to the order. This is a lot
(10:14):
of maneuvering, right, This is a lot of thought process
and due process and running that car through its paces
to be sure that you come out the other side
with a finished product. And I'll tell you what, Shilah,
Before you answer that, let me pull over and take
a pause. We're here with Shilah Michaelis. She is the
Chief Strategy Officer of Texas Collision Centers. We're talking about
the NABC recycled rides and the recent Veterans Day giveaway
(10:37):
and some other things and collision business in general. So
it's a lot going on in this conversation. We'll both
return right after this. I'm Ron an Ay and the
Car Doctor. Don't go anywhere, and we're back. We're here
(11:00):
with Shilah Mikaylas. She is the Chief Strategy Officer of
Texas Collision Centers, one of NAMI and the Car Doctor
at your service, obviously, Shilah. When we pulled away for
the pause, we've been talking about a bunch of things,
an ABC recycled rides, the Veteran Car giveaway, and we
were kind of talking about, you know, you pick a
car from one of the sixteen Texas Collision Centers down
(11:22):
there in Texas, and you know you're gonna add one
more to the mix, one more to how many cars
do you guys do on average a month?
Speaker 3 (11:29):
Last month we did eighteen hundred and twenty four for
the month of October, and that's generally where we kind
of land on a monthly basis.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Wow, and you're gonna add sixteen more cars right one
each center. So just one in a center. It's it's
gotta be a lot, because you know, in a well
oiled machine like this, you're you're you're adding one more.
And you know, how does that process get started? Who
gets that car first and what do they do with it?
Speaker 3 (11:58):
Well, that's a great question, Ron, and I'll tell you really,
the first thing that we did with this program is
get the buy in from our team. Everyone needs to
understand what the overall mission is and what we were
looking to accomplish. And so what we ask is that
our team of skilled technicians donate their labor in order
to perform the repairs on the vehicle. We also go
(12:20):
to our parts vendors, those that we frequently buy parts
from and ask them for donations as well of you know,
some of the parts that are required, and the NABC
does a great job of formulating relationships with a lot
of the parts vendors also, so you know, it's definitely
a labor of love and a collaborative effort across the board.
(12:41):
So as far as getting it to the facility that
those vehicles were all towed by coparts and they covered
the expense on that, and then we go through a
complete you know, blueprinting evaluation to determine what repairs are
going to be needed to bring the vehicle back to
like new condition and it just follows the traditional repair
(13:01):
phases from that point on, a thorough QC process. And
then behind the scenes are all the administrative duties that
go into the titling, you know, working with the charity
partners to determine a recipient, also vetting that recipient. There's
a very extensive vetting process for these veteran recipients. They
(13:22):
go through a background ground check to make sure they
don't have, you know, any criminal records of substance. They
also go through an income verification to make sure that
in the long term they'll be able to sustain covering
their own costs for auto insurance, registration, maintenance, so on
and so forth as well. So they're definitely, like you said,
(13:42):
run a lot of moving parts and a lot that
goes into ensuring we're prepared for, you know, such an
event like this now.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Does TCC textas collision center. You know, who's paying for
all the parts, the material to time that you guys
are just donating that.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
It is definitely a mixed bag. There are some you know,
parts that were able to get donated through our you know,
our our parts vendors. There's also some sublet functions that
were donated. Some we pay more out of pocket. Again,
you know, our technicians donate their time. So it's definitely
a mixed bag. A lot of the expense, you know,
(14:17):
we handled ourselves, but you know, it definitely wouldn't have
been possible without some of those parts vendors and sublet vendors.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
Also, is the program growing? Shiloh? And for those of
you just tuning in, we're talking with Schila Michaelas. She's
the chief strategy officer with Texas Collision Centers and there
were involved that have been for the past six years
with the ANYBC Recycled Rights program for veterans. You know,
is the program growing? Is it? Is it status quo?
Or do you see an uptick every year?
Speaker 3 (14:44):
I would definitely say I have personally seen an uptick.
And I'll tell you how ron is that every a
week does not go by that I don't see another
giveaway on LinkedIn from a competitor, another giveaway from a
national mso, another giveaway from a MO and pop independent operators.
So I definitely feel strongly that this program has grown
(15:06):
and will continue to grow. The NABC also does their
own golf tournaments throughout the year where they asked for
repair partners to you know, repair vehicles for that purpose.
They just did a giveaway at SEMA. So definitely whipout
it out. In my opinion, it has grown. I don't
have you know, stats to tell you per se on
the amount of growth they patch, but I definitely know
(15:28):
that it has grown and will continue to grow.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
Now, you know, veterans organizations are the VA right, the
Veterans Administration? Do they recognize this? Does this work through
them at all? Or is this just something as an
aside from the VA.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
That is a great question. So yes, sir, there were
several of the recipients that were identified and nominated by
the local VA and some VA related programs also. So
again it was a mix of different charity organizations, but
the local VA was a representative of s of the recipients.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Now you know what's the next step for for for
you know, recycled rides. Is it is it more exposure,
more car giveaways? Next year? Do we expand the program?
Is it in all is it in all the states?
Is it coast to coast or is it just select
parts of the country.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
I believe it is. I believe it's across the country
and you know, something that I know they need. So
for example, this our event that we held at Texas
Collision Centers was Mercury Insurance it's first stint in partnering
with the Recycled Rights program. And after the event was
done and those individuals for Mercury Insurance were leaving, they said, hey,
(16:37):
this was our first that we've done, but it will
definitely not be our last because they saw how impactful
it was of taking you know, a recovered fact for example,
and just the overall you know, impact and difference it
made in a veteran's life.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
I've got to think in our in our closing minute
for this segment, Shiloh, I've got to think that the
veterans are are overwhelmed and they actually get the cars.
Do they know ahead of time or is it more
of a surprise.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
They do know ahead of time because they are required
to handle, you know, go and take the registration paperwork
to the Department of Public Safety to get that process.
They have to obtain their own insurance prior to drive away.
Of getting to take the vehicle with them, so they
definitely know ahead of time. And I mean talk about gratefulness.
(17:24):
You know, many times there's not a dry eye in
the house, right and their stories.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Right right, Hey, you know, when we come back, let's
let's take a pause. When we come back, I want
to talk a little bit. I want to get away
from this for a minute if we can, and talk
a little bit about what it's like running a collision
center in this modern age. So if Shilah Michaelis, you'd
stay put on Ron and Ny and the car doctor,
we'll both return right after this. Don't go anywhere the
(17:50):
city street, studio road.
Speaker 5 (17:56):
If your Ridney doctor's done that.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
So we're talking about everything from recycled rides for veterans
to the collision industry. We're here with Shiloh Michaelis, who
is the chief strategy officer for Texas Collision Centers. Shiloh,
you know we've covered an ABC I think, and before
we go at the end of our our conversation today,
we're also going to put up about the website and
how veterans can find out more, et cetera. But I
(18:35):
want to talk a little bit about the collision business.
All right, you've been in the collision industry how long?
Speaker 3 (18:42):
Oh gosh, Ron, it has been the collision industry alone
about fourteen years, so you've.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Seen a change, you know, in a fourteen to fifteen
year time span. You think about the cars, right, so
you started when twenty tens were out, Now twenty twenty
five's are out out. You know, the difference in the
electronics on that vehicle alone, it's like Ripe Brothers biplane
to Space Shuttle.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
You could not be more spot on its technology advancements
have been tremendous.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
You know, the.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
Rising cost, skilled labor shortages, you know, all these are
things that we deal with on a day to day basis.
And you know a lot of that comes back to
just the changing vehicle technologies. You know now ad as
is everywhere, right, you know, so many calibration requirements as
that vehicle technology expands. So absolutely, there's been huge changes
(19:39):
over the last fifteen years.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Because the issues a body shop has. And let's go
back even further, because I know a little bit about
your history. You worked for or with Service King, which
was a Texas based collision repair group twenty years ago.
Is that correct? Did I understand that right?
Speaker 3 (19:58):
That's that's correct. So Service King founder Eddie Lennox began
Service King in the DFW Metroplex in nineteen seventy six,
and my husband Dan Mchaylis and I both worked for
Service King. Eddie Lennox's son, Jared Lennox is actually our
partner in Texas Collision Center, so we all worked there together,
(20:19):
and you know, then we decided to branch off after
Eddie had taken on private equity partners. Now today Service
King merged over with Crash Champions, and so that's the
entity that you see today. But yes, we all cut
our teeth on you know, old school service King back
in the day.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
Look at how look at what a big business collision
repair is. If I can point out the obvious, right,
you're you're you're talking about corporations and multiple shop locations
and you know major you know, talents of labor pool
and your your How can I say this, What you
(20:59):
guys spent non office supplies and pencils every year has
to be bigger than half of you know, the municipal
budget in some of the towns in New Jersey. You
know what, how do you manage all that? I mean,
you know how many employees does Texas Collision Centers have
do you think roughly?
Speaker 3 (21:15):
Do you know?
Speaker 2 (21:16):
I mean, I'm sure you know I do.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
Yes, sirs. So it's funny because I was just ordering
Christmas cards today. So we have three hundred and forty
two teammates currently at Texas Collision Centers. We also own
a Ados calibration company called Complete Collision Solutions, and we
have forty two teammates there.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
So this isn't you know, three bays and mom and pop.
This is this is a huge undertaking. And yes, that
gives you guys the competitive edge in a sense because
body shops and this is where I'm going with this, right.
You know, we were talking before about rejuvenating a recycled
ride for a veteran through with the ANABC Recycled Ride program.
(21:59):
Body shops have to be cutting edge. I mean mechanical
shops have to be cutting edge too. But chances are
a mechanical shop, which obviously that's me. You know, I'm
not going to see that car till it's out of warranty. Well,
I actually see them when they're warranty, but that's a
different conversation because I'm trying to help somebody fix it.
But you know, you know it's it's it's a body shop.
(22:19):
You know, when you drive that twenty twenty five Porscho
off the off the dealer, a lot if that thing
gets re're ended in two weeks, somebody's got to fix it.
That's a lot of that's a lot of technology.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
To deal with, absolutely, and what you'll find is, you know,
those brand new vehicles right off the lot, many times,
you know, get in an immediate accident and sometimes the
parts aren't even available yet. So you know, you definitely
have to be creative. You have to be you know,
up on the you know, most current repair procedures. There's
(22:51):
a lot involved as far as training and equipment to
stay on top of how vehicle technology is advancing.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
Where are you pulling your technicians from Shiloh? If I
can ask, I mean, are you grooming technicians? I mean
you have to build a technician the way you would
build a car.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
In a sense, right, we do, we do, and so
you know, I'll tell you that up until this point,
you know DFW being where you know, are two of
our MSO national competitors headquarters are we have been able
to to date we haven't had any difficulty, you know,
(23:26):
hiring technicians. However, I will tell you that, you know,
we have two more locations under construction that will open
later this year, within the next month or so. We
have another one that will open next year. And so
it's definitely something that you know, we're thinking about as
we grow into the future, we're going to need those
homegrown technicians. And you know how it is today most
(23:47):
young people, they want the cool, sexy job, they want
the it they want, you know, they don't want to
bust their knuckles and climb under cars anymore. And we
have actually hired a lot of We've got a lot
of generational families that work for us that are helping
to groom their own technicians, take them under their wing
and take their nephews and you know, sons and teach
(24:10):
them the business. But we you know, we're definitely thinking
about While we haven't had an issue to date in
hiring technicians, we're definitely thinking about the future and you
know what we're going to do to plan to grow
our own technicians.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
Because you've got to figure each location. Texas Collision Center
is just to refresh everybody's memory. It's sixteen facilities, three
hundred let's say it's four hundred employees. Between that and
the ads stuff. You've got to have, I don't know,
twenty five thirty employees each location.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
Yes, sir, that's that's ballpark. That is exactly where we're at.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
So you tend to gobble up the labor pool, you
know there there. You've got to be ICAR certified, right, yes, sir,
you know. And every time a manufacturer decides, well we're
going to paint the car this way, now, I'm sure
your painters all go and they've got to go back
to school for procedure, and you know it's a daunting task.
(25:09):
Do you have a training division? Do you have somebody
that just manages the training side of it, making sure
the eyes are dotted and the taser crossed. That's got
to be a daunting job unto itself.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
We do. We have an individual that's in charge not
just our IPAR training, but also you know QC, you know,
our quality assurance all of the above, and you know
that's all that he focuses on, because we, of course
always want to ensure a safe repair.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
Is Texas different? You know the way they repair new
in Texas versus let's say New Jersey, for example, I
had a situation with a mechanical customer. Her car got
rear ended and totaled. Well, they said it was total
was an O two Honda Odyssey, higher mileage, and the
insurance company said it needed forty six hundred dollars worth
(25:58):
of repair, which seated the value of the car. They
totaled it and she was able to go back to
the insurance company buy it back for half that price,
and then she took it to a body shop and
they kind of cabled it back together just to keep
it running. And are the laws the same in Texas?
Does that still apply?
Speaker 3 (26:16):
They are, yes, sir, that the laws are the same.
Something that we see different in Texas is that because
the speed limits are higher, we see heavier hits, higher
severity overall. You know, in Texas, a lot of the
vehicle population or trucks. You know, you are in a
you know, twenty ten Honda Civic and you get rear
(26:37):
ended by a FQ fifty truck, it's going to cost
significantly more damage than you know, if you were hit
ya hyndaia launtra right. So's that's some of the differences
that we see that you might not see as much
of in New Jersey or those two you know items
in particular.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
That's that's interesting, right, the higher speed limits. What what's
the average speed limit in Texas? Is there an average
seventy five?
Speaker 3 (26:58):
Eighty or seventy five?
Speaker 2 (27:00):
Yes, sir, well and what does everybody really do?
Speaker 4 (27:02):
Do you think?
Speaker 5 (27:03):
Well?
Speaker 3 (27:03):
I got eighty five?
Speaker 4 (27:05):
What do you?
Speaker 2 (27:06):
What are you doing that? Portia. I'm not gonna tell anybody.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
I'm talking from personal experience. Ron, Yes, I.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
Bet you you've exceeded eighty five. I have.
Speaker 3 (27:17):
I have once or twice. We like to call the
Dallas or totally here the autumnawn Now, yeah, of course,
of course safely, yes.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Of course. Well, hey listen, you know what. I'm not
gonna lie. There were moments in youth, might have been
last week when you know, I sort of got a
little bleary eyed, and uh, you know, and if I
take out the hot rod, that's a whole nother story. Hey, Shilah,
we're gonna, we're gonna, We're gonna pull over and take
a pause for our last segment. And and for the record,
see I told you there was an hour of radio
(27:45):
here and you didn't believe me. I knew there was
a bunch of stories here. When we come back, I'd
like to close up, maybe talk a little bit about tooling,
where you guys are finding your tools from. We'll talk
a little bit about scan tools if we can, and
what you're doing for the electronics, and you know, have
you run into the scenarios of cars that you're waiting
on the technology from the manufacturer. I thought we'd cover
those bases as well, So if you'd stay put, we're listening.
(28:08):
If you're listening, we're talking to Shiloh Michaylis, the chief
strategy officer for Texas Collision Centers. Obviously I'm Ron and
Ai and the Car Doctor. We'll both return right after this.
Speaker 4 (28:16):
Don't go away.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
Well, welcome back to the fastest hour of radio. The
Car Doctor's done in a while, and here with Shiloh Michaalis.
She is the chief strategy officer of Texas Collision Centers.
We started out talking about the NEYBC recycled rides for
veterans and the recent giveaway. Now we're into a whole
other venue regarding collision centers and how do they how
(28:54):
do they survive or how do they grow? And the
whole inner structure, and I appreciate you guys letting me
do this this hour as we kind of step out
of our normal role of taking calls. Shiloh Uh. You know,
let's finish the first question. Right the technology side, it's
it's not like you guys have one scan tool and
that covers the gamut, right OE stuff OE direct from
(29:15):
the manufacturer, No, sir, So we.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
Have all tail scanners as well as individual OE scan
tools based on the certifications that we have. So like
for example, Mercedes requires their own scan tool where they
have a flasher. It's basically you know, one technician that
has the capability to use that because it has fatial recognition.
So it's a mixed bag. But yes, we definitely have
(29:41):
several OE specific scan tools also based on the certifications
we have.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
Now, you know, what are you doing for electric vehicles?
What are you doing? Do you do? You know, just
up the pickup trucks? Do you do big trucks? Where's that?
Where's that? What's the variety of vehicles that a body
shop system like Texas Collision Centers would would see today?
Speaker 3 (29:59):
A great question, and so you know, for us, we
do a little bit of everything. So everything from you know,
gas vehicles, we call them to EB. We have testa
Certification Rivians, which are ramping up here in Texas. We
also have several Commercial Certifications RON because we actually perform
commercial repairs everything from a sprinter vand to medium duty
(30:23):
vehicle all the way up to Class eight SEMIS. So
you know, those have certification requirements, equipment requirements. You know,
we have to send technicians off for training certification. So
it's again, you know, a mix across the board.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
Wow, So it's it's it's a needlets say, this is
a full time job, a full time career in a sense.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
Yeah, and you have to you know, you learn to pivot.
You know, the last couple of years, claims volume has
been down, and so we decided to pivot and evolve
our overall strategy by getting into those commercial repairs.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
So would you say that the collision industry, you know,
where's where? Where do you think the future is? You
guys must sit down and go, well, we've got to
be prepared for this. You know, you've got to be
looking your head to that car that isn't even out
yet two years from now, and how do you prepare
for that?
Speaker 3 (31:16):
Yeah? That and that's a great question there. I think,
you know, when we think about the future, the biggest
thing for us is the skilled labor like we talked about,
you know, and then also just the evolving vehicle technology.
And that's exactly what led us to start our own
you know, ad OS calibration companies because we see that,
you know, more and more, that's going to be a
(31:37):
you know, requirement in the future as more sensors and
things are added to vehicles.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
Are you I'm trying to think of how to ask
this question, Shiloh, are you numb to expensive things? I mean,
you know, you go out and you buy an ADS
calibration system and it's thirty five thousand dollars. You welcome
too a restaurant and buy one hundred dollars steak. Yeah,
no big deal, right, it's it's it's just becomes a
number after a while. No fair, That is fair.
Speaker 3 (32:04):
And that's a great analogy there. And I'll say that,
you know, an individual expense, okay, no big deal. But
when you know, you sit down and you look at
those you know, P and L reports on a monthly basis,
those numbers definitely add up. There's definitely advising costs to
collisi repair, no question.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
Right, And I'll bring it back to where we started.
So you know, you've got tight budget, you're trying to
make things work, you're trying to buy tooling, you're spending
you know, thirty five thousand dollars on a US calibrations,
and then you very generously step up and put out
one vehicle per Texas Collision Center facility for an ABC
the recycled rides. That's that's a heck of an undertaking.
(32:42):
You guys really deserve some kudos for that, as well
as the other body shops that are part of this
this this great program that you're involved in.
Speaker 3 (32:50):
Thank you very much, Ron. We appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
Where can the listeners go get more information first for
ANYBC recycled rides that's.
Speaker 3 (32:57):
A great question. So the NABC has a web web
site National Autobodycouncil dot org where you can see all
the different programs that they are involved with and heading up,
including the recycled Rides program in particular. And then if
anyone's looking for more information about Littlewold Texas Collision Centers,
we are also at Texas Collisions Centers dot com.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
Thank you, Shiloh we appreciate you taking the time to
be with us today. I'm ronning Any and the car Doctor.
We're back right after this, back to wrap it up. Boy,
(33:45):
was that a great radio hour, Kate. You know you
look at body shops, and that's why I stayed with
that story. Obviously, the NEABC Recycled Rides aspect very important,
right regarding the way they were helping the veterans and
cars for the veterans. But as soon as I started
talking to Shiloh, you know, as part of that other interview,
(34:06):
we were talking back and forth. She wasn't even slated
to be the guest, and I said, there's a lot
of knowledge here, there's a lot going on, and you know,
I just thought you guys would like that, and I
hope you don't mind me presenting it the way I
did in that look at what it takes to run
a sixteen collision repair facility, that's just that's huge, right,
(34:27):
That's a small city being managed down there, Texas way,
So our hats are off to them and being part
of the NABC Recycled Rides. But anyway, it's been great
being with you today till the next time. I'm running
Any in the car doctor, reminding you good mechanics aren't expensive,
they're priceless. See you, Doctor Carr.
Speaker 5 (34:46):
Advice to ride se
Host
Ron Ananian
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