From cop to body shop

After earning a college degree while working in mechanical and collision shops, he began working in the sales department of new car dealerships.

Returning to school to earn a Master's Degree in Management, he then took a 20 year detour into law enforcement starting in 1978, working first as a police officer in Dade County, Fla., and later as a special agent for the U.S. Dept. of State. He is a former member of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. Suffice it to say, Chris Ferrante knows fraud when he sees it. So, is there inherently a greater probability of consumer fraud when insurers and shops are tied together by a DRP contract? "

When he left government service, he started an international corporate security firm and traveled the world. Growing weary of living out of a suitcase, Ferrante decided "it would be fun to be back in the body shop business. Boy, was I ever wrong." Fun or not, he was committed to the business and struggled to make his first shop in Mesa, Arizona successful while the insurance companies worked just as hard to steer business away from him. "They put every obstacle they could in my path, what with steering and extorting discounts from me."

Despite the adversity, Ferrante built a following in Mesa which lead him to build a new, larger shop from the ground up in nearby Gilbert. "About 75% of the business today is repeat and referral work. We have insurance agents who send us business from ten miles away even though their clients have to drive right by their own DRP shops to get here."

What follows are a few of the business strategies that Ferrante credits for his success in keeping the shop full of profitable repair work.

 

"We use only OEM crash parts, the only exception being the occasional use of used OEM parts when insisted upon by insurers. Our advertising stresses that 'we perform the highest quality repairs at a fair price,' and imitation parts just don't make the 'highest quality' grade.

"We are consumer oriented - again, stressed in all our advertising - and we believe the owner of the vehicle is our ultimate customer, and is where our allegiance belongs. As a result, more than 75% of our business comes from repeats and referrals.

"We focus on our market, and market with focus, which in short means we don't try to attract, or even want, every vehicle in our market area, but rather have identified that portion of collision repairs that we consider our 'ideal market' (those most profitable and accessible). In these we focus our advertising dollars, building solid relationships with the vehicle owner, delivering quality repairs, and making sure they get a fair deal throughout the repair."

The shop doesn't actively solicit business from insurance agents - in fact the web site boldly proclaims that they don't believe in DRP programs - but it does advertise that it is a member of theCCRE, the Arizona Collision Craftsman Association and the Better Business Bureau.

"We do a large volume of fleet business, having had long-standing contracts with various commercial, government and private fleet entities (though we stay away from rental car repairs). The national fleets we service are among those that service the Fortune 500 companies; the government fleets are federal, state and local, and our private fleet contracts are local construction companies, towing companies, and the like. We presently service vehicles for six federal agencies and two municipalities.

Restoration work also contributes marginally to the bottom line: "Although we occasionally take on a restoration repair for a long-time customer, our focus is not in this direction," explains Ferrante.

"We don't advertise in the yellow pages. Why waste advertising dollars on those too distant from my shop? Rather, we advertise locally in theaters and on electronic billboards in our local DMV. We support local charity associations and give consumer information speeches at nearby church groups and service organizations. We also sponsor sports teams and local high school events. Most of our customers come from Gilbert, so all our advertising money is spent in Gilbert, with the exception of our two websites, www.gilbertcollision.com and www.gilbertcollision.net.

Ferrante stresses that his shop doesn't have extended slow times because he aggressively goes after repair work, especially in fleet service. His plans for the future include writing consumer literature on purchasing proper insurance coverage, finding repair shops that have the consumers' best interests in mind, and negotiating the repair process without being cheated by insurers, towing companies, repair shops, and dealers. He's also considering becoming a lobbyist for the collision industry.

Dick Strom regularly profiles CCRE members for Autobody News. Richard Neubauer contributed to this article.