Mister “P” Express Inc., a truckload contract carrier based in Jeffersonville, Indiana, opened the Parnell Collision Center Tuesday at 200 Salem Road in the River Ridge Commerce Center. The 22,500-square-foot workspace and office features an indoor crane, hydraulic unit and exterior paint booth shipped all the way from Italy. A $3 million total investment went toward the collision center, about half of which was spent on renovating the space.
With the addition of the collision center, founder Allan Parnell’s business, which started with “three trucks and a prayer” is now comprised of the truck line, which sits on 18 acres and includes an office building, maintenance facility and fuel island; the Parnell Commercial Driving School that sits on 15 acres at River Ridge Commerce Center and includes an advanced simulator, expansive training lot and employs several experienced instructors. The company has another 18 acres at the commerce center for a to-be determined use.
“As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, it became increasingly difficult for us to get our own equipment repaired,” said Mister “P” President and CEO Cindy Collier. “When this opportunity became available, we recognized it as a resource for our own needs, as well as the needs of others in the community. It’s a natural fit with our heavy duty repair knowledge and our ability to work with insurance companies.”
In February 2023, the trucking company purchased Auto Truck and Fiberglass, which was located on Poplar Level Road. It also began renovating property for the collision center that it already at River Ridge between April and September 2023.
Mister “P” Express installed its Blowtherm Paint Booth last fall, a piece of advanced technology lauded as the main component that sets the collision center apart. The paint booth is Italian and is one of only a dozen in the United States.
The enclosed space filters out air that comes into the booth which prevents dust and dirt from landing on wet paint before the booth heats up to cure the new color. There’s a camera and computer outside of the booth that can match paint to the color of a car perfectly and a closet is right next to the booth with an almost overwhelming new paint smell.
Collier compared the paint booth to getting a gel manicure (which made more sense to me than some of the language technicians were using when they showed me around.) She joked with state Sen. Chris Garten, who represents Clark County and portions of Floyd County in the statehouse, that the team could match the colors he’s using in his reelection advertisements to a new paint job on his car.
“All of this work and all of the commitment — this is a company that values the quality of [its] employees and gives back to the community and that has made Jeffersonville a better place,” said Jeffersonville Mayor Mike Moore.
The collision center, which opened last fall, employs 18 people who have already repaired wrecked cement mixers, garbage trucks, delivery trucks, RVs, tractor-trailers, fire trucks, school buses, EMS vehicles, horse trailers and more.
You may have seen photos of a few semi-trucks on their sides under a bridge last week after a tornado touched down in Southern Indiana. One of those was a Mister P truck — the “tornado truck,” they called it — and it’s being repaired on the floor. The driver was OK and the truck was scuffed up pretty bad, but it’s nothing the crew at the collision center can’t make shiny, bright red again.
Technicians at the center are experts in fiberglass repair, industrial coating and specialize in big truck, heavy equipment and commercial fleet vehicle repair.
River Ridge Commerce Center Executive Director Jerry Acy said Mister “P” Express was already in Southern Indiana when he relocated to run the 6,000-acre industrial park and said he has a lot of pride for the “homegrown business.”
Article originally published in Louisville Business First by Reporter Piper Hansen – April 9, 2024
