Highly commended

AWARDS 2006 AAMI

Highly commended

Because our judging system leaves us with only the best shops to visit and assess, our judges are often confronted with almost impossible choices. This year was no exception. Here, we honour those shops that didn't win, but maybe should have. In the past a 'highly commended' shop one year has become a winner in the future.

Wales Truck Repairs, Sydney, NSW
Judging a truck repair shop ‘ even though it is Australia's biggest ‘ against car repairers left our judges in a quandary. It also left them feeling as though they has shrunk when they inspected the shop with its huge spray booths, in ground Enerpak pulling systems and overhead cranes to lift cabs from chassis.
Darren Wales, who took over the business from his father who started the business in the 1970s., has added class and sophistication to a business that one would expect to be all rough and tough.
The shop employs just over 50 people, with a regular intake of apprentices. On average, 60 per cent of them stay with the company.
Average repair costs are way above cars, with some of them over $200,000.
While the shop is a display of controlled brute force, reception and offices would be at home in a trendy software company.
The shops runs DNS for management and quoting and Sikkens premium quality car paint.
Darren Walesx regards his staff as his most valuable asset and encourages them with incentives and loyalty programs for those who stay with him.

CNR, Sydney, NSW
Brothers Camille and Romeo Nader built their shop from scratch last year when they ran out of space further down in Exceller Street, Bankstown. The took the opportunity to realise a vision of what a small shop could be ‘ and they have achieved an excellent result.
CNR is really two buildings which are a mirror image of each other, with a central common wall. A large opening in the wall means that the shop operate as one, but R & R and repair are totally separate on the right, from prep and painting on the left. The configuration offeres another benefit in that it would be easy to divide into two separate industrial units.
Counting the two partners and office reception there are 15 employees comprising four beaters, four painters, and one detailer/cleaner.
The brothers believe that good presentation attracts work and have proved it by the increase in business over their old shop.
The shop floor is rubberised and the offies are an elegant combination of granite, glass and wood. There are two Lowbake ovens and tree prep bays, a Globaljig speed bench, a micro-robot and a floor rack. The shop has a range of five Fan wlders, and the paint of choice is Standox. The company uses VQS to run its quoting and some management systems.
CNR is very much a Nader family owned and run shop. While Camille and Romeo deal with the day to day challenges of the shop, their wives handle reception and customer service. The family has been in smash repairs for a relatively short eight years but appears to be running the business with a high degree of professionalism.

Cafasso Motor Body Repairs, Adelaide, S.A.
Dc1:Cafasso is a Mercedes authorised factory repairer and is also becoming well known in Adelaide for Porsche repairs. As such, manager Jimmy Feleppa discourages run of the mill cars because his equipment and repair methods are overkill for them.
Even though the shop only employs 11 people it manages around 15 completed repairs a week ‘ remembering that these repairs take generally longer than the average. The shop is spacious, superbly equipped and run with calm determination by Feleppa.
Because the shop was undergoing some changes it was not appropriate that we should judge it this year. However, by next year when the offices have been painted and decorated according to Mercedes design, and the shop is involved in repairs for Daimler Chrysler cars, it will be a strong contender.

Osborne Smash Repair, Osborne Park, S.A.
The Angi family has been running Osborne Smash as the same address for 26 years. Founders Bruna and Joe Angi and in the process of handing over the management reins to their son Michael.
The shop falls into the lage category with around 20 people employed. It is spacious, well managed and well equipped with Low Bake ovens, car-o-liner benches and computer measuring, the latest Fan welders and Standox paint.
Of special appeal were the Filcar overhead work stations that provide power, air and vacuum, and an outside covered assessing area that is missing in so many other shops.

Smithfield Crash Repairs, Adelaide, S.A.
A preivous winner, Smithfield Smash Repairs I still an excellent big shop with around 30 staff ‘ if you count the mechanical repair and servicing division. The shop is owned by six Napoli brothers, four of whom work in the business. The shop is very well equipped with its giant Global Jig, Spies Hecker paint, BMS management system, Auto Quote, paintless dent removal, in-house plastic repairs and portable dust extraction units.
The highlight of the shop is probably its prep bay. They are soon to be joined by two new booths and more prep bays, dedicated washing areas and a mixing room with ventilated benches.
Future expansion is virtually unlimited with the amount of family owned property that surrounds the already large shop.
This time next years Smithfield will be hard to beat in the large shop category.

Brahim's Bodyworks, Caboolture, QLD.
Dean Brahim and his wife Kath started the business in 1991 and have spent the last 11 years at the current location, continually improving uts performance.
They have a roomy and functional shop with a high standard of equipment which includes two Auto Robots (a Joli small bench will soon arrive), Glasurit refinish, and Seetal booths. They use VQS for quoting and have linked it to MYOB which gives them a virtual management system as well.
The shop does work for most of the big insurance companies but refuses to quote on WRM
The Brahims are not simply taken up by turning out between 20 and 30 cars a week with their staff of 15. They are industry minded people, believing in repair shop licensing for Queensland and the concept of real time and real money.

Darwens Auto Body Repairs, Albion, QLD
John Boukouras cam from a panel beating background to start his own shop a year ago. He was new to Queensland. Predictably, dealership didn't know him and insurers didn’t want to know him. With a staff of eight his capacity was limited ‘ even though he'd set the shop up with good equipment and had put in DNS (Quote Plus) as a quoting and management package.
Taking advice from Boss Australia, he resisted going on the tools himself and concentrated on business strategy. He decided to take a full page in the Yellow Pages in which he aligned himself with the best car brands, not to say he was a recommended repairer, but to say he could repair those cars if called upon. The most interesting thing about his page, however, was that it didn't show one The campaign worked. His shop filled up with work which came from the ad. And, offcourse, insurers got to know him because he had their jobs in his shop.

Brighton Panel Works
Although Alan Petit has been a keen body repairer since 1962, his company, Brighton Panel Works, is far from giving up on improvement. Over the next 12 months it will build a new shop of its own close to the the existing one which it rents. The new shop will also encompass a second location which Brighton Panel Works found necessary to cover its workload. This will be a long way from the old stable with and earth floor in which Petit started.
With such plans afoot, the award judges decided to acknowledge the excellent quality and repair method of the existing business and wait for the new shop to be complete before processing its award nomination.
Brighton repairs a broad range of cars, favouring the prestige brands. It is a factory approved repairer for Jaguar, Volvo and Aston Martin but you find Mercedes, BMW and Audi in its shop as well.
Equipment is all top class, including Auto Robot Alignment, Glasurit paint, and DNS (Quote Plus)computer management.

Kara's Smash Repairs
After Kara's grew to become the biggest shop in Wollongong (NSW) the management decided to open a second shop at Warilla in a building that had been the paint shop for the now departed Wilson's Holden dealership.
Eddie Dimech, a very experienced repair shop manager, set up the shop for Kara's and has run it for the past two years.
While the ouside impression of Kara's is not spectacular ‘ apart from enviable expanses of car parking ‘ inside it comes up as one of the cleanest, best organised and equipped shops we've seen. Eddie Dimech insists on tools and equipment being stored in cupboards and the floor continually swept.
"You can't sell on quality today," he says, "that's assumed. We sell on turnaround. Rather than tell the customer when his car will be ready we ask when he wants it."
By way of endorsement for Kara's speed, NRMA judged the shop (a silver PSR) as having the quickest turnaround in NSW.
Kara runs Car-o-liner, Spies Hecker, IRT mobiles, and reconditioned CMC spray and prep booths.