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Tommy Hufnagel, owner of Tommy's Auto Body located in Albuquerque, N.M., has been in the collision industry since he graduated from high school 38 years ago. Hufnagel's father also worked in the industry since his early days, having begun when he would "paint cars in lacquer with a hand brush and hand rub it out, all for $19 - and that included the spoke wheels and jams." By 1965, when Tommy entered the industry and began working his way up the ladder, things had changed considerably.
In 1987 he was able to open his own two-man, four-stall shop, Nob Hill Auto Body, in Albuquerque. The tight quarters afforded only enough room for a prep stall, a homemade booth, a body stall and a frame stall. Within six months, Hufnagel purchased a laser measuring system, rationalizing "if you don't know what's bent, and how much it's bent, you don't know what to fix."
And three years later he rented a 5,000-sq.ft. building, and changed his company name to Tommy's Auto Body. He soon purchased that building, along with a 5,000-sq.ft. addition. In 1995, he bought an adjacent 5,000-foot building to keep up with his business expansion needs. But with the general downturn in the economy, and the desire to "work a little less rather than earn a little more," he has since turned a portion of his operation into vehicle storage.
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Hufnagel
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'Word of mouth' best sales tool
Though he describes his shop as being on a side-street, with almost no car count, so 80% of his work comes from repeat customers and referrals. Having over the years tried many forms of advertising - including windshield and mail-out flyers, schmoozing insurance agents and car dealers (he readily admits "I'm not a schmoozer"), signs, and radio and TV ads - he presently doesn't feel the need to advertise "except for an occasional ad for a local charity or high school." These, he has found, "produce virtually no measurable return in terms of collision work, though we reap rewards by helping out the community."
After comparing notes with several other local shops concerning the extensive Yellow Page ads they each were buying, they realized that, though Yellow Page ads may work well for some areas, in their locale they weren't cost-effective.
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| With the shop nestled on a side street, most of the work comes to Tommy's Auto Body by word of mouth and repeat customers. |
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At a glance
Tommy's Auto Body
915 First Street, N.W.
Albuquerque, NM 87102
(505) 246-9606
(505) 244-9211 FAX
Owner: Tommy Hufnagel
Established: 1987
Annual Sales: $1.3 million
Size: 10,000 sq. ft.
Employees: 9
Paint Department: Viking Downdraft heated
Paint: BASF Glasurit
Frame racks and measuring
equipment: 5 Chart floor systems,
1 Chart laser, 1 Genesis
Alignment racks: Bear
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"None of our shops was getting more than 4% of our work through the Yellow Pages, so we all cut our Yellow Page ads to a minimum; now we can actually be found when someone is looking for one of us. And none of us have felt the need to increase our ad size since that time. When someone wrecks a $40,000 car, they normally will ask someone they trust for a referral. Unfortunately, other customers take the advice of the paying insurer. But it's my experience that few in my area pick a repair facility from a phone book ad. Word of mouth from a job done well is still the best sales tool."
Employees are not expendables
"It's always been my belief and practice that if I take care of my customer first and foremost, profit for myself and my employees will follow. I also believe that if I take good care of my employees, profit for myself will follow. Contrary to the practices of many shops that treat techs as 'expendables,' we consider our techs to be our most valuable asset. The days of having a dozen techs waiting in line when one tech rolls his box out the door are over. My techs know what I expect in the way of quality, and it's my job to write estimates that allow them to do quality work and still make an honest living."
Hufnagel has very high expectations for his technicians. Unlike some new management theories that put techs in teams with varying skill levels, he believes that all technicians should be well rounded. There are five frame machines in the shop and all the technicians are frame technicians, do all their own frame work, and all their own mechanical work, including alignment and A/Cs. Rather than having A, B and C level technicians, he feels that a tech should know all aspects of repair. It helps a tech to better understand unibody repair when he fixes the suspension along with the body work.
Lead technician Matthew Baca is a key person in the operation. Baca came to work at Tommy's right out of trade school 12 years ago. According to Hufnagel, "he is as good as any tech I've known in 25 years in the business. There is nothing he won't try or can't do!
"The quality of work produced by painter Jason Almeida is absolutely excellent. He works slowly and precisely, but he makes up for lack of speed by rarely having to buff anything.
"Jennifer Day is the office person. She has the office running smoothly, paper flowing just the way it is supposed to, and accounts receivable are up-to-date. Jennifer is an integral part of the success of Tommy's Auto Body."
Chooses BASF Glasurit®
BASF's top-of-the-line Glasurit® paint is the choice of Tommy's Auto Body. "BASF delivers a quality product that does what it says it will do," said Hufnagel.
The local BASF jobber, Bruce Phillips at Professional Paint Supply, "is the greatest asset a body shop could have. Pro Paint puts on a lot of seminars. His sales people are not just sales people. When they come out and tell you how to use a BASF product, they have actual experience using the product. Some of their salespeople are former painters and that makes them very knowledgeable about the field as well as the product. Pro Paint has helped many shops in town build new shops and put the mixing rooms together. He is also a good business man and gives business advice as well," Hufnagel praises.
Hufnagel's wife, Patricia, is a physical therapist and health care advocate. She shares her husband's concerns about the performance of insurance companies toward their insureds, as there are many parallels between auto insurance and health insurance - although the health insurance issues can more often be life and death.
Hufnagel has been involved with industry associations in the past, and was treasurer of ASA, but now belongs only to TheCCRE, of which he is a sponsoring member. TheCCRE is comprised of independent shops that choose not to be DRPs and oppose undue influence by insurers in collision repair.
A shop owner who likes Wreck Check®
"I believe that only the repair shop should make repair decisions. A properly written estimate with proper parts will benefit the vehicle owner, the shop owner, and the insurer. It is when cost-saving interferes with quality that we all suffer the consequences. We have a Wreck Check licensed facility in town that has checked a couple cars we've repaired, and their assessments have helped us to improve the quality of our finished product.
"I am absolutely amazed that the auto body repair shops don't embrace Wreck Check. It is the best thing to happen to our industry. It will create accountability and I think it is going to raise repair standards across the board as it has in my shop. We've had vehicles go through the Wreck Check inspection process six times. In four out of six cases, minor mistakes were found which were corrected for the customer. These are minor errors we are not likely to make again. In addition, this process will ultimately help shops get paid what they deserve as quality improves."
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