A drive to collect scrap auto parts is underway by the Collision Repair Education Foundation, which will make them available for college and high school collision repair school programs.
 
The Hoffman Estates-based foundation has teamed with Enterprise Rent-A-Car and will visit all participating dealerships on Sept. 18 to collect the parts for the upcoming school semester.
 
Scrap doors, hoods, bumper covers and the like often wind up in dumpsters. Through generous supporters around the country, the Education Foundation has provided more than $40 million in monetary and in-kind product donations to collision school programs, and helps ensure that the students receive the best technical education possible and are ready upon graduation for entry-level employment.
 
Arlington Heights Ford has donated more than $100,000 in parts over the past several years through this program, and the parts have been distributed to several Chicago area collision school programs. "It’s a great way to support local programs while connecting with students," said Tony Guido, the store’s general manager.
 
The items most requested by collision instructors are current model vehicle parts — bumpers, fenders, hoods, door skins — so that students can practice proper collision repair techniques on parts they most likely will see upon entering the industry. Reduced program budgets have made it harder to purchase the parts, forcing the programs to:
  
• practice on severely aged vehicles that the collision programs have had for 10 years or more;
• practice on an instructor’s vehicle that might have been "dinged" in the school parking lot; and
• "dumpster dive" at the garbage bins of repair facilities and dealerships for discarded parts.
 
Dealerships that are interested in donating (tax-deductible) parts to collision school programs should contact Brandon Eckenrode, the Education Foundation’s director of development, at (847) 463-5244 or Brandon.Eckenrode@ed-foundation.org.