The man who left the ambulance.
Braden Stephenson started Innovation Auto in June 2022, while he was still working as an operational rescue officer for a private emergency medical service in Gauteng. A year later he handed in his kit and did this full time.
Where it started.
The interest was his father’s fault. A 1995 Z28 Chevy Camaro, and a kid in the front seat of an American muscle car deciding this was the thing he cared about. That is a long way from a career in emergency medical services, and for a year the two ran side by side, rescue shifts and then cars.
In June 2023 he stopped splitting himself. His mother’s advice was to go and do the thing he actually loved, so he left the ambulance service and put everything into Innovation Auto.
Why it is not called a detailing company.
Because it was never meant to be only that. Paint protection film and coatings are what pays the bills today, and they are what most of this site is about. But the name was chosen to leave room. Alongside the film and the coatings we look after fleets and private car collections, and we do garage overhauls: car lifts, lighting, the room the car actually lives in.
What we do.
Shield Teck, cut by machine to your exact model and fitted panel by panel. Frontal coverage takes the front end and includes a four-year ceramic coating on everything the film does not reach. Full covers every painted panel. What the film does.
Labocosmetica, applied by an accredited applicator over nine steps of preparation. The coating is the easy half. What happens to the paint before the bottle is opened is the half that decides how it looks in three years. How we coat a car.
Swirls, holograms and etching, machine-polished out before anything goes on top. This is the step that moves the price on almost every job, and the one worth paying for. What correction involves.
Inside and out, priced by vehicle class rather than by the hour, so you know what it costs before the car arrives. What a detail covers.
The same wash and interior work, at your house or your office. Machine polishing stays in the workshop — correction needs light and a clean room, and a driveway is neither. Where we travel.
We also look after fleets, private car collections and garage overhauls. Those are quoted on the job — ask.
Bring us the car.
Kyalami, Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm. Send the make, model, year and colour and what you want done, and you get a figure rather than a range.