Toyota's been a Mills family passion

"THE Mills family has been involved with Toyota almost since the brand first came to Australia,” says Brett Mills, of Ken Mills Toyota Nambour and Maroochydore.

Service manager Tony Hunter. Picture: Contributed

"THE Mills family has been involved with Toyota almost since the brand first came to Australia,” explained Brett Mills, the dealer principal of Ken Mills Toyota at Nambour and Maroochydore.

"I remember as a kid, my family would drive down the Bruce Hwy from our place in Gympie, and as we entered Nambour, I'd see the Toyota dealership on the right. I remember being really impressed with how large and bright and modern it was. Who'd have guessed that 20 years later I'd end up owning it?”

The Nambour building, opposite the showgrounds on Coronation Ave, began life as Bailey Motors and later changed to David Vodic Toyota.

Brett Mills took over in 2002. And while he has been the dealer principal at Ken Mills Toyota at Nambour and Maroochydore for almost 15 years now, several of his team have a history with the Nambour location that goes back even further.

Jennifer Thomas started working with Bailey Motors in January 1985.

"I began in the accounting side of the business. They had just started using computers,” she recalled.

"The building in Coronation Ave was very modern when Jim Bailey first built it. But there was straw in the ceiling, and as time went on, the straw would drift down and end up in your hair.”

Nambour has changed a lot since those days.

"When we went to lunch in town, you had to calculate your time carefully in case you got a cane train blocking the street and you couldn't get back across,” Jennifer laughed.

Technology has changed a bit since then, too.

"During the David Vodic years, nothing was updated. When Brett Mills first walked in and saw us working on this old 'monster' of a computer that didn't even have a mouse, he couldn't believe it,” she said.

"Brett's style is very modern, very professional, but it's still a family business environment. I quite enjoy the 'continuous improvement' philosophy that he and Toyota share.”

Another staff member with a long history with the company is service advisor Collette Todd, who has been there since 1998.

"My first role at David Vodic Toyota was washing guest's cars,” she remembered.

"Because of the Nambour sugar mill, you would come in each morning and the cars would all be covered in black soot!”

That's a story many long-term locals would sympathise with.

After a couple of years, Collette moved into the office as a service advisor.

"What I enjoy is building a real rapport with our guests over the years,” Collette said.

"I can go anywhere from Byron Bay to Rockhampton and almost guarantee that I'll run into someone who knows me from Ken Mills Toyota - someone I've worked alongside or a customer that I've looked after. It's a bigger social network than Facebook!”

Service manager Tony Hunter started his employment in 1982 as a second-year apprentice mechanic for Bailey Motors.

"Then I came back to Nambour in 1995 as the workshop foreman, then worked my way up over the years to service manager,” he said.

The cars his team work on have come a long way since Tony did his apprenticeship.

"I remember when a new-model Corolla came out in about 1983 or '84 and it had a new feature called intermittent wipers on it - and we went 'wow, look at this!',” he laughed.

Standing in the recently-refurbished service centre, Tony recalled what it was like when he started out.

"Back in the day, you relied on your ears or a stethoscope, and maybe a probe and test-light to try and work out what the problem was. Now we have high-tech computer diagnostic gear that's second to none.

"It's all about efficiency and productivity now, getting it fixed right the first time and ready for the guest. These days we have express maintenance, where two guys will work on a car simultaneously and get the service done in less than an hour.”

So what does the future hold for Tony?

"I've got no plans to go anywhere,” he said. "Ken Mills Toyota is a great company and Toyota is a brilliant product and we work hard to make sure that this business is the dealer of choice for our guests and our team.

"I've always said they'll just put me in an old air-conditioning box and bury me out the back.”

As dealer principal Brett Mills noted: "The Sunshine Coast has grown and changed enormously over the last 50 years, but one thing has stayed the same: it takes good people to provide good service.

"I'm just lucky that we've got a team, many of whom have been with the business for decades, who understand how to deliver it.

"Who knows, maybe the dealership will still be here in another 50 years.”