TORRANCE, Calif., Nov. 4, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc., announced today an all-new way of delivering recommended repair procedures through a partnership with Mitchell, a leader in providing technology, connectivity, and information solutions to the collision repair and insurance industries. Mitchell's new mobile/online estimating system is being developed to expose Toyota recommended repair procedures during the estimating process. The new solution should reduce the time required to write a collision estimate by eliminating the need to reference multiple sources when repairing a Toyota vehicle to its pre-accident condition. It will also provide standardized information needed throughout the entire repair process.
"Our goal is simple, to ensure customer safety and confidence," said Rick Leos, Collision Program Developer, Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. "By combining Mitchell's expertise in estimating and Toyota's quality repair procedures, we have found a way to help repair shops save time and money, while decreasing cycle time and reducing supplements. It's a win for our customers, repair experts, and insurance companies alike."
"Mitchell is excited to offer direct access to repair procedures from Toyota within a collision repair estimate," said Jim Brady, Vice President, Product Management, Mitchell. "By capitalizing on Mitchell and Toyota's core competencies and strengths, together we will create a dynamic solution in which Toyota vehicle information automatically appears when parts are added to an estimate."
Toyota's integrated repair procedures include recommendations on parts that should be replaced rather than re-used along with supporting information detailing the non-reusable parts. Toyota repair procedures will be available with the release of Mitchell mobile estimating in 2014.
To learn more about Toyota's partnership with Mitchell or see a prototype of Mitchell's mobile estimating solution with integrated recommended repair procedures, please visit the Toyota Wholesale Parts booth #16107 at SEMA, November 5-8, 2013, in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Also at SEMA, Toyota will announce the winner of the Toyota Dream Build Challenge at a press conference on Tuesday, November 5th at 10AM PST. This year's Toyota Dream Build Challenge invited a diverse group of Team Toyota athletes along with their big-time partners to modify vehicles, letting fans participate in the process and vote for their favorites at www.toyotadreambuild.com. The fan favorite will earn bragging rights and the Toyota Dream Build Challenge Cup.
About Toyota
Toyota, the world's top automaker and creator of the Prius, is committed to building vehicles for the way people live through our Toyota, Lexus and Scion brands. Over the past 50 years, we've built more than 25 million cars and trucks in North America, where we operate 14 manufacturing plants and directly employ nearly 40,000 people. Our 1,800 North American dealerships sold more than 2.3 million cars and trucks in 2012 – and about 80% of all Toyotas sold over the past 20 years are still on the road today.
Toyota partners with a wide variety of organizations across the country, with a focus on education, safety and the environment. As part of this commitment, we share the company's extensive know-how from building great cars and trucks to help community organizations and other nonprofits expand their ability to do good. (NYSE:TM) For more information about Toyota, visit www.toyotanewsroom.com.
About Mitchell
Mitchell empowers clients to achieve measurably better outcomes. Providing unparalleled breadth of technology, connectivity and information solutions to the Property & Casualty claims and Collision Repair industries, Mitchell is uniquely able to simplify and accelerate the claims management and collision repair processes.
As a leading provider of Property & Casualty claims technology solutions, Mitchell processes over 50 million transactions annually for over 300 insurance companies/claims payers and over 30,000 collision repair facilities throughout North America. Founded in 1946, Mitchell is headquartered in San Diego, California, and has 1,700 employees. The company is privately owned primarily by the Aurora Capital Group, a Los Angeles-based investment group. For more information about Mitchell, visit www.mitchell.com.
SOURCE Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc.