Garage of the Year Finalists

In this issue of SSGM Magazine, we have taken the time to profile the top five finalists for the Garage of the Year. Each of the shops chosen represent what is best amongst today’s independent service providers: investing time and monies in management and technician training, working to improve customer service, being active in the community and raising the profile and status of this industry amongst Canadians, for example. All exhibited many other excellent qualities, too many to list here; and even the profiles only touch upon a handful.

It was not easy coming up with these finalists. Over the year, SSGM received hundreds of emails and faxes about many excellent shops across Canada. It was tough to choose just five. We could have chosen 10 or even 20 shops. Trust me, there was a lot of coffee consumed, debating back-and-forth, and checking of every worthy candidate (not the mention the reading of each email and fax, which cost a small forest in trees, I can assure you) to come up with this final list.

But now comes the really hard part: finally deciding upon one shop to be awarded the Garage of the Year. We will be reviewing once more every fax and email, including the many new ones we expect to get, before we at SSGM sit down and decide winner.

And this is where you, the many thousands of readers of SSGM, come in. We are looking for not just the testimonials of the shop’s customers to tell us how good they are, but we would like to hear from their peers as well. Take the time to read these short profiles and let us know who you believe to be the best shop. You may know the shops and their owners personally, or are familiar with operations; or maybe there is something in these short profiles that strikes you are important or makes them truly stand out. Let us know and that input will be taken into account when we finally make our decision.

Remember, Garage of the Year honours not just a single shop in Canada as representing what is best amongst independents, but it honours all of the hard-working shops, and can inspire everyone to reach higher standards of excellence.