A former Bridgestone executive brought his own auto services company to OKC. Here's why

An automotive industry executive for many years, Ned Aguilar jokingly refers to himself as a mad scientist: a scientist because of his analytical approach to assessing and addressing problems, and a mad one because he knows what he suggests as solutions often challenge conventional wisdom in the auto service industry.

“I’m always thinking about how we’re able to change the space,” Aguilar said. “Like in anything else, you want to leave it better than you found it. So for me, I’m big on trying to identify ways to improve the customer experience. That’s always been the guiding principle for me.”

Aguilar’s reputation stems from decades of experience for major tire manufacturing companies, an industry he’s worked in since the age of 17. From the late 1980s through the 1990s, he was part of the management team responsible for expanding Oklahoma City’s Hibdon Tire Center into one of the largest independent dealers in the U.S. By the 2000s, when Hibdon had been acquired by Bridgestone Tires, Aguilar would hold several executive roles at the corporation over the years, including vice president of marketing and of digital development.

Now, as he enters a new chapter in his life and in his career, he's bringing a new type of customer-centric model to Oklahoma's automobile industry. Aguilar is banking on his experience with Hibdon Tires, which disrupted the industry once, to do the same thing again.

“Ray Hibdon, the patriarch, and his son, Mark Hibdon, were really ahead of their time when it came to the customer delivery process and the way we leveraged technology, even then,” Aguilar said. “We felt we were able to build an organization that, when we look back it, may have been the best business in our sector of the industry, because we were willing to do anything and everything if it was going to be positive for the customer and for the workforce.”

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The auto maintenance industry at large doesn’t have the best reputation, admits Aguilar. Common complaints include being too difficult and slow to schedule and complete repairs, being too costly a process and being too exploitative a service.

But it’s precisely this type of perception that Aguilar wants to address with FastLap, a new auto service company he first thought of two years ago. The “beta location,” which opened in late September at 5930 W Memorial Road in Oklahoma City, is serving as the launchpad for a new type of customer-centric model Aguilar hopes will transform the industry.

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“It’s not the most pleasant experience getting your vehicle worked on, and in many cases a lot of people don’t necessarily look forward to it,” Aguilar said. “It’s not one of those purchases that you really want to have to do, unless you’re trying to modify your vehicle. But for me, there’s this burning platform within the industry, and I really wanted to rethink about how to improve that auto experience.”

To accomplish that, Aguilar said FastLap’s emphasis is on streamlined services and digital strategies, especially toward younger consumers. His main goal is simplifying the maintenance process for both customers and employees in today’s digital age, while returning the auto service industry back to its roots as a family-oriented, community-centered environment.

“I wish I could go back in time with the younger generation and show them what quality of life was at one time, when you were able to go to the local drugstore and sit at the counter and get a certain level of service, that sense of community,” Aguilar said. “What happens now is, even during the holidays, when you’re getting people together, instead of talking with each other, they’re all just engaged on their phones. I’m hoping, somehow and some way at least in Oklahoma City, to be able to bring a sense of that community that could translate to our workforce and customers and their families and their friends.”

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Born in west Texas but raised on the West Coast, Aguilar has considered himself an “adoptive Oklahoman” ever since 1988, when the Hibdons asked him to help run their operations in Oklahoma City. In his 20s at that time, Aguilar reflected on his young adulthood with deep gratitude, saying Mark Hibdon was the champion he needed in his life to grow as an individual and as a professional.

When the Hibdons sold their tire business in the late 1990s, they entrusted Aguilar with running the operations after they retired, and he continued to help lead the company well into its Bridgestone acquisition. He spearheaded the opening of a distribution facility called TireHub, jointly operated by Bridgestone and rival manufacturer Goodyear.

Aguilar helped oversee TireHub throughout the late 2010s, before venturing off on his own in January 2021 to start developing FastLap. New ideas are always something he's been willing to explore, although Aguilar said he knows the industry isn't always that way.

“For me, it’s an industry that continues to have opportunities,” he said. “But a lot of auto dealers are feeling lost right now. They don’t know how to do anything than what they’ve already done in the past. They don’t know the technologies they need to be able to latch onto to help improve them. But I believe that we’ve formed the team to be able to introduce something for the customer of today.”

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Well into what should be his retirement years, passion is what drives Aguilar, who said he owes much to his wife Virginia and their three sons, who all have passions of their own. Two are singers and songwriters in the central U.S., while another is a former athlete and owner of the VZD's Restaurant & Bar in northwest Oklahoma City. The pride Aguilar feels in his family is equally felt for his past colleagues and his current FastLap team, whom he considers his equals.

“I’m the perfect example of ‘the little engine that could,’ but the ‘could’ came because a lot of people were behind me, pushing me right along and helping me believe in me,” Aguilar said. “My hopes, as we grow, are maybe that’s what I’ll be able to do with others. ... I may no longer be that 17-year-old who just entered this industry, but my enthusiasm is back to that level. That’s what makes it all work.”

That spirit of family runs deep for Aguilar, so he isn’t doing this alone. In addition to a team of talented technicians at the Oklahoma City location, he’s also assembled a core group of key auto industry executives to help lead his company in major roles. The team includes Ivan Golubic, former head of finance for the Goodyear retail network; Joerg Mattheissen, former branding strategist for Boston Consulting Group; Al Wheeler, former vice president of Advanced Auto Parts; and Andy Zmugg, a growth strategy consultant who co-founded FastLap with Aguilar.

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Aguilar's plans are ambitious. With the help of what he's called “immense capital backing” from investors, the company plans to open more than 10 locations throughout the Oklahoma City metro area by the end of 2023.

He also plans within five years to expand FastLap with several locations in Florida and along the eastern U.S. seaboard, although he admits he'll be avoiding California, where his parents raised him in the 1960s and 1970s.

“Dad always had this twist on that phrase ‘good things come to those who wait,’” Aguilar said as he remembered working on cars as a teenager with his father. “He’d say, ‘I’m not telling you that’s wrong, but good things come to those who make it happen, too. How are you making it happen?’ That always stuck with me. I’ve always been very fortunate to have these people, from my own family to the Hibdon family and my current team, who believe in what it is I’ve been doing and have allowed me the opportunities to make it happen.”

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Former Hibdon executive launches 'the future of auto care' in OKC