She was going to be induced for labor around 7 a.m. the next morning.
But on that last free day before the delivery of her child? She spent that Friday afternoon searching for a clue that would lead to Auto Body Xpert’s hidden car.
It was all part of the shop’s 70th anniversary celebration, as Amanda Beroza, general manager of the shop, and her marketing coordinator, Elizabeth Burgess, set up a city-wide scavenger hunt for their customers.
The scavenger hunt involved the team hiding a toy car a little bigger than a matchbox car in the surrounding neighborhood, Beroza said. Each day, the shop, Auto Body Xperts, gives clues about the car’s location on the website and in the shop.
Despite community members searching in the parks each day, Beroza said no one has found the car.
And the shop’s website that offers clues every morning from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. has received about 50 page views a day according to the shop’s Google Analytics page.
“We knew we had to do something different and big,” Beroza said. “We’re always known for doing our Facebook contests so we made another one.”
The customer who finds the car will receive a $100 gift card to Amazon.
But, the woman who had her baby has been gifted a Auto Body Xperts onesies.
In addition to the contest, which she said will end before July 4, each of the Auto Body Xpert locations hosted a day of free car washes. The staff ended up performing 144 car washes in one day.
The shop participates in local community events throughout the year, she said. The shop will host community open houses in which it invites residents and local organizations like the Humane Society and the health department, Beroza said.
The last open house event brought in about 600 adults plus children. In addition to in-house marketing, the events and contests help bring traffic to the shop’s Facebook page, she said. The shop has about 4,000 likes.
How it Started
Beroza and Burgess first scouted out locations for the hiding spot. They chose a 10-acre park in Ottawa County, Mich., Beroza said.
The team purchased the toy car through Amazon. Then, one of the shop’s painters helped paint the logo and the shop’s number on the side of the car.
They hid the car a week before launching the contest and waited.
The Shop’s Market
Auto Body Xperts has four locations in Michigan. Each location is located approximately 20 minutes apart from each other, Beroza said. The locations include, Hudsonville, Zeeland, Wayland and Holland.
Beroza said the business used to be a part of CARSTAR over 15 years ago but separated to become an independently owned business. She said the the decision was based upon the desire to become more involved in the community.
