LAWTON – Bobby Sorrells, the shop manager of Fort Sill’s Kwik Kar Auto Care, didn’t start out as a mechanic. A couple of decades back, he remodeled homes. Then he ventured into automotive maintenance.
Today Sorrells manages Fort Sill’s Kwik Kar location.
Originally from Dallas, Sorrells – who has lived in Oklahoma for more than a decade – is also a volunteer fireman and serves as an emergency medical technician.
On top of that, in his spare time, he is the vice mayor (and a member of the Board of Trustees) of Indiahoma, a small community about 25 miles from Lawton.
“Yeah, you might say I don’t have a whole lot of spare time,” he said.
Sorrells said his business experience has changed how he approaches public service.
“My ways of business, from being a manager and business owner, I look at the town of Indiahoma differently,” he said. “I attempt to do things for the town as if it were a business.”
As an example, he said, every town has individuals who want to make ordinances to improve the community. Sorrells’ approach is to look at each of those ideas to ensure they improve the community.
“That’s the way I look at it,” he said. “If it’s not beneficial to the town, then it’s not beneficial to anyone.”
He said the legal issues involved in running the town are mammoth. He pointed to the state’s Open Meetings Act and how it prevents impromptu meetings by trustees.
“That surprised me,” he said.
Still, Sorrells, 49, said he is all about helping people.
That includes overseeing Kwik Kar on Fort Sill to ensure customers get oil changes, brake service, tire repair and installation
Turn to SORRELLS, p4 and even vehicle inspections.
Kwik Kar currently has 13 locations across Oklahoma. The one on Fort Sill is the only one in the area. It services both personal and government-owned vehicles and caters primarily to service men and women living on the miliary base, Sorrells said.
And Sorrells said he’d like to see the business grow, even though he has to contend with governmental restrictions and oversight issues for the business.
He said roughly 60% of the soldiers who live on base are not allowed to have cars because they are in basic training, adding that the simple oil change is the most requested service – and the most profitable – service his company provides. Tire sales are a close second – though not as profitable. Sorrells said Kwik Kar’s experienced staff and its low prices make it stand out among its competitors.
“Other than normal oil changes, tires are most popular services, there’s not a lot of profit in tires,” he said. “But we do a lot of them.”
He said Kwik Kar services both personally owned vehicles (those owned by members of the military) and many vehicles owned or leased by the government. Over the course of his work, he said he chose Fort Still because it was local.
“We are, on average, 10% cheaper than anyone in town, which is part of being on the military base,” he said. “And I’m sure other shops have this, but we have over 40 years’ experience in the automotive industry as far as mechanical work goes, with my technicians and myself and just the company in general. We’d like to expand to military personnel who don’t live on Fort Sill.”
For Sorrells, another issue is that a majority of Fort Sill’s soldiers are in basic training and are prevented from having cars at the miliary base. “Having an automotive repair shop on a military base that is a training facility makes it difficult,” he said.
In addition, the soldiers training at Fort Still are only there for two or three years. “You don’t get time to develop long-term relationships,” he said.
One way to push back against the big turnover, he said, was to reach out to those members of the retired military community in the Lawton area. “We’re trying to attract those people,” he said. “They are retired but they can still come to Fort Still and we’re trying to provide services for them too.”
Kwik Kar, located at Building 2444 Sheridan Road on Fort Sill, is open from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. To schedule an appointment, visit the shop’s website or call (580) 248-6280.
Editor’s Note: Southwest Ledger reporter Eric Swanson contributed to this story.