By Jeff Sanford
Kelowna, British Columbia — September 16, 2015 — The owner of a West Kelowna collision centre has pledged $50,000 in funding to help upgrade Okanagan College’s collision repair training facilities. The extremely generous donation comes from Norm Cross, the owner of CSN-Fenders Auto Body.
The College’s shop is being upgraded as part of a $33 million renovation and expansion of the trades training facilities. Cross’ donation will benefit the collision repair facility at the college.
In an interview with Collision Repair magazine, Cross explained that the donation completes a bit of a circle for him. His father Norm Sr. started Springfield Auto Body in the mid-1970s. The younger Cross followed his father into the business, and earned his Red Seal from the collision repair program at the college in 1983. He opened Fender’s in 1999.
“My dad started in the collision industry in the ’70s here. It is a kind of recognition of my father and myself and our place in our industry. Since the ‘70s, the sons of the guys who started many of the local repair places have taken over the businesses their fathers started. Those sons have donated too. It’s recognition for the families. It’s a unique feeling, sort of like the old boys club helping them. All of us kids are giving back,” says Cross.
He also says the school needs to be able to continue to offer skills training to local youth. “I also did it as a business decision. The trades need help. The industry has to step up. This will help offset costs for the school,” says Cross.
CSN-Fenders Auto Body has expanded over the years. Today it is a high-end, sophisticated operation that offers a wide range of services, including car, truck, RV, bus, and fleet repair, as well as collision repair, automotive glass repair, mechanical repair, detailing and tire services.
“Business is very good. We’ve got the collision body shop. We do auto automotive, heavy truck ad RV collision. If it moves down the road, we repair it,” says Cross.
He explains the decision to add mechanical repair to the original collision repair business. “We’ve gone in a bit of a different direction,” says Cross. “We’re a hybrid collision/repair facility. We’ve put in a full repair facility. I think that’s the future. The collision world is tough enough. Margins are tight. The way we think about it is that if we have someone in here for collision work, they could be a mechanical customer, they could need tire work. People have an accident once every seven years. If they’re coming in for tires and for mechanical they know us. They’ll be here when they do get in an accident. I think this the way of the future.”
The RV piece is a particularly interesting bit of business for Cross and his staff. “We have a large retirement community here in Kelowna. Working on RVs is a large part of our business,” he says.
Cross has invested in the specialized equipment needed to fix these touring vehicles, which are larger than ever. “We have a booth that’s 65 feet long. We have a frame that can fix a forty foot long vehicle. We have hoists that can lift 60,000 pounds. And we can do alignments,” he says.
For more information, please visit fenders.ca.
