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As the final numbers for 2011 roll in, it looks like we will end the year on a slight uptick, as RO submissions have increased 5.16% overall. The average RO count that CSi Complete customers submitted was nearly 80 per month- 79.58 to be exact. The Midwest region shows the highest average increase at 12.09%. The West Coast was off -7.28 percent and the Plains -5.77% , the only two regions experiencing a decline. Other regions include the Southwest, up 5.70%; the South, up 2.39%; and the East Coast, up 2.36%

To view the latest Collision Watch numbers Click Here

GMAC Survey Highlights Ignorance of American Driver

In a survey of over 5,000 licensed drivers aged 16-65, nearly 20% failed a National Drivers Test sponsored by GMAC Insurance. Given the roughly 190 million licensed drivers in the United States, that means about 36.9 million would fail the written driving test administered by the states.

The average score in 2011 actually increased slightly from 2010 from 76.2% to 77.9%. However, 85% could not identify the correct action to take when approaching a steady yellow light and only 25% were aware of safe following distances.

Interestingly, males outperformed females with an 80.2% average compared to 74.1%. This might suggest that while males know the rules of the road better, they are less likely to follow them, or that this knowledge translates into safer driving habits. For years, women have been labeled as safer drivers than men- look no further than insurance rates for proof.

In Washington DC and New York, more than one-third of drivers-34%-failed the test. The state with the lowest percentage of failures was Wyoming, with just 1%. Overall, the Northeast is the worst driving region with an average of 74.9% and the Midwest is the best with an average score of 77.5%.

Perhaps not surprisingly, older drivers have the highest average at 80.03%.

You can take the test at http://www.nationaldriverstest.com/quiz/question

CSi Complete at Industry Meetings in Palm Springs

CSi Complete participated in various collision industry meetings recently held in Palm Springs, CA, including Collision Industry Conference (CIC), National Auto Body Council (NABC) and Collision Industry Electronic Commerce Association (CIECA).

One of the highlights of the trip was the NABC annual golf outing, where a repaired vehicle was presented to a needy family from the area. Maria Mendez, a single mother of two with a disabled son, was clearly moved when presented with the 1999 Ford Freestar mini van.

Recycle Rides is a signature effort of the NABC, an organization dedicated to the creation of a positive image for the collision repair industry.

The golf outing itself raised over $55,000, a record amount, which will help the organization sustain such worthy efforts. David Merrell of CSi Complete and Domenic Brusco of PPG Industries were main drivers behind organizing the event. Hertz Rent-A-Car was the presenting sponsor for the event and many other industry companies contributed.

The CSi Complete team of Doug Webb, John Webb, David Merrell and Doug Kelly (CynCast) shot a -7 in the golf scramble, a respectable score considering the skill level of the participants.

An NABC Recycled Ride was given away at the annual golf fundraiser.

CSi Complete to Offer SureCritic
Online Reputation Management Service

The availability of online customer reviews of businesses of every kind is changing the marketing dynamic for collision repair centers. The influence of traditional advertising and marketing such as print, radio, local team sponsorships and events and, for some shops, TV, is being diminished by online content relating to business services.

Of increasing importance are rating sites such as Yelp and CitySearch. Try this experiment: type your shop name reviews into a Google search and see what comes up. Often, there is negative content on the Internet that a shop has little to no control over. If per chance you are lucky and there is nothing there now- it's only a matter of time.

Current ratings sites have three inherent problems:

CSi Complete knows that customer experiences are overwhelmingly positive. We conduct thousands of surveys with real customers every day. The question then becomes, how can a shop leverage that positive content on the Internet?

The answer is a service called SureCritic that takes actual customer survey data and posts it to a BRP- or Business Review Page. This content is designed to displace misleading information about your business through SEO- Search Engine Optimization. There are many factors to SEO, which is an area of expertise for SureCritic. One of them happens to be availability of content, which most CSi Complete customers have in abundance.

"What SureCritic does is displace negative and misleading information about a business with real information from real customers," said David Merrell, VP of Sales and Service for CSi Complete. "SureCritic has overcome the three inherent problems with ratings sites, and we are very excited about our partnership with them. Currently, we believe that SureCritic is the only legitimate review site out there," he added.

To ensure credibility, negative reviews are also posted. Shop managers have the ability to post responses to negative reviews. These comments and replies are an essential part of the believability of the reviews, which will ultimately lead prospects to conclude that you are honest and caring in your business dealings. Customers understand that mistakes will happen, and we already know that most customers are indeed happy. This authenticity is at the core of why the site is trustworthy- and therefore influential to potential customers.

Shops need the ability to respond to new Internet communication dynamics in a positive and credible way. Powering a SureCritic site with your customer satisfaction surveys from CSi Complete is a powerful new way to do just that.

"Ninety Eight percent of all searches don't go past page one of Google," said Merrell. "You need to own page one of Google, and that's what this service does for you," he said.

For additional information on a CSI program for your company, contact David Merrell at dmerrell@csicomplete 800.343.0641 x227

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