Snap Shop: Shannon's Auto Body

Owner: Shannon and Amy Christian

Location: Brainerd, Minnesota

Staff Size: 25

Shop Size: 39,000 square feet

Average Monthly Car Count: 80

Average Repair Order: $9,200

Annual Revenue: $8.8 million

GM Josh Shaw says their Spanesi side-loading system works well for moving vehicles between the prep station and paint booth.

When you think of greater Minnesota, what comes to mind? Snow, recreational vehicles, people camping in motor homes, perhaps the accent from the movie “Fargo?” Well, the repairers at Shannon’s Auto Body would say, “Yeah! That’s about right.”

They built their shop for standard cars like sedans, SUVs, and minivans back in 1996. However, their location has another set of demands, as it is a popular destination for campers who want to visit with their big and bulky motor homes or drive in with a boat strapped to their trailer. So, in a sense, they do it all.

Adapting for ADAS

In the last decade or so, they’ve been doing less and less work on recreational vehicles because the demands of being a normal day-to-day collision repairer for standard vehicles has required more of their production space. They needed to add more equipment for ADAS calibrations and diagnostics.

Shannon’s Auto Body has 25 staff members focused on the collision aspect of their business.

“Not everything is just hammering stuff out anymore,” explained General Manager Josh Shaw.

The space may have disappeared, but not the demand. That’s why in July 2023, they opened a new location devoted to collision repair, while their original location is devoted to recreational vehicles.

“So now, instead of referring that work out, we can capture more in-house,” Shannon Christian, owner of Shannon’s Auto Body, told FenderBender. “And now that we’re doing it, we’re getting outside work beyond our own customers that we previously had.”

Shannon’s Auto Body is fond of using Spanesi products.

"Tesla traffic is only on the weekends"

Continuing to serve the community with their recreational needs is quite lucrative because it’s the work is less complicated than it is for standard vehicles.

“I would just say the amount of electronics in the new [passenger] vehicles versus at least on the boat side is very limited and most of that is aftermarket add-on,” Shaw said.

The shop that's dedicated to recreational vehicles will become more useful as the shop prepares to take on EVs, although that might be a while. You might find more albino squirrels than Teslas in greater Minnesota.

Shannon’s Auto Body's average repair order is $9,200.

“For us, the Tesla traffic is only on the weekends,” Shaw said. “Once September hits, you may not see another Tesla appear for a month or two. We’re trying to stay with where our customer base is.”

But we’re not here to talk about boating or RVing. Summertime is over, kids. Instead of gazing at the lakes and trees, gaze upon the clean white floors, equipped with a Spanesi side-loading system for the prep area and spray booth.

“They make it a heck of a lot easier to move the cars around,” Shaw said.

This feature is not common in a typical American auto body shop, but make no mistake, Shannon’s prides itself on being meticulous about certifications, equipment, and tools.

“Community first”

“Based on what the OEM requirements are, after we started pursuing a lot of certifications, a lot of our equipment decisions are now based on the manufacturer,” Shaw explained. “It doesn’t pay to buy a piece of equipment that you can’t actually use or isn’t going to give a certified repair.”

“The industry is changing fast,” Christian said, even for a place where it seems that time is moving slowly.

The changing industry in the rural area makes Shannon’s proud to be working with no DRPs. “[This] allows us the freedom to just truly work for the customer and fix the car the right way,” Shaw said.

“We're a family-owned business serving our community,” Christian said. “We put our community first.”