What it Means to be an AAA Approved Auto Repair Shop

by Rob Hopp, Cars for Keeps Owner

Fewer than 2% of all Michgan Auto Repair Shops ever become AAA Approved. We are the only one in the area, and being a AAA Approved Auto Repair facility is a proud honor for Cars for Keeps. To be AAA Approved means that we have met the strict quality standards for auto repair and customer service of the AAA Auto Club.

This means they trust us enough to send their members to us for auto repair and maintenance.

When an AAA member needs to be towed to an auto repair shop, we are a shop they recommend. In order to remain an AAA Approved Auto Repair shop, we receive periodical visits from an inspector sent by the Auto Club to make sure we are adhering to their stringent standards. They also take hundreds of our actual repair orders and survey our customers to see how they were treated and how our service worked out. Our most recent survey resulted in a Customer Satisfaction Rating of over 98%.

The AAA is serious about making sure we are a trustworthy shop that performs a high level of quality workmanship and customer service. In other words, if the AAA can trust us enough to send their members here, so can you. This along with our recognition by the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence helps ensure our people are educated and trained in the latest automotive technologies, procedures and techniques that fix your car for keeps.

To learn more about the AAA's auto repair certification program, visit the AAA Michigan website.

A Woman’s Point of View: Sometimes Heroes Come in Greasey Shirts

Colette Cooley, Office Manager at Cars For Keeps

You have been looking towards your vacation for months. The snow is huffing and puffing outside, but you are lost in your “dream”. You are at the point where you don’t think you can make it through another day at the office, so you think about your dream to get through the day. Your vacation. Your Nirvana. Your soul’s restoration. Then, finally, your dream has come true. You are actually living your dream vacation. And your car breaks.

I am not talking a broken fingernail here. The car is close to being terminal. Loud noises, smoke, not steering, barely starts, coughing, choking, jerking, seizure, ge-the-de-fibulator-quick, sick. So many thoughts go through your head in that first 10 seconds. I can’t go to the world’s largest mall this afternoon. What a disaster! I will not yell at the kids. I will not kick my husband. I will not stomp my feet in a pique of frustration.

I will call AAA. They come and get the car and tow it to the recommended automotive repair shop where you find out the car is not terminal after-all, and can be repaired and back on the road today. You suddenly have new names to add to your little black book under the heading of; Heroes Who Will Come To Save The Day. Your vacation is saved. Your mind is restored. You are back in your dream. You are on your way to the mall. AAAHH! Life is good.