John and Becky McGaha have owned Family Auto Care Incorporated (Inc.) since 2015, but the business has been in operation for almost three decades.
“My husband’s dad and grandpa started the business in 1997, but my husband and I took it over in 2015 when his dad passed,” Becky stated.
The family has lived in Franklin for generations, originally from the Oak Grove Community in Cowee; McGaha Road was named after them.
When John was a young boy, he and his father, Danny, went to Daytona Beach, Fla., in 1983, where they stayed for about eight years.
“While they were down there, Danny was a NASCAR trainer; he’s always been in the automotive field,” commented Becky.
When they moved back to Franklin, Danny started working in various auto shops before opening his own business in 1997, with the help of his grandfather.
“If we’ve got kids that want the business when they’re old enough, we’ll continue to pass it down to the next generations,” said Becky.
The business currently operates with six other employees, four of whom are part of the family.
“We have four mechanics and two [employees] in the office,” she added.
Customer base
“Word of mouth gets the best advertisement, and we get that by taking care of our customers. We treat them like family,” Becky elaborated.
She pointed out that the business prioritizes customer loyalty and achieves this by offering fair rates.
“We know that people value respect when they pay for a service, so we try our best to treat them like one of our own [family members]. We make it a policy to offer the best quality at the best affordable price,” said Becky.
Around the same time that Danny passed away, another auto business opened in town.
“We lost a whole bunch of our customers to [them] because people didn’t know that John and I could run the business. Once they realized that we were still here and we were staying, we gained a lot of our customers back,” Becky revealed.
She added, “We do complete auto — everything except for body work. Tires, breaks, engines, transmissions, the whole thing.”
Local businesses can often face challenges in rural areas. “The winter is dead; a lot of our clientele from Highlands, Cashiers, even here in Franklin go back to their secondary homes in the winter.”
Family Auto Care Inc. must rely on the money they make during the busy months to carry them through the lean months; so, they appreciate the locals who get their cars serviced or repaired throughout the winter months.
In fact, Becky said, “We just want to say a big ‘thank you’ to all our customers. We appreciate it greatly, because if we didn’t have them, we wouldn’t be here.”
Pictured top: FAMILY AUTO Care is located at 976 E. Main Street, Franklin.