AutoBodyForum.com . . . joins I-Can family !
Tempe, AZ. 08/06/01 - Gene Piscopo founded AutoBodyForum in 1999 as a part of a family of dot com efforts directed at serving the collision repair industry. Within the AutoBodyForum domain are five separate discussion areas . . . including a Consumer Assistance board.
J. D. Howard founded the Insurance Consumer Advocate Network (I-Can) in 1994 as a consumer advocacy effort local to Arizona. That effort went online in 1997, providing Honest Answers and Good Advice to consumers involved in Auto / HomeOwner insurance issues. I-Can is currently recording hits at the rate of 1.4 Million per year.
I-Can has acquired partial ownership of the AutoBodyForum web site (and full control of the Consumer Assistance board) in an effort to streamline and enhance I-Can's ability to respond to their growing volume of consumer inquiries.
"This was a natural and inevitable evolution for both I-Can and AutoBodyForum" says J. D. Howard. "We are now receiving a volume of consumer inquiries that taxes our ability to respond. I-Can has over 100 sponsors (Agents, Appraisers, Attorneys, Body Shops, Public Adjusters, etc.) who can monitor the Consumer Assistance board and make their respective insights available directly to the consumers posting there".
Mr. Howard went on to say "This new format will be a win-win situation for both consumers and our sponsors. For consumers, it means being able to access the combined expertise of our entire I-Can Family of sponsors. For our sponsors, it means keeping in touch with situational practices of insurance companies throughout the country".
According to Mr. Piscopo, "Though ‘Shop Discusions' will remain a part of the ABF family of discussion boards, it will no longer be our primary marketing focus. Our relationship with I-Can gives ABF a new goal . . . to become the premier discussion board for insurance consumer related issues".
August will be a transitional period during which AutoBodyForum will be going through a significant restructuring to emphasize their focus on consumer advocacy. Rather than making AutoBodyForum changes on a piece-meal basis, the entire web site has been withdrawn from the internet during its remodeling. It will have a completely new look-and-feel. It will also begin show-casing articles from industry leaders to further educate consumers.
When a consumer makes a post on the Consumer Assistance board, an Email notification will be sent to I-Can sponsors uniquely qualified to address the subject(s) of the post.
The I-Can web site will be modified to promote involvement in the Consumer Assistance discussion board. I-Can web site modifications, and the remodeled AutoBodyForum web site, are scheduled for unveiling on Labor Day (September 03, 2001).
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The Insurance Consumer Advocate Network is an InterNet based consumer advocacy effort designed to Increase Consumer Awareness as to Insurance Related Issues, Encourage Consumer Involvement with Insurance Related Efforts and Facilitate Consumer Contact with Pro-Consumer Entities.
The InterNet web site for the Insurance Consumer Advocate Network is www.iCan2000.com
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