Celebrating with the 2015 Autobody Repairer Award winners

By Sam Street | 28 October 2015

Around 100 people from the smash repair industry gathered to congratulate the winners of the 2015 Suncorp/Paint&Panel Autobody Repairers on Friday 23 October in the Stables room at Sydney's Randwick Racecourse.

The event began with drinks on the terrace with a fantastic view of the city and racecourse. The organisers had a small moment of panic when comedian Dave O'Neil hadn't turned up at the agreed time. It transpired that he had walked to the actual stables where the horses are kept and he arrived a little sweaty but in time to entertain the room.

Leigh Bryant, Head of Claims addressed the room before presenting the awards to the state winners.

The best practice awards were presented next, starting with the Sustainability awards sponsored by Axalta Coatings. Steven Brett, Managing Director of Axalta Australia and New Zealand defined sustainability for the room before handing out the trophies to the winning shops, Houghton Autobody from Adelaide and Jack Hillerman from Sydney. See November's Paint & Panel magazine profiles to see what makes these two businesses sustainable.

From left: Steven Brett, Axalta; Daniel Delaney from Jack Hillermans, Jo and Darren Kziazkiewicz from Houghton Auto Body.

Best Customer Experience award went to Sheen Panel Services, Croydon.

Damian Carey from Quotimation who sponsored the Operational Excellence award presented the trophy to Martin Reisely of SmashCare Seven Hills, NSW.

Martin Riseley from SmashCare Seven Hills wins operational excellent presented by Damian Carey of Quotimation.

The Best Country Repairer award, a very hard choice for the judges as there were some superb videos of great businesses. The award went to Fleurieu Crash Repairs in South Australia and was presented by Paul Hooper of Glasurit who sponsored the award.

Brenton Abbott of Fleurieu Crash Repairs country repairer of the year presented by Glasurit's Paul Hooper.

The Innovative Business Initiative, sponsored by Suncorp, was won by David Taylor of Crawford's Prestige Crash Repairs in Queensland for his Parts Check programme.

Innovative business initiative 2015 went to David Taylor for creating Parts Check

The inaugural Rising Star award was won by 26-year old Kevin Mullen of ME Dale Crash repairs.

Kevin Mullen from ME Dale Crash in Adelaide - 2015 rising star

Also new this year was the award for Community Hero - another tough award to judge as so many of you are so involved in your local communities. This year the award went to two shop owners Darren Templeton from Maddington Crash in WA and Peter Christodoulou from Bodytech in NSW - again full details will be published in the November issue of Paint & Panel.

From left: Peter Christodoulou from Bodytech; Peter Bubeck from award sponsors Gemini ARC; Darren Templeton, Maddington Smash.

Finally the national winners were announced and were presented with their awards by Leigh Bryant of Suncorp. The winners were:

From left: Chris Barry, Flagstaff Autobody, Luciano Misagua, Michael Turner, Mach1; Daniel Barry, Flagstaff Autobody; Peter Bubeck, Gemini Wacol, Jo and Darren Kziazkiewicz, Houghton Autobody.

Best large shop was won by:

Flagstaff Autobody, Victoria

Best medium shop was won by:

Mach 1, Victoria

Best boutique shop was won by:

Houghton Autobody Repairs, SA

Best new shop was won by:

Gemini Wacol, Queensland

The Paint & Panel team would like to thank Suncorp for 20 years of supporting the Autobody Repairer awards, without their support Friday's event and the awards program itself would not be possible. Axalta's dedication to sustainability means that this is the fifth year it has supported recognition of shops who are securing their future through a number of different initiatives. A big thank you also to Glasuirt, Gemini ARC and Quotimation for sponsoring individual awards.

Thanks also to everyone who entered and took the time to show us around your businesses. If you didn't enter this year or weren't successful, please nominate yourself for next year and get the recognition you deserve. Entires will open around March 2016.