Homegrown Talent Continues Legacy of Family Shop
05/07/2026 by I-CAR
It’s in a farm family’s DNA to pitch in wherever and whenever needed. In the case of the Kottschade family, who also operate an independent Gold Class® body shop in Mankato, MN, pitching in meant that their son Dan and daughter Laura spent a lot of time at the shop. Laura, who is the youngest, regularly helped her mother Geri in the office. “It felt natural and a part of life,” she says. Yet, it was quite a different thing from folding laundry or helping with chores on the farm. Early on, it was evident Laura had quite a knack for it.
How One Platinum™ Technician Turned Training Into a Trip to SEMA 2025
01/07/2026 by I-CAR
Structural technician Chad Bornhoft, a 27-year industry veteran, isn’t someone driven by the kind of recognition that comes with an I-CAR spotlight—if anything, the attention makes him a bit uneasy. What he is driven by is the recognition that truly matters: Platinum™. Nothing speaks louder about the quality and consistency of his work than his Platinum status, along with the OEM certifications he’s been able to pursue because of it. He’s proudly maintained Platinum since 2019, helping support the Gold Class® standards of Woodhouse Auto’s Omaha collision repair center.
A Small Shop Owner with Passion Big Enough to Impact the Industry
11/24/2025 by I-CAR
As much heart as he puts into it, running his state-of-the-art Gold Class® shop doesn’t begin to use up John Melendez’s immense passion for collision repair. “Collision repair made me the person I am today,” he says. “I want to be an advocate for the industry. I want to show young people you can do very well for yourself in collision repair.” Forty years into a rewarding career – half of it spent running JDM Collision, currently a single shop in south suburban Chicago – Melendez wants to make a difference “that makes the industry better.”
From Technician to Teacher: Bringing National Recognition to SLCC
10/02/2025 by I-CAR
Why would a happily-employed technician in the prime of his career abruptly leave his job to teach? It wouldn’t be wrong to say Kirk Miller was answering a call to teach at his alma mater, Salt Lake Community College (SLCC). It wasn’t so much a powerful calling as an inclination that Miller says was “always in the back of my mind, with my dad teaching at SLCC.” It might have stayed dormant, a vocational leaning never fully realized.