Customer Reviews

Florida ‘Shop of the Future’ Focuses on OEM Certifications, Building a Culture & Customer Reviews

Robert and Christina Molina, owners of Collision Care Xpress, often tell customers no job is too big or too small. They take pride in building trust with customers and offering the latest auto body repair and paint technology at their Florida facility.

Robert always had a passion for cars. In 2008, during the Great Recession, he worked as a body shop manager for Cadillac and Hummer outside of Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

“The whole world was on fire back then,” recalled Robert. “I thought it was a great time to open a shop of my own.”

In 2010, Robert and Christina found a location in Pompano Beach, FL, north of Fort Lauderdale, to open their shop. For the first few years, Robert was a one-man show. “I did everything, including estimating, body repairs, welding, pulling, painting and dealing with insurance companies,” he said.

Christina was a nurse at the time.

“Those first years, she was concerned that I had left my job to open my business,” recalled Robert. “I told her it’s going to be something special one day.”

The shop focused on custom restoration work, which helped them get through the early years until they built up the collision side of the business.

“Christina paid the bills and kept me alive there,” said Robert. “With her support, I was able to continue chasing my dream and was determined not to give up.”

I talked to Robert and Christina about OEM certifications, building a culture and initiatives that have made the business successful. How did you begin building the business? Christina: In 2015, I had just given birth to our second child, and instead of returning to nursing, I stayed on board and helped Robert run and grow the business.

Working there was a natural feeling because my dad was a mechanic for 40 years and I was always at his shop. I have photos of myself in a diaper with grease from head to toe.

Robert and I purchased our first freestanding building in 2016, about a mile from our original location. It was really scary. We were promised that a DRP would come in and they never did. We looked at each other and said, “What did we get ourselves into?” Looking back, it was probably the best thing that could have happened because it made us not be dependent on a DRP for steady work. We had to think outside the box and focus on marketing and social media to succeed. Robert: We went from having about 3,000 square feet of shop space to 16,500. I thought we had made a huge mistake by listening to a DRP, but it was a blessing in disguise. We were able to figure out how to market and grow our company.

An essential part of your business is focusing on OEM certifications. Why is this important? Christina: Our marketing efforts made us realize that we wanted to focus on OEM certifications. We have a great working relationship with all major insurance companies. Because we are an independent shop, we never deviate from factory-mandated restoration procedures and are always able to keep the best interest and safety of our customers as the top priority.

We have the expertise and resources to provide insurers with documentation and procedures to justify necessary repairs, and that aids the insurance estimator to properly value the repair.

To be a high-caliber facility, we believe you have to be OEM certified and repair vehicles the way the OEM specifies.

About a year after opening the new facility, we began working with Tesla and were one of the first Tesla-certified shops in Florida. Robert: We’re proud that as of today, we have more than 20 OEM certifications. That goes a long way with customers. We find they put a lot more trust in us and feel they are bringing their vehicle into a shop that is well-versed in repairs. What is the importance of customer

Body Shops Giving Back service and reviews? with Stacey Phillips Robert: We can’t afford to have customers come in and not do a good job. After every repair, I follow up to find out if there was anything more I

Tips for Busy Body Shops could do to help. From the beginning of running with Stacey Phillips the business, every time we finished a job, we asked customers to go online and leave a review on Google or Yelp. We have thousands of

My SEMA five-star reviews. That wasn’t as common then as it is now, but it’s what started growing the company. with Stacey Phillips We began picking up traction and getting more business because of those reviews. We’re customer-centric and want to ensure our customers are

Shop Strategies happy. If we receive one star due to a situation we couldn’t control, with Victoria Antonelli we work hard to convert it into five stars.

Superior Service Starts with

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