SOUTH HUTCHINSON, Kan. —Dave Coonce has decided that McKenzie Paint & Body is going to do the little things right, and that's a daily task.
"My father bought the business from Larry McKenzie in 1986 and I bought it from my dad in 2015," Coonce said. "Larry was like family."
The business has been at 45 Kansas Ave in South Hutchinson since 1998. Doing body work in the days of computerized everything related to cars isn't easy, but it's what Coonce has committed to.
"Every day, I find myself irritated at something, but I try my best to take care of the customers," Coonce said. "Anything else just doesn't matter."
If you're coming for body work, you're likely frustrated in the first place, either because you messed up, or because another driver did.
"You've got to make sure everybody's happy, all the time," Coonce said. You've got to do your best, every day. We need repeat customers, or it just doesn't keep going."
Whether you're blessed enough to not need them for decades, or whether you need them twice in a winter, the point is that they'll be there, as they have been for decades.
"All that we do is react to problems, all day," Coonce said. "The fact that you wrecked your car is a problem we have to react to and then, everything it takes to get it done, it's a whole other list."
The job, especially with supplies of parts a struggle, is to keep figuring out ways to solve problems and let people know that you are trying to get them their car back as quickly as possible, but that right doesn't always mean quick.
"Every day is different, every manufacturer," Coonce said. "Any one of them can hang you out to dry at any time and there's nothing you can do to make your customer happy, but they won't have a car for three months."
Coonce feels the weight of keeping the eight people that work there going, but it really is more art than science, sometimes.
"You can go to school all you want, but it's kind of hard to find somebody who had an interest and got great at it and can prove it."
McKenzie Paint & Body, Inc. is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
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