Les coordinates a visit with 4-time Nascar Champion Jeff Gordon

I had the honor of hosting four time Nascar Champion Jeff Gordon at the Chevrolet dealership where I manage the body shop. I've been a fan since his rookie year, but had never met him in person. Jeff signed autographs and posed for photos with fans and employees for two hours. He is congenial, gracious, and amazingly humble for a man with so much success. By chance, his visit occurred on the very day our brand new showroom and service center was completed. It was a fantastic kick-off for our new facility, and the camaraderie among our employees reached a new high. The next day Jeff won the pole at Dover Speedway, and finished third in the race on Sunday. What a memorable event, thanks to DuPont Motorsports and Jeff Gordon.

For a hassle-free experience and professional results when your car needs to be repaired after an accident, you should consider a General Motors Dealer's Goodwrench Auto Body Center (GABC) shop. Sutliff Chevrolet has been approved by GM and is currently the only body shop in Central Pennsylvania certified as a Goodwrench Auto Body Center.Originally piloted in the Dallas, TX market during 2001, the GABC program has grown to include 88 GM dealer body shops throughout the United States in 2003. The GM mission for the program is "to create a nationally branded body shop network comprised exclusively of highly capable GM dealer body shops operating to the highest standards and business processes, to ensure network consistency, industry-leading operating performance and the highest level of customer care."

Automobile insurers have increasingly looked for shop networks that can offer their policyholders "a hassle free" experience and high level of quality. Therefore insurers have watched closely as the Goodwrench Auto Body Center program has grown. The program consists of Standards and Processes that are known to be industry "best practices." In order to insure that each Goodwrench Auto Body Shop complies with the requirements, field staff members spend time on site with each dealer to install the program. Another monitoring component of the program is the "customer satisfaction index" that polls customers to see how pleased they were with things like the timeliness of the repair, how well the staff communicated with them about the process, whether or not they would recommend the shop to others and so on.Sutliff Chevrolet of Harrisburg has been in business for 72 years. "In the last several years we have invested substanial dollars in facility upgrades both in the customer reception, personnel and technology to improve the customer experience" says Joe Sutliff, president of Sutliff Chevrolet. Additionally, Joe Sutliff states: "We are committed as an organization to giving our employees the best, and most current technical training available. Our customer service representatives are educated in the latest customer communication practices, computer technology, and processes, management techniques available." Sutliff notes that their stop has technological advantages over the local competition and uses two highly efficient downdraft-baking booths; computerized fram measuring system (with before and after printout); computerized four wheel alignment system (with before and after printout); computerized color matching paint system, using Dupont paint and offer a lifetime warranty.

Body shop manager Les Schmidt brings forty years of automotive repair and management experience. He is a recent graduate of Masters School of Auto Body Management in Santa Barbara, and is the recipient of numerous other automotive training certificates. His six office support staff are dedicated and trained to offer the best possible customer service. Fourteen body and paint technicians and three assistants offer more than 250 years of combined experience.