Sommerville Smash Repairs
Chris and Shari Agnew are top operators. This has always been a good shop, now it is a great shop.
I’m pretty sure I visited Sommerville my first year of awards judging back in 2011 and the transformation since then has been significant. Each year there is some new improvement – and we’re talking major improvements like a whole new paintshop or the transformation of the old paintshop into a dedicated EV repair space. They managed the fitting out of an expansion building during COVID – no mean feat.
They have had the struggles that many large-scale volume shops have had on the profit side of things with fixed price models but have worked hard on efficiencies, finding the right mix of work and the right insurers, plural, to work with. They were an early adopter of EV repairs which has proven advantageous for the business and they promote their expertise well via marketing channels. This is part of their future-proofing strategy. They have also maintained I-CAR Gold Status since 2019 – no mean feat with such a large team which includes a number of Platinum status technicians.
The couple are the first to put their hand up to travel to any seminars or conferences where they might learn something to further improve the business. Chris is the Vice Chair of Car Craft Queensland and also an active committee member of MTAQ.
The team places a strong emphasis on cybersecurity, partnering with SEQ IT Services to enhance data security. They have an efficient operational framework with dedicated managers overseeing each department, resulting in an impressive cycle time of 4.47 days – one of the fastest in Queensland. Sommerville’s culture prioritises staff care, offering regular training, bonuses tied to KPIs, and safety audits. Regular team events, including BBQ breakfasts and annual awards, foster staff well-being and loyalty, with some employees staying over 20 years.
Chris works hard to protect and nurture the culture he has created in the company.
Sommerville Smash Repairs measures customer satisfaction through customer satisfaction surveys that automatically get sent to every customer 24 hours after they have collected their vehicle. Reading through their Google reviews they respond quickly to any negative experiences and offer to do what they can – we all know how customers can get grumpy when out of scope repairs aren’t approved by insurers.
The couple are sticklers around health and safety and not only is it a safe environment, it’s a clean one too with all of the workshops cleaned multiple times per day.
Chris and Shari have set themselves up for the future with a huge, well-organised, well-equipped collision repair facility. They also put a lot of energy into finding, training and supporting the next generation of technicians.