About Town: Local Auto Repair Center Focuses on Customer Service

Aaron Muller used to be the stereotypical auto care consumer—slightly suspicious of the mechanics working on his car. Now, having owned and operated in Redmond since 2000, he says when he started with AA he “realized how honest all the techs are.”

The proof is in the pudding for the popular car service. AA was recently named King 5 Evening Magazine’s best auto repair business, a distinction it won by consumer votes from among 472 entries in the auto repair category.

For Muller, it’s an important vote of confidence for a business that he’s taken care to build into a company with a reputation for great customer service.

“What I wanted to do, and why we’ve grown, is because of customer service,” he said. In the first year Muller owned AA, the company doubled its business, Muller said, by concentrating on building a reputation for great customer service.

Among the personal touches AA offers its customers are free shuttle service from the garage to work, or loaner cars, car washes with service, and free oil topping off between oil changes. The company also maintains a AAA approval, a set of professional standards that Muller said provides consumers an extra measure of protection, as well as a warranty on work that will be honored at any other AAA-approved service center in the country.

Muller describes himself as a serial entrepreneur, having operated several other service businesses and a business brokerage company on the Eastside since his days growing up in Kirkland’s Juanita area. But running an auto care business, he said, was a completely new experience, and he’s gained a lot of respect over the years for the three mechanics who work in the shop on both domestic and European vehicles.

“There’s constant education; auto techs these days have to know hundreds of makes and models,” he said.

For Muller, keeping a strong community connection is important, too. Each year the business participates in a holiday charitable promotion; this year it's focusing on the . Through Dec. 20, every customer who brings in a toy for a child aged 6 to 12 or a gift card to Ross or Safeway will get a free oil change at AA.

Over the last couple of years, Muller said he’s noticed that with the down economy people tend to maintain their vehicles less frequently, but still, the business services about 3,000 cars a year, which he says is a good volume for an independent shop.