Crisis pushed her into driver’s seat at body shop

Candace Simas grew up working in the office of her family’s Cumberland auto-body shop, but never thought she would end up running the place – until a crisis struck.
Simas’ father, David Miller, who founded Miller’s Auto Body 30 years ago, was diagnosed with a rare cancer in 2008 and hospitalized in 2010, leaving the business without its only leader.
“I dropped my kids off at school, drove here and have been coming here ever since,” Simas said about coming to the shop after her father became sick. “I had never really thought about it before that. It was pretty abrupt and I really didn’t have a plan right away.”
Two years since Simas took over Miller’s Auto Body, with her brother as shop manager, the family business has stabilized and now appears to be on a solid footing.
In the last two years, the business has added four new employees, renovated the waiting area, replaced the lifts and invested in a new waterborne paint system that produces far less toxic emissions than solvent-based paint.
Simas is still confronting the challenges that all working mothers face, balancing the desire to be with her children with the need to keep the business running smoothly.
But the concerns she had initially about running a business in an industry where female proprietors are rare have faded, at least in part because of the shop’s loyal customer base, which sees continuity in her ownership instead of something unusual.
“I have a huge attachment to this place and love cars, love our customers,” Simas said. “They are like family. Most of our customers are from the town and have seen me grow up here. When they find out I am running things they say they had no idea it wasn’t still my father.”
While the Miller family has stuck together and rallied around the business, it’s almost never been easy.
Before cancer, Miller was one of many Rhode Island body-shop owners who battled insurance companies in a series of long-running disagreements over costs and payment. Miller had been a vocal critic of the insurance industry through the 1990s, arguing that the companies short-changed repair shops and conspired to hold down what they could charge for labor.
In 2002, Miller was arrested and charged by the State Police with insurance fraud after a criminal investigation he believed was cooked up by the insurers.
After the charges were dropped by the Rhode Island attorney general, Miller sued Metropolitan Property and Casualty Insurance Co. and Amica Mutual Insurance Co. for abusing the legal process.
This year a jury awarded Miller more than $2 million from the two insurance companies for initiating the criminal probe against Miller and then withholding key information from investigators.
Simas said the verdict was vindication for her father and the family, which endured stress, financial hardship and bad publicity from the arrest.
“It was something that was consuming my father’s day-to-day life and that was very tough on the family,” Simas said. “To see those things in the news about him and know all along what it was really about took a toll.”
Even if Miller’s personal fight against the insurance industry ends, the larger fight over what body shops can charge for repairs continues across the state. Just this summer, a controversial bill that would have allowed body shops to sue insurance companies on behalf of car owners was passed by the General Assembly but vetoed by Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee.
Simas said the same issues her father fought for are still some of the business’ biggest challenges, especially the cap on labor costs, which she said are kept at $45 per hour when they should be closer to $75 per hour.
Having entered the industry only two years ago, Simas hasn’t yet taken up her father’s mantle as industry advocate. But as she becomes more comfortable and knowledgeable about the issues, Simas said she could see herself speaking out more in the future.
“In the past two years I have been so involved here, I haven’t really had the opportunity to speak out,” Simas said. “But now that things are settled, I am trying to be a voice for family-run small business.”
In addition to the regulatory environment, other changes promise to keep the auto-repair business challenging.
Although good for motorists, the fact that American roads have become marginally safer over the last few decades poses a challenge for body shops, whose revenue comes from cleaning up after crashes.
Given the tight margins, Miller’s Auto Body focuses on high-end quality and making the experience as pleasant as possible, hence the new equipment and refurbished waiting room.
“We try to take what is not a good experience and make it as good as it can be,” Simas said. “When people think of auto body, you think of a dirty garage. But you can take your kids in here and feel comfortable.”
On both a personal and professional level, Simas has benefited from her father recovering enough in the last year to be able to teach her about the business and smooth the transition. Because of his battle with cancer, Simas is a volunteer with the Rhode Island Rare Disease Foundation and sits on that group’s board of directors.
Of course, all that work doesn’t leave as much time for her three children – 6- and 7-year-old boys and a 14-year-old step-daughter.
“I would like to say it has gotten easier, but at the same time as I get used to it, my kids are getting older and they are becoming more involved in activities,” Simas said. “When other moms are helping out with school events, that is when it is tough.” •