Our organization is closely monitoring both the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for information updates regarding the COVID-19/Coronavirus pandemic and is referring to each of the agencies for the necessary protocols and policies that may need to be implemented.
Please review the polcies below for more details:
Training Event Policy
Visitor Policy
Travel Policy
March 18, 2020 I-CAR Message to the Industry Regarding COVID-19
At I-CAR, the health and safety of our students, instructors, segment partners, customers and employees are of the utmost importance.
Our organization has been closely monitoring both the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for informational updates regarding the spread of the COVID-19/Coronavirus and is referring to each of the agencies for the necessary protocols and policies that may need to be implemented.
ONGOING SUPPORT FOR YOUR TRAINING & TECHNICAL NEEDS
We here at I-CAR understand that these may be challenging times in both your business and personal lives. We want you to know that in the event you are able and wish to take training, our ONLINE and VIRTUAL (instructor-led, web delivered) options are readily available through your myI-CAR account.
- We now have over 239 Online courses that cover a large portion of the ProLevel 1 through ProLevel 3 training requirements; plus Vehicle Specific, Technology Specific, ADAS, Electrical, Diagnostics, Mechanical, and Production Management topics.
- We also now offer 20 Virtual courses covering ProLevel 1 through ProLevel 3 knowledge areas.
- Please know that all of these courses either count toward your ProLevel Training or Annual Training requirements required for Platinum and Gold Class.
The Customer Care team remains available if you have any questions. Additionally, our Ask I-CAR Technical Support teams also remains available to support you with comprehensive Collision Repair technical resources.
LIVE AND IN-SHOP EVENTS (Welding, Hands-On Skills, Knowledge Assessments)
For the time being, and in the health and safety interest of all our stakeholders, I-CAR has suspended the delivery of all Live and In-Shop training events between March 22 and April 5. Events previously scheduled March 16-21 may be conducted, per the policy guidelines below, assuming students, shops, and Instructors/Assessors wish to continue as scheduled. Our Teams will work to reschedule any canceled events, along with adding new events, hopefully beginning as soon as April 6, or as the situation allows.
Please know that we will continue to monitor the situation and update this policy as necessary going forward.
Our team will endeavor to outreach to you if scheduled for an In-Shop event. And if you are scheduled to attend a live class at a fixed training site, please check for updates sent to your email regularly.
IN-SHOP EVENTS
To safeguard the potential spread of COVID-19, for all scheduled in-shop events, an instructor may use or send a questionnaire to the shop prior to the event. In-shop events include In-Shop Knowledge Assessments™, Hands-On Skills Development™, Welding Training & Certification and Welding Recertification. The questionnaire will ask the scheduled shop a series of questions to screen potential risks associated with COVID-19 to help minimize exposure. If an in-shop event needs to be cancelled or rescheduled for any reason, at this time I-CAR will forgo rescheduling/cancellation fees and will work with those affected to reschedule for a later date. This practice will apply to events the week of March 16th and perhaps once In-Shop events resume, we will monitor and update the policy going forward
LIVE CLASSES
If you feel unwell, we ask that you do not attend a live class and cancel your registration. To ensure the safety of all our customers and Instructors and Assessors, I-CAR reserves the right to dismiss a student that may be symptomatic. At this time, I-CAR will waive any cancellation fees, and will work to reschedule you in a future event. This practice will apply to events the week of March 16th and perhaps once In-Shop events resume, we will monitor and update the policy going forward
CREDENTIALING RENEWAL EXTENSIONS
Should you or your business have an upcoming renewal for Gold Class, Platinum or Welding and be unable to complete successful renewal for any reason, please know that I-CAR has your back. Renewals will automatically be extended in 30-day increments until you are able to complete renewal requirements, or until we are past the current COVID-19 situation. We will continue to monitor the situation and update this policy as necessary going forward.
I-CAR 2020 CONFERENCE UPDATE
Based on their guidance and the decisions made by I-CAR leadership and the I-CAR Board of Director’s, I-CAR recently cancelled its annual conference for volunteers and instructors in Phoenix, Arizona for the well-being of our attendees, staff, and ultimately, the Inter-Industry. We will be addressing the rescheduling of 2020 Conference awards, recognition and other programming in the coming days.
I-CAR COVID-19 POLICIES
An additional precaution that is now in effect at I-CAR is a company-wide ban on non-essential travel. Policies regarding travel, visitors, staff work from home, facilities closures (if required) and additional company updates regarding COVID-19 will be posted on our website.
This page and its policies may be updated should we need to deviate as new information related to the virus is released by credible sources.
QUICK UPDATE: RESOLVING REMAINING PDP/LMS LAUNCH ISSUES
In February, we launched several changes within the LMS environment that have significantly stabilized training requirements for most all customers. We have been working on remaining lesser issues that are still impacting certain subsets of customers. This weekend, we have a series of system updates that will be made; most customers will not see any changes, but those that have had remaining issues will see improvements.
Additionally, we continue to make progress on completing course enhancements to optimize navigation and playability. We are on track with this work planned for completion by end of April. We are also readying launch of an updated Virtual course delivery systems, enabling non-Flash technology which will make course viewing much easier in modern day browsers that are no longer Flash compatible, this is on track for late April deployment.
IN CLOSING
With your health and safety foremost in mind, we will continue to evaluate new information to determine how best to proceed while serving the needs of our industry. We encourage the industry to continue monitoring any developments issued by WHO or the CDC. We are all in this together. That’s what makes the Collision Repair industry who we are!
Thank you for your support,
The I-CAR Team