I-CAR® Wins SEMA New Product Award for I-CAR Academy, Named Runner-Up for RTS App in 2024 Collision Repair & Refinish Category

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LAS VEGAS, Nov. 6, 2024 ~ At the 2024 SEMA Show in Las Vegas, I-CAR®, the leading provider of technical education, services, and talent solutions for the automotive industry, proudly announced a dual achievement. Their new Academy entry-level technician success programming was awarded the prestigious SEMA Best New Product Award in the Collision Repair & Refinish category. This category had over 300 submissions, making it the largest of the 18 Showcase categories.

This milestone is a testament to I-CAR's dedication to advancing technician education and addressing the industry's ongoing talent crisis. Dara Goroff, I-CAR VP Planning & GM Talent Programming, accepted the SEMA New Product Award during a ceremony on November 5 at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas.

In addition to this award, I-CAR also received runner-up recognition for their recently launched RTS (Repairability Technical Support) App in the same category. Scott VanHulle, Manager of RTS & OEM Relations Repairability Technical Support at I-CAR, accepted this award on behalf of the organization.

The RTS App has been praised for its role in providing repair professionals with practical and on-demand technical information and resources. This recognition further solidifies I-CAR's commitment to providing real-time support to technicians at their time of need.

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Goroff expressed her excitement and validation upon receiving these awards: "Receiving the SEMA Best New Product Award for I-CAR Academy is both exciting and validating," she said. "Our team worked tirelessly to create a program that builds foundational entry-level technician knowledge and skills while also enhancing related onboarding and retention success in shops across the nation."

The I-CAR Academy curriculum is designed for both schools and shops, equipping new technicians with relevant, consistent, high-quality training from day one of their career journey. The program also offers mentorship opportunities and best practices for people and culture that are crucial to early technician success and retention. Further elements of the program are currently in development for 2025 and beyond.

John Van Alstyne, CEO & President of I-CAR, shared his thoughts on the organization's achievements: "This award brings to life the vision that Clark Plucinski and I defined nearly a decade ago, and on which development started two years ago," he said. "Watching I-CAR Academy and our broader Talent Programming initiative grow from concept to reality has been deeply gratifying. Today, schools and shops nationwide are able to provide the relevant and quality training that entry-level technicians need to perform complete, safe, and quality repairs."

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Since its launch in June 2024 for schools and August 2024 for shops, the I-CAR Academy curriculum has expanded to include 470 schools and shops across the country. To date, there have been over 220,000 lesson completions. The curriculum covers five foundational learning areas that prepare technicians to advance to I-CAR's Professional Development Program and Platinum™ designation. The program combines online learning with hands-on skills reinforcement in a gamified environment that promotes and rewards learner progress.

In addition to their success with the Academy program, I-CAR's RTS website has also been making waves in the industry since its launch in June 2014. The website provides collision repair professionals with resources such as OEM Partial Part Replacement guidelines, OEM Calibration Requirements, technical news, and industry best practices. In 2023 alone, the RTS site received over 5 million visits, with their technical support team responding directly to more than 3,000 Ask I-CAR inquiries. In April 2024, they launched the RTS App which has already surpassed 6,000 downloads.

The SEMA New Product Awards competition recognizes exceptional advancements in products within the automotive specialty-equipment market showcased at the SEMA Show. Products are evaluated based on innovation excellence, technical performance, quality and craftsmanship, consumer appeal, marketability, and other factors. With their recent achievements, I-CAR has proven to be a leader in the collision repair industry and is dedicated to driving it forward.
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