By Steve McLinden
ALEXANDRIA, La. — It’s difficult to miss the sprawling Kyle’s Collision Center “campus” in the heart of Alexandria’’s central business district. The 35,000-square-foot body shop occupies a square city block and then some, in a succession of interlinked buildings and parking lots.
Thanks to its longevity, a highly-visible location and strong service ethic, the 28-year-old shop at 1423 Lee Street is practically a household name in this town of about 50,000 people, about 125 miles northwest of Baton Rouge.
One of the shop’s mottos: “We answer to the customer, not their insurance companies.”
Though owner Richard Kyle, 58, is also an investor who stays busy with commercial real estate deals and other ventures, including a recent sale of his Tower Towing company, he still keeps daily office hours.
“I have a love for the industry,” he said. “It’s something I still enjoy and have always enjoyed.”
As collision centers go, Kyle’s in one of the biggest independents in the South, employing 30 workers. It has three paint booths, five prep stations, three frame machines, a four-wheel alignment system, a Chief Genesis Laser measuring system, and just about any tool needed for top-quality vehicle repair these days.
“We have the latest and most advanced equipment this industry has to offer,” said Kyle. The owner adds that he is “proud of our technicians who have achieved the highest certifications in our industry that they can achieve and are second to none.”
Repair workers have industry certifications from I-CAR, ASE and ASA, and they regularly brush up on the latest in changing techniques and technology, Kyle said. At each step of the repair process, the shop has quality-control checkpoints to make sure repairs are done safely and to the customer’s satisfaction, said the owner.
Kyle’s serves as a direct-repair (DRP) shop for four major insurers and is a State Farm vehicle-inspection center as well. The shop offers a written lifetime warranty on body work and a five-year written warranty on paint. It also has a commitment to environmental consciousness, using water-based acrylic polyurethane enamel PPG paints that are as environmentally-friendly as they are long-lasting, Kyle said.
The shop can repair heavy trucks and various other vehicles, plus it performs detailing and collision-related mechanical repairs, but it does very little custom-car work. Kyle’s works with Hertz and Enterprise to have rental cars available where and when customers need them.
Kyle’s is big on retaining key people and thoroughly training new ones. Newbies typically train at several different positions in their discipline for a period of six weeks to two months before they are assigned a fixed post, said the owner.
“We try to hire for the person, for their work skills and phone skills, for how presentable they are and for how well we think they get along with customers,” Kyle said. “In general, we look for fine and loyal people who get along with everybody else here; we’re like family.”
Shop manager Gary Mitchell, a 20-year veteran of Kyle’s, added: “We find people who care.”
Mitchell joined Kyle’s in 1998 as a body man and served in various roles around the shop before taking over as shop manager nearly three years ago.
Kyle got into the trade all the way back in junior high. A collision-repair man who was married to a friend of his mother offered to let Kyle work for him at a small shop during the summer, enabling him to learn the trade from the inside at a very young age.
“I was always mechanical and good at fixing things,” Kyle said.
When he finished high school, Kyle enrolled in Nashville Auto Diesel College before returning to Alexandria in 1984 and opening the first version of his shop downtown.
Kyle had kind words for Mitchell and other key staffers, including sales manager Dina Rogers, a 10-year shop veteran who attended Louisiana Technical College and who the owner said has a stabilizing force at shop, and mechanic James Stanford, another talented person in the Kyle’s empire, with 12 years experience.
“James is a tremendous asset; a real class-A guy and an expert mechanic,” Kyle said.
Kyle seems to be highly regarded by staff, even former shop workers. On Glassdoor, a website where employees and former employees anonymously review companies they’ve worked for, one ex-employee wrote: “Richard Kyle is a great guy to work for. He has built a family-like environment that has made me feel at home…. The perks and bonuses were awesome. Richard is a very generous man.”
Kyle is even mentioned in the book A Jar of Clay in His Hands by family friend Alice C. Stinebaugh, who lauded Kyle’s hiring of a close relative of her’s, despite the fact that relative did not read well, as a big-hearted move.
Customers give the shop high marks for repairs. Kyle’s “is incredible,” wrote a Google reviewer. “The place is huge, but every single person I came across made customer service key. The service was fast and performed without flaw. In an industry where unfair quotes and poor customer service [can] run rampant, this business stands out in the best way.”
Kyle’s has managed to avoid the worst of the large Louisiana storms over the years, although on Christmas Day 2012, a rare winter tornado tore off the roof of the body shop, while mostly sparing the interior and vehicles stored there.
Besides widespread recognition from word-of-mouth trade, Kyle’s does TV advertising, some featuring real customer testimonials, plus sponsors the weather on one local TV station. The shop was recently named by Alexandria’s newspaper, The Town Talk, as the city’s “Best Auto Body Shop in 2017” — just one of numerous awards that Kyle’s has amassed over the years. •
Editor’s Note: As of Friday, May 18th Kyle’s Collision Center was sold to Gerber of the Boyd group, Richard Kyle will stay on as Manager for two years.
