Meineke Car Care Center #2281 (North Albuquerque) | Top Shops for Technician Jobs in Albuquerque, NM

About Us

Family Owned/Locally Owned Automotive Repair Shop that opened in 2012. Strong customer base in the area with lots of repeat customers. Lots of local fleet business as well. 6 Bay Service Shop, with plans to move in to new facility by the middle of 2023.

Photos

Under The Hood

Is the shop heated? Air conditioned?

Shop is heated. Porta Coolers and Fans in use during summer

What is the size of the team I’d be working with?

Approx 8 Employees including technicians/service manager/owner/shop helpers

What are the shop hours and what are the shift timeframes?

Monday through Friday 8am - 6pm. Saturdays 8 am-4pm. Employees work 5 of the 6 of the Open Days

What tools does the shop provide that are available for all technicians to use?

New Hoffman Alignment Rack, Bendpack Pipe Bender, Firepower Welder, Snap On Zeus Scanner, Bosch OTS Scanner, RobinAire R134 and R1234YF AC Machines, new Tire Machine, Ranger Tire Balancer (Road Force). Numerous other specialty tools for normal shop work (Timing Belt/Chain holders, suspension work, etc)

What type of break room facility is provided?

No official break room, but there is a kitchenette area and employee bathroom/locker room. There is also a break area outside of shop

How many bays does your shop have?

6 bays. Moving into 8 bay shop later in year

How many repair orders do you average per month?

Approx 350 Repair orders per month

What is your parts ordering process?

Online Tekmetric System. Main supplier is NAPA, but we also purchase from Advance, Autozone, O'reillys, World Pac, Parts Plus, US Distributing, Conservancy Oil, NM Exhaust, Allied Exhaust and various dealers.

What is your policy on side work?

Not allowed. Employees can work on their own personal/family vehicles outside of normal work hours and use the shop facility.

Are there any other unique features of the work environment worth noting?

We take pride in a positive and healthy work environment for our employees. There is no screaming and yelling at employees. We are all a team and all here to make money and succeed.

Do you offer any skills training or continuing education opportunities?

Continuing education classes offered through the following: NAPA, Dorman, Advance and other online resources.

Can you describe opportunities for career growth at your business?

We offer ASE help and training to pursue ASE certificates.

Can you describe your performance review process?

Performance reviews offered after 4 month probationary period then yearly after that.

What type of safety training is required?

Weekly safety topic is reviewed with team.

Can you describe how Techs work with and mentor younger techs?

We try to promote an atmosphere where all technicians help each other out when needed and the more experienced technicians share their knowledge and tricks of the trade.

How does your shop get involved with the local community?

We sponsor various youth organizations and clubs.

Do you do anything with local high schools or tech schools to encourage more students to enter the profession?

We have reached out to CNM Automotive and Intellitec on occasion and worked with them on internships and finding new hires.

Where do you see the shop in five years?

In the new facility with continued growth and working on the next generation of vehicles.

Do you have an application form and how long does it typically take to complete?

Yes, we do have a hiring application, the form typically takes 20 minutes - 30 minutes to complete

Do you phone screen applicants before doing in-person interviews?

What do your in-person interviews entail?

First interview is with one shop owner and involves basic questionnaire and interview. Second interview is with both shop owners and includes shop walk around and more in depth questions on experience.

Do you perform background checks, drug screening, or personality tests before hiring an applicant?

Background Check and Drug Screening are done.

Do you perform a skill assessment before hiring an applicant? If yes, what does it entail?

No hands on skill assessment, just more detailed questions on second interview.

After an in-person interview, approximately how long should I expect to wait for a rejection or an offer?

1-2 Weeks.

Approximately how long does the full hiring process take from submitting the application to the time of the hiring decision?

1-2 Weeks.

B Level Technician Pay Range: $45,000 - $60,000/year ($21.63 - $28.85/hr)

Flag Rate, plus Bonus for meeting weekly Goals.

Lube Technician Pay Range: $25,000 - $32,000/year ($12.02 - $15.38/hr)

Base Hourly Rate plus SPIF. Depends on Experience

Health Insurance Offered: Optional after 4 month probationary period
Dental Insurance Offered: Optional after 4 month probationary period
Vision Insurance Offered: Optional after 4 month probationary period
Retirement Plan Not Offered
Sick Leave Offered: Employees begin sick leave/personal time accrual after probationary period
Vacation Not Offered
Paid Holidays Offered: 6 Paid Holidays offered after one year of employment
ST / LT Disability Not Offered
Life Insurance Offered: Optional after 4 month probationary period
Uniforms Offered: Uniforms provided for Shop Employees. Weekly Exchange/Cleaning provided by 3rd Party Company
Other Not Offered

Shop Talk

Top Shop Challenge - Do you do anything special for your team for the holidays?

This year, we are giving the employees two 2 day holiday weekends and only working a 3 day week between Christmas and New Year's. We are closed Sat Dec 24th-Mon Dec 26th. Open on the 27th, 28th& 29th. Then closing again on Friday Dec 30th - Sunday Jan 1st. We know that the kids are off for holiday break and we want our guys to have some good family time at the end of the year. We also had our end of year holiday party at the beginning of December at a Bowling Alley with a lot of other NAPA Auto Care shops in Albuquerque.

Top Shop Challenge: Explain how you pay your techs (i.e., flat rate, straight hourly, etc.). Are there any parts of your pay plan that separate you from other shops?

We pay our skilled technicians flat rate pay. Because we are so busy, our lead tech regularly does 60-65 hours a week and our other skilled tech does about 50 hours a week. We also offer bonuses for meeting a week goal on hours. Our motto has always been that we love paying our techs a lot of hours. We are working together and the better that they perform, the better the shop performs and vice/versa. Lube or entry level techs are paid hourly with a SPIF bonus or a bonus for any work they recommend that gets sold and performed by the skilled technicians.

What are a couple of things you'd like to highlight that happened in November?

November was a short month for us, as we only had 20 work days due to the holiday. However, we still managed to have almost 200 work order tickets at an average ARO of $513. We had a couple of heavy line jobs, a lot of brake/suspension/exhaust work that kept us busy.