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International Automotive Technicians Network

Member Testimonials

We want to thank all of our members for their years of supporting iATN and our mission. Here are just a few comments from iATN members, many of whom have premium accounts.

I have a small garage in a community of 4500 people. I have been an iATN member for about 11 years now. My typical remark about iATN — "The University of iATN" — is I've learned more from iATN in my 11 years of exposure than I have in my total 36 years of fixing cars and trucks. So I highly recommend it to everyone that is in the industry.

Rusty Savignac
Owner/Technician
Paxton, Massachusetts

I've been with iATN for a long time and sponsoring member. And I'm here to tell you: it will make you money more than cost you money. You can learn, you help find the fix that you need, to find for those cars that give you a hard time. And if that does not help, you've got 75,000 other guys out there to help you.

Pete Meier
Technical Editor
Motor Age Magazine

I've been a member of iATN for about 14 years and I highly recommend it to any professional technician who does any kind of diagnosis. You have unlimited learning potential as well as being able to help others and help yourself. Something I highly recommend.

Scott Hager
Owner/Manager
Troy, Missouri

I've been a member since 1998. Best thing I've ever done, best tool in the box.

Joel Amaral
Owner/Technician
East Freetown, Massachusetts

About 3 months ago, I got a call from a lady that had gotten our name from her old mechanic down in the LA area. She moved up to Northern CA and didn't know where to go. Her mechanic is also a sponsoring member of iATN. He saw our shop profile, liked what he saw and referred her to us. One of the reasons he referred us was the fact that we were an iATN sponsor. He felt that showed a commitment to the industry which meant we couldn't be all bad. She ended up as a transmission rebuild as well as other repairs. Without iATN, I would have never gotten this job. My sponsorship just paid for itself. Thanks.

Joe Lindland
Owner/Technician
Rohnert Park, California

I found out about iATN from a Snap-on dealer and I've been a member since 2004 and I use it everyday. It totally reshaped me as a technician, inspired me to learn and to be a better technician.

Robby Schrimsher
Shop Foreman/Technician
Huntsville, Alabama

Just being in this group has brought me two new customers. One from a tech in California, whose mother lived 25 miles from my shop. And one from a shop in Northern Florida whose customer relocated near my shop. Both of these people met me through another iATN member. What a referral system! Over $3000.00 in sales from the iATN network. Keep up the good work!!!

Mike Bracken
Owner/Technician
Punta Gorda, Florida

I am a sponsoring tech and in one short sentence, "the [FIX Database] and iATN are the greatest tools a Modern Technician can have."

iATN sponsorship has enabled me to become a more proficient and productive technician by allowing me to share professional information with thousands of other professional technicians across this world of ours. This benefits my customers, too, since my accuracy rate on first time diagnosis is way up. Thank you iATN, and keep up the great work.

Mervin Stratton
Technician/Technical Information Specialist
Akron, Ohio

Being a sponsoring member of iATN not only makes it easier to use what is already the most cost-effective automotive information source, it helps ensure that it will continue to be there for you.

Chip Keen
Owner
Hansville, Washington

The money I spend to sponsor iATN for 6 months I have saved in ONE repair job when I knew what was wrong, and the flow charts said all was fine!!!!!!!!!!!

Bill Lockerby
Technician/Technical Information Specialist
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

I specifically received information on a v-6 Toyota truck main bearing problem. That information MORE than paid for sponsorship dues.

Mike Hertel
Owner/Technician
Greenwood, South Carolina

I almost never need to post a question to the group anymore, because the answers are at my fingertips in the [FIX Database].

Tom Roberts
Technician/Educator/Instructor
Olympia, Washington

I find that the [FIX Database] is a much faster way to find answers to problems. In that you don't have to e-mail a problem and wait for the replies to trickle in. Case in point was an '88 Sentra I diagnosed with a bad MAF sensor. Prior to quoting the customer, I searched and found the same symptoms and the "fix" had been posted in the [FIX Database]. So I was even more confident that mine was the correct diagnosis.

As far as sponsorship benefits go, it is the right thing to do and the [most inexpensive] investment in our future personal and professional development. In numbers we have a voice in the direction of the future.

Andrew McKinnon
Technician
Santa Cruz, California

By searching the [FIX Database], I was able to find a fix for my buddy's Toyota 4-Runner 3.0 which would go rich and sulfurous smelling on prolonged mild acceleration, especially uphill. (Problem was the wiring harness to the TPS was being stretched as the engine torqued in its cradle.) I had about given up on ever finding the fix, as I could never duplicate the symptoms.

I also have a relatively new customer who found me through iATN. She and her brother have both now brought their cars in for service on more than one occasion, so this is a good potential source of new business.

Sam Bell
Owner/Technician
Cleveland Heights, Ohio

I'm relatively new to iATN, only being a member since late last year. I checked it out to see how it might fit into my work as a technician and instructor. It didn't take too long to realize the benefits of sponsoring such a worthwhile venture. Just looking through the [iATN Knowledge Base] alone is worth the money.

In this time of rapid technology change, we need access to as much information as possible, if we're to succeed in this industry. I openly recommend iATN to the professionals with whom I work and instruct.

Martin Smith
Technician/Educator/Instructor
Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada

The [iATN Knowledge Base] has been very helpful. Many times I will read a message and trash it because at the time it may not be needed, however, later I will remember something about the posting and will need to find it. A specific example is: We were trying to make a decision on the best scanner for Asian cars, specifically OTC 4000 enhanced. I remembered seeing several discussions about scanners. I went to the archives and searched for scanners and bingo! There were the posts. This is a great service!

Walter Wiesboeck
Owner/Manager
Smyrna, Georgia

Nobody seems to consider sponsoring WITHOUT touting the enhanced features available to make it worth while. I'm here to say I DON'T use any of the additional features (at least yet). I think the point has to be made that sponsoring iATN is a worthwhile option just for the ability to support the single largest functional organization dedicated to technical excellence on the planet.

Ian Vaughan
Specialist/Marketing Representative
Surrey, British Columbia, Canada

The primary benefit of membership (other than the satisfaction of helping to support a useful tool) is the ability to search the [iATN Knowledge Base] and thus quickly and easily benefit from other people's experiences.

Owen Fairbank
Owner/Technician
Corvallis, Oregon

My slogan is "modern technology with country pride," and what is more modern than researching a repair and then fixing that auto with the use of thousands of years experience ...GO iATN.

Tim Lasley
Owner/Technician
Pfafftown, North Carolina

I have been a member of iATN for almost a year. Last week I decided to become a sponsor. I was unsure of the value, but was intrigued by a post on shop management software where someone stated the subject had been beat to death in the archives.

I signed up, and two days later a vehicle belonging to a definite "A" customer arrived at my shop. This car, a 1991 Mercedes 300D 2.5 turbo had been plaguing me for several months. It was drivable, but had low power. I specialize in Mercedes so not being able to solve this problem was particularly frustrating. In fact I had advised this customer to take the car to a dealer (which I used to work for), and have it checked by a technician there (whom I used to work with), just to get a new perspective as I was sure I was missing something. He procrastinated for several months and brought the car back to me, saying that he trusted my judgment, and if it was down to educated guessing so be it, he would foot the bill.

As I was fooling around on my computer at home I thought I would search the [FIX Database] just for fun. When I started searching I wasn't even thinking of this Mercedes camped in my stall at the shop. Then a light came on and I decided to look for something that might pertain to this car. Within 3 minutes I found a post from May 11 by Carter Willey, and the fix on an identical car with an identical problem. The shop even had nearly the same name as mine, but was in Maine. He had followed the exact same diagnostic steps as I had and had gotten to the exact same stuck point where he felt the problem was probably in the injection pump, (it also took him a couple months to reach this point) but knew he would have to remove and send out the pump to find out for sure. Big money was at stake here so guessing makes a person squeamish. After reading this fix, I decided to send the pump out and have it checked. This morning, my "A" customer left with a big smile and 1150 little holes in his wallet. Thank you iATN, what a resource!

John Chaplin
Owner/Technician
Coos Bay, Oregon

We first saw an ad for the iATN in a trade magazine shortly after we got online for the first time at the shop. I signed on and for about 6 months read the e-mail and hardly ventured "inside" to the [rest of the network's website]. I never posted any messages of my own.

Then one day we had a 1989 SAAB 900 towed into the shop with no signal from the ECU for the fuel pump relay. We suspected a bad ECU but did not have a whole lot of experience with Saabs and were unwilling to condemn the ECU without proof.

I posted this car and its symptoms to the iATN e-mail lists, and within a couple of hours the answers came pouring in. Over 20 in all and they all pretty much said the same thing. "This car has a history of ECU problems... Replace with reman unit."

Well that was just what I needed. I now had the confidence to tell my customer that she needed a new ECU. I would have spent several days trying every test I could think of to prove the ECU was in fact bad. I immediately recognized the value of this network and became a sponsor. I have not regretted it one bit.

At that time there was no advantage to sponsoring. I did it because I saw right away this was a very valuable tool and well worth the cost to support. Now with the extra features for premium members, I cannot imagine why anyone would not be a sponsoring member.

Brent Swails
Technical Advisor/Technical Information Specialist
Lincoln, Nebraska

On 10 September a customer brought her 1989 Mercedes-Benz to us for repair of a wheel bolt which had broken during an attempted tire change at another shop. To remove the wheel, it was necessary to first remove the part of the bolt remaining in the hub; a daunting-looking job. I recalled having seen a request for information on just such a problem some time earlier. In just a few moments I had retrieved from the [iATN Knowledge Base] information from technicians in Wisconsin and Florida detailing how they had solved this difficult problem. This also alerted me to the fact that this is not an uncommon failure in these cars.

I'll be recommending that my customers with this type of bolt replace their bolts before this expensive, inconvenient, and potentially dangerous failure occurs. Obtaining information from the [iATN Knowledge Base] this way was much faster than posting a request for information on the email forum, and waiting for replies; and it took no time from any other member of the network. As the archive grows, this will become the first place to look for information.

Carter Willey
Owner/Technical Information Specialist
Waterville, Maine

I originally became a sponsor because I thought it was the right thing to do, but the [FIX Database] has really made it pay off.

Dave Ward
Owner/Technician
Mountain View, California

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