The high-profile digital currency bitcoin may seem far removed from a dealership's body shop. But the technology that makes bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies possible is poised to become an everyday part of collision repair.
That technology is called blockchain. Mitchell International, a collision industry software provider in San Diego, is developing a blockchain-based network for securely sharing the data of body shops, insurers and repair customers. Mitchell says the system is the first application of blockchain in automotive repair.
"We've been trying to drag everybody to blockchain for two years," says Scott Biggs, CEO of Assured Performance Network in Laguna Hills, Calif. Assured administers the certification of more than 3,000 collision repair centers for a variety of automaker repair networks, including those of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Ford and Hyundai.
Body shops compile customer names and addresses, account records and insurance reporting data, all shared with many parties during a claim. Such information is often the target of identity thieves. Consequences of a data breach at a shop can range from settling with customers whose information has been stolen to losing its Direct Repair Program status.
Blockchain, Biggs says, "provides data accessibility" while making it hard to hack.
"Think about replacing a windshield after an accident," Biggs told Fixed Ops Journal. "Somebody repaired it, but using what technique? Was the windshield new, used or aftermarket? What tools did they use?"
Such information tends to be stored in the records of a single body shop, dealership or insurer, but is unavailable to other repairers. Blockchain could log all of that information, Biggs says, helping with recall and repair compliance.
"Any time you can find out information about a prior repair, it's going to be beneficial," says Randy Sattler, body shop manager at Rydell Cars, which operates Chevrolet-Buick-GMC- Cadillac and Honda-Nissan dealerships in Grand Forks, N.D.
A permanent electronic "receipt" of logged repairs, Sattler says, would reduce a shop's potential liability by allowing insurers and shops to identify previous substandard repairs.
