MINNIE’S AUTO REPAIR

MINNIE’S AUTO REPAIR

By April Blake

Meet the owner whose career began in fashion but took the fast lane to the automotive industry.

Claudia Donnelley imagined her career being driven by the engine of fashion, but now she’s happy to have people driving their cars and their engines to her fashionably relaxing auto shop instead. Donnelley is the owner of Minnie’s Auto Repair, a full-service mechanic shop on St. Andrews Road in Columbia. It’s easy to spot from the road with its hot pink accents, which look unlike anything that one would see at any other mechanic shop — and the visual touches don’t stop on the exterior.

Upon entry to the shop, Minnie’s is thankfully missing the familiar smells and sights that one generally associates with auto repair shops. There’s no odor of stale burnt coffee lingering in the air, and there certainly isn’t a set of sun-bleached, hard plastic, butt-numbing seats where customers wait for the dreaded upcharges from fast-talking mechanics. Instead, people are treated to a pleasantly neutral-smelling room adorned with plush couches, colorful pillows, and current magazines of every genre that invite people to take time for themselves as they wait.

And as for telling people about their car troubles, Donnelley is all about the art of a back-and-forth conversation.

The main thing is how you talk and how you listen to people. We explain in layman's terms.

Fighting dishonesty in the industry and helping people better understand the machinery they depend on daily is what makes Donnelley love what she does all the more. “Even if the customer can’t pinpoint what the problem is, they can describe and explain it, and that’s where the patronizing attitude [from other mechanics] can come in sometimes,” she said.

There’s no such patronizing at Minnie’s under Donnelley’s watch. There are conversations and visualizations to help people understand cars even just a little bit better than when they walked in. One tool that they use at Minnie’s to help explain people’s car troubles to them is a virtual computer model. Other times, the customer is invited into the shop and the auto technicians point out and explain what is going on with the car so the customers feel comfortable with and educated about the repair decisions they need to make.

Office Manager Lindsey Baire reviews repairs with lead auto tech Patrick Vanderploeg.

Photos: Sally Scott naturalimagesphotos.com

Minnie’s was a sister shop to her husband’s original shop, Mickey’s Auto Repair. She became involved through working with her husband at his shop, which has since closed. “When you’re around it all of the time, you get to participate in the goings on,” she said. From that experience, she learned everything she needed to run this current shop completely on her own.

The couple ran Mickey’s and Minnie’s simultaneously until 2019, when they decided to focus exclusively on Minnie’s. One of the original and most unique features of Minnie’s was their female auto technicians, which they hope to have more of soon. Donnelley is working with local high schools to create a pipeline of women auto techs who can come work at her shop and interface with customers, explain their car troubles and the proper fixes, and focus on preventing future issues. She said they are looking for people with a good attitude and the aptitude to work with them.

The funny thing is, Donnelley insists that Minnie’s isn’t special in the grand scheme of things. That kind of down-to-earth truth-telling is what she wants more of in this industry. “Honesty and integrity are something we want people to experience here,” said Donnelley. “That’s why we talk to our customers, and in turn, they put their hearts into the reviews they leave of our services.” Speaking of hearts, that’s exactly what she recommends for anyone who is thinking about owning a business. “With the amount of time you spend in your business every day, you should do something you love,” she said. It’s not all about love, though, it’s also about the facts and figures when it comes to making sure the business model is going to be successful and sustainable in the end. “Get good business advice and do your research.” If the cars lined up to roll in between the pink barriers and the relaxed customers hanging out inside the shop are any indication, it looks like the dreams Donnelley has for Minnie’s are being achieved.