Pioneer Times Photo/Joseph Cyr
NEW LOCATION — Soucy’s Auto Repair and Auto Electronics has moved to a new, larger location on Bangor Street. Members of the staff include, from left, owner Dan Soucy and Cooper Blake, Kris Calaman and Brian McGary.
By Joseph Cyr
Staff Writer
HOULTON — A sure sign that a new business is doing well is when it outgrows its facility in a few years’ time.
Such is the case for Dan Soucy, proprietor of Soucy’s Auto Repair and Auto Electronics.
Soucy launched his first business at 54 North Road, Suite B in August 2011 in the same building as MACS Trading Post. In no time, he quickly discovered his repair business was growing faster than he anticipated and was running out of space.
So when the opportunity arose for him to purchase the former Suitter’s Garage building on Bangor Road, Soucy couldn’t pass it up. Soucy relocated his business and re-opened on Aug. 1. Making the move from North Street to Bangor Street was not a difficult decision for Soucy.
“It wasn’t a hard decision. This was an expansion opportunity for us,” Soucy explained. “It gives us a broader range of services and we can get cars in and out quicker. The wait time to get a vehicle in for service will definitely go down.”
The location has served as an auto repair business since the 1970s and before that was an Arctic Cat dealership and Mack truck shop.
Soucy has been in the automotive repair business for as long as he can remember. “I think it’s been close to 24 years,” he said. “Basically, it was right out of high school.” He worked at numerous car dealerships and repair shops over the years, before deciding the time was right for him to start his own business.
Another benefit of the new shop is the ability to add more services, Soucy said.
“We can now install plows on vehicles and work on larger vehicles,” he said. “We have a lot more room. The sky is the limit for us.”
In just the past week, he rebuilt three motors and three transmissions. In his previous location, Soucy was limited to just one lift for raising vehicles into the air. His new shop has two and he plans to have a third installed in the near future.
Soucy said newer vehicles have so many sensors in them and more are being added on a yearly basis. The most common sensor issues are oxygen sensors, which measure the proportion of oxygen in the gasoline and are used to monitor electronic fuel injection systems and emissions control.
Another more common problem he has seen in vehicles in recent years is rotting and rusting along the undercarriage of most every vehicle.
Joining Soucy at the shop are Cooper Blake, Brian McGary and Kris Calaman, while Soucy’s wife Erica handles the accounting. Soucy’s Auto Repair and Auto Electronics is open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, call 532-3771.
