After a tumultuous year of staff and organizational changes, I-CAR set aside plenty of time at its annual meeting this summer to get feedback from its customers, volunteers and instructors.

But it also tried to show that progress and change is happening. Board chairman Robby Robbs said those who have seen only “doom and gloom” for I-CAR are being proven wrong. Still, he acknowledged, I-CAR can do more to reconnect with its customers, volunteers and instructors.

“ We need to continue to work toward a better understanding of market needs, and to be clear in our long-term strategy so that our underlying core technology supports our future direction and, most importantly, provides simplicity for those wishing to do business with I-CAR,” he said.

That was the theme also echoed by I-CAR CEO John Edelen, who said I-CAR is already working to address some of the problems voiced by meeting attendees. Six I-CAR industry advisory councils have been created, each focused on a specific industry segment, Edelen said, and corresponding staff teams also have been created internally to ensure “the voice of the customer for the six industry segments will be sought and utilized to shape the direction of I-CAR's activities in the future.”

He said a committee is helping ensure I-CAR invests “only in the development of those products and services that would be valued by I-CAR customers.” For example, I-CAR is developing new classes on alternative fuel vehicles, and on hazardous air pollution reduction for shops in response to a new EPA refinish regulation (scheduled to go into effect in 2011) requiring such training. Improvements to course descriptions will be designed to help students select the training most relevant to their needs, Edelen said.

He said I-CAR is reviewing all its pricing, acknowledging that online training pricing may be too high.

“In addition, we have needed to address our discount structure,” he said. “We need to continue to acknowledge our best customers with an appropriate discount, but we have needed to reduce the overall discounts.”

A change in I-CAR's fiscal year will make planning and adjustment easier, he said, because it will shift I-CAR's traditionally highest period of revenue to the first half of its fiscal year rather than the second half.

Edelen also said online class registration with payment required in advance will be implemented later this year, and that Gold Class and Platinum individual requirements, processes and reporting will be reviewed.

“We have heard how complex we have made it to do business with I-CAR,” Edelen said. “We have to go after that with a vengeance.”

Lastly, he said I-CAR's instructor base is aging, and the organization must do more to recruit new instructors and volunteers.

“I believe that I-CAR would not be what it is today, nor will it be what it needs to be tomorrow, without the commitment and hard work of our volunteers, committees and instructors,” Edelen said. “For 99 percent of our customers, they are the face, the eyes and the ears of I-CAR. We owe these volunteers, committees and instructors our gratitude, our respect and appreciation.”

I-CAR will celebrate its 30th anniversary at an annual meeting being held in Washington, D.C., next February 5-7.

John Yoswick, a freelance writer based in Portland, Oregon, who has been writing about the automotive industry since 1988, is also the editor of the weekly CRASH Network (www.CrashNetwork.com). He can be contacted by email at jyoswick@SpiritOne.com.