Texas Auto Painting & Collision Repair

By Steve McLinden

In a stretch of just over two miles along Pioneer Parkway through the North Texas towns of Arlington and Pantego, there are about dozen collisions centers operating, including the thriving 18-year-old business, Texas Auto Painting & Collision Repair.

So how does a body shop along this ultra-competitive strip, which has seen at least another five shops close or relocate since the 2008 recession, survive?

With a specialty, says General Manager Andy Wright, who has led operations at the shop at 2100 West Pioneer since it was converted from a Maaco painting franchise to its current incarnation back in 2001. That specialty: repairing large commercial vehicles in an accommodating, oversized facility.

“There aren’t many shops in this area that can do that,” said Wright.

The independent shop has two oversized paint booths, including one whopper that spans 72 feet in length and 20 feet in height, allowing staffers to paint nearly any oversized vehicle, Wright said. “Those kind of booths are pretty rare.”

Texas Auto Painting & Collision Repair paints and performs light body repairs on a wide range of vehicles including semis, trailers, fiberglass vehicles, box trucks, fleet trucks, motor homes and cement mixers, among others. It also does hail repair and full-body car work, including custom jobs on classic cars. 

On a recent mid-January afternoon, a 1960s-era Volkswagen Bug was in the shop, as was a 1971 Chevrolet K5 Blazer. The staff of nine fits in such lower-margin custom jobs when workflow allows, Wright said. “Those don’t pay much but they keep us busy and give us something different to do when it’s slow.”

Wright operates under an unyielding customer-service ethic of “fix it right the first time,” he said. “If there’s even the smallest chance that something is still wrong, do not push it out the door.”

Though the shop could have opted to become a direct repair (DRP) facility for insurers years back, “we didn’t want the insurance companies to dictate policies and compensation,” Wright said.

The shop prides itself on thoroughness. Some customers who sought competitive estimates elsewhere before bringing their vehicles into Texas Auto Painting & Collision Repair are often surprised to get a more all-encompassing “damage report” from the Pantego shop which can indicate hidden damage that was overlooked in competitor estimates, according to the shop website. 

Like many auto body businesses in the industry, Texas Auto Painting is challenged to find competent and experienced staffers. 

“The job pool keeps getting smaller and smaller,” said Wright. “Kids these days don’t want to get dirty; they just want to sit at a computer.” 

A local economy that is at or near full unemployment doesn’t help the situation, nor does the fact that the nearby Arlington campus of the Lincoln Tech trade school chain has eliminated it collision-repair program, he said. 

Shop reviews are glowingly positive. “Very professional staff and very good prices,” wrote one customer on Google Reviews. “A construction company hit my truck and offered to fix it for free at the shop; I was very impressed with the customer service I received.” Another customer noted the shop staff consisted of “very nice and helpful people” who expertly painted her 1965 Ford Falcon a metallic turquoise. “It’s beautiful!” she exclaimed.

Wright frequently finds himself explaining the various painting processes and nuances to customers, who often come in with unrealistic expectations, he said. They seldom realize the time and effort required to do a quality paint job and have little knowledge of prep time and the differences between such things as single-stage paints that have high oxidation rates and the longer-lasting base-coat clear-coat paints. Having spent some time employed by discount volume painters, “I really try to steer them away from those low-cost options,” Wright said.

Wright grew up in Corsicana, Texas, about 110 miles away from his home in Weatherford, which is about 60 miles west of his workplace and a demanding commute of one hour-plus each way. Wright is married and has two daughters, two stepdaughters, and seven grandchildren. Wright enjoys doing mechanical work on his family’s own cars in his spare time, as well as bow-hunting and fishing.

“I just really love the outdoors,” he said. 

Some of the more prized bucks that Wright has bagged are mounted on his office wall. 

Though his father was known to tinker with cars, Wright took things a step further. 

“I was always mechanically inclined,” he said. “It just came to me naturally.”

Wright has made the repair and paint trade his profession since his late teens. Wright, now a youngish 54, said he has never seriously considered retiring or moving into a different line of work.

The shop has enough indoor space to store dozens of trucks and cars. The owner of the approximately 27,000-square-foot, L-shaped facility subleases about 20 percent of the building to other vehicle-repair related tenants, such as The Masters Radiator & AC Service and Talley Auto-Truck Electric, which have separate entrances and dedicated parking.

The shop, which has done work on buses owned or used by the Dallas Cowboys and musician Willie Nelson, uses Sherwin Williams paints exclusively and an automated color-matching mixing system. It has two frame machines, a Grabber 360 and a Chief EZ Liner built for larger vehicles. Workers, Wright said, must bring in their own hand tools, which increases their accountability.  

The shop’s inviting entryway is modern and spacious and features wall-to-wall gray tiling that is practically eat-off-the-floor clean.

“We want to make customer feel comfortable and welcome here,” Wright said.  •