Bruce King Is Still Doing the Right Thing After All these Years

Massachusetts sure has its fair share of strong collision repair professionals who have led successful businesses and have also used their voices to help make the industry better. Many of them are fondly remembered for the impact they had on the industry but have long since moved on. Some are still out there, working behind the scenes or just enjoying retirement.

New England Automotive Report caught up with Bruce King, founder and former owner of King Collision Center Inc. (Pembroke and Plymouth), former ADALB member and consultant to see what life is like these days outside of the collision repair world.

It’s been nine years since Bruce King decided to step away from the collision repair business that bears his name and from the profession that – to this day – he still loves.

These days, he can most likely be found up at his lake house in Maine surrounded by his wife and their family. He is loving the time he gets to spend with the growing crew of young grandchildren, proudly wearing the title of “Grampy.” He also remains a friend and confidante to fellow repairers and won’t hesitate to pick up the phone if someone needs his ear or shoulder to cry on when it comes to daily battles in the bays.

“Retirement has given me the time and freedom to do the things I want to do,” shares Bruce, who turned his shops over to his son Chris King, who now owns and operates the King Collision Center locations. “I feel really good and healthy. Life is about family. This is my second marriage; my wife and I are now married 32 years. Between us, we have five adult children and 10 grandchildren.

“I have a three year old grandson who owns me,” he proudly chuckles as he shares a story about his youngest one. “I have so much fun with him. He is just perfect.”

To King, focusing on family is the right thing to do now.

In fact, doing the right thing has always been the fuel in his gas tank.

“I only know one way to operate. It’s worked very well for me. I’ve had a fabulous life. I still have a great life going on. I can look at myself in the mirror and know that I always, always did the right thing, and to me, that is more important than anything. I’m not a religious guy, but I have strong faith. I don’t want to get to the pearly gates and think I can’t get in because I didn’t put a radiator in Mrs. Lipshitz’s car or something.”

Fresh out of vo-tech school at 18, it didn’t take long before Bruce was helping to build an auto body business at a shop where his father was employed doing framework. While his father was away for a week on vacation, Bruce repaired a customer’s car in his absence. The owner of the shop was so impressed with the job he did, he gave him a few stalls to work out of. At the young age of 18, Bruce was already on his way. That business expanded into another building, and soon, he was running a body shop with a crew of five.

Recently, one of his grandchildren came to him for advice about going to college, which he fully encourages. He believes it’s not so much the education, but the experience that will wind up being more educational. The way Bruce sees it is, “I got a college education but not a degree.”

After a few years working in the body shop, he left to pursue an opportunity as an insurance appraiser.

“I’d go into shops as an appraiser, and some guys would be surprised to see me as they knew me from meetings and were shocked to see me on the ‘other side.’ I saw it as going to school for four years. I made a decision to take the time and learn everything about the insurance side of things. What they cared about, what they didn’t care about…I figured I could work for them, and they can teach me how to honestly and ethically take their money using their rules, which would drive them out of their minds, and it did,” he admits. “I learned everything I could, and then I was ready to open my own shop.”

King Collision Center Inc. was born September 10, 1983. He shaped the business into what it is today – one of the top shops in its area, known for fixing cars properly and to OEM standards. Of course, for Bruce, doing the right thing by his customers and his employees was not only ethical but was a key in their success.

Bruce is proud of the steady diverse crew his shops have maintained over the years. “I’m proud that many of our employees are minorities. Good workers come in all kinds of different packages. People complain that it’s hard to find good help, but they may be looking right past good people without even realizing it. Interview, do your job, talk to people. Ask them what they want. I learned that the quickest way to get what I want from an employee is to give them what they want from me.”

Bruce is also proud that employees at his collision centers stay on for the long term. One employee has been there since shortly after he opened, and many others have 25 years under their belts.

Fixing cars isn’t just about repairing them; it’s about setting things right with the customer.

When it comes to his customers, he always saw repairs as being about more than fixing cars.

“Repairing cars is the byproduct. It’s about repairing people. It’s a traumatic experience for them. It’s an excruciating pain in the neck. Not one customer actually wants to be there, so they come to the plate with two strikes already. They are either pissed off or scared. They think the world is against them and you, by default, are a jerk too. My job was to talk them off the roof, so they don’t jump. The car is an inordinate object. You are thankful that no one got hurt. We repair their car and do so 100 percent right and give them a lifetime warranty on that work.”

Bruce spent a number of years lending his voice while serving on the Auto Damage Appraiser Licensing Board (ADALB), a time he really enjoyed. He believes that he is still the only person to hold the distinction of having resigned from the board. He did so to stand his ground following a move by the insurance side who launched an eleventh-hour change of their two representatives as an effort to steer a vote in their direction.

“The day I resigned, I got 13 phone calls from people urging me ‘don’t leave, we need you, you are the only voice of reason.’ One call came from a shop, and the other 12 were from the insurance industry. They at first thought I’d be the worst thing ever, but I had an open mind and I took my job seriously. I did the only thing I know how to do – the right thing.”

Another thing he did right was knowing when to step back and let his more than capable son, Chris, run the show at King Collision Center.

“Chris had it coming to him. He’s smart, and he knows what he is doing. He had a family of his own at that point, and I wanted to get out of his way. I wanted my grandkids to have the life Chris had, with the opportunity to make more money.”

With this in mind, Bruce took his son to lunch and told him of his plans much to Chris’ surprise.

“I told him he wasn’t taking over because he was my son, but because he’s the best guy for the job. I never wanted to sell my shops or turn them over to some knucklehead. I told Chris that I was going home right after lunch, and I did! And I didn’t go back!”

In the years following that decision, Bruce spent time consulting. He worked closely with industry veteran Dave Luehr of Elite Body Shop Solutions for a number of years. “I loved doing the work I was doing with Dave. We had a lot of fun, but unfortunately the pandemic hit, so I told him to fire me and save the money as I didn’t do it for income, I did it for mental health. But he just wouldn’t fire me, so I quit,” Bruce laughs.

It always comes back to doing the right thing. It’s brought him to where he is today. Doing right by family.

“Where I am now is 100 percent about my family,” he boasts. “I have an awesome wife, children and grandchildren. My life is consumed by them. My job now is to mentor these kids into man and womanhood. I talk to them about what is right and what is wrong. What they should put up with and not. And if they get into trouble, they can just call Grampy.”

by Chasidy Rae Sisk