Service King Collision
Repair Centers, a Texas-based operator of collision repair
facilities in the Dallas-Ft. Worth, Houston and San Antonio markets, has agreed
to purchase B & B Body and Paint, which operates five large-scale, high-volume collision centers in Austin, San Marcos and Leander, Texas. The transaction
is expected to be completed by October 28, 2011.
The addition of B & B Body and Paint positions Service
King as the largest independently and employee-owned collision repair
organization in the U.S. With 47
Texas locations throughout Austin, San Antonio, Dallas, Fort Worth and
Houston, Service King can now serve 70 percent of the $1.5 billion total collision
market in Texas.
"The acquisition of B & B Body and Paint allows
us to start serving the people of South Austin, North Austin, San Marcos, Round
Rock and Leander, Texas," said Jeremy Lennox, Service King’s vice president, Austin
market. "We look
forward to adding B & B’s talented employees and skilled technicians to our
base of over 1,200 Service King teammates throughout Texas."
Added Craig Van Cleve, owner of B & B Body and
Paint, "We’re very excited about B & B Body and Paint
joining the Service King team. For the past 32 years, our success has been driven by our unrelenting focus on
complete satisfaction and respect for our customers and employees. Service King will
continue on with these same core values."
Cathy Bonner, president of Service King, said, "At
the five B & B locations, we’ll offer Service King’s renowned level of
friendly and professional customer service. The quality of work by highly skilled and expertly trained
body technicians and painters will carry a lifetime guarantee. In DFW and
Houston, Service King is known as one of the ‘best places to work,’
and we plan to bring our same level of health, retirement and career benefits
to all new teammates in Austin.
"The
reason Service King is the largest employee-owned collision repair center in
the United States is because the people in this company care about their
customers and the trauma they go through after a collision. At Service King, we
don’t just fix wrecked cars; we help make people’s lives easier. And we do it with a team that puts
their hands and hearts completely into their work, always taking pride in
the service we give and the company we own."
History
In 1976, Eddie Lennox, chairman and CEO of Service King,
bought a small tin shack in west Dallas, complete with a hand-painted sign that
read, "Service King." One of his earliest employees was a young man still in high school,
Craig Van Cleve.
"I took
notice of Craig’s tremendous entrepreneurial spirit and, in 1979, sold him his
first shop in downtown Dallas," said Lennox.
In 1981, Van Cleve’s brother,
Kyle, joined and helped Craig’s Collision Centers grow to six locations in the
DFW metroplex. In 2002, the Van Cleve brothers acquired B & B locations in Austin and have grown it to
include locations in Round Rock, Leander and a new South I-35 location.
Lennox said, "My son Jeremy Lennox was one year old when I started Service King, and now he’s the vice president that will
lead the Austin market as this circle between us and Craig is
complete."
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