By Steve McLinden
Since its founding on April Fool’s Day in 1986, Doug’s Paint & Body Shop has become both a local institution and a pillar of the community in the quaint town of Blanchard, La., population 3,200, which sits about 15 miles northwest of downtown Shreveport.
Lifelong car buff Doug England, who started his auto-repair career at age 15 in his dad’s Shreveport body shop, founded his own collision center at 7819 Highway 1 North just eight years later at the age of 23, steadily building his body-repair and mechanical-services trade over the years.
Doug’s, which employs 13 workers, processes an average of 10 to 12 vehicles a day in busy months, England said. The shop had a particularly busy spring and summer, in part due to a large hail storm that struck a wide area about 45 minutes to the north in April. As of mid-September, there were still hail-damaged vehicles coming in, said the owner. The shop has ample repair space for them, and is spread out over three buildings of 9,000 square feet, 8,000 square feet and 2,200 square feet.
Doug’s is keen on ongoing education, with staffers attending extensive I-CAR training sessions on the many ever-changing industry repair processes. It has earned the distinction of Certified Collision Care Provider through the national Assured Performance Network, the largest network of certified U.S. collision-repair providers with more than 2,800 participating shops.
Doug’s has also earned I-CAR Gold status, and is certified and equipped to handle virtually all makes and models of cars and trucks. That includes aluminum and aluminum-frame vehicles, including Ford F-150 and Ford F-250 pickup models and late-model Jaguars that have come into the shop.
“We spent about $100,000 alone on new equipment for [aluminum repair],” said England, who attended Caddo Career Center as a young man to fine-tune his skills.
Doug’s is a family affair of sorts, with England’s wife, Lisa, serving as office manager, and brother, Frank, who orders parts and performs myriad other shop tasks. Frank England also got an early start in the biz, helping at his dad’s shop at age 14.
Reviewers give Doug’s five stars (out of five) on Carwise and 4.5 stars on Google. Wrote one woman: “I had a brand new Mustang and a dealership messed up the paint job, then told me that the car will never look new again. Wrong! Doug’s did an excellent paint job.” Another happy customer wrote that every time she has something fixed at Doug’s, “it always comes back looking brand new; Doug and his family are great, honest people who take great pride in what they do.”
Aside from collision-repair services, Doug’s also does a full line of mechanical and vehicle-maintenance work, plus is a tire and auto-parts dealer. With a wide array of repair equipment and a veteran repair crew — including painter William Baker, who has been with Doug’s for 31 years — the shop rarely has to sublet any mechanical or body work, said the owner.
Doug’s has been a long-time major sponsor of the Poke Salad Festival in Blanchard, an annual May carnival featuring rides, food, games, a parade and city-wide treasure hunt. This year, England spotted several people roaming around the shop one day in response to a treasure-finding clue posted on the festival website. The following day, another clue led a man to a utility pole right in front of the shop where the treasure, a certificate for a $500 cash prize that Doug’s would match with another $500, had been hidden.
The shop gets the vast majority of its business from word-of-mouth, but has used a television commercial from time to time on local stations that is still viewable on the shop website. Doug’s also plays a prominent role, at the annual For the Love of Cars car show at Northwood High School, and actively promotes it.
Despite its off-the-beaten-trail location, Doug’s attracts customers from all over the Shreveport area, including Barksdale Air Force Base and nearby cities such as Oil City and Benton, as well as parts of East Texas, England said. Before they make their shop visits, visitors to Doug’s website can fill out a simple form describing their vehicle problems under the heading (and shop motto), “Tell Us Where It Hurts.” The shop offers discounts on hail work to the military and senior citizens and multi-car customers.
Good body workers continue to be tough to find, said England, and that’s partially because trade school training tends to be insufficient or not strongly promoted. “There just aren’t enough young people interested in getting into this trade and that’s a problem,” England said.
England, 55, has served on the advisory committee of vocational a school in nearby Bossier City in hopes of helping remedy that. Another problem at trade schools, he said, “is that they need to have the same equipment that’s being used out in the field; they need to be modernized.”
Doug’s is not a direct-repair facility, but the shop still gets a sizable chunk of insurance jobs due to customer preferences.
“We are not in bed with the insurance companies,” said the owner. “We work for the customer.”
Insurers continue to push for faster and faster job completions, in part to save on rental-car expenses, the owner said. England said he is there to remind insurers of the realities of unrushed and quality work, and that he will take not shortcuts,
“We want customers to realize that they are in good hands when they are here,” he summarized, “and that we are always on their side.” •
