Retired Shop Owner Tom Rawson Cruises Through Retirement

Published in New England Automotive Report – Thomas Greco Publishing

Over the years, a multitude of collision repair professionals have left their mark on the Massachusetts auto body industry through their work with associations, their dedication to performing proper repairs and their devotion to their customers.

New England Automotive Report resumes its mission to catch up with retired repairers to find out what they’ve been doing since they turned over their shop keys. This month, we caught up with Tom Rawson, former owner of Rawson Auto Body in Wakefield.

New England Automotive Report: When did you first get into the industry? 

Tom Rawson: I was into cars as a kid, but I got into the field professionally by accident – not literally. I was working as a tow truck driver, and one day when business was slow, I asked my friend, a co-worker, to fix a dent. He said, ‘Knock yourself out,’ and the rest was history. This was around 1971 shortly after I got married. I worked in two shops for short periods of time before I started wondering why I was working so hard for someone else when I should be doing it for myself. My wife, Beverly, and I talked it over and decided to take the plunge.

NEAR: Tell us about your shop. How long did you own it? 

TR: With Beverly’s support, I borrowed a couple thousand dollars to open a three-bay shop, Rawson’s Auto Body, with no customers. Fortunately, I was active with the Wakefield Elks Lodge, so I started taking on side jobs and building a reputation for myself. We grew out of that spot and moved to a larger place, but it wasn’t the right opportunity; the building itself was old and rundown, plus it was too expensive, so we moved to the location on Broadway Street in Wakefield around 1982 and stayed there until we retired 12 years ago. We started with nothing and grew the business into a family-operated shop where my younger son worked when he became an adult.

Over the years, we built an impressive customer base. By the time we retired, our customers included the grandkids of some of our original customers. My sister managed a dance studio in town, and when her students grew up, they came to us for repairs too. We also took on about 95 percent of the municipal work in town; we repaired vehicles for the fire department, the police cruisers, the Department of Public Works’ trucks…Being in business that long was an amazing experience.

NEAR: How did you get involved with the association (MABA at the time)? 

TR: I got involved with MABA from the very beginning – we actually started the North Shore chapter in my shop. My friend Chris Muise became the executive director and asked what I thought, so I said, ‘Let’s set it up at my shop.’ And we got a couple local businesses involved, and the rest is history. Every month, we’d hold a meeting and get anywhere from 20 to 50 people showing up, and we were all singing the same song: we need more money. 

NEAR: An insufficient labor reimbursement rate is still a hot topic. How did that motivate MABA back then, and what did the association do about it? 

TR: We were sick of working for nothing! When I started in the business, labor rates were around $22 an hour…and then they only moved up to $26-28 over the next 15 to 20 years. In the beginning, we gave things away that we were entitled to be paid for. It was unheard of to ask for time for p-pages, and every shop I knew was losing money on paint and materials. The insurers would only pay $100 for what cost us $200 or $300, but I think what upset a lot of us the most was that, although we were running body shops, we were also mechanics capable of changing suspension parts and other items, not just quarter panels, fenders and doors. And if a car was towed into a mechanical shop, they would pay them $75 to $100 an hour for doing the same thing. It wasn’t right, and something had to change.

We knew we had to do some lobbying and get the government involved. Unfortunately, the insurance industry has deeper pockets. We had some good lobbyists, but the bills would only get so far on the floor before being thrown out. I learned a lot about the political lobbying system and how hard people have to work to get very little movement. But we did everything we could. I would travel to Boston alongside many other shops, so we could flood the halls of the State House and lobby our representatives and senators to try to make a difference for our businesses. Fortunately, my wife was the backbone of our shop. There was nothing she couldn’t do except straighten frames; she ran the office, ordered parts and held it all together while I was out rallying with the association.

NEAR: When did you decide to retire, and why?

TR: Things were changing. After I turned 62, I took a hard look at what I was doing and realized how much it was going to cost to invest in new tools and equipment. Although we were on referral lists for a lot of insurance companies, it was getting harder and harder to make a living and be profitable, especially for a mom-and-pop shop like ours. Fortunately, Bob Williams from 1st Class Auto Body in East Boston heard that I might be interested in selling. He was interested in buying the shop because we owned the property and because of the impressive customer base we’d built. After some negotiations, we sold the shop to him, and I worked with him for two years after that.

Now, the shop is called Rawson’s 1st Class Auto Body. It’s still in the same location, but Bob had the funds to enlarge it. He bought two acres of land next door with a big garage in the back, and he’s expanded the shop by threefold. He’s tripled the business; it’s just amazing what he’s done with it.

NEAR: Do you think the industry has changed since you stepped away?

TR: The labor rate has gone up a bunch, to nearly $50, but it’s still not enough when mechanical shops and dealerships are making $120-150. Auto body shops have overhead just like they do, yet insurers want to pay us less. It’s just not a fair situation. I still talk to people in the industry, and a lot of them suspect that cars are going to be totaled all the time if they raise their labor rates. Well, so be it. They have to be profitable, and they deserve to make a fair rate for the work they do. Repairing cars today is totally different than it was even 12 years ago, and we can’t have these little backyard shops slipping them out because it’s just not safe.

NEAR: What have you been doing since you retired?

TR: Beverly and I spend our winters in Orlando, FL and our summers in Hollis, NH. We were lucky that we bought our retirement townhome in the 1980s when costs were more reasonable. We really enjoy taking cruises; we’ve been to Hawaii, and I’m really looking forward to the cruise we have scheduled in August. We’ll fly to Toronto and cruise the Great Lakes for 12 days, ending up in Milwaukee, WI. The ship only hosts 190 guests, so it’s like a riverboat on the lakes.

I also enjoy a different type of cruise. I’ve had Harley Davidsons my entire life, and I just bought a ‘03 silver anniversary Classic with only 7,000 miles on it. I won’t ride a motorcycle in Florida because the drivers down here are reckless, but I look forward to cruising through the mountains every summer. 

NEAR: What do you miss the most? The least? 

TR: By being a part of this industry, I met a lot of great people around the state, and I miss my customers, vendors and colleagues. A bunch of us shop guys would go to conventions together and have a great time.

But I don’t miss the headaches, investments and financial struggles. I don’t regret retiring, but I had planned to work another 10 years and would have liked to stay in the business if it required less investment and the cash flow was better. It just wasn’t worth it to invest all that money, knowing how little I’d get back. You can spend thousands on equipment, only for it to be obsolete a few years later.

NEAR: What is the one thing you think you got out of this industry you would not have gotten if you didn’t pick this career?

TR: We were in business for over 40 years, and there’s nothing like the independence of being your own boss. I also enjoyed the community; because we had such a loyal customer base, we knew an immense number of people in town. We’d see someone we knew every time we went out.

NEAR: Do you have any thoughts or advice you’d like to share with those still working in the field? 

TR: It’s hard work, and the business end is particularly tough. You really have to watch your pennies and make sure you get everything you’re entitled to. If you don’t ask for it, they’re not going to give it to you!