On paper, collision repair is simply about restoring a vehicle to pre-accident condition and ensuring a smooth, painless experience for the customer. And, for that customer, that is how it must seem as their four-wheel pride and joy, injured from some on-road bingle, disappears into a workshop and reappears a few days later, magically transformed to be as good as new.
Behind the scenes, the graft that goes into ensuring the pleasant outcome for the customer can be a hard slog, and it’s not necessarily the awkward crumpled bumper or crunched quarter panel that make a repair job painful. Rather, it’s the invisible administrative work of estimating – of line items, of bouncing between software systems, of getting to grips with repair methods – that can make the job a frustration. And somewhere between the moment a damaged car rolls in and the moment it rolls out, a business either gets paid for what it genuinely did, or it has quietly donated time, materials and skill to get things done.
Jasmine DeWys has built a career around smoothing out these behind-the-scenes frustrations and making sure the dollars don’t slip through repairers’ fingers. She’s worked across the collision repair industry landscape, has experience across every sector, developed her knowledge and skills across a multitude of roles, and now runs her own Australia-wide remote estimating, consultancy and training business – Bodyshop Solutions – aimed squarely at helping businesses become smooth-running, efficient, successful enterprises.
Her business exists because collision repair has become a complex web of moving parts with an estimator, and the process of estimation, sitting at the centre of it.
“Bodyshop Solutions is a virtual estimation and training business, and we have a few core services we offer to the collision industry,” explains Jasmine.
“Virtual estimation is one of them, estimation training is another, and we also specialise in estimation analysis – we basically look at the systems and give some feedback on that process. But the core of what we really do is teach everyday businesses and estimators how to master the estimation process so that they minimise waste in their business. We help everyday repairers to achieve those goals.”
It’s the kind of pitch that speaks directly to the reality of workshops in 2026: capacity constraints, skills shortages, increasingly technical vehicles, and estimating systems that can seem dauntingly complex.
To the layman, the work of an estimator sounds complicated – and they’d be right in thinking that. As Jasmine explains, the reality most repairers live with is a loop of platforms, integrations, logins, downloads, exports, and more –
all before a single repairer has even touched a tool.
“An estimator looks at the damage on a vehicle and writes an estimate on how to pull it apart, repair it, paint it, the parts list, how to put it all back together – all to basically restore the vehicle back to OEM specs,” she says. “Just to write a quote involves massive workflow . . . and it’s really easy, if you’re not trained properly, to make a mistake.”
This is where Bodyshop Solutions comes in – offering assistance, including through training, to help collision repairers navigate the complexity and trim the fat, reduce mistakes, and reduce stress. And that training option for estimators has the backing of MTA Queensland, which has partnered with Jasmine and Bodyshop Solutions to offer it as one of its many auto industry training options.
“We are currently partnering with MTA Queensland to deliver this specialised training around mastering the estimation process to minimise waste,” explains Jasmine. “Basically, we’re teaching repairers and estimators how to navigate these complex systems in an easy-to-digest training environment.”
FROM FIRST STEPS TO A CLEAR VISION
The road to establishing Bodyshop Solutions has been a winding one, but Jasmine describes the origin of her automotive career in a way that will be familiar to anyone who grew uparound cars: they weren’t just an interest; they were a passion shared amongst the family.
“I come from an automotive family – I would probably be comfortable to put it that way,” she explains with a smile.
“My dad’s a mechanic, my brother’s a mechanic, my sister’s a truck driver, and my granddad was a mechanic as well. We were a car family . . .”
Given that family background, a career somewhere in the automotive industry was probably a likely outcome, although the collision repair sector was not one that she pursued initially.
“I kind of fell into the job, to be honest,” she says. “It wasn’t something I sought out and said, ‘I definitely want to do specifically that’.”
Her first years were in a panel shop in Toowoomba and Jasmine describes those years as being a massive learning curve, filled with plenty of action and plenty
of mistakes.
“. . . I’m pretty sure I was terrible to begin with,” she says with a laugh. “But I had a really good boss who taught me a lot. He took me under his wing, taught me how to quote, and I did a lot of different roles and was very hands on. I did that for probably about five years or so and really learned
the ropes . . .”
That country-shop experience became Jasmine’s launchpad and, at the age of just 23, she moved to work in workshop management – a shift that delivered another steep learning curve, and which also exposed her to the software side of the sector.
“I wanted to try my hand at something more and, at the time, the owner of the shop I was managing also owned a software company. I naturally progressed over into that space,” she says.
Jasmine’s career became something of a hybrid at this point, seeing her move between the workshop and the office of software company PartsCheck, delivering workshop fixes, management resets, tech support, sales, and training. It’s a combination of experiences and skills that is rare and gave her the foundation upon which she would one day build Bodyshop Solutions.
“For many years . . . I was living two lives really and I’d have like this hybrid role where I would go into the panel shop and fill in or, if I had a manager leave, reset the shop, put a new manager in and train them, and then come back and do my other job in the software space. I had this really interesting dynamic where I was floating between both areas
. . . I did that for many years – selling software, doing tech support and managing an actual workshop. It was an interesting journey, and it set me up for where I am today.”
CREATING A SOLUTION FOR EVERYDAY REPAIRERS
The decision to strike out on her own and establish Bodyshop Solutions did not come to Jasmine in a grand entrepreneurial moment. Rather, it came gradually after recognising the same problems were appearing time and again, everywhere. Businesses were asking how one software system talked and worked with another, and estimators were trying to do the right thing while drowning in workflow.
She could solve these problems – and she did – but realised that there was a deeper need: the collision sector required someone who could not only come in and fix the problem but offer a proper process of learning that would enable them to tackle the issues themselves.
“I’d help out and give tips and so on . . .” says Jasmine. “And to be able to help people in that way and solve the problem for them then and there was really valuable.
“I noticed it was continuously happening and the idea began to develop early on that it would be amazing to be able to do that for a living . . .”
However, it wasn’t easy to leave a job she enjoyed, and which had enabled her to earn a reputation as someone who understood the collision repair industry from the inside out. And so the idea remained just that – an idea – as she built up the confidence to strike out on her own.
“It was terrifying, and I reckon I sat on it for about two years,” she says of the period when she was torn about taking the leap. “I had an amazing job. I was going to Malaysia, doing custom integrations, and leading a massive team of people. I was cruising along at the top of my game . . .
And so I sat on things for a good while. I would go to do it but would get scared and come back!”
Eventually, however, Jasmine did pull the pin and take a punt that her idea would prove successful.
And so it proved right from the start. People trusted her judgement, valued her practical insight, and knew she delivered on what she promised. And that credibility became the launchpad for Bodyshop Solutions.
SETTING REPAIRERS UP FOR SUCCESS
If there’s one tip that Jasmine can give to any collision repairer, it is the importance of setting the job up correctly from the very beginning.
“It sounds really simple . . . but if you can master that front process – the handling of the customer, processing the claim, writing the estimate . . . that does make the rest of the process a lot easier,” she says.
Discipline early reduces problems later and helping businesses achieve this is at the core of the Bodyshop Solutions’ mission.
Starting such a business designed to deliver this support comes at an interesting time for the industry. There is the ongoing debate around the Motor Vehicle Insurance and Repair Industry Code of Conduct, as well as the impact (excuse the pun) that technological advances – such as electrification and the installation of ADAS hardware such as lidars, radars and high-definition cameras – are making to the new vehicles now rolling out on our roads.
All these developments make the estimation and repair job more complicated, and demand that collision repair businesses work even harder to make the processes they use more efficient.
It’s where the estimation training offered by Bodyshop Solutions slots right in, and Jasmine is proud of the impact it is making, adding that it is the first of its kind in the market and that there is more to come.
“It’s probably my greatest achievement so far,” she says. “I get feedback from everyday repairers that are grateful that there’s someone out there delivering this sort of training . . .
“We’re out here training people how to use the software properly and how to quote properly, with training backed by MTA Queensland. We’re also working with the software companies to ensure our training is in line with current industry standards and best-practice system workflows. It’s a huge accomplishment for me.”
FORGING A PATH IN THE INDUSTRY
As with many sectors of the automotive industry, the collision sector is male-dominated, and Jasmine acknowledges that. She explains that her experience, particularly early on, made that fact less of an issue for her, and if there were times when she encountered some form of discrimination, it made little impact.
“I was probably 17 when I entered the industry,” she explains. “I had moved out of home at 14 and I was looking after both my brothers. With that kind of experience and what was going on at that time in my life, if there was any of that sort of thing happening to me, I probably didn’t notice. . . I was just so determined to make something of myself, support my family and get ahead in life that I probably didn’t care if they looked at me sideways to be honest!
“If you’ve got the drive and you’ve got the determination to really make something of yourself, and you’re really passionate about what you do, that sort of thing might not matter so much. It definitely didn’t matter to me . . .”
While the personal circumstances at the start of Jasmine’s career are more unusual than most, she has some sage advice that anyone looking to get a start in the industry can take on board, and that is to learn from someone who has been there and done that.
“A tip I would give to someone just starting out would be to try and find someone in the workshop who has been in the trade for 20 to 30 years . . . try and find someone who has that level of experience and hang around them because they will teach you so much . . .”
It’s a reminder that the industry is full of very knowledgeable techs, and that while technology, techniques and procedures may change, there are tips, tricks, skills and experiences that can be passed along down each generation of technician that will always be vital.
A TRUE CAR ENTHUSIAST
Jasmine has carved out a successful career in the collision repair industry, and there is a reason – beyond her business IQ and smarts – that she has been able to do that: she loves what she does and the sector in which she works, and she is a true car enthusiast.
Underneath the business-owner exterior, there’s still a genuine car person who treats cars as something a bit special.
“That’s what got me started in the industry . . .” she says with a smile as she discusses her love of cars. “And I’m very much into my early Commodores – I have two VHs and a VL Commodore!
“I remember my first one, taking it off the back of the tow truck at the panel shop, and an experienced, older panel beater said to me, ‘What in the hell is that? Why would you buy a crusty old Commodore!? What are you doing!?’
“But I just thought it was so cool!”
And when asked about what her dream car might be – her ‘if-money-were-no-object’ vehicle – Jasmine’s answer gives away both her affection for cars and shows that her passion for the automotive world isn’t limited to one segment or style; she simply loves them all.
“It would be either in the form of an older Commodore, like an SL/E – proper stealth wealth where I’m rolling around in something cool, and where no one would know I had trillions of dollars – or a Bugatti, because I saw it on Top Gear one time and I thought it was pretty sick!”
Jasmine’s appreciation for all things automotive is clear when she talks about the cars she would love to own and is equally obvious in the way she approaches the collision repair industry. Through Bodyshop Solutions, she has built a business grounded in a genuine desire to see repairers succeed – to help them refine their processes, reduce waste and lift standards across the sector.
She combines a unique skill set with broad experience, deep industry knowledge and a forward-thinking mindset to achieve a simple mission: to support everyday repairers, strengthen the industry as a whole, and ensure collision repair businesses are equipped not just to survive, but to thrive.
