The Franklin Automotive Group officially opened its new collision center with a ribbon cutting Thursday. The center is located behind the Franklin Chevrolet Buick GMC dealership at the corner of Northside Drive and the Bypass.

Franklin Collision Center is 30,000 square feet is capable of processing up to 266 cars per month through the shop, said Bill McFarlin, the Collision Center director for Franklin Motor Group.

That’s almost five time the 59 vehicles per month the previous 7,000-square-foot facility could handle.

“For the past few years if someone was in an accident and needed their vehicle repaired there could be a waiting list to get into the shop from 6 weeks, 8 weeks, 12 weeks,” McFarlin said. “Due to the size of our facility, we were limited to the amount of technicians we were able to employ. To say the least, we outgrew that facility.”

McFarlin said the new collision center is able to accommodate up to nine body technicians, compared to one previously, a paint team with two paint technicians and four prep technicians, compared to just one total previously. 

The new collision center “means when your car has been in an accident you can leave it at the shop and not wait two months for the repairs to start,” McFarlin said. “We’ll turn it around much more quickly.”