Casanova Crash Celebrates 70 Years

Casanova Crash Repairs is celebrating 70 years since its inception. The business was established by the late John Casanova, and later taken over by John’s son Eric and Philip D’Angelo. In 2015, Eric retired, and Peter Impedovo and Val Smith bought into the business. Philip left the business in 2017 at the age of 82, and long-term employee Charbel Mansour joined the team of owners.

“We mostly offer crash repair services to our large customer base, which we have proudly built over a long period of time,” said Peter, who started his career in the motor trade industry as an apprentice panel beater at the age of 15. Now, 43 years later, his passion for cars is as strong as ever (in his spare time, he restores classic vehicles that remind him of his younger days).

Casanova Crash Repairs has built a proud history in repairing prestige vehicles. In past years it has been recognised as a BMW accredited repairer, Subaru certified collision repairer and Peugeot preferred repairer.

“The thing that I enjoy the most is the satisfaction of seeing a badly damaged car, and with the help of the staff … handing it back to the customer looking brand new. That feeling never gets old,” said Peter.

The company currently has 19 employees, from office staff to panel technicians, detailers, and Motor Trade Association (MTA) apprentices. Further to this, Casanova Crash Repairs has been an MTA member for over 50 years.

“The reason [for the MTA membership] is to be part of an association specialising in just the motor trade,” said Peter. “We are able to access a lot of information that relates to our business and help with any issues we may have.”

While the business has remained consistent, Peter noted one of the greatest challenges of the company is keeping up with the ever-changing technology used in cars.

“Our greatest challenge that we are currently experiencing would be the fast pace that cars are progressing, and keeping up with new technology,” said Peter.

“We deal with that by purchasing equipment, accessing information from OEMs and training to successfully repair their cars to a high standard. Another challenge we have with all the rising costs in running a business is continuing to repair cars to the high standard people expect, while remaining viable.”

Casanova Crash Repairs only advertises locally and relies mainly on reputation and word of mouth to acquire business. Peter said the company’s rich history, particularly the people who came before him, still inspire day-to-day workings.

“Since I have been involved with Casanova Crash Repairs, I would say it would be Philip D’Angelo who has contributed the most to the success and longevity of this business,” said Peter.

“His honesty, integrity, and effort to produce quality work would have to be the biggest factors to the success of Casanova Crash Repairs. We believe they have rubbed off on us and we try to run the business with the same attributes today.”

Casanova Crash Repairs is now run by Charbel Mansour, Val Smith and Peter Impedovo (pictured).