Shop View: Buck’s Family Auto

  • Shop name: Buck family automobile
  • Owners): Rosie and Jeff Buck
  • Location (city, state): Carmichael, California
  • Staff size: 3
  • Store size (in square feet): 5,000 square feet
  • Number of bays: 3 bays
  • Average monthly number of cars: 100
  • Annual income ($): $450,000

Bucks Family Automotive in Carmichael, CA, repairs Hondas, Toyotas and other Asian brands. Owner Jeff Buck is a master technician with all nine ASE certifications.

Create a store

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Jeff says he and his wife Rosie, the store’s operations manager, searched for industrial space before finding their current location, a former powder coating shop attached to a financial services office. The couple purchased both spaces.

“The landlord wanted to rent everything at once, so we decided to rent 2,000 square feet of office space and 3,000 square feet of retail space,” says Jeff.

The building has two front-facing bays with three awnings over the front door and a pair of adjacent windows and ample guest parking.

stay a while

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Buck’s Family Automotive waiting room has a contemporary home aesthetic. The main reception has a standard reception and, to its right, a three-room waiting room for families, with a full dining table and Wi-Fi for those who wish to work while waiting . There is also a snack bar and coffee corner.

“We have our main waiting room which has very comfortable sofas and seating, up-to-date magazines and local books. We also have a play area reserved for children. We have lots of families—families love their [Honda] Odyssey and Toyota Sienna,” says Rosie. “We really wanted a comfortable home for our customers.”

A look behind the curtain

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From the store’s waiting area, a glass door leads directly to the store floor. Once inside the workshop, there are two two-post lifts for normal routine maintenance and engine and transmission repair. On the other side of the workshop is a four-post lift for oil changes and quick services. It’s something that Jeff is trying to turn into an alignment rack.

“It’s kind of a good rest area that I like to run diagnostics on so I don’t have to spend time hoarding cars as much as I can just use it to get in and out with them,” explains Jeff.

The diagnostic equipment is next to the rack. Bucks Family Automotive uses the Snap-On Zeus for their diagnostic work. Smaller toolboxes are arranged in the workshop for Jeff and his employee.

“So we have a little toolbox for diagnostics that we bring to every car, my personal toolbox of hand tools, and then we have more of our larger tools. [We have] another box, all very mobile around the store, so me and my employee can be very mobile working on everything. We also have factory Toyota and Honda scan tools so we can do some programming as well,” says Jeff.

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