Page 98 - Australasian Paint & Panel Magazine Sep-Oct 2018

2018 REGIONAL WINNER VICTORIA
POWELL’S COMMENTS
A large luxurious and comprehensive repair center, with drive-through spray booths that leads into a four-bay quality control location. This repair centre just keeps getting better.
SHOP STATS
Size: 20,000m2
Staff: 11
Type of repair: All types AVG repairs per week: 20
Main: The well used aluminium bay. Below right: Jessica Shingles and workshop manager Frank Raco.
BEST LARGE SHOP VIC
LUXURY AUTO BODY
Angelo Bertuna has immersed himself in luxury car repair and loves it. He’s recently added the Porsche badge to join Ferrari, Maserati and Mercedes-Benz.
WE FIRST VISITED Luxury Auto Body (LAB) weeks after it had opened back in 2011. This was a second location for Angelo Bertuna and his team and a departure for them to specialise in luxury car repair only.
The building has great street appeal, with its silver cladding and shapely window, mirroring the curvacious metal thoroughbreds they repair. The huge reception area has a kick-ass coffee machine, that any barista would be happy to work in, and usually has three or four exotic cars parked there to admire.
Bertuna has had to invest heavily in equipment and training to achieve and maintain his factory approved status for Ferrari and Maserati. The local prestige dealers recommend the business to customers and the place was heaving with prancing ponies, Maseratis, Lotus, Alfas, Audis – and Porsche.
Time hasn’t stood still for the business and they have recently gained Porsche factory approval and created a dedicated repair area for this marque. Mercedes-Benz factory approval is next.
Having honed the skills of his team and built up LAB’s reputation as well as relationships with manufacturers, Bertuna has made the decision to leap over the fence entirely into
30 PAINT&PANEL September / October 2018
prestige repairs. He is currently refurbishing the much larger premises of Carpenters, which has traditionally swum in the mum and dad repair market, as a dedicated site for repairing Mercedes-Benz. He plans to have a fast track and structural stream in there and we’re looking forward to seeing it next year.
Having prestige and luxury manufacturer approval is not for the faint hearted. There’s the cost of training, in the case of Ferrari you must go to Modena and re-qualify each year. You have to buy whatever equipment the manufacturer demands, whenever they demand it, but the profit and job satisfaction can be higher.
Carving a niche in a competitive market such as Melbourne has proved to be a smart move, and while it’s not without its challenges, the business is more sheltered from the buffeting winds of change in the market place such as changes in insurer strategy. By working on such highly sophisticated machinery, Bertuna’s crew are well ahead of the game in terms of repair technology which is another way to future-proof a business.
As well as repair, LAB offers mechanical and restoration services, keeping as much as possible in house to control cycle times and increase profits.
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