Posted by Dorothy George on Mon, Feb 13, 2012
We were brainstorming a bit about things people told us they liked about British American Auto Care. Are you new to the area or just looking for a new auto repair shop? Here are a few things you may want to consider. Use us as a benchmark!
- Location - Is the auto repair shop you are considering convenient to your work, your travel route, or your home? (British American Auto Care is conveninet to Rt. 32, Rt. 29, Rt. 175, Rt. 108, and I-95.)
- Free Courtesy Shuttle - British American offers a free courtesy shuttle for locations within an 8-mile radius.
- Comfortable Waiting Area - Is the waiting area clean, comfortable, and attractive?
- Children's Area - Does the waiting room include a section that is partitioned off with books and toys for children to play with?
- Free Coffee & Snacks - Maybe you were rushing out of the house, and forgot to grab a snack. British American offers free snacks for our customers. This probably isn't a deal breaker, but it's a great "nice-to-have" for our customers who choose to wait for their repairs.
- Free WiFi - Like the coffee and snacks, this also can come in handy if you decide upon a "while you wait" service and need to catch up on some work.
- Online Appointments & Auto Service Information - Can you make an appointment online, find auto service information at their website, or provide feedback directly to shop owners? British American offers an easy to navigate website that includes the option of scheduling your appointment online and communicating with us via our blog, Twitter, or Facebook.
- Awards - What awards has the auto repair facility that you are considering received? British American Auto Care has received several awards including:
- Angie's List, Super Service Award 2010
- Over 25 years of 1st place awards in Howard Magazine's Best of... for the auto service category.
- Eco-Friendly Practices - Does the shop implement eco-friendly practices like conserving energy and recycling? If sustainability is important to you, you'll want to choose an auto repair shop that values these things also. British American Auto Care won the Maryland Green Registry Leadership Award in 2010 for it's eco-friendly practices.
- Shop Tours - Will the shop allow you to tour their facilities? This allows you to see more of what's going on and can help you to become more comfortable with the shop's practices. The shop should be clean and tidy.
- ASE Certified Technicians - This is another way of ensuring that you'll be receiving high quality repairs from trained technicians.
- OEM Parts - Using high quality parts does matter in prolonging the service life of your vehicle.
- Warranty Protection - What type of warranty does the auto shop offer? Here we offer a 2-Year, 24,000 Mile Warranty.
- Hardcopy & Computer Records - We keep both hardcopy (up to 2 years) and computer records.
- VEIP Certified - In order to receive this certification, auto repair facilities have to meet certain criteria for technicians, services, and equipment. It's another way of ensuring a basic level of qualification for the auto repair facility.
If there are other things you look for and consider in an auto repair shop, feel free to include them in the comments below. The above list is by no means exhaustive, but we decided to stop at 15!
Posted by Brian England on Mon, Apr 18, 2011
Our options for making environmentally friendly choices in our everyday life just keep growing and growing. Recently I joined the Better World Automobile Club because I had seen some of the negative things that AAA has supported over the years. I wanted to support an auto club that cares about the environment.
As part of British American Auto Care's outreach to the community I promoted this club at the Howard County Greenfest. Wow what a responce; there was so much interest. We are also offering a gift certificate for our customers who join the Better World Auto Club. The club is also discounting their membership fee for the first year. So it costs very little to try out this enviromently friendly club.
Take a look at this club at and compare it to your current provider. In addition to the standard services like 24-hour emergency roadside assistance, towing, lockout and flat tire assistance, they even offer roadside assistance for bicycles!
I got to know about this club from a friend, he said Brian you care about the enviroment how come you don't promote and use the Better World club. Well it took a while for the message to sink in but when it did I wished I had acted earlier.