The shop I work at will close on May 30th permanently after many decades in business and an excellent reputation earned well before I was born, due to lack of business. I was just promoted to co-manager in February. We were all caught off-guard. Not sure what to do next, I've called several people I know in the business to put out feelers. Hopefully something will come my way soon.

When I first started there in 2006, there were 14 bodyshop employees. We're ending up with 9.

Well that sucks.

I didn't think the slow economy had spread to fender-benders.

Good luck to you, something will come your way soon!

Thanks, balthy. I hope you're right.

Sorry to hear that. Good luck in finding your next gig.

You'll land on your feet, I'm sure. Sorry to hear about this.

man, that's pretty rough. don't employees of a closed-down business get some kind of restitution?

hope everything works out for ya, blu. I'm sure you can find something out there, even if it's at a dealership.

Keep your head up, 'blu.

Sorry to hear the sudden shock event. Very abnormal. You will land on your feet, and have done the right thing putting feelers out there. In your area how many similar places are there?

Sucks man....something good will come out of it, I'm sure...

The mild winter was not helpful. The bodyshop business has been slow, at least in our area, for the last 18 months or so. Some people have been "cashing out", that is, taking the insurance check and not getting the car fixed. Some people don't have their deductible money. Our schedule has been picking up lately and we have been scheduling people 2 weeks out, which is something we haven't done in many months. But the owners have decided to pull the plug on the bodyshop at the same time that they acquire a new car franchise after losing their Lincoln-Mercury franchise a few years back and selling just used cars since then. Mitsubishi is coming, which is supposed to be good for the dealership's financial situation. So we were shocked when he told us he was closing the bodyshop down.

Thanks for the well wishes, all.

Edited May 16, 201213 yr by ocnblu

You have my empathy, ocnblu. I've been laid-off three times in 10 years... June, 2002 (rebounded by August), June 2009 (was recalled 3 days later), and June 2010 (another quickie, back to work in a new field by October [permanent 13 months later]). I have no doubt in my mind that you won't find something else. Commute to the Philly area (or King of Prussia) - there's plenty of accidents in these areas

Good luck Dude, I know you can find work. If your up to relocating, Seattle is a boom town and there are plenty of Body Shops looking for experiance people. All those H1 Visa computer workers need to learn to drive. Daily I see them in fender benders.

Good luck Dude, I know you can find work. If your up to relocating, Seattle is a boom town and there are plenty of Body Shops looking for experiance people. All those H1 Visa computer workers need to learn to drive. Daily I see them in fender benders.

Probably 90% in Toyotas...

Good luck in the new job search. Fortunately (or not), people will always have wrecks, so I'm sure you'll find something soon.

Thanks again, all. The search is on.

Good luck Dude, I know you can find work. If your up to relocating, Seattle is a boom town and there are plenty of Body Shops looking for experiance people. All those H1 Visa computer workers need to learn to drive. Daily I see them in fender benders.

Probably 90% in Toyotas...

Sadly you are pretty correct. Seems all the H1 visa workers like their asian cars especially toyota and lexus and acura. Most americans here love their Ford and GM. Plenty of trucks and suv's. Eco cars are not in demand just like the over loaded Fiat dealer here. I stopped by and talked with a sales peson who said they stopped listing the inventory on the web site, so they keep 200 or so on the web site for people looking but they rented the vacant steel plant and he say's they have about the same amount there in storage. The agreement for a Fiat dealership was to take all they shipped for the first year, no refusal, so he said they are sitting on 400 or so Fiats. Pretty crazy for a car that does not sell here.