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6 days ago | 
fenderbender.com | Carol Badaracco Padgett
Can you remember what you were doing on any given day 15-20 years ago? Where you went and who you saw there? Probably not. The trouble is, 15-20 years is an estimated timespan between collisions for most of your customers. According to statistics at carinsurance.com, the average driver will wreck a car only three to four times in their life — that’s essentially once every 18 years, it reports.
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2 weeks ago | 
noln.net | Carol Badaracco Padgett
Forming a bond, trusting one another, and referring business back and forth can pay off for quick maintenance and auto repair shops alike. And for customers, the arrangement can be a lifesaver. How does a quick lube owner put an unofficial but long-lasting business partnership like this into play?
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1 month ago | 
fenderbender.com | Carol Badaracco Padgett
People don’t just walk into their job one day and open up about their mental health struggles. Not in any work setting, and certainly not in a body shop. That means there are a lot of people suffering in silence, experts indicate.
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Mar 3, 2025 | 
fenderbender.com | Carol Badaracco Padgett
What began as a journey toward a first job ended up being a career destination for five women currently working in the collision repair industry. And hands down, they say there’s nowhere else they would rather be. Read on to learn firsthand how the industry is embracing their expertise in positions of every make and model. Gracie Sims graduated high school in May 2023 in her hometown of Bristol, Tennessee.
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Jan 29, 2025 | 
noln.net | Carol Badaracco Padgett
It’s no secret that New Year’s resolutions can be notoriously short-lived. This applies to professional life, too, where it takes smart planning and ongoing monitoring to keep your business in top form for another strong trip around the sun. This is how Brian Morrison, a quick lube owner and operator in the Carolinas, starts the process: “We have an end-of-year wrap-up with each store’s manager, looking back at the previous year and seeing if we hit our targets.
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Nov 25, 2024 | 
noln.net | Carol Badaracco Padgett
Would you rather wave to potential customers as they whiz past your quick lube or greet them as they pull into the business? According to Justin Rae, the CEO and founder of data-driven, multi-channel marketing campaign creator Cinch, based in Draper, Utah, too many quick lube shops are choosing to wave. The Backstory Rae has an affinity for two things: data—of course—and small businesses. When he learned about Google’s data-driven algorithms in a college course on consumer behavior, he was riveted.
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Nov 21, 2024 | 
noln.net | Carol Badaracco Padgett
“The right person will show you when they’re ready.” That’s one ultra-powerful nugget of shop promotion wisdom from Oil Changers’ Territory Director Kevin Treder, who’s based in the San Francisco Bay area and oversees 38 locations across 10 states. That said, Treder notes that the variables affecting promotion will be a bit different for every business. “It depends on the business size and model,” he states.
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Sep 4, 2024 | 
noln.net | Carol Badaracco Padgett
Sidney, Montana, is an oasis of about 6,300 people, and is less than 10 miles west of the North Dakota border. With oil fields resting all around, the three-bay Quick Change Oil draws from a steady stream of work vehicles and fleet trucks. In 2023, owner Frank Saalfeld decided it was time to retire from the business he built from the ground up.
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Sep 3, 2024 | 
noln.net | Carol Badaracco Padgett
When a customer drives up to your business, does their day get smoother or bumpier? Every shop owner knows what they want the answer to be. But the customer’s experience can depend on so many different factors. Here’s a five-point customer service checklist from two quick lube owners—Shane Burton, a multi-location owner with three Jiffy Lube Twin Falls in Twin Falls, Idaho, and other locations in various states, and Damian Fox, owner of independent Foxy Fast Lube in Willimantic, Connecticut.
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Sep 3, 2024 | 
noln.net | Carol Badaracco Padgett
David Willett is co-founder and chief underwriting officer for Spark Underwriters, an insurance company that specializes in protecting businesses in the auto industry. If a storm, fire, or other occurrence damages a quick lube owner’s property, it’s the job of the Spark team to help get the location up and running again as quickly and painlessly as possible. There’s a reason why Willett and his colleagues are especially passionate about this job: because they know it well.
