Shop Showcase (163)
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Customers Expect Quality in All Respects from The Body Shop of Athens
Written by Chasidy Rae SiskFrom the moment I came across the Body Shop of Athens’ online, I could tell there was something special about this shop. Their offer of insider tips, latest news updates and the detailed description of the repair process hinted at a shop dedicated to educating the customer and keeping current in the industry, but I had no idea how dedicated owners Carl and Carla Colquett also were to their Georgia community and the environment.
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In November 2008, the Body Shop of Athens in Athens, GA, was the first in their market to convert to a waterborne paint system. They also recycle all paper, plastic, cardboard and metal materials, providing recycle containers for each employee, and they have three separate dumpsters to accommodate their efforts, including one that is made of recycled materials itself. The Body Shop of Athens volunteered to be the first shop inspected in their area for 6H compliance, and Carla sat on the EPA/EPD Stakeholders Federal 6H Rule Committee for the state of Georgia, representing the collision industry segment. Carl and Carla also support local green energy expos by hosting a booth to explain waterborne paint and recycling.
The shop shows its community efforts in many ways. In addition to sponsoring and donating to many organizations, such as Junior League of Athens, Athens Area Cancer Auxiliary and Business Network International, they also sponsor their local Boy Scouts and Food 2 Kids organizations. They participate in Toys for Tots as well and are in collaboration with the State Police for free child seat safety checks at their shop. They offer free meeting space in their conference rooms to the community, and they subsidize space for the International Office of Women to the World, where Carla also serves as a board member.
A1 Grand Auto Body in NY—A Family Commitment to Quality Repair
Written by Chasidy Rae SiskA1 Grand Auto Body of Garden City Park, NY focuses on family oriented business onquality repairs. This emphasis on quality dates back to owner, Brian Hogan’s early interest in auto body repair. When customers hand their keys over to Hogan, he wants them to know and be confident that they are putting their vehicle in the hands of a man who has been working on cars for most of his life and whose passion for automobile restoration guarantees their car will leave the shop looking much better than when they drop it off.
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When his staff is short-handed, Hogan is always eager and willing to pick up the tools to help restore his customers’ vehicles. His children are following in his footsteps as he did in his father’s. Hogan’s daughter, Ariel, works in the front office, and his son, Joseph, will begin working for his father later this year as part of a work-study BOCES program.
In fifth grade, Brian Hogan would take a bus to his father’s shop after school in order to sweep the floors and park cars. The ten-year-old found the job very exciting. A year later, he learned to sand body surfaces, and this was followed by his first real project.
At the age of thirteen, Brian Hogan purchased his first car, a Cutlass Supreme, for $50. He spent a lot of time on that car, ultimately changing the color three times. Hogan recalls, “I made it my perfect first car. That was my project car.” Since then, Hogan has owned hundreds of cars. One of his best memories is helping his son restore a 1999 Ford Mustang with front-end damage to the point that it won Best in Show at a competition in Commack, NY. He also rebuilt a Chevy Corvette and an early-model Mustang for the Fraternal Order of Police as touring vehicles for their anti-drug and anti-DWI campaigns, complete with custom paint jobs.
The Elite Group Collision Centers Acquires Firestone Auto Body in Downey, CA, Increasing Their Locations to Eight
Written by Erica SchroederThe Elite Group Collision Centers is a group of eight collision centers in the Los Angeles, Orange County and Palm Springs area owned by Mike Salyards and Tim Mullahey.
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Mike managed Cone Collision Center in Fullerton, CA, for 15 years when Tim bought the dealership Cone was connected to, Cone Chevrolet—later changed to Mullahey Chevrolet. Tim and Mike decided to go into partnership together starting with Cone Collision Center; and as they grew they branded their group of collision centers under the Elite Group Brand, but kept the collision centers’ original names due to their great reputations acquired over time.
Since going into partnership, Mike and Tim have bought seven reputable collision centers. Over the past 10 years they bought Crenshaw Collision Center in Los Angeles, Prestige Too Autobody in Torrance, America’s Collision Center in Orange, Harbor Collision and Signal Hill Auto Body were combined into Prestige Too Collision Center of Long Beach, and most recently, Firestone Auto Body in Downey.
5 months ago the group also went into partnership with Steve Vettel of Pacific Collision Centers on a location in Cathedral City. The group also has owned Central Coast Collision in Arroyo Grande for several years but only recently brought it under the Elite Group brand due to its distance from the rest of the locations. Central Coast is located near San Luis Obispo, CA.
Richie’s Collision in Hattiesburg, MS: Beating the Odds, Over and Over Again
Written by Chasidy Rae SiskRichie’s Collision Center in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, is extremely proud of their propensity for quality repairs and excellent customer service, but one fact that owner, Richard Lewis, does not boast about is his lack of a formal education. Despite the fact that Richie only attended school until second grade, he has established a business that anyone would be proud to own, whatever their level of education.
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After dropping out of school during second grade to begin work painting houses in order to help support his family, Richie spent his spare time building model cars, and this early automotive interest led to the purchase of a 1969 Camaro when he was fourteen years old. He and a friend restored the car, but though Richie had discovered his talent for auto body work, he was unable to use those skills in an occupational facility due to his lack of an education. A few years later, he restored a 1970 Trans Am and was offered a job in a local auto body shop after the shop’s owner was impressed with Richie’s remodeling job. For the next twelve years, Richie worked in several auto body shops.
According to Richie’s wife, Tracy Lewis, Richie “taught himself to read, write and work the estimating system. He grew up on the streets in the roughest of neighborhoods with everyone that he grew up with being in jail, dead, alcoholics or drug addicts. Where he grew up, someone was getting beat, shot or stabbed almost every day, but Richie wanted more for his life, so in his pursuit to prove himself, he wanted no one to notice that he didn’t have an education so he would do everything he could to work that much harder and try that much more to achieve the best outcome of the job he was doing so that people didn’t think he was uneducated.”
Car Crafters in Albuquerque, NM, Attributes Success to Dedicated Employees, Processes
Written by Erica SchroederCar Crafters in Albuquerque, NM, was founded in 1982 by Jim Guthrie, who at the time had only his love of cars and time spent repairing them in his parents’ garage to go on.
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After almost 30 years in business Car Crafters is now a 50,000 square-foot shop the grosses an estimated $10 million per year. They not only offer full collision and mechanical repair, they also provide glass repair and replacement as well as some custom fabrication work.
When Guthrie was a teenage boy, his parents told him to “either focus on college and become the dentist you’ve always wanted to be or find a shop and move out of our garage.”
That prompted Jim to rent his first shop space and he open Car Crafters for business on January 2, 1982.
Through hard work and good relationships the business was able to double in two years and expand to the building next door. The business took off once again and with the addition of insurance work, and expanded twice in the following five years. At the end of a five-year lease, Car Crafters moved to a 20,000 square foot building on McLeod Rd in Albuquerque, NM, where the young company continued to grow for the next 18 years, learning from its mistakes daily.
Jim and Jack’s Collision Center in El Segundo, CA—Over 45 Years of Expertise
Written by Erica SchroederJim and Jack’s Collision Center, one of the largest single-location body shops in the nation, started out as a mechanical shop at a gas station.
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Founders Jim and Jack Kizirian opened the business in 1967 at the same location the business currently resides in. Taleen and Richie Kizirian, niece and nephew of the original owners, now run the business.
Since taking over the business in 2004, Taleen and Richie have been able to quadruple the business in size.
“It was my job to come in and modernize, computerize and put systems in place,” said Richie, who has a business degree in finance and accounting from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Taleen, who is a licensed Certified Public Accountant, handles the business’s accounting and administrative functions.
Jim and Jack’s is able to see 100s of cars per month in their 150,000 square-foot, 5-acre facility; they work with 17 frame machines and 5 spray booths on their shop floor. The Technicians at Jim and Jack’s are also certified in various different European, Asian and American brand auto repair techniques.
“You name it, we have it,” said Richie.
Pompano Beach Shop Values 30-year Relationship with DuPont Performance Coatings
Written by StaffMany body shops seem to change paint vendors every so often for all kinds of reasons, but Kevin Roe, the owner of 1st Class European Authorized Coachworks in Pompano Beach, Florida has been with DuPont Performance Coatings since 1981 and has no plans to change anything. Why is he such a happy customer and steadfastly loyal to the company?
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“If it isn’t broken, why fix it?” Roe said. “We started painting cars with DuPont the first day we opened and they have followed through on everything they’ve promised. Sure, we get other paint companies trying to get our business and offering us the world, but I’ve never had any reason to consider a change.”
1st Class is factory certified to repair an impressive array of elite nameplates, including Ferrari, Maserati, Audi, Tesla, Volkswagen, Jaguar and Aston Martin. The shop began working on aluminum-intensive brands starting in 2003 and a year ago they started working exclusively on Ferraris and Maseratis in partnership with Ferrari Maserati of Fort Lauderdale, a local dealership.
With an average ticket of $20,000, you can be certain the owners of these vehicles are highly discerning and expect nothing less than stellar paint jobs each and every time. “These people spend top dollar, so they want it done right,” Roe explained. “We have customers in here who actually use paint gauges to check the thickness of the paint when they pick up their cars. So, it has to be perfect.”
With six locations in California and one in Las Vegas, the Autowest Collision Group paints 600–700 vehicles every month—that’s why it’s important that their equipment be top-notch and cutting-edge in every way. By working on any type of car, but specializing in elite brands like Mercedes-Benz, Lexus, Porsche and BMW at some of its select locations, the Autowest Collision Group knows that each paint job has to be not just “good enough” but “the very best.”
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That’s why Autowest Collision Group recently purchased five Ozone paint booths and several prep stations from SprayZone.net, one of the leading manufacturers of automotive paint booths. Autowest has been working with SprayZone.net for the past three years and is immensely impressed with its products and their proactive overall approach to customer service.
Alex Astts, 40, is the Regional Manager at Autowest Collision. He was hired by the 24-year-old group in 1994 as a detailer and quickly progressed through the ranks, from prep to dispatching, to estimating, and finally to upper management. Initially, Astts auditioned SprayZone.net with some repair work and once he felt confident in the company, he coordinated a large purchase of equipment from them.
SATA Filtration and Dan-Am Air (DAA) Aluminum Piping Preferred at Paint Training Centers
Written by StaffYou can be the finest painter in the world using top grade paint and the best equipment available, but if your air isn’t dry, clean, or easily accessible, your finished product won’t hold waterborne or solvent paint either.
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“Water is the new way, but the need for good air has never changed. It is now just more evident,” says Tony Larimer, Director of Sales & Marketing for Dan-Am Co., the exclusive independent importer/distributor for SATA Spray Equipment in the USA & Puerto Rico.
SATA Spray Equipment an internationally known company, manufactures a wide range of spray guns, compressed air filters, respirators for worker health protection, hand held dryers, disposable cups and accessories. Also available from Dan-Am Company is their aluminum piping system for compressed air called Dan-Am Air (DAA). The advent of waterborne paint has more and more body shops talking about the importance of clean dry air, but it isn’t a new concept to Larimer and SATA. “Over the past few years, the trend has turned toward the use of waterborne technologies,” Larimer explained. “Many are switching due to local ordinances or regional VOC rules that have been place in the past couple years and others are switching to waterborne simply for performance advantages. It doesn’t matter if it’s waterborne or solvent, both require clean air. Shops today also have much higher use requirements and need more Cubic Feet per Minute (CFM) than in the past. They’re using HVLP guns, supplied air respirators and blow guns to dry the waterborne paint, and all of this necessitates clean dry air.”
Tennessee’s Icon Collision Sees Results Working with Pro-Spray’s Solvent & Waterborne
Written by StaffAs the owner of Icon Collision in Memphis, Tennessee, Tim Russell runs a body shop that fixes approximately 210–230 cars every month, does $6 million in business annually and oversees six busy divisions—including two detailing businesses, a PDR department, a glass division, a retail collision branch and a wholesale body shop. Specializing in high-end luxury vehicles, Icon works with several Memphis-area car dealerships that don’t have their own collision centers, such as Lexus of Memphis, Wolfchase Toyota-Scion, Performance Toyota and Wolfchase Dodge Chrysler Jeep. Russell needed a paint system that will produce top tier paint jobs each and every time, either waterborne or solvent, depending on the job. That’s why he’s pleased to be using both of Pro-Spray’s paint systems—the solvent basecoat and the H2O waterborne basecoat.
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Russell, now 51, worked for sixteen years at a Memphis dealership group running their collision center and servicing their eight dealerships. When the group was sold to a large company, the climate changed rapidly. Russell wasn’t happy with the new corporate environment, so he decided to start his own shop. Icon Collision was opened in 2006 and the business grew at an alarming rate. The shop did $80,000 in sales the first month and doubled that the second month. Today, the business grosses roughly $500,000 every month.
When Russell opened the doors at Icon six years ago, he initially signed with another paint company. “In the end, I left them because their color matches were not accurate enough. We just weren’t able to hit on a lot of the colors. They brought in their managers and it got to where I couldn’t even hit white pearls for Lexus cars anymore and it got embarrassing. So, we started looking around for a better solution.”
Old Forge Collision Centers Outshines with PPG’s Aquabase® Plus Waterborne
Written by StaffProactive body shops are recognizing the inexorable change to waterborne paint, especially in states where the laws are looming, but not yet a reality. Anticipating an advantage over their feet-dragging competitors in the next few years are forward-thinking shops like Old Forge Collision Centers, a 20-year-old company with two locations in Pennsylvania that together repair an average of nearly 200 vehicles monthly.
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Old Forge’s General Manager, Bob Scarpello, 54, is a 30-year veteran of the collision industry and a former painter. Three decades ago, his first job out of tech school was painter’s helper and by continually learning and improving his skills, Scarpello eventually progressed up the ladder into upper management.
One of the first things Scarpello did when he was hired at Old Forge, was to take a long, serious look at converting both of his locations to waterborne paint, he told Autobody News.
“We were one of the first body shops in Pennsylvania to go with waterborne paint. When I came here in 2003, after reading everything I could get my hands on about waterborne painting systems, I realized that it would eventually be coming here. I mean, Europe has been using it for decades, so what are we waiting for?”
