Chloe’s Auto Repair
Caring for her employees and her customers is something that comes second nature to Deidra Parker, the owner of Chloe’s Auto Repair. She began her career in restaurant hospitality. Then, when a friend invited her to interview for a job in his auto repair shop, she discovered her true talents in the auto repair industry. Parker said she had no experience working in auto repair but agreed to come in for an interview anyways. A woman came in during the interview and was very distraught because of her car troubles. The woman explained her vehicle’s issues to a man at the front desk. After she finished, she told Parker about the situation. Parker didn’t necessarily know what was going on with the woman’s car or how to fix the problem, but Parker assured her that everything was going to be okay, and her car would be taken care of soon. Nevertheless, the owner was impressed by how comfortable Parker made the customer feel.
“As soon as she sat down, he said, ‘that’s why I need you here’,” Parker said.
Parker had a gift for making people, particularly women, feel safer and more comfortable when dealing with the stressful situations that can unfold when having car issues.
After she had worked at several other auto repair shops, Parker decided she was tired of all the tricks and dishonesty she had seen take place in the auto repair world.
“I’ve just found that, if you’re honest, you can make a good living,” Parker said.
She wanted to open her own auto repair shop. A shop where honesty and customer service mattered above everything else. In August of 2018, she did just that and opened her own auto repair shop in Woodstock, Georgia, under the name of Chloe’s Car Care, soon to be renamed Chloe’s Auto Repair.
Everything about Chloe’s gives it a family-friendly feel, even the origin of the name.
“Chloe is my great-niece.” Parker said. “It was fitting, because my name didn’t flow, like Deidra’s Car Care. But I originally was Chloe’s Car Care.”
Parker said initially people would call the phone number for Chloe’s and ask about detailing their car. The ‘Car Care’ part of the name would make people think Chloe’s was a car wash instead of a car repair. After a little while, they finally changed to the name the shop still stands under today, Chloe’s Auto Repair. Parker had ideas, the building and, now, the name.
Now that she had her own car repair shop, Parker was finally able to express her creativity and put her ideas for customer service into practice.
Chloe’s may seem the same as any other auto repair shop on the outside, but the inside is anything but average. The first thing to notice about any auto repair shop is the distinct smell of rubber and other chemicals. For several minutes, the smell permeates the air in a way that makes it seem unsafe to be around. And then, moving into the waiting area doesn’t change the smell. In fact, the waiting area might even be closer to the garage than the front desk because the sounds of drills and clangs of metal can be heard clearly over the sounds of the bad sitcom playing on the small TV in the corner.
The shop most likely has tacky decorations and pictures on the walls that consist of cars and other auto parts and the magazines and other entertainment sources follow the same theme. It’s as if they don’t want anyone to forget they’re in a car shop.
They also have uncomfortable chairs that result in readjusting sitting positions several times over the next few hours of waiting, before finally finding one that doesn’t hurt your back. And by then your car is fixed and ready to go, but only after you pay the larger service fee than they initially quoted earlier.
One of Parker’s goals was to create a shop that didn’t look or smell like an auto shop. She wanted to make something that would give customers a completely different experience from a stereotypical auto shop.
Unlike most auto repair shops, the waiting area in Chloe’s is two rooms away from the area where they work on the cars. This helps keep the noise levels down so customers can relax and focus on work or other entertainment around the room, and the smells of any chemicals or rubber are kept outside of the shop. Parker said some people can actually be allergic to rubber and unable to step into an auto shop if they have tires near the waiting room. Instead of the factory smells of the average repair center, Chloe’s has a very neutral smell that doesn’t stand out to customers.
The décor in the waiting room is also completely different from other shops. Parker said most other repair shops usually have photos of cars on the walls and other auto related images. Chloe’s is completely different, with unique artwork and decorations on the walls that sets their waiting areas apart from other shops.
The furniture is both fashionable and comfortable, with nice plush chairs in the waiting area. A television sits in the corner of the room and other magazines and entertainment sources are nearby for customers’ convenience. Also, beverages such as coffee or water are available to customers while they wait.
Perhaps the biggest difference between Chloe’s and other repair shops is the children’s play area. The room is located on the other side of an open wall, adjacent to the waiting area. Parker made sure the room was stocked with toys, books, an easel for drawing and a television with children’s movies and stadium style seating.
“It’s something that I wanted to offer because most places, you’re already stressed because you’re in a car place and when you’ve got kids with you, if they don’t have something to do, they are all over you,” Parker said.
The children’s area really appeals to parents in the community. While mothers and fathers are getting their oil changed or their car repaired, they don’t need to worry about keeping their children entertained while waiting. Parents can relax or get work done while their children play in the next room. And, unsurprisingly, the children’s area is especially popular with the kids of the community. Parker said some parents have even brought their children by just to spend a few minutes in the play area.
Also, for people who may not be able to stay and wait for their vehicle to be repaired, Chloe’s has a shuttle service that takes customers to and from the shop as to make waiting more convenient for their schedules.
Another aspect of Chloe’s that sets them apart from other repair shops is their customer service and hospitality. One of the reasons Parker wanted to create her own repair shop was because of the dishonesty and overselling that happens in other shops. Parker said most auto repair shops make employees “sell their salary.” They also offer incentives for selling flushes, belts, hoses and other car repairs or parts to their customers.
“I don’t pay my people by what they sell,” Parker said. “Everybody is a salaried employee and there is no incentive for them to, as we call it, ‘go to the dark side’ and sell them something that is not needed.”
At Chloe’s, they don’t worry about hitting a specific number of sales for auto parts, their concern is their relationship with their customers.
“We’re very transparent with our customers,” Ashley Squires, one of the employees at Chloe’s, said. “When I first came here, they were telling me what Chloe’s Auto Repair was about, I was hooked within a couple minutes. Not just to work here, but to have my car serviced here and to have my friends’ and family’s cars serviced here because it’s completely honest. It’s 100% what you see is what you get.”
Customers at Chloe’s are kept aware of what is going on with their vehicles. Employees may take photos of the parts being fixed on their car or bring the customers into the garage to see for themselves what is wrong. Mechanics make sure the customer understands what is going on with their car and the reasons for why they might need to replace or repair certain parts.
All the mechanics at Chloe’s are qualified with the work they do. They all have years of experience working on cars between them. Parker said six out of the 15 employees at Chloe’s are female, which is very uncommon in the auto repair world. Parker said every shop she worked in prior to Chloe’s had just one female mechanic, if they had any at all.
“My women range from 21 to 52 or 53,” Parker said. “Because of the hours, it’s hard to find married people, women with children, that can work from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.”
Parker said she staggers the schedules and workloads between her employees so they can have a good balance between home-life and work. But Parker also goes above and beyond to make sure her employees are treated well and have what they need.
When Greg Swift, assistant service manager at Chloe’s Auto Repair, suffered a broken leg in a motorcycle accident, he wasn’t expecting Parker to be so caring and understanding for his situation.
“She was able to adapt the position to something that was more fitting for what was going on for me, and that’s huge,” Swift said. “I don’t think anyone else would have done that. They would have tiptoed lightly, but she’s been so understanding.”
Swift said he has known Parker for a few years after he was hired by her to work at a previous auto repair shop. When he heard she was opening her own auto repair shop, he and many other previous coworkers of Parker asked to come work for her.
“She opened up her own store and I came running behind,” Swift said. “A lot of us have worked with her in the past too. And it wasn’t that she came and was like ‘come work for us’, it was we all came to her and were here. And it was because we all believed in what she’s building and what she was about to do for the community.”
Chloe’s is breaking many social norms in auto repair as a female owned and female operated establishment. And this could be one of the many reasons the community loves Chloe’s.
“I love that Chloe’s is female owned and operated,” said Liz G. in her review of Chloe’s on Yelp. “I will definitely be bringing my SUV here from now on! Females will love coming here to get work done on their cars!”
This is just one of the many glowing reviews Chloe’s has received on Facebook, Yelp and Google. Reviewers appreciate the family-friendly atmosphere and the openness and caring attitude displayed by the management and staff. The community around Woodstock loves Chloe’s and it helps that the majority of staff at the shop are local. Parker said most of the employees at Chloe’s live in or near Woodstock. Several even attended Kennesaw State University, located a short distance from the shop.
Because most of the employees are local, this helps keep Chloe’s involved in the community. Chloe’s has been involved with many different charity’s causes and local school activities, such as collecting donations for a canned food drive, collecting for Toys for Tots, donating a car to someone in need and attending local school sports events. Their involvement in the community clearly helps Chloe’s build relationships with their growing stream of customers and keeps them coming back.
Between the customer service, honesty and cleanliness of Chloe’s, it’s no wonder why people are so willing to trust the mechanics with repairing their vehicles. From the moment a customer walks in, they are welcomed and assured that their needs are important. Parker’s goal of creating an auto repair shop that feels completely different from the average shop is very clear to see from the moment a customer steps through the doors. Her gift of making people feel comfortable and safe when dealing with car troubles has made Chloe’s very popular in Woodstock and the surrounding areas. Parker even said other repair shops in different states have copied her style. None of them are female owned, but they maintain the feel of Chloe’s.
But no matter how many repair shops change to the same image of Chloe’s, none will have the same genuineness of the first.
