Schedler, 49, owns and operates Hal's Auto Care, a shop started by his father as an air-conditioning repair and A/C parts distributorship in 1979.  Hal's has undergone several major changes throughout the years, Schedler said, all of which have greatly contributed to the company's burgeoning success.

"In 2000, we became a full-service repair shop," he said. "My dad retired and an automotive shop became available.  Air conditioning is still a big part of what we do, but it's not as big as it was in the '80s and early '90s.  Then in 2001, we became affiliated with NAPA.  Both moves have proven to be smart ones."

Hal's is split into two sections, a 3,200-square-foot air-conditioning parts warehouse and a 7,500-square-foot repair shop with 10 bays.  The company sells air-conditioning components throughout California and the Northwest for SCS Frigette of Fort Worth, Texas, and carries more than $700,000 in mostly A/C compressors, accumulators, expansion devices, and fittings, Schedler said.

Schedler said he has seen the air-conditioning industry change dramatically since he started working at Hal's in 1980.

"When I began working here, almost all of our business was installing aftermarket air-conditioning systems in new cars for dealerships here in town," he said.  "It's only a small part of what we do now because most new vehicles come with air-conditioning already installed nowadays."

The seasonal nature of the air-conditioning business and the fact that A/C systems don't require repairs and service as much as they used to are the two main reasons why Hal's decided to become a full-service repair shop, Schedler said.

"Summer is chaos around here," he said.  "Eighty percent of our A/C parts and service volume comes during the hot months. Then, during the winter, it completely tails off.  Being a repair shop means that we can keep our people fairly busy all the time.

"The air-conditioning systems in today's cars are more sophisticated and durable," he said. "They just don't break down as much.  I would love to see the old R-12 systems of the '80's come back.  They just weren't made as well as they are today."

Schedler said working on today's A/C systems also requires more knowledge, training, and expensive equipment.

"The modern A/C systems are more intertwined with the cars' computer systems," he said.  "You have more vehicles with things like automatic climate control. Some of them have three separate climate controls, one for the driver, the passenger, and the back seat. 

"A lot of these cars are complicated enough that your average tech will get stumped by weird, unusual, and hard-to-find problems.  We get a lot of cars from other shops that can't solve these kinds of things."

Mike Schedler's father, Hal, 76, is retired now but still maintains a small workshop at Hal's, where he works on a couple of fully restored Ford Model T's, his son said, adding that in one of the classic vehicles, a 1925 four-door, he has installed an A/C system.

Mike Schedler said he employs eight people, including five technicians, one who works part-time as an outside salesman, along with an office manager and a service adviser.

 
"We have one of our techs do outside sales when we don't need him here in the shop," he said.  "He sells air-conditioning parts to fleet accounts and other shops in the area."

Four years ago, Schedler said, he started paying his technicians a flat rate.  "It's a compensation system that has worked well for us.  I'm aware that if it's not implemented properly, flat rate can be abused.  But if it's done correctly, it's fair for me, the tech, and the customer.  One of the ways we make sure it works is that we make all our techs do all their own warranty work.  If something comes back, they fix it on their own dime."

Becoming a NAPA Auto Care Center has given the repair side of Schedler's business a much-needed boost, he said.

"We initially joined NAPA for several reasons, including their 'Peace of Mind Warranty,'" he said. "It's a nationwide warranty that I give my customers on all parts and labor, regardless of whether or not I bought the parts from NAPA.  None of the other vendor installer programs came even close to offering anything like that."

Since joining forces with NAPA, Schedler said he has served on their National Auto Care Advisory Council and is currently president of the local NAPA Business Development Group in Sacramento. 

   
"A couple of years ago, we got together with nine other NAPA Auto Care Centers in the Sacramento area," he said.  "We formed the Business Development Group at that time.  The main purpose of the group is to help each other and pool our resources. 

 We're able to sit down and discuss things like hiring, insurance, employee relations, as well as marketing, training, and other issues that affect all of us."

Schedler said providing valuable training has been one of the biggest benefits of the Business Development Group.

"We get together at the beginning of every year to determine what training classes we want to get involved with," he said.  "So, we're in control of the situation.  We basically set up the classes, making sure that our techs get in first.  Then, if there are any seats left over, we sell them off to local shops."

As a result, the NAPA Auto Centers that are members of the Sacramento-area Business Development Group have had the opportunity to send their technicians to what Schedler calls "top-tier training classes," including a recent training program on hybrid vehicles taught by Craig Van Battenberg, a highly regarded expert on hybrid vehicles. 

 
Another advantage of being a member of the local NAPA Business Development Group revolves around marketing and advertising, Schedler said. 

"We pooled our marketing funds and currently run a series of radio ads on KTKZ (1380 AM)," he said.  "The radio commercials feature a phone number that we created specifically for the ads. When listeners call, they get a dispatcher who directs them to the NAPA Auto Care Center closest to them.  This is how we make sure that our members get the business and the benefits of the ads."

Hal's carries $60,000 worth of NAPA parts but can always get whatever is needed from a NAPA Auto Parts store just two blocks away, Schedler said.

"They can get me anything I want within 20 minutes," he said. "It makes it easier because I don't have to carry things that I won't be using every day.  They take excellent care of us, they really do."