Fradella's Collision Shop
Fradella's Collision Centers operates three collision
repair facilities in and around New Orleans, with body
shops located in Metairie, Chalmette and Slidell,
Louisiana. Fradella's delivers peace of mind to the
drivers around the New Orleans metropolitan area with $6
million in annual sales, derived from about 55 vehicle
repairs each week.
Fradella's auto body repair process is fully
transparent—from parts required to accurate costs and
timelines. Members of the shop take pride in providing
consistent quality auto body repair service, as
evidenced by the lifetime warranty they provide on each
and every vehicle repaired.
Fradella's quality is fueled by the pride of family
ownership: no matter what size the job, its
professionals deliver simple, transparent advice backed
by a guaranteed commitment to the very best repair
possible. Hence the shop's motto: Your Piece of mind.
Our Priority.
Established back in 1982, Fradella's Collision Centers
is overseen by a successful working triumvirate of
leaders: Al Waller, VP/ General Manager; Michael
Fradella, Secretary/ Treasurer; and David Fradella,
President.
"We are constantly striving to meet and exceed customer
expectations. We understand that being in an accident is
stressful and at times can be very traumatic," says Al
Waller. "But for some people the most frustrating aspect
can be the aftermath of an accident. For many of our
customers they have never been in this situation before,
and they never planned or wanted to walk through our
door. We do everything in our power to make a difficult
situation as easy and seamless as possible."
“A lot of shops say that: ‘We are here to repair your
vehicle,’ but we feel we are here to guide you through
the process,” he continues. “In a world where everything
is now automated and electronic I believe our customers
find comfort in the fact that they have someone that
will sit down and explain everything from starting the
claims process to setting up a rental vehicle to pick
up.”
Waller also notes: “We do this on a daily basis, so for
us this is just part of the job it takes us a few extra
minutes on the phone, but for a customer it means a lot
more than that. We aim to make every customer’s life
easier - whether giving them a ride to work, to the
airport, or even delivering their vehicle to their house
- if we can make it happen we will.
“We are also extremely passionate about the quality of
what we do. We truly want to deliver the best product
possible. Our customer service, our repairs, and the
products make up the total sum of what we provide; and
we want it to be the best.”
When it comes to refinish products, Fradella’s only uses
Martin Senour products (more than a dozen years) and
sees the relationship as more than just paint; it also
uses as many of the brand’s other services as possible.
Waller notes, “We used the collision repair design
services when building our location in Slidell, as well
as when we expanded our location in Chalmette.
“We’re also active with its A+ 20 Group. This has
probably been one of the best things that we have done
to help grow our business and make it better. But it’s
the overall service from our Napa and Martin Senour
representative, for all our stores, that just goes above
and beyond on a daily basis. The whole team there is
knowledgeable and makes our jobs much easier. We would
not be able to service our customers the same without
them,” Waller adds.
A Very Tight Knit Organization
“We have a great core group who care about customers. We
have owners who are directly involved in day to day
operations, and are more than just profit driven,
because we really care about each repair,” notes Waller.
“We never lose sight of the fact that we are in the
customer service industry. We make sure that we are
always performing above the industry standard from
repairs to customer service. As our business has grown
to multiple locations, we never wanted to lose that
feeling of a small family business. Customers will
comment on the fact that we all seem very close and like
a tight knit group just from our interactions with each
other and that is such a huge compliment.”
Waller goes on to tell the story of what he, his family
and his company went through that changed their lives:
“But we really came together with our families and our
great team when we fought through the adversity of
Hurricane Katrina to survive and prosper. Pre-Katrina we
had one location in Chalmette. Our community was ground
zero for the storm. There were 26,000 dwellings
pre-Katrina, and all but 200 flooded. 68,000 residents
displaced and just under 300 died. It was also the site
of the largest urban oil spill in U.S. history happening
one day after Katrina. 100% of our customers and all of
our team were displaced.
“We made the decision to rebuild. A friend of ours let
us know there was a shop next door to his mechanical
shop in Metairie, La that was not occupied. We did some
repairs before we could start working out of it and
ended up having our team literally live at the Metairie
shop.
“It was amazing what everyone was willing to do. As soon
as we could, we were back at the rebuilding process. We
would stay in Metairie and have some guys working there
while others were working in Chalmette. This wasn’t just
the owners and some family working, we also had
employees that were coming in weekly from out of state
where they were living with their families to work and
rebuild.
Nick Orso's Body Shop, a Martin Senour user for six
years, then follows the Vortex basecoat with a clear
urethane topcoat.
“We all lived at the shop for several months and in
April 2006 we reopened the Chalmette location. The fact
that we were affected by this disaster is not
newsworthy. There are thousands just like us. The way we
reacted and our families and employees reacted, that is
something special. We could have given up, and at times
the outlook seemed hopeless and we wanted to give up,
but we didn’t. Ten years later we are better than ever.
We have three locations and a thriving business. We can
truly look back on that time and only see the good in
people and how our team came together. Every time
someone asks me about how Hurricane Katrina affected me
I always say I feel blessed.”
And it’s with that positive attitude that the entire
team at Fradella’s Collision Centers prides itself in
going forward... in servicing its customers and its
community overall.
Read more about how Fradella’s has overcome its
hardships with Hurricane Katrina in the
June 2015 Issue of ABRN
To learn more about Fradella’s Collision Center, please
visit their website at
Fradellas.com