| Phil Carkner, Don Teevens of Co-Auto, Dennis Carkner, Will Clarke of BASF and Gerry Ouimet of Co-Auto. Also shown with Phil is his son Weston. Phil says the business took possession of the new building on the same day his son was born, July 18, 2013. |
By Andrew Ardizzi
Ottawa, Ontario — July 7, 2014 — The father and son co-owners at CSN – D’s Collision Center recently celebrated their 25 years in the collision repair business with an open house extravaganza for their customers and industry partners.
“We had an open house event for our customer base and local brokers so they could come in and take a look at the new addition to the shop,” says Phil Carkner of his and his father’s community event. “We basically added another 4000 sq. feet to our production area and we wanted to show everyone what we’re doing.”
Carkner and his father, Dennis, invited 200 people into the shop which also housed a small car show featuring 30-40 cars from local partner Highway 43 Car Club in addition to past customer’s cars that the shop has worked on.
“We had a nice turnout,” Carkner says.
Carkner says the production expansion was necessary given the increase in their workflow volume since joining the CSN network four years ago, which he feels is a great contributor to the shop’s growth. He says they now have dedicated areas for prep and paint, washing and assembly/disassembly.
“Our capacity has grown. Our efficiency is going up and we’re now able to handle more volume. We’re ready for additional growth, so our expansion has put us in a good position for the next five years,” he says.
This is all for naught, though, without the dedicated partners and loyal customers the Carkner family has worked with and come to know over the last 25 years.
“Our success is based off our customers and them coming back to us because we look after them,” he says. “We’ve tried to go above and beyond for everyone and it’s proven to be successful for us.”
In addition to their customers, Carkner also thanks their insurance partners for their support over the years.
“We also wouldn’t be here without our insurance partners, they’re a big part of our success and without them we wouldn’t be here either,” he says. “Thank you for believing in us, and to our customers, thank you for letting us take care of you.”
In a business where loyalty is everything, Carkner says their employees have been integral to the shop doing as well as it has over the years, and they can’t be thanked enough for everything they do.
“We’ve been really lucky to have so many great employees who have stuck with us,” he says. “For any shop to be successful you need great employees, and we truly appreciate everything our people have done.”
For more information on CSN – D’s Collision Center , please visit DsCollisionInc.com.
