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            Pierce, Neb.--Rick Prince, owner of Rick's Auto Repair in Pierce, said he has taken a small repair shop and built it into a thriving business by balancing his customer base of retail customers, farm trade, and fleet business.

            Prince said he received his education at Northeast Community College in Norfolk, Neb., and on graduation went to work for Langel Chevrolet in Norfolk. He said he worked there for five years starting in 1977 and then worked for Hi-Way Service.

            In 1989, Prince said he started his own business in Pierce, where he was born and raised. His first shop was about 2,400 square feet, he said. The shop had only 10-foot ceilings and was not tall enough for any kind of lift equipment, he said, so he moved to his current 6,000-square-foot location in 1994, which had room for aboveground lifts.

            Prince said he has three technicians and one office person, including Randy Rolf, who has been with him for 17 years and is his lead technician. "Kent Peters came here as a college co-op kid and has been with me since 2000," he said, adding that  Dave Lienemann came to work for him in 1994 and works on farm trucks and fleet equipment. Emilie Harrison is the office manager and bookkeeper and has been with the company for two years, he said.

            The shop specializes in electronic diagnostic work, Prince said. It used to do internal engine work and rebuilding, he said, but it is now more efficient to either pick up a reconditioned engine or obtain a new one.

"We do pretty much everything," he said, "including brakes, clutches, and manual transmissions. We don't have an alignment rack, and I don't know if there is enough work for two alignment racks in town. We do lots of work on medium- to heavy-duty trucks." Most work is done on domestic cars and trucks, he said.

     "We do some work on brand-new vehicles that are still under factory warranty," Prince said. "The customers are hesitant to take their vehicles back to the dealership because of the inconvenience and distance."  He said customers bring their vehicles into his shop because it is convenient and they trust his judgment and the workmanship of his technicians.  

            Prince said he is an ASE-certified Master Technician and for the last several years has used the CARQUEST Technical Institute (CTI) and ACDelco for his shop's training. He and his technicians go to the CTI classes as often as they are available, he said.

            Prince said he is also on the advisory board for Northeast Community College and attends meetings twice a year, where he can get together with about 15 members and help with updates at the school.

            The shop does diagnostic work for some of the small-town dealerships and other repair shops in about a 30-mile radius, Prince said. He has a Snap-on Modular Diagnostic Information System (MODIS) Elite 6.4 that he just purchased this year, he said, as well as an OTC scanner and a SUN 450 scope that the technicians still use in certain circumstances. That equipment allows his technicians to diagnose today's sophisticated vehicles faster and easier, he said. 

            Prince said he gets most of his parts from Pierce Automotive Supply, a NAPA Auto Parts store owned by Arnold Venteiches.  He said he also uses CARQUEST of Norfolk, where Salesman Dean Blecher takes care of his brakes, belts, hoses, filters, and ignition components. CARQUEST delivers to him three times a day, he added.

The shop is an ACDelco TSS repair shop and gets all of its ACDelco parts, as well as Fel-Pro products, from Interstate Auto Supply, a Johnston Autostore, in Sioux City, Iowa, Prince said. Interstate Auto Supply delivers once a day, and he said he can order online. The salesman that calls on the shop is Matt Barsness, he said.

"The most important thing for me in a parts supplier," Prince said, "is the service and quality of the parts. I find that my customers will let me put on the parts that I suggest they should use on their cars."

            Prince said he is getting the right parts on time and the parts are the best quality he can get. Sometimes, he said, he has issues with some rebuilt rotating electrical parts, but even that does not happen very often.

            "I would prefer not to stock any parts," he said, "but being out in the country, I need some parts here at my shop. Even with the delivery set-up, we need to have some common, high-volume parts on hand so the technicians aren't standing around waiting for a part to show up.

            "Last year, was a slow year for business in the northeast part of Nebraska," Prince said. "This year has been better. I just hope it stays that way."