And now he’s worked his way up in Mohawk Collision in Glenville. (WRGB)

CRA Training Explored – USA

by Stephen Maugeri

GLENVILLE NY (WRGB) – Fixing cars is in Donni’s blood, its only fitting its also his last name.

“Since I’m young, my mom would buy me a toy and I would take it apart and put it back together, said Automotive Mechanical Technician Donni Karr. “So I feel it was from then.”

And now he’s worked his way up in Mohawk Collision in Glenville. He says manager Gerry Rosenbarker saw potential in him.

“He was like you know, ‘Donni, I see something in you that you’re not seeing in yourself’ and he took me under his wing.”

Now his career has taken off. And Gerry says he’s looking for more younger mechanics just like him.

Mohawk collision started a apprenticeship partnership with BOCES.

“There’s nobody left to do this. The average age of a body man right now is a little over 50.”

He says collision center work is much more complex than body shop work.

“Most body shops are more like your standard physician. We’re the surgeon.”

He says the training can be as long as 125 pages.

Mohawk collision started a apprenticeship partnership with BOCES. (WRGB)

“This is the factory repair providers for a 2019 Honda Ridgeline just to take the headliner out.”

Mohawk collision is a sister shop of Mohawk Honda but there’s also a Chevy and a Nissan here. That’s because Mohawk collision is factory certified to work on 15 different types of cars.

Rosenbarker says that has expanded their mechanic’s skill set and customer base. But it also gave a guy with car in his name, a chance to make a name for himself in the industry.

Credit to CBS6.