Ladies of Collision: Crystal Griffin of Griffin’s Paint & Body, Winnsboro

by Alana Quartuccio

Whoever thought the auto body industry was solely a man’s world was strongly mistaken. The ladies of the collision repair industry continue to disprove that misconception time and time again. This month, Texas Automotive highlights Crystal Griffin of Griffin’s Paint and Body, an industry professional who stepped right in when the opportunity presented itself.

Texas Automotive: What led you to a life in auto body repair? What role do you play? 

Crystal Griffin: My husband, Ed Griffin, and his father, Jim, own Griffin’s Paint and Body. Before they opened the business, they worked together at a dealership when Ed was fresh out of high school. Then they decided to go out on their own. This was probably about 15 to 20 years before I came along. Ed and I got married and had children. When it was time for me to go back to work, there was a really great need at their shop for someone to do administrative work. Things have changed so drastically in this industry, and there is so much admin time needed to deal with insurance companies. We have to do the work for them. It’s increased 100 fold. So I stepped in and took over the financial side and administrative duties. I also do some things in the shop – not necessarily with repairs – but whenever I’m needed, I help out with detailing or with scanning. I’ve been working at the shop for about 10 years now. 

TXA: Prior to learning about your husband’s shop, did you ever foresee yourself working in the business? 

CG: Absolutely not (laughs). I went to school and majored in biology with a psychology minor. After college, I moved back to Winnsboro to help my parents who had a family business. Then I met Ed, we started our family, and I became a stay-at-home mom, raising our two boys. When I was ready to go back to work, it just worked out that Ed really needed help at the shop. I stepped in, learned and felt my way around. I learned a lot from him and just from being there day in and day out. So, no, I never would have expected this, and sometimes I tease him about why he got us into this industry because it can be stressful, but it’s also very fulfilling because we are helping Texas consumers, probably more than we realize. 

TXA: What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced in this industry?

CG: The biggest challenge is dealing with the insurance companies. It’s gotten to the point where insurance companies have free reign – there’s no regulations controlling them in a sense that helps consumers. They have too much power and too much money. The admin time that we put into dealing with them is astronomical. We spend long conversations on the phone or time writing long emails to point out every detail, but they don’t really care what you’re saying anyway, because they will do what they want to do. That’s the most difficult part of our job.

TXA: What about this industry do you love the most?

CG: I do love to help people that we see at the grocery store, go to church with or the families our children go to school with. I love helping the community. There are challenges too as some people are just always going to believe the insurance company, no matter what. But those who we are able to help, validates that we’re doing some good. That is the ultimate goal, and that’s what we look forward to. We can also be choosy of those we choose to work for. As a business, we can hire and fire a customer just as easily as they can us. We do love helping our community, and it’s a really big pay off when we see that we have helped someone. Whether it’s to get their car repaired properly or to point them in the right direction to make sure they get fair market value for their total loss, it’s fulfilling.

TXA: Do you have any hobbies? What is life like outside the body shop? 

CG: As we’ve gotten older and our kids are out of the house, our hobbies really are more about spending time with our kids or just enjoying some quiet time at home. We can be so worn out at the end of the week, we like to spend our quiet, peaceful time at home. We get our reprieve on weekends. At this point in our lives, anything we do is just based around our semi-adult children. 

TXA: What advice would you give to a woman interested in getting into the auto body world?

CG: I believe that women can be very beneficial to this industry. Women have special characters and traits that can help – not only on the administrative or financial side of the business. From my own experience, I have noticed that having a woman in the office to talk to the customers can help other women feel more at ease. But even out in the body shop, women are much more intune to detail. I used to do more of it, but I enjoy detailing vehicles. It’s kind of fun to me and it fits my personality. Whenever I got done detailing a vehicle, the customers could not believe how good it was. I think women are especially attuned to that type of work. Women are just a little more geared to detail in general.

Want more? Check out the April 2025 issue of Texas Automotive!