When you think about automotive repair, what separates The Garage from any other business? What do we do better and why should customers come to us for their service needs? It’s become an annual habit of mine to sit down at the beginning of each year and reflect on our past year’s performance. I look through our books and relive some of our highs and lows. Our clients have the choice to take their vehicles to any shop they desire but they continue to choose us. You guys advocate for us every day and I never want to lose sight of that.
So then, why? When I step back and really think through what makes us different, the most obvious answer is our people. Inside our office are four guys that between them have amassed over 60 years worth of experience in the automotive industry. More importantly though, is that over half of those years are right here at The Garage. This means we know your family, your children, the spouse you lost to cancer and the grandmother that passed away last year. We even know what car your kids were driving when they “swerved to miss a dog” and ran into a mailbox. We’ve sat in our lobby as you shared cute pictures of your first grandchild while at the same time mourning the loss of your loved one. It is truly an honor to know your family so well! Our people also value this community. Over the last 7 years we’ve donated over $250,000 to local schools and charities right here in the Birmingham area. We love us some Birmingham!
Now let’s step out into the shop. You will find the same continuity there as well. Between our five technicians we have over 75 years of experience. Again, the majority of that experience comes from right here in our shop. You may ask why that matters? It matters because it means that our technicians know your car. I’m not speaking in general terms of our technicians knowing Honda Odysseys or Toyota Siennas. Rather specifically, our technicians know YOUR Honda Odyssey. That’s right, we know where you hide all those free Chic Fil A cards and left over french fry crumbs! We try and pair the same technician with a car for continuity and for historical importance. We find that consistency creates intrinsic value for our customer in the realm of high-quality service.
Our technicians also aren’t just “lube guys” or “tire guys”. You know those guys, right? They are greasy, hourly guys with minimal experience doing the grunt work of replacing tires and oil changes. Here at The Garage, all of our technicians are highly experienced and capable of performing a multitude of repairs on any vehicle. This means whether you’re having your brakes replaced, or new tires, or an oil service; you are sure to get a quality job from start to finish. Again, this is where our technicians knowing your vehicle comes in handy.
Another thing I notice that I believe makes a big difference in The Garage experience is our commitment to factory parts whenever possible. I tell our staff all the time, “We are only as good as the cars we work on and the parts we install on them”. So we have to be sure to work on vehicles that fit our business model as well as using factory parts whenever possible. Amazon and the internet are ruining our business. You would think all parts are the same but the reality is that factory parts are far superior in our experience and allow us to give a big 30 month 30k mile warranty on most repairs. So if you have a Toyota Sienna that needs brakes, you get Toyota factory pads. If you have an Odyssey that needs an A/C compressor, you get a factory Honda compressor. Are we the least expensive? Not usually, but hopefully we are the best value when taking into account the warranty, price, and convenience of same day service in most cases.
Speaking of warranty, I think another area we excel at is taking care of people. I make it a habit (whether its a good one or not…I’m not yet sure) of reading other shop’s negative reviews. There is a wealth of knowledge to be gained within those paragraphs. It’s amazing how other shops will dig their heels in the ground over pride and create an unsalvageable situation with a customer. I would say 98% of our interactions and repairs are run of the mill typical services where everything goes just as planned. I think it is in the 2% that we really strive to be different. Whether it’s an honest mistake on our part, or a warranty repair, or in some cases, just an unruly customer who will never be pleased. I think The Garage handles that 2% better than anyone else and that makes all the difference.
Are we perfect? Absolutely not! Do we strive to be better than we were yesterday? Absolutely yes! Do we care about you and our community? Also Yes! We’ve made mistakes. We’ve paid to have cars towed in from hundreds of miles away that had nothing to do with repairs we made. We’ve put your family in a rental car for a week. We’ve paid for your Uber. We genuinely care about our customers and do all we can to put ourselves in your shoes. Its not a responsibility that we take lightly and its a service we love excelling at. So thanks for loving us well. Thank you for calling, making online appointments, and telling others about The Garage. All of our families depend on you and we could not exist without your support.
