This Customer Profile takes us to Chehalis, Washington. Situated between Portland, Oregon, and Olympia, Washington, it is the home of Lewis County Fleet Services, a full service auto and truck facility, specializing in fleet repair.
Owner, Bill Franz, had 18 years of automotive experience with Chrysler and Ford as a Master Technician. A friend of Bill’s opened a business in 1990 selling trailers and asked Bill to take care of his trucks. Their fleet grew from 2 to 22 trucks. During that time, word spread of Bill’s quality repairs and, in response, he opened his own business in 1999. The business started with Bill and his wife, Debbie, with two service bays located at 863 Koontz Road in Chehalis. Fast-Forward to today... Lewis County Fleet Services is still on Koontz Road, but now has eight employees working in six service bays and 4,000 square feet of space. Additional equipment at their disposal includes an alignment rack, high-tech driveability diagnostics with OEM scan tools and brake machining tools. “Basically everything except the exhaust,” said Bill.
“Our job is to provide a family-friendly and comfortable environment,” he added. “We use displays and parts to educate our customers to help increase their vehicle knowledge and build trust.” Five of the eight employees are ASE-Certified technicians in various criteria, including Manager, Diagnosis, Transmission, Brakes and two Master Technicians. Lewis County Fleet Services requires technicians to further their automotive education, and reimburses the cost of courses with a passing grade.
Since 2005, Lewis County Fleet Services has been an installer of JASPER remanufactured products, including gas and diesel engines, diesel fuel components, transmissions, transfer cases and differentials. “We will only use JASPER for our remanufactured products,” said Bill, “because of the consistent quality, warranty and reputation in the industry.” “Our customers are our closet friends,” he added. “It is imperative to build a trusting relationship with our customers, so we can help solve the issues with their vehicles which, in turn, affect their lives.” As for the future, Bill’s daughter, Kristi, will take over the business when Bill retires, “which will not be for a longtime,” he quickly added. But for now, Lewis County Fleet Services will continue to provide excellent customer service that exceeds customer expectations.