We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful John Eppstein. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with John below.

John, appreciate you joining us today. One of the most important things we can do as business owners is ensure that our customers feel appreciated. What’s something you’ve done or seen a business owner do to help a customer feel valued?

One of my good customers brought their motorhome in (which had been sitting in their driveway for a very long time without being driven) because the radiator was leaking and they were going on a trip soon. We ordered up the new parts and installed them so their cooling system was now working the way it should and they would be safe on the road. He picked up the vehicle and on the way home the transmission started acting funny and a bunch of it’s fluid leaked out all over the ground. He towed it back in so that we could check out what was going on and we discovered that the transmission had failed and it needed to be replaced. He authorized the $3500 repair as it was 15 years old and had been expecting some major problems to happen soon. Once we started to install the new transmission we realized that the tech who did the radiator replacement had actually created the problem causing the transmission to fail. We corrected the problem and installed the new transmission as we had agreed to with the customer. When he came in to pay his bill he was shocked when we told him that he didn’t owe us anything for the transmission job. We explained what had happened and he was still in disbelief. He was very grateful and he said that he could not believe that we would not charge him. He said that he never would have known it was our fault and that he would not of had a problem paying the bill. Both him and my new employee at the time were amazed at the level of care that we showed our customer in this case. To this day (12 years later) they both still bring it up from time to time. Needless to say he refers everyone that he can to come see John’s Automotive Care when they need some help with their vehicles.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

In February 1998 John’s Automotive Care opened it’s door and started helping the community. I opted to stay in my neighborhood because of the relationships I had built with my customers working at the local Chevron station for 10 years. My business model was going to be based on high customer service, quality repairs and giving back to my community. For the first 2 ½ years in business I worked by myself. After that I moved to a new facility where I had enough room to expand my business. This allowed me the time to start giving my efforts to The Boys & Girls Clubs of East County and a few other organizations. We worked at this location for another 2 ½ years, until I was offered a chance to move into a much larger facility by a shop owner that wanted to retire. He wanted someone who would take care of his customers and employees. In 2018 we opened our second location in La Mesa about 7 miles away. Our customer care has always been our top focus. A broken vehicle is not always the only problem our customers have and we do our best to help them with the additional problems as well. Along with a broken car often comes issues like how will I get to work or pick the kids up from school? And common problems like this we often solve for our customers with our shuttle service or even a ride share service. We recently had an elderly lady who had never been in our shop before who’s husband had died recently. She needed to get a smog test and a few minor repairs done on his car so that she could sell it. Brian, one of our amazing customer service specialist, took care of the items that she needed and didn’t charge her a dime. These are just a few of the great things that we do for our customers on a regular basis. We may not have the cheapest prices in town but we definitely offer our customers the most value for the money they spend. Our 3 year/36,000 mile Nationwide Warranty is another big value to our customers.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

When I first opened my shop I worked by myself and wanted to stay that way in order to provide the great service and care that my customers were used to. About a year after I opened my shop I hurt my back and was unable to work for a week. This meant that none of the cars that I had been working on were going to be completed until I was well enough to get back to work. At that point I knew that as a business I needed to grow in order to take better care of my customers. Not only did I need to grow the business I also needed to learn how to run a larger company. The smartest thing I did was admit that I needed some help and I went out and found some great resources to not only help my business grow but to help me grow as well. Identifying where you need help can be difficult and finding that help can be almost as difficult. I found a 20 group that was automotive business oriented and once I was able to start making changes in my business things just really took off. I took a lot of classes as well as joining a few trade associations which have all helped me and my business grow to where we are today.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

Your business reviews online are the most important part of almost any marketing campaign. The first thing people do when they start to consider using your services is look you up on the internet no matter how they heard about you. We respond to all reviews good and bad and that can really show your audience the type of business that you run. Our customer referral program is one or our best sources of good customers. If you don’t ask your current customers for referral’s there is a good chance that they won’t. When I ask my customers for referrals many of them say I did not realize that you were looking for more customers or they ask will you still have time to repair my vehicle when needed? Someone that comes in from a referral usually has a little more trust in you than someone just walking in off the street.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.johnssandiegoautorepair.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JohnsAutomotiveCare/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/johns-automotive-care-san-diego

Image Credits
Sarah Morgan Photography