Criswell Collision Center Focuses on OEM Certification and Safe Repairs

Published in Hammer & Dolly – Thomas Greco Publishing

No man can serve two masters. The same concept applies to body shops. 

George Criswell first opened Criswell Collision Center (Annapolis, MD) in 2008 to “answer the call of [his] growing Acura and Audi dealership clientele. He decided to open his own facility because he was continually disappointed with the feedback he received about collision repair services his customers were having in the Annapolis area,” Body Shop Manager Kevin Marvin recalls. 

At first, the shop operated heavily on a DRP-centric model. “It was just the thing to do – get into a relationship with insurance companies so they can ramp up the volume,” Marvin explains. But as an independently-owned-and-operated collision facility focused on quality repairs and customer service, Criswell Collision also saw the value of investing in OEM certification. “As we learned more about OE procedures and processes directly from the OEMs, we became the outlier in the market with higher average severity because we insisted on doing everything the manufacturers recommend to repair the cars properly. After we got our first certification, we tried doing the balancing act between proper OEM repairs and placating the insurer, but we soon saw that the two were never going to work well together.

“As some of our insurance partnerships dissolved, we relied more on promoting our certification credentials,” he continues. “We now only partner with a couple insurers that are relatively reasonable and whose business acumen most closely aligns with ours.” 

To that end, Criswell Collision Center instead chose to focus on following the manufacturers’ guidelines, acquiring 13 certifications and even becoming the first Tesla-certified shop in the Mid-Atlantic region. The shop specializes in high-end luxury brands, aluminum and mixed-materials construction and is purpose-built and designed to maximize efficiency and workflow, allowing them to complete repairs quickly without sacrificing service or quality.

Insisting on performing quality repairs has proven to be more profitable than its previous DRP-centric model.

“While our DRP volume may be at its lowest, we mostly get the same type of work because of our 13 certifications,” Marvin shared. “If the manufacturer tells a customer to have their vehicle repaired by a certified repair center, they’re usually willing to pay the difference to come here and get it fixed right.”

Like many other shops across the country, Criswell Collision has been dealing with a lower workload and is in negotiations with another insurer they feel offers a mutually beneficial opportunity to rejoin their program.

As one of the large auto body shops in the area, boasting a 44,000-square-foot facility and 25 employees, Criswell Collision Center still works with all insurers on behalf of their customers, and according to Marvin, “There always seems to be challenges related to wrangling with insurance companies for approval to perform – and be properly compensated for – appropriate, manufacturer-mandated repairs. More recently, the propensity for insurers to choose to declare vehicles total losses instead of repairing them has contributed to a decline in volume. ADAS calibrations and diagnostic scanning has also been a challenge to incorporate into day-to-day operations.”

Marvin first began his relationship with WMABA in 1985 when he “found the number in the phone book and made a call to [former Executive Director] Sheila Loftus asking where someone could go to learn how to do bodywork. When I was hired to be the manager at Criswell Collision, joining WMABA was a no-brainer. The sharing of ideas and best practices among member shops, as well as involvement with legislation and training opportunities, are just a few of the benefits.”