• Business and Finance
• Family
• Computers and Internet
• Auto and Trucks
• Education
• Health
• Hobbies
• Home Improvement
• Legal
• Marketing

• Home
• Arthur's Articles Home
• Browse Categories
• Browse Authors
• Submit an Article
• Search for Articles

Home » Auto And Trucks Articles » Taking The Guesswork Out Of Finding A Good Auto Technician

Taking the Guesswork Out of Finding a Good Auto Technician

(ARA) - Finding a competent auto technician need not be a matter of chance. Much of the guesswork has been eliminated, thanks to the national program conducted by the non-profit National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE).

ASE tests and certifies automotive professionals in all major technical areas of repair and service. With more than 430,000 currently certified professionals, the ASE program has industry-wide acceptance and recognition. ASE-certified technicians and parts specialists can be found across the nation at every type of repair facility, from dealerships, service stations and franchises to parts stores, independent garages and even municipal fleets.

Certification Benefits Motorists

ASE certifies the technical competence of individual technicians, not repair facilities. Before taking ASE certification tests, many technicians attend training classes or study on their own to brush up on technical information. By passing difficult, national tests, ASE-certified technicians prove their technical competence to themselves, to their employers and to their customers.

What's more, because the ASE program is primarily voluntary, ASE-certification becomes a self-selecting credential that weeds out those who may be incompetent. And while ASE does not certify repair shops or police individual business practices, it stands to reason that those shop owners and managers who support their service employees' efforts to become technically certified will be concerned about other aspects of their business as well.

How Certification Works

About 100,000 technicians take ASE tests each May and November at more than 700 locations. Technicians who pass at least one exam and fulfill the two-year work experience requirement become ASE-certified. Those who pass a battery of exams and fulfill the experience requirement earn Master Technician status.

The tests, developed by industry experts with oversight from ASE's in-house pros, are administered by ACT, the same group known for its college entrance exams.

There are specialty exams covering all major areas of repair. There are eight tests for auto technicians alone: engine repair, engine performance, electrical/electronic systems, brakes, heating and air conditioning, suspension and steering, manual drive train and axles, and automatic transmissions. (There are also exams for collision repair technicians, damage estimators, parts specialists and others.)

ASE certification is not for life. ASE requires technicians to re-test every five years to keep up with technology and to remain certified. All ASE credentials have expiration dates.

Finding ASE-Certified Technicians

Repair establishments with at least one ASE technician are permitted to display the ASE sign. Each ASE professional is issued personalized credentials listing his or her exact area(s) of certification and appropriate shoulder insignia. Technicians also are issued certificates that employers often post in the customer-service area. And employers often display the blue and white ASE sign as well.

Businesses with a high level of commitment to the ASE program (75 percent of service personnel certified) are entitled to a special "Blue Seal of Excellence" recognition from ASE. These elite facilities are among the best in the nation. More than 1,500 businesses participate in this growing program.

Choosing the Right Technician

As with other professionals, such as physicians, automotive technicians often specialize. So it's wise to ask the shop owner or service manager for a technician who is certified in the appropriate area, for example, brakes, engine repair or air conditioning.

For More Information

For a free brochure with information about the ASE program, send a self-addressed, stamped long envelope to: ASE Consumer Brochure, Dept. ARA-3, 101 Blue Seal Dr., S.E., Suite 101, Leesburg, Va., 20175, or visit www.asecert.org for more information.

And here is another random article you might be interested in...

Managers: Why PR is SO Key

When outside audiences important to your operation do not understand what you are all about or, worse, harbor misconceptions, inaccuracies, untruths and false assumptions about you, you are likely to suffer negative, key audience behaviors that can prevent you from achieving your operating objectives.

As a business, non-profit or association manager, you simply cannot avoid such consequences when you allow external target audiences to hold negative perceptions about you which lead inevitably to those hurtful behaviors.

If this describes your operation, why not do something about it now?

Spend some time with the public relations people assigned to your department, division or subsidiary. Review together the fundamental premise of public relations which contains the answer to the challenges outlined above.

It goes this way: people act on their own perception of the facts before them, which leads to predictable behaviors about which something can be done. When we create, change or reinforce that opinion by reaching, persuading and moving-to-desired-action the very people whose behaviors affect the organization the most, the public relations mission is accomplished.

Consider the kinds of results such a blueprint can produce. Prospects prowling about; new joint venture and strategic alliance proposals; local thoughtleaders beginning to seek

you out; customers making repeat purchases; fresh contacts by capital givers and specifying sources; unexpected sales floor activity; and welcome recognition of you and your operation as key members of the business, non-profit or association communities.

Make certain your PR team accepts the fact that inaccurate perceptions almost always lead to behaviors that can hinder your operation. And that they may be called upon to assist the key target audience perception monitoring effort.

Now, because they are already in the perception and behavior business, they really should be directly involved in the initial opinion monitoring project. You can always hire a professional survey firm, but that can cost a lot of money. At any rate, those who ask the questions of members of your target audience want to identify inaccuracies, false assumptions, untruths, unfounded rumors, misconceptions and similar problems.

Interviewers will query members of that important outside audience asking them "Do you know anything about our organization? Are you aware at all of our products or services? Have you ever had contact with us? Or have you ever had a problem with our people or procedures?"

Here, you decide which newly discovered negative becomes your equally new, top priority, public relations goal.

Possibilities include: is that misconception a clear and present danger? Does that inaccuracy represent a very dangerous potential? Or does that unfounded rumor you turned up look like it could turn into the hottest fire of all?

With your public relations goal in hand, you'll need a strategy showing how to reach that goal. Fortunately, where perception and opinion are concerned, you have just three strategic choices. Change existing perception, create perception where there isn't any, or reinforce that existing perception.

Whatever you do, be sure that the strategy you choose is a neat fit with your new PR goal.

As you might suspect, the most difficult challenge is preparing the corrective message to be communicated to your key stakeholder audience in a manner that will help persuade them to your way of thinking.

Professional writing is the key requirement -- corrective language, if you will. And this language must be not merely compelling and persuasive, but clear, factual and believable if it is to move perception/opinion towards your point of view and lead to the change in behaviors you have in mind.

At this point, things get easier because, now, you identify the means for communicating your message to your target audience, making certain the tactics you select are on record as to reaching the same people as those that make up your particular audience. There are scores of communications tactics available ranging from consumer meetings; facility tours, speeches, emails and brochures to media interviews, newsletters, personal contacts and special events. One caution, HOW you communicate can affect the message's credibility. Consider that it may be more effective to deliver it at small meetings or events rather than through high-profile media announcements.

It won't be long before your colleagues and clients will look for signs that progress is being made. Which means a second perception monitoring go-around with members of that external audience. You'll again use many of the same questions used in your initial benchmark perception monitoring session. Difference now is that you will be on the alert and watching closely for signs that the offending perception is being altered in your direction.

Happily for all concerned, the campaign can always be accelerated by the addition of more communications tactics and/or, of course, by increasing their frequencies.

Thus the question, Mr/Ms manager, why NOT PR like this? After all, persuading you external target audiences to your way of thinking, then moving them to take actions that help your department, division or subsidiary succeed, means, in all likelihood, that you have a public relations success to celebrate.