Five years ago, I purchased our Elk River shop from my parents. The thing that was hardest about that transition was that my dad no longer sits at the desk across from me every day. Part of the joy, and sometimes challenge, of a family business is the amount of time spent together as a family. I am lucky to still work with my sister and many long-term team members who work hard to make sure we put safe, well-repaired vehicles back on the road. I’m sure the idea that the hardest part of the job really isn’t fixing cars is something many of you can relate to. 

Fixing vehicles well requires vehicles to fix. This is perhaps the biggest challenge many shops have seen in the past two years. Totaling vehicles far below the 80-percent mandatory threshold is the thing I see as the single biggest threat to the collision industry, and it ultimately hurts mechanical shops, too. It directly hurts our customers, and it makes vehicles disposable. Our industry, the independent automotive industry, depends on customers who believe in the value of fixing their vehicles. Totaling out vehicles that don’t have their titles stamped as salvage and re-enter circulation is bad for all of us. It’s bad for other drivers on the road, for the next unsuspecting owner of that vehicle and most of all for the owner who was likely left underwater.

Just the way Minnesota is a halfway point between two coasts, so many of the shops here operate somewhere in the middle, between the OEM every step purist and the bare minimum to get a vehicle rolling down the highway again. Unfortunately, just like moderate politics, the middle is a hard place to get people fired up from. That is one of the hardest things about leadership at AASPMN. How do we speak on behalf of all shops, make things better for them and make it clear we are not about extremes? How can we be a voice for all shops navigating the balance of pride in craftsmanship with the economics of a small business in a world of consolidation, and in the process, make sure our families and neighbors are taken care of? 

The AASPMN Board is heading into our next round of strategic planning. Our goal is to understand what your priorities and needs are. What is the hardest part of your job? What keeps you up at night? What concerns you about the industry? What is changing with your customers? What do you need to be successful?



Drop us an email to let us know how we can help at aasp@aaspmn.org!