Meet Roy Owens and his Honda with 427,937 miles!

At Honda of El Cerrito, we pride ourselves on providing some of the best service in the area. Last month, Roy Owens of Oakland, California, chose Honda of El Cerrito as his new service home for his green 1992 Honda EX. And this Honda has an amazing 427,937 miles on it!

As you may have read in last month's newsletter, we recently hired Burt Gallegus as our new Fixed Operations Manager. Mr. Owens has known Burt since 1990 and has always depended on him whenever his car needed servicing. So, when Burt came to our dealership, Mr. Owens followed him.

Mr. Owens said, "I've known Burt for 21 years, and I trust him and the quality of his service, so when he left his old dealership for Honda of El Cerrito, I found out where he went and followed him. It's hard to find people who take care of your car the way they would their own car, but I definitely found that here."

As you can see, Mr. Owens' Honda still looks great! Mr. Owens and his girlfriend, Margaret, are also pictured here with Burt and Honda of El Cerrito General Manager Scott Bisbee.

Mr. Owens bought his 1992 Honda EX in 1996 when it had 60,000 miles on it. Over the years, he has racked up over 350,000 miles (or nearly 25,000 miles per year!). Most of the miles came from his 40-mile roundtrip commute to work and frequent visits to his sister Ilean in Sacramento, but he also ventured out on several road trips to Las Vegas, Texas, and Louisiana which added up the miles over the years.

When we asked Margaret how she liked the Honda, she replied, "I love it--I'm a Honda Girl! My first car was a Honda Prelude, and out of all the cars I've had, Honda has always been my favorite."

Despite the extra mileage, Mr. Owens says his Honda still runs as good as new.

"Well, I treat my car like I treat my body. If you take care of it, you'll get good service from it!," he said. This advice has clearly paid off, as Mr. Owens' Honda still has its original engine, transmission, and air-conditioning!

Mr. Owens also offered other advice to Honda owners: "I only take my Honda to authorized dealerships for service. At the authorized dealerships, they keep records of every single service they do. If someone ever wanted to purchase my Honda, they could go to the dealership and look at the records for all 400,000-plus miles on my vehicle. And they'd know everything ever done to it." However, please note that Mr. Owens has no intention of selling his Honda anytime soon.

"I'll come back to my car while I'm out shopping, and someone will have left a note on my car asking if I'm interested in selling my Honda." But, the answer is no.

Mr. Owens is a California native who has lived in the Bay Area his whole life. He graduated from Oakland High School and attended Heald Business College before joining the California Army National Guard during the Vietnam War. After he got out, he worked at AC Transit from 1971 until his retirement as a Supervisor in the Human Resources and Training Department in July 2010. Mr. Owens is an avid bowler (usually within the 180 to 190 range—though he recently bowled a 279!), an amateur photographer, a lover of fantasy football and the outdoors, and, of course, he is a big fan of driving around in his Honda.

"I trust Honda of El Cerrito," Mr. Owens said. "They make me feel special; they make me want to come back to have my car serviced. Other dealerships just don't provide the same experience. At Honda of El Cerrito, the first question is not 'how are you paying for this?', like it so often is at other dealerships or service centers. Instead, you walk in, and they have big smiles on their faces, and they ask you how you are. It's just a better experience overall."

Honda of El Cerrito feels incredibly lucky for the opportunity to take care of Mr. Roy Owens' Honda, and we thank him for putting his trust in our service department.

For more pictures of Roy Owens and his 1992 Honda EX, visit our Flickr page.

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We're Improving Our Level of Customer Service!

As we told you here on the blog back in June, Honda of El Cerrito has recently hired a new Fixed Operations Manager, Burt Gallegus. We have always prided ourselves on great customer service, but, under Burt's management and leadership, we are taking it to a whole new level!

First and foremost, we've taken note of our customers' issues reaching their particular advisor on the phone. To ensure that every customer has direct access to their advisor, we've given each of our advisors a cell phone with a specific number. Now, we are instantly available to you, and we look forward to hearing for you.

In addition to this step, we are committed to taking the initiative to find ways to do our work better, smarter, and faster. We'd like to encourage our customers to contact us to discuss your experience at Honda of El Cerrito. Our job doesn't mean much if you're not satisfied. We genuinely desire our customers to know that we value and care about them. That is why we commit ourselves everyday to exceeding your expectations. Let us know how Honda of El Cerrito can help!

Our Commitment to Custom Service Will Blow Your Mind!

Honda of El Cerrito has recently hired a new Fixed Operations Manager, Burt Gallegus. Burt has been working in the automotive industry for over 25 years, and his experience will be vital as Honda of El Cerrito takes its great customer service to a whole new level!

First and foremost, we've taken note of our customers' issues reaching their particular adviser on the phone. To ensure that every customer has direct access to their adviser, we've given each of our advisers a cell phone with a specific number. Now, we are instantly available to you, and we look forward to hearing for you.

In addition to this step, we are committed to taking the initiative to find ways to do our work better, smarter, and faster. We'd like to encourage our customers to contact us to discuss your experience at Honda of El Cerrito. Our job doesn't mean much if you're not satisfied. We genuinely desire our customers to know that we value and care about them. That is why we commit ourselves everyday to exceeding your expectations.

We look forward to the valuable changes and improvements that Burt will make here at Honda of El Cerrito. When Burt is not working hard at Honda of El Cerrito, he enjoys spending time with his family and watching movies (his favorite is “Caddyshack”). Burt drives a Dodge Viper and his favorite food is shrimp and crab scampi. Burt and his family still live in his hometown of Hayward, California.

We hope our customers will join us in welcoming Burt to Honda of El Cerrito! We’re glad to have him.