"As a small child I had the fastest bike on the block," Cavataio said.  "I had a love and a knack for working on bikes and small engines, taking them apart, making them go faster.  If it ticked, I wanted to fix it.  It was at this young age that I gained mechanical knowledge and realized the importance of using the right tool or equipment for the job.

"With the encouragement of my wife, I started my business about 15 years ago with a two-bay shop," he said.  "Just being honest and loving to work on the cars contributed to my success.  But also having good clients that keep coming back and that give me referrals, all while I do the right job the first time on the car, are also huge factors."

Cavataio, a former racecar driver, thinks of his business and employees in terms of a race team.

"Having a good team that wants to win just as bad as I do, and for my business to be busy, for me it's like winning on the race track," he said.  "When my clients talk about how they like the work we've done to their car and how it runs so much better, it's like winning the championship."

Another key to his success, Cavataio said he believes, is that when one of his employees answers the phone within three rings, the customer on the other end of the line understands that the technician honestly wants to help them with their problem.

Part of winning is having the right attitude and the proper tools, Cavataio said. "Buying and staying up to date with equipment is very hard and expensive to do."  Keeping equipment current, he said, helps him compete with franchise dealerships, which are now pursuing more service work.

"But we don't sell ourselves as being the cheapest; we sell ourselves as being the best, and part of being the best is keeping up with the technology and training that we need," he said.  "Most of the products we buy are software for the PC, diagnostic tools that we need to be keep up to date and do our jobs properly and effectively.  For example, one manufacturer has just changed their diagnostic tool about eight times in the last three years, which gets expensive."

Cavataio said he recently purchased a Hunter alignment rack, a move that has paid off.

"Looking back, I wish I had bought it a long time ago," he said.  "It just makes sense. It's part of helping your customers get more maintenance performed at one time.  Their time is important, and not having to go to another shop has value.  I wasted a lot of hours running to other shops to have the alignments performed that we are now doing in-house. It all ties in with doing suspension work and being able to take care of the alignment all at once, along with saving the customer time in the process."

Cavataio said he tries to use OE parts on customers' vehicles whenever possible.

"RPM is a NAPA Auto Care Center," he said. "The main reason I am is because they warranty their parts.

"For example, if I put on a NAPA water pump for my client, they go to California, and that water pump goes out, the customer can get it serviced at a NAPA Auto Care Center out there," he said.  "Obviously, it has other advantages. Across the board, it's a good thing to be part of the program, but I mainly do this for the customer=service part of the business.

About his inventory, Cavataio said, "We try to keep a lot of the fast-moving parts in stock, like oil filters and miscellaneous ignition parts, parts that are common failure items that we can move in and out right away. Other than that, NAPA gets the parts here so quick that it is hardly worth tying the money and space up in stocking parts."

Like many shop owners, Cavataio said he is concerned with changes on the horizon in new technology, especially with the current fuel situation, and how soon those changes will come.

"You never know what the next big investment is that you'll need to operate your shop, along with the training for that new technology," he said.