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ALBANY — One of the first questions you might ask when looking for an auto shop is, “What’s your labor rate?” While this is good information to have, it’s far from the most important question you can ask, and it certainly shouldn’t be the determining factor in your decision. The truth is that a shop’s labor rate means almost nothing—it has little to do with the actual cost of the job and even less to do with the quality of the work. Consider the following example. One mechanic tells you their labor rate is $200 an hour and gives an estimate of $200 for the job. Meanwhile, the mechanic down the street says their labor rate is $50 an hour and quotes the same total cost for the job. Read more

<h1>Dana Meyer: A Caring Career</h1>
<h6>By James Florence, Diamond Certified Resource Reporter</h6>
ALBANY — For Dana Meyer, a career in auto repair became just as much about caring for people as it was about caring for cars. “My brother was in the auto repair business, so I kind of followed him into it,” he recounts. “I found early on that I had a mechanical aptitude, so the work came easy to me. I also liked the fact that the results are pretty immediate with auto repair work. After I started doing it professionally, I found a lot of reward in working with customers and seeing the joy it brought them to have their car problems fixed. So, it’s a never-ending series of small rewards.”
Today, as owner of Dana Meyer Auto Care, Dana says his favorite part of his job continues to be taking care of customers. “We almost specialize in people who’ve given up on other shops or received insanely high repair estimates. We’ll have people call us and say, ‘The dealer says I need $8,000 worth of work on my car!’ And we’ll look at it and find it’s actually only one-tenth of that. So, customers really appreciate our honesty and reasonable prices.”
A resident of Albany (where he lives with his wife, June), Dana spends his time outside of work on a variety of pastimes. “I’m very active as a singer and I sing in a local symphony chorus. I previously sang in the Albany Community Chorus and the Brooklyn Broadway Singers. I also enjoy skiing in the winter.”
In regard to a personal and professional philosophy, Dana says he has a heart for service. “I would summarize it as being in service to people’s needs. I’ve always volunteered in the PTA at my sons’ schools and I’ve been president of community organizations. It just seemed like the appropriate way to utilize some of my skills. And, of course, that translates to my career in auto repair. Serving customers is what makes the job so rewarding for me.”
When asked what he’d do if he were to retire tomorrow, Dana says he would spend more time on the activities he currently enjoys. “I would definitely continue singing, and I’d probably go back to some of the sports I used to enjoy in the past. For example, I used to do ice dancing before I had kids, so it would be fun to get involved in that again.”
Ask Me Anything!
Q: What’s your favorite local restaurant? 
A: Lao-Thai Kitchen in Albany.
Q: If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go? 
A: Israel.
Q: What’s your favorite thing to do on a rainy day? 
A: Read a good book.
Q: What kinds of books do you like to read? 
A: For the most part, I read science fiction and historical fiction books.
Q: What was your first car? 
A: A 1951 Rover.

Dana Meyer is president of Dana Meyer Auto Care, a Diamond Certified company. He can be reached at (510) 221-6300 or by email.

Dana Meyer: A Caring Career

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