Quality, Honesty & Experience

Business People, Feb 2008 by Velagapudi, Christine

Few things may be more daunting than finding a good mechanic. If you are like most car owners, your knowledge of the inner workings of your car is limited to turning the key and hitting the gas, which makes you susceptible to high repair and maintenance quotes and unnecessary work.

Enter The Import Doctors, an independent car mechanic shop that specializes in all imported Japanese and Asian cars, including Acura, Honda, Subaru, Nissan, Infiniti, Toyota, Lexus and Mazda. The Import Doctors offers bumper-to-bumper work, including scheduled maintenance, timing belts, water pumps, tune ups, oil changes, brake work, alignments, clutches, air conditioning, exhaust systems, computer diagnostics and more. In addition to repair services, the business also offers towing and shuttle service.

With combined experience of morethan 75 years in the automotive industry, owners Shayne Cattron and Dave Goddard and their crew have become experts at diagnosing and repairing Japanese and Asian cars.

Goddard has 26 years of experience in the industry; a degree in automotive technology; technician certifications from Acura, Honda, Mazda and Nissan; a senior master technician certification from Subaru; and he is an ASE certified master technician. Cattron has been in the automotive industry for 25 years and has Acura master, Subaru master and Mazda certifications, and he is an ASE certified technician. Steve Abel, also with Import Doctors, offers 25 years of experience, is an ASE certified master technician and has certifications with Toyota, Infiniti, Mazda and Nissan.

ASE technicians are certified by the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence and are required to pass comprehensive exams and be recertified every five years, making them some of the best in the business.

Four years ago, with a wealth of experience under their belts, Cattron and Goddard decided to leave the local car dealership where they were employed.

"We spent years in the business and it is tough," Goddard says. "Mechanics in a dealership get taken care of if they are at the top, but the rest typically do not. We did not get the rewards."

"After years of working and finding shortcuts and making our own special tools, we got tired," he says. "It is a young man's game, and it is very physical. We had seen too many guys who were 65 years old and still working. We didn't want to grow old that way."

Goddard and Cattron studied the idea of starting their own business for three years, working out the details of how, when and where they would strike out on their own. The "when" part of that equation was answered when both requested what they saw as long-overdue raises and were turned down. It was the impetus they needed to open The Import Doctors.

"We were wondering where people were going when they didn't bring their cars back to the dealership for service," Cattron says. "We knew they had to be going somewhere, and that was part of our motivation to go independent."

Indeed, just as Cattron and Goddard suspected, more and more people are taking their cars to independent mechanics for service. Independent garages are usually smaller and less expensive than dealer outfits (Goddard says The Import Doctors usually comes in at about 40 percent less than dealer quotes) and often offer excellent customer service, as they are small businesses that allow you to get to know your mechanic.

Because a lot of their business comes by word-of-mouth, good service is usually critical to the survival of an independent like The Import Doctors. A satisfied customer is the best source of advertising.

Basic scheduled maintenance, such as oil changes, fluid flushes, timing belts and brakes, almost always cost more at a dealership, and scheduled maintenance work done through independents won't void your factory warranty, which is a common misconception.

"We can do any type of maintenance on your car without voiding your warranty," Goddard says. "A lot of people don't realize that."

Another point of trust that brings Goddard's and Cattron's customers back is simple honesty. If a repair can be done under warranty for free at your dealership, they will let you know without charging you instead of doing the work themselves.

And, don't worry about The Import Doctors having less access to current information, such as recalls or updates, just because the business isn't a dealership. Any new information regarding the cars they work on is available via the Internet. Manufacturers publish technical service bulletins to help mechanics diagnose and repair their products, and Cattron and Goddard access these updates daily.

Over the last four years, the business has grown exponentially. The Import Doctors currently has more than 2,500 customers, and many of them own more than one vehicle. As business increases, Cattron and Goddard hope to expand to a bigger facility and offer sales as part of their service. Whatever they do, they will continue to follow the golden rule.

"We try to be up front and not sell our customers anything they don't need," Cattron says. "We'll tell you what needs to be done now and what can wait. Honesty is important because it is easy to get ripped off in this business."