We’ve often talked to shop owners who got their start in the automatic transmission business 10, 20, 30, and even more years ago. And we’ve spoken with a lot of shop owners who’ve expanded beyond transmission repair over the last several years.
But Driveline & Gear Service of Fallon, in Fallon, Nevada, may be a first. They began as a driveshaft franchise store, and only added automatic transmission repair a couple years ago. Along the way their path has taken a number of twists and turns to reach their present level of success.
It all started in 1971, in Sacramento, California. Driveline Service, Inc. opened as a franchise company. Ken Goodwill and his son, Richard, opened the first pilot shop in May, 1971, in Reno, Nevada.
Driveline Service continued to grow to a peak of 112 shops nationwide. The franchise dissolved in 1986, and most shops became independently owned and operated businesses. Many are still being operated by the same people who opened them all those years ago.
Tom Hauptman had been working at one of those shops since 1978, and he bought the Reno shop in 2001, operating under the name Driveline & Gear Service. In 2006, he opened a second shop in Fallon. He brought Andy Allen in as his shop manager; Andy had been with him in Reno since 1994.
When it began, Driveline Services didn’t do anything with automatic transmissions. “It was actually just driveshafts… they built driveshafts,” explains Andy. “Custom driveshafts, repaired driveshafts… that sort of thing.
“When the franchise dissolved, there wasn’t enough driveshaft work in Reno to keep us busy. But Tom, the owner, had an account with Dana Spicer, so he decided to expand into driveline and gear service. That’s when they started doing differentials, manual transmissions, and transfer cases.”
Andy took the manager’s job at the Fallon store with the provision that he would be able to buy Tom out after five years. But his five-year anniversary was right after the economic collapse of 2008, so Andy held off a few more years. He bought the business in 2012 and has been operating it ever since.
Even though the two businesses are owned individually, both Tom and Andy continue to work together, often conferring on a daily basis.
“In addition, I think it took a few years for people to trust that we were going to stay here… that we weren’t going anywhere. After a few years things really started taking off.”
Natural Growth
Like so many of us, Andy got his start in the business because of an interest in all things mechanical… including cars.
“I’ve always had an interest in mechanical devices,” says Andy. “I wanted to learn what made them work. When I was 16 years old, the owner of Driveline Service was looking for someone, and his nephew and I were friends. So when he was in the market for someone, he actually sought me out; I guess he liked my attitude.
“I started working there after school and then worked full time in the summer. I started as a driveline guy. A couple years later the owner started a mobile clutch service and I moved on to that. He bought a van and stocked it with clutch parts and a flywheel grinder. Shops would call and I’d go over, deliver the clutch, grind the flywheel, and they’d be off and running
“I did that for about a year and a half, and then his sister needed a job, so I ended up training her to take over. He’d already replaced me in the driveline shop, so I moved into the gear shop, where I learned to rebuild differentials, transfer cases, and manual transmissions.
“I have a natural desire to learn. Occasionally I’d help out on the front counter. I’d listen when they answered phones and I’d pay attention when Tom would explain things to a customer.
That interest and ability to learn on the job became a valuable tool for Andy later, after taking over the Fallon shop. Because that’s when he decided to expand into automatic transmission repair.
Expanding into Automatics
When Andy bought the shop in 2012, Driveline & Gear Service was still a driveline company. They did driveshafts, manual transmissions, transfer cases, differentials, and axles… but no automatics. That changed a couple years ago.
“About 90% of the work we do here is on trucks,” explains Andy. “And anyone who’s paying attention knows that truck owners are shying away from manual transmissions.”
A valid point: More and more trucks are being purchased with automatics, in part because many of today’s automatics are strong enough to hold up to the heavy workloads that would have torn them up just a few years earlier.
“I’d been thinking about going into automatics a lot, and I like a challenge, so when I took over this shop, I decided to take the plunge. I had confidence in myself and knew that I could figure out how to deal with automatics.”
While Driveline & Gear is a custom rebuild shop, they generally try to stick with rebuilding the more common transmissions. “We don’t rebuild every transmission here. This is Dodge country: Dodge, Ford, Chevy… we do those in house.”
They tried doing imports and the more exotic transmissions in house, but they quickly discovered the pitfalls that come with rebuilding those transmissions: high parts prices, lack of technical data, and so on. So now they generally replace those transmissions with remans.
Finding ATRA
Taking on a new market led to an obvious difficulty: As the shop owner, manager, and now automatic transmission rebuilder, Andy was spreading himself too thin. He needed to hire someone who could handle the automatic transmission rebuilds so he could get back to running his business.
Sounds easy, but as we all know, finding a rebuilder is anything but easy in today’s market. So Andy decided to hire someone to train as a rebuilder. But that was no small feat in itself, because Andy was still learning that part of the business himself.
“I tried calling some transmission shops I knew to see if they’d let my new tech shadow their rebuilder for a while, but they weren’t all that excited about that idea.” That’s when Andy discovered ATRA: “I spoke with Lance Wiggins and asked whether ATRA had any training programs. He told me about Expo, so we attended last year’s program.”
Both Andy and his technician, TJ, got a lot out of last year’s Expo. And they’re already scheduled to attend this year’s program: “I’m really interested in the Transmission 101 program,” he says. “My wife may come too, but she hasn’t decided yet.”
Andy wants to spend most of his time in the management seminars, but he’s planning to duck out in time to take part in the Transmission 101 program. “I’m sure there are a lot of little things that we don’t know about,” he says.
And, while he’s excited about the seminars, he knows that’s not all that Expo has to offer. Andy enjoys meeting other shop owners and technicians — “putting a face to the name” — and knows that there’s a lot to be learned in the hallways, between the seminars. “I was talking to a shop owner from Oregon last year, and before I knew it, it turned into a little tech lesson! It was pretty neat.”
While bringing three people to Expo is an expensive proposition, Andy considers it to be a worthwhile investment… one that’ll pay him back many times over in terms of greater productivity in the shop.
Expanded Marketing
While Andy believes strongly in the power of word-of-mouth advertising, he’s also aware that he can’t rely exclusively on that for getting his name out there. He has a web site — drivelinefallon.com — and has been working on building his identity in a variety of ways.
“The original owner of this shop, Tom, is more old school; he’s not much for internet or radio advertising,” explains Andy. “I tried to recommend some other marketing programs but he wasn’t into it.
“Once I took over, I started running some radio ads, got a billboard out on the highway, and I did a few things with Yelp! and Google. I think that’s part of the reason we started getting more customers calling.
“We’re on a main road; a lot of people come through on their way to Vegas. And if they have a problem on the highway, the first thing they’re going to do is reach for their phones and look up “transmission repair.” I wanted to tap into that market.”
Andy’s Philosophy
When asked about his philosophy on running a repair business, Andy had this to say: “Whether it’s about customer relations or making a repair, I want to treat my customers the way I’d like to be treated, and the repair to be done the way I’d want it to be done if it were my vehicle.
“That’s basically my business philosophy: Treat people the way you’d want to be treated and fix their stuff the way you’d want yours fixed. We do it right, we use good parts, and if we make a mistake or our parts fail — which does happen! — we’ll take care of it.”
It sounds like a familiar refrain, and one that we’ve been pushing for years at ATRA. And, according to Andy, it’s been responsible for their business growing every year since they opened.
“Our growth has slowed a little recently — the town is only so big… you can only gain so many customers — but we’re still growing. I think that’s pretty amazing after 10 years.”
So do we, but, with that philosophy and willingness to learn and grow, we’re not a bit surprised. And we’ll expect to hear great things about Andy and Driveline & Gear Service of Fallon in the years to come.