Ice-snow mix helps Crystal body shop
Minnesota winter roads can at times feel like a slip and slide. For a Crystal body shop, the snowy weather can mean big business.
“I guess for us we haven’t had a ton of snow it doesn’t seem like, but the snow falls have been kind of strategically placed around rush hours and what not, so business has been great,” said Kenny Wrobel, owner of Thomas Auto Body and Collision in Crystal.
Icy snow came down during the evening on President’s Day creating a slick situation for drivers. It will keep Thomas Auto Body and Collision in Crystal busy this week.
“We’re a smaller shop, for our size it’s been quite a few, I’d say around 20 [vehicles],” said Wrobel.
Wrobel said they’ll actually be busier a few days after a storm.
“People don’t get in accidents every day, so they don’t really know where to go. So it kind of takes them a little time to start the process and then once they call us, we help them through it,” said Wrobel.
Wrobel said they’ve mainly been dealing with fender benders, not major accidents. He says they’ve seen an average $2,000 repair bill with cars in the shop for around five days.
“We just prep ourselves for longer hours. This is our bread and butter time of year so it’s business as usual like I said. This is winter so we are kind of used to it up here in Minnesota.”
Emily Raguse reporting
