When you come upon Atlas Body Shop in San Antonio, just down the street from Fort Sam Houston, you could almost think you're driving up to a first class professional building rather than a body shop. The main building is surrounded by graceful trees, and the two-story entranceway is guarded by a beautiful stone fountain that makes you think of old Mexico. 

Richard Leal

When Pete retired almost 20 years ago, he appointed Richard to run the business. It had grown to three shops by the early 1980's and those shops were consolidated into the present location, opened in 1971, which now boasts 45,000 sq. feet on three floors with connecting ramps: body work is done on the first level, the paint shop with two BlowTherm down draft spray booths and six BlowTherm prep stations is on the second, and vehicle storage occupies the third. "We can keep 200 cars safely inside the building, and the insurers like that," noted Richard.

While Richard oversees the operation, his older brother Pete, 60, handles marketing; Fernando, 49, manages the shop, Ruben, 45, is the parts manager and Gilbert, 42 supervises the estimating. How do five brothers manage to work together? "Out of respect for our father, we find a way to work through the problems. It's not always easy, but we make it work," Richard explained. "You have to remind yourself that while being successful in business is fine, family is more important. This is a very demanding business and it takes so much time that it can really affect your home life. Balance is important."

While the shop is today a DRP powerhouse with $4.5 million in annual sales, growth didn't happen overnight. "When we took it over from my father we were doing about half a million a year. We built it pretty quickly to around $2 million but it stalled there for a long time. We've grown quickly with insurance programs in the last five years. In '98-99 alone we grew 35%." While the growth has been fueled by insurance DRPs, customer referrals are a big part of it. Because the company does very little consumer advertising, they make it plain to each customer what his or her responsibility is for marketing Atlas. "For as long as I can remember, we've told customers that if they're happy, we depend on them to bring their friends and neighbors. And they do," said Richard.

Atlas' attractive office in an urban redevelopment area hides a busy 45,000 sq ft body shop.

The Leal family: Fernando, Richard, Pete, Ruben, and Gilbert. Missing is Pete, Jr

At a glance Atlas Body Shop 922 E. Carson Street San Antonio, TX (210) 224-4507 Richard Leal, President Founded: 1950 Employees: 40 Annual Sales: $4.5 million Volume: 175 vehicles per month Size: 45,000 sq ft.

Choosing DRPs

Atlas has DRP contracts with State Farm, Allstate, Farmers, Nationwide, Safeco, GEICO and as of last week, Progressive. "Working with DRPs has been beneficial for us. We like to build strong working relationships with our insurers so we can better serve our mutual customers, said Fernando.

Pete Leal, Jr. handles outside marketing for Atlas, and he spends a lot of time with insurance agents, but relatively little calling on claims offices. "It's professional to call on the agents, and most are receptive. They know the customer and refer a lot of work here," said Pete. Calling on claims program managers is another matter. "Good luck with that! Maybe you can call on them once and that's OK, but they don't want you to keep going back. It takes patience, but when your work is consistently good, they come around to you."

CCC technology improves efficiency

Atlas initially attracts insurance business because of the facility, the latest shop equipment and its stable, capable workforce. "We're I-CAR Gold Class qualified, which makes a difference to insurers," said Richard. "And communication with insurers was key to our growth. We've always had the latest estimating software and digital imaging. My brother, Fernando, is our computer whiz, and he makes certain we're using the latest technology.

The shop had two estimating systems for several years in order to accommodate different insurers, but now uses only the CCC Pathways® estimating software. "We can now use CCC, which we've always preferred, and through the Internet our estimates and digital photos can be transferred to different carriers. It's a big savings over multiple systems."

The computer systems are part of the administrative group run by long-time employee Jeannette Wooten. "She's been with us for 13 years and never disappointed us. When our bookkeeper of 40 years retired, Janet took accounting courses in order to take over that job." Also in the office are Anna Cruz and Richard's wife, Monica Leal.

Buys aftermarket parts from Keystone

With the volume of insurance work that Atlas does, the use of aftermarket crash parts is inevitable. "All types of parts have a place," remarked Ruben, the parts manager. When the use of non-OEM parts is appropriate, the shop prefers to order them from Keystone. "We insist on CAPA-certification for non-OEM parts, and they have the best inventory," said Ruben.

"We've found that many of the CAPA parts have improved. In fact, there are times when they seem to fit better than the OEM.," Richard noted, adding that most insurers are reasonable about when to use aftermarket parts. Ruben also said that he buys from Keystone whenever possible because the service is excellent. "It rivals any dealership so far as service and returns policy."

Paint shop changes to Nexa

For 20 years, Atlas used a well-known European paint. "Two years ago we decided to try ICI (now Nexa Autocolor, a PPG company). The salesman kept calling on us and we saw the ads that claimed you'd save time with it. I agreed to try it for a week, and then the paint shop wanted another week. Finally, they came to me and said they wanted to make the change." The difference, Richard explained, was that if they had a paint problem, they could sand and repaint with Nexa in only 30 minutes after the clear was applied, whereas reworking the other paint required a half-day of wait time. "It makes a difference, and while it's a little more expensive than what we were using, the improved cycle time in the shop is worth the difference." Richard is also participating in the PPG business management program, MVP. "I've found the other shops to be very qualified and we learn a lot from each other. It's a great experience at MVP."

Atlas has also been accepted into PPG's CertfiedFirst network where it takes advantage of the consumer brand name awareness generated by national advertising as well as the CertifiedFirst marketing program to insurance carriers.