How we got here

Posted Sunday, Sep 01, 2024

Our story isn't really unique, but it is a result of hard work and purpose.  Like most, we grew up around cars and trucks with our parents driving and working on them.  As I was heading into my teen years, this expanded to working with my dad on my sisters cars and occasionally, the work vans.   Like most teenagers, you were influenced by sports cars or trucks that you grew up around.  By the time I was 16, I was hooked, but didn't get the sport car I dreamed about, instead with the help of my parents I was heavily influenced to purchase a Toyota Celica.  Like a lot of teens, I drove it hard, broke it a few times and after learning more about making an honest dollar, learned to be thankful I had it.  Fast forward many years and as an adult, married with kids and a full time job we had the typical small garage with kids toys and bicycles taking up space.  I did basic maintenance then and had to hire professionals to do the real work.  Here is where everything turned around.  As I was taking our cars to the pro's for maintenance, I noticed the car would come back and upon inspection, I'd catch details that were overlooked or had substandard work.  The wrong bolts were used, my battery wasn't bolted down correctly or "hey, what's that new noise?"  I'd find greasy fingerprints on the hood and fenders, spilled oil on the valve covers, details like that.  Sometimes, my car would sit for weeks before they could even get to it.  One time, I was told it would take a couple of weeks to get my parts in and not to drive the truck until they were installed and when I arrived to get my truck, I noticed my odometer now registered an additional 100 miles since I dropped it off.  When I confronted the service manager, we leaned one of their service tech's was using my truck as his personal vehicle to get to work.  I tell you what, at that moment I knew none of this was acceptable.  I'm an open book and a big believer in "proof of work".  Educate me on the problem and root cause you're solving for and I'm happy to pay for their service.  I want to know and understand what I'm paying for.  Show me what's wrong, show me the part that needs replacing and show me what you solved.  Rarely, I mean rarely, did any shop or mechanic ever provide me evidence of their work.  So at the time, I told myself I will no longer allow this.  Soon after, I stopped taking my cars to other mechanics.  They just didn't care about quality and it showed.  I was being taken advantage of and it was really upsetting.  I took it upon myself to just service my own cars and I learned by just doing it and taking courses.  Over the years, I had grown my knowledge, skill set and even installed a lift in my tiny garage.  During this journey, I realized I actually enjoyed working and servicing cars, it was therapeutic.  As my son got older he joined in and so did many of his friends.  Before we knew it, we had at times over 10 cars in the front of our house so my son and his friends could work and service them.  Our HOA didn't like us much, but this was "teen" life for us during those years.  After my kids graduated we moved to Paradise, TX and decided to use the shop on our property as an actual auto service shop.  This then expanded into a retail dealership where we service every car we sell at our auto shop.  We started from ground zero and now have a healthy practice thanks to our neighbors, church and community.  It all started with a genuine interest with cars that went from a hobby to being an enthusiast and eventually evolved into a business.  It took years to get here, requiring investment in training, education, tools and a lot of late nights and hard work.  From these learning lessons, we are a big believer in practicing "proof of work".  We document and provide photos and videos of the work we do.  So you always know you're being treated with respect and that we will take care of you.  We love what we do because we understand it's our purpose and also know what it's like to be the customer.  Cars and trucks are what we do, but providing great customer service and quality work really are our passion and we live it each day.