Any business that reaches a 10-year anniversary is doing something right. Any business that hits that mark nowadays has double the reason to celebrate.
In the past decade, there was a something that’s come to have been called the Great Recession. And that caused havoc for emerging businesses.
Turn Key Auto Service opened at 2210 112th St SW 10 years ago on July 15. It wasn’t long after the opening that the recession started taking full effect.
“We were just trying to do the best quality job we could is how we survived,” said Pat Heiden of Turn Key Auto Service. “It was a tough time. People weren’t spending money on their cars. We worked on some cars that probably shouldn’t have been on the road.”
The auto mechanic still saw continued growth from Day One. Heiden and office manager Lori Hughes credit the business’s philosophy of creating a relationship with customers with what carried them through.
“We’ve got really good customers who trust us,” Heiden said. “We’ve had the philosophy to take care of the customer and the customer will take care of you.”
The mechanic specializes in Volvo and Toyota and has expanded to include BMW and Mercedes, Hughes said. The business employs five full- and one part-time. Turn Key Auto Service opened at the site of a former scaffolding company and its proximity to Paine Field has helped.
About half of the business’s customers work for Boeing or other aerospace companies around the airport. Turn Key Auto Service has about a 70-percent retention rate. Hughes suggests that’s due in part to the efforts to keep the customer informed about the needs of their vehicles without pushing for unnecessary repairs.
“Instead of pushing people in and out and selling things to make our monthly bills, we’re looking out for our customer’s best interests,” she said. “We want to create a relationship. We don’t want to be a place where they come to only because they have to.”
Turn Key has also kept its rates fairly flat over the years. The company charged $95 an hour for service nearly its entire existence until just recently raising rate to $110.
Turn Key also has loyalty programs, such as a free oil change after repeat service. Turn Key also holds a monthly drawing for a customer for a gift card to its business. As a bonus, Turn Key gives $50 to that customer’s charity of choice.
It’s part of the business’s commitment to the community. When the lot came up for a sale this year, Turn Key purchased the land to stay in the community.
While all of this has helped, the core philosophy is what
“We’ve always kind of said, cars break all by themselves,” Heiden said. “And repairs are very expensive. Taking care of the customer and fixing their car problem is what brings them back.”
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