An Interview with Mark Coulter

Mark Coulter started Mark Coulter Inspections (M.C.I.) twenty-six years ago, and he is no rookie in the inspections business. Before taking a job as an automobile inspector, he worked hands-on as a mechanic for ten years, transitioned into working as a claims adjustor for Owner Care, and only then moved to inspections. He started out in the San Diego and L.A. areas, doing inspections for extended warranty companies and now has accounts nationwide.

When he first began expanding coverage areas, it was due in part to the encouragement of Steve Juresich. At the time, Juresich was the vice president of claims at National Auto Care (N.A.C.), which recently merged with Family First Dealer Services. Coulter credits Juresich with giving him the ability to expand at his own pace – and this was quite a gift, according to Coulter. Over the course of the next year and a half, Coulter says he slowly connected with inspectors throughout the United States. As he became established nationwide, the demand for inspections continued to increase, bringing Coulter to a crossroad. He knew he had to expand. It was at this point he began to ask himself, “Do I want people who can only do a certain task or do I want to find people with more knowledge of the business and more experience who can do more than just being an inspector or assigner?”

It was at this point that Coulter learned that Van Cooper had parted ways with Warranty Inspections Services after five years of working to help build the company. Cooper was then recruited. Today, Cooper is his partner at M.C.I. “He is my right hand,” says Coulter, “We work the business together.”

Denver inspector, Doug White was next onboard, to manage quality control for M.C.I. Like Coulter and Cooper, White also is an A.S.E. master certified technician.

“Surrounding myself with really good people, and growing slowly is what I have found works best.” says Coulter, who says he would rather pay more for the right people, who are going to embrace the company’s ideals and possess the skills and talents that promote growth and excellence.

Despite the growth the company has experienced, Coulter says that even today, he along with Cooper and White still look over all claims, take verbal reports and assure the quality all around is top notch. Ninety to ninety-five percent of their business is word-of-mouth - proof that their reputation speaks for itself.

Today, Coulter enjoys his son, Sean working alongside him in the business doing inspection assignments. “He is well trained, by Doug and myself, to know what inspectors to assign for different areas.”

M.C.I.’s clients are comprised of primarily warranty companies and some tire and wheel companies. They do inspections for all types of vehicles; from cars and trucks, to watercrafts and motorcycles. They also help large companies, such as Sears, with claim adjudication. “If a customer comes in with a complaint that the company caused damage to their vehicle during an oil change for example, we will go out and inspect to determine if the company is responsible and did something wrong. We try to make it black and white. They put a lot of trust in us for that.”

Coulter sees the stagnant price of inspections becoming an issue within the industry. “The price has not gone up in 20 years - it’s the same now as when I got started back in ’89 – which means the price of inspections has to be held down low. So what happens is really good inspectors can’t make a decent living, and they move on. We have a training program, which is a huge advantage since we look constantly to replace inspectors. A problem is that some new inspectors come on board with lower rate in order to compete, while a long-standing company may go up on rates. Sometimes, the extended warranty company will go with the cheaper company. The difference between us and other companies is the quality. We pride ourselves that all our clients stick with us – we’ve never lost anyone.”

Quality, Coulter says, is the result of good training, high expectations and accountability. “All three of us are very hands-on. We don’t farm our work out. Even though I am president, I get here early and read over inspection reports with Doug and Van. Inspectors know if it’s not done right, we’re going to call them.”

Training and education are key to becoming a good inspector, says Coulter, and it requires much more than just being a smart mechanic. “Many who come to our training are already A.S.E. certified, or could pass the A.S.E. test but they don’t know diddley. They don’t inspect a car properly and ask the right questions or [know how to] put it all in a good report. In our training, we explain how to do everything from A to Z. I don’t know any other way someone could learn the business, unless they were able to pal around with a seasoned inspector and literally follow him to job site to job site for an extended period of time.”

Coulter is always exploring ways to use and apply new technology to streamline and improve the process of producing inspection reports. He sees technology as a promising means to reduce human error and ensure that the reason for an inspection is always stated clearly. In the future, he looks forward to taking advantage of the constant advances in technology and incorporating them in his business.

On his days off, Coulter refers to himself as a “gearhead” saying despite being around nuts and bolts constantly on the job, he loves spending time working on his own car with his youngest son, Reece. Together, they built a replica of a ’65 Cobra. He loves cruising around in it, top down, alongside his wife on the weekend. You can also find him at drag races, car shows and occasionally on a golf course.