Tuffy Announces Agreement to Purchase Car-X

TOLEDO, Ohio, Feb. 22 -- Tuffy Associates Corp. has announced that it has entered into an agreement under which a subsidiary of Tuffy will purchase substantially all the assets of SMK Speedy International Inc.'s Car-X business in the United States. Tuffy Associates Corp. is a privately held corporation that operates 250 franchised and company owned automotive service centers in 17 states under the name ``Tuffy Auto Service Centers''.

The Car-X business being sold consists of substantially all the operating assets of both Car-X Service Systems, Inc. (``CSSI''), a franchiser of 183 automotive repair stores in the United States, and all but 12 of the stores of Discoverer Services, Inc. (``DSI''), which operates 51 of the 183 CSSI franchised stores. The Car-X franchise is concentrated in 10 mid-western states in the United States.

It is the intention of Tuffy to manage the two businesses as separate brands to the consumer, while still leveraging the strength of the combined entity for the benefit of the franchisees and the customers of both brands. Keenan Moran, the President and CEO of Tuffy said, ``The management of Tuffy recognizes that the Car-X system brings with it an excellent group of franchise dealers, an outstanding corporate staff, a strong and talented group of individuals operating company-owned stores and a very well recognized brand. As a result of this talent, Car-X is typically one of the dominant players in each of the markets where they do business. It is a well-managed organization throughout and we see this as an outstanding opportunity for both Tuffy and Car-X.''

The transaction is expected to close within 90 days. Rothschild Inc. acted as financial advisor to Tuffy in this transaction.

Tuffy operates automotive service centers that offer a broad range of automotive services including the repair of brakes, exhaust, ride control, air conditioning, heating and cooling and starting and charging systems. Tuffy also offers other services including regularly scheduled maintenance, oil changes and alignments. For a list of Tuffy locations, please visit www.tuffy.com .