Spokane-Founded in 1988, Autocraft has seen continued growth with its customer base, said Co-owner Dave Jeffries, who owns the shop with his wife, Wanda, who also assists with bookkeeping and owns a small business near the repair shop.
Autocraft is a CARQUEST Tech-Net Professional Auto Center. In addition to the wide variety of benefits received from CARQUEST, Autocraft also benefits from membership with AAA and ASA Washington, Jeffries said.
A Spokane native, Jeffries said he worked at a Volkswagen repair shop that specialized in restoration for three years, then co-owned another repair facility before opening Autocraft in Spokane Valley 20 years ago.
Jeffries said his first shop was smaller and in 2002 the Jeffries' purchased the property where his current shop resides on three-quarters of an acre.
With a background in import vehicles, Jeffries said the shop was very import-oriented in the beginning, but today the facility, which handles more than 260 vehicles a month, is about 50/50 import and domestic. "We work on all the domestics and many import models, including Subarus, Toyotas, Hondas, Audi, and others. We're still somewhat known as a VW specialist, so we certainly perform lots service and repairs on those models."
An ASE-certified Master Technician/L1, as well as a state-certified emissions specialist, Jeffries said he still spends 30-40 percent of his time as a technician at Autocraft.
While he likes being in the trenches, Jeffries said he also enjoys overseeing the other aspects of the business. "I like taking care of people and helping them with their vehicle service and repairs," he said. "And I like the challenges of the business; it's different every day. I enjoy the relationships we have with our parts suppliers, the financial side of the business, and working with the staff."
The shop provides a wide variety of services to its retail and fleet customers, Jeffries said, including several preventive maintenance packages. "We work on engines, brakes, electrical systems, suspension systems, air conditioning, fuel-injection systems, and a great deal more, including a lot of diagnostic service," he said, adding that with a new Snap-on Visualiner alignment system, that element of the business has expanded dramatically.
With six technicians, all ASE-certified with three Master Technicians, the shop's services are divided into three categories–diagnostic and electrical work, heavy service work (engines/manual transmissions/alignment/etc.), and lube service (lube/oil/filter/transmission and differential service/fluid changes/), Jeffries said. "We have four state-certified emissions specialists and three of us are trained for alignment service."
Suspension and alignment service represents about 15-20 percent of Autocraft's volume, Jeffries said. That includes shocks and struts, ball joints, CV joints, tie rods, steering gears, rack and pinion units, and axles.
"It's an important part of our service, and with winter weather issues in Spokane, items like ball joints and tie-rod ends are often replaced," he said, adding that the firm also has a tire balancer and performs tire service when needed.
"The new alignment machine was a big investment, but it has expanded our suspension and alignment business," Jeffries said. "We used to sublet much of the alignment work, but now we are doing 16 to 20 alignments a month and want to expand that service even more. We do a really good job with the alignment system, and our pricing issue for that service is more controllable." 
Jeffries said Autocraft does some alignment work for other shops in the area and now can service fleet customers with high-quality alignment services. Dave Godfrey, an ASE Master/L1 Technician, said he enjoys using the new machine. "Now we can accurately diagnose vehicles in a much quicker time frame and determine the needs of the vehicle instantly," he said.
The new alignment machine is just one of the tools and pieces of equipment that Autocraft continues to update, Jeffries said. "About 30 percent of our business involves some form of diagnostic work-from engines to brakes to suspension systems-so we will continue to invest in diagnostic tools and equipment over the next five years," he said.
Along with tools and equipment, training is a vital part of the Autocraft philosophy, Jeffries said, adding that each employee attends about 30 hours or more of training a year. "We pay for all training costs and expenses, as well as ASE tests, and I feel it's a huge reason we're doing well at the shop."
Jeffries said he and two others attended the Automotive Training Expo (ATE) in March and more will attend ATE in March 2009. "We loved it and got a lot from it. It was very valuable for us."
The firm also attends a variety of other classes during the year, Jeffries said, including CARQUEST and ASA Washington training programs in the area; business management and service adviser classes; and courses offered at Spokane Community College, among others, including some hybrid and diesel training.
With CARQUEST being a major parts supplier to Autocraft, Jeffries said it is a Tech-Net Professional Auto Service center and take good advantage of the programs offered to shops. He said they have other parts suppliers, including Direct Automotive Distributing, but the Tech-Net program has been a positive part of their growth with the preventive maintenance programs the supplier offers.
"We are also a AAA-Approved Auto Repair facility, and we love AAA," he said. "It's an awesome program because it's good for us and for our customers." He said that Autocraft has been named a AAA Top Shop for three of the seven years the shop has been in the program.
Involvement in ASA Washington has also been a valuable asset for Autocraft, Jeffries said. "We've been members for 15 years, and we're active in attending (Spokane chapter) meetings and classes. It's a wonderful group for networking, and we're proud to be ASA members."
While the firm has experienced growth in recent years, Jeffries said he wants to take his business to the next level. "We've joined with Pit Crew Marketing to brand our business, expand our Web site, and offer the unique marketing programs to our customers that Pit Crew can help us with," he said.
"We care about the customers and their cars, and provide a good value to them," Jeffries said. "Now it's time to help us do an even better job of customer service."
