Lakewood, Colo.—Three years ago, Gary Garcia said he had become frustrated with the performance of Jewell Auto Body, part of his mainstay business, Ace Towing. The shop, which Garcia founded in 1993, is again on the right track under the guidance of Christian Lewys Carson.
An invitation from Garcia to run his collision repair shop prompted Carson--who Garcia had come to know through weight lifting--to leave the mortgage investment industry, swapping numbers and figures with the task of running a bodyshop.
In that time, Carson said he’s been able to double sales and continues to develop the business without a single DRP.
“Everybody made me believe the business wasn’t successful because of our lack of DRPs,” Carson said, adding that he prefers to operate independent of them for now, leveraging the symbiotic relationship between the towing and collision repair businesses.
Carson admitted that his transition from the white-collar business world to the collision industry was filled with a lot of trial and error. Determination and the satisfaction of operating a successful business are motivators, he added.
“I enjoy the process of building a productive business,” he said. However, he admitted that he didn’t know the first thing about running a collision repair facility, but jumped in, feet first.
“Coming into it, I didn’t know how things were supposed to be done,” Carson said, pointing out that his business background taught him to manage costs, products, expenses, and markups.
In order to turn things around, Carson said he knew he had to improve the shop’s image.
Tucked away in a shopping center on Jewell Avenue, the shop’s sign was difficult to see from the road, Carson said. “There was no way to market to street traffic.”
Additionally, the shop was dwarfed by the towing business that employs 75 people and runs 35 tow trucks, he said.
So when the dry-cleaner tenant left, who had occupied the first building visible to motorists as they drove in the lot, Carson said he approached the landlord and eventually turned it into his new front office.
Since Jewell Auto Body now shares an office with Ace Towing, Carson said he has an opportunity to capture towing customers’ collision repair business.
“I soon realized that if we just capture the business that comes through our door, we’ll do well,” he said. That is why he spent significant time on designing the office, he said.
“We wanted to stick out in people’s minds,” Carson said, “to create a show room people would remember and setups apart from other body shops.”
To achieve that, Carson said he had three vintage Cadillac desks custom-built, using the front clips from the actual vehicles, and painted red, white, and blue.
The customer waiting area has seating from the rear ends of vintage Cadillacs as well. A ’50s theme with black and white checkerboard flooring, vintage gas station signage, and a Marylyn Monroe poster ties the theme together.
When tow customers visit the office, Carson said they inform them that they’re a full-service bodyshop with a lifetime warranty and in good standing with the Better Business Bureau (BBB), and asks for the opportunity to earn their collision repair business.
After doing all this, business has slowly turned around, Carson said. “It’s been fun to watch it go,” he said. “Step by step, we’re making progress.”
As the business continues to do well, Carson said Garcia, who is now his father-in-law, entrusts him to continue investing in the business. Carson married Garcia’s daughter, Monique, in September 2008, who soon gave birth to their daughter, Cambria.
Like many successful body shops, Carson said being family-run is a major factor that contributes to the success of the 12-employee shop.
Knowing that his father-in-law is counting on him is a driving force for Carson, who said he has gained his trust as the business continues to grow and been given leeway to reinvest in the business.
That included a complete modernization with new equipment, a plan to use a paperless management system, and conversion to waterborne paint, he said.
“We want to be at the forefront of green thinking,” he added, which is why they installed high-efficiency lighting in the office, converted from solvent basecoat to Sherwin-Williams AWX waterborne, and purchased a more efficient rotary-screw air compressor.
Another green measure is the intention to convert to a paperless management system, Mitchell RepairCenter, he said.
Significant equipment upgrades were made, Carson said, adding that he relied on Bill Askew, owner of Askew Equipment. He said he purchased a Chief frame rack and Shark measuring system from him and rebuilt an existing Brewco frame rack.
Since the shop gets most of its business from vehicles that are towed in, they’re usually heavy hits, Carson said, noting that the large amount of parts needed to fix each vehicle forces him to depend heavily on his parts suppliers for ordering accuracy.
At the onset, Carson said he chose several vendors based on price, which he later discovered was causing problems. “I made some choices solely on price and saw what bad service meant.”
Carson said he prefers to do business with AutoNation’s Go Subaru, Toyota, Hyundai, and Mazda dealerships, while for domestic makes, he relies on Pollard Friendly Motors for Chrysler, Mike Naughton Ford, and Emich Chevrolet.
