The holiday season brings snowy roads and slippery conditions. If a winter accident happens, keep this name in mind: Xcel Collision in Clawson (xcel-collision.com).
I found out what drove owners Jerred Rich, Adam Parsons and Mark Hamm to open the new shop.
The three – with a combined half-century of auto repair experience – were tired of their expertise being muzzled.
“Every other job I've worked did not want technicians talking to customers,” Adam explains. “You might tell the customer something the owner doesn’t want them to know. Here, we use what we know to help people.”
Jerred, Adam and Mark are working owners offering major accident repair, paint and color matching, and collision-related mechanical repair. “We’re hands-on guys,” Jerred tells me. “You bring your car to us, and we're the guys in the back actually doing the work.”
While other collision shops are owned by national chains, they’ve established a local family feel. “We have skin in the game,” Jerred says. “Every car we turn out has to be 100 percent.”
He loves the feeling he gets from a masterful repair. “When you see a vehicle come in just hammered, totally messed up, it's pretty gratifying to bring it back to pre-accident condition.”
“I love when the customer picks it up all shined up,” Adam adds, “because they look at it and go… “ Adam mimes his mouth dropping open. “Yeah, they're amazed.”
The three have worked together at other shops. In fact, Mark has watched Jerred and Adam restore damaged vehicles for almost two decades. “As wrecked as these cars are, they make them look like they just came out of the showroom. It's wild to see.”
Their expertise spans the spectrum of cars – from Aston Martin, Lexus, Audi, BMW, Infiniti, Porsche and other luxury vehicles to Toyota, Honda and Nissan and Ford, Stellantis and GM products.
There’s more to the Xcel team. Rachel Rich takes care of Xcel’s books. She constantly marvels at her husband and Adam’s craftsmanship.
“People just think you get in a wreck, take it to a shop and they fix it, bing bang boom. But there's a lot of artistry that goes into making it look the way it did coming off the production line. Jerred was an artist even in high school. I think that’s why he's so good at what he does.”
Jerred’s response is modest: “I look at us as Batman and Robin. Adam can do everything I can do, but he can also paint. He has the magic hand. So he’s Batman and I’m Robin.”
The two have been looking out for each other ever since they met working at a body shop. Jerred eventually left, promising Adam: “In the future, we will work together — I guarantee it.”
Three years later, Jerred was at a dealership, a job came open and he brought Adam over. “We’ve been a team for the past 12 years,” Jerred says. “We’re like brothers. This has been a dream of ours.”
Mark, with his sales and operational skills, became an integral part to launching and growing the business. When he’s not in the community, connecting with potential customers, he’s getting cars showroom-ready for their owners.
In addition to running the office, Rachel soothes customers coming in. “People are not having the best day, because there was an accident. We put them at ease and let them know we're gonna make it right.”
Then there’s General Estimator Jack Presswood and Claims Estimator Al Guilmet. They work directly with your insurance company, so you don’t have to. “That back and forth can be exhausting if you’re just a client trying to get a car fixed,” Jack observes. “I have to be a bit of a metallurgist, a bit of a chemist and I have to understand physics and transfer of energy. There are a lot of things that go into how cars are built and why they need to be repaired with certain parts.”
Jack says the value Jerred and Adam’s experience brings to repairs is immeasurable.
“This is your second-biggest investment next to your house. Do you want somebody who fixes cars every day telling you how it needs to be repaired?” Jack asks rhetorically. “Or do you want an insurance adjuster who went to a three-day class trying to figure it out? Most adjusters are looking to fix it the cheapest way possible.”
Jerred agrees: “When you drop off your car here, the job is going to get done right. We're doing the work ourselves. We’re using quality parts. You're gonna be happy.” They partner with trusted vehicle wrap and window tinting specialists like Sunshade in Troy and 248 Garage in Royal Oak for the few areas where they’re not experts.
No matter how busy they get, it never really feels like work. They love erasing the scars of accidents, or as Jerred puts it, “bringing something back to life, as perfect as you possibly can.”
Contact Xcel at (248) 965-3432.