Twist and shout

Many entrepreneurs who sell their businesses take a well-deserved break, but not Pam Oakes.

When Oakes sold Pam's Motor City in January, she quickly launched a product that helps solve one of the most annoying car problems today: the check-engine light that turns on when you haven't twisted the gas cap on tightly.

Oakes designed a gas-cap grip that helps drivers make sure it's on tight enough. It's something she developed after running an automotive repair shop for 20 years. The simple grip fits any gas cap. “I put a patent on it,” Oakes says, declining to name the Washington, D.C.-based patent attorney she's hired.

Oakes, who still has a popular national radio show on 28 stations and has authored three books on car repairs for the public, says the market is huge. There are 240 million cars with gas caps (yes, some manufacturers are doing away with them) and there are 40 million drivers over the age of 65. The gas cap grip is targeted at older people who may have arthritis or other handicaps that make it difficult to twist the cap.

Oakes got the idea in her shop, when customers would bring in their cars after their check-engine light would turn on. Often, the problem was that the gas cap was loose, not anything serious with the car's engine.

Oakes never charged her customers for that repair. But to help her customers avoid the dreaded check-engine-light snafu, she cut grooves into wood blocks lying around the shop that fit on the gas cap so they could more easily twist it open and close.

The wooden blocks were small enough to store in the glove compartment or side-door pocket. “There's probably 50 to 75 of them out there,” she says.

The routine problem and her improvised solution sparked Oakes' idea to manufacture the gas-cap grips: “We could do something with this,” she thought. Since she's sold the shop, she's had more time to devote to the idea.

Now, Oakes says she's in discussions with retailers such as Wal-Mart about supplying stores with gas cap grips. You can also buy one online at GasCapGrip.com. It sells for $8.99 online.

Oakes says she has assembled a network of U.S.-based suppliers so she can label them “made in USA.” She buys the hard plastic blocks from a San Diego company, then ships them to Clearwater machine shop that cuts the blocks and a Fort Myers company polishes and packages them. Although Oakes declines to say how much she's invested in the business or what her sales goals are, she's already sold 1,500 since June 1.

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