Lillegard said he first became a shop owner in 1973 when he opened a collision shop in South-Central Los Angeles.  He said he ran that business until the early '80s, when he sold it and bought into a house-moving company.  After three to four years in the moving business, he saw the opportunity to purchase Alvin's.

"We've quadrupled the business since we purchased it," he said.

Initially, Lillegard said the shop worked with the local Volvo dealership, which helped drive volume, but after the dealership was sold, the relationship changed, which resulted in business at the shop dropping off significantly.  "I had to get out there and really hustle," he said.

One of the relationships built during that time was with Timmons Subaru and Volkswagen, Lillegard said.  "Working with Timmons has been nice because it's a family dealership," he said.  "We've had a very good relationship with no problems.  They stand behind us and don't usually ask for discounts.  Sometimes we will help them out with something that they are paying for, but that's just once in a while."

Lillegard said his early experience taught him that however customers find the shop, it is important to earn their continuing business and referrals.  "We've built up a good following now, so people just come to us," he said.  "We have a lot of repeat business and customer referrals.  We've actually built a clientele; we're not just being given the work."

The dealer referrals have led the shop to specialize in Subarus and Volkswagens, Lillegard said, noting that those makes now account for about 70 percent of the shop's business.  The specialization helps in efficiency, he said, because technicians have usually worked on the same vehicle before and understand its idiosyncrasies, but also because the shop can stock some frequently needed parts.

 
Alvin's sits on a 100-foot by 125-foot lot and includes 11 bays covered by shed roofs as well as two bay building that holds two of the shop's three Chief EZ-Liner frame racks and its Chief Genesis measuring system.  "The weather is mild enough that it works well," Lillegard said of the open bays.

Lillegard said that while the shop now sprays PPG's DBU and DBC systems in the shop's Rely-on cross-draft paint booth, he is examining all of the available waterborne systems before he changes over.

 
"I don't have to change until the middle of 2008, so I'm looking at all of the options," he said.  "I want good quality at a fair price, but I'm also looking at what support is being offered."

The shop has two painters, five body technicians, a secretary, and an insurance expert, Lillegard said.  One of the employees, Jaime Huerte, has now worked for Lillegard for 35 years, he said.  That aside, he said finding qualified employees remains a challenge which he deals with by networking through his existing technicians, by paying a little better than other area shops, and by having a good working environment.

The insurance expert works at the business part time, helping complete estimates and negotiating with insurers, Lillegard said.  "He is really good with insurance companies because he worked with State Farm for 15 years," he said.  "Hiring him is the best move I ever made.

"Insurance companies are constantly battling us down, and we're fighting to get the estimate back up," he said.

  
Lillegard said the first thing he does with an insurance company estimate is transfer it into the shop's Mitchell estimating system and start examining it for missing items or procedures.  He said many of the estimates are superficial or improperly including material caps.  "We call the Magic Marker the money pen," he said.

"A big problem is capping of paint materials," Lillegard said of insurer estimates.  "It's illegal but they do it.  You call them on it and they pay it, but then the next day you get an estimate on another job from them, and it shows the cap again."

Lillegard said he has learned that correcting the estimates is an important part of the repair process.  "For years I was afraid of insurance companies," he said.  "I was afraid that if I complained, I would lose business.  But that's not the way it is.  As long as you have a legitimate complaint they will pay it."