Bigger, better Car Craft

As the Car Craft Group network grows so does the infrastructure to support it. In 2022 the national board of Car Craft, which comprises the chairmen of each of the regions, developed a national strategy for the group going forward. This was to ensure that the growth was managed properly and also, to capitalise on the size of the group going forward. Car Craft now turns over upwards of $550 million a year and employs around 2,000 people. 

“We just get bigger and bigger,” McMahon said. “As part of our strategy we’ve appointed a national commercial manager. His name is Colin Potts and he’s based in NSW. His role is to manage our national partnerships in the sense of supply and services - making it uniform, making it happen.

“We have been so stretched that we didn’t have the resources to give the offers and partnerships the respect that they deserved. So, Colin’s role is to bring all that in under a new organisational structure. He’ll have our state managers working with him and then he reports to the board to pull all these things together.

“These will be national relationships because every region has their own direct suppliers - local businesses that they support. However there are synergies across each area on a national level and Colin’s role is to capitalise on all of that, and manage the process as well,” McMahon said

“When you start talking to people and say you’ve got 140 plus ‘owners’ in the group, it carries some weight. We want to have partnerships with people where it’s profitable for all parties and the outcomes for us and our owners are positive.

Car Craft Group started out in WA  over 35 years ago and then set up in Queensland in 2011. In 2015 Master Collision Repair Specialists, which was a similar model, joined Car Craft. In 2016 the group launched itself as a national entity.

The next markets to crack were NSW and Victoria, it took some time to gain traction but now they are flying.

“We spent a lot of time getting the name out in the East.  For an organisation that started in 1987, it’s amazing how many people across the country don’t know what or who we are. So that’s been a bit of a journey. Eventually you get the right people becoming part of the organisation and those people come with a reputation of being astute, quality business people.

Then people think ‘well if they are involved there must be something to it.’ I’m very happy with Victoria. That’s been the hardest slog of all. It has a very big third party market which has its own industry in itself and you have the very successful and well established Sheen Group. The mum and dad shops in the middle are now thinking that they might like to be part of something,” he says.

“When you sit with them they understand that, yes we’ve got these deals on parts, that’s fantastic but the major benefit is your ability to network with people that think like you do.

“Our mantra is, like-minded people, and that the network we are building is for everyone’s benefit. There’s a suite of offers that come with joining the group  which makes everyone successful. When they join people own a share in the business. If they don’t contribute then they don’t get back anything from it.

“We have attracted the right people in Victoria -  reputable repairers in the right spots geographically.

"In NSW we’ve added a few in the Southern Highlands region and also in the Sydney metro area and in that space in between. Again, the right people who pay their bills, have good customer service, train with iCar and run high quality establishments. Our brand is very important to us. 

"When you get industry doyens such as Tony Farrugia from ACT, Glenn O’Donnell from NSW and John Barry and Glen Chesser from Victoria deciding to be part of the group - it speaks volumes.”

While Car Craft Group never want work provision to be a motivating factor for joining the group, inevitably with such a large network partnerships have been formed.

“We are a group that’s based on reputation, like-mindedness, quality work, customer service, which is a big, big key. That then attracts work providers that want to send their clients to someone that will put their name on the job and take the responsibility that it’s my work that’s sitting in the front driveway,” he said.

“Now people are ringing us. It’s a nice position to be in but we’ll never promise you work if you join," he said.

Car Craft group also offers owners a Quantum Performance Management system. “This is a whole lot more than just benchmarking and it’s exclusive to Car Craft owners. It comes with a guy that analyses your numbers as well. How much it costs to open the door in the morning to what happens at the backend. It drills down to every level. We have a few other systems sitting in the back there ready to be released,” he said.

"The group has recently finished building its members only portal, and a CRM (Customer Relations Management System) or, as we like to call it, Owner Relationship Management. As we get bigger we need data. We’ve got deals with Commonwealth Bank, Officeworks, all these sort of companies, and we need to know that everyone has access to them and if they are worthwhile. That’s another area where Colin’s experience will allow him to fine-tune our offerings.”

This article first appeared in Paint & Panel magazine January/February 2024