Florida Technician Competes at Best of Belron®

Curtis Hooper, a Safelite technician from Jacksonville, Fla., represented the United States in the Best of Belron competition held in the United Kingdom May 14-15. (CLICK HERE for related story.)

Hooper, who spent an additional week in England training on European car models not seen in the United States, finished behind four runners up and Nick Niewenhuize of The Netherlands. Ranking of the remaining 20 competitors, which included Hooper, was not revealed.

"Curtis did an excellent job of focusing on the competition and remaining cool under pressure with the large audience that was watching his every move," says Glen Moses, director of technical quality programs for Belron US, who was largely involved in the development of the company's U.S. competition in January. "Given that a little less than six months ago Curtis, as a Safelite technician, had virtually no experience with the Belron techniques and tools used in the competition, his competitiveness in the event was remarkable."

Each competitor completed two windshield repairs, a rear door glass replacement, a back glass replacement, a windshield replacement and a customer service evaluation event. The car selected for the event was the Ford Mondeo, not readily available outside of Europe. In the final part of the competition, insurance and fleet executives played the role of a typical customer and assisted with scoring the technicians for their customer service skills.

CLICK HERE for an exclusive interview with Hooper leading up to the international competition.

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