Redmond's AA Auto Offering Oil Changes for Christmas Donations

Redmond's  is hoping to help area residents gear up for giving.

Each year, the business participates in a holiday charitable promotion says owner Aaron Muller; this year it's focusing on the . Through Dec. 20, every customer who brings in a toy for a child aged 6 to 12 or a gift card to Ross or Safeway will get a free oil change at AA.

AA was recently named King 5 Evening Magazine’s best auto repair business, a distinction it won by consumer votes from among 472 entries in the auto repair category.

For Muller, the honor is an important vote of confidence for a business that he’s taken care to build into a company with a reputation for great customer service.

“What I wanted to do, and why we’ve grown, is because of customer service,” he said. In the first year Muller owned AA, the company doubled its business, Muller said, by concentrating on building a reputation for great customer service.

Among the personal touches AA offers its customers are free shuttle service from the garage to work, or loaner cars, car washes with service, and free oil topping off between oil changes. The company also maintains a AAA approval, a set of professional standards that Muller said provides consumers an extra measure of protection, as well as a warranty on work that will be honored at any other AAA-approved service center in the country.

Muller describes himself as a serial entrepreneur, having operated several other service businesses and a business brokerage company on the Eastside since his days growing up in Kirkland’s Juanita area. But running an auto care business, he says, was a completely new experience, and he’s gained a lot of respect over the years for the three mechanics who work in the shop on both domestic and European vehicles.

“There’s constant education; auto techs these days have to know hundreds of makes and models,” Muller says.