Save that car!

Let’s just call him Mr. K. He’s your typical business executive in these hard times who does not want to part with his 10-year-old car. He owns a Corolla, which he says suits his requirements for an automobile. "I just want a car that can take me from point A to point B," he says.

But Mr. K recently realized that his vehicle is no longer functioning as well as it used to. He first noticed the engine – it has lost most of its pulling power. He started to be anxious when he noticed that the engine oil level gets lower from day to day, a symptom, he was told, of something terribly wrong.

While he was scouting for a shop to have his car repaired, his worst fear happened. He was cruising along the South Expressway when the engine suddenly conked out. He parked on the highway’s shoulders and had his car towed to the nearest gas station. There, he was told of the terrible news: The timing belt of his engine broke and the intake valves had been damaged.

"Sorry sir," the gas station attendant told him. "You have to take your car to a bigger shop. We only do minor repairs here. This is a major job."

It was Friday afternoon, and Mr. K had to find the "bigger shop" that would work on his car. He called up a friend and he was referred to CarSavers, a shop along South Superhighway in Makati just before the Skyway on-ramp. He had heard of the name before, but he was unsure if it was capable of a major repair job. So he called up CarSavers.

"Sure we can," the man on the other line said. "We can repair all makes and models. Where’s your car? We’ll have it towed and brought here first thing tomorrow morning. "

Low profile

CarSavers has been in operation for decades yet it has not enjoyed the popularity of other repair shops. For one, it doesn’t sell cars so it cannot be considered a casa. And its most popular service, which is rustproofing, is known by another name – Ziebart, from the Ziebart company of Detroit, Michigan.

Yet to those who know it, CarSavers is undoubtedly the biggest car repair shop in the country.

CarSaver’s main shop sits in an almost one-hectare lot that used to house five indoor tennis courts. The company has close to 400 people working in four branches, namely Makati, Manila, Pasig, and Cebu. These people repair around 36,000 cars every year or about 100 cars each day.

CarSavers was actually a spin off of Bathala Marketing, Inc. a company put up in 1972 by Aragon’s father, an accountant-turned-entrepreneur who, according to Aragon, "always gets excited when he sees something new."

"My father was in the US when saw the Ziebart technology and he immediately thought that it would become a hit in the Philippines. Because of humidity and floods, cars here are really susceptible to rust," he said.

Over the years, CarSavers expanded its business to include mechanical, aircondition, and electrical repairs as well as lubrication, machining and fabrication. At present, it boasts of services that can cure whatever ill cars suffer.

"You name it we can do it," Aragon said. "The only thing we don’t do is sell cars and fill gas tanks."

Customer for life

CarSavers employees are driven by a philosophy: "We’re not satisfied until you’re satisfied." Aragon says this is what sets the company apart from other repair shops. "We want our customers to be our customers for life. We always tell ourselves, ‘once our customer, always our customer.’"

Such statement may be easier said than done. But Aragon says the meticulous attention to detail of his people ensures that customers leave the shop happy with their cars.

Take body repair for example. If a car is brought in for repair, CarSavers not only do the job stipulated in the job order but also cleans the vehicle thoroughly, making it not only look new but feel and smell new.

"And we protect newly repaired and painted parts with rustproofing chemicals, all for free," Aragon said.

Another source of CarSavers’ pride is its work speed. It is by far the only known shop that can do a complete painting washover or hilamos in four days. "What other shops can do in two days we can do in three hours," Aragon boasts.

And that’s not all. Aragon points out that CarSavers is the only repair shop that offers written warranties on its work. "We even offer a lifetime warranty, depending on the car," he said. "And the warranty is transferable to the next owner."

One may think, however, that all these good things have their price. True, but one may be surprised to know that CarSavers not only offer what seems to be the best work, but also the best deal in the business.

Aragon says that the big volume of work that they do allows them to maintain rates that are at par or even lower than well-established casas. Their painting washover starts at P17,000, and their average engine top overhaul normally goes around P22,000.

Too cheap to be good?

Mr. K is thinking the same, too. He just got a call from CarSavers that his car would be ready by today, exactly three working days since it was towed to the shop. It’s timing belt had been replaced and CarSavers had performed top overhaul on the engine. "If they do a good job, I may decide to have them repaint my car also," Mr. K mused. "I really like that car. It’s been with me for 10 years and I would love to see its original beauty restored."