Bruce's Transmissions welcomes you to our Rutland automatic transmission repair shop website. Each transmission technician at our automatic transmission repair shop in Rutland is highly qualified and ready to deliver their expert automotive transmission repair technician knowledge & skills for your every automatic transmission repair need.
Bruce McKinney is the owner of Bruce's Transmission in Rutland, Vermont. Rutland is a rural town of some 18,000 people, not far from New York, and a few hours drive from Boston. Near a popular Vermont ski area, the town draws escapees from the larger North East population centers, but is otherwise a quiet, idyllic, maple-wooded backwater. McKinney didn't grow up in the transmission business, nor did he even start his career in one. For the first ten years of his working life he repaired machinery for the U.S. Postal Service. When that proved to be enough, he began to look for something of interest. He found it in a small transmission shop in Rutland. McKinney bought the shop nearly 13 years ago, and set about learning the business. Though he had considerable mechanical aptitude, McKinney had no automotive repair experience. He took the shop over by himself, and essentially ran the operation by removing problem transmissions and installing rebuilt units he obtained from a large supplier. It wasn't long before the come-backs had him inside the cases trying to figure out what was wrong. It didn't take McKinney long to realize he had much to learn about transmissions, and that the learning process needed to start soon. He turned to trade organizations such as ATRA for training and education, and began the process of rebuilding transmissions, in addition to buying the rebuilt units. Being a fast learner was of great benefit to McKinney, and it wasn't long before he had all the business he could handle in his one-person shop. Most of his business came from referrals generated by general repair shops in the area. McKinney said that his business operations skills lagged a bit behind his technical ones. By taking advantage of management seminars where possible, he learned ways to improve his business-operation skills. By employing a formula learned in one seminar to his hourly shop rate, McKinney found he was charging considerably less for his services than he should. 'It was a bigger surprise than you could ever imagine,' he said of the revelation. He increased his shop rate an additional ten dollars an hour, and things began to fall in place. 'You just don't think of all the other things (when you arbitrarily set an hourly rate) you do each day, like the time you spend on the phone, or road tests, or just in talking to customers.' McKinney estimated that approximately 60% of his work involves front-wheel drive vehicles, with a fair number of four wheel drive units and transfer cases added in. The average week will bring in about four major rebuilds, and a smattering of less involved jobs. When preparing an estimate for customers, McKinney uses a parts and labor guide with his 'adjusted' hourly rate. Electronic diagnosis is completed where necessary, using a variety of testing devices. The turn around time for most of his major jobs is about three days, said McKinney. Though he stocks some common parts and kits, he added with a laugh, 'I always seem to need what I don't have.' Generally, parts can be delivered in one day from the larger metropolitan areas. Updates are done when necessary, though, admitted McKinney, not usually until they become problematic for that particular unit. McKinney said he always stands behind his work, but sometimes is not able to get to come-backs as quickly as he would like. It's an area he has identified as one to improve upon, along with his front office skills.
Our automatic transmission shop is proud to be affiliated with the non-profit organization known as the Automatic Transmission Rebuilder Association (ATRA). As an ATRA member our automatic transmission repair shop adheres to the service and repair definitions which are a part of the ATRA bylaws and code of ethics.
Bruce's Transmissions pledges to all of our customers that we will not remove a transmission from a vehicle in order to complete a repair unless absolutely necessary. Additionally our shop promises to diagnose transmission problems for all of our local and surrounding area customers in an honest and expert manner. Our shop strives to provide prompt and courteous service to all who visit our automotive transmission repair facility in the hope that you will come back to us for all of your automotive automatic transmission repair needs.
ATRA - the Automatic Transmission Rebuilders Association - is an international trade association for the professional automatic transmission repair industry.