Page 26 - Australasian Paint & Panel Magazine Jan-Feb 21

Industry Insights
26
PAINT&PANEL JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2021
MIKE CROSS FROM SMART REPAIR AUSTRALIA IS A PIONEER OF PDR AND HAS BEEN INFLUENTIAL IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF TODAY’S LARGE SCALE, PROFESSIONAL HAIL REPAIR MARKET.
STORMING THE HAIL MARKET
S MART REPAIR AUSTRALIA WAS born in 1991 when Mike Cross started teaching himself to push dents out in his in-law’s lounge room – not an especially
popular decision with them.
From the very beginning Cross was an innovator. “He just has this wholesome way of looking at something and want-
best tools and equipment was invalua- ble. Cross is regarded as an innovator and became much in demand as a pub- lic speaker to inform people about the industry and how it was progressing.
Cross made many contacts over the years, forming a global network of part- nerships. His reputation grew, as did his drive to grow the business.
As tools and methods improved the insurance companies increasingly relied on Specialised Hail Repairers for repair. A conventional shop simply could not cope with the high volume of repairs oc- casioned by a hailstorm and repair times could exceed two years. The in- surance companies saw a need to tackle this differently and to have a quicker, better way to repair hail damaged cars. Having said that, it was not until around 2013 that the insurers started to contract specialist hail repair companies with a formal agreement.
There is so much work in hail repairs locally Smart Repair only operates in Australia and New Zealand. Part of the ‘fly by night’ impression some have of the hail repair industry is the pop-up sheds used to complete hail work. Thanks to the increase in frequency and severity of hailstorms there is so much work now that the company has invested in five static sites in Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sydney, Canberra, and Mel- bourne. These are all common hail- storm locations however due to the ex- tremely high volume the company will also continue with using extremely large pop-up sites. These sites are fully
ing to learn as much as he could and being better at it than any- one else,” says the company’s business co sultant Lance Weiss.
Part of the ‘fly by night’
impression some have of the hail repair industry is the pop-up
sheds used to complete work.”
Back in the early 90s the PDR profes- sion was ostracised by the collision re- pair community. “It was seen as a thief in the night, stealing jobs away from conventional repairers,” Weiss said. “In the beginning some of the PDR community used oxy-acetylene to pop dents and used lots of polyester fillers and other items that went on to fail in the Australian climate and delamina- tion of paint which didn’t help PDR’s reputation.”
n-
Cross set the company up
in 1992. His wife Linda had a
thriving career in marketing,
finance, real estate, and event manage- ment, however the business grew so quickly that after a couple of years she made the choice to give up her career and get involved in the business full time. In the early days they would work in the USA and in other hail-struck countries, while the business back home performed PDR for car dealer- ships and fleet. The experience over- seas and the opportunity to observe the latest repair methods and purchase the