• 1976

Company Description

ABF Systems developed and published estimating guides for the collision repair and insurance claims industry.

ABF Systems, Inc. was founded in 1976 by Thomas LaVielle as Autodata Manuals. They developed and published estimating guides for the collision repair and insurance claims industry. They specialized in estimating guides for LKQ replacement assemblies and they also published a labor time guide on complete vehicle refinishing. They earned a reputation for providing realistic and accurate data. Their customer base consisted of over 6,000 body shops and insurance adjusters throughout the United States and Canada. In 1991, they developed and began marketing collision estimating and shop management software for the auto body repair industry. Great emphasis was placed on ease-of-use and added value for their customers. In 1992 they changed their corporate name to ABF Systems and focused on collision shop consulting and software development. They sold the rights of their estimating data to Hearst Business Publishing, the parent company of Motor Information Systems. The LKQ data was then included as part of the Motor Crash Estimating Database. They are located in the small town of Sutter Creek in the California Foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains(between Sacramento and Lake Tahoe).