Tilden Auto Care Brakes for Customer Service

As the owner of , Bill Gonzalez knows he is in the sweet spot for business in Mineola.

His auto care shop sits one block from the Birchwood Court apartment buildings at the corner of Old Country Road and Roslyn Road – two blocks from , three blocks from and a stone’s throw from the Mineola train station.

In other words, within reach of tens of thousands of customers – a market advantage he is both realistic and philosophical about.

“This is a word of mouth business,” he said. “If you upset one customer from, say, Birchwood, you could lose the entire building. The same is true for Winthrop or Corpus Christi. If I upset one customer from Winthrop, I lose the hospital; if I upset one customer from Corpus Christi, I lose the congregation."

"On the flip side," he added, "if I please one customer from Birchwood, that customer tells another and you know how that goes.”

That is why Gonzalez has made it a practice to provide quality service while appeasing his growing customer base. He readily acknowledges that every new customer that comes into his shop is valuable and can lead to a generation of business – just as a disgruntled customer can start the process of killing a business.

“There is no advertising campaign, no agency you could pay that would be worth what word of mouth means in my business,” he said. “You cannot put a price on it.”

The most difficult part of his business is getting the customer into the door, he acknowledges, “but once you come through that door it is my responsibility to make sure you come back.”

The four-man crew that works seven lifts at Tilden has earned a reputation for taking care of the customer and doing it with a gracious personality. Gonzalez and his brother Chino, who has worked there since the beginning, often tell customers how do a job more cost effectively, such as new tires (their suggestion: order them through tirerack.com and have them deliver it to Tilden) – even if it means getting less for the job.

New customers who come into the shop because their engine light is on can rest assured that Gonzalez will not charge them for a diagnostic test.

The proof is in the success of the business. Despite the rough economy, Tilden continues to grow or stay consistent year to year. “We value
o ur customers, each and every one who come in here,” Gonzalez said.