THE TOUCH-UP CREW

BY MARY ELLEN CHILES

Jerry Claxton has worked at Prime for nearly 22 years, but the last five years have been in a new role for him. As Prime has grown, so has demand for inhouse paint touchups and repairs. When Prime expanded its in-house paint shop, Jerry was tapped to become the manager. Now, he and his team also handle body work, and this spring has been one of the busiest they’ve ever had.

“We have so many sale trucks, end-of-lease trucks and just open trucks in general that it’s super busy,” Jerry says. “We’re using body shops from St. Louis to Kansas City and Springfield— we’ve got them all full.”

Like many companies, Prime dealt with supply chain issues during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the company is still catching up. Typically, Prime removed 700 to 800 trucks from its fleet each year once they’ve hit a certain amount of miles. Those trucks head to one of Prime’s paint shops to be touched up, and then they’re sold through Pedigree. But during COVID, Prime couldn’t get its hands on new trucks, so those trucks that normally rotated off the fleet, stuck around for a bit longer.

Now that new trucks are hitting the market once again, Prime’s in-house paint shops are busier than ever. Prime has in-house paint shops that handle bodywork and paint at each of its three main terminals, which help keep repair costs down for drivers while also making it easier for them to schedule appointments.

No matter what a truck comes into the shop for, Jerry’s goal is to return the vehicle back to factory condition. “It’s replacing fenders, side panels, back panels, just like you would on your car,” he says. “And anything that you replace, you end up repainting it. But every job is different: you can have a 96-hour truck that’s 45–50 hours in the body and 45 paint, and some jobs that take 2 to 3 hours.”

All Prime trucks have a code that indicates the exact specifications for the paint it needs. That comes in handy when replacing parts. “We have a mixing kitchen where you can mix any color in the rainbow as long as you have the exact paint code,” Jerry says. “The code will tell you how many ounces of color to put in.”

To get a better idea of how much Prime’s paint shop has grown, just look at the numbers. Five years ago, Jerry’s team had three people. Now they have eight in the shop and three in the office. Jerry is glad for his growing team during these busy times. “I’m proud of all of them,” he says. “They bring a lot of skill and talent to what we do here.'