Grand Rapids Auto Repair

I was just down south and noticed two things. One, lots of Lamborghini, Aston Martins and Ferraris. Two, lots of peep toe shoes. Being married to a car guy, i usually have those shiny, engine that purrs, crazy-expensive vehicles pointed out to me. I do appreciate how beautiful these vehicles are as they cruise by us. Living in Michigan, I realize that I'd rather have an all around vehicle that can be used twelve months out of the year. I'm obviously too practical to be an exotic car collector. A true car aficionado is willing to visit their vehicle wherever it is stored, visualizing the first sunny day they take it for a drive. In the southern United States, their shoe requirements are different. A southern woman can wear peep toes year round. Sandals, espadrilles, flip flops etc—all those open toed, strappy, pretty shoes sit in my closet waiting. It doesn't make me happy to visit them in my closet. I bypass them on the way to boots and wool socks. Their soft pa ... read more

Some people think that auto repair and trust don't belong in a title together. I was reading an article about a survey performed by AAA. AAA stated that according to their survey, ‘75 million drivers don't have a trusted auto repair facility and ⅔ of drivers don't trust auto repair shops in general’. Some people have had bad experiences or there's always that reputation that seems to persist for centuries. Mechanics! Argh! They're always out to get people! I'm going with my 17 years of experience in this industry and saying that 10%, probably the same in other service industries, of shops are…….less honest than they should be. The less honest ones aggravate everyone. We get the customers they've mislead and have to work to earn their trust. But that's OK. I understand. Technology is changing so fast and the average car owner isn't going to understand when your technicians says you have, “excessive noise on bit serial data line causing no communication wi ... read more

Last year I had someone approach me to see if I would be interested in attending a leadership conference in Indianapolis for the Women in Auto Care. I had heard of this group over the years, but I hadn’t pursued learning more about them. The group’s focus is on industry insights, networking, and professional development. I have since attended that conference, as well as their winter leadership conference this past month. Many of the conferences and trainings Jeff and I attend are geared towards shop owners. The Women in Auto Care conference is geared towards women working in the automotive industry aftermarket. The speakers were amazing and I walked away feeling like I had learned about what is happening in the automotive industry, with a renewed opportunity to improve my skills as a business owner. Women share their experiences and expertise in their positions working in development, sales, logistics, engineering, technicians, etc. The Women in Auto Care also f ... read more

“I love your sign!” This is a sentence we hear a lot. And we love it! This is our own little piece of the world on the corner of 52nd and Eastern in Grand Rapids. We are fortunate to have a lot of traffic passing our business every day. From the standpoint of business visibility, etc, it's a great spot. When Arie Nol purchased the property in 1976, there wasn't much out here. It was the edge of Grand Rapids. The ’burbs. Having the ability to impact so many people every day is kind of fun. We made the decision 15 years ago, when we erected the new sign, to not put anything up but quotes, puns or something inspirational. At first it was tempting to place ‘specials’ on the sign. Where we missing a huge opportunity to reach potential customers? Maybe. As a small business owner, it's natural to revisit decisions to see if they were good ones. The unexpected aspect of our sign is how much enjoyment WE get out of it. Having someone that is not a customer come i ... read more

Cameron was only three months old when his grandfather, Arie Nol, the founder of our business, passed away. Cameron has no memories of his own but he has heard many other people’s memories of Arie. While working here, he has the unique opportunity to talk to people that worked with his grandfather or have customers share their stories about Arie. Arie loved what he did and shared his passion for cars with many people. He also loved people and enjoyed helping them and sharing his knowledge to enable them to keep their vehicles in safe condition. Even though Arie has been gone for almost twenty-five years, we still hear the stories of how he impacted people’s lives. Cameron has been able to hear stories about his grandfather negotiating with vendors who’ve since retired but stop in to say “HI.” On occasion, he’s heard stories from people that shared how they had to deal with Arie after they caused damage to the family car by ignoring needed maintenance or driving ... read more