John Volpe has spent roughly 50 years in collision repair. He started at 17 as a helper, became a painter, and opened his own shop in 1982. He bought and sold facilities over the decades that followed, and today he owns four I-CAR Gold Class Fix Auto locations in Temecula, CA, including the store he has run since 2000.
The number he watches closest sits in the paint department.
"What's our biggest cost in this industry?" Volpe said. "I mean, parts… we're gonna make 20%, 25%, 30% off of parts. Our biggest concern in this industry is paint materials, because we go by guidelines.”
When Volpe looked at the numbers, he already knew where a share of his material was going. With a conventional setup, much of the paint atomizes into the air instead of landing on the vehicle.
A Skeptic Gives One Booth One Month
Volpe met Apollo Sprayers at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas last year and stopped at the booth. Apollo followed up with a visit, pitching a self-contained HVLP electric system that would cut toner and clear consumption by 20% to 40%.
"I was skeptical about the situation. I've been in the business all my life, and I'm saying, okay, how can this system save us money?" Volpe said.
Volpe runs three spray booths across his operation. Each one now sprays through a Maxi-Miser 3000 PRO.Volpe runs three spray booths, two painters, two painters' helpers, and four body technicians doing majority DRP work across his locations. The shop put one Maxi-Miser 3000 PRO on a single booth and ran toners through it for a month, just an experiment to test the company's claims.
Savings That Even Impressed the Accountant
Volpe didn't have to wait long for results. The first month came back at 35% savings on toners. Volpe moved clears onto the system next, then bought two more units so each of his three booths had one. Fix Auto Temecula tracks material purchases against usage in the Logic One system, which is where he watched the numbers move.
"I can go back to the computer and look at the month before and the month we started using it," he said. "It's dramatic. Dramatic."
Across toners and clears, he put the average drop at 35% to 40% — in some cases even 50% — with cost savings every single month since. Booth filters and buff time came down alongside materials.
"If you're mixing a pint, immediately a half a pint will do the job. The same job as a pint," Volpe said. "It turned our paint into a profit center, our paint materials into a profit center. Immediately… not in three months, four months. Immediately."
The results were right on the bottom line. His accountant, who works off premises and works only with body shops, called to ask what had changed.
"She [asked], what are you doing with your paint materials?" Volpe said. She wanted to share his experience with her other clients immediately.
Painters Resisted, Then Adapted Within Days
Volpe expected some painter pushback, having spent years in a booth himself.
"They don't like change, let's face it. I didn't like change when I was painting," Volpe said. "But they adapted to it within two or three days. And now they only use that. I think if I took it away from them, they'd probably cry."
The Fix Auto Temecula location has been in operation since 2000.Fix Auto Temecula now runs the system on sealer, base, and clear across every vehicle, and still primes outside the booth. "As far as productivity, it hasn't hindered at all," Volpe said. "It's the same as when we were doing it with the air."
One of Volpe's painters liked the Apollo system so much that he went even further. "He bought a little one for home use because he was so impressed with the paint savings," Volpe said.
Volpe measures the shift against the last one of that size he lived through in the booth.
"For some of you old timers out there, it's like coming from synthetic enamel to acrylic enamel," Volpe said. "It was like mind boggling."
Volpe separates the Maxi-Miser from products that promise savings eventually.
"It's not like, well, if you use this sandpaper, you're gonna save money over time," he said. "The Apollo system saved us money right when we started using it. Immediate savings."
Apollo's team spent two or three days in the booth alongside his painter during the first install, longer than Volpe said the job required. He has had no trouble with the machines since, and questions get answered by text right away.
"I personally would recommend any shop owner, big or small, to purchase one of these machines," Volpe said. "If you are interested in saving paint material, you will see 30% to 40% savings immediately on your paint bill. Guaranteed."
