ABAT FEATURE
by Alana Bonillo
Weathering the Storms: How Body Shops Survived a Challenging Winter (and More)
Time and time again, Texas auto body shops continue to show their resilience. This past year-plus has brought more than enough challenges; each and every time, repairers have emerged stronger than before. In addition to the pandemic, the Lone Star State was subjected to severely unique weather conditions earlier this year that hadn’t touched the Southwest in decades. Snow, ice, hail and freezing temperatures disabled areas, tore down structures, left millions with no power and even claimed lives. “It pretty much crippled us,” shares Darrel Smith (McDaniel’s Quality Body Works; Longview, Kilmore and Gilmer). “We actually had to close the whole week, just with the temperatures being what they were.” The ABAT Board member and longtime shop owner hadn’t seen temperatures here in Texas drop that low – and weather so severe – since he was a young boy. Forecasts indicated the storm was to come in “hard and heavy,” but Smith never thought it would require the need to shut down for more than a few days. However, “it stayed frozen until the weekend,” and he wanted to make sure his employees (including many who come from rural areas) stayed safe and off the roads. “It cost us a week, but customers were patient and understanding.” Shortly after reopening, business began to roll in. The abundance of damage Smith saw on vehicles coming into his shops wasn’t just the result of accidents on icy roads; it was also a result of carports collapsing under the weight of the snow and ice and damaging the vehicles parked underneath. Smith even had to deal with this directly at his business. A carport collapsed at his Gilmer location, causing damage to three customers’ vehicles. Thankfully, he was able to put in a claim and rectify the damage for those consumers. Despite these issues, Smith says all three shops are “packed to the hilt” with business related to the storm two months later. Houston-based Helfman Collision Center was shut down for an entire week. “The city of Houston and the entire state were not prepared for an ice storm like this in any fashion,” states Greg Luther, body shop operations director and ABAT Board Member. “We had to shut down for a week, as there was nothing we could do.” The area, which was among the hardest hit, went without power and water. Thankfully, the shop didn’t experience much
damage other than a burst pipe that has long since been fixed. Luther says the shop didn’t see too much of an influx of business afterwards, as most people stayed off the roads and those vehicles that were in accidents were “completely wiped out.” ABAT Board member Logan Payne, manager of Payne & Son Paint and Body Shop, Inc. in Dallas, was among the lucky ones, as his area had not been severely affected by the ice and cold. “We took a few days off because no one was delivering parts and most customers were staying off the road. Everyone held tight for a while, but we were one of the fortunate shops; we didn’t lose power or water. Aside from having a dead week, realistically that was it for us.” The one small inconvenience for Payne was having to fix the shop’s air compressor, which was damaged due to the storm. Aside from the brief shutdown, business picked up at Payne & Sons after the storm. Not surprisingly, customers are still bringing in vehicles that experienced some type of damage from slipping over icy curbs and the like during that ordeal. Just when things were maybe beginning to settle down, some areas of Texas were hit with a storm in early April that – according to Sam Egan, shop manager of DeMontrond Collision Center in Bryan-College Station – brought down hail the size of “ping pong balls or larger.” Soon after, the business’ two locations saw an influx of vehicles. During the previous winter emergency in February, Egan’s operation lost roughly four days of work and had to close down to avoid the big freeze and undrivable roadways. At that time, he did not see a huge abundance of work, as he believes most stayed off the roads. However, the April hailstorm was a different story. “We’ve seen at least 200 cars come between both shops inquiring about what to do.” To help expedite things, the shops teamed up with PDR LINX to run a drive-through for Progressive insurance, which enabled vehicles to come and get assessed for damage before being set up for an appointment with the collision centers. At one point, the business saw roughly two cars every 15 minutes – eight cars an hour. With summer just around the corner and more people being vaccinated throughout the state, Texas shops will hopefully see a steady stream of sunshine – and vehicles – coming to their bays from here on out. TXA
10 MAY 2021 Texas Automotive
