ABOUT

Our Mission

"We are here because we care about our clients and want them to have an excellent experience."

About

First Class HALT

At First Class HALT we treat our customers the way we want to be treated, and we treat your vehicle like our own. We want to help you protect the investment you have made in your vehicle by providing the best preventative maintenance service available. Our mission is to deliver high quality, accurate work at affordable prices. We will never sell you a service or repair that doesn’t absolutely need to be done.


You can be sure that when you come to First Class HALT, your vehicle will receive only the service that it requires and nothing else. Future required maintenance will be prioritized, allowing the customer to budget for needed repairs “down the road.”


First Class HALT is a shop you can trust, and we work quickly and efficiently on your vehicle -- saving you money. Every customer who comes through our door can expect to be treated with courtesy and respect. Our relationships over the years have been built on honesty and integrity, and we are proud to continue that tradition. We pride ourselves on providing you with dealership services at a fraction of the cost. You can trust our quality of service—your complete satisfaction is our goal.

How First Class HALT was Started

At First Class HALT began with owner, Mark Maitland-Smith’s, love of engines. At age 12, he started his own lawn service in his neighborhood, working throughout the summers. When his lawnmower eventually gave out, he had no choice but to take it apart himself to try and fix it. However, as hard as he tried, he couldn’t manage to get it properly reassembled or back in running condition. His frustration planting a seed.


After working on lawns for some time, Mark had saved enough money to purchase his own motorcycle which he excitedly rode through the woods throughout the summer. With this motorcycle, he was able to inspect and work on its engine in greater depth than he ever had before. And so, his journey truly began.


With plenty of time and practice, Mark eventually became quite good at fixing lawn mowers and motorcycles. And he enjoyed it so much that while in high school, he decided to attend automotive vocational college in upstate New York where he received his AOS degree and became ASE Master Certified. This led to further schooling at Alfred University and afterwards to working in a multitude of independent automotive shops where he learned the ins and outs of a wide range of vehicle makes and models.


At age 19, Mark left New York and moved to San Francisco where he wound up working for several independent repair and automotive shops and dealerships alike. Regardless of where he was, he found that working with imported vehicles seemed to be his destiny; from Honda, Acura, Lexus and Toyota to race cars which raced in the SCCA series.


In 2000, Mark moved to Greenville, SC where he worked at Breakaway Honda until 2011. By this time, he had accumulated nearly 25 years of experience. He was ASE Master Certified and re-certified 4 times over, had a Platinum Level in training from Honda, (the highest level to achieve), and had become the go-to person for fixing those vehicles which nobody else could, with diagnostics and electrical as his specialty.


With so many accolades under his belt, Mark knew that he wanted to use his extensive knowledge and experience and turn it into something greater. He also knew the importance of specializing in order to provide customers with the very highest level of expertise. And so, in March of 2011, Mark opened First Class HALT.

How First Class HALT’s Story Continues

From the beginning, Mark knew what he wanted; a strong team of specialized mechanics and technicians who would be kind and fair to each customer who walked through the doors. And that’s exactly what he created.


Going against industry standard, Mark decided from day one that nobody at First Class HALT would ever have commission-based pay, which he believes to be the root of the automotive industry’s reputation for taking advantage of customers. The culture of First Class HALT is one of an equal combination of expertise and empathy. Customers and staff are all treated with utmost respect and fairness.


In order to ensure the best quality of work, all of First Class’ service advisors and technicians have a minimum of 15 years’ experience on the car lines that they service. And to be sure that any of the work they’ve done holds, First Class uses exclusively OE and OEM parts. Exceptional quality all-around.


Perhaps most exciting for Mark is the expansion of his company into a family business, as his 17-year-old son Nicky follows in his footsteps, attending automotive school and with an automotive college program in his near future.


With nearly a decade in business, First Class is now known in the community for their professionalism, excellent customer service, reliability and trustworthy diagnostics and repairs. Every customer is treated like family. All of which has made First Class HALT “the dealership alternative.”

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