Snap Shop: Minor Wreck Express
1. Minor Marketing
Jamie Lasher, owner of Minor Wreck Express, designed the shop’s logo and branding to model a national brand despite the shop’s small-town location. He even hired two employees to drive the shop’s courtesy shuttle full time and provide a way for locals to see the business name.
In order to spread the word on his brand, Lasher has designed the shop’s Facebook and Twitter pages. The shop also has made commercials on local radio stations like KCCI 8 News and MediacomCable, which broadcasts on channels for ESPN2, Discovery, HGTV and more.
And to attract customers from the approximately 1 million cars that drive by the shop each month, Lasher and his team showcase finished jobs outside. The team parks the finished jobs in a line at the front of the shop’s parking lot. Then, the cars are visible to the nearby highway and residential neighborhood.
2. Meet the Fleet
At the back of the main shop, the team has expanded to work on fleet services. Three years ago, Lasher added the space to help his clients who needed work done on box trucks and semi-trucks. The building was outfitted with all-new equipment including a spray booth, mixing bank, compressor and more. Specialized equipment for the large jobs included scaffolding, a sand blaster, airless sprayer and chain host.
The team works out of a 3,000-square-foot building and works on roughly 25–30 vehicles per month. In total, the investment cost the shop between $75,000–$85,000.
3. Team Building
When Lasher and his first employee moved into the shop in 2000, they installed a basketball hoop in the shop floor. Lasher says his team often will move the cars outside at the end of the day and bond over a pick-up game after work.
4. Lighting Investments
Lasher replaced all the shop’s light bulbs in 2018. He invested about $10,000 to install LED lights. While he anticipates the return on investment will be within a couple of years, he’s already seen better rates in his utility bills. And the shop floor and front office are much brighter, he says.
5. Ahead of the Trends
Before insurance companies started introducing photo estimating, Lasher created a similar process for his own customers. Around five years ago, Lasher offered his customers the opportunity to take photos of their vehicles and send them to the shop’s website. Minor Wreck Express does no DRP work but this system allows the customer to avoid waiting in the shop for an estimate. If the shop has issues with the photo, they simply email the customer and request them to bring the car in for an estimate. The shop sees about 10–15 estimates per week via this process.
SHOP STATS: Minor Wreck Express Location: Johnston, Iowa. Operator: Jamie Lasher Average Monthly Car Count: 200 Staff Size: 10 Shop Size: 9,000 square feet; Annual Revenue;$1.3 million
