RIP Goodguys…
Welcome ATRA News!
By: Dennis Madden

This new section of GEARS magazine— ATRA News — is written especially for ATRA members, to let them know what‘s happening at the home office. This column replaces the Goodguys newsletter you’re accustomed to receiving with your technical bulletins. Your bulletins will still arrive in the mail, but now as a separate packet. This new column also serves to let the industry know of the new changes at ATRA. As your association grows, we’ll be able to provide you with more and more services. And you’ll find out about those services here first. Who knows… in time, this may become the first section you turn to when GEARS Magazine arrives.

Last November, ATRA held three technical seminars: Omaha, Baltimore, and Atlanta. Prior to the Omaha seminar I received a phone call from Peter Fink, owner of Certified Transmissions. He’s involved with a local community college: specifically, the Automotive Transmissions and Drivelines division. He’d invited some of the college students to ATRA seminars in the past, and was wondering if there was anything ATRA could do to get some of the students to the seminar. He gave me the instructor’s name, and I made the call. To make a long story short, we invited the instructor, Rob Koch, and sixteen of his students to the Omaha seminar.

Come Saturday, Rob and sixteen of his students were all sitting in the first three rows. It dawned on me then that the future of this industry, in terms of getting young people involved, may not be as bleak as some suggest. It was absolutely heartwarming to see these students take a special interest in our profession.

At the start of the seminar I mentioned the phone number of the college to the attendees, in case they were looking for an entry-level technician for their shop. Almost everyone there began frantically scribbling the number on their notepads. This was one of the most rewarding moments I’ve ever had while participating in a seminar. Later, Rob sent me a thank you letter, signed by all of his students.

It got me thinking that we could do a better job of getting students who are interested in a career in the automotive industry to take an interest in automatic transmissions, rather than general repair. I’m not yet convinced that we have the number of new techs to supply the demand, but I think we’re better off than many suppose. Now we need action.

One of the complaints I hear from shop owners is that technical schools don’t teach the necessary skills to make  their students hirable. Our next task is to determine specifically what skills the industry needs, and relay that information to these schools. Then we need to provide business contacts for these students to place them in ATRA member shops. This will be one of the topics at our next Town Hall meeting.

So far we’ve had five Town Hall meetings. They were held the night before the seminars in Buena Park, Chicago, Omaha, Baltimore, and Atlanta. Topics of interest varied from one region to another: from the Golden Rule warranty program, technical training, and the Helpline, just to name a few. The great part about these meetings is they give us an opportunity to hear industry concerns right from the people affected.

But there’s more to these meetings than simply listening: Once we know your concerns, we have to act on them. So far, we’ve addressed the overuse of the Helpline by some shops. You’ll get additional information about this as the program goes into effect.

We’ve also included a  two-year warranty for the Golden Rule program. Along with this addition are changes in the language of the warranty, to address some of the situations brought up at the Town Hall meetings. This new warranty is scheduled to go in effect in January, 2002.

We have a number of other plans in the works, many of which were based on the meetings we have held. As an ATRA member, it’s important to let us know what

Here’s the instructor, Rob Koch (far right) with some of the students that participated at the Omaha seminar. It was a challenge (and somewhat amusing) watching Rob try to gather everyone for this impromptu photo. The students had a great time, and this event allowed them to see some of the new products of this industry, as well as giving them an opportunity to see how "high tech" (and interesting) this industry really is.