Business profile: Fred Felkl
Title and company: Owner, Fred's Auto Service
Biographical information: Fred Felkl moved to Juneau in 1964 and has worked on cars here since 1969. He was trained as a mechanic in Austria, where he was born, he said.
"I worked for Volkswagen in Vienna," Felkl said. Austrian mechanic training involved a three-year apprenticeship, during which students work five days a week and attend theory classes one day a week. Upon finishing the apprenticeship, Felkl took a two-day state examination, passed, and began a year-long stint as a journeyman. He stopped working as a journeyman to serve in the Austrian army for five years.
He ended up in Juneau after his sister married a man from here.
"I came over here and couldn't work immediately on vehicles because I couldn't speak any English," Felkl said. He learned English and began working on Volkswagens here in 1969. In 1986, he opened Fred's Auto Service.
Services: Felkl's shop services foreign and domestic autos for mechanical and electrical problems. He employs two mechanics, one who specializes in Asian cars and one who focuses on American cars. Jobs can be as major as replacing an engine or as minor as an oil change.
"It's pretty much complete repair, but no engine overhauls," Felkl said. In an engine overhaul, a mechanic completely takes apart an engine and reassembles it, fixing any problems along the way.
"The most complicated jobs are usually electrical and engine-running problems," he said. "Especially on the newer vehicles."
New vehicles usually have computers that require special equipment to diagnose engine problems. Felkl's shop has equipment to diagnose most problems in Asian and domestic cars, but it usually cannot diagnose problems in newer European cars.
"Newer vehicles, you can't go in anymore with guesswork," he said. "You have to communicate with the computer in the vehicle. If you know how to get into the system, it's actually easier to diagnose the new vehicles than the older vehicles."
Standard engine diagnostic equipment does not apply usually to European vehicles, meaning often Felkl has to tell customers to take their newer European cars to the dealer where they bought the car.
"We don't guess," he said. "If we can't diagnose it, we say, 'Sorry, we can't fix this vehicle.' "
Fred's Auto Service recently became a Five Star Muffler Center, which allows the shop to offer custom exhaust systems.
"It's a national firm and we have a nice modern piece of equipment," Felkl said. "We can offer a lifetime warranty, just like Midas. Before we just bought after-market or original equipment, which was expensive."
After-market equipment is equipment made by somebody other than the car's original manufacturer. Instead of buying entire after-market exhaust systems, Fred's Auto Service can now assemble an exhaust system in the shop, using after-market mufflers made by Marmont.
Family: wife Roxy; four kids: Manulea, 39, who lives in Oregon; Stephen, 32, who lives in Juneau; Hans, 19, who is in the Army; and Franz, 11. Fetzl coaches soccer, listens to classical music, fishes and skis when there's snow, he said.
Quotable: "I opened my own shop in 1986 - I was a late starter. When I finally went into it, I had a big following right away, because I'd been here so long and always in the car business."
Contact information: Fred's Auto Service, 5330 Shaune Drive. The phone number is 780-6500.