Candid Thoughts from Your Shops - An Interview with Bill Nalu, Interstate Auto Care, Owner

Often times, we feel disconnected from the actual end user in the Aftermarket. It’s great to discuss real-world issues and try to come up with solutions, but that is pretty useless if we’re not interacting with our shops to get their ideas. This section is dedicated to hearing what our shops have to say about industry news. Below is a conversation we had with Bill Nalu. He owns Interstate Auto Care in Metro Detroit.

Can you give us a little background on your business?

We are a 7 bay/7000 square foot independent service center that has been in business since November of 2000.

Do you view new vehicle technology as a hindrance or an opportunity?

I usually get in before 8 and get the day started with a team huddle where we lay out what we plan to accomplish that day. Throughout the rest of the day, I like to float around and help out where I can. From customer write-ups, drop offs or part runs, I love to engage with our many loyal customers more than anything. In addition to the above tasks, I of course have my typical shop owner office work that I have to attend to throughout the day. You know… the fun stuff.  😊 

What is the next technology hot topic in your shop?  1234-yf, ADAS, hybrid/EV’s, other?

Hands down, it has to be the accelerating pace of Electric Vehicle adoption. Whether this turns out to be a fad, or turns the internal combustion engine into our generation’s horse and carriage remains to be seen. My advice is to not to pretend that it is going to take another 10 to 20 years to get there. The future is here now and the pace is only accelerating. Just look at how cell phones went from dumb to smart in less than a decade. Can you even find a conventional cell phone any more?

How can distributors and manufacturers help shops navigate new vehicle technologies?

By making the average shop owner a better business person and to encourage them to be more proactive on training. Picture a transactional triangle where great WDs make better shop owners. Owners who buy higher quality parts that they can sell at a higher margin, because they’ve built a customer base that is price proof, recession proof and competition proof. A win-win-win!

What impact are supply chain issues having on your shop?

“Adapt or die”, in other words, “deal with it”. I find no real value in complaining about the problem. Instead, I invest my time into finding a solution, temporary or otherwise. If it takes me longer to get parts in our hands, we pass that information onto the customer and they understand, because they see the same thing play out at their grocery store and other such places. Therefore, I focus on what I can control, and since parts distribution is not one of them, I minimize that disruption by offering alternative transportation or shuttle services for customers while they wait a little longer for their vehicle to be serviced.

Can you speak to the “Your Car, Your Data” fight and how that will impact your business?

The data fight is a smaller part of a bigger issue, and that issue is the right for you and I to control the sharing of our personal data that collected by companies who sell it without our knowledge. These efforts include the “personalization of the driver experience”, which could involve you and I unknowingly signing a vehicle purchase agreement that allows the auto maker to collect data on where you’re going, how fast you’re driving, how aggressive you’re driving, etc…

For example, imagine seat sensors that sense how much you weigh, which would enable an XM satellite radio provider to “suggest” commercials that may be of particular interest to you. Ever wonder how long Facebook and Google have been custom tailoring your user experience? This would make that effort look like peanuts.

Where do you go for training and/or industry news?

Our main training platform is “AVI Online” and I find out about the latest industry news on the “Remarkable Results Radio” network and through various Facebook Shop Owner groups.

What is the biggest challenge your shop faces on a day-to-day basis?

Shop owners who undercut what we are worth by giving away what their expertise for peanuts. Also, parts distributors who keep unlicensed service facilities in business by selling them parts.

What brings you the most joy in your shop?

Hands down, I enjoy the team that we’ve build over the years and the customers who do business with us. Customer service and retail is all I have done in my 40 years of working and I can’t imagine ever doing anything else. People are fascinating, even when they are not being cooperative.

What is the most important aspect of your shop that you’d like to share with YANG?

At risk of repeating the most overused cliché in business, “we are not in the automotive business- we are in the people business.” Discount this statement at your own peril, as many failing ventures do. Demonstrate it first to the man/woman in that mirror in the morning, and then watch how it effects your team and then your customer base that will soon climb over each other to do business with you. If there is a more recession proof, supply chain proof, price proof element to what we do in business, someone please explain it to me.


This interview is brought to you by

Young Auto Care Network Group

Home for the auto care industry’s dynamic and vibrant community of under-40 professionals.

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