Twenty-six years. Thousands of vehicles. One family.

You want someone who's done this before. Darryl has 40+ years in the trade, qualified as a coachbuilder through New Zealand Railways. He started Autobody & Glass Repairs with his wife Liana in 1999, sharing a workshop with another coachline outfit and working other jobs to pay the bills. Two young kids at home and a business finding its feet.

Buying the workshop changed everything. Owning the building meant owning the standards. The timeline. The finish on every panel. No corners cut, no shortcuts on the paint. Word got around. Vehicles came in, work got done properly, and the same customers kept coming back.

You want a workshop that can actually fit your vehicle. The workshop grew with the work. An 18-metre heated spray booth went in for the bigger jobs no one else in Canterbury was set up for. Tools, equipment, and a team to match. Today Autobody handles motorhomes, buses, trucks, caravans, fleet vehicles and everything in between. If it fits through the door, we'll paint it.

You want work that holds up to Canterbury weather. Hail, sun, the easterly off the plains. Darryl knows what materials, primers, and finishes survive here because he's been fixing what doesn't for two and a half decades. Every job is done for our conditions, not a catalogue.

You want to deal with real people. Autobody is still a family business. Darryl runs the floor, Liana takes every enquiry, and their son Josh is the workshop foreman as a qualified panel beater. Two apprentices on the team. Three generations under one roof.

Twenty-six years on, the principles haven't changed. Same workshop in Belfast. Same family running it. Same answer when a customer brings in a vehicle other shops won't take: "We'll sort it."