Align Auto Collision & Paint

By Steve McLinden

It was a frantic mid-March afternoon at the new shop. The staff of Align Auto Collision & Painting, somewhat frazzled from a weekend move from the Arlington area to neighboring Kennedale, had a garage full of work, and more jobs were walking in the door. A violent early-morning hailstorm had pounded vehicles throughout the area and knocked out windshields with hailstones as large as oranges.

As daunting as the day was, owner Anastasio Favilla seemed unfazed. He had been in the auto industry for nearly 40 years, including a 22-year stint with General Motors in Flint, Mich., and had just about seen it all. Favilla, once a franchise owner of two large shops for a national auto-body chain, was accustomed to heavy volume.

A native of Mexico City, Favilla had also been a supply-chain manager in logistics for a major third-party warehouse firm that handled distribution of parts, equipment and supplies for Chrysler, Volkswagen, Ford and Goodyear.

“All of these things over the years enabled me to establish and maintain a quality-driven operation,” he said. “I am familiar with all the moving parts.”

Align has been in existence since 1986; Favilla took over 10 years ago. Align is a full-service collision shop offering insurance, volume and custom work. It serves several major fleet accounts, including the city of Arlington and city of Grand Prairie, with tasks ranging from full auto-body repair to vehicle painting, among other regular jobs. The business also serves as a direct repair shop (DRP) for United Auto Insurance and is working on shop-wide I-CAR certifications that will bring in more major DRP insurers, Favilla said. One challenge is finding the time for busy shop workers to drive to off-site locations for training, he said.

Finding quality, consistent personnel is another ongoing challenge at Align “and throughout the industry,” Favilla said. Painters are especially tough to find. “I will ask ten different painters the same question and everyone of them will give me a different answer. Most of the technicians have learned by trial and error.”

Few such applicants are versed in the chemical interactions that occur when paint combinations are compounded, plus they typically don’t know how to apply primers in proper ratio; their work may look good after it is completed but may crack or discolor over the long term and alienate customers, Avilla said.

“So I prefer to hire someone I can teach myself rather than hire someone who comes in with a lot of experience — and not all of that is quality experience.”

Hiring personnel who have been out of the business for awhile is also problematic.

“The R&D in the auto industry is constantly evolving, and so many things change so fast that you have to stay on it; someone who has been away for a couple years is way behind,” he said. “That goes for body men, too.”

Estimators also need in-house tutelage.

“Mitchell and some of those other programs aren’t always that accurate,” he said. “That’s been a big challenge for chains like Service King and for the independents as well. It can really cost you money to get it wrong.”

The shop relocated from 2235 Michigan Avenue in quiet Dalworthington Gardens, a town within a town surrounded by Arlington, to a significantly more visible location and larger location (nearly 10,000 square feet) in neighboring Kennedale at 7204 E Kennedale Parkway (Bus. Hwy 287) that was once a truck-repair operation. The street is a well-traveled industrial route populated by other auto-repair businesses, cafes and car lots.

“It is a different demographic here, and we have much more visibility,” said Favilla.

Except for a little preliminary work during the previous week, Align’s crew of 10 began the Herculean task of moving heavy-duty frame machines and other pieces of the operation early on Friday, March 11, completing it late on Sunday in time for Monday morning opening. A wrecking firm was employed to haul under-repair autos and a number of older vehicles the shop retained for longer-term repair projects and parts sources, but everything else was done by staff.

Align was still working out a few post-move nits. It has a large roadside sign still on order and is a little hard to see because it sits back off the street — though motorists were obviously finding it on a recent Thursday. Its front lot is also temporarily crowded; Favilla is negotiating with the next-door auto business for a little extra space and is searching for additional storage down the road.

Align does classic custom work but its business model in that specialty differs from most. The shop asks that such car owners buy their own parts and bring or ship them in, even if the shop helps locate them. That’s an offshoot of performing too many unprofitable and delayed repair jobs caused by defective aftermarket parts produced by manufacturers.

“This way if a part cracks, as they sometimes do, then it’s on [the owner],” Favilla said. “We can’t absorb that.”

The shop offers a five-year guarantee on all auto body work and a choice of original equipment manufacturer (OEM) parts or aftermarket parts if a customer’s budget is a main concern. The shop’s splashy looking website (http://alignautocollision.com/) spotlights an assortment of impressive before/after jobs.

Outside, the bad weather had halted. But one hail-bent customer from that morning remained at the shop. It was receptionist Denise Bayone, who had fallen victim to the icy onslaught during her rush-hour commute from north Arlington that morning.

“I was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” she said.

But at least she knows she came to the right repair shop, she joked.  •