Vehicle repair professionals from across the Chicago area enjoyed the “black carpet” treatment and a chance to swap stories with reality TV star Danny “The Count” Koker during the recent grand opening of the “Garage Gurus” regional training center in Skokie. Garage Gurus is a first-of-its-kind, nationwide technical education network for vehicle repair technicians, shop owners and other professionals.
Created by Federal-Mogul Motorparts, a leading global manufacturer and supplier of original equipment and premium branded replacement components, the network will comprise 15 state-of-the-art training centers by the end of the year. Federal-Mogul Motorparts is a division of Federal-Mogul Holdings Corp.
The new Skokie training center offers an extensive curriculum of on-site, online and on-demand courses designed to help technicians, shop owners, service writers and other front-line professionals stay on the leading edge of vehicle technology. Accessing critical diagnostic and repair information and related skills-based training has long been a challenge for the nation’s nearly 220,000 automotive repair businesses.
“We expect this location to become a training hub for the Chicago area’s more than 6,200 automotive and commercial-vehicle repair businesses,” said Dan Ninivaggi, CEO, Federal-Mogul Motorparts. “These local businesses and their thousands of employees need and deserve aggressive, highly accessible support as they diagnose and repair each new vehicle technology, from brakes and suspension to engine systems. Garage Gurus is an important new investment in their future.”
Repair professionals and other VIP guests had the opportunity to tour the new, 15,000-square-foot training center, meet several of Federal-Mogul Motorparts’ more than 100 ASE-certified “Gurus,” inspect two of the network’s Web-connected “Gurus-on-the-Go” product technology vans and try a variety of new eLearning modules – all while enjoying the tastes of Chicago as provided by local food trucks. Special guests included Koker, star of History Channel’s popular “Counting Cars” reality TV series, and nationally recognized graffiti artist Antonio “Shades” Agee, who was commissioned to “tag” one of the Skokie training center’s classrooms.
Each Garage Gurus training center includes multiple vehicle repair/training bays and classrooms and serves as the operating base for one or more “Gurus-On-The-Go” product technology vans. The Garage Gurus curriculum comprises more than 100 diagnostic and repair courses, including on-site workshops, field clinics, and distance learning modules and webinars offered at FMgaragegurus.com. All training, product demonstrations and related assistance are available in English and Spanish languages.
Garage Gurus is a central element of Federal-Mogul Motorparts’ “Tech First” initiative aimed at strengthening the automotive service industry’s connection to the front-line professionals who service thousands of vehicles each day. In addition to offering technical training and other assistance, the new network is designed to underscore the importance of using premium-branded replacement parts engineered and manufactured to provide the quality, safety and performance consumers demand.