Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Marlon Ray. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Marlon, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear from you about what you think Corporate America gets wrong in your industry and why it matters.

In my opinion the thing corporate has to get is this job is made by passionate people. People who take pride in their work and put actual emotion in the work. I got into my career, because i missed a car my grandfather and I built and restored together it got hit like completely totaled a week of owning it on sept. 11th 2008. At my high school “side note by a girl who was in my drivers ed class weeks prior”. So I wanted to be the person who could bring peoples car memories back to life to make a long story short. I also have a habit of liking things done right or as professionally done to my knowledge and skill level -a perfectionist i guess. So repairs done properly to secure and retain the original strength the car had pre accident to secure you and yoir family mean a lot to me. The insurance companies are not in your favor. So now I use my knowledge and skill set to apply my customers to understand and feel apart of the repair process. Most insurance companies wanna pay the least amout to repair your car so cheap aftermarket parts, lower quality paint, etc. yet when your car git hit it had all namebrand parts so why wouldn’t that same quality go back on. Especially if your paying monthly thinking youre getting that. So I fight them to make sure your get that quality and what you pay for. Until the corporate side of auto collision gets that. The insurance companies will always when the battle. Especially with the lack of educated techs. Its like a uphill war that gets steeper

Marlon, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is marlon ray. I got into my field after wanting a car my grandfather and i built got totaled and nobody was willing to fix it so the memories were gone. Since birth my mom says i was into cars i still but hot wheels when i get my dogs good in kroger. So i knew my career was gonna be in cars. I got my degree at Atlanta technical college graduated with a 3.8 gpa not to flex but to flex lol. I took night classes while working for my mom at her staffing agency during the day. Managing my regular classes like math and English sucked while trying to work cause i took some classes online and some on campus to spend up graduation. I was burnt out but pulled it off. My first job sucked entering the industry i had to work along side a meth head, a incest mom and son, and the owner didnt know shit about collision repair he bought the business as a retirement investment kinda situation. He hired a actual expert in the trade and a while connected one. Buuuuut. Buddy was crazy like crazy crazy. I learned a lot from that fool though and i miss him know that im older. He wasnt crazy he was passionate about the trade. If i could describe this man he was a white dude straight 80s miami only listened to 80s rock and wore short shorts.the one ear piercing. He taught me discipline and control in the shop environment. How to flow a shop and achieve speed with quality in my work. He also started my obsession with paint. The pride in my work he made me earn so meeting me and how serious I am about the repair process with my customers alone reassures them that they’re getting quality work.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I switched my business to towing due to not being afraid to try new things and I truly love driving so being a tow truck driver was dope. Riding tall it was the most macho badass feeling and job so i wanted to keep it around but make real money.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

He was my boss at first I later rose above my pay or really what he had budgeted to pay for the position so he offered a partnership with 10% ownership of my towing business

Contact Info:

• Instagram: s.choctaw_collision

Image Credits
Marlon Ray and Morgan Chaffin