By Noelle Edwards
nedwards@salisburypost.com
When John and Shelia Collins moved to Salisbury from Ocean City, Md., a couple of years ago, it was to work at Aamco.
Eight and a half weeks ago, they still worked there, Shelia as office manager, John as a mechanic.
They had talked for awhile about opening their own auto repair shop, had even looked at a few potential locations, and a little more than eight weeks ago John said, “If we’re going to do this, we better just take our last paycheck and do this.”
And they did. They quit work that Thursday, paycheck in hand, and had only that $750 to spend on household bills and opening their own business.
They had nothing saved. They lived paycheck to paycheck.
Shelia said they could either pay their personal bills or open the shop. And if they paid their personal bills, they would be without further income.
She said they were talking about it, talking about the risk they were taking, that Friday afternoon, and John said, “I will have you in a shop by Monday afternoon.”
And by 2 p.m. that Monday, the owner of the building at 201 E. Innes St. had handed Collins the building’s keys.
“It hit home hard then,” Shelia said.
They had customers from day one, though. John told owners of the cars he had been working on at Aamco that they could leave their cars at Aamco or he would tow them away to finish after he left.
He actually towed several cars to his home until they were established in their own garage. Then he towed them to the new business, which they named Bumper 2 Bumper, and started to work right away.
“We had a commitment with them and we were going to fulfill our obligation,” Shelia said.
They have not been the only customers, though. Word spread quickly, and the Collinses have been so slammed in their eight weeks of business they couldn’t keep up.
“We were actually bumper to bumper the first seven weeks,” Shelia said.
Three days after opening, John realized he had to hire someone to help him. And a second employee starts Monday.
Things were slow enough last week to allow the couple to catch their breath. They’ve started cleaning up a little and figuring out what long-term renovations and repairs the building needs.
Not that they’re on easy street. They still barely have enough to survive personally because all the profits have to go back into the business.
They pay $600 a month for tools that they bought after John’s lifetime collection of tools was burned in a fire a few years ago.
They pay rent and utilities, and they’ve had to buy or repair existing tools to handle some speciality jobs.
They have to pay for all the parts for a project up front and get reimbursed when the owner pays for the job.
Shelia said it’s always a fear the customer will call and say he or she can’t pick up the car for a week or two.
“We’re doing this week to week,” Shelia said.
Shelia said they can’t afford to make a mistake because they’re still living paycheck to paycheck, and they need as much smooth sailing as they can get.
For that reason, they don’t see the transmission shop next door as competition.
They said people in all the nearby businesses have been helpful, and they’ve tried to be helpful back.
“I tried to come in here and be nice to everybody,” John said.
John does everything on a car, including electrical systems, transmissions, exhaust systems and routine maintenance.
They want to be the one place a customer would bring a car, rather than specializing in only one or two areas.
Shelia said she eventually wants to achieve a sort of retro feel to the shop.
John feels strongly about giving a big warranty for his work. Even when he worked for other people, he personally warrantied his work for longer than the owner of the shop was comfortable with.
At Bumper 2 Bumper, almost every job carries a 12 month or 12,000 mile warranty, except transmissions, which have a three year or 36,000 mile warranty.
“We know we can stand behind it,” Shelia said.
The tradeoff is that Bumper 2 Bumper isn’t the cheapest place in town, John said. But it’s not the most expensive either.
“We want to make a name that people can say, ‘I went to Bumper to Bumper and they treated me right,’ ” Shelia said. “We’re as blue collar as you get. But we’re honest.”
They will pick up a customer, pick up a car, even drive a customer to his or her bank to get money if need be.
“Whatever it takes is what we’re gonna do,” Shelia said.
Both enjoy working with people, and that was part of the motivation to start their own business.
“I love this job,” John said. “I enjoy getting up every day. I enjoy what I do.”
Some couples would have trouble working together, but John and Shelia can’t imagine it any other way.
They are together 24 hours a day, for the most part.
One day recently they were apart for four hours, Shelia said. “I’m telling you, I was lost.”
He cooks and she cleans.
In the business, he works on cars and manages the garage, and she manages the business and office aspects.
“It just comes natural for us,” Shelia said.
They met six years ago ó ironically, in Salisbury, Md. ó at an auto repair shop.
“She was my boss,” John said. “And she’s still the boss.”