Today we’d like to introduce you to Scott O’Neil.
Hi Scott, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Enlisted in the navy in 1976, achieved the rank of Aviation Machinist Mate Chief Petty Officer, earned my Bachelor degree in Management, received my commission as a Naval Flight Officer and retired after 23rys. of service. Through out my life I have been working as a mechanic, educated and trained in the systems on a continual basis.. I worked after retirement from the navy, in management for several national parts corporations and national auto repair facilities.
I was called to the ministry to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and have been serving as Pastor for 28 yrs., in small rural churches. My ministry is bi-vocational, after seeing the need for working families to maintain their vehicles and struggling to meet the cost of most dealership and many independent shop , I began servicing the vehicles as a part of my ministry to help families to keep their needed vehicle running, to go to work and care for the family. My business began from my ministry. We conduct an automotive familiarization class for beginning drivers at ST. JOHNS COUNTYRY DAY SCHOOL annually.
ALL U GARAGE, LLC offers mobile repair services, in case the vehicle can not be driven or the customer can’t get to us because of work or other obstacles- it saves the customer a tow bill or inconvenience – as well as, a brick and mortar facility. Currently, we serve most all vehicles, conduct most repairs, except engine swaps or transmissions.
We want to enjoy what we do, we do our best and want to care for our customers as they care for their families.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Beginning the business there was no bank willing to make a loan to help get it off the ground, the idea for a legitimate business, licensed and insured was mostly a new concept, especially for customers since there was no facility to go to, My wife and I then used our saved funds to purchase the trucks for the mobile service., create a website – allugarage.com – and promoted the business from word of mouth. The beginning was slow starting, it waned upon our savings for about 8 mo. then work began to come in from the contacts that were made and word of mouth about the availability of the convenient service.
People were hesitant at first, thinking I was some guy with tools in the trunk just trying to make a dollar with no warranty of parts and labor, I had to get them to see I was a legitimate business/ repair facility.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
ALL U GARAGE, LLC is a automotive repair facility with a mobile repair service. We service most vehicles, and are capable of most repairs. We do not currently do engine swaps or transmissions, however, we do work with other facilities that do, and will recommend to our customers those facilities if needed, as well if they would like ALL U GARAGE to deal with the other facility we will assist in that also for our customers. We are certified in DOT inspections for trucks, tractor trailers
The specialty of ALL U GARAGE is we care. We will fix the vehicle timely, usually the same day, so we do not overbook. If the repair takes longer, we discuss this with our customer and work out a time frame that fits their need and were the shop can accomplish the work. Some of our customers, drop their vehicle off after hours, we fix it the next day, they then pick up after hours.
We are known for our ability to work with our customers to meet their need, whether a first time customer or one of our regular customers.
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
My mentors have been my customers who are willing to share how I may improve my business model based upon their needs. Many share what they need, then also how they think it can be achieved. If it works, it is then incorporated into our process.
Advice is to listen, most want the best service and have ideas of how to attain it – do not take offense – if it can work try it, if it doesn’t work at least the customer knows you were listening and it build trust, lowers the walls of opposition
Contact Info:
- Website: https://allugarage.com
- LinkedIn: allugarage
