CARSTAR hosted a grand opening event to celebrate its largest multi-store owner joining the CARSTAR family.
In honor of CARSTAR Chilton Auto Body, a collision repair team with over 11 locations across the San Francisco bay area, CARSTAR will make an $11,000 donation to the San Francisco 49ers Foundation’s STEM Leadership Institute, a six-year curriculum which works to prepare students with high academic potential for careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) through more than 300 extra academic hours each school year.
The 49ers STEM Leadership Institute, launched in 2014 in partnership between the 49ers Foundation, Chevron, Silicon Valley Education Foundation and the Santa Clara Unified School District, currently hosts five cohorts of scholars totaling 300 students enrolled in the 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th grade programs across Cabrillo Middle School and Santa Clara High School.
“The 49ers STEM Leadership Institute cultivates high-potential middle school and high school youth by increasing their exposure to STEM subjects so our nation’s youth go on to STEM careers,” said Justin Prettyman, executive director of the San Francisco 49ers Foundation. “We’re thrilled to link up with automotive industry leaders like CARSTAR and CARSTAR Chilton Auto Body to provide our students with a real-world, hands-on learning experience.”
Added CARSTAR Chilton Auto Body Owner Mike Chilton, “My father started Chilton Auto Body 50 years ago with our San Mateo location and brought me into this business in 1984. Our business has grown leaps and bounds since then, not only expanding in size to 11 locations but evolving our repair processes to get ahead of modern vehicle technology. Joining CARSTAR helps us accelerate our growth, and we are excited to celebrate this partnership today at this grand opening event with our valued partners.”
CARSTAR is also celebrating its 30th anniversary of business this year and aims to accelerate its rapid growth in 2019.
“This substantial grand opening event is representative of how massive this multi-store owner is for the Bay Area, both in scale and expertise,” says Michael Macaluso, president, CARSTAR. “CARSTAR is growing at an accelerated rate, but remains committed to welcoming the right franchise partners into our network, and the CARSTAR Chilton Auto Body team, who prioritizes customer experience and repair quality, is exemplary of that.”
In the future, Macaluso said that CARSTAR is always looking to partner with the right individual regardless of how many shops they currently own. What it really boils down to, according to Macaluso, is the shop’s fit with the company, which he said takes into account things like community engagement and shop history. But he does acknowledge a shift has been happening in the industry in light of some recent acquisitions and consolidations.
“We’re absolutely excited over the shift over the past couple of years – but especially in the past year – towards some of the larger MSOs showing an interest in a company like ours,” said Macaluso. “We’re having significantly more inquiries from some of those regional MSOs across the country. But we absolutely continue to partner with individual store owners. It’s not one or the other, it’s certainly both.”
For more information on CARSTAR, visit CARSTAR.com and CARSTAR.ca.
