try and the Association have faced many challenges in its 75-year history, from its earliest days as NATWA, to ADRA and then as ARA. “Change is not a bad thing, change brings success,” said Herb Lieberman, a long- time industry veteran, and an ARA Past President. “We can’t look in the rear view mirror, we must look through the front windshield.”

The next generation sees the car as a mobility de- vice, Lieberman noted, with having transportation as the priority, whether they own the car or not. As evi- dence, it was noted that car leasing is up 27 percent in the last 5 years. The connected car will continue to be in the center of discussions, with OEM collision repair guidelines “dictating how our customers should repair a vehicle. Liability is now on the back of repairers, and we have to address this issue in the near future,” Li- eberman says, citing the John Eagle Collision Center 31.5 million settlement to a Dallas couple for negli- gent repairs. Add in accident avoidance, it leaves us wondering, “who is the driver?” Finally, the decline of repairs is also imminent, and the auto recycling indus- try must be prepared for the opportunities that recy- cled electronic parts can offer for the future. Getting to the nuts and bolts, many session panels offered nuggets of advice from leading recyclers.

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