SIDNEY — After years of working on vehicles for themselves, family and friends, Sidney residents Josh Scott and Chris Cassity have opened their own repair shop – Sidney Truck & Auto Repair.
Scott and Cassity opened their shop last month at 1999 Fair Road in Sidney, just off Interstate 75 at exit 90. Business has been picking up, and they’re confident in Sidney Truck & Auto Repair’s future.
“I’m real confident,” Scott said. “We have a prime location, plenty of knowledge, and for the most part we have every tool we need to do the job and do it right the first time.”
Scott has worked on vehicles for the past 15 years, starting with his mom’s.
“I just love getting dirty,” he said. “I love learning the new experience.”
For the past 12 years he’s owned J&D Recycler’s, a demolition and junk removal business, and done vehicle repair work on the side. He decided to open the repair business so he wouldn’t have to travel so much.
“I just got tired of not being home,” Scott said, “and I’m good at working on cars so I made it legit.”
Cassity has worked on vehicles off and on for years, which included helping his dad rebuild a 1963 Chevy Impala. They rebuilt the front end, rebuilt the engine and painted it.
He also was a medic in the Army’s 82nd Airborne from 1981-84 and 1986-89 and had to repair an ambulance, a Gama Goat.
“I always kept my hand in working on vehicles or machines, whatever,” Cassity said.
As neighbors, Cassity and Scott also worked on vehicles together. Cassity never expected to make a career out of it but liked the idea when Scott approached him.
“This was something that just kind of happened,” Cassity said. “I never really thought I’d be a business owner. But he actually asked me if I wanted to go in and help him open this up. OK, I’ll give this a shot.”
Scott, meanwhile, has spent the past five years planning this business venture. It took about three years of deliberation before he finally decided to pursue it. He then spent a year looking for the right location and another year getting it ready to open.
“It’s a perfect location,” Cassity said. “We’ve had a number of people drop in just because they saw us coming off the highway.”
While they’re thrilled about being just off Interstate 75, both Scott and Cassity said the location does have limitations. It’s not big enough to work on large vehicles such as semis, buses and commercial dump trucks and isn’t big enough to offer services such as exhaust and alignment work.
“I just wish we were bigger,” Cassity said. “We need to expand a little bit. Not enough room but we’ll make it bigger eventually.”
Scott would like to add another bay at the Fair Road shop so they could do more repair work. He’d also like to add a second location to the business that would accommodate larger vehicles.
“Hopefully in the next two years we’ll be able to expand,” he said.
As part of the expansion goals, Scott said he wants to add another mechanic in the next couple months. Along with Cassity and Scott, the business has David Millet as a mechanic and Brooke White as a receptionist.
“We all laugh and get along, get the job done,” Scott said. “I come here and I really don’t have any stress. I really don’t. I look forward to coming to work every day.”
Cassity doesn’t work full time at Sidney Truck & Auto Repair yet but said he plans to if business continues to increase.
“I never really had a lot of time to do it except on the weekends and all,” he said of working on vehicles. “Now I can do it all the time. As soon as we get enough business I can quit my other job and come here full time.”
In another effort to expand the business, Sidney Truck & Auto Repair recently became a U-Haul rental location.
“It’s starting to finally pick up,” Scott said. “Last week we didn’t even have enough spots for everybody.”
While there’s lots of plans to grow the business, Scott said he wants it to remain a family-run operation. He has a 12-year-old son who has shown an interest in repairing cars, and Scott hopes someday he’ll join the business.
To promote the feeling of a small family business, Sidney Truck & Auto Repair offers free air to fill tires during its business hours.
“Everybody is charging for air,” Scott said. “We wanted to be the little family-owned shop that still offers the free air service.”
Sidney Truck & Auto Repair is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays.
For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/SidneyTruckandAutoRepair or call 937-710-4065.
