Owasso Man Puts the Care in Auto Care

Sometimes, the best way to be inspired to do a job the right way is to see someone else doing the same job the wrong way.

Such was the case with Owasso man Tim Miller.

“There was an auto repair center I used to be quite familiar with, and to where I was taking my vehicles,” he said. “From time to time, my wife would tell me that she would need her (vehicle’s) oil changed, or work done, etc., but that she didn’t want to go to this particular place – she always wanted me to take the car.

“One day, I finally asked her why it was that she didn’t like to go to this auto repair center, and she told me it was because the people who worked there either ignored her or treated her like she was stupid, and she felt very uncomfortable any time she had to go there,” he said. “So one day, I went there and decided to hang around while they were taking care of my service work.”

“I noticed that they were pretty cold to a lot of their clientele – didn’t acknowledge them when they came in the door, etc.,” he said. “This location – where we’re at now – went up for sale in 2012, and I decided to jump in and buy it, wanting to change the format of what so many auto centers typically do, and that was the beginning of Owasso Auto Care.”

Before owning his auto repair shop, Miller ran his own construction firm – Tim Miller Company Builders, a business which he still owns and which he started in 1995 from the ground up.

“I basically started (the construction company) just going door-to-door, asking people if they wanted any construction work done,” Miller laughed. “We built a lot of homes, remodeled a lot of homes, flipped some and we were pretty successful.”

But with the auto repair center, Miller wanted not only to offer top quality work, but to market himself and his business as reliable and trustworthy, particularly in a field where female customers may have historically been less enthusiastic to frequent.

“Any more in today’s market, 85% of our clientele are women, and if you don’t cater to the female customers, and create processes and procedures that make them comfortable, you’re not really going to succeed,” he said. “We want our customers, male and female, to be comfortable when they walk-in the door, to know they’re going to be treated with respect, dealt with fairly, and know that we take pride in our work and our shop – right down to the bathrooms. We clean our bathrooms twice a day – they’re spotless.

“We try to keep our shop clean, and create a comfortable environment for everyone, from simple things like being courteous to our customers, saying ‘Thank you’ when it comes to them giving us their business – simple things, it doesn’t take much, but it makes a big difference,” he said.

Although he does not work on vehicles, Miller employs two full-time mechanics to handle a variety of auto repairs and services on most American cars or imports.

“The majority of our work is repair – the check engine light comes on, or the car’s not running properly, they’re hearing some noises coming out of the car, maybe the AC’s not blowing cold – those are the things we see the most of,” he said. “We don’t see as much service-oriented work, such as oil changes, etc. – we do get those, just not as much as we do repair jobs.”

Although there are numerous auto repair shops and mechanics in the vicinity, Miller said his relationship with his customers is one built on mutual respect, honesty and security.

“When you look at a business, it’s about being comfortable, and it’s about creating trust,” he said. “There are a lot of good mechanic shops in Owasso, and so, I wouldn’t say our mechanics are better than any other mechanics working in the area, but the difference in us is that we want to create a comfortable environment, and we want to create trust.

“For me, what I most enjoy is the relationships – I enjoy the people, I enjoy my clients,” he said. “I enjoy getting to know different kinds of people, and we have a good mix of blue-collar and white-collar clientele, so I get to know a lot of different types of people. It’s like anything else, you can get a particular good or service at any number of places, but as a customer, you’re going to go to a place that you like, a place where you’re comfortable, a place you feel good about being at, and we’ve worked hard to be that kind of place for every single customer that comes through our door.”

Owasso Auto Care is open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.

For more information, contact Miller at 918-272-7437.