Life as an Auto Club adjuster was frustrating for Mark Cardella. "You could never make anybody happy. They were always suspicious of your motives." Cardella likes making people happy, so he and his wife, Pam, did the obvious thing - they bought a body shop. 

"It made sense. I'd always been interested in cars, and I figured to make a lot more money than as an adjuster," related Cardella. It took just about all the money they had in 1995 to buy Eckhart Auto Body in Chatsworth, California. "We were supposed to get a lot of business from a particular dealership, which we counted on to get going. The dealer bailed. It could have been disastrous, but with the support of family, especially my parents, we struggled through it."

Without the dealership business, the Cardellas were forced into marketing mode. "We called on a lot of insurance people, and found success with Mercury and Hartford, the source for much of the shop's current business. "We're a Service First shop for State Farm, too, but that program is less beneficial as it becomes less exclusive," Cardella observed.

The Cardellas grew the 10,000 square foot shop into an 11 person operation repairing 60 vehicles a month with an average ticket of $1,500 - $1,800. "We could handle more, probably 80 - 90 a month, but I don't spend enough time on marketing anymore," said Cardella. "I know I should step out of the daily production and go sell, but emotionally, I can't do it. I'm quality conscious. We give a written, lifetime warranty on every job, and I feel like I have the ultimate responsibility to make sure that every car is done right. I guess I don't want to lose control."

Cardella, 41, is assisted by two managers/estimators, Alex Dominguez and Angel Torres. The shop includes two body men, two painters, three helpers and a detail person. The shop sublets its mechanical, alignment and airbag work.

Cardella manages the office with the help of his niece, Stephanie Bravo. The body men and painters work on commission, and Cardella carefully tracks the number of available labor hours in the shop at all times. "That's essential if you're going to give the customer a realistic estimate of when the car can be ready," said Cardella.

Chose USI Paint Booth

Cardella said that upgrading equipment since he bought the shop has been a big expense, especially the new paint booth. He chose a down-draft booth from USI Italia. "I talked to five different spray booth companies and took their tours. I liked USI's sales approach because they really explained the technology to me. The booth provides a very even, constant flow of hot air, and that's critical.

The maintainability was key to my purchase. The components in their panel can be purchased anywhere; you don't have to replace a $4,000 solid state panel when something goes wrong with the controls.

"It's a front loading booth, so you can drive in. The configuration is flexible. You can start with a pretty basic, reasonably-priced unit and later add more lights, motors and extensions. I particularly like the fact that it's very well insulated. It's still cool to the touch on the outside when it's 145 degrees inside.

Keeping your cool, being honest

Does it help to have experience as an adjuster? "Sure," replied Cardella. "I know that adjusters should be approached with logic. Explain rationally why you need to do a repair a certain way. If you show them in detail why you need a supplement, you'll get it. Keeping your cool at all times with an adjuster is very important. You don't get anywhere by yelling - they get enough of that."

And dealing with customers? "Honesty. I don't think you can be too honest with a customer. Sometimes they want things too fast, and the parts are just impossible to get. We had a white 2001 Lexus last Fall, and we could not get the body parts. I explained the delay to the customer, who had been pretty demanding. She understood. Honesty works," Caredella maintained.