When I walked into Autoeffects in downtown Monaca to interview Ryan Hare, he was right in the middle of working with a customer. There aren’t many businesses where you can walk in on a random Monday afternoon and catch the owner working directly with a customer. That’s how Ryan runs his business, and that is what has made Autoeffects the undisputed king of aftermarket vehicle upgrades. Ryan Hare comes from a family with a long history of running interesting businesses. His story begins with his entrepreneur grandfather, who owns a pumpkin patch business and a mail order pigeon catalogue both based out of North Sewickley. From a young age, Ryan learned the ins and outs of business from working for his grandfather. During his time at Riverside High School, Ryan was always known as “the kid with the cleanest car,” so he did what any young entrepreneur would do and parlayed that reputation into a full service auto detailing business. As his business grew, Ryan set up a mutually beneficial agreement to work with a local business called Autoeffects.
As his detailing business continued to grow, Ryan’s grandfather kept urging him to buy the entire Autoeffects business. To his surprise, when he finally asked, the previous owner said yes. After about six months of negotiations, Ryan took over as the new owner of Autoeffects in September of 2013. For a young guy with a wife and three kids, Ryan has already accomplished a lot, but he has no plans to stop now! As we started to discuss all of the different upgrades and options that Autoeffects offers, it occurred to me that a better approach might have been to cover what they don’t offer! What I found out was that once you start diving into all of the different things that these guys can do to upgrade your vehicle, there really is no end to the possibilities! Ryan explained that all of their products fall into one of four categories: Safety, Security, Convenience, and Appearance. I was correct in my assumption that most of the business that Autoeffects does comes from remote starters, window tinting, and high-end stereo systems.
What I wasn’t aware of was all of the other possibilities! If you are like me and forgot that you wanted heated seats when you bought your car, Autoeffects can make any seat heated for only $249. They can also install a device that makes bluetooth connection to your smartphone possible in any vehicle. Another popular feature that Autoeffects handles is mounting tablets on the back of headrests for passengers in the back seats to watch movies. Unlike the headrest-mounted TVs that used to be popular, these allow you to take the tablet with you when you are not in the car! They even have a high-end remote start than allows you to start your car through a smartphone app from literally anywhere in the country! Ryan has also not forgotten his roots in the automotive detailing business. Actually, that business has continued to thrive and Ryan now operates a mobile detailing setup that contains everything he needs to detail your vehicle wherever is most convenient for you!
While all of these different options to improve a vehicle are great, the bread and butter for Autoeffects is installing remote starters. When I mentioned to Ryan that the only thing holding me back from installing a remote start in my own car was the fear of voiding my warranty, he told me that was the biggest misconception about his business. Despite the fact that many car dealers will tell you that installing aftermarket products will void the vehicle’s warranty, Ryan insists that this is simply not true, and he has the evidence to back it up. According to Ryan, the only way that a remote start can void a warranty is if the remote start actually causes the problem, and in those rare cases Autoeffects will cover the cost to make it right. I paid a small fortune for a seven-year bumper-to-bumper warranty when I bought my car, so this was a huge concern with me. But after talking to Ryan about it, I was convinced that this guy knows what he is talking about and there won’t be a problem.
If I need to take my car in for a warranty issue, his guys will remove the remote start free of charge before the appointment. Ryan told me that I could get a basic remote starter installed for less than $200, but for $449 I can get a remote starter that will let me start my car, lock or unlock it, and check my mileage and gas level all from my iPhone. For someone who parks outside both at home and at work, the idea of a remote start is a dream come true. I plan on being included in the 1,000 remote starts that Ryan is shooting to sell this winter season! Another thing that Ryan really stressed throughout our conversation was his focus on customer service. From his days working for his grandfather’s businesses, through his time building his own detailing business, and now with Autoeffects, Ryan has learned that the only way to continually build and grow any business is by delivering any unparalleled level of customer service. He wants his customers to be thrilled with their purchases, and if for some reason they aren’t he will go out of his way to make things right.
I walked into Autoeffects not exactly sure what to expect, but after sitting and talking with Ryan, I was left with the impression that not only is this a hard working family man that I would be thrilled to hang out with, but this is the type of person I want to do business with……and the more time I spent looking around his shop, the more great ideas I found to upgrade my car! Click on a location or to map that location Serving as the heartbeat of Carlex operations, the Nashville site is the only glass manufacturing plant in North America that receives raw material in one end of the factory and delivers a finished product out of the other. Nashville's large footprint allows the facility to house both the glass manufacturing process as well as the glass fabrication process under the same roof. Auburn is a newly acquired fabrication facility which will further Carlex's production capacity in the United States. Grevenmacher is a newly acquired fabrication facility which will give Carlex a strong footprint in the European automotive market.
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