Today we’d like to introduce you to Tony Scrofano.
Hi Tony, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’ve been into cars my entire life. My mom says the only thing I’d play with as a child was toy cars and I guess I never moved on. My dad taught me the basics of automotive repair when I was young, I have many fond memories that probably weren’t terribly fun at the time as we both struggled to fix the family cars laying on the ground in the middle of winter in the New Hampshire. In high school, I joined the automotive vocational class and worked into a leadership role as a teacher’s assistant in my final year of high school. After high school, I left New Hampshire to go to an automotive technical school in Arizona, earning my Associate of occupational studies degree in automotive. Later I graduated from specialized programs at Ford and Mercedes-Benz training facilities and worked at a Mercedes-Benz dealership for a few years before changing brands in 2005. I worked at two different BMW dealerships over the years, becoming a Master Certified BMW Technician. In September 2019, I opened my own automotive repair shop in eastern San Diego, Driven SD. Little did I know that leaving a very comfortable BMW dealership job in late 2019 was going to sign me up for some unexpected challenges in the coming year. I struggled to get the business going through the covid pandemic, selling a few of my personal vehicles to make ends meet (any car enthusiast knows how hard that must have been). There were a lot of slow days when I didn’t touch a car and the phone wasn’t ringing. There were also a lot of late nights later on when I had to be at the shop 70-75 hours a week to get the work done on my own. In time, Driven SD started to build a name for itself, the shop got busy and I was able to hire my first employee, Ilya. Ilya is the shop foreman here at Driven SD and a huge part of our business. We plan to hire more professional BMW technicians to follow Ilya’s lead as we grow the business and see where our journey takes us.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
It definitely has not been a smooth road. I had no experience running a business and I had to teach myself everything involved. The insurance, permits, fees involved in running an automotive shop are pretty overwhelming (particularly in California) and that was the beginning of the challenges. Finding a location was another struggle as locations zoned for automotive are hard to come by and some of the property owners don’t want automotive businesses even if the zoning permits it (especially for a start up business). The main challenge was financial of course, becoming used to a very comfortable living with years of BMW dealership experience as a top performer comes along with a decent paycheck and I’m slowly working myself back up to the lifestyle I had become accustomed to when I didn’t really have to worry about spending. I didn’t pay myself a dime for my first six months in business because there were so many things that I needed for the shop. After six months, I started to pay myself gradually as the business grew. The financial burden and stress takes on a whole new life when you have another family to make sure you take care of before your own though, as any business owner with employees realizes. I went without health insurance for the first year and a half until Ilya started, his family needed insurance though so we made it happen (which is hugely expensive). I could go on all day about the financial struggles of starting this business though (particularly right before covid hit the scene). The day to day struggles are always present too, we are still a fairly small operation with limited space and managing cars and parts as they come and go is always a challenge. Another struggle is the phone haha, sometimes I want to throw it in the trash but that isn’t going to do us any good. I wear a lot of hats here at Driven SD though. I open the doors every day, answer the phone while I try to fix cars and build quotes/facilitate repairs and parts and keep the place clean and respectable. Every day is a challenge but we are doing it and it will only get better from here.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My business, Driven SD is a professional BMW repair shop in El Cajon, CA. We are a true dealership alternative that pride ourselves in honest work at a fair price. We have BMW Master Certifications and we can do just about anything that the dealership can do (except better). We offer top-level repairs and service for BMW vehicles at typically 40% less than the prices a the dealership. We also have faster turnaround times than the dealerships. Specializing in one brand is particularly good for our BMW customers, we are using the best parts, we have enlisted the best employees (looking at you Ilya… he was the lead shop foreman at a local BMW dealership for years), we work hard and we are good at what we do. Most importantly maybe, we are honest. You’re not going to have to worry about being taken advantage of here (I hear a lot of horror stories about other businesses, that is not the Driven SD way. We often go above and beyond if there is any question about what is “the right thing to do for the customer” and we do it. I’m proud of the reputation this business has built, we have a growing customer base and a perfect 5 star rating on yelp and google which is no small accomplishment. We do maintenance and general repairs on other brands too but we don’t dive in nearly as deep as we do with BMW vehicles. If you drive a BMW in the San Diego area and you’re not doing business at Driven SD, I honestly think you’re missing out!
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
One surprising thing that people might not know is that we know a lot about SULEV vehicles. What is a SULEV vehicle, you ask? SULEV stands for “Super low emissions vehicle” and there is a large number of SULEV owners who have no idea that they have a SULEV car. When we surprise them with that information, they are usually happy though. SULEV vehicles carry a 15 year/150,000 mile emissions warranty on a large list of engine related repairs. If we get a vehicle in the shop that we know to be a SULEV and it needs a covered component, we can help facilitate the repair through a local dealership and the covered repair would be FREE. It’s not helping us directly to pay the bills but if we confirm that the coverage is there, we are going to tell the customer and that honesty is something that a lot of shops probably do not do. It’s the right thing to do, and we have saved a lot of people a lot of money by teaching them what SULEV means and how they can get their car fixed for free if they have a failure of a covered component.
Pricing:
- Typically 40% less than the dealership
Contact Info:
- Email: drivensdauto@gmail.com
- Website: drivensd.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/driven_sd/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100034427931738
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/driven-sd-el-cajon-6?osq=driven+sd
