"I started painting refrigerators and appliances in 1962 for $35 when I was 25," Ron tells us. "You could make a living at it back then. One day a guy came in and asked me to paint his car, and it grew from there. I started doing metal work, and before long we were in the body shop business."

They don't paint many appliances at Northgate today - they're too busy repairing up to 50 vehicles a month, with revenues of over $1 million a year.

It's still very much a family business, run by Ron and Barbara Dennis and their son-in-law, Greg Overton, who joined them after earning a degree in marketing. Dennis handles the estimating while Overton runs the shop floor. He's been there 16 years now, and the painter who just retired had been with Dennis for 28 years. Body men typically last ten to twelve years, or until they move out of the area. With everyone in the industry complaining about high turnover and a lack of skilled craftsman, how does a small shop retain its people for so long?

Pays by the hours, plus good benefits

"We treat them like we'd want to be treated," says Dennis. He also pays them by the hour, which is very unusual in Northern California. "I know most shops pay the men a percentage of the labor charges. What happens is that they make a lot of money quickly, and then they just don't show up - they take time off whenever they want to. It can also lead to work being rushed, and the quality suffers. That doesn't happen here. I won't run a shop that way."

Dennis also retains employees by offering benefits usually found at larger operations, including paid vacation, paid holidays, medical/dental benefits, and a 401K pension plan.

Northgate is located in an industrial park in wealthy Marin County, next door to San Francisco. People in the area are demanding, and the shop long-ago developed a reputation for integrity and quality work. So much so, in fact, that the insurance companies came to Dennis, asking him to participate in DRP programs. "I sure didn't go out after them," he says, but the shop's DRP partners now include AAA, State Farm, Allied and Metropolitan. "The insurers are pretty happy with us. AAA does a customer satisfaction survey and we consistently score 10 out of 10 on 'would they refer friends here' and 'quality of work'."

The shop area is 5,000 square feet, which is small by today's standards, and Dennis wants to keep it that way. "We've had opportunities to expand, but we choose to keep it small enough so that we keep a tight control on quality. There's no way those large shops can produce the quality work we do, especially on heavy hits."

Chose Zhongda Spray Booth

To produce quality work, Dennis invests in the latest equipment, and coming from a painting background - he sprays Standox and Spies Hecker - was particularly concerned about the spray booth.

"We had decided to buy a big name brand, quite expensive. I was reading Autobody News at lunch, no kidding, and I saw this ad for Zhongda, which I hadn't heard of. I called and when the salesman told me the price, I said to him, 'you've got to be kidding.' And he says, 'well, I could add on $10,000'."

Dennis and Overton went to another shop in San Rafael that had a Zhongda spray booth installed. "What scared me initially was that it was made in China. But then I saw the American blower motor, and I felt how the outside of the booth was cool. The other shop said they'd had no service problems. We decided real fast to buy it. It was a great decision."

R&R on aftermarket parts

Top equipment and years of experience can still be compromised if the insurance company insists on cutting corners. While Dennis has had his share of arguments with insurance adjusters while standing up for his customers, he finds the situation today much more tenable than it was a few years ago. "There's also less steering in this area than there was five years ago," observes Dennis. He said that when customers tell their insurers they want the car repaired at Northgate, they usually don't get an argument. "We're known for our integrity, and you can't buy that."

If there's going to be a "discussion" with an adjuster, it's likely to be over writing for non-OEM parts. Dennis says that despite the State Farm verdict last year, aftermarket parts are still being "tried" by some of his DRP insurers. "And when they don't fit, they'll let you order the OEM part, but nobody pays you to R&R them. I'm tired of donating my time on parts that don't fit."

After a career spanning 39 years, would Ron Dennis do it all again? "It's been good to us, so I think I would, yes."