Curt Hogan

Good day boys and girls. Just wanted to drop by and introduce myself and give a little background info about myself. I am a 29 year veteran of the auto repair industry, 25 of those as a shop owner starting at the ripe old age of 22. I started the same way as many if not most owners in this industry. I thought the only way I would be happy, was if I were the owner of the place I worked everyday. Am I glad I took the plunge? .......Every day! Are there times I wish I knew what manicured nails were like?......Every day! But the long and the short of it are that I was afforded an opportunity 25 years ago by a great man, to get up in the morning and never once, in all those years think, "man I just cant do this today". My lovely wife and I operate a 4 bay shop with 4 technicians (one is my oldest son) and 2 service advisers, my younger brother who has been with me since 6 months after I opened is the main adviser\manager and a part time porter/janitor/gopher (youngest son). Ultimately I hope to learn from each and every one of you and hopefully I can be of service to some of you along the way. I am not a lurker, very opinionated and at times crotchety (so I'm told) but on thing I have learned over the years is that this is WORK! But nowhere is it written that work can't be fun. Lets Play!

AAA in our area has, for the last couple of yours been running battery replacement trucks in addition to the normal towing vehicles. I stated my displeasure with this program to my AAA representative when I was participating in the AAA Approved Auto Repair program and using them as my towing service. Since I have ceased participation in the program, my tow in rate has more than doubled. I was reading a recent issue of Brake and Front End magazine today and got to wondering if those of you who are still involved with AAA are as alarmed as I am even though I am a former participant? According to the editorial AAA has purchased a 30 something location, auto repair franchise, operating in several states in the Midwestern and Eastern United States. My concern is this, when I was a AAA Approved shop I advertised, as I'm sure most of you do, The AAA logo in all of my print advertising, on my radio advertising and even my Yellow Pages ads. Heck, I even allowed them to hang their sign on my pole and building. All of those years I paid dues to belong to and advertised for an organization that is now a direct competitor. Yeah, I may just be venting but really would like to know what you all think?