History of Accurate Automotive from owner Ed Brian
Accurate Automotive is a privately owned, independent automotive repair shop that primarily specializes in the auto repair and maintenance of Honda & Acura automotive vehicles. I started working on Honda vehicles at a franchised Honda dealership in 1991. After a few years, like most technicians, I started working on Honda and Acura vehicles in my basement to help support my family and it got me fired from the franchised Honda dealership in Oct. 1996. I can still see my wife standing with our oldest son (who was 2 at the time) when I came home with my toolbox. Similar to other small business owners, it took about 6 months to buy some commercial property and erect a building. Meanwhile I was still working out of my basement and running out of room!!!!
May 25, 1997 we opened under the name N1Accord. Our first auto repair job on our first day of business in the new, 2400 sq. ft shop was a timing belt replacement on a Mazda… And the original name of the business was N1Accord, inc.
From May of 1997 until June of 1998, I was the owner and auto mechanic. During first year in business we were covered up with work.
On June 13, 1998 Troy Ball started working with me. Troy and I had worked together at the franchised Honda dealership and his opinion of most franchised dealership service departments was similar to mine, overpriced, under qualified and hiding behind a blue sign with a white ‘H’ on it. Incidentally, Troy worked as a Honda car mechanic for almost ten years before joining me to deliver what most dealership car repair service departments cannot deliver, fast reliable quality auto repair work.
May 1999: Our 3 bay, 2400 sq. ft. shop in Smyrna, TN got the attention of Honda North America, in Torrance, California. In May of 1999 we received a letter from Honda North America, via certified mail, citing trademark infringement. The letter started with a questionable claim that the word “accord” was property of American Honda. My first response was, “what about all the cities and towns that have a civic center; are they committing trademark infringement too?” But, to avoid the expense (in both time and money) our corporate charter, under the name, “N1 Accord” was amended in 1999. This is where “N1 Accord” became “Accurate Automotive”. Incidentally, there were other claims in the May 1999 letter from Honda North America. Even though we had worked for local franchised Honda and Acura dealerships in the service department, and had been to the Honda training facility in Alpharetta, GA., we could not claim we were, “factory trained”. In addition, because we did not not use all genuine Honda parts in all applications, (such as genuine Honda tires weights, motor oil, cleaners), we could not claim, “we use genuine Honda parts”. Today, we still reference this letter to closely comply with Honda North America in all advertising applications (even business cards). As the letter clearly states, we are not associated with American Honda in any way and can only use the words “Honda” or “Acura” in complete sentences and only in descriptive application.
By year 2000, we were having major growing pains and our 2400 sq. ft. shop was getting smaller by the day. We needed more space to expand, so I started considering commercial property, with interstate highway frontage. In the summer of 2002, my wife and I acquired the 2.2 acre tract, where the current facility is located today and has I-24 frontage at Exit 64 (the first exit outside of Nashville city limits).
In 2003, our current 15,000 sq. ft facility was under construction and on January 19, 2004 we opened for business. In May of 2004 we acquired a dealers license to help our customers obtain fully serviced, used Honda and Acura vehicles.
Present Day: We are very blessed with great customers, many who have been using our services since the days in our original 2400 sq. ft. service facility, and some who were even customers when working out of the basement of my first house, in the early 1990s. Those that have been with us the longest have a very personal relationship with us and jokingly all ask the same thing when they come into the current 15,000 sq. ft facility, “so how many bricks of this building did I buy?”. In addition to providing a service alternative for local Honda and Acura car owners, we also have our own tow truck, we sell Honda and Acura used cars and we also provide professional detail and reconditioning services for Honda and Acura car owners.
In closing, For all those that read this history who were customers of N1Accord, and who are current patrons of Accurate Automotive and Accurate Auto Sales; Thank you!