48 GEARS March 2006

As this issue of GEARS goes to print, weve just kicked off the 2006 seminar season with one of the most ambi-tious, in-depth programs ever. If you havent made plans to attend the next ATRA technical seminar in your area, dont wait: Check the schedule in the back of this issue, or go to ATRA Online and see when the ATRA seminar will be in your town.

For as many years as most people can remember, the ATRA technical seminars in New York have been sole sponsored by industry suppli-ers. October, 2005 marked a turning point for New York City area transmission technicians, when ATRA produced the first non-sponsored technical seminar.

This first-time event was held at the JFK Ramada Plaza Hotel. Attendance was good, especially for our first ATRA-sponsored program in the area. And based on the response and feedback from those attending, this next years event will be even bigger. Everyone had high praise and good things to say about the information provided by two of ATRAs Top Guns: Larry Frash, GEARS new technical editor, and Randall Schroeder, well-known for his Doctor, Doctor articles in GEARS Magazine.

Industry suppliers, who in some

cases are fierce competitors, also sup-ported the event. For this one day, these tough competitors shook hands and then went about their business of selling products and meeting with the attendees. And they did so at no cost from ATRA: Just one of the many benefits of being an ATRA Supplier Member.

Hand-in-hand with the seminars come the shop visits, one of my favorite parts of these weekend excursions. This time, ATRA CEO Dennis Madden and I got to visit three New York area shops. It actually gives me a warm, fuzzy feel-ing when we go into a Members shop and say, Hi, were from ATRA. Every time the response is a big smile and then the person at the front desk hollers out Hey guys, ATRAs here! Theyre always happy to see us and were happy to be there, too. Its a real kick.

The first shop we visited was Dial Transmissions in Merrick, NY. Dial has been in the business for over 20 years and an ATRA Member since the begin-ning. In addition to private passenger transmission work, Dial also has a heavy duty fleet and commercial sec-tion in the shop that keeps them busy. Dial does about 30 units a week.

When asked how they manage to stay so busy, Pat Sepe explained: We work hard to control the quality of our rebuilds. And we make sure, when the customer leaves our shop, he knows hes received the best service possi-ble.

Dial does a lot of fleet work, which pays off two ways: in addition to the fleet, which sends a lot of work their way, they often get the personal work from the people who work for the com-pany that owns the fleet. In addition,

TRENCH REPORTS

A Little Bite Out of the Big Apple by Frank Pasley

(L to R) John Nilsson, Tom Garrett, Frank Melchert, Andrew Frasson, John Kleva, Paul Meyer, Tyemell Walker and Pat Sepe.

Dial has been in the business for

over 20 years and an ATRA

Member since the beginning.

48trench3-06.indd 4848trench3-06.indd 48 2/13/06 3:57:02 PM2/13/06 3:57:02 PM

The Problem Solvers.

At Precision International, outstanding quality, performance and reliability

are really our bag. But as the technological leader in transmission repair

for over 30 years, we figured we should also look the part. So weve updated

our transmission repair kit package. And we have to admit our new bag is

a lot easier on the eyes. Plus, as always, whats inside will make your job a lot

easier as well. Look for our nifty new bag and discover how choosing proven

transmission solutions from Precision International is more attractive than ever.

Introducing Precision Internationals redesigned transmission repair kit bag.Beautiful on the outside, still the industrys best quality and dependability inside.

210 Knickerbocker Ave., Bohemia, NY 11716 (631) 567-2000 Fax (631) 567-2640 Toll Free: 800-872-6649 Florida Office (954) 509-9950 Fax (954) 509-9945E-mail: sales@transmissionkits.comwww.transmissionkits.com

Hotter than Prada and Gucci.

Precesion placed.qxd 7/21/05 4:29 PM Page 19

50 GEARS March 2006

they sometimes do general repairs for their regular customers, although they dont advertise it.

Before we left the city of Merrick, the Good Guys at Dial sent us to a nice pizza joint near their shop. Dennis and I ordered a couple of slices of the finest thin crust New York style pizza Ive had in over 10 years. It was to die for.

If youve never had a slice while actu-ally in New York, you have no clue how good New York pizza really is.

The next stop for the day was Habbys Transmission in Hicksville, NY. Habbys is a busy shop full of hard-working guys. Back in 99, they got into torque converters, because they were having so many problems with

the converters they were buying. Today they not only rebuild converters for their own transmission work, they also sell to a few local transmission shops. When asked about the comeback ratio on converters, they look me straight in the eye and said Zero. I believed them.

Wholesale work is a major part of Habbys business; so much so that they even have a full-time outside salesper-son, who makes sales calls to the gen-eral repair shops in their area.

They also do cooling system and A/C repairs, and will provide gen-eral repairs when asked, but they dont advertise those general repairs. As Wayne pointed out, Wholesale work is such an important part of our busi-ness, I dont want to compete with my

TRENCH REPORTS: A Little Bite Out of the Big Apple

Habby's Transmissions (L to R) Marvin Miranda, Jorge Lopez and Jamie Chavarria.

Habby's Transmissions (L to R) Mike Cheshire, Rich Kornacki, Wayne Frie, Pete Gaiser, Shaun Delph and Warren Frie.

Wholesale work is a major part of Habbys business; so much so

that they even have a full-time outside salesperson, who makes sales calls to the general repair shops

in their area.

48trench3-06.indd 5048trench3-06.indd 50 2/9/06 11:22:27 AM2/9/06 11:22:27 AM

GEARS March 2006 51

own customers. The general shops in the area keep us busy enough without trying to cut into each others market.

The last stop was A-1 Award Transmission in Huntington, NY. A-1 Award is a nice clean shop with a focus on producing a quality product. They rebuild about 10 units a week with an almost nonexistent comeback ratio.

A-1 Award receives a large number of customer referrals; according to shop manager Charlie Raymond, at least two or three a day. When asked what he attributed that type of referral rate to, he said, By being fair and honest with the customer, and taking pride in the work we do. And we make it a point to speak on their level. I try to put myself on the other side of the counter, and think of how Id like to be treated when I have a problem.

As far as their comebacks, Charlie says, Everybody has comebacks. Its not about whether you have a come-back; its how you handle those come-backs that determines whether you end up with a satisfied customer or not.

We were surprised to see they had an extensive parts department, which is a little unusual in todays market, with the number of different units on the road and the rapid delivery service most parts houses offer. A-1 Award was previously written about in GEARS April-04 issue. Its nice to have them in GEARS one more time.

The common thread with the shops we visited, besides being long-time ATRA Members? Its the one we see so often. Family owned and operated, with a staff of hard working people that are all treated like family and interested in doing the job right the first time; they are all the Good Guys.

Since this is a New York City story,

I have to end with a food story. Friday night I was honored to have dinner at Peter Lugers Steak House in Brooklyn. For dinner, the kind of fun but typically surly New York waiter started us off with a huge piece of beefsteak tomato and sweet Bermuda onion, covered with the special house sauce. It was pretty darn good. But nothing could have prepared me for incredible, huge, water-aged Porter House steak, served family style, on a huge platter for three us of us to share. It was, without question, the best steak I have ever had anywhere. Thanks Don Swartz of Airport Transmission in Rochester, NY, and Kenny Hester of WIT. It was quite an experience, even if it did end at 2:00 in the morning, when I had to work at 6:30.

Later this year, when ATRA is in New York, well have a slice of the Big Apple, not just a little bite.

A-1 Award Transmissions (L to R) Charlie Raymond; Larry Steiger; Charlie Raymond, Sr. (Dad); Thomas Abbatiello; Steve Zimicki; and Eva Raymond (Mom).

A-1 Award receives a large number of

customer referrals; according to shop manager Charlie

Raymond, at least two or three a day.

48trench3-06.indd 5148trench3-06.indd 51 2/9/06 11:22:58 AM2/9/06 11:22:58 AM