CARSTAR Awards Top Shops at 2016 Conference

July 10, 2016

NEW ORLEANS, July 10, 2016—On the first night of an event themed around change and growth, the top shops in CARSTAR’s network of over 240 shops were recognized at the 2016 CARSTAR Conference.

The first of the four major awards kicked off with Franchisee of the Year, which was awarded to CARSTAR 76 Collision in Grand Rapids, Mich., owned by Mark VandenHout. The highest honor handed out of the evening, the shop was recognized for excelling in vendor relations, image compliance, submitting reports in a timely fashion and achieving consistently high CSI scores.

CARSTAR Fred Beans took home Rookie of the Year. Owner Fred Beans (who was featured in the January 2016 magazine) operates five locations in the Philadelphia area, and was rewarded for achieving Tier 1 compliance and embracing the CARSTAR culture.

Business Group of the Year went to the CARSTAR Omaha Business Group, which represents four stores—CARSTAR Don & Ron’s, CARSTAR Northwest, CARSTAR Silver Hammer and CARSTAR Glenn’s—in its region. The group was honored for uniting the four stores to share best practices, address local issues (such as the technician shortage) and conduct market-wide advertising and branding programs. And for excelling as marketer for the four-shop network, Margaret Keith was awarded Marketer of the Year.

In recognition of second and third generation shop owners, the Next Generation Award went to Chuck and Kyle Eilers, who now together run CARSTAR Charlie’s Columbia in Columbia, Ill., and CARSTAR Charlie’s Cahokia in Cahokia, Ill.

CARSTAR also handed out several awards based on KPIs and growth, which included:

  • Top Sales Growth - Individual Store: CARSTAR La Habra Collision & Glass Center in La Habra, Calif.
  • Top Footprint Growth and Top Sales Growth - MSO: CARSTAR Hi-Tech, CARSTAR Parkland and CARSTAR Freds in Seattle (owned by Shaun Copeland, who has been featured not once but twice in Fenderbender)
  • Top Cycle Time and Top Closing Ratio: CARSTAR Forest Home Auto Body in Milwaukee

With CARSTAR investing many resources in increasing its DRPs and insurance relations being a major theme of the conference, the company also handed out three awards for its top performers with insurance:

  • Estimating Accuracy: CARSTAR Grove Collision Center in Lemon Grove, Calif.
  • Length of Rental: CARSTAR Wilson Green Bay West in Green Bay, Wisc.
  • Customer Satisfaction: CARSTAR Crystal Lenexa in Lenexa, Kan.

Finally, ten shops were recognized by Mitchell for achieving the highest CSI scores through the AutocheX system:

  • CARSTAR Butterfield Bodyworks in Mundelein, Ill.
  • CARSTAR Jeremiah’s Collision & Painting in Oklahoma City
  • CARSTAR Liss Auto Body in Crown Point, Ind.
  • CARSTAR POW Collision in Newfane, N.Y.
  • CARSTAR Randy and Bob’s in Chicora, Penn.
  • CARSTAR Red Bud Collision Center in Red Bud, Ill.
  • CARSTAR Russom’s Collision-Dyersburg in Dyersburg, Tenn.
  • CARSTAR Arnold in Arnold, Mo.
  • CARSTAR Utzig Collision Service in Janesville, Wisc.
  • CARSTAR Yorkville in Yorkville, Ill.

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