Local auto body repair and service shops pride themselves on being able to fix any kind of car.
"As an independent, you have to be able to work on all models, makes, whatever's out there," says Michael Lattanzio, owner of Ohio Auto Body, Inc. in Youngstown.
"We'll work on a Ford, a Chrysler, General Motors, a foreign car...," says Anthony Mastrangelo, owner of Ke-Mas Auto Service in Boardman.
These days, more people are trying to keep their rides on the road as long as possible. And as Chrysler, and now GM, decide to shut down dealerships, a few of the places where you bought your car or truck might not have the parts to service it very much longer.
"They service a lot of vehicles, and where are all the cars and customers going to go now?" says Mastrangelo.
So from your basic oil change, to replacing the cylinder heads on a Jeep engine, more of the work will be done by independent repair shops, if the dealerships continue to close.
But it's a bittersweet business boost for these shop owners. Both Tony and Mike work closely with Frederick Dodge, one of the local lots who got a "Dear John" letter from Chrysler this week.
"We'll sub things out to them and they help us out, and we know a lot of the guys that work for them, and they're good people and it's just a shame that it happened," says Mastrangelo.
"We know those guys up there, and they're good people, so I don't know where they're going to go, and what they're going to do," adds Lattanzio.
Because when it comes down to it, these folks are all part of the bigger Valley auto workers family. Mastrangelo says, "This is our town, and we hate to see stuff like this happen because it's a repercussion for everybody. We're all in business, competition yeah, but still it's all our town and good people."
