Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeff Buckley.
Jeff and Candace Buckley own and operate My Father’s Shop Certified Automotive Repair in Midlothian Texas. This is a true Mom & Pop Automotive Shop. They strive to provide good old fashion customer service when it comes to servicing your vehicle. It really is just Mom and Pop at the shop. Jeff is an ASE certified Master Technician. He has held many more certifications through the years and currently just rectified as a Master tech for five more years. Candace takes care of the front office work, schedules all appointments, customers, ordering parts _ sometimes picking the parts up, takes customers home -picks them up, takes vehicles for inspection if required to complete a job – repair.
Before Covid, Candace would regularly pick up customers vehicles for service and deliver them back locally to teachers, coaches, widows or stay at home moms, local business people, or folks working from home. She has been known to even pickup license tags and gas for the vehicle. Jeff strives to keep a vehicle operating at its best and to help a customer get the most life out of their vehicle with proper maintenance. This goal is achieved by inspecting each vehicle every time it is brought in for service. First time customers vehicles all receive a once over look to see what type of shape the vehicle is in. This past year Jeff and the shop have been awarded the Blue Seal of Excellence from ASE, Carfax Top Rated Service Center, and a Top Rated Google shop. Jeff was recognized with the National “ALPHA” award from ASA in the Mechanical Shop Division. Most recently, the shop won FIRST place in Best Of Ellis County in Automotive Service.
Jeff is also a member of Auto Care Association. He has worked with AAPEX TV at the AAPEX International conference and Expo in Las Vegas. The videos featured many international companies. As a Sema member he has highlighted several companies in his social media videos. He has been featured in many trade magazines. Jeff recently shared his “Guerrilla Marketing” with ASE Tech News. He has many Tool Reviews in previous editions of PTEN magazine along with the tool review videos at Vehicleservicepros.com. Many of these are on his YOUTUBE channel. Jeff has been featured in Trade Magazines for his work with ATEQ TPMS tools which is now ATEQ Global TPMS Tools. Tools For Schools is a program he uses with several companies such as ATEQ and Redline Detection to get New Automotive Technology Tools to school Automotive programs. You may have actually seen Jeff on TV or Billboards Nation wide several years ago with TV celebrity Mike Rowe. Jeff was fortunate enough to be featured with Mike representing a Brake product. Jeff has won the Midlothian Chamber of Commerce “Achievement Award” twice for his work promoting Local businesses and community on His Facebook group “Howdy Midlothian. This award can only be won every three years.
He also serves on the Board of Directors for the Chamber. To promote the Shop Jeff produces many Car Care Tips and automotive videos. Don’t look them up expecting to find DIY videos. Jeff shows everyday dailey drivers, your normal cars and trucks and helps to educate the consumer. He shows repairs in progress, what all is required to complete an particular repair, why that repair was necessary, what you the consumer could look for, and the many speciality tools or knowledge needed to properly perform this repair. Jeff is a huge advocate of consumers finding and using Certified shops with Certified Techs. So is this story to be inspirational? Is it to encourage others that you can make a difference? Is it to show that customer service is not dead, and even a Mom and Pop shop can complete in Today’s world with all the new Technology? This year Jeff and Candace will be married for 38 years. They raised four children -all successful adults now and working on helping with fur grandchildren. My Fathers Shop has been at the same location in Midlothian for over 27 years. Candace left the Banking industry when their first child Jonathan was born. The young Couple made the decision that they may not have the newest cars or the nicest new house, but that it was more important to raise, support and be available for their children.
Many times they struggled, but with their faith in God, family, friends and the community things always worked out. Remember God blesses others through blessing you. That’s one of the biggest reasons for the Buckleys giving back to their community. Jeff is a strong believer in using your gifts to bless others when you can. This is why he feels so strongly in encourage companies he works with to give to the automotive schools. This past year they had 10-12 vehicles donated to school automotive programs. They have already had # 3 vehicles donated this year with a few more in the works. His work with schools extends nation wide. Two schools in Texas, one in Florida, one in Illinois, one in Hawaii. Their four children went to A & M and Jeff jokes – they got 6 back. Jeff has been featured on many industry podcasts sharing his knowledge, including ASA podcast, Remarkable Results with Carm Capriotto, Technician Academy, Wrench Nation with Frank Luetz and AAPEX Blog.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
To succeed in the automotive industry, you must determine to stay current with todays technology. You must keep up with training… you never stop learning… you must seek out any relevant training. Sometimes its online, this was harder to find online before COVID, you must pick, choose and attend trade shows… attend local training sessions… seek out training or information through companies and suppliers. The technology in todays vehicles is ever evolving… you must invest time and money in training and new tools and equipment. I am blessed in a lot of ways by companies asking me to try a new tools, be a beta tester… sharing info with me. Its a constant struggle to display your expertise to the consumer. Our industry doesn’t always have the most trust from the consumer. I have been working for years to help improve that image. It’s not your grand dads truck any more.
There is so much Technology in Todays vehicle, you need a Certified Technician at a Certified Shop to service your vehicle. Even a “simple” job like changing a Battery or an Oil change can require a special tool to reset the computer or Tell the computer/module you installed a new battery so the charging system works properly or the service maintenance lights turns off and resets. To build trust, educate the consumer and maintain your reputation can be a challenge. When we got married, we lost our first shop within a month and a half. Having just brought the equipment, a new wrecker and a new house. Second Major struggle… during the housing downturn of the late 80’s. The gentleman who owned our building went bankrupt and the bank tried to triple our rent… We lost that shop…. We are blessed that the area around us has grown into a blessing. From when we started in Midlothian – the fleet service we did… aMajor company got sold that went away. I use to work on everything… did it all… after a heart attach several years ago… we reevaluated and cut down on the work I do. We had to decide what jobs made us money and what jobs keep a shop “busy.” We came up with a business plan that works for us and refer time consuming jobs to shops with more technicians that need the “busy work.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
We are blessed by our community. We use our Howdy Midlothian Platform to promote local businesses and community. Rather its the students at the schools that have won an award or great achievement. A brick and mortar business or a home bake shop, we try to encourage #shoplocal #shopsmall We will feature the local fishing tournament, mayors back to school bash or a talk with the local police dept, showing a preview of the new fire station. we will share or promote on HOWDY MIDLOTHIAN. I have been known to dress up like an Elf at Christmas with the videos. We actually have a studio area in the shop for this propose. Since I control the posting on this Page/group there is never anything negative posted.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.myfathersshop.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/myfathersshop/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MyFathersShopCertifiedAutomotiveRepair
https://www.facebook.com/jeffbuckleymyfathersshop - Twitter: https://twitter.com/myfathersshop
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIUHPVvgzwoTQTXZAvleEEg
