Shop Profile: Generations Auto Repair, Wrenching With Integrity

There’s no point in denying it: business is positively BOOMING upstate at Generations Auto Repair, in Ballston Spa, New York. This family-owned upstart—a community fixture since the doors opened three years ago—is experiencing growth beyond its wildest dreams. Essentially, the shop specializes in not specializing, remaining well-versed in whatever sort of work customers bring its way, with business split pretty evenly between repairs and aftermarket customization jobs. From oil changes to wheel and tire work, lift kit installations, differential service, and gearing jobs, there’s nothing the team can’t handle.

“It’s astronomical how much we’ve grown in three years,” says co-owner Kameron McConchie, who, along with his father, Lynn, runs the daily operations that involve everything from run-of-the-mill mechanical fixes to high-end customization jobs.

When asked what might be the reason for such a successful venture from day one, in a business where not every Mom and Pop shop is lucky to have the same success, Kameron is quick to point to the family mantra, which adorns the business logo, the uniforms, and the sign out front.

“Generations Auto Repair: Integrity Runs In The Family.”

Integrity. It’s what makes Generations Auto Repair customers want to keep coming back, time after time. A trustworthy, hardworking American family, who stands by their work and their word. Kameron sees it as natural trait—integrity is not some facade put on to court business. Instead, it’s a way of life that is innate between honest people—an extension of the golden rule. Treat others, and their rides, the way you’d want to be treated, and the rest will take care of itself. Quite simple, really.

“If I were the customer dropping my vehicle off, I would want to know exactly what’s wrong with my car. The good, the bad, what I need, and what I don’t,” Kameron says. “And I wouldn’t want to be lied to.”

Like Father, Like Son

Generations Auto Repair may be only a few years old, but the roots of the business reach farther back—to the late 1990s, in fact. Back then, Kameron’s dad Lynn began his first business venture, a garage, where they first got a taste of working side-by-side as father and son.

Lynn specialized in hot rod work, speed part installations, and dabbled in the truck market as well. From the age of 8 or 9, Kameron remembers getting a hands-on education about the ins and outs of the industry. By age 10, he was helping with part installations, like tonneau covers and ladder racks. By 12, he was wrenching with his father on hot rod builds. It was around this age, he says, “I really started helping and being around the cars and knowing what was going on.”

Lynn’s shop would eventually close so that he could focus more on time with his family, but he never left the automotive world (really, does one ever?), working in other shops and garages in the area. And when Kameron was old enough to join the labor force in earnest, the two worked side-by-side once again, eventually deciding that they should be working for themselves. Then, after aligning themselves with Keystone Automotive, they did just that. The initial plan for Generations Auto Repair was hatched.

An Instant Hit

A lot of stories about family businesses start with a struggle to succeed, focusing on those lean years in the beginning. About trying (and sometimes failing) in earnest to get your name out there, wondering if your dream can stay afloat for another month. The story of Generations Auto Repair, however, is not one of those stories. From day one, when a customer brought their 2000 Ford Explorer to Kameron for a big transmission job, the floodgates burst with business.

“From there,” Kameron remembers, “it just exploded overnight. It went from dad and I being so busy that we’re here ‘til 10 pm, to us thinking, ‘We need to hire some more people.’” And hire they did—two trusted employees who were familiar with the McConchie family and the way they do business. Additionally, Kameron’s mother and sister help take care of the office and all the paperwork.

Future plans include expanding even further. (Which they’ll likely need to, as the most recent month’s figures were their highest ever!) Moreover, those numbers were more than DOUBLE the shop’s previous highwater mark. Word of a hardworking shop with integrity spreads fast, marking Generations Auto Repair as an embodiment of exponential growth.

The Bread & Butter

While traditional auto repair jobs still account for roughly half of Generations Auto Repair’s business, it is very clear that they have a true passion for the aftermarket industry as well. “I like to be challenged every day,” Kameron says, “whether that’s putting a lift kit in, putting a supercharger on, or something else entirely.”

It’s no secret that trucks are the belle of today’s aftermarket ball, and the clientele at Generations Auto Repair is no different. Kameron figures that lift kits are the most popular customization that they perform on a regular basis, installing plenty of Rough Country products, as well as some Skyjacker and FabTech. Beyond lifts, tonneau covers are big business, with names like Extang and BAK being among the leaders.

Of course, Kameron and the Generations team will do virtually whatever modification a customer asks of them, and all of their work is completely in-house, never outsourcing tasks, so people can always rest assured that they know whose capable hands their beloved vehicle is in. A range of jobs has led them to working with popular parts from a number of companies at the forefront of the aftermarket. Smittybilt, Putco lights, WeatherTech protection products, Moto Metal Wheels, Ballistic Wheels, and B&W Hitches, just to name a few, are popular lines in their shop. And with summer in full swing, new lines of car care products from companies like Hot Wheels Americana Pro are difficult to keep on the shelves.

Eye on the Prize

Though it would be easy for the McConchies to stop and smell the roses a bit, to soak in the success they have cultivated thus far, that’s simply not the way they do things. Their eye is on the future, more expansion, and what changes may be on the horizon in the aftermarket industry. There is plenty of work to do in the truck segment, of course, and Generations Auto Repair loves doing it. But it is important to Kameron that his team’s portfolio stay diversified. And since he and his father’s roots are in speed parts and accessories, it’s an area where he sees them gaining more ground in the near future.

“It’s astronomical how awesome the truck scene is right now, but I feel like the speed scene is coming back around,” he tells us. “And I want to be on top of that when it comes back.” Kameron thinks that their future in speed and performance may involve a focus on chassis work, but his mindset and business acumen both operate with a level of adaptability that is sure to keep all four wheels on the ground, no matter where the road leads.

New Generations

Yes, Generations Auto Repair has a story of past success. And yes, they truly are looking forward to coming developments in the very near future. But what about the long term? Do Lynn, Kameron, and the rest of the crew have a long-term plan to sustain their thriving operation? Short answer: Hell yes. Their foundation, ultimately, is not contingent on the strength of their business, but on the strength of their family. And their family ties, by all accounts, are pretty dang strong.

“I grew up in a family-run business, so I’ve seen firsthand the good and the bad,” says Kameron. And in a few years, Kameron is excited to give his own daughter that same hands-on education, in hopes that the shop will eventually be hers. Currently, she is just a year old, but there is a lot to be said for starting young in this family business. Kameron is certainly grateful for the jump start his father gave him.

“Dad is the oil,” he says proudly, “we are the machine.”

Generations Auto Repair takes its name from the fact that it’s a family business, no sense in changing that any time soon. And there is no reason to believe that the littlest McConchie won’t succeed as well, embracing the skills and honest ways of those before her. Integrity, after all, runs in the family.