Navarre’s Auto Service is more than just auto care. Since its opening in 2004, the business has flourished with two locations in Central Virginia, one found at 845 Ellisville Dr. and one on Main Street, Louisa which is the main location.
The business has a calm and welcoming environment, which is evident as soon as someone walks through the door.
“It’s pretty much a big family. It’s a whole community. You get to be on a first-name basis with
customers,” an employee named Scotty said.
A lot of the work doesn’t just happen on the cars, but also behind the scenes in the office. Upon entering the shop’s main office, smiles and a warm environment are one of the first things seen by customers. D. Navarre’s wife also works there with her husband, but she doesn’t work on the cars.
“I don’t touch the cars, but I have helped him do repairs in the past.” Mrs. Navarre said. “I do the office part. It’s nice because of the people. We have met a lot of nice customers and we have good employees.”
The owner of Navarre’s Auto Service, David Navarre, has dreamed of having his own auto shop since he was six years old. D. Navarre’s dream of this came about through influence from his family members.
“I would draw pictures of Davie’s garage, and it all started from my dad going into a repair shop when I was a kid,” said D. Navarre. “My dad took his car to get it repaired, and when he got it back it still wasn’t repaired, so he took it to my uncle’s house and he fixed it [the car] in two minutes.”
Although D. Navarre has been dreaming of his own garage since he was young, he expresses how it was God who called on him to start his business.
“One of the things he [God] says in his words is to call him first, and then love your neighbor as yourself,” said D. Navarre. “I feel like he put me here to help take care of other people and their needs.”
Navarre said that there have been many challenges he’s overcome while running his own business and there are still constant challenges.
“We have to spend money to make money, so it takes money to make money,” said Navarre. “Sometimes people’s lack of understanding of how vehicles work is a challenge, because a lot of people think they know how cars work, and they really don’t, or they’ll go to Google.”
The business has grown since it first opened back in 2004. They used to have two and a half employees and now they have 10. But with their success came a unique challenge.
“We opened up, and we immediately got two weeks behind,” D. Navarre said. “I did everything based on my reputation and putting other people first, and people recognized that, and I think that’s what made us successful.”
