"We try to develop relationships with our customers so that even if they go to a different insurance carrier, they're still our customer," says Kelly McCarty, who has managed the business for 10 years.
To increase the likelihood that a customer will stay with the company, Carty's is on five major direct repair programs, which generate about 85 percent of its business. No single program represents more than 25 percent of its business, however, and the shop is selective about the companies it works with.
"I am proactive," says McCarty. "I don't stand back and wait for things to come to me. I go and create them." Rather than wait for insurance companies to approach the shop, McCarty determined which ones would be best to work with and went after them.
Here, too, the relationship theme comes up again. The shop works with insurance companies that "appreciate partnership and service and aren't buying on price," she says. "We're not price driven. We do quality work at a competitive price and we treat our customers how we would want to be treated. We have customers that have been coming here for 15 years."Carty's Collision was founded by Kelly and her father, Mike, 15 years ago. Mike previously owned a Ford dealership body shop in Los Angeles, an hour's drive away, but wanted a shop near his home in Upland, Calif., near where other family members lived as well. Kelly had worked in the office at the Los Angeles shop during summers and for two and a half years after college. She left the business for a year to manage a retail store. But when Mike made the move to Ontario, she joined her father as a partner.
"I was very pregnant when we opened the shop," recalls Kelly. "Shortly after we opened, my dad fell off a ladder, cracked his ankle, compressed [one of his joints] and was bedridden. I left the office on Friday to have the baby and was back to work on Monday, baby in tow."
At that time, both Kelly's mother, Jackie, and her brother, Chuck, worked in the shop. The first shop Mike owned in Pasadena was called Competition Paint and Body, but since so many family members were involved in the new shop, Jackie suggested calling it by Mike's nickname — Carty.
Although Jackie passed away less than three years after the shop opened, she played an important role in building relationships with customers and is still remembered by them and by neighboring businesses. When Mike was recovering from his injury, he used a motorized scooter to get around, but Jackie put it to a different use.
"Mom would put the baby on the scooter and drive up and down the street to get her to take a nap," Kelly recalls. "She would stop and visit with the neighbors and discuss business with them. I still have customers come in and ask, 'How's the baby?' even though she's a teenager now."
Mike turned most of the job of managing the shop over to Kelly about 10 years ago but still handles critical tasks, such as paying bills and closing tickets. Kelly also credits him with creating and maintaining such a positive work environment the company has very low employee turnover. "Being able to create a culture and atmosphere so you can keep employees long term is huge and my dad is very good at that," says Kelly. "Our technicians love and respect my father. They look at him like a father and they call him Big Chief. They look to him for wisdom and guidance."
Mike never had any breaks, Kelly said. "He was married when he was 18, had his first kid at 19 and had three kids by the time he was 23. He taught us that you get ahead by working hard."
Mike also taught his children valuable money management skills. "He always bought everything with cash. He never financed anything. If we needed something, we had to let him know in advance so he could earn the money. My mom's first car was a rebuilt total. My first car was a rebuilt total. And my sister's car was a rebuilt total."
The McCarty's don't hesitate to spend money when they see a clear benefit to the shop, however. "We always had the latest and greatest tools and equipment," Kelly says. The Los Angeles shop was the first paid user of a popular computerized management system in 1987. And the Ontario shop was an early adopter of a sophisticated measuring system. "Some people asked, 'How can a small shop afford this expenditure?'" Kelly says. Her reaction was, "How can we not?"
"Buying equipment and training people are the two best investments a shop can make," she advises.
Building relationships within the collision repair industry also has been an important contributor to Carty's success. Kelly has been involved in just about every collision repair association and has served as a district chairman, advisory board member and a member of the international board of directors for I-CAR. She also is a past president of the California Auto Body Association.
"I was always very involved in the industry and it has paid off, not just in getting people trained but also getting to know other shops, learning from them and developing relationships with them," says Kelly.
As a result of building such strong relationships, Kelly was recognized in 1999 as one of the most influential women in the collision repair industry by a major paint manufacturer. Also in 1999, she won a Pride Award from the National Auto Body Council for her work in a local literacy program.
Kelly could soon be building relationships in a new domain. She's running for the California state legislature. If she wins, she will turn company management over to her brother Chuck. "He's very valuable to the company and the plan is for him to take over."
