Shop Profile: Action Collision Specialists

Jan. 20, 2015
Colorado shop owners Steve “Tank” Burns and John Stock keep their business growing by focusing on the high-end car niche including nameplates like Tesla, Land Rover/Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Audi and the aluminum-embracing 2015 Ford F-150 pickup.
Steve “Tank” Burns acquired his hard-charging nickname while working at Boeing. His tasks included painting Air Force One for the President of the United States and precisely coating all manner of high-grade military and civilian aircraft. In the process Burns learned about the various wrinkles associated with aluminum and how the metal’s application to car and truck bodies was beginning to take flight.

“They called me ‘Tank’ because I was blasting through problems – get it done!” says Burns, who went on to become co-owner of Colorado’s Action Collision Specialists along with business partner John Stock.

Highly skilled aluminum engineers and designers were a frequent presence on the line during Burns’ stint at Boeing. “The R&D guys would come in and ask us about airplanes and seek new ideas,” he recalls, “and they told us that aluminum was coming for cars.”

As an avid reader of the Wall Street Journal, Burns became aware that automakers were purchasing ever-larger shipments of aluminum. And that bit of news assisted in eventually steering him toward Action’s lucrative position as an industry-leading repair facility specializing in aluminum-clad vehicles and serving a high-end clientele.

“You have to keep yourself informed and you always have to plan for the future,” he advises. “You have to look worldwide” to identify upcoming trends and challenges facing collision repairers as they address aluminum and other advanced materials.

“It’s coming and a lot of shops aren’t ready for it. The other guys are all too busy with DRPs and cycle times, and that’s ridiculous,” says Burns, predicting that within a decade small shops and big chains alike will be forced to alter their focus on high-speed production and adopt a more measured and precise pace engineered to meet the “ultra-skilled technology” needs of the vehicles arriving through the bay doors.

AT A GLANCE
Action Collision Specialists
Name of shop
Glenwood Springs, Colo.
Location
John Stock and Steve Burns
Owners
2, plus a satellite location
Number of shops
11
Years in business
7
Number of employees
None
Number of DRPs
25,000
Square footage of shops
15
Number of bays per shop
$12,000
Average repair order
$50,000
Average weekly volume
15
Vehicles per week at main location
22
Vehicles at all locations combined
BASF/Glasurit waterborne
Paint supplier
Celette 2
Frame machines used
Mitchell
Estimating system used
www.action-auto-collision.com
Website

Obtaining the latest in factory certifications is set to become a prime prerequisite as the industry moves forward, according to Burns. “The OEM manufacturers are taking back control.” Expect OEM-approved parts and procedures to offset a current insurance carrier-driven emphasis on rendering the cheapest and quickest fixes, he says.

“We’re the new niche, and we’re up with the high-end cars,” says Burns. All of Action’s staff is actively upgrading their levels of certifications to include nameplates like Tesla, Land Rover/Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Audi and, of course, the aluminum-embracing Ford F-150 pickup.

“Everyone thinks that if you go out and buy a rivet gun you’re ready to go, but it doesn’t work that way. You can’t even buy the rivets if you’re not a certified shop,” he says, describing how Action is being sent work from a collection of car dealers and shop owners who have yet to reach the required heightened levels of repair expertise.

“We’re in the driver’s seat right now – we’re getting paid for what we do. It’s a whole new ballgame.” The shop has no direct repair program (DRP) affiliations, nor does it want any. It charges, and gets, $120 per hour for body/paint and $150 per hour for structural/mechanical/frame, amounting to a net profit margin of 48 percent to 55 percent.

As for insurers attempting to drive down the price, “They’ve said some things, but they all pay it. I say to them, ‘Where else are you going to get it fixed? This is it.’”

Burns cites examples in which unprepared shops have cut corners to the extent of delivering faulty and unsafe results. “If you’re not certified to do these types of repairs the customer suffers, but he or she may not know it until it is too late.” Today’s bumpers, for instance, contain sensitive crash avoidance sensors and other electronics that mandate replacement rather than an attempt at bodywork. “If you try to ‘repair’ it,” he cautions, “it won’t be calibrated right.”

Co-owners John Stock, left, and Steve “Tank” Burns

Building bridges
With locations in Glenwood Springs and Carbondale plus a satellite concierge site in wealthy Aspen, the company has exclusive certification territories throughout all of Colorado’s Western Slope. Denver has become another hotspot of referrals, and Action continues to covet the Front Range region on the eastern side of the state.

This technological and marketing monopoly of sorts, combined with exquisite customer service, personal attention and an affable attitude, is geared toward ensuring a steady flow of highly satisfied patrons in the future while maintaining the current pattern of strong word-of-mouth recommendations.

“You’ve got to treat their car like it’s their brand new toy,” he says, and then you need to return it to them in a pristine condition suggesting that the vehicle has just rolled off the showroom floor.

“Don’t overpromise or under-deliver, and never burn bridges,” Burns urges. “That’s the thing for this life. Treat people like you want to be treated and it all comes back – it’s all word-of-mouth.”

A sparkling recent renovation of the Glenwood Springs location has accelerated Action’s reputation and car counts. “We spent over a half-million dollars on equipment, and everyone thought we were crazy,” he notes. Yet when coupled with the ongoing push for certifications the investment in the beautiful venue stocked with state-of-the-art tools is bringing in the jobs, especially from dealerships.

“There’s no other shop like this on the Western Slope,” Burns reports. Few auto dealers in the region have in-house collision repair facilities, creating marketing options that Burns and co-owner John Stock have pursued with vigor.

“John and I personally go out and visit all the dealerships,” he says. “We make their customers happy, and when it’s time they’ll buy a new car from them.”

Invites are also issued for shop tours and fun-filled golf outings that have proven to be an especially effective marketing strategy. In addition to helping out at the shop, Tank’s son, 26-year-old Chas Burns, is a golf pro who also happens to have Dad’s gift of gab.

“He’s really good with people; that’s why he’s so good with golfers and customers,” says Tank Burns, adding that Action does little advertising in the traditional sense, relying instead on hitting the links and sponsoring charitable and civic events. “It’s all about relationships. We pay for everything. I’d rather spend the money on that than on TV or radio.”

The scene supporting “the rich and famous” that frequent Aspen in proximity to the free pickup and delivery concierge site is also courted. “We get work from the hotels because that’s where all the people are; the hotel people all have our phone number,” says Burns, reciting a list of movie stars and other notables who have utilized Action’s appropriately attentive services.

Seeing the lightBurns, 57, began his career in 1978 as a collision repair apprentice with a knack for painting. He got involved in aerospace with the Boeing plane-painting experience and went on to hold a series of positions at body shops and insurance companies. A job with Mitchell entailing nationwide travel to conduct educational sessions at numerous shops gave Burns the opportunity to take heed of the best and brightest practices being implemented throughout the country.

“I was open-minded to everything,” he explains, pointing out that he takes pride in establishing the latest in industry innovations at Action.

The partnership between Burns and Stock evolved when Stock, who is now 70-years-old, grew “tired of fighting the DRPs” and was seeking a new direction. (Experience counts: Head painter Angelo Bernal is still clocking in at age 68.) As Stock and Burns pondered their options, “a light bulb went on over my head,” Burns recounts. He recalled working at a shop in Nevada that made good money specializing in the aluminum repair technology that he had witnessed at Boeing. And he remembered his aircraft engineer friends talking about how aluminum was the next big thing coming to cars.

An active participant in the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA), NACE and I-CAR, Burns’ constant enthusiasm for education has industry teachers ready to put him to work clapping blackboard erasers out back – or rather far loftier assignments at the front of the classroom. “I took 72 I-CAR classes in the past year. That’s a lot! And they want to make me an instructor, but I don’t think I have the time right now.”

Those I-CAR connections have served as a solid source for hiring top technicians. “I have a great crew,” says Burns. “I have great guys who want to learn,” which is a key factor in recruiting the right candidates. “Because we get a higher rate we pay them more, but they also have to take the classes.”

Burns concludes by contemplating Action’s latest business goal: “The next big thing is composites, and I’m already taking classes in that.”

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