FXBG Neighbors Podcast
Fredericksburg Neighbors Podcast
FXBG Neighbors Podcast
EP #56 Building Trust and Transparency in Auto Repair
Ever wondered what happens when someone who's spent 15 years feeling frustrated with how auto shops operate decides to build their own? That's exactly the story behind Crown Auto Repair, a family-owned business that's redefining vehicle maintenance in Fredericksburg.
Jesse Matthews, alongside his wife and son, launched Crown Auto Repair nearly three years ago after realizing there had to be a better way to run an auto shop. Their customer-first approach recently earned them recognition in the Best of the Berg awards, but what truly sets them apart is their commitment to transparency. While Jesse identifies pricing misconceptions as the industry's biggest challenge, he's built his business around educating customers rather than exploiting their knowledge gaps.
The Crown Auto difference centers on their digital vehicle inspection process. Rather than presenting customers with a single, often overwhelming repair bill, they photograph issues, rank them by urgency, and help customers understand what needs immediate attention versus what can wait. "We don't just sit down and tell somebody you need to put $3,000 into your car right now," Jesse explains. Instead, they prioritize safety items while helping customers budget for less critical maintenance—a refreshing approach that builds lasting trust.
For car owners, Jesse offers one invaluable piece of advice: always get a pre-purchase inspection before buying. Too often, customers arrive with recently purchased vehicles needing more work than they're worth. And for aspiring entrepreneurs? "Hire a business coach," Jesse recommends without hesitation, crediting this decision as transformative for their business growth. Visit Crown Auto Repair at their Four Mile Fork location or online at crownautoworks.com to experience their customer-focused approach for yourself. Your vehicle—and your wallet—will thank you.
Jesse Matthews
Crown Auto Repair
crownautoworks.com
crownautorepair@yahoo.com
+1 540-368-6266
4727 Ewell Road, Fredericksburg, VA, United States, Virginia
This is the Fredericksburg Neighbors Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Dori Stewart.
Speaker 2:Welcome back to another episode of the FXBG Neighbors Podcast, where we share the stories of our favorite local brands. I'm excited to introduce you to my guest. Today. We have Jesse Matthews here with us with Crown Auto Repair. Jesse, welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 3:Thank you.
Speaker 2:I'm excited to learn about you and your business. So let's start there. Share with us a little bit about Crown Auto Repair.
Speaker 3:So we are a obviously auto repair business. We're family owned. My wife and I both own it and operate it, and we our son is also working in the business as a technician. So right now it's just a small family owned business. We did this year earn a award for Best of the Berg. We didn't. We weren't the winner but we were second or third place. Whatever the award winner position is.
Speaker 2:Nice Congratulations. That's a big honor and I love that it's a family owned business, so congratulations on all your success.
Speaker 3:Thank you.
Speaker 2:So tell us a little bit about you. I want to hear your backstory. How did you get into this?
Speaker 3:I've been working on cars for about 15 years, working in dealerships and some independent shops, and throughout the years I wasn't always happy where I was working, no matter what the benefits were or what they were offering With the money I was making. I was never really happy with the places I worked at and I knew there had to be better ways of auto repair shops being ran and being operated so that there were happier employees. So I started doing a little bit of research and found some other podcasts on how to run repair shops and started doing side work and it took off better than I expected, and so my wife and I sat down and discussed it and decided to try to start our own business.
Speaker 3:And here we are this end of this month it'll be three years later we've been in business.
Speaker 2:Nice, nice. Well, it's such a convenient service. I'm not surprised that you're doing so well. I love the business model of it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we did start out mobile for a little while, but we have a shop. We have a brick and mortar location right in Four Mile Fork.
Speaker 2:Nice, nice, that's awesome. So tell me, do you find that there are any myths or misconceptions when it comes to your business?
Speaker 3:Where do I start?
Speaker 2:Oh, wow, that many.
Speaker 3:Yeah, there are a lot. I think the biggest one that we get is price. A lot of people think auto repairs shouldn't be, it should be cheaper than it is, or maybe they just believe that it's cheaper than it actually is. We get concerns about warranties, things like that as well, so, um, I I but I think um. I think price is probably the biggest one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Okay, what uh advice would you give? Like, do you have like one piece of advice that you would give car owners that you wish they knew that would save them time or money? Have you ever thought about that?
Speaker 3:I have, I think the biggest one that we constantly push in. It is pre-purchase inspections. A lot of people don't do those when they go out looking to buy another car, and we have gotten several people that have come into the shop. Hey, I just bought this car a week ago, a month ago or even yesterday. Can you look it over and it needs more work done to it than the cars work. We do get people that do them, but there's a lot more that don't.
Speaker 3:And we try really, really hard to get people to understand the value of a pre-purchase inspection.
Speaker 2:That's really good advice. Thank you for that. So, being a family run business, I imagine it's sometimes hard to get away from the business. So when you're not working, what are you doing to have fun?
Speaker 3:We have six acres at home so we do a lot of stuff at home. We've got four wheelers and some farm animals, so when we get away it's really at home more than getting out. When we get away, it's really at home more than getting out. We are going on a cruise this year, but we get a cabin on the Shenandoah River and spend time there.
Speaker 2:That's about it Nice, nice. Well, I imagine that there have been a lot of challenges along the way in growing and scaling your business, so what advice would you give someone who is thinking about starting their own business?
Speaker 3:Hire a business coach. They're they're hard to find, especially if you can find one that's industry specific. But I can tell you, uh, us hiring a business coach was and has been probably one of the best things that we've done. They, they understand the ins and outs of just running a business in general, but, like I said, if you can get one that's industry specific, it's it's even that much more valuable.
Speaker 2:That's really good advice. That's really good advice. Thank you for that. Has there been a hardship or a challenge that you've been through that?
Speaker 3:now that you're on the other side of it, you can say you're stronger for it, as simple as it sounds making decisions. I mean there have been some, some decisions we've made like, uh, leaving me leaving the dealership to go to pursue this business full time, um. Or signing a lease on a building when we don't even know, you know, um, how much business we're going to get and if we're going to be able to pay the bills or not. That's really been it. But not long after that we found a coach and, like I said, that was a big. It helped us out a lot.
Speaker 2:Nice, nice. What is something that you wish the listeners knew about? Crown Auto Repair.
Speaker 3:We advise people on the best ways to take care of their vehicles. We don't just hand somebody. We do digital vehicle inspections. So when we do the everyday multipoint that all shops do, ours is digital. So we'll take pictures of everything that we find and then we put those repairs in order of importance and we sit down with the client. We explain to them you know, these things are safety items. They need to be done right now, while the other things at the bottom of the list you can wait three months or six months and budget for them, and we'll remind you after that time frame to let you know these things still need to be done so that you're able to budget for them. We don't just sit down and tell somebody you need to put $3,000 into your car right now.
Speaker 2:Nice, nice. Your customers are very grateful for you for that, I am sure.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:That really sets you apart.
Speaker 3:Yes, it does. We get a lot of people that come back for that work for that reason, because they're able to take the time to budget for it and they are still able to drive their vehicle, because they get what's most important done and they know when they leave here that it's still safe and it's still going to be reliable and what's left are maintenance services or some of the minor things that need to be done.
Speaker 2:Amazing. Well, congratulations on building that trust with your customers, because that's going to give you lifelong customers. It's hard to find in your industry. I feel like Once you find a business in any service industry that you know you can count on and you trust, you're just going to keep coming back to them over and over and over again. So congratulations on that.
Speaker 3:Thank you.
Speaker 2:So if the listeners want to find you, want to connect with you, where can they find you?
Speaker 3:We have a website. It's crownautoworks. com. We also have a Facebook page and they can visit us here off Ewell Road, right in Four Mile Fork.
Speaker 2:Awesome, Jesse. Thank you so much for being my guest on the podcast today and sharing Crown Auto Repair with us.
Speaker 1:Thank you for having me. Thank you for listening to the Fredericksburg Neighbors Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to fxbgneighborspodcast. com.