The other eleven shops were not faceless competitors. They belonged to people with their own employees, mortgages, and families, and Naomi insisted that her team remember it. One had specialized in delivery vans for two decades, another had exceptional electric-vehicle training, and a third operated near the airport with night-shift staffing that made it valuable for emergency calls. Three did not meet the minimum safety or reporting standards, two declined after reviewing the contract requirements, and the rest remained in serious contention.
Cole Auto Repair ranked near the top for documented diagnostic accuracy and repeat-customer satisfaction. Its customer survey results were unusually strong, and several businesses voluntarily submitted letters describing repairs that had saved them from purchasing unnecessary replacements. Ethan lost points for equipment capacity, weekend coverage, and limited staffing. The scoring model did not pretend those disadvantages were imaginary.
Naomi required an additional practical test. Each finalist would be asked to inspect a company vehicle with a recurring complaint, produce a written diagnosis, and explain the recommended repair without knowing what competing shops had found. The exercise would not prove everything about their future performance, but it would reveal how they investigated uncertainty. She arranged for different vehicles to be evaluated under comparable conditions, with independent technicians verifying the results afterward.
Ethan's test vehicle was a white service van that intermittently lost power after long highway runs. A previous facility had recommended replacing an expensive electronic control module, but the fault had returned after the module was changed. Ethan began with a conversation about when the symptom appeared, examined the prior records, and resisted the temptation to order another part. He found a damaged wire section near a mounting bracket, documented the condition, and produced an estimate for a repair far less expensive than the replacement already proposed.
"What makes you confident that's the cause?" David asked when he returned. Ethan pointed to the documented readings and described the conditions under which the problem reproduced. "I'm confident enough to test the repair and stand behind it," he said. "I'm not confident enough to tell you nobody should look at anything else if the symptom returns."
The independent verification agreed. More importantly, the van completed the follow-up test without the power loss that had plagued it. Naomi entered the result into the scoring file, then reviewed the rankings with Olivia to ensure the numbers reflected the published criteria. Cole Auto Repair had not won every category, but it had performed exceptionally where correctness and transparency mattered most.
Peter asked whether Victoria had been shown the results. "Not a word," Naomi said. "Good," he replied. "Then we're allowed to be surprised by them."