News

Keeping you updated with our News [November 2012]

Changes in our Industry

REPAIR SHOPS


There are major changes to repair Shops in general and to those that own and run them throughout Australia at present.

There are large Repair Shops repairing up to 100 cars per week. These shops only repair very small jobs, 1 or 2 panels to repair and paint. These Repair shops are owned or funded by Insurance Companies.

This raises an issue in that you as customer are unable to request and pay for extra work no matter how small!

There are also a series of multiple shops. The largest of this style is managed by a company that started in the UK where they also own a number of smash repair shops. They have purchased Repair Shops in Queensland, New South Wales and now in Western Australia, notably here in Perth.

They have a number of Repairs Shops with the Multinationals. The contract with Insurance Companies is as set up in other States and Countries and is being established in Perth.

INSURANCE COMPANIES


It has been a major period of growth for some of the Insurance Companies. The larger Insurance Companies have consolidated and are starting to service all of their branded businesses from one central location. Many of the smaller Insurance Companies have been taken over by the larger Insurance Companies and although there seems to be more Insurance Companies starting up, these are still being underwritten by the major Insurance Companies. This includes Coles, Budget etc.

Our plans going forward

We believe with all the changes to the Insurance Companies and repair shops, there is still a place in the market for the family business, one which can and does look after their clients with a more friendly and personal service.

For Kingsley Smash Repairs, it is an exciting period going forward. We are progressing an upgrade in our Office to provide more room for Office staff and importantly to deliver larger and better customer benefits.

We are designing new Paint Preparation areas and a new oven. We are moving our Paint system to a water based system.

These changes will provide larger areas for store our parts, both the new items and the parts that we strip from repair jobs.

All the above changes are in line with our desire to become more "Green".

Green as in more evironmentally aware, we will be utilising water based paints and consuming less electrical power!

Green as in Energy and Procedure Efficiency making it easier for our staff to smoothly progress your repair job.

All of these steps are designed to assist us look after "YOU" our clients in a professional and efficient manner.

Our desire is to provide Faster Turnaround time for your repairs, easier access to and more comfort in our office, excellent work completes in a more environmentally and friendly way.

Oven - 2 years on

It only seems like months ago, but it is over 2 years since our oven arrived in a container from China. This new oven enabled us to almost double the amount of vehicles painted, but of more importance to us and our clients, is the quality of the paint work and the ability to reduce the time that most vehicles are in our workshop.

Initially, we were unsure about the quality of the spray booth, coming out of China, but it has proved to be very good, maintenance free and price effective.

We have since identified that most suppliers of Ovens in Australia are sourcing them from China and are charging at least 2 times the price that Kingsley Smash Repairs paid.

Apprentice of the Year

It is with great pride, we announce that one of our apprentices, Garry Handlsey, has won the "2012 SGIO Apprentice of the Year". This is not the first award that Garry has won during his apprenticeship.

Garry is a mature age apprentice and came to work with Kingsley Smash Repairs with skills from other areas of the vehicle trade. He has proven to be easy to work with and is a perfect fit with our motto of "DO IT ONCE, DO IT RIGHT".

Garry has a very good attitude to his work, our customers and the staff. We believe that Garry will achieve anything that he sets his mind to!

The SGIO Apprentice of the Year Award was presented to Garry by the Manager of SGIO Motor & Home Claims, Mr Craig Dunn. The award was presented at a lunch paid for by SGIO. So he must be OK!

Additions to the exterior of the Workshop

This year has been no exception to most other years as we strive to maintain a "Continual Improvement Process" by upgrading our workshop and working conditions to ensure an efficient and professional Repair Shop.

We have added large lean-to's in front of our door ways, enabling parking undercover and for a cooler workshop. This also stops the rain from entering the workshop during rainy periods.

There have been sails added for customer parking and to provide shade for our outer Office.

The workshop equipment has been upgraded with new welders, a new chassis straightening machine with the capacity to manage 4x4 chassis. One of our old chassis machine was upgraded with a scissor lift to provide easy access and for efficiency an adjustable working height.

The Paint Shop is now equipped with a computerised camera which, when placed on a vehicle, tells you the colours and tints required for Kingsley Smash Repairs to accurately match the colour on your vehicle.