Walk into any auto body shop, you’ll find cars in different stages of repair sitting in bays, tools at the ready and technicians working hard to solve complex problems.
However, walk into Premier Auto Body in Holly Springs, N.C., and you’ll see something else: a phone propped up on a tripod or in co-owner Juan Carlos Gasga Perez’s hands. He’s turning everyday collision repair work into social media content.
For Perez, social media isn’t just an add-on to the repair process — it’s built into the DNA of the shop itself. With nearly 400,000 Instagram followers and hundreds of thousands more across other platforms, Perez has turned his work into content that resonates with technicians, manufacturers and customers alike.
But this wasn’t always the plan.
“I didn’t want to be an influencer. That’s not what I was shooting for when I started posting videos,” says Perez. “But do I consider myself an influencer 1758783111? I think it’d be silly for me to say no to that.”
Curiosity Becomes a Calling
Perez’s story as a content creator started at home. His daughters wanted Instagram accounts, and like any parent, he wanted to understand what they were getting into. That meant creating an account of his own.
“At the time, I was just posting pictures of my car,” he says. “I didn’t get a lot of likes or traction, but I got just enough to understand what my kids were doing.”
The turning point came at a car show in Helen, Ga. Perez posted a photo of his car from the show, and for the first time, his phone lit up.
“I posted the picture and I think I got 50 likes,” he explains. “I was so excited. I came home and told the girls; they weren’t too impressed. It was kind of a ‘hold my beer’ moment.”
That moment pushed Perez further. What started as curiosity about his daughters’ social media had now become something of a challenge. Could he keep creating content people wanted to see?
A Teacher at Heart
What made Perez’s content different from the beginning was his approach. He didn’t see himself as an entertainer or influencer — rather, he saw himself as a teacher.
That teaching instinct was paired with a frustration for how the industry operates. After nearly two decades as a collision repair technician, he’d seen practices in the industry that didn’t sit right with him. In big corporate shops, he felt like his voice was lost. Processes weren’t improving fast enough, and shortcuts too often became habits.
Social media, he realized, could be a way to show what “better” looked like.
“That is 100% why this all started. I was trying to show people different ways to achieve better practices,” he says.
Perez’s videos weren’t glamorous. They were raw clips of repair work, often showing the details most people in the industry overlook. That was the point.
“[For] a lot of people, there’s this lack of knowledge,” Perez says. “They don’t know that they’re doing [something] wrong. A lot of it is just the lack of knowledge. I’ve been there too. I’ve grown; I’ve made mistakes. Looking back at some of the videos, I go, ‘Maybe I could have done that better.’ It’s always about growing. I’ve grown a lot on social media.”
That transparency resonated with people. Followers began sending messages thanking him, telling him they were inspired or sharing how they changed a process after watching one of his videos. Those messages became fuel to Perez’s social media fire.
“One of the biggest rewards in social media for me is when I get messages from people,” he continues. “Those positive comments are always very, very rewarding.”
Building Social Into the Business
Perhaps the most important opportunity social media gave Perez was the chance to open Premier Auto Body itself. His business partner first discovered him through his videos.
“My business partner reached out to me because he was a follower,” Perez recounts. “I met up with him, and next thing you know, we’re in business together. That was 100% a result of social media.”
Unlike many influencers who balance content creation with a separate “day job,” Perez decided to make social media part of his daily workflow from the start. When he and his business partner opened Premier Auto Body, the cameras came with them.
“I’ve been doing it since I was at Hendrick, so I kind of just transferred it over when I opened up the shop. I basically embedded social media into the work that I do. It’s very intertwined,” Perez says. “I don’t see it as work. I do all my filming and editing on my own. Everybody understands in my business that I am a business owner, technician and an influencer. Anytime they see the camera out or the lights, they know what’s going on.”
Perez says certain repair jobs even get earmarked as content opportunities.
“It’s all intertwined and kind of sewed in, so it’s not really a distraction,” he says.
Collaborations and Industry Recognition
As Perez’s following grew, manufacturers started to take notice. Collaborations with equipment suppliers like Car-O-Liner, BETAG, Würth, Lift King and others followed. For Perez, these collaborations were just as much about securing sponsorships as they were about credibility, both for him and the industry.
“It helps them because they promote their business, but it helps me because it’s giving me something new to create content with,” Perez explains.
Being recognized by major manufacturers was validation that his approach was working.
“I wanted Car-O-Liner to know who I was because I love their equipment. The fact that they know who I am and they respect me for the content that I put out and the way that they view me is really cool,” he says. “They could have picked any influencer out there, and they picked me.”
Consistency, Willpower and the Algorithm
Perez is often asked what his “secret” is — in other words, why his social media following has grown so quickly. For him, it comes down to two things: quality and consistency.
“I think the key to attracting followers is consistency. There’s a lot of people that put good content out there, and I actually get kind of excited when I see that. Then I see them just completely sink because they’ll stop posting,” he says. “It’s very hard work to get the algorithm to actually pick up on you. I would like to think that people follow me because of the quality of work that’s being done.”
Underneath that consistency is discipline.
“It does take a special kind of person to be able to keep up posting content and staying fresh all the time,” Perez says. “That is probably one of my biggest attributes: my willpower. Willpower is like a muscle. The more you exercise it, the stronger it gets. It’s something that I’ve exercised for many years.”
Influence for Good
Perez makes it clear that social media can be used for good or for harm. For him, it’s always been about raising the standards of the industry.
“You hear a lot of people say, ‘I didn’t get paid to do that, so that’s why I didn’t do it.’ I’ve never said that. It won’t come out of my mouth,” he notes. “I’d rather say I did it and didn’t get paid for it.”
Perez sees his story as proof that anyone in the collision repair industry can find a bigger platform through social media — that is, if you’re willing to put in the work.
“This can happen for you too. You just have to be persistent,” Perez advises. “You have to be consistent and know that it can happen for you too. You’ve got to want it. You’ve got to chase your dreams.”
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