TRENCH REPORTS

A Little Bite Out of

the Big Apple
by Frank Pasley

Dial has been in

the business for
over 20 years
and an ATRA
Member since
the beginning.
As this issue of
GEARS goes to print,
weve just kicked off the
2006 seminar season with
one of the most ambitious, in-depth programs
ever. If you havent made
plans to attend the next
ATRA technical seminar
in your area, dont wait:
Check the schedule in the
back of this issue, or go
to ATRA Online and see
(L to R) John Nilsson, Tom Garrett, Frank Melchert, Andrew Frasson, John Kleva, Paul Meyer,
when the ATRA seminar
Tyemell Walker and Pat Sepe.
will be in your town.
For as many years as
most people can remember, the ATRA
cases are fierce competitors, also supThe first shop we visited was Dial
technical seminars in New York have
ported the event. For this one day,
Transmissions in Merrick, NY. Dial has
been sole sponsored by industry supplithese tough competitors shook hands
been in the business for over 20 years
ers. October, 2005 marked a turning point
and then went about their business of
and an ATRA Member since the beginfor New York City area transmission
selling products and meeting with the
ning. In addition to private passenger
technicians, when ATRA produced the
attendees. And they did so at no cost
transmission work, Dial also has a
first non-sponsored technical seminar.
from ATRA: Just one of the many
heavy duty fleet and commercial secThis first-time event was held
benefits of being an ATRA Supplier
tion in the shop that keeps them busy.
at the JFK Ramada Plaza Hotel.
Member.
Dial does about 30 units a week.
Attendance was good, especially for
Hand-in-hand with the seminars
When asked how they manage to
our first ATRA-sponsored program in
come the shop visits, one of my favorite
stay so busy, Pat Sepe explained: We
the area. And based on the response
parts of these weekend excursions. This
work hard to control the quality of our
and feedback from those attending, this
time, ATRA CEO Dennis Madden and I
rebuilds. And we make sure, when the
next years event will be even bigger.
got to visit three New York area shops.
customer leaves our shop, he knows
Everyone had high praise and good
It actually gives me a warm, fuzzy feelhes received the best service possithings to say about the information
ing when we go into a Members shop
ble.
provided by two of ATRAs Top Guns:
and say, Hi, were from ATRA. Every
Dial does a lot of fleet work, which
Larry Frash, GEARS new technical
time the response is a big smile and
pays off two ways: in addition to the
editor, and Randall Schroeder, wellthen the person at the front desk hollers
fleet, which sends a lot of work their
known for his Doctor, Doctor articles
out Hey guys, ATRAs here! Theyre
way, they often get the personal work
in GEARS Magazine.
always happy to see us and were happy
from the people who work for the comIndustry suppliers, who in some
to be there, too. Its a real kick.
pany that owns the fleet. In addition,
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TRENCH REPORTS: A Little Bite Out of the Big Apple

Wholesale work is a
major part of Habbys
business; so much so
that they even have a fulltime outside salesperson,
who makes sales calls to
the general repair shops
in their area.

Habby's Transmissions (L to R) Marvin Miranda, Jorge Lopez and

Jamie Chavarria.

they sometimes do general repairs for

their regular customers, although they
dont advertise it.
Before we left the city of Merrick,
the Good Guys at Dial sent us to a nice
pizza joint near their shop. Dennis and
I ordered a couple of slices of the finest
thin crust New York style pizza Ive
had in over 10 years. It was to die for.

If youve never had a slice while actually in New York, you have no clue how
good New York pizza really is.
The next stop for the day was
Habbys Transmission in Hicksville,
NY. Habbys is a busy shop full of
hard-working guys. Back in 99, they
got into torque converters, because they
were having so many problems with

the converters they were buying. Today

they not only rebuild converters for
their own transmission work, they also
sell to a few local transmission shops.
When asked about the comeback ratio
on converters, they look me straight
in the eye and said Zero. I believed
them.
Wholesale work is a major part of
Habbys business; so much so that they
even have a full-time outside salesperson, who makes sales calls to the general repair shops in their area.
They also do cooling system and
A/C repairs, and will provide general repairs when asked, but they dont
advertise those general repairs. As
Wayne pointed out, Wholesale work
is such an important part of our business, I dont want to compete with my

Habby's Transmissions (L to R) Mike Cheshire, Rich Kornacki, Wayne Frie, Pete Gaiser, Shaun Delph and Warren Frie.

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A-1 Award Transmissions (L to R) Charlie Raymond; Larry Steiger; Charlie Raymond, Sr. (Dad); Thomas Abbatiello;
Steve Zimicki; and Eva Raymond (Mom).

own customers. The general shops in

the area keep us busy enough without
trying to cut into each others market.
The last stop was A-1 Award
Transmission in Huntington, NY. A-1
Award is a nice clean shop with a focus
on producing a quality product. They
rebuild about 10 units a week with an
almost nonexistent comeback ratio.
A-1 Award receives a large number
of customer referrals; according to shop
manager Charlie Raymond, at least two
or three a day. When asked what he
attributed that type of referral rate to, he
said, By being fair and honest with the
customer, and taking pride in the work
we do. And we make it a point to speak
on their level. I try to put myself on the
other side of the counter, and think of
how Id like to be treated when I have
a problem.
As far as their comebacks, Charlie
says, Everybody has comebacks. Its
not about whether you have a comeback; its how you handle those comebacks that determines whether you end
up with a satisfied customer or not.
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A-1 Award receives

a large number of
customer referrals;
according to shop
manager Charlie
Raymond, at least two
or three a day.
We were surprised to see they had
an extensive parts department, which
is a little unusual in todays market,
with the number of different units on
the road and the rapid delivery service
most parts houses offer. A-1 Award was
previously written about in GEARS
April-04 issue. Its nice to have them in
GEARS one more time.
The common thread with the shops
we visited, besides being long-time
ATRA Members? Its the one we see so
often. Family owned and operated, with
a staff of hard working people that are
all treated like family and interested in
doing the job right the first time; they
are all the Good Guys.
Since this is a New York City story,

I have to end with a food story. Friday

night I was honored to have dinner at
Peter Lugers Steak House in Brooklyn.
For dinner, the kind of fun but typically
surly New York waiter started us off
with a huge piece of beefsteak tomato
and sweet Bermuda onion, covered
with the special house sauce. It was
pretty darn good. But nothing could
have prepared me for incredible, huge,
water-aged Porter House steak, served
family style, on a huge platter for
three us of us to share. It was, without
question, the best steak I have ever
had anywhere. Thanks Don Swartz of
Airport Transmission in Rochester, NY,
and Kenny Hester of WIT. It was quite
an experience, even if it did end at 2:00
in the morning, when I had to work at
6:30.
Later this year, when ATRA is in
New York, well have a slice of the Big
Apple, not just a little bite.

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