EXCLUSIVE: Schroeder’s Body Shop Opens New Service Facility

A picture of Matt Schroeder

Three generations after its founding, Schroeder’s Body Shop will open its new facility doors to RVers seeking paint jobs, fiberglass repairs, collision work and more.

The service shop located in Howell, Michigan, is one of 90 repair and mechanical facilities with Schroeder’s family name. The company began as an auto-collision business in the late 1960s.

“We got into the RV business accidentally,” stated Matt Schroeder, the company’s estimator, office manager and shop owner. “My family had motorhomes dating back into the ’70s. We have always fixed our motorhomes, just like we cut cars in half and put them back together.

“Soon after, we put a sign by the road with an arrow,” Schroeder said.

The company’s new 20,000-square-foot facility will serve RV body and mechanical needs, including aluminum framework, fiberglass repair, classic and multicolored paint jobs. Teams are available to fix siding, tires, appliances, flooring and exhaust work, Schroeder said.

“You do whatever it takes to ring the bell, and the bell is ringing,” Schroeder said, referring to the booming RV industry.

Fabricating parts to get consumers back on the road is also on the table, Schroeder said. With industry supply chain problems, he said thinking outside the box is necessary.

Although the pandemic proved fruitful for the RV industry, necessities such as general service are becoming an issue.

The influx of new sales requires dealers to pay the most attention to warranty repairs, Schroeder said, which makes providing service for older units more difficult.

“There is such a demand in this industry for service,” he said. “[Dealers] are selling so many new units. They are obligated to take care of those issues and prep new units for delivery.”

Schroeder’s Body Shop hopes to provide for a niche market in need.

“In the RV collision business, it is not uncommon for [RVers] to drive past 75 auto shops to get to me,” Schroeder said.

The company’s original Howell facility was built in 1999 by Schroeder’s father, who retired and sold the business to Schroeder in 2006.

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