Bavarian Motor Repairs Invested in the Right People & Technology

Like thousands of shop owners before him, Andrew Minkler started his shop with absolute confidence in his technical abilities but little first-hand experience on how to run a business.

October 4, 2024

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Read time: 3 min

In 2011, Andrew left his role as a Certified Master BMW Technician to go back to school for engineering. To help pay his tuition, Andrew started his own auto repair shop: Bavarian Motor Repairs. Once the ‘be your own boss’ seed took root, there was no turning back. Since day one, Andrew has focused on delivering the highest level of service to BMW, Mini, and Rolls-Royce owners in the D.C. area. Now, he is growing his business by connecting his team and his customers, tracking his shop’s metrics, and scaling his garage from the ground up.

Connecting with Clients

I resigned from doing mobile diagnostics tech support BMW in 2011 to go back to school for engineering. In 2015, we opened Bavarian Motor Repair. Last August, we decided to be more intentional when it came to growing our shop. Because we only service BMWs, Rolls Royce, and Minis, we're constantly pushing to surpass the local dealers, which is a feat. In the DC area, it's really aggressive. There are a lot of smart guys here with a lot of good systems in place. Tekmetric really helps us stand out.

Our goal was to communicate with our clients faster and with more clarity so that we could provide better service, which results in higher dollar ROs.

Communication is extremely important for us. If we're not communicating, then we're not working. Everything is a presentation to our customers. Everything.

When you can show clients the problem on their own terms, and give them a choice, it grows your ARO and your business.

Engagement with our clients has to be high caliber and proactive throughout the entire repair process. From the second they drive onto our lot, we walk out to their car, greet them, and begin documenting their concerns to make their visit as personalized and efficient as possible. Once we’ve made that personal connection, our shop management system really shines with DVI, messaging, and lightning-fast estimate approvals by text or email.

Switching to a New Shop Management System

Our old SMS was on a local PC. We did have some computer downtime where we had to reboot everything and figure it all out from scratch, which was a massive loss. So we investigated other shop management systems. At every expo, we tried everything we could to break them. After talking to some of the staff at Tekmetric and doing the screen-sharing presentation, it was pretty evident that Tekmetric was going in the direction that we needed a shop management system to go in with communication, presentation, and efficiency.

Tekmetric came along right as I was realizing that I could use some guidance when it came to running a business. I wasn’t sure what numbers to look at. When I started using Tekmetric, which just puts the important numbers right in front of me, it made everything easier.

And the changeover was seamless; the difference was like night and day from the support to the fluidity to how easy it is to use to how it always works. I haven't had one single day where I wasn't able to use Tekmetric. How many shop owners out there have been without there SMS for a day for one reason or another? Tekmetric has always worked for me, and it works well.

There are so many little things that help us blaze through our day so much more efficiently. When our client’s started receiving updates in advance without having to wonder, ‘Hey, what's going on with my car?’, our tickets and our numbers went higher. Now, my service writers can write a $6,000 estimate in five minutes or less.

Tracking My Numbers

When I can measure how valuable my business is, I have more opportunities to pass that value on to our clients. We track this value by looking at our numbers: door rate, effective labor rate, parts and labor margins on each RO, service advisor close ratios, GP dollars and the many other KPI’s that Tekmetric tracks and puts in front me. Being able to measure our success is one thing, but quickly identifying our shortcomings and new opportunities for innovation is what has led us to grow our profits.

Right now our car count is up, our ARO is up, and our technician efficiency is up. We were always around 95%, now we're floating around 120%. I wouldn’t be surprised if in a couple of months we're growing at 200% or 300%.

Scaling My Business

We are actively expanding our shop, adding an additional 2,500 square feet to accommodate four new bays. As we expand, it’s critical that we have a cloud-based software that seamlessly grows with us. I can attend a 20 group, meet with my business coach, spend time with my family, and still have access to my shop from my phone. Anywhere access gives me the confidence to let my staff grow into their roles.

As for marketing, we pull a lot of the data right out of Tekmetric. We've got some really good referral and outreach programs. We realized early on that cold-call customers, people who were calling for price check-ins, were not our best clients; they're not our highest ARO. When we increased our snowball of referrals, it attracted the kind of clients we do want—the clients who come in here with confidence in advance and trust us to create an honest repair order. If a customer is set-up as a marketable customer, we're pulling their information from Tekmetric and feeding that right into Facebook and Google. Our customers are able to match us with other similar customers.

"Communicate your vision to your team and invest in the right people and technology to make it a reality."

If I could go back to six years ago, I would tell myself, "Any one thing you do well is not enough". You need to team up with others that will help make your vision a reality. I hired a professional coach who taught me that I couldn’t manage what I wasn’t measuring. I joined a 20 group, upgraded to the best SMS I’ve ever used, and now I’m running a business that feels grounded with direction and purpose. I’m eternally thankful to our clients, my world-class staff, and companies like Tekmetric who work tirelessly alongside us in pursuit of something greater.

For more information about Bavarian Motor Repairs, visit bavarianmotorrepairs.com

Year Established

Using Tekmetric Since

$1670

Average Repair Order ($)

50

Average Car Count

5

Number of Employees

Number of Bays

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In late 2020, Jim Kellas bought TL Auto Repair, in Union City, California. The location was strong, but the shop’s systems were holding it back—outdated software, lack of key integrations, and inefficient processes all contributed to a poor customer experience. 

Determined to find a solution, Jim explored various shop management systems before switching to Tekmetric. After making the switch, the impact was transformative for TL Auto Repair.

“Stop looking at the other ones. You're done searching.”  

Challenge

Before switching systems, TL Auto Repair faced:

  • Frequent software downtime disrupting operations
  • Lack of integrations with key tools, creating manual work
  • Limited visibility into performance metrics

Solution

After exploring several options, Jim chose Tekmetric for its seamless integrations, reliable performance, and features that made it easier to connect with customers. With Tekmetric, TL Auto Repair streamlined operations, improved communication, and set the foundation for future growth.

Results

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Streamlined Operations That Drive Revenue

Integrations with tools like Affirm through Tekmetric’s Payments and adding Marketing solutions helped TL Auto Repair simplify workflows and boost sales. Offering financing made higher-ticket repairs more accessible for customers, leading to over $2 million in revenue.

“I was able to integrate with so many other programs. I'm able to know revenue-wise it's been a boom because I'm able to tie everything together.”

More Efficiency, Less Overhead

Running on a reliable, browser-based system saved time and cut hardware costs. Staff work faster, from anywhere, using devices like Chromebooks. 

"The time savings have been substantial, allowing for increased efficiency"

A Better Experience for Every Customer

Text message updates, digital vehicle inspections, and contactless invoicing and payments create a more transparent and convenient experience for their customers. This has earned them trust, repeat business, and a 4.7-star rating on Google. 

"Customers love getting text message updates, online inspection reports, and the option for contactless service - it keeps them coming back." 

What’s Next

Cars on lifts getting worked on

With a proven model and the right technology support in place, Jim plans to expand and is in the process of acquiring new shops. He is applying the same focus on operational efficiency and customer experience that turned TL Auto Repair into a thriving business.

In 2020, Jeremy and Holly Hansen purchased Mission Auto KC, an old-school shop with no desire to grow or adapt to new customers. From day one, they faced operational challenges—outdated systems, manual processes and a lack of visibility into key business metrics. Most importantly, they struggled to deliver the level of customer service they envisioned. 

Determined to find a solution, Holly researched various shop management systems and after careful evaluation, made the switch to Tekmetric in July 2021. The impact was immediate and transformative.

Challenge

Before Tekmetric, Mission Auto KC relied on outdated methods—pen-and-paper invoicing, limited reporting, and inefficient customer communication. This led to:

  • Slow invoicing and difficulty tracking finances
  • Inconsistent customer updates, causing frustration and lost business
  • Limited reporting capabilities, making it hard to identify areas for growth
  • Revenue stagnation, with monthly sales hovering around $40,000 to $50,000

Solution 

After evaluating multiple options, Holly chose Tekmetric because it provided real-time shop insights, streamlined operations, and better customer engagement. With Tekmetric, Mission Auto KC automated processes, improved financial tracking, and provided customers with a transparent repair experience—all essential to driving growth.

Results

Technician working on a car

Revenue Growth: Doubling Monthly Sales

With Tekmetric optimizing operations, Mission Auto KC experienced a dramatic financial transformation, doubling its monthly revenue from $40,000–$50,000 to $90,000. By streamlining workflows, improving job tracking, and enabling faster repair approvals, the shop significantly increased productivity, allowing them to complete more jobs per day. These improvements not only boosted revenue but also led to a 20% increase in gross profit, as better pricing accuracy and operational efficiency maximized profitability.

“Our typical [revenue before Tekmetric] was $40,000 to $50,000. Then $90,000 became our norm right away. So the top number did double.”

Data-Driven Financial Management

With automated reporting and real-time financial tracking, Holly gained complete visibility into the shop’s performance, allowing for daily revenue tracking, expense management, and more accurate accounting.

“QuickBooks is what I use for our accounting, and it’s up to date every day because I come in the following morning, enter my end-of-day report, enter all my expenses, and I know where I'm at.”

Faster Turnaround and Improved Customer Experience

Tekmetric’s text and photo-sharing features allowed for faster, clearer communication with customers, improving trust and increasing repeat business. Customers could see photos of repairs in progress, eliminating doubts and streamlining approvals.

“Customers love it. They love transparency. I'm not just saying your filter is dirty—you see a picture of your filter.”

What’s Next

Technician working at a computer bay

Fueled by their commitment to exceptional service and operational excellence, Mission Auto KC is setting ambitious goals for the future. As demand continues to grow, they plan to expand their team, increase efficiency, and strengthen customer relationships to reach $2 million in annual revenue. By prioritizing transparency, quality work, and trust, they are building a loyal customer base that keeps coming back. What started as a struggling shop has now become a thriving, data-driven business, poised for long-term success and continued expansion.

Business picked up over the years, and Karl was able to assemble a small team and build his own on-premise shop management system. In 2010, he decided to move Ultimate Auto Repair to a larger space two miles from his house. He was able to employ more people but eventually hit a growth cap.

After switching to Tekmetric, Karl was able to accelerate over the hump and more than double his business. Today, they’re still growing every month.

Ripping the Band-Aid Off

With my old system, I was stuck. Each technician would have five or six clipboards, and they'd have to shuffle and figure out what was authorized and what wasn't. To find out anything, I had to do it manually. It's no fun at the end of the month trying to count how many cars and work orders we did.

There was no way that we were going to make it any further without a lot of changes.

I was afraid to make the change. I thought, "Tekmetric has a lot of good stuff going, but I'm not sure". And then everything came to a head. My laptop crashed. I couldn't get into the old program. We had been talking about making the change, so I grabbed my service writer and said, "We're making the change right now". It was like ripping off the band-aid.

By day three, I said to my team "Hey guys. I'm sorry about the stress". And they said, "Stress? Are you kidding me? This is way better! We don't have to look for a work order on the wall!" They took to it right away.

The immediate result was that everybody could instantly see with a click what everyone else was talking about. The technician could put his notes in there: what he saw and what he didn't see. It's so nice for the service writer to be able to see the customer's notes and the technician’s notes. The customer came in with this complaint. We addressed it. This is the problem. The technician also found this. And everybody can see that live, instantly.

shop employees next to sign

Ticket to Freedom

I was welded to the place without Tekmetric. If I wasn't there, nobody knew what to do. Now, they know.

You can't run a million dollar shop off of one guy having to be there. At the end of the day, the world runs on math. If you don't know what the math is, you don't know what you're doing; you have no clue whether you made money or you lost money. You're just throwing quotes out there and hoping things are there.

But with Tekmetric, I can see in realtime what my markup is, what it's going to be, and what it should be. I can give my service writers a bottom dollar: what they need to sell it for. I can tell them how much they need to discount for, and they can quickly see all that right in Tekmetric. I can set up matrices, even labor matrixes now, which is crazy to me!

I call it their 'guard rail'. They know how high they can go and how low they can go to make a sale. At some point, if you don't have a technician working, and that's their job for the day, and if you don't sell that job, they’re not going to be working. That service writer needs to know how low they can go to make that sale.

Tekmetric gives me the freedom to leave for days at a time and everything keeps running. It has basically allowed me to duplicate myself, to show the guys: this is the system, and these are the steps you need to take. I can show the guys what to do, and they can replicate it.

Before, vacations were almost impossible. Now, I can leave, and I know the shop will keep running. With Tekmetric, it's all right there. My team has everything they need.

view of shop from above

Realizing the Potential

As a business owner, Tekmetric helps me make quick decisions, which is what it's all about. I have to be able to know where I’m at and where I’m going to project it. And then we need to be able to operate with consistency, too. Because when the customer comes back the second time, we need to be able to quote it the same. There's so much background information in there that I don't know how I'd run anything over $500,000 without Tekmetric.

We're moving into commercial diesel. In Jackson, there are a lot of general contractors, plumbers, and electricians. I'm cleaning out the spare building on my property and putting in four bays, so we can concentrate on commercial diesel customers over there and get their trucks in and out quickly. It's awesome because I can set that up in Tekmetric as its own repair shop. I can track the efficiency of service writers and technicians in each building.

Growing my business allows me to get people good jobs - jobs that weren't necessarily available to me. The possibilities are limitless.

Making the Dean's List

My daughters have been helping around the shop, too. My 21-year-old comes in after hours and spends three to five hours a week cleaning the shop and does interior details. She started her own cleaning business, and she cleans houses.

My youngest is our Quality Control. She QCs all the cars when we're done. And she wants to be a service writer, so we're training her to be a service writer. She works with me every day. It's pretty awesome. She likes accounting, and she actually does our end-of-day reporting, so she loves Tekmetric. She can jump in there and go through and close out all the cars and make sure they're all paid for. She gives me the final count.

I'm happy that I can teach her a trade where she can make some money, whether she’s working at Ultimate Auto Repair or another shop.

And both kids made the dean’s list this semester! So I’m proud of that, too.

For more information about Ultimate Auto Repair, visit ultimateautorepairmi.com