BACK-TO-BACK STORMS MEANS PROFIT FOR AUTO BODY SHOPS

Brad Pritz doesn't always hear the story.


"It's obvious she ran into something very stationary and hard," he said Wednesday, performing an estimate on a grey SUV with serious front-end damage at his shop on Roosevelt Avenue in York.


Pritz Auto Body, a fourth-generation family business, has two other shops in York County. Just before 10 a.m. three cars with fresh damage had already been dropped off at Roosevelt Avenue location alone.


At the company's location in Spring Garden Township, a plow truck that had been hit by a branch waited to be fixed.


"This morning we're seeing tree branches on cars, tree branches on pickup trucks," Pritz said. "It seems like everyone parked underneath a tree. Lots of people sliding off the road. All kinds of crazy stuff going on."


And when you're in the auto body business, a crazy winter is a good winter.


"This one so far has been a good one out of the last five years," Pritz added. "Every week we seem to get some kind of inclement weather, snow or freezing rain. It's been exceptionally busy."


Twenty cars were in-process Wednesday at Pritz's York location.


Sometimes the business gets to double dip.


A customer will bring their damaged car to the shop. Then, they'll rent a car to use while they wait.


Sometimes, unfortunately, they also wreck the rental car, Pritz said.


"It's happens all the time," Pritz said, adding that he fixes more than 300 rentals each year.


Kimber Sutton, office manager for Pritz Auto Body, said cars getting towed into the shop this week could take three to six weeks to fix, due to the volume of damage this winter has caused.


Her niece's orange Chevy Cobalt was among the casualties. It came to the shop with hood, grill and bumper damage following an interaction with an icy road and a deer two weeks ago in York Township.


"Part suppliers aren't sending trucks out on deliveries," she said. "That kind of holds everything up."


Meanwhile, a company that specializes in less serious car damage is hoping for a spring rush.


"Sometimes people don't notice the dents and dings until they clean their car," said Tom Duffy, 36, of Springettsbury Township. "It has been a challenging winter for car owners."


Duffy works as regional business development manager for DentWizard, a company that specializes in dent removal that does not involve painting.


"We've been busy, but people don't really fix their dents in the winter," Duffy said. "They're afraid that once it is fixed, they'll get in an accident or something like that."


If your dent does involve damaged paint, Duffy recommends fixing it ASAP to avoid rusting of the car's body.


"Smaller dings and dents are harder to see on a dirty car," he added. "Once they clean it off and put it in a brighter light, they'll want to get it fixed."


Source: ydr.com