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Just imagine: you’ve bought the car of your dreams, and then the unthinkable happens: you’re involved in an accident. Your car is almost totaled. What do you do now? How do you find the best place to take your car for repairs? Who can you trust with your wheels?
The best answer we came up with is to choose the shop with the best reputation, a shop that takes pride in its work. We found it at Ricky’s Collision Car Care Center on Shallowford Road in East Cobb. Ricky is a member of the Rodriguez family, a unique family. Ricky Rodriguez Sr. And his wife Alicia came to America from Uruguay in 1974, with nothing more than hopes and dreams, dreams of a better life for their family.
On his arrival in the U.S., Rodriguez trained under Hans Vorphal, a factory-trained Mercedes-Benz technician from Stuttgart, Germany. The training Rodriguez Received gave him a jump on starting his own place, Ricky’s Mercedes Service Center in 1994, specializing in Mercedes, but working on other cars as well. With only $2,000 to start his business, he was one of the first Americans trained by a Mercedes technician and he learned the ins and outs of his trade, passing along great savings to customers and ultimately spinning his family into their destiny. |
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Today, Ricky’s businesses are growing; his two sons and daughter are loyal to the family empire. With three businesses thriving, it’s a perfect fit for the Rodriguez family. Ricky Jr. runs Ricky’s Collision Car Care Center, focusing on all kinds of body shop repairs on all makes, from Acura to Volkswagen. He is also specially trained to work on Mercedes with the Celette Sevenne, a dedicated fixture system similar to the ones used to build aircraft, that scientifically calculates where each part of the car should fit together, ensuring that the car will be stable and positioned correctly during the repair process. Ricky Sr.’s other son, Danny, works in the Mercedes Service Center, exclusively on Mercedes, giving customers the products an services needed for all makes and models of Mercedes at more competitive rates than most. Ricky Sr.’s daughter Joanna works at Ricky’s Auto Sales, helping customers find the perfect pre-owned Mercedes for them.
We asked Ricky Jr. about working with family and he told us that one of the best things is getting to spend time with each family member. They are all dedicated to their work and to the family. Mother Alicia, who doesn’t work in the family businesses, makes sure they all get together frequently, for fun as well as for talking business. “She’s the glue that holds us all together,” explains Ricky Jr. When asked what he enjoyed most about his work, Ricky Jr. noted it was “the ability to take something that has been destroyed and putting it back together.” With such pride for his work, it is no wonder he is able to take vehicles that look like destroyed and bring them back to live. “It’s about making the customer happy,” Ricky says. It seems as though the entire family has the same idea.
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