Eric Lopez, 28, is a freelance paint specialist whose clients include BASF and various electric auto startup companies.
Autobody News reached out to two single-location shops in New Jersey that participated in the "Analysis of the Body Shop" survey and volunteered to elaborate further on their responses.
Autobody News followed up with Sam Plumb, vice president of Alpine Auto Renovation, a single-location shop in Utah.
Ashtin Kai Nandlal first heard about the collision repair program at Kingwood Park High School from his older brother.
Austin Bennett, 16, said he always had an interest in cars and trucks, but two years ago when he lost his best friend---his father---he knew he wanted to follow in his footsteps and become an auto collision technician.
From 2012 to 2018, New Hampshire native Dan Miller, 46, served time at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR).
David Cesar, 31, who has been working on cars his whole life, recently enrolled in a collision repair program so he could “learn how to fix everything on a vehicle.”
William Sanders, 23, said he loved cars from a very young age and repaired vehicles as a hobby before enrolling at San Juan College in Farmington, NM. In 2017, he graduated from the technical school’s Associate Paint and Autobody program.
Chandler Allison, 19, grew up in Pollard, AR, surrounded by people who worked with their hands and prided themselves on being self-sufficient. His great-grandfather owned a body shop while the rest of his mother’s family raised farm animals and his father’s family grew crops.
Ivan Reyes took his first collision repair class in 2018 during his freshman year at Kingwood Park High School in Kingwood, TX. Reyes said he wanted a different perspective on the automotive industry and believed that instructor Jeff Wilson’s course would offer that.
Eighteen-year-old Michelle Perschall discovered her love for automobiles at the age of four when her grandparents bought her a bright yellow racing Corvette Power Wheels.