Service with a vintage twist

Florida shop combines core repair business with classic car offshoot

With a name like "Precision Collision" attached to a body shop, images of wrecked cars on their way to rehab may come to mind. Although that image is accurate, it's really only half the story. The same precision invested in transforming severely damaged vehicles to like-new condition has sparked another line of business rarely tapped by most in the auto body industry.

Lynn Keenan, office manager/co-owner of Precision Collision LLC in Winter Haven, Fla., says that while auto body repair is the "bread and butter," restoration of vintage vehicles has fast become a "passion" for her shop, not to mention the driver of 25 percent of the business.

The eight-employee collision repair facility has built a name within the community for the past 30 years by doing basic prep and body work for practically every car imaginable. That's been the goal of Precision Collision since Lynn's husband, Rob, got the business rolling with his original partner, Jack Defeo, nearly three decades ago.

According to Lynn, cars are really all Rob has known his entire life. As a young adult, Rob began working for a large trucking outfit and started doing repair work on the vehicles. He was moved into the paint shop and found out he had a talent. During that time, he spent his free time building racecars. To this day, that passion continues to occupy a chunk of his day, and his restoration work has garnished trophies in local shows.

Defeo entered the picture when he and Rob were working for a wholesale dealer. During that job stint, "they put their heads together and decided they would strike out on their own," Lynn says. "Soon, they built a good public clientele. The wholesale work kept them up and running until they got the other [restoration] side established."

In the midst of building a successful business with repeat customers (collision customers who return with vintage restoration plans), Rob has never lost sight of one particular group of people — his employees. "They are his number one priority," Lynn says. And although the shop may be small (started with four employees and has doubled to eight), the employees appear to be "here to stay," she adds.

While most employees have no formal training, with the exception of Defeo, who graduated auto body school in 1957, all technicians are National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) certified and Inter-Industry Conference On Auto Collision Repair (I-CAR) trained.

"They all have their specialties, but they can do anything," Lynn says.

The business also includes Lynn and Rob's son, Brett, who shares the secret to employee satisfaction at Precision Collision — the inspiration of his father. He talks of his dad's ability to work on cars: "He just gets it. It's what he loves."

Brett, one of the part owners, admits he personally wasn't always into cars. "At first I didn't want anything to do with it, because, honestly, it's a lot of hard work," he says. "But now, I'm married and settling down and I found it's a steady business."

Brett also cites the other partners as reasons he loves the business. Doug Henderson, the body shop guy; Dale Carter, the painting pro; and, of course, Rob and Lynn Keenan. Jack recently stepped down, as he is nearing retirement. Cole Stephens is known as the detail guy.

"Every vehicle is detailed before being returned to the customer, no matter the cost of the repair," Lynn says. "Rob feels you deserve to get in a clean car after a wreck."

Lastly, there's Amber Keenan, granddaughter of Lynn and Rob, who helps clean the shop and answer phones.

Precision Collision has built its name on stability and loyalty. The shop is at its original location, where Rob and Jack purchased an existing shop. Lynn says the biggest element to the shop's success is treating people fairly.

"We're known as the little hometown shop," she says. "We get generations of families coming through."

They also do DRP work. "We're affiliated with a few DRP programs. They're significantly helpful — 50 percent of our business," Lynn says.

To keep up with competition, Precision Collision has completely remodeled the facility. In the last two years, the shop updated all office equipment and performed major construction in the waiting area, making it much more "people-friendly," according to Lynn.

The driving force behind the most recent renovations, however, had less to do with competition and more to do with a Florida weather phenomenon, namely hurricane season.

"We have been hit by hurricanes," says Lynn, specifically citing the hurricane season of 2004. "We lost our roof. That's when we started to rebuild. Everything was water-filled. Fortunately, we had insurance. While we got back into business immediately, it was not the same."

As a result, the shop is now equipped with a hurricane code roof. Soon, the shop will also launch its first Web site (www.precisioncollisionllc.com).

As for marketing the business, Lynn says word-of-mouth has been the key.

"The business is 100-percent bigger than when we started," she says. "Our advertising mostly involves sponsoring high school and little league baseball teams. We try to put shirts on as many kids as we can."