Back in 1967, Dominic Longo took a long shot and picked Toyota, which was importing the homely but reliable Corona to the United States. Starting with five employees, it became the number one volume Toyota dealership in its first year of operation. In 1985, Longo Toyota was purchased by the Penske Corporation and its reputation for excellent service continued to grow.

Seen as a support center to the largest Toyota dealership in America, the Longo Toyota Collision Repair Center (CRC) has been led for the past three years by Repair Center Director Rudy Romero. He brought years of experience including a turn managing a large collision repair center in Phoenix. When Longo’s fixed operations director Mark Seipel offered Rudy the opportunity to lead the Longo collision repair crew, Romero packed up his family and moved to Los Angeles to accept another challenge.

    Romero is extremely proud of his entire collision repair team, now composed of 88 members. “Every team member in the Collision Center is a key employee, whether it’s the new team member we just hired a week ago or the painter who has been here for over 30 years.”
     “We get most of our expertise in repair procedures from the Toyota Certified Collision Center program,” explained Romero. “The training is hands-on. Our team frequently attends the training center in Torrance where we have a little bit of classroom time and then tons of time doing actual jobs in the tech classroom, like cutting quarterpanels and welding.” Longo Toyota CRC is an active participant in I-CAR training.
    There is a reason Longo Toyota CRC repairs vehicles to pre-loss condition using Toyota OEM. “Those parts are ready to be placed on the car right out the box—100% of the time, said Romero.
    “Toyota and its dealers are not a test bed for aftermarket parts. With a facility as large as ours, we don’t have time to bring aftermarket parts up to standard, which is impossible anyway because aftermarket parts are simply not the same as OEM parts.
    For over four decades, Longo Toyota has been a partner with the local community to improve education, provide children and family services to enhance the quality of life. The dealership is active in many civic organizations and believes in giving back to the community.

Physical plant
Longo Toyota CRC is housed in an 80,000 square foot state-of-the-art facility, which  offers the most technologically advanced equipment to ensure vehicles are repaired to factory specifications. The CRC has been honored with Toyota’s first “Toyota Certified Collision Center of the Year” award for overall excellence, including customer satisfaction, business ethics, employee training, safety and environmental factors.