Vale Rod Wilkinson
Precision Automotive Equipment company co-founder, Rod Wilkinson, passed away peacefully on May 25, 2022, aged 64.
Following a number of years in the automotive industry, selling spare parts and equipment throughout the ACT and New South Wales, Rod, wife Karen and their three children, moved to Queensland. Rod realised the workshop equipment market needed a customer focused service business, thus he and business partner, Phil Atkins, established Precision Automotive Equipment in Brisbane in 1997, initially operating from Rod’s home garage.
After working as a workshop equipment service technician during the formative years of the business, Rod gained a strong understanding of the problems automotive workshop owners and operators had with equipment. Many of Rod’s equipment service customers asked him to source quality replacement workshop equipment.
Rod never lost sight of his career-long emphasis on providing excellent and responsive after-sales service, making Precision Automotive Equipment a preferred choice for updating or establishing the smallest to the largest automotive workshops. Precision grew strongly in Queensland and branched out to New South Wales and Victoria in later years, establishing the foundations of the country’s only national workshop equipment sales and service company.
Rod travelled the world to source workshop equipment products suited to the Australian service and repair market. Precision enjoyed outstanding success with its exclusive Powerrex range, opening the gates to other exclusive deals with world leading brands, including the Hunter Engineering wheel service product range and world leading Rotary Lift hoist range.
The core of the company’s success was that for the majority of its 25-year history, Precision Automotive Equipment was Rod’s family business, with Karen and son Brent actively involved. While now part of Bapcor, the family business culture and focus on customer service embedded by Rod, his family and team of employees, has remained the same.
Auto Parts and Equipment extends its condolences to Rod’s family and friends.
