Buying a successful body shop can give the new owner an edge in the competitive automotive repair market. But continued success requires maintaining the good will of the original shop, and growing the business may require making some changes. For the new owner, determining what to preserve and what to change can be a delicate balancing act.
Keith Meisner and Richard Sargo, co-owners of CrashMaster Collision Center in Kennesaw, Ga., seem to have found the right balance. The partners, who bought the business in March 2007, have been able to retain and build upon the good will that the shop already had within the community. And by remodeling and introducing some new ideas, such as an eco-friendly approach to repairs, they already have grown the business.The partners, who have known each other since their childhood in Pennsylvania, looked at a number of shops before purchasing CrashMaster. "After searching, we found someone with a good reputation that was well established and had strong ties with the community," says Meisner.
The company had been in the same location for 22 years and had many loyal customers, many of whom were in their fifties and sixties and were anxious about the change in ownership. The previous owner, Walter Zimmerman, helped smooth the transition by writing a farewell letter that was published in a local paper, encouraging customers to continue to bring their business to the new shop.
"The letter calmed a lot of customers," Sargo says.
Where the partners saw room for improvement, however, was in the style of the shop. "It was a typical 1980s body shop," says Meisner. "The colors were typical browns. The typical 1980s shop was a guy's shop. But today, if you're not appealing to women, you won't bring in the customers."
The partners remodeled the shop and installed more modern equipment. In planning the new shop, Meisner and Sargo also opted to make it more environmentally friendly, and it is the first in Georgia to use BASF's Glasurit waterborne paint. Environmentally friendly waterborne paint is mandatory in parts of Europe, will soon be required in parts of California, and is expected to be mandated in other parts of the U.S. as well.The partners were driven to that choice, in part, because they had seen firsthand the health effects of earlier paint systems. "My grandfather passed away from multiple nervous system strokes that were related to the fact that he painted cars for years and did spraying back when the paper mask was the state of the art," notes Meisner.
Appraisers talk to customers about the shop's eco-friendly approach when they write estimates — and although the partners freely admit that not everyone values eco-friendliness, they say it does help seal the deal with certain customers. The company also provides bins where anyone in the community can bring newspapers or cardboard for recycling, which has generated awareness for the shop. "We've had people come up and thank us for offering the recycling," Meisner says. The shop pays to have the cardboard recycled; the newspaper is picked up for free.
The company also has generated good will within the community — and even picked up some business — as a result of its support for the Little General Cloggers, a 35-year-old local dance group that has appeared on the Grand Ole Opry. When the local municipality cut funding for the group, members of the community stepped in to fill the gap. CrashMaster's contribution was to provide practice space and to conduct a benefit car wash for the group.Both Meisner and Sargo came from collision repair families and both went to work in the collision industry. They remained friends even after Meisner moved to New Jersey and later to Maryland. Sargo eventually ran his family's repair business in Pennsylvania, while Meisner became an independent adjuster — a move he initially made out of necessity when his tools were stolen and he couldn't afford to replace them. "All I had were my hands and head," he recalls.
Over the years, Meisner got more and more involved in catastrophe work and found himself doing a lot of business in the hurricane-ridden Southeast. He and his wife decided to move to Georgia at the same time Sargo and his wife decided to look for a new home in South Carolina. Meisner persuaded Sargo to look in Georgia instead — and two and a half years ago both families made the move. After relocating, Sargo did body work as a consultant for multiple shops, but before long, the friends decided to look for a shop they could buy together.
The union has worked out well, in part because each partner has a different specialty. "I'm used to paperwork and sitting in an office and he's used to repair work," says Meisner, who does most of the talking. "I manage the front and he manages the back."CrashMaster is on several direct repair programs, which generate about 50 percent of its business. The shop also leases space to a car rental company, which helps generate some additional work.
The partners are so happy with their new business that they already have plans to expand it. "We'd like this shop to be the first of many," says Meisner.