PORTSMOUTH, Va. — Portsmouth Alignment is back open, five months after a driver crashed into the building and left it too damaged to operate.
Owner Danny Crawford said closing the doors was never part of the plan — not after decades in the auto business.
"It feels great to be back," Crawford said. "We had five months of unwanted and unpaid vacation."
Watch previous coverage: 'It's in Gods hand' | Portsmouth auto shop owner out of business after driver crashes through building
A driver crashed into the Portsmouth Alignment building in February, forcing the shop to shut down. Crawford expected repairs to take a couple of months, but permit delays pushed the timeline to five.
"We had a two month hold up getting permits to even get started on it. Which that was kind of bad. But once we got the permits the contractor I hired came in," Crawford said.
Crawford said the experience felt like starting over.
"78 years old and it's like I'm starting over... you know basically," Crawford said.
The shop reopened Monday, and the appointment book is already filling up. While the building was closed, Crawford made sure his mechanics could keep working at another shop.
"It just feels different being back but it's nice to be back to work and have a paycheck again," Daniel Moss said.
Despite the relief of reopening, Crawford said he is most grateful the crash happened when no one was at the shop.
"It was such a blessing that it happened at 2 o'clock on a Monday morning, if it had been at 2 o'clock on a Monday afternoon with my guys out here working, it would've been a whole different situation I'm afraid," Crawford said.
Crawford said the support of family, friends, and loyal customers kept him going through five months of uncertainty. Now, he's looking forward to getting back to business.
This isn't the first time a driver crashed into his business. Crawford said they are working on getting posts installed in front of the building to prevent it from happening again.
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