Welland, Ontario — The father-son collision repair dynamos known as John and Johnny D’Ambrosio are proud to announce that they are the new owners of Fix Auto Welland, marking the pair’s second repair centre in the network.
The family has had a foothold in the St. Catharines, Ont. collision repair market for decades now, starting out with Johnny’s grandfather and John’s father, Pasqualino, who opened his repair shop shortly after immigrating from Italy to Canada in 1976.
In 2015, the shop joined the network and became Fix Auto St. Catharines.
The D’Ambrosio’s had a tight relationship with Fix Auto Welland’s previous owner Valerio Frassetto, as he worked for Pasqualino from the opening of the his first shop, until about 1985 when Valerio elected to make a go on his own.
In 2006, High Tech Collision became Fix Auto Welland and according to Johnny, things were starting to come full circle.
“We saw Fix Auto Welland as a great investment opportunity and when Valerio expressed his interest to retire, we let him know we were very serious about purchasing his shop.”
In an interview with Collision Repair from October, Johnny said “My dad kind of brokered the deal for me and had been bugging [Valerio] for the past two or three years saying, ‘Hey, when you’re ready to retire let me know, because my son would like to grow his business.’”
With the acquisition of Fix Auto Welland came an investment into two new downdraft paint booths and a mixing room imported from Italy, in addition to the integration of a NOVUS Glass location on-site, which will allow advanced glass repair and replacement to be done in-house at the Welland shop.
These equipment investments will pair well with the high-level of training that Johnny insists on for his staff.
“We are an I-CAR Gold shop and are in the middle of obtaining our CCIAP certification which would mirror our St. Catharines location as well as being CCC-certified and having multiple OEM certifications,” he said.
Senior v-p for Fix Auto Canada, Daryll O’Keefe said in a press release “The Fix Auto Welland team is exceptionally motivated to take the D’Ambrosio family’s legacy to the next level by building modern repair centres in the heart of their own communities. We are excited to partner with them as they begin the next phase of their aftermarket journey.”
