ELK GROVE, Calif., Feb. 23, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ALLDATA LLC, the leading provider of vehicle manufacturers' service and repair information for professional repair shops, has released a white paper discussing the need for collision repair facilities to have vehicle manufacturers' OE repair information.
"The people who build the cars have the final word on how to repair them after a collision," said ALLDATA Senior Program Manager for Collision, Dan Espersen. "The manufacturers have very specific requirements about sectioning, weld types, panel attachment, handling new materials, hybrid safety and a lot more. And every manufacturer has its own requirements."
Given how rapidly vehicle technology is changing, more and more collision shops are realizing that they need up-to-date information for working on alternative steels, magnesium, aluminum, composites and plastics. In some cases, new adhesives are required to make repairs rather than traditional welding techniques.
According to the white paper, new and ever-evolving technologies, economic pressures, and requirements mandated by insurance company agreements all put enormous pressure on collision shops. With slim profit margins and labor rates held in place by market forces, increased productivity is becoming essential to survival.
"This white paper resulted from talking to a lot of people who are living with today's business and economic challenges, and from a very informative round table discussion held at the NACE conference in November," says Espersen. "It was chaired by Jason Stahl of BodyShop Business magazine, and it confirmed for me what I already knew, that OE information can help mitigate a lot of the issues facing shops today."
For more information or to download the white paper, please visit www.alldata.com.
About AutoZone and ALLDATA
As of November 21, 2009, AutoZone sells auto and light truck parts, chemicals and accessories through 4,265 AutoZone stores in 48 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico in the U.S., and 193 stores in Mexico. AutoZone is the leading retailer and a leading distributor of automotive replacement parts and accessories in the United States.
ALLDATA is an AutoZone company. With more than 70,000 repair shops as subscribers, ALLDATA is the leading provider of manufacturers' service and repair information, shop management software and customer relations tools for the automotive repair and collision industries.