PERSONALITIES: Vernon mechanic stands on integrity

Dec. 3—VERNON — For three generations, the Baum family has been operating their shop at 11 Windermere Ave., starting off with Farm Oil and evolving into Farm Car Care, currently operated by the third generation of the operation, Michael Baum.

A Vernon native, or as Baum would say, a Rockville native, he said he grew up in the 1960s and '70s, graduating from Rockville High School in 1976, and from Bryant College in Rhode Island with a business degree in 1980.

The family business at the time was called Farm Oil, founded by his grandfather, Samuel "Timmy" Baum, in 1939.

Michael Baum

Who he is: Third-generation owner of Farm Car Care in Vernon.

Hometown: Rockville born and bred.

Quote: "My philosophy has always been, you come in for an oil change, you get an oil change."

When Baum's father, Lester, joined the business in 1944, the two developed the business into a home heating oil company and gas station/auto repair business, he said.

Michael Baum started working there while in high school in 1973, and after graduating from college, returned to working full-time at the family business in 1980.

"A lot of my friends and kids from the high school would come and they would pump gas and they would change tires," he said. "It was a real local popular entity."

In the late '80s, he said, the oil tank stored under the shop began to leak, which caused the Farm Oil to have to pivot in operations.

"Our insurance company at the time was in receivership," Baum said. "They were essentially bankrupt. So, we sold the oil company. When you sell an oil company, there's no tangible asset that you're selling. You sell the name of the company, Farm Oil. You sell the phone number."

No longer owning the name Farm Oil, Baum said his father decided to change the name to Farm Car Care, and not long after passed the business to Baum.

"It was a challenge for me," he said. "I like the successes of that business. It's a very difficult business because it's a service business. I'm dependent on my nine technicians to satisfactorily complete the repairs of the jobs and the tasks that they're given."

Having an excellent staff and a healthy work environment is important to dispel some of the negative reputation that mechanics inherently have.

"You're not gonna be able to satisfy every person," Baum said. "There's gonna be problems. Whether it's your fault or it's not your fault, you're gonna run into those situations. By sheer numbers, if we do 10,000 or 20,000 oil changes a year ... it's the law of averages at some point."

Baum said he works hard to have a healthy professional relationship with his customers.

"Most people don't know the intricacies of their cars and their repairs," he said. "It really is based on trust when somebody walks through the door. You walk into places these days, many times you'll go in for an oil change and you'll come out with a nice little booklet of things that were noticed and or service recommendations."

He said his philosophy is not to push extra things on customers.

"My philosophy has always been, you come in for an oil change, you get an oil change," he said; if something extra is discovered, he won't force the issue.

"We don't call you up while you're in there and say, you really need to get this done immediately," he said. "I give you back the car for $40 when the oil change is over.

"If somebody does have a problem, we try to bend over backwards to rectify the situation," he said. "In some ways it's good advertising because people do probably know that mistakes happen in life.

"Within reason, if somebody comes in, I don't want to argue with them at all," he said. "I want to just take care of them."

Having spent most of his life in Vernon, Baum and his family have been invested in local politics and community activities, including coaching local basketball, and donating to local charities.

Baum had been a member of the Vernon Democratic Town Committee until just before the latest election.

He said he resigned because the town committee wanted members to commit to vote for only Democratic candidates in town, something he disagreed with.

"I was really unhappy by that," he said.

One day, Baum said, he will step down from owning Farm Car Care, with maybe one day passing it down to the fourth generation of Baums.

"I have a son who's about to graduate from UConn," he said. "He had shown some interest in coming into the business. But he's been going to school, so I try to encourage him to at least go out on his own for a while and do something with his degree in engineering before he decides whether or not to come in.

"I have a really good staff," he said. "I'm thinking that at some point I'll transition out a little bit and I'll let some of my staff take over and run the business. I've been doing it for a lot of years."

He has no intention in leaving the Rockville area. He said it's his home and a place near and dear to him, and it's close to family.

"One daughter's local," he said. "One's in New York City. My son, I think, will be staying local. I have a lot of family still that's local and I'm family oriented. I'll always have a connection.

"After working this hard for this many years," he said, "I want to experience a different side of life, which would involve rest, relaxation, and recreation."

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