Europanels in Victoria’s Geelong is the answer to many a crash victim’s prayers. This quirky shop embodies all that is good about an independent repairer – passion for the craft of repair, a family atmosphere that extends to staff, state-of-the-art equipment and up-to-the-minute training.
The customer is king at Europanels and that is what the Ruggeri family attributes their 50-car waiting list to. It’s not just that they get customers bringing their cars from Melbourne – they even have a customer from the mining industry who shipped his car over from Perth for them to fix.
Peter Ruggeri started the business 30 years ago, at the ripe old age of 21. He now runs it with his wife Dianne and daughter Carly, who manage the office, and son Jake, a spray painter,
who runs the workshop.
When Paint and Panel visited, they had only been in the current premises for four months, having moved from a facility a few doors away. “The layout of this shop is much better and allows us to work more efficiently,” Peter says.
“I also like change, I like colour and I like designing things.”
The celestial customer reception area certainly bears this out and it’s a soothing atmosphere for customers.
Another reason for the move is to set up for the long haul as a prestige repairer, Dianne says. “We are known in Geelong as a prestige repairer; we wanted to reflect that in the appearance of the place.
Europanels is already a Subaru preferred repairer and is applying for other manufacturer ‘badges’.
Peter says that the team’s customer focus means trust and plenty of repeat business, and many customers ring him each year to check who they should insure with. Europanels offers a claims service and has a fleet of new hire cars for ‘not at fault’ claims.
While the smart red exterior and fun reception satisfy customers, the workshop would certainly satisfy the most critical of assessors. It is smart, nicely designed with Peter’s touch, well equipped and impressively clean. The paint room is spotless – an expensive non-marking flooring really lifts the appearance of the shop – and the parts area is partially carpeted, clean, spacious and well organised.
The office wall is packed with I-CAR training certificates, the shop floor is packed with the latest repair equipment and Peter is totally confident about the company’s future.
“When you look at the repairer code we aren’t repairing cars any more, we are remanufacturing them,” he says.
“As cars become more complex to work on we are seeing an increasing amount of seriously faulty work carried out by sub-standard repairers. These are repairers who are bidding for work but don’t have the equipment or training to carry it out.
“They don’t understand about bonding, they don’t weld properly and this is going to get worse. When the customers come to trade in their cars and find they are devalued by poor repairs or paint jobs, then they will demand expert, quality repairs and there will be a backlash against cost-cutting.”