Andy Lucken is the owner of Lucken Auto Glass.
If NFL quarterback Andy Dalton had a twin, it would be Andy Lucken.
Strikingly similar facial structures, and the same first name.
But Andy Lucken doesn’t fire darts across the gridiron.
Instead, he fixes auto glass.
Less glamorous title than QB1, but the impact is just as profound.
Long before the opening of Lucken Auto Glass, Andy was a regional trainer for a large auto glass company.
They had 50+ stores throughout the country, and Andy, a skilled technician, made sure all the other techs were well equipped to repair and replace auto glass.
“It was a great company,” Andy says as we convene in a small room right next to the main auditorium where Forum meets every week.
“I’d probably still be there if they were still around,” Andy then remarks of his former employer.
Unfortunately, three years into his time at the company, they were bought out, and, real shocker here, the new corporate edict prioritized money over integrity.
Within a fortnight, Andy had peacefully resigned, transitioning over to a well-known car dealership in the Twin Cities.
For the next five years, Andy continued to refine his skills as an auto glass specialist, and he arguably had established himself as the face of that sector of the car dealership.
“All the customers were calling me personally,” Andy recalls.
“They didn’t want to call into the shop. I was taking care of all the customers on the back end and the front end.”
By this point, the ambitions percolating inside Andy could no longer be ignored.
For some time, he had fantasized about starting his own business.
When things stagnated at the car dealership, Andy took decisive action.
“I always wanted to start up my own company, and I got to the point where it was time to dive in and do my own thing,” he explains.
This was in 2014.
A dozen years later, Lucken Auto Glass is thriving, but that’s not to suggest that all Andy had to do was renounce his W2 status and open an LLC to achieve the American Dream.
“Business is very hard, but it’s also very rewarding,” Andy says, then thoughtfully preparing his next words.
“Like any business owner, there’s probably once or twice a month where I wonder why the hell I am doing this, but other than that, it is so gratifying being able to help people and give them the amount of service that they deserve.”
More crucially, the level of service that Andy and his team provide simply wouldn’t have been possible had he stayed with other outfits.
“I was putting as much out there as I could, but it wasn’t happening on any other side of it,” Andy notes, commenting on how his pre-2014 efforts, while valiant, weren’t truly appreciated or acknowledged by his superiors.
In that sense, the pivot into entrepreneurship had as much to do with mentality as anything else.
For Andy, creating a culture that exemplified his way of doing business was the main priority.
“Now, all my employees are following my lead on what we do to go above and beyond for our customers,” he says.
Had I not known Andy, his claims of exemplary customer service might elicit yawns because, really, no business owner would readily admit that they’re actively not looking to take care of their customers.
But come to Forum in Brooklyn Park on Wednesday mornings, and chances are you will hear a testimonial from someone in the group who has used Lucken Auto Glass and come away impressed.
For context, if the tires on that Jeep Cherokee in front of you kick back a rock and crack your windshield, Lucken Auto Glass will jump on the highway and come to you, ready to fix the issue.
“A lot of times we take care of people same day too,” Andy mentions.
Hypothetically, you’re grabbing a coffee in the city, and after carefully sipping your beverage, you come back out to your vehicle, only to find that some joker has smashed your driver-side glass in attempt to steal your phone charger.
A nuisance?
Yes.
But one phone call to Andy and the remedy will soon arrive.
“I look at auto glass as similar to an emergency room,” Andy posits.
“You are triaging what has to get done now, and we do a good job of flipping around our schedules to fit emergencies in.”
Of note:
Lucken Auto Glass can work directly with your insurance company, meaning you don’t have to spend an hour waiting around for your insurance agent to call you back.
Even better, if you call Lucken Auto Glass, you get to talk to a real human with real solutions, and not some soulless robot who will feign sympathy to get you to remain on the line.
“The big companies don’t even have people answering the phone anymore. It’s all AI,” Andy notes.
“There is definitely not a human element with that, and consequently there’s a lot of work on the customer’s end to set up a claim.”
Keep this in mind:
In 12 years, Andy and his team have replaced 20,000 windshields.
“Maybe more,” he says with his patented, inviting yet disarming smile.
That’s a lot of glass, but Andy reveals that what he most cherishes is the ability to help everyday people who know next to nothing about windshields and auto glass.
“We do things that other glass companies don’t, and they can’t,” Andy proclaims.
Between working on high-end cars and custom cutting glass, many companies simply cannot compete because they would rather save a few dollars and send out ill-equipped employees; not professionals.
“We have people from around the United States calling us and asking how to work on these high-end cars,” says Andy, who has fixed windshields on Bugattis, Ferraris, and most impressively, Hondas.
“It’s cool that in an industry this big you have people reaching out. I’ve even dealt with people in Germany and Japan.”
To develop this type of reputation takes time, and real craftsmanship.
“Attention to detail is the biggest thing,” says Andy, who isn’t a paper pusher that delegates work to everyone else because he has actually been in the trenches for many years, happily replacing auto glass.
“It’s like finish carpenters. There are good finish carpenters, and there are great finish carpenters. You can tell the difference between the two. It’s very vast.”
Looking ahead, Andy’s aspirations haven’t subsided one iota.
A self-admitted big goal guy, Twin Cities drivers may soon be seeing more of Lucken Auto Glass.
“I want to have a shop in the north and south metro, and be running about 14 trucks,” Andy says.
With his humility and willingness to evolve, getting there seems almost imminent for Andy and his team. QS
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