Driving less doesn’t have to be a consumer’s reaction to rising gas prices, according to the Car Care Council. While consumers can’t control the price of gas, they can control how much gas they use by following some simple and inexpensive vehicle maintenance.

The Spectrum, Cedar City, UT

Cedar City – Based on gross sales, customer service, quality control and cost, the Cedar City Tunex, in one of the company's smallest markets, was named as the best Tunex franchise in the nation for 2008.

Boyd Ennis, Tunex vice president, said he is impressed with the quality and numbers put forth by the Cedar City franchise, located at 1220 Sage Drive, especially since it is in the second smallest market. "They are competing against some big markets here, " he said.

In Salt Lake City, where Tunex has its headquarters, many stores want to expand to the complete car care model, but are not able to do so because of property issues—they simply don't have enough real estate at their current sites.

Travis Staker is one such owner. Although he doesn't have room to build a full Oil Express on his Sugarhouse Tunex property in Salt Lake City, he knows he needs full service to compete with the newer stores. His solution was to convert the two front bays of his repair center into oil-change bays and to add the Delphi diagnostic platform.

If the South Jordan store's opening is any indication, the model will work as well for franchisees as it does for customers.

"They were going six at a time during opening weekend," says Butterfield. "We serviced 220 customers—the cars lined the streets."

Part of the draw was the free health checks being offered to all comers during the grand opening, but Ennis and Butterfield say customer feedback has remained very positive, and business has been steady since that first weekend.

One of the first things any customer will notice at the new Tunex stores is their immaculate, doctor's office feel. The customer waiting area is positioned strategically between the repair and oil change sides of the business, where it is quiet, clean and complete with a television set that shows auto care programming and with a variety of magazines (and not just about cars!) to help pass the time.

Doctors have been praising the benefits of preventive medicine for decades. Now Tunex is taking this philosophy out of the health clinic and bringing it to car owners who understand the value of keeping their vehicles fit.