"We're not doing anything fancy," adds McNeill. "We're doing what Henry Ford did 100 years ago. I've told our guys that in five years, I want to be able to have the bulk of our repairs done in one day. You can't do that by just showing up and doing things the same old way."

Learn more about Sterling on the Web (www.sterlingautobody.com). For information on all Fast 50 winners, and to learn more about the competition, click here.

Sidebar: Shop Talk

Sterling Autobody Centers is applying sound business practices to an industry that's famous for lacking them. Here are three of its guiding principles.

1. Do the little things right. As part of damage analysis, technicians take each wrecked vehicle apart, making sure to "bag and tag" the smallest components and then store them on that car's parts cart. Otherwise, a $4,000 repair could stall over a broken or missing $4 part.

2. Don't start what you can't finish. In some body shops, technicians start a repair based on which parts have come in first. Then they stop and wait for more to trickle in. Sterling uses a parts broker, who ensures that all of the parts arrive at the same time. Only then does the work begin. "If you were baking a cake, you wouldn't start if you didn't have the eggs," says Bill Little, general manager of the Sterling shop in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

3. Clean is good. The repairs may get messy, but the shop doesn't have to. Sterling insists on keeping its centers clean and orderly -- not just because its customers can watch the activity through the large windows out front, but also because it sets the right tone. Employees are repair professionals, not grease monkeys. "There's no spitting," says Little. "You see that at other shops, but I don't want people doing it here. This is where we come to work every day. I want it to look nice."