stclaudeautoinc

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Ever been to St Claude Autobody? If not, join us for a quick tour!

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Toyota Canada certifies its 1st Independent Collision Centre in Manitoba

Toyota Canada has recently recongnized St.Claude Autobody as an official Toyota Certified Collision Centre. They are the 1st independent autobody shop (non dealership owned) in Manitoba to meet the new requirements of the Toyota certification.  As of the publication of this article, St.Claude Autobody is 1 of only 6 shops in all of Canada to meet the newly revamped requirements of the Toyota Certified Collision Centre Program.

Known within the industry for it's strict requirements, Toyota certification demands the latest equipment, up to date training and a flawless repair process - one that ensures that their customers receive the best repairs possible.   With changing technologies in today's vehicles, it is important for customers to take their vehicle to a repair facility that embraces change and stays up to date on repair procedures. Already having all of these attributes meant that St. Claude Autobody was a natural fit for this certification.

"We've been working extremely hard to stay on top of all the recent changes in the collision repair trade." states Norm Bruneau, owner and general manager at St. Claude Autobody. "We are extremely pleased that Toyota Canada recognized our efforts and are willing to count on us as one of their certified repair centres." 

In a recent statement, Paul Stella, manager of Toyota Canada's Collision Repair & Refinish Program, outlined that it's about more than returning vehicles to pre-accident condition. It's about returning them to original factory specifications to ensure that customer safety is not compromised. Toyota Certified Collision Centres such as St. Claude Autobody have access to the latest Toyota technical and repair information right from the Toyota website making them the clear choice when it comes to choosing a repair facility. 

While most Toyota certified repair facilities are dealership owned, dealers without an in- house repair facility can designate an independent shop of their choice to become certified as long as they meet the Toyota requirements.  Portage Toyota has chosen St.Claude Autobody as their repair facility of choice to ensure that their customers receive certified repairs. 

Doug Thompson, general manager at Portage Toyota states "Customer safety has always been a focal point here, so it was important for us to work with a qualified repair facility. We've had a great working relationship with St. Claude Autobody over the years and partnering with them was the right choice for us and our customers."

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Problem solved!

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Beautiful day to give these away! See you tonight! #demoderby #stclaude #smash

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St.Claude Autobody is on the leading edge of MPI's new Direct Repair Program

St.Claude Autobody has been working closely with Manitoba Public Insurance on a new program that is designed to make the insurance claim and repair process easier and more efficient for customers.

This new program is known as Direct Repair and is described by MPI on their website as follows:

"Direct Repair enables customers with eligible claims to proceed directly to a participating repair shop for a vehicle damage estimate after reporting the claim to MPI, instead of attending an MPI Service or Claim Centre.  Direct Repair streamlines the repair process and can save time by eliminating the need to visit MPI for the first vehicle damage estimate."

St.Claude Autobody has been working for months to ensure that they were on the leading edge of the program and on March 1st, they were one of only a few shops in Manitoba that transitioned seamlessly into the Direct Repair Program.  As of June 1st, MPI has lifted the veil on the program and is allowing shops to advertise their participation in the Direct Repair Program.

The main benefit to the program, as mentioned in the MPI statement above, is that on qualifying claims, customers will now have the option of attending a Direct Repair Facility such as St.Claude Autobody for the initial damage estimate. 

The new claim process will go as follows:

Call MPI first to report the claim

Obtain an eligible claim number from MPI; and,

Call St.Claude Autobody to book an estimate and to arrange for repairs.

After the initial call to MPI to start the claim, the customer will be dealing solely with the Direct Repair facility for the rest of the estimating and repair process.

Although MPI has only recently introduced the Direct Repair Program, St.Claude Autobody has been operating similarly since 2012, when they started performing pre-inspections on all vehicles with claims for their customers.  This practice still exists today at a larger volume and goes by the acronym ‘ERP’ which stands for ‘Enhanced Repair Planning’. ERP was not common practice back in 2012 and is still only performed by a handful of shops , as it is a completely different approach to writing estimates and completing repairs.  Typically, shops would use the 1st estimate written by the MPI estimator to order the required parts and schedule the customer for repairs. Because the MPI estimator is not allowed to remove anything from the vehicle when writing their estimate, more often than not, hidden damage was only discovered once the vehicle was in the shop for repairs, which unavoidably slows down the repair process. In this scenario, the shop would then need to get approval from MPI for the additional repairs, and would need to wait for the additional parts to arrive before continuing.

With the introduction of the Direct Repair Program, St.Claude Autobody has merged it’s Enhanced Repair Planning with the initial claim estimate appointment to write a thorough estimate the first time and save their customers downtime without their vehicle.  Their process includes scheduling the customer for a 1 hour appointment (depending on the extent of the damage) so that they could take the vehicle apart to capture ALL the damage before bringing the vehicle in for repairs. This way, they could get the necessary approvals and required parts ahead of time, which in turn reduced the amount of time the vehicle was in the shop for repairs.

Repairs completed in St. Claude Autobody's facility, take on average, half the time of repairs completed in other Manitoba repair shops. This saves both MPI and it’s ratepayers money as rental car costs are kept to a minimum. This new and improved process did not go unnoticed by both the customers and MPI. 5 years after St.Claude Autobody started the ERP program, MPI is rolling out the Direct Repair Program, and St.Claude Autobody is hitting the ground running.

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Checkout our Facebook page for our link to last year's derby video. Looking forward to another great show this year. Thanks to @greentbone at @continuedigital for putting this together. (at St. Claude Autobody)

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What a great way to start the day. Thanks @lcleutinx_23 for sending over these awesome cupcakes! Wow! (at St. Claude Autobody)

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For once we can post a wager pic that doesn't involve @normdogg83 being on the losing end. Loving your new look Ferd, @nivervilleautobody looks good with a little french flare!

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Anyone that knows me has likely seen me on the losing end of a few friendly wagers over the years. But even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while. Glad my Habs beat Ferd's Jets a few weeks back so I could enjoy this moment. Looking good @nivervilleautobody! You get a big thumbs up from the @stclaudeautobody staff!

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Congrats to Julie, Liam and Mercedes! We will be contacting you (your parents) shortly! Some prizes headed your way! Thanks to all that entered our contest. Our office wall has never looked so good! (at St. Claude Autobody)

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Time to giveaway some prizes for our colouring contest! (at St. Claude Autobody)

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Last call for our colouring contest! Cutoff for entries is Wednesday Dec 21st at 5pm. Winners will be drawn Friday. Good luck! (at St. Claude Autobody)

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Only a week left to get your entries in for our colouring contest! Simply go to our website www.stcauto.com and click on "contest" in the menu to download the picture. Prizes for all 3 age categories. Good luck! (at St. Claude Autobody)

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Snow day= bored adults. A couple hours into our children's coloring contest and we have 2 adult entries lol. One from @perbear22 who clearly used his cell phone. Note the "brightness" lines around the star. The second one was sent to me with the following description: 3" roof chop, lowered, a hood scoop, side pipes and a sweet flame job. #hotrodder #stockisforsuckers Keep them coming! Lol (at St. Claude Autobody)

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Snowday with the kids at home? Why not enter our colouring contest for a chance to win some great prizes? Stop in to pickup an entry or print it from our website. Just click on "contests" on the right top menu. www.stcauto.com Good luck! (at St. Claude Autobody)

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Just another beautiful Manitoban winter day. (at St. Claude Autobody)

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Winter tires for the courtesy cars have finally arrived! These are a MUST for our Manitoba winters. A worthwhile investment for our customer's safety. (at St. Claude Autobody)