Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 11, 1993 TAG: 9306110005
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Ed Shamy
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Sayles had been marooned at a restaurant the night before when the car wouldn't start.
It came to Ferguson's garage on 13th Street in Southwest Roanoke on a wrecker's hook.
To Ferguson, the starter seemed nearly new; Sayles confirmed that his brother had recently installed the part.
There are mechanics who might replace it and charge Sayles $65 or $70 for a new starter.
Bogus car repairs rob American consumers of an estimated $20 billion a year.
But Ferguson drove to Sayles' Gilmer Avenue home, where Sayles disappeared inside for a couple of minutes.
He retrieved his receipt for the part, and the men drove to a nearby auto parts store.
For Ferguson, who is the only mechanic at the shop, the time was precious. But he wanted to make sure Sayles got treated fairly.
They emerged with a new starter.
There was no charge.
Forty minutes later, the car started smoothly. Ferguson charged Sayles for about an hour of labor.
Ferguson and his wife, Melissa, opened Christian Car Care, Ltd., about a week ago with a philosophy more ethical than profitable: Treat people in a Christian way, protect car owners who don't understand engines from rip-offs.
In the office, there's a Bible, and a cross in the corner, and some framed verses from the Scriptures. The traditional pinup-girl calendar - buxom blonde on the hood of a Camaro - is conspicuously absent. So, too, is profanity.
"You should be able to send your 17-year-old daughter to a garage and not worry," says Ferguson.
Melissa Ferguson, formerly the director of program ministries at Raleigh Court United Methodist Church, says the couple envisions the new shop as a club.
Members pay $35 per year for a membership, and $5 for additional cars.
In exchange, Mike charges $30 per hour for labor - they say the average wage for mechanics in the valley is $42 per hour - and charges wholesale for the parts. Nonmembers will pay higher rates for labor and parts.
There's no religious requirement for membership, and Ferguson doesn't rely on faith healing. No hand on the air filter, shouting demons away. No cries of "HALLELUJAH!" when a thermostat is replaced.
"The ministry part here," says Mark, peering into the bowels of Sayles' car, "is not that you're going to get preached to, because you're not. You're going to get treated honestly. That's it."
Mike, says the idea has been developing in his mind for some time: "I told Melissa that if I had a building I owned and didn't have the overhead, I could really help people."
They don't own the former Long's Service Center building, and like most small businesses, they've started on a lean budget. But commuter traffic on 13th Street, near the Memorial Bridge, is heavy and the Fergusons have faith.
"I am not afraid to work," says Mike. "You treat people squarely and I think it comes back to you. I know it comes back to you."
by CNB