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Brake system service

THE WOW FACTOR

This California shop emphasizes community relations

TTwo brothers, Nolan and David Pike, started their repair business in 2011 as a mobile tech service. After about one year, business was booming, with the brothers deciding to move into a brick-and-mortar shop. The initial shop was relatively small, at a mere 2,000 square feet with a single bay door and three stalls. They quickly outgrew this location and moved into the existing 5,500 square foot building with 8 service bays. Dave’s wife Liv runs the day-to-day operations as Owners (left to right): Nolan Pike, shop manager. Liv Pike and David Pike.

In the small town of Poway, Calif., located 22 miles north of San Diego, where the trio was raised Auto Care as the go-to vehicle maintenance and reand reside, the shop quickly became known as the pair facility in our area. We started out as a ‘comego-to shop for maintenance, diagnostics and re- to-you’ mobile repair shop, and opened our statepairs. of-the-art brick-and-mortar building in 2012. Ever

“We grew up in Poway, and we feel the need to since we’ve been adding to our family of customgive back to our community,” noted co-owner No- ers and building upon our excellent reputation. lan. “We donate to all of the local children’s sports Our commitment to automotive excellence and a activities, including Little League and soccer, the higher standard of customer service puts us head annual Poway Rodeo event, and more. As both and shoulders above our competition. Admittedly, business owners and lifelong residents, we’re com- this is not about competition or who’s the best auto mitted to supporting our community. In addition repair shop. It’s all about the customer and their to our excellent reputation for quality service work, vehicle, and who they can trust to handle maintethat commitment goes a long way to strengthen nance and repairs.” our ties with our customers.

“While our time is somewhat limited, given our Does your shop offer general automotive repair busy workload, we also conduct customer educa- or do you tend to specialize in specific makes or tion seminars, as time permits. This is a way for types of repairs? our customers to better understand the nature of WOW Auto Care handles all types of general rerepairs and to make them more comfortable with pairs on any and all makes and models. the need for specific replacement parts and labor.”

As Nolan explained, “We established WOW

All I can say is “wow”! One side of the shop exterior features a series of life-size murals of vehicles in service bay settings. The 1967 Chevelle at the far left is a real eye-catcher.

The shop’s customer waiting area earned a second-place award in ASA’s recent “Best Waiting Area” contest. Notice the creative American flag replica made with 13 baseball bats.

What is your business philosophy?

We exist to build community relationships, enrich the lives of our team members and provide top quality automotive care. Our fundamentals: Always make decisions with honesty and integrity, always respect yourself and others, always grow in a way that makes you and your teammates proud, always work as a team and family, and always take time to have fun and celebrate success.

Where do you buy your parts?

We purchase parts from multiple vendors, with the majority purchased from Worldpac, Parts Authority and O’Reilly’s.

What influences your parts buying decisions? Rank from 0 to 3, with 0 having no influence and 3 having the greatest influence.

Price...............................................0

Brand name recognition...........2

Promotion in racing ..................0

Perceived quality.........................3

Availability/time........................ 3

The waiting area even features a child nook, to keep the kiddies busy.

What do customers want/expect from your shop?

As you might expect, our customers want their repairs done in a timely manner, at an affordable price, with reliability and confidence in the repair being paramount.

What is your approach to technician training?

Our technicians undergo constant training, which is critical in this day and age of advancing and ever-changing technology. They attend classes at World Tech, Cal State Training, and always keep abreast of renewing their ASE certifications.

How does ASP benefit your business?

We’re fairly new to the magazine and are impressed by the contents. We enjoy the various technical articles and especially like reading about the new tools and equipment that have been introduced by various manufacturers. ■

WOW AUTO CARE

Poway, California

Owners ...............David Pike, Nolan Pike, Liv Pike Business founded ........................................ 2011 Number of bays.................................................. 8 Number of certified technicians ........................ 3 Shop size ................................ 5,500 square feet Number of vehicles serviced per month....... 325 Hourly labor rate .................................... $139.91 Average job ticket price ...... Approximately $485 Gross profit % .................................................N/A Average spent on tools and equipment annually .................................N/A Vehicle makes serviced ...... All makes & models