Carrying on with the tradition of profiling an outstanding service provider for our readers, we paid a visit to Griffin Automotive in, Balgonie, Saskatchewan.

Autosphere asked Paul Boehme, one of the owners (Neil Mlazgar is the other owner} about Griffin Automotive—starting with when it was first started and why?

Paul tells us that the business was established in 1998 in Balgonie (pronounced Bal-go-knee) 15 minutes down the Number 1 Highway east of Regina. It was originally a NAPA AutoCare repair facility. “June 4^th, 2019, was our first day owning the business. We really enjoyed working with NAPA as an AutoCare repair facility and felt that we needed to offer better service for our customers. To do that, we joined the NAPA AUTOPRO network in December of 2022.

“Neil and myself purchased the business together. We have known each other since we were five years old—we grew up together and stayed friends over the years. He was the journeyman technician working at the business for around two years and had known about the business wanting to be sold.”

Expanded footprint

Paul noted that when he and Neil purchased the business, it had a gravel parking lot and just two service bays. “One bay was set up with a 4-post hoist and an alignment machine and the other bay was set up with a 2-post hoist. We realized shortly after purchasing the business we needed more bays,” he says.

“We had a bit of a slowdown during the pandemic but fortunately with some great coaching from Murray Voth, we were able to stay steady and keep the bills paid! In 2021 we began to work on blueprints and plans to expand our shop. We had some big hurdles to overcome mainly because we were such a new business with only a couple of financial reports to provide the lenders with. We had established construction costs and had a great team of contractors committed to help us along with the construction of the addition. In April 2023 we had final approval for lending, and we presented our plans and blueprints to the town of Balgonie, then began construction in June of 2023. Construction went smoothly with very few surprises, and we completed construction in November of 2023. We were very fortunate to hire two local technicians who share our small-town values.”

Range of services, equipment, staff

“We currently provide a wide range of services—from state-of-the-art vehicle diagnostics, wheel alignments, automotive repairs, A/C repairs, repairing the odd limousine plus fire and rescue apparatuses,” Paul explains.

Currently, Griffin Automotive has five staff members two of whom have been with Griffin for over three years. We also asked Paul and Neil if they had made any recent equipment investments, i.e. tire changers, alignment machines, scanners, tools, etc.?

“Because of our addition, we needed to purchase new hoists, air compressors, scan tools, and a lot of equipment. Corey Wilker from NAPA Auto Parts Regina was a great help with all these—three new hoists, new 3-phase air compressors—were some of the items we had to have installed during construction. This generated a lot of coordination with manufacturers, NAPA, plus delivery companies to ensure the proper arrival and installation took place,” says Paul.

Regarding milestones for the business, Paul explains that transitioning into a NAPA AUTOPRO was a big one; paving their parking lot was a huge step along with the big shop addition.

Challenges, opportunities

On the subject of building a strong, loyal customer base, Paul states that “having great clear and concise communication with customers, thorough accountability with our clients,” is key.” In addition,” he says, “we relied on our trade partners to help us achieve the high level of success we’ve had with this! And still do.”

Regarding challenges/opportunities that both Neil and Paul see in today’s service repair industry, Paul notes that, “training has been on the top of the list for our business and because of this we are currently working with NAPA and the Autotech training network.”

In terms of looking to the future, Paul explained that further expansion is on the horizon. “A second location is a top priority for us, and this will include part sales and distribution,” he says.

Sounds like this business has done well in its few years of operation and will likely do the same in the future. We wish them well.