Celebrating 62 Years of Brighter Tomorrows
In 1962, Dave and JoAnn Davis opened Davis Body Shop in Atascadero at its original location on Traffic Way, with just one additional employee. The mission was to make Davis the most trusted auto body collision specialists on the Central Coast. Fifty-eight years later, our mission is still the same.
We grew our business slowly, focusing on providing a better combination of price, product and service than our competitors. In 1964, we moved the business to its current location at 7420 El Camino Real in Atascadero. We originally manufactured campers as well, but due to increased demand for our auto body services we made the decision shortly after our move to focus on bodywork exclusively.
As our business flourished, we needed additional shop space, so Dave purchased a bus-barn structure from San Luis Obispo High School and trucked it over Cuesta Grade to add it to our location. Cuesta Grade sure has changed since then!
Dave and JoAnn’s teenaged son, Brad Davis, joined the business in 1974, working part-time after high school. We’ve always looked for ways to implement leading technology, and Brad has been deeply involved in that effort. In 1980, he became part of the management team and also set up the first computer management system used in a body shop on the Central Coast.
In 1983, Davis Body Shop brought the first Inter-Industry Conference on Auto Collision Repair (I-CAR) courses to the county. I-CAR offers industry recognized state of the art training programs to technicians through a hands-on approach. These courses were offered at the shop after-hours with Dave Davis instructing until 1992. With more than a decade of successful training sessions, we became the first body shop to receive the coveted I-CAR Gold Class certification in 1993.
Davis Body Shop kept developing and grew right along with the rapid progress of the North County area. To accommodate the heavy work volume, we opened a second shop in 1989 at 2485 Theater Drive in Paso Robles, located in the Paso Robles Chevrolet automotive complex.
Along the way, we’ve received industry-leading accreditations and gained memberships within top organizations:
- Certification by the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence, an independent, non-profit organization devoted to improving the quality of vehicle repair and service by testing and certifying repair and service professionals.
- Gold Class Certification by the Inter-Industry Conference on Auto Collision Repair, “I-CAR” – an international not-for-profit organization dedicated to training the collision inter-industry.
- Membership in The California Autobody Association, a non-profit auto body industry trade association that helps its members produce quality repairs at fair prices for fair profits.
- Membership in The Society of Collision Repair Specialists, a non-profit trade association that exists to educate, inform and represent the collision repair professional in all aspects of the industry.
- Membership in the Automotive Service Association, a 50-year-old not-for-profit trade association for mechanical, transmission and collision shop owners.
- And, membership in the Coyote Vision Group, a highly selective peer management group of collision repair owners across North America.
We’re fanatical about customer and insurance partner satisfaction. That’s why we’ve also added metrics to our performance by incorporating Autochex by Mitchell International, an independent company that specializes in customer satisfaction reporting. For instance, we closely monitor “cycle time,” which is the duration it takes to perform repairs, as a key performance indicator. By emphasizing reductions in cycle times, our insurance partners share in satisfied customers…which translates to better policy retention and decreases in rental car costs.
Today, Davis Body Shop remains the largest auto body collision specialists in the area. Thanks to over 50 years of loyal, local patronage at both locations, Davis has been rated in the top one percent in the nation for sales and volume. We continue to modernize, staying on the cutting edge of our industry…not resting too long on past success.
Regardless of how time continues to change and consolidate the body shop industry, Davis Body Shop will always pride itself on being a family-run business. We will continue to offer the North County the highest caliber service with unrivaled attention to detail. Our pledge will always be to offer you the best combination of price, product and service available, anywhere. That’s a piece of history you can count on!
We want to encourage you to pick up the phone and call today to schedule a free, 30-minute, no-obligation estimate. Our friendly customer care staff is available to discuss repairs for your vehicle, answer your questions and talk about how we can help you.
A Brighter Tomorrow For YOUR Car or Truck is Just a Phone Call Away. Call Us at 805-239-8752 (Paso Robles) or 805-466-2446 (Atascadero) to Schedule Your FREE, No-Obligation Consultation Today!
