AutocheX Premier Achiever Awards Honor "Best of the Best" Collision Repair Facilities


SAN DIEGO, CA--(Marketwire - December 4, 2008) - AutocheX™, Mitchell International's® voice of the customer performance management group, hosted the seventh annual Premier Achiever Awards ceremony on Nov. 6, 2008, to honor collision repair facilities from throughout the U.S. and Canada for their exceptional achievements in customer service and satisfaction. The event was held at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas in conjunction with the International Autobody Congress and Exposition (NACE).

AutocheX is a leading provider of customer satisfaction measurement and performance management solutions to the collision repair industry. The Premier Achiever Awards recognize collision repair facilities that consistently demonstrate their commitment to customer service as reflected by their extremely high customer satisfaction scores.

The Class of 2008 Premier Achievers attained scores in the top five percent of facilities that use the AutocheX service throughout the U.S. and Canada. They include collision repair facilities of all sizes, from small, family-run businesses to large consolidators, and represent 32 states across the U.S., as well as British Columbia, Canada. Over 28 percent of the facilities were repeat winners, having also won the award in 2007.

"We are delighted to recognize the 'best of the best' collision repair facilities in North America with the Premier Achiever Awards," said Jason Bertellotti, Vice President of Mitchell Repair Solutions. "Clearly, these facilities go the extra mile for their customers. Not only do their high satisfaction scores reflect their ongoing commitment to customer care, but their efforts create loyal customers who will help them drive growth for the long-term through referrals and repeat business."

This year, Ohio-based True2Form Collision Repair Centers, Inc. had two of its North Carolina facilities win the award: the Mooresville and Wilmington North locations. True2Form President and CEO, Rex Dunn, attended the award ceremony and said, "True2Form is committed to satisfying 100 percent of our customers. Our team works really hard to meet this goal, and receiving the Premier Achiever Award helps validate that we're on the right track with our customers. We're very proud of the Mooresville and Wilmington facilities for achieving this recognition of their outstanding dedication to customer service."

Premier Achiever Award winners were congratulated at the ceremony by insurance company representatives and the AutocheX team. On hand to present the award to facilities participating in their respective repair programs were:

--  Randy Hanson, Claim Service Manager for PRO, Allstate Insurance
    Company
    
--  Rick Lewis, Unit Manager, Immediate Repair Program, Interinsurance
    Exchange of the Automobile Club
    
--  Gary Reichenbach, Manager, Claims Quality Engineering, Interinsurance
    Exchange of the Automobile Club
    
--  Darcy Gorchynski, Director, Material Damage Services, Insurance
    Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC)
    
--  Keith Jones, Manager, Material Damage Services - Policy & Training,
    ICBC
    
--  Dave Mason, Manager, Material Damage Services - Operations Support,
    ICBC
    
--  Mike Wilson, Manager, MD Services Business Support, ICBC
    
--  Terry Fortner, Vice President, Material Damage Claims, Nationwide
    Insurance
    
--  Jim Gadberry, Director of Blue Ribbon Services, Nationwide Insurance
    

"Every year Allstate looks forward to the Premier Achiever Awards as an opportunity to recognize and thank our top-performing facilities for their ongoing commitment to providing an exceptional collision repair experience for their customers," said Randy Hanson, PRO Claim Service Manager for Allstate. "Customer satisfaction is our highest priority, and the AutocheX awards help to reinforce that message to our PRO partner facilities in a very positive way. We are very proud of all the 2008 recipients."

Preceding the award ceremony, Jim Lindner, Executive Chairman of Mitchell, presented AutocheX co-founder Ray Kihara with a Lifetime Achievement Award. "For nearly 20 years, Ray has worked passionately to promote and support collision repair facilities. It was a real pleasure to recognize and thank him for his many contributions to the collision repair industry -- he truly is a lifetime Premier Achiever," said Lindner. In 1989, Kihara founded AutocheX with Dennis Kiyohara and served as Executive Vice President, responsible for collision industry sales and support. Through the years he has been a key driver of industry efforts on behalf of collision repair facilities, insurers, and consumers to streamline the claims adjusting process. He is currently Director of Sales and Marketing for AutocheX.

AutocheX is dedicated to not only providing the most objective and actionable "voice of the customer" data, but also to advancing the level of customer service in the collision repair industry. AutocheX and the participating insurance companies present the Premier Achiever Awards each year as a way of recognizing collision repairers that have proven their devotion to quality, service, and customer satisfaction.

"The Premier Achiever Awards demonstrate the winners' success in making customer satisfaction a primary focus of their business," concluded Bertellotti. "We want to thank the winning facilities and the participating insurance companies for making the Premier Achiever program so successful."

About AutocheX

AutocheX is a leading provider of comprehensive and impartial voice of the customer measurement, analysis, and reporting for the auto physical damage claims industry. Founded in 1989, AutocheX conducts more than 500,000 surveys annually for clients throughout the U.S. and Canada, and maintains an industry benchmarking database that comprises millions of completed customer satisfaction surveys. AutocheX is a fully-integrated business unit of Mitchell International.

About Mitchell International, Inc.

Mitchell International (www.mitchell.com) is a leading provider of information, workflow, and performance management solutions to the property and casualty insurance claims and collision repair industry. Mitchell facilitates millions of electronic transactions between more than 25,000 business partners each month to enhance their productivity, profitability, and customer satisfaction levels.

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On hand to congratulate winners at the seventh annual AutocheX Premier Achiever Award ceremony were, from left to right:

--  Jim Gadberry, Director of Blue Ribbon Services, Nationwide Insurance
    
--  Jim Lindner, Executive Chairman, Mitchell International
    
--  Jason Bertellotti, Vice President Repair Solutions, Mitchell
    International
    
--  Rick Lewis, Unit Manager, Immediate Repair Program, Interinsurance
    Exchange of the Automobile Club
    
--  Terry Fortner, Vice President, Material Damage Claims, Nationwide
    Insurance
    
--  Jim Okun, Group Manager, Interinsurance Exchange of the Automobile
    Club
    
--  Allan C. Robinson, President, Sterling Collision Centers, Inc.
    
--  Gary Reichenbach, Manager, Claims Quality Engineering, Interinsurance
    Exchange of the Automobile Club
    
--  Ray Kihara, AutocheX Director of Sales & Marketing, Mitchell
    International
    
--  Darcy Gorchynski, Director, Material Damage Services, Insurance
    Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC)
    
--  Mike Wilson, Manager, MD Services Business Support, ICBC
    
--  Randy Hanson, Claim Service Manager for PRO, Allstate Insurance
    Company
    
--  Nicholas Bomarito, Vendor Management Supervisor, California State
    Automobile Association (CSAA)
    

Contact Information: Contacts: Jennifer Forman Sr. Director, Marketing 800-854-7030 Ext. 7794 or Kam Hashim Boston Communications 617-619-9803

On hand to congratulate winners at the seventh annual AutocheX Premier Achiever Award ceremony were, from left to right: Jim Gadberry, Jim Lindner, Jason Bertellotti, Rick Lewis, Terry Fortner, Jim Okun,  Allan C. Robinson, Gary Reichenbach,  Ray Kihara, Darcy Gorchynski, Mike Wilson, Randy Hanson, Nicholas Bomarito