Brother and sister Wes Lancaster and LeAnne Brooks are third-generation operators at Bluegrass Auto Body in Lexington, Ky. Their grandfather Dale Lancaster started the business in December 1965. This year will mark 50 successful years with a bright future going forward.
Their father, Bill Lancaster, came into the business in the late ’60s and soon realized his place was in the office while his dad handled the physical side of the business. Bill Lancaster eventually took over and continued to run the business until he passed away about four years ago. His mother, Della Atwell, continued to handle the books and still checks in on Wes and LeAnne from time to time. Their mother, Jayne Lancaster, is the president and owner of record but has turned over the keys to Wes and LeAnne. But she still keeps a mother’s watchful eye on things from her winter home in Sarasota, Fla.
Wes started by sweeping floors 23 years ago and worked his way up to vice president. Dan Riffe was the general manager and retired after 45 years. Wes ran the south shop for 12 years, and last October he moved to the Hill Street store and took the reins. Together, he and sister LeAnne, who has been in the business since 1993, handle the day-to-day operations, with LeAnne in charge of all accounting duties.
In 1971, the company bought the High Street shop located near the University of Kentucky at 1040 W. High St. That building has survived over the years and has even grown to approximately 20,000 sq. ft. in three buildings. It doesn’t hurt their image that they are also next door to a high-end motorsports shop and a major car rental company.
In the summer of 2003, Bluegrass Auto Body opened their second location on the south side of Lexington at 309 Ruccio Way. It has a 30,000 sq. ft. under one roof, including offices, conference room and shop. The south shop was built like a lot of modern houses today, with an open floor plan concept.
One might think that with an open floor plan there would be a problem with air born contamination. Not at Bluegrass. Every bay, every workstation, even the prep booths, are almost operating-room clean. The floors are swept through out the day, and cleanliness falls under the watchful eye of long-time maintenance man Paul Caise. (This writer has seen race shops that weren’t as clean.)
The grounds are landscaped and manicured. Customers feel at home in the decorated and comfortable reception areas and offices. At the south location, customers can drive in to a modern service write-up area similar to most high-end car dealerships. And they won’t find barbed wire holding lots guarded by large snarling dogs. All vehicles, whether in the shop or waiting to go in the shop, are stored inside and out of the elements.
Both shops are equipped with Chief racks, Velocity Measuring Systems, Challenger lifts, heated prep stations, and EZ Liners (two at High Street and three at the south store). The High Street shop uses CWN spray booths while the south location features Blowtherm booths. They have used Sikkens paints exclusively for over 20 years.
They embrace most DRP programs and are the number one Progressive Insurance shop in the state of Kentucky. They also work very closely with Shelter, Met Life, Grange, and Farmers’ insurance companies. They rely on Lexington and Louisville area dealers for most of their OEM parts but are not opposed to using good quality salvage parts when available. They shy away from the lower cost/lower quality aftermarket market parts.
Without mentioning any names, they prefer not to participate in any programs that require them to submit bids for their parts. According to Wes, those programs slow down the entire process with longer parts delivery times, which slows down the finish time and increases the amount of time their customers have to be in rental cars. He also does not like being told where to buy his parts and prefers to deal with trusted suppliers.
Bluegrass does not use any water-based paints. They also have taken a wait and see attitude towards electric cars and aluminum body repairs. They feel both are still in the early development stages and the industry needs to have a better grasp on the inherent problems that are bound to show up. All glasswork is sub-let but done on sight while alignments are sent out. They prefer to stay away from the restoration business. A good restoration could tie up critical areas of the shop for months or even a year or more.
Bluegrass Auto Body has 23 employees between the two shops. With three people in each office, that leaves eight in the shop at High Street and nine at the Ruccio Way shop. High Street turns over 80 units per month and South turns between 100 and 120 units per month. And yet with only 17 shop employees, this Lexington landmark will do in excess of $6 million per year in sales.
The key to their success is their employees. In today’s market, finding qualified techs presents a real challenge. Training is important, and everybody has been through many I-CAR courses. Bluegrass has very little turn over (the average age of their crew is 50 years). Mark Griffin, the general manager at the south location, has been with the company for over 11 years. He grew up in the body business and worked for many years as a State Farm appraiser. His father started a body shop in Lexington after returning from the war in 1946. They keep the crew happy by providing matching fund IRAs, health insurance, dental insurance, at least two weeks paid vacations, and they believe in paying their people well.
They also see their team as family. Wes and LeAnne are both grounded in the church and offer weekly bible studies at each shop every other week. These meetings are primarily for the employees, but anyone is welcome. With two children each, Wes and LeAnne find themselves involved with school activities and sports. They are also active in the community.
As for advertising, Wes does quite a bit of radio plus they have embraced social media.
Bluegrass Auto Body has not only survived downturns in our industry across three generations but has prospered for all the right reasons.
