January 1, 2017 was the beginning of the new year as well as Arie Nol Auto Center’s 41 st anniversary. When Arie Nol opened his business in 1976, there were very few repair facilities that worked on the imported vehicles that had started to be more prevalent in the American car market. Coming from the Netherlands and working for Porsche in California, Arie had a lot of experience working on European vehicles.
The timing was perfect and he could fulfill his dream of opening his own business. He opened his two- bay shop in the same location we currently occupy. Jeff worked part time until 1980 when he joined his Dad full time at the family business.
It’s amazing to look back and see where we started and see how the business has grown. Arie laid the ground work for the business that exists today. We still have customers that come in and talk about Arie working on their vehicle. He was known for being blunt with his customers. He took car repairs and maintenance seriously and wanted customers to get as many miles as possible out of their cars.
We’ve talked about what he would do if he walked in to the shop now and saw the seven work bays and six storage bays to accommodate our customer’s needs. The world of computer run vehicles, tablet based technician communication and complex diagnostic equipment would be completely alien to him. He would be proud of us for keeping our business customer focused because he knew that was the most important part of auto repair.
As we welcome our 41 st anniversary, we celebrate the opportunity to continue his dream. Cameron is third generation of family in the business and looks forward to carrying the ‘auto repair torch’ into the future.