Hadwen's Prestige Collision Repairs
AWARDS 2007 AAMIAAMI/AP&P AUTOBODY REPAIRER OF THE YEAR REGIONAL WINNER (LARGE SHOP) QLD.
Hadwen's Prestige Collision Repairs
While many smash repairers are family businesses, Hadwen's Prestige Collision Repairs is one of the very few in Australia to have reached the third generation mark. The deal was sealed last July when 35 year old Tyden Hadwen, who had been managing the business for the previous five years, bought it from his father Don ? who continues to work in the shop.
In some ways the real estate is showing its age, since it was started in 1930, but the energy and vision of Tyden Hadwen has breathed new life into the business as he takes it forward on a continual quest to do better.
Certainly Hadwen's is well equipped. It has two drive-through, glass sided Inhab ovens, two Autorobot benches, a range of new welders to handle high strength steel and aluminium, Auto Quote for quoting and an enthusiastic staff of 24 to work it all. Paint of choice is PPG. The shop has been one of the first to use the new Envirobase waterborne base coat. It has fitted in comfortably with the solvent based PPG products.
Because of an obsession with quality, Hadwen's has gravitated to prestige work and is now a recommended repairer for Lexus, Subaru and a number of other leading brands.
Ask Tyden Hadwen to show you around and you'll see his eyes light up when he points to a sign in the lunchroom which says: "Acceptable repair standard. Goal ? perform an invisible repair. Definition ? a repair that is undetectable to the trained eye." This puts a much sharper meaning to the propular term: "pre-accident condition". Hadwen's wants invisible repairs and Tyden believes most jobs in his shop do reach this standard.
Another part of Hadwen's repair process that sets it apart is its 101 point check list which every car goes through prior to delivery. While every shop checks the repair it has just carried out, Hadwen's checks everying on the car, from the setting of the radio, the clock, the lights ? all the way to the end of a check sheet with 101 items on it. Tyden says this adds at least half an hour to every repair but the payoff in customer satisfaction, goodwill and prevention of re-works is incalculable.
"We see our customer as the car owner, and that's who we look after" he says. "Insurers may come and go but our customer base belongs to us. It is our greatest asset."
This flies in the face of a fixation with price that insurers are currently favouring, he says. While he works with virtually all the major insurers (RACQ is the biggest), he puts his customers first.
Wright's comment
Hadwen's is a very professional business managed by people who love the smash repair industry. Every car, prestige or not, is reapired to a very high standard.