Mt Pleasant Crash Repairs
AWARDS 2005AAMI/AP&P AUTOBODY REPAIRER OF THE YEAR REGIONAL WINNER (SMALL SHOP) SA & NT
Mt Pleasant Crash Repairs
The best shop in any category is not necessarily the one with the best equipment or the most glamorous building. In this case it is a shop that provides a superb service for the market it served.
In the words of manger, Nick Cross, Mt Pleasant Crash sits in the middle of nowhere. But the fact that it is in the middle brings it all the available work in the area which stretches for about 40 kilometres in every direction. There is no other repairer in the vicinity ? but that hasn't made the shop complacent. Owner Tom and Lucia Campanello have made themselves part of the local community with sports sponsorships and simply taking time to get to know their customers.
A drive through the surrounding Adelaide Hills soon reveals what kind of work the shop is called upon to do ? and this is its strength. Lining the twisting road are massive gum trees, their trunks right on the shoulder of the bitumen ready to take out any straying car. A falcon that had just come in when we called had gouged out the trunk of a tree and packed the open guard with bark. There wouldn?t be much change out $15,000 to repair it.
Mt Pleasant Crash deals with big hits ? some that are beyond repair and a few that are fatal. The written-off holding yard behind the shop is sobering to visit. Many of the cars there have killed their occupants.
Because the shop is location driven, its staff of 10, many of whom are part time, have developed repair skills above the ordinary. And management has had to work around the difficulty of parts delivery by stocking many items that city shops would expect in an hour or two. It is virtually unheard of to refuse a job at Mt Pleasant. The car will probably belong to a friend of the company and as such it must be fixed. While some prestige brands will be taken to the city, most will remain in Mt Pleasant's workshop.
Essential to this type of country business it towing. The shop has two trucks and three drivers. With the increased distances the local have to travel, courtesy cars are another essential ? although not for free. Cross says that he charges them out at a flat rate of $50 ? no matter how long the job takes.
The shop is well equipped with a Globaljig, Spies Hecker paint, Festo dustless dry sanding, an Italian oven made by Garda Impianti and Fusor plastic repairs. Auto quote is used for quoting but Cross has developed his own scheduling system which works well in this specialised shop.
POWELL'S COMMENT
Versatility is demanded of this shop and it delivers. It has also learned to cope with the problems of a remote location without dropping standards of work or service.