Grandview, Mo.--In 1969, Richard Singleton, owner of Richards' Collision Center, began his career in collision repair and refinishing. He said his brother gave him a car under one condition that he had to fix it himself.
"It was a 1953 Chevrolet two-door hardtop with some dents and rust spots," Singleton said. "My brother knew just enough to get me started, and I took it from there."
Singleton said he continued fixing up cars throughout high school in Malden, a small town in the southeastern boot heel of Missouri. In 1975, following high school, he said he set off for Kansas City to start pharmacy school. During school, he said he continued working in a body shop and realized that even as a part-time worker, he was making good money.
"I was only part time, and I was making more money than I could have made as a pharmacist at that time," he said.
Soon there after, Singleton said he dropped out of pharmacy school and moved his focus solely to the collision repair business. Through his experiences in the next 13 years, he said he learned a lot about the industry and, in 1988, opened his own shop in Grandview.
"It was March of 1988. I partnered up with a guy who worked with me named Richard McCulley," Singleton said, adding that that's why the business is called Richards' Collision Center instead of Richard's. "It was a good combination. Dick liked working in the shop and didn't want to deal with customers, and I didn't mind dealing with people at all."
In 2000, because of McCulley's health, Singleton said he bought him out and became the sole owner of the business.
For the next 17 years, Singleton said he worked out of a 4,870-square-foot leased body shop in Grandview. It could only hold four cars at a time, and the paint side had roughly 3,000 square feet, which also acted as the space for the car wash, he said.
"It was small, but we still averaged 75 cars a month," he said. "I couldn't tell you how we did it, but we did."
Singleton said he found a place in Grandview that offered more square footage and a better location. On April 10, 2006, he moved to his current shop at 13420 S. 71 Highway. The building has 12,000 square feet of space and great visibility from the highway, he said, adding that it has a 5,500-square-foot body shop, a 4,000-square-foot paint area with Garmat booths, a carwash bay, and 1,100 square feet of offices, bathrooms, and break areas. The newer location also has a 22,000-square-foot storage lot located behind the building, he said.
Now, Richards' averages 90 cars a month, of which approximately 30 percent come from walk-ins, Singleton said.
"The new Location has been phenomenal for walk in business," he said, adding that more than 100,000 vehicles drive past his business every week. "We also advertise in the small, local yellow pages and sponsor a little league baseball team and a racecar."
Singleton said he likes to keep track of how customers find his business and said one of the first questions he asks new customers is where they heard about his shop.
"We also have a great customer following," he said. "I am repairing kids' cars whose parents' cars I started repairing years ago."
Singleton said he credits much of his success to a great crew of employees. Currently, his staff includes two body technicians, two paint technicians, one universal technician, two cleanup guys, and two employees in the office who use CCC and ADP estimating software, he said. He added that his daughter also works part time in the office while attending college.
"I have been asked before, 'How do you turn so many cars out of here,' and I have to believe it is because I have a great back end and a good front end," Singleton said. "I think we are very efficient at ordering parts, and I don't jump around to different dealers. I also try not to bring any car in and tear it down before I have the parts.
"We are professionals at what we do, just as much as doctors, lawyers, and accountants," he said. "When I seek out those services, I want professional service, so I just try to treat everybody the way I want to be treated."
Singleton said that when he started in the business, he quickly learned the importance of honesty and customer loyalty.
"There are a few shops that will try to sell people anything," he said. "If I wouldn't do it on my own car, I wouldn't want customers to pay to have it done on their own car. I like to be upfront and honest with my customers, I believe that is how you keep customers coming back."
