Maybe the best way to describe who we are at Hometown is to tell you how we originally came to be back in 2014. So, here we go…

My wife and I have lived in Cedarburg for most of the past 30 years. In fact, my wife even graduated from Cedarburg High School back in…a ways back). In the spring of 2013, we received a recall notice on my wife’s 2006 minivan. Honestly, at this point I don’t even remember what it was for, but what is still very clear to this day is the call I got from her while she was there having it fixed. She told me that while the technician at the dealership was doing the recall repair he also noticed the steering rack was leaking and that it needed to be fixed right away. I asked her to put the service writer on the phone so I could better understand the issue and promptly informed me they could do the work right now, since the van was already there, and it would cost around $1,600. I politely declined because not only was that a lot of money but, quite frankly, I didn’t trust them because they were a dealership and I wanted a second opinion.

The next day I called a very small local shop called Herman’s Complete Car Care because I’d heard from other folks I knew that the guy who ran it was “really good”. When I called to he said sure, bring it by and he’d take a look at it. Interestingly, that guy’s name was actually Charlie and it turned out he was a force of one doing everything for the owner of the place whose name was Herman. In any case, I dropped it off and the next day it was ready to go. Charlie said that yes, there was a very minor leak (he actually called it a “seepage”), and that the dealership was right that the steering rack was not a “serviceable” part. However, he thought maybe it didn’t need a new steering rack, he wanted to try something else first, so I should come get the car. When I went to pick it up it went like this:


Me: “How much do I owe you?”
Charlie: “Nothing.”
Me: “Huh?”
Charlie: “There’s no charge. Sometimes the gaskets around the steering shafts can get a little dried out and cause that seepage, so I put some fluid in which hopefully should fix them.”
Me: “That’s great, but I must owe you something…”
Charlie: “No, I really didn’t have to do much and I had the extra fluid laying around anyway. Take it home and keep an eye on the garage floor for any leaks. If you see anything just give me a call back.”

I have to say I was somewhat dumbfounded. In the end I couldn’t get him to accept any payment. He even protested taking a handshake because his hands were dirty, but I insisted and he finally gave in. Still, I drove away somewhat shocked. I was fully aware he could have agreed I needed a new steering rack and offered to do the repair for less than the dealership price, or at the very least charged me for the time and the fluid, yet he didn’t. It then occurred to me what a shame it was that I was shocked, it shouldn’t be such a rare thing, that’s how customer service used to be and is supposed to be!
Well, it turned out that I had a golfing buddy who was actually related to Herman, the shop owner. I told him about my experience and how impressed I was with it. In fact, I told him if Herman was ever interested in selling the place to let me know, I might be interested. Now mind you, I really liked cars and could do some work on them myself, but when it came down to it I really knew nothing about the auto repair business. Still, I wanted so much to share that same experience I had with others that one thing lead to another, and on August 1st, 2014 we opened the doors to Charlie’s Hometown Car Care.

It’s been a bit of a whirlwind since then. Our philosophy and focus on being open, honest, transparent and always doing the right thing for our customers starting earning us a reputation that really caught on. By 2016 we had already outgrown that original 3,000 square foot location and by the end of that year had purchased a vacant, 17,000 square foot building half a mile up the road where we remain today. Our business has grown every year since our inception, even in 2020 which was such a terrible year for so many, and we continue to grow today.

While the world will always continue to change around us, the one thing we can promise that won’t is our commitment to our customers. We will always try and do what is right, we will never take our customers’ faith in us for granted, and we will always be working to earn your trust.

– Will