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Latest Headlines:
| 14th
March, 2007 |
Shane
Wallace Sporting Achievements |
| 23rd
February, 2007 |
Re-Car
in Big Rigs Magazine |
| 14th
February, 2007 |
Re-Car
Enters V8 Supercars Sponsorship |
| 9th
February, 2007 |
Cam
Competes in the 2006 Red Cross Murray Marathon |
| 15th
November, 2006 |
Bob
and Cam attend the 2006 NACE Expo |
| 27th
September, 2006 |
Dylan
McDonald Sporting Achievements |
| 13th
September, 2006 |
Re-Car
Racing in Motorsport News |
| 1st
September, 2006 |
Re-Car
Racer Returns |
| 13th
July, 2006 |
Re-Car
Reporter Issue 3 Released |
| 27th
June, 2006 |
Re-Car
Trucker's Sausage Sizzle |
| 26th
June, 2006 |
Re-Car Newcastle-Servicing Transport in the Hunter & Beyond for over 20 years |
| 11th
November, 2005 |
Re-Car
Reporter Issue 2 Released |
| 25th
October, 2005 |
Re-Car
in the News Again |
| 4th
October, 2005 |
It's
all go for Bathurst! |
| 3rd
August, 2005 |
Re-Car
releases its first Newsletter |
| 5th July, 2005 |
Re-Car Appoints Spies Hecker as Paint Supplier to the Network |
| 4th July, 2005 |
Re-Car in the Press |
| 15th April, 2005 |
Re-Car's Re-Birth |
News Stories:
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SHANE
WALLACE SPORTING ACHIEVEMENTS
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Shane
Wallace, an employee at Re-Car's head office, regularly
competes for his side in the City of Moorabbin Cricket
Association. This past weekend, Shane played in his side's
semi-final match and came off a little worse for wear on the
first day, but followed that up with a stunning 9-71 effort
with the ball and helped his side into the Grand Final.
All
the staff at Re-Car would like to congratulate
Shane on his efforts and we wish him the
best of luck in the final!
Update:
Wallace takes 6 wickets and makes a quickfire
30+ to Win the Grandfinal on the First Day!
Click
on the picture to read the article.
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RE-CAR
IN BIG RIGS MAGAZINE
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The
latest edition of Big Rigs magazine features an article on
Re-Car and our non-core product offerings. Make sure
you grab a copy and check it out, otherwise click on
the pictures below for the article.
Click
on the pictures to read the article. |
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CAM
COMPETES IN THE 2006 RED CROSS MURRAY MARATHON
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Cam Jones
(Manager, Accounting) recently competed in the 2006 Red
Cross Murray Marathon. Competing in the K4 Challenge Relay,
his team won their class by 26 minutes and did so in a time
of 29 hours, 35 minutes and 7 seconds smashing the previous
class record by over half an hour.
All
the staff at Re-Car would like to congratulate Cam on his
efforts and we wish him the best of luck in the future!
Click
on the images to enlarge.
What
is the Red Cross Murray Marathon?
As one
of world's longest annual canoe races, the Murray Marathon
covers a distance of 404km in five days, taking paddlers
from Yarrawonga through to Swan Hill. Wholly owned and
organised by the Australian Red Cross, funds raised during
the Marathon are channeled back into the provision of vital
community programs and emergency services provided by the
Australian Red Cross.
Attracting
more than 700 participants, 300 volunteers and up to 3000
support crew, the event moves as a tent city from town to
town. Paddlers share the experience of being
challenged, the magic and camaraderie of paddling down the
Murray River and in between all this fun, supporting
the Australian Red Cross Victoria. |
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DYLAN
McDONALD SPORTING ACHIEVEMENTS
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Dylan
McDonald, the son of Re-Car Brisbane Branch Manager Tony
McDonald, recently competed in the Queensland Under 14
Baseball State Titles with great success.
The
Left Handed pitcher from the Brisbane West region had an
excellent tournament and for his efforts he was named to the
Titles All Star team, received the high honour of being
named MVP for the Titles and was also named in the Under
14's Rams State Squad.
All
the staff at Re-Car would like to congratulate Dylan on his
efforts and we wish him the best of luck in the future!
Click
on the images to enlarge. |
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RE-CAR
RACING IN MOTORSPORT NEWS
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The
Re-Car Racing Commodore has appeared in the
latest edition of Motorsport News. Make sure
you grab a copy and check it out, otherwise click on
the picture below for the article.
Click
on the picture to read the article. |
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RE-CAR
RACER RETURNS
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The return of truck repairer Re-Car to major motor sport sponsorship will take place at Malalla with the entry of Robbie Jones in the SA Fujitsu series round. Back in the mid 1980’s the Re-Car name was a well known one around the country as one of the backers of the
Allan Grice/Win Percy VL Walkinshaw Commodore that triumphed at Mt Panorama in 1990. “It’s great to be associated with such a well known brand and we’re looking to help re-establish the name as part of Re-Car’s overall marketing plan” says Robbie who’s father and team owner Bob acquired the Re-Car truck repair network early in 2005.
“It was always going to be a bit of stretch getting things happening on the track while working this new business” says Bob. “We’d actually planned to be back well before this, but Robbie’s had a few issues to deal with” In a bad start to 2006, Robbie came off a bicycle during a training ride that fractured a finger and put paid to any hopes of making the Clipsal support event in Adelaide. Queensland was the next event the Re-Car racer had scheduled before Robbie found himself in hospital with the removal of wisdom teeth.
“Yeah, it’s not been a terrific year so far I suppose, but we’re on song now and I’m really looking forward to blowing out the cobwebs in testing at Winton and having a good weekend at
Malalla” Robbie says. The Re-Car team is confident of making the oversubscribed grid at
Malalla where 30 places are available to the 33 entrants vying for a start. “The VX is in pretty good order and
Malalla is a track I know well and enjoy” says Robbie who has not competed since Phillip Island in 05. “We know championship points are unlikely, but I’ll be happy with a respectable mid-field result. We just want to get out on the track and build up to something a bit more substantial for the next two races.” The team has confirmed their intention to compete at both Bathurst and Phillip Island in the remaining two Fujitsu events and Phillip Island will be the last outing for the VX as the team’s chief engineer Paris Acott and his team is well advanced with a new VZ Commodore or a full campaign in 2007.
Car-Trek Racing has long been known for turning out superbly presented race cars and this new Re-Car design will be no exception. “It’s a complete new scheme and a bit of a move away from the multi-coloured schemes of the past” Robbie says. A sign writer by trade, Robbie has designed the new Re-Car racer’s livery himself. “It’s a labour of love and something that I really enjoy. I do the lot from design, to cutting the vinyl and installation which takes a bit of time, that’s for sure”. Robbie’s’ company, Car-Trek Sign & Design is no stranger to vehicle wraps and racing livery. Robbie has been engaged by V8 Supercars Australia to re-decal the safety and pace cars for November’s major team round in Bahrain where he’ll also drive one of the cars for the promoter, a task he had in 05 in Shanghai. “That’ll be a bit different for sure and I’m looking forward to the experience. Kurt Sakzewski from V8 Supercars has made it very clear; “get the new signs on, THEN you can have a drive” so, there’s plenty of incentive. With the amount of track time I’ll have had this year, I can use every extra minute I can find.”
For further
information, please contact Ian Pendlebury |
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RE-CAR
REPORTER - ISSUE 3 RELEASED
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Re-Car
has just released issue number 3 of it's Newsletter.
In
this issue you can read about:
- A
focus on our Newcastle branch
- BJ's
Banter
- In
introduction to our new General Manager
- Product
information on the Webasto cabin coolers
- ISS
Updates
Make
sure you call by your local branch
to say hello to our team and grab a copy of the newsletter
for yourself.
If you
did not receive a copy and would like one, please contact
your closest representative
to obtain a copy, or download it here
(1.09Mb).
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RE-CAR
TRUCKER'S SAUSAGE SIZZLE
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Calling
all trucker's heading North bound on the Pacific Highway on
Tuesday, 4th July 2006...
From
5pm on this day, Re-Car will be holding a Trucker's Sausage
Sizzle.
Come
by and join us at the 12 Mile Hill Truck Rest Area just North of
Newcastle for a free sausage, soft drink and a yarn!
We
hope to see you there! |
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RE-CAR
NEWCASTLE
SERVICING TRANSPORT IN THE HUNTER AND BEYOND FOR OVER 20
YEARS
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| Re-Car is Australia’s largest network of wholly owned
heavy vehicle body repair workshops. At Re-Car we stand for INTEGRITY QUALITY & PROFESSIONALISM
in heavy vehicle repair.
Re-Car Newcastle has a team of tradespeople second
to none with all the facilities to carry out heavy vehicle repairs to the most exacting standards. Prime Movers,
Trailers, Rigids and Light Commercials – we’ve done them all and our workmanship is backed by a national
lifetime guarantee.
But Re-Car is not only about accident repair. We handle
re-sprays, livery and graphics changes, maintenance and those bumps and scrapes that happen in the
yard day to day. We’re also agents for Webasto cabin coolers and the Quicksilver Liner for tippers, call us for
a quote, we’d be pleased to be of service to you.
Make
sure you call by our Newcastle
branch
to say hello to our team and grab a copy of the flyer
for yourself. Alternatively you can download it here
(1.07Mb).
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RE-CAR
REPORTER - ISSUE 2 RELEASED
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| Re-Car
has just released issue number 2 of it's Newsletter. The
Newsletter has now been named the "Re-Car
Reporter".
In
this issue you can read about:
- A
focus on our Brisbane branch
- An
introduction to our new Branch Manager in Wagga
- Product
information on the Quicksilver Liner
- Spies
Hecker Racing Update
- ISS
Updates
Make
sure you call by your local branch
to say hello to our team and grab a copy of the newsletter
for yourself.
If you
did not receive a copy and would like one, please contact
your closest representative
to obtain a copy, or download it here
(442kb).
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RE-CAR
IN THE NEWS AGAIN
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| Australian
Body Shop News magazine recently featured an article on Re-Car
and the Spies Hecker Racing Team as well as the new owner Bob Jones. The word is
continuing to spread that the new Re-Car is alive, well and again leading the way in the delivery of services to the transport sector. Make sure you get your copy!
Click
on the picture to read the article. |
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| IT'S ALL GO FOR BATHURST! |
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The final preparations for the biggest race of the year have been completed and now it's time to head up the Mountain for what should prove to be a great week of
racing with the Re-Car sponsored V8 Supercar. The predicted crowd attendance will be in the vicinity of 175,000 screaming race fans, with a television audience of millions in Australia and even more so around the world. As the main support event in the Super Cheap Auto 1000, the HPDC V8's will put on a show worthy of those kind of crowds, with nobody more excited than
Spies Hecker Racing's own Robbie Jones.
"It's the biggest motor race in Australia and arguably, the best race for touring cars in the world at the best track in the world." says Robbie, "There is no question that this track throws things at you that you cannot plan for and all you can do is be as best prepared as possible, and hopefully that's what we've done. Having competed in the 1000km race 2 years ago we will take that valuable knowledge with us into this weekend's two 14 lap races."
As usual in motor racing, the preparations didn't go quite to plan with the team only fitting the gear box into the car late last night, just in time to get it packed in the truck and off to Bathurst. The gear box problem was picked up in the final shake down in the workshop late yesterday and quickly rectified.
Bob
Jones (Re-Car's Managing Director), Spies Hecker Racing Team Manager and former touring car Privateer Championship Winner, knows Bathurst well and as usual, had some words of advice for Robbie, "You have to respect this track and what it gives you and you have to be on your game 100% of the time."
Please tune in to Channel 10 on Saturday from 12:00pm to watch the HPDC V8's in action, and support Robbie in the #69
Re-Car VX Commodore.
There will be regular updates as the weekend progresses, so please stay tuned to the
racing
website for some great inside details and exclusive chats to the driver.
Event Schedule:
Thursday
October 7
Practice One 35 minutes 9.35am – 10.10am
Practice Two 35 minutes 2.20pm – 2.55pm
Qualifying 40 minutes 4.20pm – 5.10pm
Friday
October 8
Race One 14-laps 12.45pm – 1.25pm
Saturday
October 9
Race Two 14-laps 1.35pm – 2.15pm |
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| RE-CAR
RELEASES ITS FIRST NEWSLETTER |
| Re-Car's
first Newsletter has just been released into circulation.
Make sure you keep an eye out for it.
The
Re-Car newsletter will be a quarterly publication. However,
as yet it is nameless, so if you have any suggestions on
what we could call our Newsletter, please email Cameron
Jones.
If you
did not receive a copy and would like one, please contact
your closest representative
to obtain a copy, or download it here
(880kb).
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| RE-CAR APPOINTS SPIES HECKER AS PAINT SUPPLIER TO THE NETWORK |
| Re-Car has finalised an agreement that will see Spies Hecker back as supplier of automotive paints effective July 2005.
"This was a deal that I laboured over for some time" says Managing Director Bob Jones. I have had a long and successful relationship with Spies Hecker at Car-Trek. I understand the products, the quality, the procedures and the people. I’m glad to be working with them in this network."
The deal with Spies Hecker includes the provision of the complete suite of equipment at all locations as well as training and technical support through Spies Hecker’s extensive network of specialty distributors.
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| RE-CAR IN THE PRESS |
| Owner / Driver magazine and Australasian Transport News (ATN), two of Australia's leading road transport industry publications, recently featured articles on Re-Car and the new owner Bob Jones. The word is spreading that the new Re-Car is alive, well and again leading the way in the delivery of services to the transport sector. Make sure you get your copy!
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| RE-CAR'S RE-BIRTH |
| Melbourne businessman Bob Jones was contemplating the prospect of a restful Christmas break late last December, when a call came through that was to mean this particular holiday break would be anything but restful. Australia's largest heavy vehicle accident repair network the Re-Car Group, was in financial difficulty, a buyer was being sought to takeover the business and a deal had to be done quickly to keep the business intact. Would he be interested in considering the opportunity?
"It was a bit of serendipity, when I look back at it" says Jones. "I was thinking about taking on a new challenge and had been weighing up several expansion opportunities for my business for several months; with none of the options I'd considered getting me very excited. Re-Car was a business that I knew of and had dealt with from time to time; my interest was strong right from the beginning".
The call put into train a chain of events that had Jones travelling the eastern seaboard immediately after Christmas and a team of accountants, lawyers and advisors frantically putting
together a deal between Christmas and New Year. With bankers, landlords, financiers and the like all taking their holidays, it was a testing time for all. "I remember sending one of my principal advisors home on the last plane to Sydney on New Year's Eve. The deal was close, but wasn't agreed. By the time he had landed, we had a deal and he was back to Melbourne a day later" says Jones. "To cut a very long story short, we finalised the deal, carried out our due diligence, put together the finance, hired the staff and opened the new Re-car Car for business ten days later. It was a tough time for everyone, particularly our staff, who had no idea whether they would have a job at all. Anyway, we pulled it off much to the amazement of many people in the industry and the business barely skipped a beat".
Jones is the owner of the Car Trek group of companies and has been involved in the vehicle repair industry for over 30 years via his Footscray based operation Car Trek Automotive. A master panel beater himself, he has been repairing and painting vehicles in western Melbourne all of his working life. Car Trek at Footscray focuses on the 3 - 10 tonne market with trade work (re-sprays, livery changes, graphics) being a major part of the business mix. Accident work is common, but not on the scale of Re-Car which offers the complete repair service for trucks and trailers of all sizes. "This was part of the attraction of Re-Car" says Jones. The acquisition encompasses each of the Re-Car repair workshops located in Townsville, Brisbane, Newcastle, Wagga and Melbourne. In addition, Car Trek has taken over Re-Car's NSW based heavy vehicle towing operation and its rapidly developing Emergency Response and Salvage Co-ordination service, which is now making its mark in the transport industry with over 10,000 vehicles Australia wide currently subscribed.
"This is an area where Re-Car is very well positioned" says Jones. "For a very long time, the crash repair industry in this country has been very re-active. It's had a culture of ambulance chasing and doing whatever it takes at the scene of the accident to win the repair work, often with little regard for the real needs of its customers. We are now partnering with key service providers to work with a few partners in this area to offer the transport industry a comprehensive suite of services that introduces a process around dealing with accidents that address all of the adverse consequences of a truck accident. Our services encompass not only the repair work, but also load security, salvage and recovery, contamination containment, clean-up and site restoration, crash investigation, incident reporting, trauma counselling and the like. We also see this part of the business adding considerable value to customers in several areas such as emergency response planning, GPS system supply, tracking and monitoring, call centre services, order taking and potentially Radio Frequency Identification systems for load freight tracking and security. We have the view that this breadth of service offerings can potentially change the way the industry handles difficult and emotive situations like heavy vehicle accidents and bring the industry into the 21st century."
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The acquisition of Re-Car has certainly been a big change for Jones, who motor sport fans will remember as Australia's top privateer in V8 touring car competition in the mid nineties. "The motor sport experience is relevant I guess as we get our teeth into this new business" says Jones. Team work is critical in any organisation with more that one player, but its also critical to be able to put your trust in the team, confident that they can perform for you. At Re-Car, this has been the critical change for me. Our Footscray business has been one where I have been very "hands on" and able to manage every facet of our work personally, speak to all the customers, train all the staff etc. With now 5 branches to look after as well as our original Footscray shop, it's just impossible to maintain that level of personal control. Fortunately, we have some quality people at Re-Car so the task of "letting go" a bit has been relatively easy." Jones says "I'm not going to try to re-invent myself, because I guess we've been successful doing things the way I have for years. I aim to instil some of the old Car Trek values and ways into these big workshops and bring the businesses back to profitable operations. There's no denying that the old Re-Car had some problems and it's just silly to not recognise that. Some changes have been made and there will certainly be more to come, but the business is a fundamentally sound one and I'm very pleased with our early results which have been a little ahead of our budget expectations. As the old saying goes "Only a fool changes nothing and expects a different result" Jones is clearly no fool.
The industry has reacted well to the news of the Jones/Car Trek acquisition. "I think the insurers breathed a collective sigh of relief when they heard that Re-Car was not to be closed" Bob said. "The reasons for this were not only Re-Car's undoubted reputation for quality. The industry really doesn't need to contract to the level that it would with the shut down of the largest repairer in the country. There's simply not the repairer capacity out there. "I have to also say that by and large, suppliers have also been very understanding of what has happened. I've been very pleased with the support and encouragement we've received from many suppliers". Our opposition is not too exited of course, and we are aware that there is a lot of spiteful misinformation being peddled around at the moment. But by and large the transport sector is awake to what's been going on."
On the subject of insurers, Jones is adamant that some changes will be required in the industry to prevent other repairers going the way of the old Re-Car. 'I guess it's a peculiar thing about this game. Jones says, Where else can you find an industry where the customers (insurers) nominate the price they are prepared to pay for the service you are providing. Getting the insurers to understand the real costs of labour is a bit of a "bugbear" for me and is certainly an area where I've already engaged a few insurers in discussion" Jones doesn't expect to change things overnight, but is confident that the has the major insurers listening given the demise of the old organisation and hopes to work closely with all insurers going forward.
Re-Car employed over 200 people across all locations and the vast majority of those employees were offered employment in the new Re-Car operation. "Ensuring that most of the people kept their jobs was key to both buyer and seller in this deal" says Jones. "Re-Car is what it is today because of the work that the employees have put in, we all wanted to make sure that we kept those quality people in the organisation as we go forward. "We need to make sure that the quality of the work consistently remains at the industry best practice' levels that were being delivered by Re-Car in the past. This organisation just has to be focused on that. We need also to challenge traditional thinking and become the innovators. I think we've acquired the best truck repair network in the country says Jones. My challenge is to make it achieve its full potential. We're already well on the way"".
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INTEGRITY
- QUALITY - PROFESSIONALISM |
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