Our mission at Metropolitan Garage began as, “We work for people, not cars.” 

To this day, 27 years later, we are still on the same mission, although our vision has grown. We believe in doing what we love in service to people who love what we do, and we apply this vision to our work every day.

At the start of 2023, we met as a team and committed to the task of getting better at doing what we love—each and every one of us. 

As individuals here at METRO, our loves in this business are diverse, but as a team, we specialize in areas of customer service with the goal of providing a wholly robust professional and caring experience for our community. 

Here is a recap of how we went about getting better at doing what we love in 2023.

We Launched the Apprenticeship Program

Since COVID hit, the trades have suffered a drain of expertise in the workforce. The automotive industry was perhaps the hardest hit because it does not have a formal journeyman training program to replace this expertise.

At METRO in 2023, we chose to develop a curriculum for training apprentices in the way we think cars should be fixed and maintained. 

We currently have two apprentices who are mentored by our lead technician. Our lead technician is also enrolled in a leadership curriculum where he is learning to manage and facilitate the learning process in an industrial environment.

We Developed Service Advisor Leadership Training

At METRO, our Service Advisors are not salespeople. Our Service Advisors are educators, counselors, financial advisors, and often, mediators. 

Our staff has to understand vehicle systems, and they have to understand people. They need to know how to communicate effectively with every client who walks in through our doors. 

This is a tall ask, so in 2023 we decided to tool up to get better in these key areas. Advisors have learning plans that include leadership, technical training, and communication classes. These are not items to be checked off a list to get gold stars and a cheap emblem for one’s desk. No. These people are serious about cultivating and facilitating harmony in the workplace through skills acquisition.

In training, we have one goal for our team: to do our work with grace, peace, and efficiency to make someone’s day. Making people happy and doing excellent work are the boxes our Front Office Staff want to mark off by the end of every day.

We Became Certified Hybrid & EV Specialists

Hybrid cars constitute an ever-increasing portion of the North Star Borough Registered Vehicle Inventory. Proper servicing for these cars is something Interior Alaska hasn’t been able to offer until now. 

Our staff here at METRO took the summer in 2023 to go to school in Helena, Montana to receive in-depth training on exactly what these cars need, to remain not only safe and reliable, but also efficient and optimized. 

This is the key—and the main challenge—with Hybrids: maintaining optimum efficiency in a harsh climate. Of course, Hybrids and EVs can operate with little or no breakdowns, but decreased efficiency is an issue when the batteries in these cars are not properly maintained.

We are very proud to be Interior Alaska’s dually certified Hybrid and EV specialists!

We Plugged into Sunshine!

This summer, we installed solar panels and could not be happier with the outcome. 

METRO is now closer than we have ever been to limiting our energy consumption, waste, and consumerism—all of which contribute to climate change.

We have always recycled everything from lead to metals to cardboard, as a part of our process. We have always filtered and burned every drop of waste oil drained from customer cars. We have always heated our building with this waste oil rather than refining more oil for the purpose. 

Now, we are so excited to use the sunshine to power our tools!

We Expanded the Family Business

METRO has always been a family business and our business continues to have family at its core. 

This year, our son who recently graduated college and got his pilot’s license, has joined the staff as a full technician in the apprenticeship program. 

Remember that goal of doing more of what we love? Working with our son—and the entire METRO family—means we get to do what we love every day.

The METRO Team is Excited to Keep Serving People Who Love What We Do

2023, you’ve been good to us. 

As a team, we put a lot of effort into learning and growing. This effort will continue to show in the work we do in the coming year and beyond.

We can’t wait for 2024. And yes, we have big plans—just wait and see!