Brian and Julie Zimmer took over operation of longtime Parksville business Miles D Automotive on April 1. But the April Fool’s joke actually took place a few months earlier.
The Zimmers were already looking to purchase an established auto repair business in B.C. after having owned Calgary’s Heritage Auto Pro for a decade. When he learned through a broker last December that the shop founded by Miles Doughty was on the market, Brian made an appointment and drove his badly vibrating truck from his home in Kamloops for a “secret shopper” experience at the shop off Industrial Way in Parksville.
“I knew I had to fix it, but I let it go, knowing I needed something to bring into the shop,” Zimmer said. “I wanted to see the business from the outside looking in. Needless to say, I was impressed.”
Upon returning home, Zimmer began the process of purchasing the business. When he returned to Miles D Automotive a few weeks later to “officially” meet Doughty and his wife Lynn, Zimmer was caught out immediately.
“Miles and Lynn recognized me right away,” he said. “They just laughed about it.”
Looking back now, the change of ownership seems almost pre-ordained. But both couples admit there was a good deal of serendipity involved in bringing the deal together.
Now 58 and facing a major heart operation next month, Doughty had been looking to sell the business. But he also wanted to be selective about who came in to take it over — he owned it for 22 years.
“We felt a responsibility, not just to our employees but to our longtime customers, that whoever would take over and buy the business would take care of those customers who have been with us all these years,” said Doughty. “I didn’t want to sell the business to anyone unless we felt they could give the same experience to our customers and employees that we offered.”
Nearly two years ago Doughty listed the business with a broker and those instructions, and actually turned down buyers who were unwilling to retain his technicians or otherwise failed to meet his criteria.
Meanwhile, B.C.-raised Brian Zimmer was in the process of selling his Calgary auto shop and looking to set up business somewhere back in British Columbia. His wife was a native Albertan, but her parents, Barry and Val Conn, had relocated to Parksville four years ago.
“After they moved I came out here to visit and I remember telling Brian, ‘I could see us living here,’” Julie said.
The Zimmers never dreamed they would actually find their ideal shop in Parksville, however. They had relocated to Kamloops but Brian remained stymied in his efforts to find the right business until Doughty’s broker called him late last year.
“We just looked at each other, like, ‘A shop in Parksville? Why didn’t we know about this?’” Julie Zimmer said.
Not only will the Zimmers continue the tradition of the family owned and run operation, but Miles Doughty will continue to work periodically at the shop, which specializes in European makes — particularly Volvos.
The Zimmers were pleased to discover Miles D Automotive utilizes most of the same computer diagnostics and business and workflow practices — down to the same software program — they had used at Heritage Auto Pro.
Doughty and Zimmer both trained at the Canadian Institute of Technology after completing their apprenticeships.
“Brian and I were actually taught by some of the same instructors,” said Doughty. “The transition was excellent because we both had operated the same way in our businesses.”
The Zimmers have gone from a four-bay shop at Heritage Auto Pro to a three-bay garage at Miles D Automotive. But Brian Zimmer said he’s given up nothing in workspace or equipment, and a second-floor loft provides space for parts and inventory.
“This building actually has more square footage,” he said. “And I never had high ceilings like this.”
Zimmer, a hot rod buff who owns a fully restored 1969 Beaumont convertible, got his start by leasing a three-bay PetroCanada shop in Kamloops. When PetroCanada closed the operation, he moved to Alberta and purchased Heritage Auto Pro, adjacent to Calgary’s historic Heritage district.
Doughty spent 16 years as head technician at Williams Automotive in Victoria before starting his first business, Miles Mobile Automotive, also in Victoria. Less that a year later, he moved to Parksville and opened Miles D Automotive in a defunct auto shop just down Industrial Way from the current location.
He added his first employee the following year and Lynn, who had been working at Starlight Windows, joined him in the shop at that time. The business moved to its current location in its third year.
Current technicians Chuck Landa and Gord Hall have been kept on at Miles D, which services all makes and models.
“We feel very positive about them coming in,” said Miles. “We feel they’re going to be able to do as good a job as we did. It will still be a place to go get that personalized service and value for the dollar spent.”
The Zimmers, who have purchased a house in Nanoose Bay and who have already been welcomed by both neighbours and customers, already feel like they’re at home.
“We want to be very involved in the community, as Miles and Lynn have been,” said Brian. “We stumbled upon Paradise, I guess.”
Miles D Automotive is located in Unit A-1002 Herring Gull Way in Parksville. To contact the shop, call 250-248-9679 or e-mail mdauto@shaw.ca.
