NOTE: This October SPS profile was originally published in print in September 2017, and published online in October 2017. 

Bruce Bentley is a second-generation shop owner who started working for his father full-time after graduating from high school in 1978.

Today, Bentley’s Body Shop serves the tiny town of Mount Sterling, KY, (population 7,000) out of a 7,500-square-foot shop and employs seven people. He fixes primarily American cars and paints them all with the Matrix® Automotive Finishes MPB Low VOC Compliant Basecoat because it is saving him money without sacrificing an iota of quality. The finished product consistently impresses Bentley and more importantly, his painter loves using the system.

Bentley, 56, learned the business from his father, Glen, before retiring and handing the shop over to his son seven years ago.

“Back when my dad started, if you were a body man, that meant you did both body and paint yourself,” he said. “He worked hard and taught me a lot about the business and life in general. I started out doing disassembly and eventually learned every aspect of the business, just like him. My father retired in 2010 and passed in 2014, so he had a great career in this industry. I credit my success to him.”

Many things have changed in the body shop world since Bentley entered the industry almost four decades ago, but cutting costs is always a constant battle, he said.

“The technology has changed this business in a lot of different ways, but running a small independent shop like ours is still not easy,” he said. “We have problems finding good, skilled people in this area to work for us, and with taxes and insurance, it gets more and more expensive to hang in there.”

Switching to the Matrix system four years ago turned out to be a smart move, especially from a financial standpoint, Bentley said.

“We’re saving money, and that’s the bottom line,” he said. “We were going through about $9,000 every month on average, and now we’re spending around $4,000 and painting roughly the same amount of cars. When you add in all of the great mixing toners and their clears, it was just so much more cost-effective, so it really was an easy decision to switch to Matrix.”

The conversion over to the Matrix MPB Low VOC Compliant Base-coat was also effortless and seamless for his painter, Michael “Dagwood” Daugherty. One day, he was assembling an enormous multi-level sandwich at lunch, prompting the Dagwood sandwich-inspired nickname. He loves spraying Matrix almost as much as he likes a BLT now and again.

“This product is forgiving and easy to work with, so when we started using it, it was like something we were already familiar with,” Daugherty said. “The application is simple and the basecoat covers well, so it’s business as usual. I’ve worked with a lot of the major brands over the years, and Matrix is right up there at the top of the list.”

Daugherty is able to hit most color matches dead-on without wrestling with them or guessing, simply by using the Matrix AccuShade® Intermix Paint System. Featuring the AccuShade® Formula Retrieval System along with domestic and import color books and a high-performance line of toners and pearls, Bentley is able to achieve accurate color matches time and time again.

“Sure, we run into issues with some of these colors every once in a while, but overall Matrix’s color chips are accurate and match up well,” he said. “We don’t have to spend a lot of time toning and doing extra stuff to get them to match, which is nice.”

Matrix Automotive Finishes was the very first aftermarket automotive paint manufacturer to successfully formulate, manufacture, distribute, and bring to market a complete line of advanced technology paint and coating systems to professional refinishers nationwide, according to the company’s website. But when Daugherty and his prepper are painting a car with Matrix, all they really care about are things such as coverage and the finished product.

“A good paint will make your life easier and can make you look like a great painter,” he said. “But a subpar product can make your life miserable. We don’t have time to worry about the paint, and Matrix helps us do that. We can concentrate on doing a great job and not worry about re-doing work, which is the only way to travel.”

Does Bentley have an exit plan for when retirement comes around?

“The plan is to work for nine more years and then step down if it all works out,” he said. “The collision repair industry has been very good to me, and I surely can’t complain. But at some point, I would love to just fish with my grandson and catch some nice bigmouth bass. I have two daughters who are not interested in this business, so who knows what the future will hold, but it’s been a good run and it sure ain’t over yet.”

Bentley’s Body Shop
Location: Mount Sterling, KY
(859) 498-5628

Company At A Glance...
Type:  Collision Repair
Facility Employees:  Seven
In Business Since:  1962
Number of Locations:  One
Combined Production Space: 7,000 square feet

Matrix® Automotive Finishes, A Valspar Automotive Brand 
Massillon, OH 44646
(800) 321-0672
www.matrixsystem.com

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