Cover Story
Bright Future Leamington Collision puts customer service first in Canada’s scenic south By Jeff Sanford
I
t can sometimes seem as if life is one long stretch of winter-damaged cars. For Leamington Collision, located in the deep south of this country, the challenge these days is what to do with all the new business in a region where the golf courses open weeks ahead of those in the rest of the country. Life is good along the sunny northern shore of Lake Erie. The town of Leamington, 45 minutes outside of Windsor, Ontario, is a unique place to run a collision repair business. The founder, Paul George, emigrated from Lebanon in the 1960s. “My dad came to Canada with $17 in his pocket. He wanted opportunity,” says his son Kevin, who runs
the shop today with his brother Lucas. The decision to settle in Leamington turned out to be the right one. Paul began working at bodyshops while his wife, Pauline, helped picked the tomatoes that the town of Leamington is famous for. Eventually they got a bank loan and Leamington Collision opened its doors in 1979. Leamington itself is a relatively small city of about 50,000 people, but the greater Essex County area is home to several auto plants operated by the OEMs, as well as half of the tool and die shops in Canada and some of the world’s leading mold makers. Lots of people have access to employee discounts from Chrysler.
Lucas, Kevin and Paul George in the production area at Leamington Collision. The facility started out at 3,000 sq. ft. Today the production floor takes up 10,000 sq. ft., and a further expansion may be in the works.
August 2017 collision Repair 19