I have spent the last 20 years building a reputation of accuracy and honesty. Lately I have been having trouble getting parts,have never been this slow in october, and on and on.

I have discovered that recently there has been 1 shop newly opened who just HAPPENED to name theirs "auto excellence" and 1 shop that USED to be named "extreeme auto" mysteriously has CHANGED their name to "auto extreeme".

We have been getting calls from customers of ours wanting to know what we have found wrong with their vehicles, after "it was towed to you".

waiting, sometimes for days, but mostly MANY hours, for parts also.

I call the supplier(s) and "oh so and so dropped that off to auto ex" "we'll get it right out to you".

They will sign for my parts, hold them for days, before returning them, and I am having to CALL to find out "we delivered them yesterday".

"not to me you didn't"

this is REALLY tough with SPO parts !!

long story short, is there SOMETHING I can do to stop this SIMILAR name variant of mine that seems to be confusing 3rd party "deliverers" be it towing or parts ?

I know what I'd LIKE to do !

Even if I trademarked my name, which I considered a few years back, the name is NOT the same as mine.

Our attorney was unavailable for comment, he was in a court proceeding.

personal rant : I am REALLY getting ANGRY that weenies are using MY GOOD REPUTATION to wallet flush and destroy my customers, and I suspect NEW referrals, vehicles. I'll bet I'll soon be hearing "so and so said they brought their car to "auto ex" and they had to take it back xx times to get it right." or "they really screwed up my car" etc !!!

I would THINK there would be SOMETHING I could do.

I AM registered with the secretary of state, because I STARTED with a partner....another novel...

Terry Hardesty
Owner/Technician
Auto Experience
Shepherdsville, Kentucky, USA