Repairing Vehicles at Christian Brothers Automotive

Brian Klaubert and his wife Nola opened in June 2002. Klaubert, a former engineer at Kimberly Clark (the company that makes Kleenex tissues), decided to go into the automotive repair business after getting tired of the traveling and moving that came along with his previous job. Located at 2770 Braselton Highway, the center offers a full range of automotive maintenance and repair services. I recently sat down to talk with Brian about his business.

Patch: What is the best aspect of owning an automotive repair center?

Brian: Owning your own business is nice because you have the flexibility to prioritize your time based on what you think is important versus having a corporation set your priorities. It's really rewarding in that regards. For example, I used to miss a lot of my kids activities but once I owned my own business I could prioritize that and I made it to all of their activities. Owning an automotive business is rewarding because you get to really help people. People come in and they're really frustrated. Often times when people are having problems in other areas of their life their car also breaks. So we get to really work with some really neat people and we get to help them out. I also enjoy the technical challenge of it. I get to use my engineering background in problem solving. I work with my technicians to help them collaboratively tackle some really difficult problems.

Patch: What is the most challenging aspect of owning Christian Brothers Automotive?

Brian: It's a consumer marketplace. So when people come in they may be frustrated with how expensive their repairs are. There is a dichotomy that the older the car is the less it is worth in some people's minds. Some people become disgruntled that the cost of their repair is more than what their car is worth. Unfortunately companies don't make the parts cost less as the cars get older. The hard thing is that everyone has busy lives and everyone prioritizes things differently. Interacting with people who don't want to be here and are upset with the situation they find themselves in can be difficult at times.

Patch: What makes Christian Brothers Automotive unique?

Brian: Well like every small business we strive to create an atmosphere of trust. The way we go about doing that is we try to adhere to biblical principles. Honesty, integrity and quality of service. In any business before you talk to the customer you have to look at the situation and decide the approach you're going to take. When we do that we look at it through a biblical lens. We want to be sure that we are never doing anything underhanded or taking advantage of a situation. So we are far less concerned about the Better Business Bureau than we are about God's principles for life.

Patch: What makes the Dacula community special?

Brian: Dacula is like the community I grew up in. It's an upper middle class community and I feel very at home here. It's said that the customers of a business reflect the personality of the owner and we really enjoy serving the people that come in here. One of the things we keep hearing time and time again is that we have the nicest customers. One of the really neat things is when a new employee comes in to work here, after around 30 days, they come up and say this place is unbelievable. We stay busy, but my stress level is so much lower. So much so that my wife notices.

Christian Brothers Automotive is open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. until 6 p.m. For more information you can visit their website.

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