Dave Bator's began his business career by opening an automobile repair facility in Wadsworth in early 1988. As his company grew, he had the opportunity to move his shop to Medina and he hung out his shingle at Route 18 and I-71 by Windfall. His solid mechanical background has enabled his company to blossom and in 2001 Dave moved again to his present location on West Liberty Street where he and Grizzly Auto & Tire have continued to provide tires and top notch mechanical repair to the local community. Dave took time the other day to explain the ins and outs of running a successful auto service center;

Grizzly Auto & Tire offers complete service from A to Z. I know a lot of people say that but we are truly full service. We handle everything from oil changes, brakes, shocks, exhaust systems, and custom exhaust pipe bending to everything under the hood and underneath the car including tune-ups and maintenance. We do diagnostic evaluations to pinpoint running problems and correct those "check engine" and "service engine" light conditions. We've recently purchased a couple new, state of the art pieces of diagnostic equipment and we're an E-Check Certified repair facility that can repair the E-Check failures. We are also an AAA approved garage which means AAA has gone into our old repair orders and sent questionnaires to 150 of our customers to check for customer satisfaction. To be AAA approved, one of their requirements is that over 92% of these 150 customers give the shop a good referral. AAA has a representative who stops by each month to make sure we have a certain number of ASE Certified technicians, proper insurance coverage, and that our facility is neat and orderly. We're pretty proud of their approval since there are probably only about a half dozen AAA approved shops in Medina County.

We pretty much work on all makes and models. We do motor-home and RV repair work and we also stock tires for RVs. Quite a bit of our business is running what we call "drivability tests" which means we check how the vehicles are running in general and repair "check engine" light conditions and E-Check failures. We do quite a few brake repairs and we also repair tires. Our typical warranty is a six month, 6000 mile warranty on just about everything we do. Tires have their own special warranties and exhausts are typically warrantied for a year on pipes and for a lifetime on mufflers.

I encourage our customers to bring their automobile repair questions to our attention so we can help them understand exactly what we're doing, why we're doing it, and how it benefits them. We compare ourselves to medical doctors but while the human body never changes, cars change every year and we do a lot of work and training to stay current with these changes.

Dave told us that Grizzly Auto & Tire can usually handle things like oil changes and tire changes without an appointment but, as a rule, appointments are usually recommended for most repairs. We also learned that today's vehicles are getting harder and harder to work on and many times the specific tools needed to repair them can cost $2,000 and more for each make of vehicle the shop wants to repair. Between the necessary equipment and the schooling needed to keep up to date with changes, the auto repair business has become a business that requires a large financial investment by the repair shop. When I asked Dave if today's labor rates have kept pace with this growing expense, he laughed as he said, "You tell me, how many rich auto repair guys do you know?" and the more I thought about it, the more I realized that his comment made a lot of sense.

A vehicle is a large investment and you can trust the ASE Certified technicians at Grizzly Auto & Tire to provide the care your investment needs. Put AAA-Approved Grizzly Auto & Tire to work keeping your vehicles running smoothly by scheduling an appointment with Dave today and while you're talking to him, don't forget to tell him that The Advocate sent you!

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