Steering an Automotive Legacy Forward With Mike Allen of Carfix

Mike Allen is the entrepreneurial owner of Carfix, a three-shop operation in Raleigh and Garner in North Carolina. Serving as the President of the Board of Directors for the Automotive Service and Tire Alliance and hosting the annual ASTA Expo, Mike embodies third-generation excellence in the auto repair industry. With his grandfather founding a multifaceted auto repair business in 1937, Mike was born into an environment where the industry was a staple at home. After taking the helm, he expanded his family legacy, demonstrating growth in both his business and his passion for the automotive service community.

In this episode…

The automotive industry is evolving with new strategies for managing and growing repair businesses. What are the key techniques for increasing customer satisfaction and boosting revenue in the automotive industry?

According to Mike Allen of Carfix, implementing a customer-first approach is crucial for long-term success in the automotive repair business. He emphasizes the importance of transparency, clear communication, and reliable service to build trust and loyalty among customers. Additionally, Mike discusses the significance of adopting the latest technologies and training staff to stay updated with industry advancements, which can lead to more efficient operations and higher customer satisfaction.

On this episode of Gain Traction, host Mike Edge welcomes guest Mike Allen to discuss various strategies for enhancing business performance in the automotive repair sector. They cover topics such as effective marketing techniques, the benefits of investing in staff development, and the role of innovative tools in streamlining repair processes. The conversation also touches on the challenges faced by automotive repair businesses and practical solutions to overcome them.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn: 

• [0:12] How automotive entrepreneur Mike Allen expanded his family’s legacy to three successful shops
• [2:12] Mike shares his journey from being a child in the car business to a leader shaping the industry’s future
• [2:46] Why community involvement and customer service are important in building a lasting automotive business 
• [4:45] The effective growth strategies of acquiring existing businesses and integrating them into a larger operation 
• [9:00] How to elevate your automotive company with a focus on relational rather than transactional business models
• [25:08] The simple yet powerful core values that drive the business and personal life of a seasoned entrepreneur

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Mike Allen on LinkedIn
• Mike Edge on LinkedIn
• Carfix
• Automotive Service and Tire Alliance
• Tread Partners

Quotable Moments:

• “You’re a dumbass if you don’t go back to the business and take it over from dad because it’s such a great operation.”
• “He trained me to negotiate with vendors and how to read financial statements and how to try to recruit, hire, retain, that kind of stuff, which I’m very thankful for.”
• “We’re in the hospitality business. It just so happens that the product we sell is fixing cars, right?”
• “If somebody calls looking for tires, they’re not going to get tires anywhere other than here.”
• “Be nice, tell the truth, have fun, and be thankful.”

Action Steps:

1. Harness legacy knowledge: embrace and leverage the experience and insights from previous generations to inform modern business practices.
2. Prioritize relational business models: shift the business focus from mere transactions to nurturing long-term relationships, ensuring repeated business and customer loyalty.
3. Broaden skill sets in business: focus on understanding broader business skills like vendor negotiations and financial management rather than just technical expertise.
4. Expand strategically via acquisition: explore the acquisition of existing businesses as a growth strategy to increase market share efficiently.
5. Foster core values: embed the company culture and personal life with essential principles such as integrity, gratitude, and enjoyment of work, leading to a complimenting and balanced lifestyle.

• Carfix
• Gain Traction
• Gain Traction Podcast
• Mike Allen
• Mike Edge
• Tread Partners

Transcript

Announcer:

Welcome to the Gain Traction Podcast, where we feature top automotive entrepreneurs and experts and share their inspiring stories. Now, let’s get started with the show.

Mike E.:

Hello, folks. Welcome to the Gain Traction podcast. I am Mike Edge, your host. Today’s guest is Mike Allen, owner of Carfix with three shops in Raleigh and Garner, North Carolina. He is also the president on the board of directors for ASTA, which hosts the Annual ASTE Show each year in Raleigh, North Carolina.

This podcast is brought to you by Tread Partners, the leading digital marketing agency in the tire and auto repair space for multi-location operations that have five to hundreds of stores. Why work with Tread Partners? To put it simply because they know the industry like no other. Tread Partners teaches its clients about what works in the industry and, more importantly, what doesn’t work. It is a transparent collaboration. You see the same data Tread sees, and the decisions are based on data collaboration and not guesswork. They are a trusted partner, not a vendor. To learn more visit treadpartners.com.

Also, you guys that have probably been listening lately have heard me talk about Traction Summit. There’s still rooms available in Charlotte at the DoubleTree. It is hosted this year in Charlotte, North Carolina, August 13th to 14th. Learn more about it at tractionsummit.com.

All right. Our guest is Mike Allen. Mike Allen, you’ve been on this podcast before, but not with me. Welcome back to the podcast.

Mike A.:

Thanks for having me, man. I was an early adopter way back in the day with Mr. Maier I do believe.

Mike E.:

You were, and you helped us get started. Believe it or not, we just crossed our three-year marker.

Mike A.:

Congratulations.

Mike E.:

Thank you. It’s grown substantially, and we appreciate you being one of the sacrificial lambs in the beginning.

Mike A.:

No worries.

Mike E.:

Let’s talk about your story. I mean, when you got started in the industry. I know you’re second-generation.

Mike A.:

Third-generation, actually.

Mike E.:

Third generation. Okay. Tell us about that.

Mike A.:

Yeah. My grandfather opened his business in rural Orange County, North Carolina, outside of Chapel Hill in 1937. It was the general store, the feedlot, the auto repair shop, and the social hub because at the time he was single, for all the single men in the community. He just had a bedroom built onto the back of the shop. Eventually, he ended up getting married and built a kitchen on. My dad literally grew up in a room above the shop.

Mike E.:

Man, that’s the way to save money.

Mike A.:

I guess, man. It’s funny talking to my dad about it. He would get up. There was only one restroom in the house. He’d have to come down through the convenience store section and walk through it in his PJs and go through the back of the house before he could use the restroom in the morning. All these farmers were there at 5:00 AM having coffee and trading tall tales. They’re all giving him a hard time about… “You ever going to get up boy.” He’s having to yes, sir/no, sir, and be polite and give customer service before he’s even gotten out of bed and taken a whiz in the morning. He learned to be polite-

Mike E.:

You talk about being born into it and living in it. That’s it.

Mike A.:

But that was his childhood. He grew up obviously working in the business. He went away to college and started a family and ended up back into the automotive sector. He ended up buying a shop in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. That’s the one that I grew up in. Thankfully, not in a room on the back of the shop, but I started busing tires and-

Mike E.:

You got go home for the bathroom.

Mike A.:

I know. Right. But I busted tires and changed oil and everything else when I was a kid up through high school. I went away to college and did some other things and came back to the business. In 2004, Dad bought a second location and named it Carfix. Pretty quickly thereafter, I went to run that location. Dad retired and sold his Chapel Hill store in 2016 to Mark Ponds, who actually… You’ve had on the podcast before, I believe. I eventually started buying Dad out of his shares in Carfix. Then, in ’19, I opened the second store. In ’22, I opened a third store, and here we are.

Mike E.:

That’s awesome, man. What a cool journey, though.

Mike A.:

It’s been fun.

Mike E.:

What brought you back in? You said you went to school and then left for a little bit. What pulled you back?

Mike A.:

My brother verbally beat me into submission. I remember I was out visiting with him one summer. He was in the Air Force. He’s a pilot. He’s never going to come back to the family business. At that point, he’s got a career going on in a different direction. He said, “Look, man.” Forgive my French. He said, “You’re a dumbass if you don’t go back to the business and take it over from dad because it’s such a great operation.” He had a really good business going. I didn’t want people to think that I’d been given anything. I wanted to “make it on my own.” What I didn’t realize is that Dad was going to be harder on me than any person that was an employee of the company. Eventually, I went back. He didn’t even give me any leadership role. He threw me in the back of the building doing spray and bed liners, initially. It’s not great work.

Mike E.:

You’re like, “Thanks, Dad.”

Mike A.:

Yeah. “This is awesome, Dad. Thanks.” But I eventually worked my way back up to the counter and started doing sales on the front of the house and learned about the tire business and learned about the repair business. At that point, he was also getting involved in some coaching in some 20 groups. I got to watch that evolution happen in his business. By the time ’04 came around and Carfix became a thing, I was close to ready to go run a shop. Now, when he sent me out there, I put my foot in my mouth a few times. Still relatively young and learning things. But he really set me up for success. He did not train me to be a technician. He trained me to negotiate with vendors and how to read financial statements and how to try to recruit, hire, retain, that stuff. I’m very thankful for that versus teaching me how to change timing belts.

Mike E.:

What’s the biggest thing you think you took away from the fact that you get to be third generation? I know it’s instinctively in you because you grew up there. Just from the observation of being a kid and being in the business, what do you think was the biggest… I don’t know, thing passed on to you?

Mike A.:

Well, I think work ethic, one, and doing what you love. I don’t wake up in the morning saying, “You know what I want to do is I want to go be involved in fixing cars,” but I do want to go help people, and I do want to go be a leader in the industry and in my marketplace. That’s exciting. Talking to other shop owners and helping them with problems that they might be having or struggles they might be having… I really enjoy that. Dad was heavily involved in that as well. I got to see him doing that. My grandfather was a pillar of the community as well in his community. I’ve enjoyed seeing those role models and what it can be. It’s not just a job. It’s not just a machine to make money with. It’s more than that.

Mike E.:

I’ll compliment you. I mean, I think you and I met physically… I think we had talked on the phone before. But physically, we met last year at the ASTE show. You are a very good people person. What you just said there just resonates in the fact that you’re in the people business. It just happens to be that tires and automotive repair is your tool or your mechanism to connect with people and help people and be part of the community. It’s a good way of describing it.

Mike A.:

Absolutely. I heard a coach, a couple of years ago, say, “We’re in the hospitality business. It just so happens that the product we sell is fixed cars.”

Mike E.:

That’s a good one.

Mike A.:

Or tires, as it is. But he was right.

Mike E.:

Well, you’re usually taking care of somebody. Well, I don’t want to say-

Mike A.:

A lot of times, it’s a stressful experience for them.

Mike E.:

Correct.

Mike A.:

They didn’t wake up planning to have a check engine light on or a flat tire or a problem of some sort. We’re taking away the pain and the stress, and we’re trying to create a positive experience for them.

Mike E.:

Yeah. I think when people feel like, “This guy cares about me…” Like you said, it’s usually in a stressful situation. But if they feel like they got a friend in that type of situation, it just elevates or it removes that stress a little bit. They feel more comfortable that… “Okay, I’ve been here before. I’ve done that. Mike and his team have taken care of me. Carfix is good.”

Mike A.:

Yeah. It’s a relational business model rather than a transactional business model. I think it’s more rewarding. In some ways, I think it’s a little bit harder. In other ways, it’s probably a little bit easier. But it’s just a different way to skin that cat. I’m not saying that one’s better than the other. It’s just that’s the method that we’ve chosen. By the way, I do want to jump in real quick. We met at ASTE last year. There has been some confusion. We have rebranded the event. It was the Automotive Service and Technology Expo hosted by the Automotive Service and Tire Alliance. It was ASTE hosted by ASTA. It was Alphabet soup. It is now the ASTA Expo.

Mike E.:

Oh, good. Okay. I brought that up last year. I thought it was a little confusing. But I mean, I just said it to Neil. Well, he goes, don’t worry about it.

Mike A.:

So many acronyms. I just call it the Expo now.

Mike E.:

Well, tell us about it. Tell us it. We met there last year. I had a good time meeting a lot of new folks. You guys have a lot of fun at that event. I’ll tell you that. That casino night you put on was a lot of fun.

Mike A.:

Did you come to the Go-kart night the night before the casino night?

Mike E.:

I didn’t get to make it to that. I didn’t get make it to that.

Mike A.:

Personally, I think it’s one of the best training and networking events in the industry. It seems to be getting better every year. We had over 1,000 people there last year. It’s not the biggest. You have things like VISION and SEMA. But it is full weekend. The training catalog for this year coming up in September is 10 pages long of different training courses. We have marketing courses. We have management. We have sales. We have entry-level tech, journeyman tech, and master-level tech classes, diesel, hybrid, electric, tire industry. All of that stuff is going to be there. We have a trade show. We have a ton of social events around it. We have a big Go-kart racing event with other little ancillary games around. We have a casino night. That’s a huge hit every year. We have keynote speakers.

I think for a vendor that’s going to attend, the key is to come and attend all the social events because by the time the trade show comes around… because the trade show’s not open the entire thing. The trade show’s just Saturday. By the time Saturday trade show time comes around, you’ve already built relationships and developed rapport with a lot of these target clients. You can get right down to business. I’ve found that to be way more effective than standing at a booth for three or four days trying to flag down people that are walking by that you haven’t had any rapport-building time with.

Mike E.:

No doubt about it. Well, you had Darren Mclay there last year. He spoke on just how to sell tires basically to the group.

Mike A.:

His class was How to Never, Ever, Ever, Ever Lose a Tire Sale, Ever, I think was the name of his class.

Mike E.:

I think you’re right. I’ve told him. I said, “Man, I’m going to tell you something.” I remember lots of people talk about how to sell tires, but he really broke it down easy. I think it was a good session for the organization as a whole, but that’s it. How to Never, Ever, Ever, Ever Lose a Tire Sale, Ever.

Mike A.:

Yeah. His whole theory is if somebody calls looking for tires, they’re not going to get tires anywhere other than here. I’m going to find a way to put them in tires. His track record shows that it works from his family history and the business that they built.

Mike E.:

Yeah, no. It was a lot of fun being in his class. He just had a different little angle about how he goes about it. But he feels like if you let the tire sale get away, you’re going to let that brake alignment or brake repair/wheel alignment… You’re giving away something else, too.

Mike A.:

Yep, totally. Absolutely.

Mike E.:

Well, back to Carfix. What are the long-term plans for Carfix? Where do you guys see yourself in a year, five years, et cetera?

Mike A.:

Yeah. As long as it’s still fun, I want to keep growing. There’s-

Mike E.:

Do you want to grow, or are you trying to grow inside your stores right now? Are you trying to grow by location, or are you trying to grow just internally? Is there still capacity, I guess you’d say?

Mike A.:

Yes. All of the above. You want to do as good as you can with what you got. But the easiest way to grow is to increase market share, to buy more bays. I’m scared of building from the ground up. I’ve just never had that experience. I’m always looking for shops that are looking for a retirement plan and don’t have one yet. My second and third store were exactly that situation. It was just they didn’t have a child or a manager or any viable plan to transition out, and I gave them that exit plan.

Mike E.:

It does seem to be the trend in the industry. I mean, everybody’s looking for more than-

Mike A.:

Everybody wants 100 stores.

Mike E.:

Yeah. Yeah. Not that you need 100 stores or anything like that. Like you’re saying with market share, if you buy up a small competitor close by or whatever, it just fits the niche.

Mike A.:

Yeah. I don’t know. My wife asked me what’s the end goal. I’m still having a good time. If the business is growing and there’s opportunities, then I keep going until it’s not fun anymore and then do something different. But I don’t foresee that happening anytime soon.

Mike E.:

Do you sons… Do you get them in the bays at all, or are they allowed in the stores yet? Are they doing any work?

Mike A.:

My oldest just turned 14. The goal was to get him in the bays some this summer. It hadn’t happened yet. There’s been so much travel and summer sports and everything else. But we have bought a project car that he and I are working on nights and weekends, just tinkering and playing with just to get him into a shop and teach him how to use the equipment and spend some time together. He’s enjoying that. Might get him in there for real, actually, doing some work next summer is what it’s looking like.

Mike E.:

That’s good. I think it’s challenging for… I mean, I’m going off on a tangent here because I got three sons. But if you don’t own your own business, it’s a challenge for young men to get started. Girls do a lot of babysitting. They pick up money when they turn 12. I mean, maybe they’re starting out with an hour or two, helping mom out or some mother they know. But I think it’s a challenge for boys. The problem is when I was growing up and you were growing up… I mean, I’d go get yards to mow. But now, there’s so many commercial mowers out there. They take up all that, too. I mean, I think it’s a challenge for young men to get started early. Unfortunately, I feel like our society has painted this picture… Well, for safety reasons and whatnot, they can’t do… They can do. They can do a lot. They really are hungry for it.

Mike A.:

I have an acquaintance who… Her teenage son saw somebody doing a headlight restoration with a kit bought from a parts store and was wowed by what an improvement it made. He went and bought a couple of kits and some battery powered buffers and started going door to door offering headlight restorations for like 75 bucks. He made a lot of money doing that. I thought, “That’s the type of initiative… That’s a kid who’s going somewhere because he just saw an opportunity and took it upon himself.”

Mike E.:

Love that.

Mike A.:

Yeah. There are opportunities out there. You just need-

Mike E.:

Oh, yeah. No.

Mike A.:

The entrepreneurial spark seems to be more and more rare these days.

Mike E.:

Oh, no doubt about it. The biggest thing that I’m proud of my boys about is they work hard. Anything they do, they’ve always been praised because, A, it’s weird, but my middle son… He’s almost 20. But he laughs about the job that he’s got. He said, “Dad, they praise me because I show up.” I said, “Well, that’s because the bar has been so lowered today.”

Mike A.:

It speaks to the quality of the current entering workforce.

Mike E.:

It does. I said, “You’re a hero just because you come and do your job.” He goes, “Well, I don’t even get on my cell phone when I’m at work.” I said, “That’s another important…” I grinded that in his head. I said, “Do not pick up your phone when you’re at work.” He doesn’t. Then, where he works, the store… They know my wife and I are his parents. They’re always like, “Oh, we love your kid. We love it.” Well, it’s funny because he told me the other day, he said, “My manager came up to me, and he’s in college. He said I could just make my schedule. He doesn’t care what hours I want. He just said, ‘You do whatever you want because you’ve been that reliable for us.'” I said, “See what that gets you?” Isn’t that awesome?”

Mike A.:

I onboarded a young woman last week. We were doing paperwork and everything, getting her going. My office manager was on vacation, so I was getting to do some of that stuff. I said, “We have a bio wall in our lobby that has just a quick bio and pictures of family and hobbies and whatnot for each team member.” I said, “Hey, email me seven or eight pictures, and I’ll just send them off and get them printed and put them off on the bio wall.” She said, “I got to go get my phone. I left it in the car.” I was like, “Well, you did what? That’s amazing. I like you better now.” Somebody has taught her… You’re at work to work. She goes out, and she gets her phone and checks it at lunchtime. She leaves it back in the car and comes back in. It’s amazing.

Mike E.:

That is. I mean, honestly, it’s for the younger generation. I don’t think it’s as hard for me or you because I get the feeling you’re probably like I am. I want to leave it somewhere where I don’t have to look at it. You know what I’m saying? I need the break. But to get the kids to do it because they’re on every form of some social media platform. It’s like if it’s in their hand, they just can’t help themselves.

Mike A.:

Yep. It’s compulsive.

Mike E.:

“Somebody’s got something important to say, Dad. I got to check it out.”

Mike A.:

Yeah. I got to go like whatever the latest TikTok is.

Mike E.:

Then, they get on these goofy reels or whatever. But some of them, I admit… My boys actually have a good sense of humor. They brought me some pretty funny stuff. Well, tell me, on a personal side… Well, before I go there, just for the sake of the audience, do you want to tell them a little bit more about ASTA? The dates and who can participate, or if it’s too late? I don’t know if it’s too late to sign up.

Mike A.:

No, it’s not too late. Sponsorships and vendor/stuff like that is all sold out. But there are opportunities for next year if anybody is interested in that. We’ve been bursting at the seams of the facility that we’re in for the last couple of years. We’ve signed a contract with the Raleigh Convention Center next year, which is going to allow us to triple in size. There’s going to be a lot more activities that we can do and a lot more creative stuff that we can do on the trade shift floor and more classroom space.

We have 56 different training classes this year. We had to turn away a ton of really high-level courses and instructors because there just wasn’t enough classroom space. The class capacity is also going to increase next year. I’m excited about this year coming up. I’m also super excited about what’s coming for next year because the energy and the growth is so good. I was actually laughing with one of the instructors because I sent him a copy of the course curriculum for this year. He said, “Man, there are five learning sessions.” He said, “Every one of those sessions has multiple classes that I want to go to. I don’t know. How do you pick?” He was like, “You want to divide yourself up and be in more than one place at a time, and it’s just not possible.”

But it is September 26 through 28 this year. If you go to astausa.org, you can find all the details there. You can register and sign up. There’s a significant discount for attendance if you are an ASTA member. We have a significantly discounted membership to join the association if you join while you’re signing up for the expo.

Mike E.:

Awesome.

Mike A.:

It’s actually cheaper to register for the expo and join the association than it is to register for the expo if you’re not a member. No reason not to. Then, you get access to all the other benefits that we have as part of the association. It’s a no-brainer.

Mike E.:

Well, it was a lot of fun last year, but there was a lot to learn. But that’s interesting because I know where you were or you are. If you get to that… Is it a convention center? The Raleigh Convention Center? Is that where it is?

Mike A.:

Yeah. It’s right downtown. It’s 10 minutes from the airport, tons of hotels, tons of good restaurants, and bars around. It’s a really good time.

Mike E.:

No, that’s exciting. Well, on a personal side, tell us a little bit more about yourself. Where do you like to travel?

Mike A.:

This year’s been exciting in that my son got out of school, my oldest son. He was 13 at the time. He has since turned 14. But the day he got out, we flew to Phoenix. We rented a car, and we spent two weeks tracing the Colorado River from the Grand Canyon all the way up to the Headwaters in Rocky Mountain National Park. We did all the outings, the kayaking and the canyoneering. We did slot canyons. We did the side-by-sides across Moab, zip lines, and everything else. It was an amazing trip, just the two of us, and flew home from Denver. But I think now that’s something that I did with my parents the summer I was 13.

Mike E.:

Oh, man. That’s awesome.

Mike A.:

I’m excited to do that with him. I’m going to do it with the other ones on the summer after they finish eighth grade also. But for me, Zion National Park was just incredible. It changed my view of the world. Going up the Virgin River Gorge into the Narrows is amazing. I got to do that with my mom and dad when I was a kid. Now, I’ve done it with my oldest. We grew up in the southeast. We’ve got rolling hills and lots of trees and green, but there’s no long vistas and no giant geographic features. For him to be exposed to that and get to see him witnessing that for the first time was pretty amazing.

Mike E.:

That’s awesome.

Mike A.:

That’s been my great travel for the year.

Mike E.:

Good for you, man. That’s awesome. Well, before we hang up here, what’s some words of wisdom that you live by that you can impart on the rest of us?

Mike A.:

Be nice. Tell the truth. Have fun, and be thankful.

Mike E.:

Wow. That pretty much sums it up, doesn’t it?

Mike A.:

Yeah. I mean, those are the core values of Carfix. Be nice. Tell the truth. Have fun. Be thankful. If you do all those things, everything else just falls into place, typically.

Mike E.:

It’s amazing how simple things can be, right?

Mike A.:

We definitely have a tendency to overcomplicate.

Mike E.:

I think as human beings, we have the tendency to… We get away from the mantra. One of them I like is less is more. That goes for talking, eating, a lot of things. I mean, less can be more for your health. Less can be more for your disposition and your relationships if you just can keep your mouth shut sometimes. But no, I-

Mike A.:

Like one mouth.

Mike E.:

Exactly. I love being thankful. I mean, Thanksgiving actually is my favorite holiday for that reason. They keep trying to, but you can’t commercialize Thanksgiving other than the eating part. But the eating part you’re going to do with a lot of loved ones, hopefully.

Mike A.:

Absolutely.

Mike E.:

Well, Mike. I got to tell you, man-

Mike A.:

I think you’re onto something there, man.

Mike E.:

There you go. Hey, it’s been a pleasure having you, man. I’m glad you got to come back. I’m glad I got to interview you this time.

Mike A.:

Well, I can’t wait to see you at the Expo this year. We’ll have to get together and share laughs again. I’m looking forward to it.

Mike E.:

Sounds good.

Mike A.:

Thanks for having me.

Mike E.:

Well, to all our listeners out there, thank you for being part of the podcast. We are very grateful for you. If you would like to recommend a guest to me, please email me at [email protected]. Until next time, be safe, be grateful, and have a great day.

Announcer:

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