Milwaukie, Ore.—Larry Meyer acknowledges that by spending some money on advertising, he could increase the number of customers coming into Oak Grove Auto Body, the shop he will have owned and operated for 30 years this summer. But, he said, he’d prefer to just spend a few extra minutes of his time on each job.
“Take that car there,” Meyer said, pointing to a car in the large lot outside his 3,000-square-foot shop. “We’ll be replacing the fender and blending the door, so I’ll fix that little ding in the door for them. Giving people a little something for nothing. That’s what they notice. They might not look at the fender but will notice the ding that’s been annoying them for however long is gone.
“That’s what keeps them coming back here,” he continued. “To me, that’s just good business sense. It comes back to you ten-fold. If you want to be another McDonald’s and spend $10,000 or $20,000 a month on advertising just to see people once, fine. But every job we take in, we want these people to come back and want them to tell their neighbors or relatives. It’s worked for us. We advertised for a couple years back in the beginning, and after that it’s all been repeat customers and referrals. For 25-plus years, it’s just been word-of-mouth.”
Meyer and his brother Jim, who joined the company in 1986 and handles front office duties, have sometimes had several employees, but given the economy, currently have just one.
“We’ve been through a couple recessions, but nothing like this,” Meyer said. “An adjuster we’ve known for a long time told us that two years ago, 90 percent of the estimates he wrote were at shops. Now 90 percent of the estimates he writes are at residences. He’s cashing these people out, and they’re driving them dented. They’re getting that insurance check and they’re going to pay the mortgage or the gas bill.”
But like most business owners, Meyer is optimistic the worst is over and business should begin to rebound. As it does, Meyer said, he’ll keep some bad hiring decisions he’s made in the past close to mind.
“I learned not to depend too much on their resumes,” Meyer said. “Now a lot of it is based on my gut feeling. In a shop like ours, you have to be able to interact with them every day. So personality is a big thing. Having people with the right attitude.” A self-professed micromanager, Meyer said he prefers handling as much of the repairs as possible in-house. Occasionally, however, he said, when a full-frame vehicle is more than the 10-ton towers on his Continental frame rack can handle, he’ll send it over to Coachman Auto Body in nearby Clackamas.
“And the guys just around the corner here at Auto Electric Specialties are great,” Meyer said. “If I run into electrical problems, I could spend half a day trying to figure out what they can solve in five minutes. They are the best I’ve seen. If they ever scratch a car in their lot, we take care of them first, because if I need to deliver a car, they’re on it right away even though they’re usually booked five or six days out. They take care of me, and I take care of them.”
Meyer said he similarly prefers to buy parts locally whenever he can. With the economy, he’s been buying more used parts, and praised the service he gets from Roland Miller at Chevy Corner Truck Salvage in Southeast Portland.
“He busts his tail to find and get us what we need,” Meyer said.
When asked about the future, Meyer said he has his eye on retirement, perhaps as early as next year. Part of his motivation was the experience of a young man who now spends some of his days hanging around Meyer’s shop.
“He was the best employee I ever ha
d in 30 years, a body man and painter with a great attitude,” Meyer said. “I could have seen him taking over the shop one day. But he was in a car accident and had a head injury, was in a coma for six weeks. We’ve let him come down here hoping some of what he did will come back to him, but it’s not. That taught me it can all go away real quick, so we need to do the things we want to do when we can.”
Meyer said he’d like to see the business continue, and has been talking with someone interested in taking over the business.
“I’m not willing to sell the name to just anyone,” Meyer said. “This guy is young and ambitious, and he’s got the attention to detail and is customer-oriented. I have a good feeling about him.”
