About Us

Ever since I can remember, I’ve always loved working on cars.  When I was around three years old, I can remember working with my dad on our old Ford Maverick.  The engine burned a lot of oil, and we had to clean the spark plugs on a monthly basis.  My dad would give me the spark plugs, and I would clean them with the spark plugs cleaner (yes there was an actual tool called a spark plug cleaner), and then give them back to him.  There was even a time when I helped my Grandpa and Uncle Thom rebuild the carburetor on that old Maverick.

At the same time, I had a black Tonka Jeep that came with a jack, gas can, and spare tire.  You could even pull the tires off.  I remember pretending to “fix” that old Tonka Jeep.  I used an old Fisher-Price plastic tool set with the windup drill.   I would put the Jeep on top of plastic ice cream buckets, pretend to lift the hood, lay on my back, and use my tool set to fix whatever needed fixing.

A couple of years later, I was given a Corvette Stingray plastic model.  It was a snap together model, which was perfect for me.  I would take it apart and put it back together every time it needed “fixing”.  I would remove the wheels pretending to fix the brakes.  I would take apart the engine and rebuild it.  I took it apart and put it back together so many times that it eventually never stayed together.

Earlier I mentioned my Uncle Thom.  He also encouraged my love for cars.  He gave me my first textbook for automotive repair when I was around 9 years old.  I would flip through the pages whenever I’d get a chance.  He also had an old Audi, and later an old Subaru that he would let me help him repair whenever we would visit him.  As he was repairing them, he would explain to me the function of each part.

As I was riding my bike around the neighborhood as a child, I would always stop if I saw someone working on their car.  I would stay and watch them and help them whenever I could.  I had a paper route, and some days it would take me a lot longer to do it because I would see someone working on their car and have to stop and see what they were doing.

There was even a retired mechanic that lived by my grandparents.  Everytime we visited my grandparents, I would spend as much time as possible with him.  He would let me help whenever I could.

Probably the biggest person who made my love for cars grow was Don Hamil.  He was the owner of Jerry’s Service II in Libertyville, IL.  During my junior and senior high school years, I would go to his shop, and just hang out whenever I could.  One day he hired me, and I was ecstatic.  I finally got to work at a garage.  Because of my lack of experience, I was thinking I would just do simple things like oil changes, tires, etc, but he had other plans.  The first job he gave me was the head gasket on a Dodge Dakota with the 2.5L engine.  I definitely wasn’t expecting that, but I did it, and it worked.  He was an awesome teacher, and my love and knowledge of automotive repair grew immensely while I worked for him.

Here is where I took a little detour.  I went to college at Martin Luther College (MLC), where I got my BS in Secondary Education in Mathematics and Computers.  I also met my wife, Tarah, while I was there.  Even though I was going to college to become a teacher, I worked for Don all through my college years whenever I would go home for breaks.

While I was at college, I worked at Retzlaff’s Ace Hardware in their repair shop fixing anything with a small engine.  I would also fix the other student’s cars.   In fact, I was repairing so many of the student’s cars, that the Vice President of Student Life let me use his own driveway and garage.  There were many times that he could not use his garage or driveway because I had so many cars to repair.

Like I said, I have a teaching degree, so I became a teacher, and taught for two years in Burnsville, MN.  However, my love for cars never died.  In fact, I even repaired other tenant’s cars in the apartment complex we lived in.  There was even one day when I fixed a random stranger’s car in the parking lot of the school I worked in.  It was a short time after that I realized teaching wasn’t for me, and that I truly missed repairing cars.

So I left teaching and I got a job at a Chrysler Dealership, and then Tire’s Plus while my wife finished getting her degree at MLC.  After she graduated, we moved to Omaha where I got a job at Meyer’s Auto Service where Dwayne really helped me with my diagnostic skills.

Next I went to MIDAS where I worked there for almost 14 years.  While there I worked with Brian Giles who not only continued to help me hone my automotive repair skills, but also how to treat customers.  Before MIDAS, I never really had to deal with customers.  I mostly worked in the shop area.  Brian made sure I knew how to treat customers with honesty and respect, and I will alway be grateful to him for that.

After working at MIDAS for many years, I started feeling that something was missing.  I wanted to take my repair skills to the next level, and so I began going to other shops trying to find a new challenge.  I eventually ended up at Tuffy’s, and while I was there I finished getting all my ASE certifications to become an ASE Certified Master Technician and Undercar Specialist.  It was also there that I realized the only way I could continue to grow as a technician is if I started my own shop, and that’s what I did.

I love puzzles, and I like challenges.  That is why I started DC Automotive.  DC stands for Diagnostic Challenge.

I love the feeling I get when I’m given a car that has a problem, and then it leaves running like it should.  I feel like a doctor who saved their patient from a serious disease, but only with cars.

I also started it because, as Brian taught me, I want people to be treated honestly.  I want to be able to teach people about their cars and explain to them exactly what they need so that they can make an informed decision about the repairs they do.

DC Automotive is family owned and operated. My wife, two daughters, and I will take care of your vehicle.  We want customers to leave our shop feeling good about the repairs they made, knowing that they will be treated the way we would treat our own family.