WHY WE SEND YOU PHOTOS
OF EVERYTHING WE FIND

I'm going to be honest with you. The auto repair industry has a trust problem.

I've heard the stories a thousand times. Somebody takes their car in for an oil change, and suddenly the shop is calling them with a list of stuff that needs to be fixed. New brakes, new struts, a fuel system cleaning, maybe a transmission flush thrown in for good measure. And the customer is sitting there thinking — do I really need all this? Or are they just trying to run up the bill?

I get it. I'd feel the same way.

That's why at CTR, if a customer wants to see what's going on with their vehicle, we're happy to send photos. Not a stock photo off the internet. An actual picture of your actual part on your actual vehicle. We don't do it on every single job, but whenever it helps explain the situation or a customer asks, we'll snap a picture and send it over.

It started because I was tired of the same conversation

My dad Pete started this business back in 1995. Four bays and a lot of hard work. I grew up around it. My cousin Josh and I both did. We raced together in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series — I drove, Josh was my crew chief. When you're going 150 mph and your crew chief tells you something's off with the truck, you trust him. There's no time to second-guess it.

But a repair shop isn't a race track. You've got time to ask questions. And you should.

The problem was, we'd call a customer and say something like "your brake pads are down to 2 millimeters and the rotors are scored." And they'd go quiet. Because they're picturing dollar signs and wondering if we're making it up. I don't blame them one bit.

So we started offering to send photos when it made sense. A picture of the worn-out pad next to a new one. A close-up of the cracked hose. The leaking gasket. If it helps you understand what's going on, we're happy to show you.

What it actually looks like

Here's a typical situation. You bring your truck in for a routine service. Our tech is under the vehicle and notices your CV boot is torn and grease is slinging everywhere. Instead of just adding "CV axle replacement" to a list and calling you with a number, we snap a photo right there.

You get a text with the picture and a quick explanation. Something like: "Hey, your driver side CV boot is torn open. The joint is still OK but if grease keeps coming out it'll fail soon. Here's what it looks like."

Now you're making a decision based on what you can actually see. Not just our word.

That changes the whole dynamic. You're not wondering if we're being straight with you. You're looking at the evidence.

This matters even more for fleet customers

We work with everybody from lawncare companies to railroad outfits, tree services to utility trucks. A fleet manager running 20 or 30 vehicles can't be at the shop every time one of their trucks is on the lift. They need information they can trust.

When we send photos, a fleet manager can look at their phone and make a call. "Yeah, go ahead and do that one, but let's hold off on the other thing until next month." They're managing their budget with their eyes, not just our opinion.

Some of our fleet guys save every photo we send them. They use them for their own records, for insurance, for warranty claims. It's documentation that actually means something.

The racing mentality

Josh and I bring the same approach we had in racing to this shop. When you're building a truck to race at Daytona or Charlotte Motor Speedway, every bolt matters. You don't cut corners. You don't guess. You inspect everything and you document what you find.

We're not racing anymore, but the mindset stuck with us. When my techs pull a set of brakes apart, I want them looking at it the same way we looked at race truck components. Because it matters just as much. The person driving that vehicle has a family to get home to.

What we're not going to do

We're not going to call you up and tell you that you need a bunch of work done that you don't actually need. That's not how I run things and that's not how Pete raised me to run things.

If your brakes have 4 millimeters left and you drive mostly highway, I'll tell you they're getting close but you've got some time. If your brakes are metal on metal and you've got kids in that car, I'm going to be pretty direct about it. But either way, you're going to see a photo.

We also back everything up with a warranty — 3 years/36,000 miles on auto, 1 year/unlimited miles on heavy-duty. If we do the work, we stand behind it. Period.

Try it out

If you've been burned by a shop before, or you just want to work with people who are going to be straight with you, bring your vehicle by. We've got two automotive locations — one on Zion Church Road in Concord and one on Roxie Street in Kannapolis. Heavy-duty work goes to our Armentrout Drive shop.

And when we find something, you'll see it yourself. That's just how we do things around here.