Staff Spotlight: Dwayne Neufeld, Shop Foreman
If you’re going to be the Shop Foreman for a Ford Dealership’s Service Department, liking Ford vehicles is a good quality to have. You also have to enjoy tinkering with stuff. Well, you won’t find anyone who exhibits those qualities more than Dwayne Neufeld, who has been the Shop Foreman at Mike White Ford in Coeur d’Alene for the last year and a half.
But while Dwayne has been in his current position for only a short time, he has been with the same Ford dealership for 19 years, first when it was Tom Addis Ford, then Parker Ford, and, since 2018, as Mike White Ford. But Dwayne’s association with Ford goes back even further: he has been with Ford Motor Company in one way or another for 38 years!
You can only be in a business for that long if you love what you do. For Dwayne, it’s not just the cars, or even primarily the cars. What Dwayne loves about working at Mike White Ford are the people: his service crewmembers, the customers, and especially Mike White.
Dwayne has the highest regard for his floor technicians, who, according to him, share two outstanding common traits: they know Ford vehicles and are very conscientious about the quality of their work. That makes Dwayne’s job a lot easier.
These days, as supervisor, one of Dwayne’s primary jobs is to save his crew time when a car comes in with a sticky problem that’s hard to pin down. Dwayne loves solving mechanical problems and gets a kick out of nailing a difficult one down and fixing it. When one of the mechanics needs a little help, you’ll find Dwayne tackling some thorny problem by researching it and employing some troubleshooting know-how. This keeps the shop efficient and ensures that the service department will resolve issues and get customers on their way in record time.
Although he mainly works back in the service shop, Dwayne still gets to see customers directly now and then. If you own a car, you’ve probably had the experience of describing a car problem to a mechanic but then having the mechanic tell you that they could not reproduce it. Dwayne’s solution is to road-test the cars with his customers to save them the frustration of having a vehicle not get fixed or, worse: having the mechanic think a problem is all in their imagination!
But that’s how Dwayne thinks. If you are experiencing a problem, then the way to address it is to work your way through it logically and methodically. This way of thinking is not found so often these days, unfortunately, but it is a habit for Dwayne. Good thing, too, since Dwayne has been building himself an airplane in his spare time. Wouldn’t you want a car mechanic who is so meticulous and thorough that he will fly a plane that he built himself?
For Dwayne, one of the best things about working at Mike White Ford is that it is a very family-oriented business. This dealership is locally owned and operated, and Mike’s kids work here. To Dwayne’s mind, that is pretty special. The family feeling extends beyond the staff to the customers who come in and out of the dealership. As Dwayne says,
I know it sounds like a cliche, but Mike White really cares about his customers, more so than any other place I have ever worked.
It’s good to know. When you buy a vehicle from Mike White Ford, the goodwill won’t end when you drive off the lot. You can count on Mike White Ford to stand by you whenever you need service or parts. And a big reason for that is that Dwayne Neufeld is back in the shop, ensuring your car and his team are running like clockwork.
If you’re ready for a new car or truck or need your Ford vehicle serviced, contact Mike White Ford in Coeur d’Alene or Sandpoint today.