Area vehicle owners take note: Effective July 31 Kirtland’s Auto Repair, 302 N. Main St., will no longer repair vehicles.
Kirtland’s Auto Sales, in the same location, will continue to sell automobiles. Gary Kirtland has owned the business since 1985.
In other words: Kirtland’s is out of the repair business – but remains in the car sales business.
Up to now 10 percent of the business has been car sales and 90 percent repair. “We want to see it at 100 percent car sales,” said Kirtland.
The garage will remain open for warranty work and detailing Kirtland’s vehicles. Todd Harvey is the technician and Colton Schwab and Tecumseh Kibler are detailers.
Jim Kinn, manager, along with Kirtland will focus entirely on car sales. Kinn joined Kirtland in the mid-1980s after a career as a sales rep for Sohio. He had also operated a car wash on Market Street in Lima from 1981 to 1985. Kinn is a Bluffton High School graduate.
While always in the auto repair business, in 2000 Kirtland’s stopped selling gasoline and in 2002 starting selling vehicles.
“We started with three or four cars and hoped to sell one or two a month,” said Kinn.
Today Kirtland’s has 25 to 35 cars on the lot and between 45 and 55 in its inventory.
The Main Street business accepts cars from private owners as well as trade-ins. Kirtland attends car auctions in Columbus, Ft. Wayne and Cincinnati. The time attending car auctions will now increase.
“We are always on the lookout for vehicles for our customers,” said Kirtland. “We have people come in all the time and ask us to look for a certain make and year of vehicle.”
The decision to exit the vehicle repair business was a difficult one, but Kirtland said, “The repair business is becoming more and more involved and more training and schooling is needed. It’s simply too expensive to keep up with it.”
With Kirtland’s exit from auto repair, the following auto repair shops operate in Bluffton:
• Custom Repair
Josh Brown
State Route 103
419-303-4280
• Doty’s Repair
East Jefferson Street
Tom and Mike Doty
419-358-8915
• John’s Body Shop
Lake Drive
John Heldman
419-358-1200
• Ken Lugibihl Auto & Truck Sales
State Route 103
Ken Lugibihl
419-358-0745
• Leiber Garage
Vance Street
Dwain Leiober
419-35-7006
• Stratton Auto Sales
North Main Street
Jay and Shawn Stratton
419-358-1900
