Kim’s Auto Body Shuns DRPs, Focuses on Customer Experience

Unlike most collision repairers, James Kim isn’t a “car guy.” But Kim, owner of Kim’s Auto Body in Santa Clara, Calif., has turned his lack of knowledge into his business’s greatest strength.

Kim took over the collision repair shop in 2006, when his father was diagnosed with colon cancer, according to an article in the Santa Clara Weekly. A layman himself, Kim noticed that most shops didn’t talk to customers in layman’s terms when they explained their damage analyses and repair plans. So he decided to take a more consumer-friendly approach to running his father’s business.

“Repairing the car properly, that’s just a given,” Kim told the Santa Clara Weekly. “You do proper work to stay in business and it doesn’t set you apart, but what we tried to do was almost like the service and hospitality industry where the experience paves the way. Nobody really wants to get into an accident, but we try to make it as pleasant as possible throughout the process.”

The article points out that Kim’s Auto Body has grown steadily despite shunning DRP contracts.

As Melissa McKenzie of the Santa Clara Weekly puts its, Kim believed that “he couldn’t serve the customer properly if he was confined by insurance company obligations.”

For more, read “Small Business Spotlight: Kim’s Auto Body – Customer-Focused Collision Repair Services” in the Santa Clara Weekly.