Automotive International in Charlotte, NC doesn’t do traditional advertising. They’ve built their business offering maintenance through complete restoration of vintage and modern motor cars and exotics while relying on word of mouth referrals. The restorations focus on retaining the classic artistic styling of vintage cars and the correct appearance. After adding a new Accudraft Paint Booth and mix room to their operations recently, they are giving people in Charlotte something else to talk about.
Since 2001 Automotive International has built a reputation of experience and quality maintaining the mechanical operations of vintage, exotic and special interest automobiles and offering a full range of restoration services. When possible, they rebuild and reuse original parts, and when it’s not possible, they replace them with contemporary parts to get these unique cars back on the road.
“Our business is focused on servicing classic motor cars like Rolls Royce and Bentleys as well as exotics like Ferraris and Aston Martins; but we also do the unique and unusual vintage cars. Our business is successful because we have a team that has been with us a long time and they each personally hold their work to a high standard. We take a lot of pride in what we do,” Peter Nikonovich, Owner of Automotive International.
Their mission – to exceed customer expectations and help train the next generation of technicians to continue this philosophy into the future. Important to making that happen, the owners of Automotive International believe, is investing in the right tools and equipment to effectively do the job and maintain the highest standards.
When they decided to move the shop to their existing location on York Center Drive, they decided their existing paint booth would not meet their future needs. That’s when the team went on a mission, searching for paint booths and evaluating 5 established paint booth manufacturers and dealers. Once they talked to the team at Accudraft Paint Booths, the search was over.
How Accudraft HelpedAlthough Accudraft Paint Booths are the gold standard for collision repair shops, Automotive International does limited collision repairs. What they needed was a paint booth that could handle the bulk of their jobs; high-end paint jobs for classic and vintage cars. Already having converted to waterborne paint, Automotive International wanted a large downdraft booth suitable for vintage Rolls Royce and Bentleys.
What they discovered is that Accudraft Paint Booths offer an excellent combination of all of the features they needed including waterborne facility, high quality construction of the paint booth, and top value for their money. Some of the other paint booth companies that they looked at offered many of the same features but at exorbitant cost. Plus Accudraft provided them with a support team and sales representative David Lester who went above and beyond to help answer their questions and put them in the right equipment for their needs.
David recommended installing a 30’ Italia Downdraft Paint Booth – Accudraft’s flagship paint booth system. This paint booth has been a stalwart for more than 40 years with a reputation for speed and durability, designed for both acrylic and waterborne paints. And it meets all NFPA standards, ensuring that this paint booth would pass county codes.
Complete with Accudraft’s trademark heated direct drive paint booth Air Makeup System and SmartPad digital controls, Accudraft installed Automotive International’s Italia Paint Booth using a 3-Row Pit (Accudraft also offers pitless configurations for the Italia).
In addition to their new paint booth, Accudraft recommended adding their trademark 10×12 free standing Accudraft Mix™ paint mixing room. Adding the mixing room increases safety and cleanliness inside the shop while helping push vehicles through at record speeds.
The ResultsWith Accudraft’s help, the team at Automotive International continues its mission to exceed client expectations with a level of service and quality of work that surpasses all others in the area. Now that word has gotten out that they’ve installed the best paint booth on the market, the referrals are pouring in, proving once again that Accudraft Paint Booths can take any operation to the next level.
Need help financing your Accudraft Paint Booth? We can help – read more here. Take a look at how Accudraft has helped so many other customers take their shop to the next level.
