Chris Tanner and the team at Tanner Motors will celebrate 20 years in business, thanks in part to the strong relationships they have built with customers over the years (photo by Kathryn M. Miller).
An automotive repair business that began 20 years ago at 7th Street and Colter, then migrated north to Cave Creek Road, has survived and thrived based on two main principals: hard work and honesty. But for Phoenix native Chris Tanner and his family, the auto business has much deeper roots in Phoenix. It all started with his grandfather, Ray Tanner Sr., back in 1945.
Ray began his career with another well-known name in the Valley auto business, Ray Korte. Tanner’s grandfather opened his own car lot in 1958, eventually moving to 1500 N. Central Ave. and selling Studebaker and Jeep vehicles. By 1965, he was importing Swedish made Volvos and built the first Phoenix area Volvo dealership, and in the spring of 1972, Ray moved the dealership to 2143 W. Camelback Ave. where it would stay for the next 27 years.
In the early days, Ray Jr. began working at the dealership as a parts runner and lot boy, working his way up through the ranks and eventually becoming president and CEO after his father’s retirement. His son, Chris, got his start in the business much the same way.
“I started working at the dealership when I was 11 years old,” Chris recalled, “just cleaning up around the shop and running parts to the technicians.”
Chris worked summer after summer and returned to the business full time after college as a car salesman. Ray Tanner Volvo was sold in 1999, and Chris followed other pursuits for a few years. But eventually, he, along with his wife, Susanna, returned to the auto industry.
“After the sale, I just really saw a need, I was still in contact with some customers that I had developed a good relationship with and I missed it so much and decided to get back into it, in a much smaller capacity.”
In August 2004 Tanner Motors was born. “We started with used cars and repairs and we were strictly Volvo at the time.” Now, fast forward 20 years, the company still services and repairs Volvos, along with BMW, Lexus, Mini Cooper and other brands.
Located off Cave Creek Road north of Hatcher, Tanner Motors specializes in Volvo, BMW, Mini and Lexus brand vehicles (photo by Kathryn M. Miller).
The company outgrew the Colter location, which was four lifts and 2,000 square feet. They moved to a much larger facility at 10221 N. Cave Creek Road in 2015, where Chris, Susanna and their nearly dozen employees stay up-to-date with the latest industry changes and continue to focus on building and maintaining good relationships with their customers.
“The automotive industry, unfortunately, especially the repair side of it, has a very bad reputation. We just do things differently,” Chris said. “We don’t take advantage of customers. I’ve built this business based on how my grandfather built his. You know, treat people the way that you want to be treated. Ethics come way before money for us.”
He added, “We don’t want somebody to come in one time and not see them again. We want to build a relationship over the life of their cars. We have so many customers that we’re servicing second and third generations of families. That’s the kind of relationships we love to have.”
Tanner Motors is located at 10221 N. Cave Creek Road. For additional information, call 602-910-2754 or visit www.tanner-motors.com.
