VIP Tires and Service recently announced two of its technicians, Kenny Bridges and Brian Thibodeau, have earned World Class Technician status, joining an elite group of automotive service industry professionals. To achieve this level of certification, which is the highest in the industry, technicians must undergo rigorous voluntary testing and successfully obtain Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) certification in 22 specialty areas. Currently, there are 1,931 technicians who have reached World Class Technician status among the more than 895,300 automotive technicians working in the United States. With the recent achievement of Bridges and Thibodeau, their home state, Maine, now has eight World Class Technicians. Bridges and Thibodeau will be formally recognized by the industry when the full list of 2017 World Class Technicians is released in early 2018.
“We are extremely proud of Kenny and Brian,” said John Quirk, president and CEO of VIP Tires and Service. “Earning World Class Technician status is a big accomplishment requiring additional time and dedication outside of work, given the demanding nature of the testing. These two individuals represent the best of the best for VIP, and we know their high level of knowledge, skill and commitment will be an asset to our customers.”
Bridges has been a VIP technician since 2011 and is currently the service manager at the company’s Bangor, Maine, store. He has been pursuing this elite certification level for three years. His love affair with cars began when he was a young boy and led him to attend the Universal Technical Institute in North Carolina. There, he found a passion for race cars and became a driveline specialist building gears and transmissions. Today, he shares that interest with his young son.
Located at the Presque Isle, Maine, store, Thibodeau has been a VIP associate for 21 years and has served in many roles. Three years ago, he became a service technician for the company and immediately started pursuing his World Class Technician status. Working on cars is a family tradition for Thibodeau. He started at the side of his grandfather when he was a young boy.
Collectively, VIP’s service technicians have 950 ASE certifications; 41 have earned Master Mechanic status and two have achieved World Class Technician status. VIP funds all associated costs for its technicians to gain ASE certifications.
“We believe in providing our customers with excellent service, and having highly skilled technicians is a critical part of that equation. For that reason, we gladly support any technician voluntarily pursuing ASE certification and fund all the testing costs,” Quirk said.