I-CAR challenged during open mic at CIC, CEO Kyle Thompson responds

More than 10 individuals, representing collision repair businesses and associations, took to the open mic during the Collision Industry Conference (CIC) meeting Wednesday to criticize I-CAR for governance decisions and proposals introduced during their 2025 election.

I-CAR has proposed amendments to its bylaws, which have drawn criticism that the changes marginalize the opportunity for voices that could represent the independent repair perspective, and provide greater opportunity for corporate interests to govern the entity.

The proposed bylaw changes, which are currently open for voting by I-CAR Regular Members, add eligibility restrictions to the fourth collision repair segment seat, and expand eligibility under the “related industry services” segment to include information systems providers, rental car companies, data service providers, operations or financial consulting firms, and third-party service providers. 

Earlier this year, the Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS) Board supported Executive Director Aaron Schulenburg’s run for a board seat, which I-CAR rejected, stating that “in accordance with I-CAR’s Bylaws, the Collision Repair seats are exclusively reserved for individuals from collision repair facilities.” Additionally, I-CAR communicated “we do not currently have a seat on the Board that would be fitting for an association.”

The application and resulting discussion resulted in the proposal to formalize the restriction in the bylaws. 

I-CAR nominated Ryan Downs, chief strategy officer at Crash Champions, for the seat.

On Wednesday, new I-CAR President and CEO Kyle Thompson defended the nonprofit’s actions, stating that there is “zero change in board practice.”

Following Schulenburg’s attempt at running for a seat on the board, Thompson said I-CAR realized “there was an opportunity to clarify board intent in the wording.”

“That’s why the bylaws were pushed forward,” he said. “There was zero change in intent from what was originally put out.

“Associations, especially associations like SCRS, are made up of constituents from lots of different areas of the industry, and our board seats are divided up for very specific segments. The largest segment is absolutely the repairers — you have four of the board seats. There were 21 seats. Now it’s, I believe, 13, so right now, if you bring on somebody who represents many different entities, you change the balance and run the risk of altering, potentially, the way votes stack out. That’s the reason associations aren’t allowed.”

It was unclear how an individual who serves as a representative of many businesses would alter a vote, if each board member only has one vote. 

“Over the years, it seems like we’ve had continual problems with trying to relay our message to a I-CAR and these are comments that I’m getting from our board and from our members,” said Jill Tuggle, Auto Body Association of Texas executive director, from the open microphone. “I voiced our concerns and wrote a letter to I-CAR. It was met with an automatic response letter that I became aware of later, everyone received the same one. It didn’t address any of the issues that I had brought up, of the issues that in Texas we were seeing, including the amendment of their bylaws to uphold the opinions of the board on the director being ineligible.”

The following is an email from I-CAR that was reportedly sent in response to letters written by several shops and associations voicing their concerns about proposed bylaws and nominations. Thompson said 35 were received, and not all were responded to.

“We appreciate you giving I-CAR the opportunity to respond. Our Board of Directors is carefully structured to reflect all segments of the industry — repairers, insurers, OEMs, suppliers, educators, information providers, and more — ensuring a wide range of perspectives help guide I-CAR’s direction.

“In fact, recognizing the industry’s evolution, we undertook a governance review several years ago that resulted in a rebalancing of the Board to ensure collision repairers hold the most representation of any segment.

“We actively seek highly qualified candidates from across the industry whose experience and insight support I-CAR’s mission to deliver accessible, relevant, and high-quality education. This includes encouraging independent repairers to apply for open Collision Repair seats, just as we have since I-CAR’s founding.

“When a board member’s role in the industry changes through factors such as job changes, acquisition, or industry consolidation, as was recently the case with the Board seat for the single-location shop representative, we carefully consider whether their overall perspective continues to add insights to the work. When this position comes up for reelection, it will be filled with a representative from a single-location shop. As with any effective governance structure, we occasionally make adjustments to ensure clarity, accuracy, and continued alignment with our mission.

“I-CAR is committed to driving the collision repair industry forward through excellence in training, technical knowledge, and meaningful collaboration, especially in today’s environment of increasing repair complexity and technician workforce challenges. As a neutral industry partner, we value thoughtful dialogue and share in the industry’s collective commitment to progress and innovation.

“As both I-CAR and our industry continue to evolve, we remain steadfast in our commitment to serve you with transparency and integrity. It is our hope that this brings clarity, and you will continue to collaborate with I-CAR in support of our shared mission for the benefit of the drivers we all ultimately all serve. Thank you for your feedback.”

Tuggle said she sent a follow-up letter after receiving the above response, but hadn’t heard back from I-CAR, aside from a one-on-one conversation on Wednesday with a couple of I-CAR representatives.

“But I’ve had some one-on-one conversations with people there before, and it kind of starts to feel like lip service because nothing changes,” she said. ” Things come down the road — months, years later — and it’s still kind of the same situation.”

In response to the boilerplate response, Thompson said, “I can tell you that when I hear about the failures on the response and the canned messaging, all of that lands on me.”

Michael Bradshaw, vice president at K&M Collision and SCRS chairman, said he believes I-CAR “went out of their way to eliminate something that was not defined.”

“What they did was eliminate the participation of association leaders in their board,” he said. “Association leaders have more interaction with independent repair facilities than, I would argue, anyone else in this room or from any other repair segment. Not only did they go out of their way to do this, in doing so, they overlooked the fact that a nearly 15-year participant on their board has advocated against, and his company has consistently advocated against, safety inspections, required repair procedures, and position statements.

“You guys [I-CAR] don’t listen… the fact that we [SCRS] sent that letter and nobody’s reached out to me should show everybody in the room how tone-deaf you guys have become to what the independent repairs need, and they need you. They need you to be what you’re supposed to be, but you’re too busy catering to big money.”

Darrell Amberson, vice president of industry and OEM relations at Quality Collision Group and I-CAR Membership Committee chairman, said he has concerns about I-CAR’s priorities.

“I feel like it’s not prioritizing adequately the core mission of I-CAR — to educate people and how to fix cars properly, and putting too much emphasis on all the peripheral stuff it’s been doing,” he said. “As evidence of that, I would point out the fact that, in recent years, I-CAR has added a lot of staff people, and virtually all of them are either admin or marketing people, and hardly anybody’s technical. I’d like to suggest at this time, of leadership, that perhaps I-CAR could go through an exercise in reevaluating what it does and reprioritizing its tasks.”

Justin Lewis, president of Accurate Auto Body and SCRS board member, added that the associations aren’t the voice of one person but a collective group of shops, and to not have that representation on the board means his association’s shops aren’t represented.

Todd Hesford, general manager of operations at Mission Viejo Auto Collision and SCRS board member, said Schulenburg would be ideal to represent independent repairers.

“Who better to represent the independent repair than the guy who talks to the affiliates [associations] and everybody else in the room, to thousands of independent repairs to OEMs to insureds? Who better to represent us than that guy? It’d be an honor to have that guy sitting there. This isn’t about him. …He’s one of the smartest guys in the room. And just to have it thrown in our face like that, it’s pretty upsetting. … We can do better than this.”

Schulenburg emphasized that collision repairers appreciate the work I-CAR does in education and training on a technical level, which shouldn’t be diminished by issues that are voiced concerning leadership.

“But I do think there are some points that are being maybe missed in what I-CAR’s hearing because I don’t think I-CAR’s actually listening,” he said. “I think you’re acknowledging that you received letters. You’re acknowledging that people have said things and you’re acknowledging that it’s a good point that’s raised, but I don’t think your actions are telling the people who have raised them that you have heard what they have said or that you’ve really taken an earnest interest in what they’re telling you. And that’s done through a canned email. It’s done through a lack of response.”

Following the receipt of industry feedback, I-CAR proceeded with their nominations and the bylaw proposals, sending an email to regular members on July 15 to ratify the I-CAR Board Election and Bylaw Amendments. 

“The problem is that I-CAR is looking at it and going, ‘We have our one independent repairer. Why would we need another?’ You have a fourth seat that’s undefined… The industry is screaming at I-CAR in every forum, in every meeting room, in every social media post, everywhere about how discontent they are and frustrated they are with the leadership and the priorities.

“What you don’t hear, or may not understand, is all the Sustaining Partners in this room who support you because there’s no other option, and support you because they absolutely think that the industry needs what you offer, but don’t believe in what you’re doing… You just saw all these people with all this passion stand up and tell you we want to see more from I-CAR. We believe in I-CAR. We believe in I-CAR’s potential, but I-CAR is not listening to them. We need you to do better.”

Additional comments were made by Amber Alley, manager at Barsotti’s Body & Fender; Jeff Butler, Haury’s Collision and Washington Independent Collision Repair Association (WICRA) past president; Kris Burton, Rosslyn Auto Body and Washington Metropolitan Auto Body Association (WMABA) president; Jeff Hendler, CIC and I-CAR co-founder; and Kena Dacus, owner of Dacus Autobody and Collision Repair and Kansas Auto Body Association president.

Thompson responded that doing better for the industry will be a focus for I-CAR moving forward.

“There’s clearly a sentiment that is very strong that we need to do better for the industry,” he said. “We’ll come back with actions that we’ll take from the feedback that was provided through this process and also through our governance model. And it’ll also have a debrief with the board to update them as well as we go forward.”

He added that he is available for individuals to reach out to him to discuss other feedback.

Images

Featured image: I-CAR President and CEO Kyle Thompson addresses concerns voiced during the July 23, 2025, Collision Industry Conference (CIC) meeting in Philadelphia. (Lurah Lowery/Repairer Driven News)

SCRS Executive Director Aaron Schulenburg and Thompson speak during the July 23, 2025, CIC meeting. (Lurah Lowery/Repairer Driven News)