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A Decrease font size. A Reset font size. A Increase font size. 1/53 2026 NACE/CARS Leadership Conference 2/53 2026 NACE/CARS Leadership Conference Automotive Service Industry Outlook: The Future of Independent Shops – Kristen Felder, (middle) Collision Hub, Bob Redding, (left), ASA Washington D.C. Lobbyist, and Scott Benavidez, (right), ASA Past Chairman.

Auto shop owners often receive financial reports, look at sales, check the bank balance, and return to running the shop. The reports were reviewed, but no decision was made. Financial reports should do more than record what already happened. They should help the owner decide what needs attention and what the business can reasonably do next. Numbers Are Signals A financial number is a signal. Not a complete explanation.

NORTH RICHLAND HILLS, Texas – What are the most perplexing challenges facing collision and mechanical repair shop owners today – and, more importantly, how can they solve them? The Automotive Service Association (ASA) is bringing together shop owners, industry experts, OEM representatives and leading industry partners at the newly reimagined NACE/CARS on Sept. 29, 2026, at the Hilton Palacio del Rio in San Antonio to tackle those questions head-on.

Your service advisor needs an answer. Someone has a question about a parts return. A routine customer concern reaches your desk because no one is sure who can resolve it. By the end of the day, you have helped everyone else move forward while your own work barely moved. Before concluding that your team lacks initiative, examine how decisions work in your shop. You may have handed off the activity while keeping the authority, judgment, and follow-up attached to you.

Dallas, Texas—August 25, 2026—Plasnomic is pleased to announce that Tom Bergeron, Manager of State Farm’s Vehicle Research Facility, has joined the Plasnomic Plastic Repair Alliance Council, further strengthening the group’s insurer and technical representation. “Tom brings extensive technical knowledge and an important insurer perspective to the Council,” said Mario Dimovski, President of Plasnomic and Head of the Plastic Repair Alliance Council.

A Decrease font size. A Reset font size. A Increase font size. Rising healthcare costs, intense competition for skilled technicians, and the unique health risks associated with automotive work are making a strong employee benefits package more important than ever for attracting and retaining qualified employees. Industry research reinforces this trend.

A Decrease font size. A Reset font size. A Increase font size. We all know that healthcare costs can add up quickly. In 2025, the average family health insurance premium through an employer approached nearly $27,000 total, with workers contributing an average of $6,850 via payroll deductions. Comprehensive total medical costs for a family of four—including out-of-pocket costs, clinical care, and total premiums—reached roughly $35,119 according to the Milliman Medical Index. [1, 2, 3].

A service advisor gets buried, so you answer the phones. A technician needs a decision, so you stop what you are doing. A customer has a concern, a responsibility falls between two positions, or a process breaks down and once again, everything falls back on you. Stepping in occasionally is part of ownership. The problem begins when stepping in becomes the shop’s normal operating system.

Most auto shop owners didn’t start a business because they wanted to spend their days studying financial statements. They enjoy solving problems, serving customers, building a team, and watching their business grow. Unfortunately, that often means the financial side of the business gets less attention than it deserves. Financial Avoidance Over the years, I’ve discovered that many owners aren’t avoiding their numbers because they don’t care.

Most auto shop owners pay close attention to financial signals. We watch sales, car count, profitability, and cash flow because those numbers help us understand how the business is performing. What many owners miss is that long before a financial problem appears on a report, the business is usually sending leadership signals. Leadership signals are the clues that reveal what’s happening beneath the surface.