If you’re an existing client, we’ll gladly work on your older cars!
While most shops will work on anything that limps into the lot, we limit new clients with older vehicles (currently older than 1998). We have good reasons for this, but although it seems straightforward it also causes quite a bit of confusion. The most important thing to clear up for our existing clients is that we will gladly continue to service your older vehicles for many years to come! If you’re an existing client with an older vehicle we haven’t been caring for, then we’d be glad to evaluate it to see if it makes sense to start taking care of that one as well. But this month we thought we’d explain why we have these policies for our new clients…
Why have a “98 and newer” policy to begin with? After all, it seems silly for an auto shop to turn down repairs on any vehicle! One of our old radio spots sums a lot of it up…
“When I started in the auto service industry in the seventies, I was told “no vehicle was ever beyond repair”. Those used up vehicles weren’t economically totaled rolling illusions; they were “roses”… which is true, from a repair shop’s viewpoint.
I knew these roses were money pits, and while the shop would profit the owner would lose in the end. Shops live to repair, so few cautions are ever issued. Requested repairs will be performed whether they make economic sense for the client or not.
Poorly maintained vehicles tend to gobble the most money right before they die… it can be a waste trying to squeeze out those last few miles.
Our clients trust us to give solid advice that’s in their best long term interest. We’ll recommend against repairs when we know it’s the right advice to maintain loyal clients for years to come.
Vehicles should come and go, but client relationships should endure.”
Setting aside any emotional considerations, all vehicles have a limited economically viable lifetime. Proactive, sensible maintenance can extend it for many years but eventually the economics just don’t make sense. Toward the end of a vehicle’s life the number of failing systems starts to stack up, and at some point it gets too expensive to do ALL the repairs necessary to make the vehicle safe and reliable. Our general rule of thumb is that when the cost of predicted repairs exceeds the Blue Book value of the vehicle, it’s time to find a new ride. The older a car gets the more repairs it may need, but at the same time it has less value to weigh against these repairs. A 15-year-old car that hasn’t had good, consistent maintenance often has the economic challenge of “catch-up-expense vs. value” and may fall into the “rolling illusion” category mentioned in the radio spot.
We typically recommend new clients start with our Comprehensive Inspection to determine the exact mechanical condition of their vehicle so we can prioritize our repair and maintenance advice. This inspection can turn up LOTS of potential issues on older vehicles. A first-time client has little reason to trust us, and a long list of recommendations can be difficult to prioritize especially when we think a late investment might be a mistake. When our existing clients reach this point of questionable return on investment we advise them to part with the vehicle, but a new client has no reason to trust our advice.
If all that’s true, then why does it make sense to continue working on existing client’s older vehicles? Because a vehicle’s current condition matters along with the relationship we’ve built with the client. Many of our longtime clients have vehicles much older than 15 years, but we’ve been working on those vehicles since they were new (or at least new-ish). Because we’ve been keeping them on the road for years we know whether the vehicles have backlogged needs or whether they are reliable and safe. When a new problem arises, we know the condition of the rest of the car so we know if it will make sense to do a repair. And most importantly, if we advise an established client a given repair doesn’t make sense then they’ll trust our motives and evaluation. They’ll trust our advice, and our relationship will grow.
1998 may be an arbitrary cutoff point for an “older” vehicle. After all, there are 97’s out there in spectacular condition and 99’s ready to die. We have some clients with classic cars, but the emotional content of those vehicles makes for different economics than if they were simply for transportation. A fundamental difference between our shop and many others is our emphasis on building long-term, trusting relationships. It’s almost impossible to establish this type of relationship with a new client based around an older vehicle with a string of problems. If a new client is suspicious of our motives, if economics keep us from making their vehicle reliable or performing proper work we can guarantee, if that relationship is endangered from the start, then we can’t provide the service we think our clients deserve. Our “1998 and newer” policy might be inconvenient sometimes, but we think it’s the best way to protect our value to you for the long term.
