Santa Rosa, Calif.-Co-Owner Jim Dadaos said he has seen his business change in leaps and bounds since he first opened Tri-Star Automotive. A former service manager at various dealerships with more than 30 years of experience in the automotive industry, Dadaos, 53, said he opened Tri-Star in 1991 with two long-time friends, Ron Parola, 55, and Rick Sanguinetti, 53.
"Ron is a Jaguar master tech, and Rick is a General Motors master tech. We've got one Greek and two Italians running this place, and we're all ASE-certified. It's a good mix."
Each partner brings a different set of skills to the mix at Tri-Star, Dadaos said. "Ron is a recognized expert on steam-powered cars, and people are calling here all the time asking him questions. We recently did a complete restoration of a 1928 Stanley Steamer. Rick is an auto tech instructor at Santa Rosa Junior College and is really up on the latest diagnostic techniques. He also owns a 1954 Olds 88 and belongs to the Redwood Empire Vintage Car Club here in town. He judges a lot of local car shows and is a real enthusiast."
Tri-Star operates out of a 10,000-square-foot facility containing nine bays, Dadaos said, and also has a 1,500-square-foot off-site storage lot. He said he is the managing partner and general manager, while Parola and Sanguinetti supervise the company's four technicians and work on vehicles.
Tri-Star has been able to retain top technicians by paying them well and treating them with respect, Dadaos said. "We value our employees. Once you've trained them, you develop a huge investment in them, and it kills you if they leave. We treat our techs the way we'd like to be treated, and that's why they've been with us for an average of seven years. I've worked at places where the boss screamed at everyone all day, and that just doesn't work."
Tri-Star is a full-service NAPA AutoCare repair facility and works on all makes and models of automobiles, Dadaos said. The relationship with NAPA has been very beneficial, he said.
"We signed on with NAPA in 1994, and they have been just fantastic. We use the NAPA Tracs shop management system, and we're very happy with it. It does everything for us and saves us a ton of time.
"We do just about everything here, including brakes, lamps, and smog, for which we have all the certifications. We also rebuild engines and transmissions here in-house.
Half of the shop's workload consists of commercial fleet work; 30 percent is retail work, and the remainder is made up of specialty restoration projects on classic collectible cars and hot rods, Dadaos said.
Tri-Star has built a solid reputation in the North Bay for performing preventive maintenance and repairs on commercial fleets of all sizes, he said.
"Our location is ideal for commercial fleet work because we're located within a huge industrial park full of fleets. Our fleet customers include plumbers, sheet metal shops, electricians, and building contractors."
Dadaos said that being able to repair vans and trucks quickly is crucial when it comes to doing commercial fleet work. "Quick turnarounds are big in the fleet business. Our customers can't make money if their vehicles are in the shop. We do everything we can to get them in here and back out on the road as fast as possible."
Tri-Star recently purchased a 15,000-pound hoist to accommodate larger fleet vehicles, including 4500 Series utility trucks, Dadaos said.
Tri-Star is a forward-thinking shop and is always exploring new potential sources of revenue, including hybrids and the latest diagnostics, he said.
"We're checked out on doing maintenance on hybrid vehicles," he said. "We're currently exploring the possibility of doing full repair on them. It's going to become a major part of the market, and we don't want to miss out on it."
Diagnostics is becoming a larger part of the overall picture at Tri-Star, Dadaos said.
"Once you turn down a diagnostics job, you lose that customer. We have retained a lot of good customers by coming through for them in the area of diagnostics. Now, we get diagnostic jobs from other shops that have hit a stone wall."
Tri-Star uses Alldata, Mitchell On-Demand, Ford's technical Web site, and Identifix for diagnostic data, Dadaos said. Staying on top of diagnostics involves intensive training and acquiring all of the latest equipment, he said.
"Training is vital because everything is changing all the time," he said. "And having the newest scopes and scanners is also a big deal. We must have close to $100,000 invested is diagnostic equipment. We are constantly upgrading, at least two to three times per year."
When a customer brings in a vehicle with an electronics-related problem, Tri-Star charges them an upfront diagnostic fee that's equivalent to one or two hours of labor, Dadaos said.
"We will charge them between $100-$200, and 75 percent of the time we can identify the cause of the problem within that period. We've learned what to look for over the years and can anticipate things in many cases."
Tri-Star carries an inventory of about $12,000 and orders from local dealerships and distributors, Dadaos said.
"We get many of our parts from our local NAPA store, Santa Rosa Auto Parts. They've been around for 60 years, and they're very reliable. They recently purchased the NAPA stores in Rohnert Park and Sebastopol, and that has really strengthened them. We also buy a lot of parts from Smothers Auto Parts in Santa Rosa."
By staying on the cutting edge and embracing new technologies, Dadaos said he believes that Tri-Star will continue to build on its record of success.
"We've been able to increase our profits every year since we first opened our doors in '91, and 2007 has been great. As long as we strive to give our customers a good product at a fair price and stay on top of the newest methods of diagnostics and repair, I believe that things can only get better for us."
