Mr. Dexter’s Tire Shop
As luck would have it both Mrs. McCullough and I had problems with the tires on our respective vehicles.
Me – not exactly Johnny Goodwrench – was ready to throw in the greasy towel and help raise the stock price of one of the better known tire manufacturers’ big box stores.
Mrs. McCullough – not being one to avoid a challenge and blessed with an unwavering frugality was not ready to unknot the McCullough family purse strings to the grubby, yet finely manicured hand of the big name tire purveyors.
Instead Mrs. McCullough after a little research led us to Southwest Atlanta to the humble, nondescript establishment of Mr. Dexter. Mr. Dexter’s Tire Shop doesn’t have an individual serving Keurig coffeemaker, no flat screen monitors hung on freshly painted walls. Mr. Dexter won’t fix your brakes, he won’t change your oil. In fact, he won’t even put one of those paper mats with the foot print silhouettes down on the floor of your vehicle.
Mr. Dexter sells and services tires. Period
But what I happily learned is another thing Mr. Dexter won’t do – sell you something you don’t need.
Come to find out Mrs. McCullough’s and my problems were solved with the purchase of just a couple (not eight as I feared) of ridiculously reasonably priced tires, a new stem and a long overdue rotation.
It was a relief doing business absent the hard sell, maintenance agreement offers and other add ons that would have assuredly accompanied getting serviced at one of the big box tire shops.
Visiting Mr. Dexter’s shop reminded me of some of the auto repair joints John Sr. and I would frequent way back when. As I’ve written in these pages, our family prides itself on squeezing every mile out of our vehicles before we put them out to pasture.
Car care professionals back in those days didn’t have to pull up your account in their computer. They knew you and often times knew your vehicle even better.
I’m very happy that my family CFO, Mrs. McCullough found this establishment.
Sentimental fool that I am, doing business with Mr. Dexter was a brief flashback to the days when a handshake was your warranty and good service was more than a marketing tag line.
Of course, driving away with money still in my pocket wasn’t too bad either!
The Midlife Chronicles 
Way to go. I would love to have Mr dexter by me. I just bought new tires. I was able to get what I needed at a reasonable price, but it took a bit of haggling and frustration on my part to get there. Sigh
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John, did you post this wonderful story on Yelp! so that he can get some new customers out of the deal? I’d visit Mr. Dexter in a heartbeat but I live in Hawaii and the drive to Atlanta may get me a good deal on some radials but the salt water will play havoc with my carburetor and distributor caps.
I have a similar place here in Honolulu. Pololo Auto is a family owned 76 Station with three service bays and a policy of honesty that just won’t quit. I’ve had times when I took my car in for a new ____ and came back to hear, “It didn’t need a new ____; we just tightened the ____ and it’ll be fine for another 20,000 miles. No charge.” When you find a place like that, you tell the world.
John, go on Yelp! and tell the world. Mr. Dexter will appreciate it.
Kay in Hawaii
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I agree with Kay, John. You should give Mr Dexter some points on Yelp, I know a lot of people who use check it out before they shop, me included. Great post!
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