Diamond Auto Glass offers new technology

Diamond Auto Glass and Accessories, which opened its doors in Shelburne last October, offers some of the newest glass repair technology, and according to owner Allan Crandlemire will work hard to earn your trust, and keep it.

Mr. Crandlemire says that since his birth he has been connected to auto glass repair in one way or another.

“When I was born my dad was the manager of Standard Auto Glass (in Collingwood), I started working for him when I was five in the summers and stuff,” he said. “I was like a lot of kids that liked to follow their father around the shop.”

He says he has been working in the auto glass industry for most of his life. He still wasn’t able to fight the connection he had to the job when he went to British Columbia to make some changes in his life. Within two weeks he was working at a Speedy Auto Glass franchise, and stayed there for four years before coming back to Collingwood.

While Mr. Crandlemire was in B.C. his father sold the Apple Auto Glass franchise he had owned in Collingwood to Archie, a family friend.

“I went in with a coffee to say hi (to Archie) and he was, like, ‘Are you looking for work? I need a guy,’” he says. “So I ended up back in my dad’s old shop.”

The idea to open up his own shop crept up last year during his son’s fifth birthday party. Mr. Crandlemire asked his long-time friend Dennis Kidd what he thought of the idea to open their own shop, as partners. Mr. Kidd is a third-generation resident, his family known for farming and selling maple syrup in the Shelburne area.

“I said we should open a glass shop in Shelburne kind of as a joke and he called me a couple of nights later asking if I was serious,” he says. “I said yes, I could be, and that was the genesis of our plan.”

Although Mr. Kidd isn’t as involved in the day-to-day running of the business like the two men had originally planned he was very much a part of getting the business idea off the ground.

“I like the small town feel of Shelburne, I get to go out to the coffee shop and hand out pens and the next week people still recognize me which is nice because you don’t get that in bigger towns,” he said.

According to Mr. Crandlemire, auto glass is something he has been doing most of his life and he feels that he couldn’t, and wouldn’t do anything else when it came to his career.

Diamond Auto Glass also offers truck accessories for customers ranging from bug deflectors, trailer hitches and truck caps. He says that anything you can think to put on a truck as an accessory, they can get their hands on for you.

He believes in gaining the trust and respect of his customers and hopes that by being open and honest with local residents they will see his as the place to go for auto glass.

Diamond wants to inform customers of a little-known fact that can help if they are driving with chips in their windshields, at no cost to them. Mr. Crandlemire understands that after Christmas there are people out there who are feeling the after-effects of present-buying but need auto glass repairs. The good news is that as long as you have comprehensive coverage your insurance should handle stone chip repairs without the customer paying out and being reimbursed or having the repair affect their premiums.

“What happens is people are afraid to not have insurance, which is good because we all need insurance, but once we have it we’re afraid to use it,” he said. “If you don’t fix (the stone chip) it’s going to crack, so the insurance company saves several hundred dollars because they don’t have to pay for a new window, (the customer) saves the hassle of having a cracked window and losing your car for half a day while we replace it and then you have a deductible.”

Mr. Crandlemire encourages anyone looking to have a stone chip repair to call their insurer to find out what they can do for them. He says that in most cases your insurance company will be happy to tell you what they can and can’t do for you.

“We want to be your favourite people for auto glass,” he said. “I want people in town to know me and be the face of the business instead of the logo that’s on the side of our van.”

As a new business, Diamond Auto Glass had the opportunity to buy the newest and most up-to-date glass repair technology for the shop.

“The technology in stone chip repair machines has just gotten better and better over the last decade so we happen to be opening at a time when we were able to buy the latest, the best, machines,” he said, adding that even though they are a small shop they are able to compete with franchises and bigger companies for quality and customer service.

Mr. Crandlemire has also says a lot of thought and finances went in to creating a comfortable atmosphere for customers while they wait for their repairs.

“I just really want to establish Diamond Auto Glass as a place where people can come in and feel comfortable, relax and have a coffee, and not feel like they’re in a shop,” he said. “(My staff and I) are in the shop, that’s our job, we’re in the back doing the shop work and I want it to feel like that.”