Key Highlights
- Daniel Sumner grew up immersed in the family collision business, learning every aspect from a young age to prepare for future leadership.
- He successfully led a significant expansion, including moving into a new, larger facility with state-of-the-art equipment and increased staff.
- The business maintains core values of hard work, honesty, and customer care, blending tradition with modern advancements to stay competitive.
- Daniel designed the new shop’s branding and oversaw extensive renovations, demonstrating his hands-on approach and dedication.
- Looking ahead, Daniel plans further growth, additional certifications, and continued commitment to quality and community trust.
Growing up, Daniel Sumner watched his dad, Shawn Sumner, pour his blood, sweat, and tears into building 23 Mile Collision in Shelby Township, Michigan.
Now, 25 years later, it’s Daniel’s blood, sweat, and tears that are carrying the shop into the next generation.
“Watching how hard my dad worked, it motivates me to want to work even harder,” Daniel says.
From the time he was a young child, all he ever wanted to do was take over the shop. The fact that he has — while also successfully leading an expansion that doubled their square footage this past year — sometimes feels surreal, he says. And while the journey has tested him in just about every way imaginable, he wouldn’t change it for the world.
“To stand here today and say that I have achieved my goal of bringing 23 Mile Collision to a place it has never been before, it’s nothing short of a dream come true. I want to show everyone that if you work hard enough and truly want to achieve something, anything is possible.”
Baptism by Fire
23 Mile Collision has always been a part of Daniel’s life, almost from day one — his father founded the business just several months after he was born, and he’s been in and around it ever since.
His first official job was working as a porter at age 17. From there, he started learning everything he could from the techs — bumping cars, doing heavy replacements and frame work — and he started painting as well. Learning to write estimates came next, before eventually running the office and working directly with the customers.
“Dealing with customers every day really taught me how to communicate more effectively and learn the skills I’d need to be in charge,” he says.
After he graduated from high school — at his parents' encouragement — Daniel tried college for a short time, but, within a week, he was skipping classes to work at the shop. His mother was less than pleased when she found out, he admits, but “she’s on board now,” he chuckles. “She knows this is what I’ve always wanted to do.”
By 2022, Shawn felt it was time to let Daniel spread his wings and run the shop on his own.
“My dad started coming in just a couple of hours every day and had me run the shop the rest of the time. That was his way of teaching me.”
It was a tried-and-true method, given that it’s how Shawn started, too.
Although he’d worked in multiple shops as a tech before setting out on his own, he didn’t have any experience in other aspects of the business — writing estimates, working with customers and insurance companies, etc. So, he taught himself from scratch, running a one-man show in the shop while Daniel’s mother, Sylvia, handled the books.
“It was definitely a big risk to take. A lot of people doubted him, but he proved them all wrong.”
Daniel is determined to do the same thing.
“The journey to get to where I am today definitely has not been easy,” he admits. “I had to learn how to put out fires and handle tough situations at 22 years old.”
There’s a “long list” of things his parents have taught him over the years, Daniel says, but the value of hard work and dedication tops the list.
“When you are running any business, it’s a lot more stressful than people think. I treat the shop like it is a living, breathing thing. When it needs to eat, you feed it. No matter what. No matter where I am, I’m always thinking about the shop. Even though it is very, very stressful, it will always be what I want to do.”
Shawn is semi-retired now but still comes in from time to time. “He looks over things here and there and just likes to be a part of the shop in any way he can,” Daniel says. And Sylvia still handles bookkeeping on the back end. Both are incredibly proud, they told me, to have Daniel leading 23 Mile Collision into the next generation.
“Watching our son take the reins of the business we built has been one of the greatest joys of our lives,” they said. “His vision, dedication, and integrity make us incredibly proud – not just as parents, but as founders who know the future is in good hands.”
Moving forward, Daniel wants to keep the values his parents have lived and breathed into the business every day at the forefront of operations.
“Hard work, honesty, and treating every customer like family.”
Those are the Sumner family non-negotiables.
“We believe in doing the job right the first time and standing behind our work. My dad’s reputation was built not just on skill, but on trust. People know when they come here, they’ll be treated fairly and leave satisfied. As I take the wheel, I’m committed to carrying those values forward. I’ll continue to put quality and integrity above all else, while also bringing in modern tools, technology, and training to keep us competitive in today’s market. My goal is to honor what my dad built, while evolving the shop to meet the needs of the next generation of customers.”
The first step in that evolution was a brand-new shop that the team just moved into in August. At double the size of the original shop, there’s plenty of room for Daniel to grow and build on his dreams.
Reaching New Heights
Much like he did when he was training Daniel to manage the shop, Shawn stepped aside and let Daniel take charge of the business expansion, allowing him to learn through firsthand experience. “I told my dad that as much as possible, I wanted to handle this expansion alone. I wanted to be able to say I did it. And he was on board.”
Daniel knew he wanted the new shop to stand out from others in the area “not just from the outside, but the inside, too.” But finding the perfect location took some patience. 23 Mile Collision is named for the road it’s located on, so they had to wait for something nearby to become available.
In November 2024, it finally happened. A 17,000 sq. ft. building just 500 ft. down the street from the original shop came up for lease, and it was everything they needed — but, having been used as a spring shop most recently, it took extensive renovations to turn the space into a body shop. The nine months it took to get everything operational were, admittedly, “the most stressful of my life,” Daniel says.
“Going through the inspections and permitting was definitely not easy. From all new electrical to fire suppression systems, mechanical work, and on and on and on…I never could have imagined it’d be so much work to get up and running. I was on the phone 24/7 dealing with the city, contractors, customers, lawyers…something new seemed to pop up every day.”
Together with his father, Daniel spent countless hours planning every facet of how the new shop would look and operate — even down to the logo, which Daniel designed himself.
“We worked together on the signs, office, exterior color of the building, how the back of the shop looked…all of it. I used some of his knowledge of the business and what he thought was necessary, and I used my knowledge from touring other shops, searching shops online, and gaining any ideas that I could to make it state-of-the-art.”
All his hard work has certainly paid off — the new shop is not only beautiful; it’s highly functional, too. A great deal of effort was made to streamline production, Daniel says, to ensure smooth workflows. And the shop boasts a brand new Garmat downdraft paint booth, with a plan to acquire more new equipment in the near future.
Daniel also hired two additional employees to accommodate the influx of work they can now handle in the bigger shop, bringing their total employee count to10. He plans to grow the team even further once things settle down as well.
“I have amazing technicians that show true pride in what they do, and the shop wouldn’t be where it is today without the fantastic employees I have. They’re truly more like family to me than coworkers.”
Additional investments in certifications and training are also in the works, Daniel adds, noting that the shop is on track to achieve I-CAR Gold Class status “very soon.”
What Doesn’t Kill You…
Now that the team is officially moved into their new location, there’s (a little) room to breathe and reflect on what an amazing accomplishment and learning experience this past year has been.
“This whole process made me stronger and taught me so much, which makes me even more grateful to see what we have achieved,” he says. “I put everything I have into this move, and I couldn’t be happier with how it all turned out.”
Daniel plans on expanding the business again in the future and knows next time will be a million times easier now that he knows what to expect.
But no matter what the future holds, one thing is certain. 23 Mile Collision has always been and will always be the same independent, family-owned businesspeople have come to know and trust.
“We’ve been a family-owned business for over 25 years,” and that carries weight in the community, Daniel says. “We’ve developed a great name for ourselves. We care about our customers’ cars more than we care about our own.”
That’s evident, given that once upon a time there was only one other shop within a mile radius of them…now there’s eight, yet 23 Mile Collision is busier than ever, with no plans to slow down any time soon.
“I can’t wait to see what the future holds for 23 Mile Collision.”
