Tampa Repair Shop Makes Sure Customers are Comfortable While in Waiting Room

When Charles Calise opened Signature Tire & Auto Care in Tampa, FL, he wanted to make sure his customers had a pleasant experience while waiting for the vehicles to be repaired. The waiting room features a kids-free business center, kids play area and picture windows so customers can watch their vehicles being repair. Calise invested approximately $45,000 into the waiting room and projects to get that back within a year or two.

Automotive repair shop tricks out waiting room for Tampa customers

Charles Calise’s Signature Tire and Auto Care at 2205 W Kennedy Blvd. has a kids play area, computer work spaces and a huge window into the service bays.

By Mark Albright, Times Staff Writer
September 7, 2011

TAMPA — Charles Calise decided to jump into the auto repair business while waiting for his car to be fixed.

"I was trying to get some work done in this decrepit waiting room with my laptop balanced on a metal folding chair that was held together with duct tape," recalled the 43-year-old former packaged goods industry executive. "It hit me that auto repair is among the last industries getting away with abusing its customers. As a marketing guy, I saw that as a point of difference."

Research told him motorists keep their cars longer. Two-thirds of all repair work is done at nondealer shops. Half the customers are women who think repair shops overcharged them for years.

So at his 2-month-old Signature Tire & Auto Care at 2205 W Kennedy Blvd., Calise is trying to one-up even the new car dealers who ladled on creature comforts.

How?

• A no-kids-allowed business center equipped with a desktop computer, color printer, HDTV with a remote, free WiFi and easy chairs with laptop holders.

To read the entire article on the TampaBay.com website, visit http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/retail/automotive-repair-shop-tricks-out-waiting-room-for-tampa-customers/1190077.

When Your Shop Is Worth Much More Than You Thought

Although every sale of a shop in which I am involved has its own unique set of circumstances, which makes my job both very interesting and very challenging, Cowden Automotive stands out as particularly memorable because I was able to demonstrate to the long-time owner, Paul Cowden, that his business was worth about three times what he had initially thought.

Case Study: Owner of San Francisco-based Import Service Shop Delighted to Discover Just How Valuable His Business is to Qualified Buyers
I sometimes share case studies of the clients I have been able to assist in my role as an aftermarket business broker and provider of intermediary and advisory services. I do that when I think the story will provide a reader in similar circumstances with new insights or helpful information.
In the case of Cowden Automotive, Inc., I acted in a consulting capacity assisting the owner and his broker in valuing the business, creating a marketing plan, finding a qualified buyer, and arranging financing for the sale.
Although every sale of a shop in which I am involved has its own unique set of circumstances, which makes my job both very interesting and very challenging, Cowden Automotive stands out as particularly memorable because I was able to demonstrate to the long-time owner, Paul Cowden, that his business was worth about three times what he had initially thought.
Needless to say, delivering that kind of good news to a shop owner is a rewarding experience. Discovering that the sale of his business would result in his retirement nest-egg being substantially larger than he had ever thought was a fitting tribute to someone who had spent his entire working career as a busy automotive service shop owner.

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