If you find yourself walking down the lovely main street of McPherson, Kan., you’ll find many shops, restaurants, and local businesses, including JAR Performance Automotive. Jeff Reitz, owner of JAR Performance, bought his shop just over five years ago. Since then, he’s been working on repairing people’s perceptions of automotive technicians. He and his team are there to “serve their community’s needs and prove that there is such a thing as an honest mechanic.”
This shop owner lives and breathes cars; even when Jeff’s off work, you can find him working away on his “project” cars in his own garage at home or attending car shows or races. He also enjoys remodeling his house, constantly doing work on it. Any additional free time he has is taken over by doing fun activities with his three kids, he says.
Jeff always envisioned himself owning his own shop, as he’s always been an entrepreneurial type. He and his wife were looking to relocate; their house was already on the market. While on the search for a house large enough to install a lift and start a repair shop “on the side,” they found the deal of a lifetime for sale, John's Motor Service, a turn-key shop.
JAR Automotive has grown to six full-time employees from the one technician and one service writer they had when opening. Since 2016, the shop’s annual sales have increased by 340 percent, and they are expanding to a new location with over 10,000 sq. ft. within a year. Jeff is busy, but in the best way, he says. With the shop expansion on the horizon, his hands are full, but not how he used to be before becoming a DRIVE client. In the past, he “was always filling positions and working for the business rather than working on the business,” he says, and he’s looking forward to bringing on a shop manager and freeing up his schedule to go on vacation with his family.
Before owning his own shop, Jeff completed the Automotive Restoration degree program with an emphasis on business administration at McPherson College, the only accredited restoration program in the world. As a student, he learned many different aspects of the repair industry while getting his bachelor’s degree, with skills ranging from mechanical and engineering, to upholstery and interiors, and he even took woodworking and metal-shaping classes. He’s used these skills in every aspect of his life, from running his shop to making repairs on his own home. He says, “the skillset learned there is so broad that it can truly be utilized in virtually any industry.”
Looking forward to the rest of the year, Jeff is excited to attend his first DRIVE EXPO in August. One of his favorite things is talking to other shop owners, he says, and the EXPO is the perfect place to network. He enjoys “learning some of the strengths, weaknesses, and obstacles others have overcome in their journey and learning how to apply that knowledge to our own.”
One thing he’s learned throughout the years is the importance of picking the correct supplier. That’s why JAR Automotive is a Gold Certified NAPA AutoCare Center, with NAPA as its primary supplier. The shop also uses the Tulsa Parts Connection, which is a group of dealerships that runs a delivery route overnight for almost any OEM part. Other local shops and parts stores have even sourced OEM pieces through JAR because of this access. The other big thing he’s learned is the difference training can make. So, his shop works hard to ensure everyone on the team is ASE-certified at some level. Even the office staff is trained, having the C1 Customer Service certification.
His final piece of advice? To take the first job you can get. He continues: “When I was in college, I attended a seminar where the speaker had taken a custodial job at a bank after college, and later bid on a teller position. At the time of the seminar, he was the primary owner of a chain of several large banking institutions. When I graduated college, I took a temporary job on a production line and in 13 months had earned the position of supervisor. Later, I became operations manager and then accepted a shop foreman role in a large fabrication shop. These years of personal growth prepared me for business ownership. ‘Take the first job you get’ and make the most out of it.”
