Maple Valley, Wash.-Keith Lewis, AAM, said he was always fixing cars at home and even paid for much of his college education by repairing vehicles. "I would let my customers know when I would be home from Central (Central Washington University in Ellensburg) so they could schedule times to get their cars repaired," said the owner of Motorplex Auto & Truck Repair.
After graduating from Central in 1992 with degrees in finance and business, Lewis said he planned to open a repair business away from home. In 1993, that became a reality, he said.
"I was using my dad's garage the first few months of Motorplex, and I'm sure he was glad to have me move into my own shop," Lewis said, adding that his first facility, also in Maple Valley, occupied about 2,000 square feet.
Lewis said he had met his future wife and business partner at Central during his senior year at Central. Suzanne Lewis, AAM, graduated in 1993 with a degree in accounting and has been at Motorplex since handling accounting and human resource matters, she said. Both graduated from the Automotive Management Institute (AMI) in 2004 with their Accredited Automotive Manager (AAM) designations.
In 1996, Motorplex moved into its current location along the busy Maple Valley Highway; it features a two-story, 6,000-square-foot building plus a large adjacent yard for vehicle storage, Keith Lewis said. The company has 17 employees, he said, including six tow-truck staff that operate Pro-Tow, a towing company that was purchased (and since expanded) in 1998.
Pro-Tow, a 24-hour towing service that has contracts with several police agencies in King County, as well as the Washington State Patrol, services much of county, Lewis said, adding that the towing company has its dispatch and main office in Auburn with a satellite office in Maple Valley.
"We just drove from Chattanooga (Tenn.) with our newest addition to the fleet, a 50-ton Peterbilt tow rig that can tow virtually anything that moves on the road, including a full tractor/trailer," Lewis said. He added that he has tow-truck certifications and often does towing when needed.
The shop also has achieved a 3-Star EnviroStars rating for implementing rigid recycling and pollution prevention measures, he said.
In the eight-bay Motorplex shop, Lewis said there are four ASE-certified technicians and two service advisers that handle daily operations. "While we work most all vehicle systems, including engines and transmissions, underhood service represents 60-70 percent of our overall work," he said.
"Electrical diagnoses is huge for us, and preventive maintenance work represents probably 30-40 percent of the overall underhood service we perform," Lewis said, adding that about 75 percent of all diagnostic work involves underhood with 25 percent undercar diagnoses. "The underhood service segment is profitable for us," he said.
Radiator and climate control is also an important service at Motorplex, Lewis said, even though it is often seasonal business. "We have two machines for A/C service and have received continuous training on air and climate control systems," he said.
"There are lots of equipment costs involving underhood diagnostics and service, as well as A/C machines," Lewis said. "But we focus our business (philosophy) on the customer. If a customer buys a tractor, we'll work on tractors. It's all about what our customers need to have done. From cradle to grave, we provide solutions and solve problems."
To service all makes and models, Lewis said the shop relies on Mitchell, Alldata, and iATN for service data. All employees also get extensive training, and many just attended the Automotive Training Expo (ATE) in SeaTac for both management and technical courses, he said.
"Training is very important to us," Lewis said. "We joined the ACDelco program in 1999, and we are a TSS shop. We utilize a lot of ACDelco training programs as well as others available in the industry, including Worldpac and ASA programs.
"We've been a member of ASA Washington since 1994 and have taken advantage of not only their training programs, but the networking with people in the association has been awesome," Lewis said. "These shop owners are the best of the best, and we've enjoyed attending state retreats over the years."
As a result of early involvement in ASA Washington, Lewis said he became involved in the Industry Technicians Education Coalition (ITEC) program that creates high-quality technical training programs for college-level instruction. He served as president of ITEC from 1994-2000 and said it was a valuable and rewarding experience. "It helped shape me as a person and allowed me to give something back to our industry," he said.
Lewis said he has also become active with the Towing & Recovery Association of Washington (TRAW) and serves on that group's education committee.
With a car count of about 2,000 vehicles a year being serviced at Motorplex, the shop co-owners said 60 percent of their count involves domestic vehicles, though Suzanne Lewis said that trend is changing as the ever-growing Maple Valley area has more people with import vehicles moving to the area.
As the pair looks ahead at challenges and opportunities at their repair business, they said technology is the "facilitator of progress." While local zoning rules change and may have some effect on the shop, the pair said they see a multitude of opportunities for Motorplex and Pro-Tow.
"While we do some commercial vehicle work now, we see that expanding in the future," Keith Lewis said. "We're performing service on light-duty diesels, and we're experimenting with medium- and heavy-duty diesels," he said, adding that gaining the right service information and equipment will continue to be their challenge.
Hybrid service was a key part of training at ATE, Lewis said. "We'll be doing more hybrid service in the future. And we'll have more expansion with heavy-duty tow trucks."
Additional equipment will also be purchased at Motorplex, Lewis said, including a new EVAP machine as well as more diagnostic tools.
The Motorplex owners were highly optimistic about the future of service and repair, as well as the towing business, and said they credit their employees for making both sides successful.