What started as a hobby for Swedish Automotive Co-owner Dave Winters has turned into a successful automotive repair business that keeps raising the bar in terms of customer service and quality repairs. Today, the Seattle shop caters to owners of Volvo, SAAB, Subaru and Mini Cooper vehicles in a new facility specifically designed not only with the repair process in mind, but to be environmentally friendly as well.
As a shop owner, hiring a new technician can be daunting task: finding the right recruiting avenues, narrowing down the applicants and, then, hopefully, making the right choice. But for Thom and January Marshall, siblings and co-owners of Marshall Motors in Dallas, the process takes a unique turn to ensure the right person is hired for the job.
In Part 1 of this article in the March/April issue, I discussed how investing ample time in the interview process can prevent hiring the wrong person for the job, as well as employee turnover, because you can get a more accurate assessment of a candidate’s qualifications. This article will continue with that discussion, zeroing in on how to properly assess a job prospect’s skill sets.
Vehicle Service Group (VSG) comprises eight major vehicle lifting and collision repair brands, including Rotary Lift, Revolution Lift, Forward Lift and Chief Automotive Technologies. As vice president of sales and marketing, Jim Dirksen leads the teams that promote and sell all of VSG’s lift brands throughout North and South America.
Even though we now live in a digital world, customer testimonials still play an important role in the decision process for consumers. In fact, due to the amount of research potential customers conduct online before visiting your automotive shop or store, it could be argued that customer testimonials are more important than ever.
WIX Filters, a member of the Affinia Group family of brands, through a partnership with the Performance Racing Network, is bringing race fans the Fast Cars and Country Stars Sweepstakes, which will provide one winner with a grand prize trip for two in 2012 to the capital of country music, Nashville, TN, and Bristol Motor Speedway for a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Race.
As they have for each of the past six years, Federated spokesmen Kenny Schrader and Kenny Wallace will participate in the seventh annual “Prelude to the Dream” dirt track race on June 8 at the Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, OH. Although they are Federated Racing teammates, the Kennys will race their Federated dirt track cars against each other to raise money for four children’s hospitals.
Residents in Deltona, FL, want the city to ban automotive repair shops that are being run out of houses in residential areas. According to a report on a local TV station, there are dozens of these unlicensed repair shops. If the ban passes, people would still be allowed to work on cars in their driveways, but the work must be completed in two days.
Federal-Mogul continues the aggressive expansion of its foreign nameplate replacement fuel pump set and module coverage with three new premium quality Carter in-tank units available for late-model Honda and Toyota applications.
