Berkeley, Calif.--Celebrating its 30th year tucked away on a relatively quiet street in Berkeley is a collision repair shop with an unusual name: Baron Von Frier.
"That's actually my great-grandfather's name," said Dave Perry, who along with his wife, Linda, owns and operates the eight-employee company. "My dad and brother and I started the business 36 years ago in Emeryville and thought we'd name it for my great-grandfather who came to the U.S., and it's a name that people don't forget."
That name is a key tool for a business that aside from one smaller direct repair program relies almost exclusively on repeat and customer-referral business. Perry has shied away from the larger insurer's DRPs because of what he calls their "unfunded mandates" for use of certain parts, procedures, or other requirements.
"The DRP we're in is one in which we're able to do a quality repair for a fair price," he said "It's not one where it's all give-aways. We've opted out of the major ones because they micro-manage it, and the remuneration is insufficient. There's too much second-guessing and not enough funds to do the work."
Perry's shop clearly indicates his understanding that the right tools and equipment are keys to efficient and quality repairs.
"A lot of shops don't have a resistance spot welder, for example, but we've had one for quite a while," he said, pointing out not only the shop's Data Welder Yashima Wonder Welder but also Lincoln Electric TIG and MIG welders as well. "It's very essential as far as I'm concerned."
The shop has a Benwil lift, a Chassis Master rack, and a Dataliner laser measuring system, and most recently updated its Hunter Engineering wheel alignment and tire-mounting equipment.
"One of good decisions we made was to bring our wheel alignment in-house about six years ago," Perry said. "We couldn't rely on the (sublet) vendors to keep their agreements. By doing it in-house, you control it and can do what it takes to make it right. The new tire-mounting equipment was needed because wheels are getting bigger, and the alignment system is now more efficient and faster and easier to use."
In the 5,000-square-foot shop's paint department, the painter sprays PPG's Nexa Autocolor inside a Spray Bake downdraft booth. Perry said the shop's jobber, Pinnacle Auto Color (part of Martin Auto Color), is a good example of the type of vendor he chooses.
"Most of the major paint product lines out there are good. The issue is: How is the support," he said. "Does the manufacturer support the product? How is the warranty if you have an issue? How is the support from the jobber? If that's not happening, it doesn't matter if it's the best paint in the world. It's just not going to work for you.
"We rely a lot on our vendors to support us because it's really hard for us to wear all the hats we do as shop owners," he said. "We try to deal only with dealerships that provide superior parts service, and of course, we want value for money, too. We often end up buying from dealers out of the immediate area because of that. Folsom Lake Dodge, Vallejo Toyota, San Francisco Honda, those are some dealers who really stand out, who really hustle. And they're good people."
Baron Von Frier is a long-time member of the California Autobody Association, and Perry said such associations are important for keeping the industry informed about what's happening legislatively and otherwise. He points to the letter he received from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last year thanking Perry for his letter in support of the governor's veto of a bill that would have required shops to take the redundant step of certifying that all replaced parts listed on the invoice had been installed on the vehicle.
"That bill has been revived again this year, so we sent our letters out again," Perry said, adding that CAA is again opposing the legislation. "I also think the new Collision Repair Association (CRA) of California is interesting. I know Gene (Crozat), its president. He's pretty smart. And they're using a slight different approach, a little more activist. That's probably good for the industry."
Baron Von Frier still focuses primarily on import vehicles, Perry said, although not as exclusively as it has in the past. He said he made his first trip to Europe in 1978, in part because he wasn't satisfied with what was available here in tools and equipment for working on import cars.
"So I went to the Automechanika (trade show) in 1978, and we continued to go every two years and found out there were tools that would do the job but just weren't available here," Perry said. "Things are much more uniform now, but it took a while for this market to catch up."
Traveling internationally has put Perry in touch with repairers and suppliers in Europe and Australia, and now the Internet helps him keep up to speed with what's happening in those other markets, he said.
"You start to see that you're not the only one having problems, that those problems exist in other countries as well," Perry said. "The U.K. market is brutal, for example, but if we don't learn from it, what has happened there could go on here, too."