By Mike Pickford
Okotoks, Alberta — September 19, 2016 — One Alberta resident was all smiles last week as she had the opportunity to witness first hand just how generous the Canadian collision repair industry can be.
The unfortunate side-victim of an incident involving the Calgary Police Service earlier this summer, a beleaguered Ana Sosa was left literally picking up the pieces after her 2005 Jeep Patriot was damaged during a fatal shooting.
On the evening of July 15, police responded to a call from a local resident indicating there were four people prowling vehicles in a crowded parking garage. After blocking the exits of the lot, police began searching the building eventually coming across the four suspects inside a vehicle. The driver of the vehicle made several attempts to run down officers on the scene before police used their weapons and fired shots at the stolen vehicle.
One man was killed in the incident, while three others were arrested. Shortly after the parking garage re-opened to residents, Sosa was one of many to discover her vehicle had been severely damaged during the episode. With dents and scratches covering most of the lower parts of the front, back and right side of the vehicle, Sosa found herself in a sticky predicament when she learned her basic liability insurance package would not cover the costs of a repair.
Enter Mark Kharfan and his team at CARSTAR Okotoks. When they first caught wind of Sosa’s story following contact with a local radio DJ, they knew right away that they wanted to do whatever they could to help a community member in need.
“We reached out to Ana pretty much right away after we heard about what happened,” said Andrew Northrup, Operations Director at CARSTAR Okotoks. “Whenever you park your car up at home, you don’t expect to come back out later and find it wrecked. We didn’t have to think too hard about deciding to help.”
It wasn’t all plain sailing from there though, with Northrup telling Collision Repair magazine that Sosa thought he was playing an elaborate joke when he first got in touch.
“She couldn’t believe it when I told her we wanted to help out, her reaction was definitely one of amazement,” Northrup said. “Once she realized we were serious, she was extremely thankful and incredibly gracious. She was surprised, especially in today’s day and age, that there are still organizations out there that help out their neighbours and their community members like this.”
The word ‘help’ may be putting it lightly. The team at CARSTAR Okotoks donated all the time, labour, materials and parts towards the restoration with some “helpful” donations also coming in from the likes of All-in-One Auto Parts, LKQ Canada and Varsity Chrysler Dodge Jeep. When all was said and done, they had done almost $6,000 worth of work to restore Sosa’s Jeep back to working condition.
“We ended up completely redoing the front, rear and right side of the vehicle. That included replacing doors, bumpers, fender flares, the whole lot,” Northrup said. “The car was pretty much destroyed when it came over to us. If it had been an insurance claim, there’s no doubt it would have been a total loss.”
While there may be some people questioning why the Okotoks-based shop would step in to cover the costs of the repair, Northrup says it’s all down to the community-first mentality Kharfan has instilled in his business and encouraged amongst his employees.
“If there’s one thing that Mark has always pushed and encouraged it’s making sure we’re good, active members of our community. That’s something he promotes within the Kharfan Group as a whole,” said Northrup, who pointed the CARSTAR Okotoks locations was one of seven Kharfan locations in the Calgary area. “Ana found herself in a tough spot and really didn’t have a whole lot of places she could turn to for support. It makes me proud that we were able to step in and say ‘yes, we will help you out’.”
{unitegallery CARSTAROkotoks}
