Business
Decades of quality auto service are brought to Chesterfield.
By Elyse Reel
Jul 23, 2008 - 12:36:21 PM

Cartech Tire & Auto is a family affair: David Dance (left) and son Dave work together in the repair shop.

For over two decades, David Dance has been offering quality car repair at Clover Hill Tire & Auto on Hull Street Rd. Now, however, locals can get the same great service at a location that’s a bit closer to home.

Dance recently opened Cartech Tire & Auto in Chesterfield, just off Iron Bridge Rd. “I’ve wanted to open a location in this area for a while,” he says. The new location offers a bigger shop with 10 bays, a large waiting area with a kid’s room and free wi-fi, all of which Dance has put in to make the waiting experience easier for the customer.

At the business, Dance offers repairs on all car problems except automatic transmission issues. As an independent tire dealer, Cartech also offers all major brands of tires. Dance promises a low-key approach to both repairs and tire sales. “We’re not high-pressure salespeople,” he promises. “We’re low-key. We bring problems to the customer’s attention, but we’re not about getting you in the door and then slam-dunking you.”

For Dance, customers are his number-one priority. “In everything we do at Cartech, we try to be honest with people,” he says. “We’re about building relationships, trust, and honesty. We deal with customers first, and it just so happens that we fix their car problems as well. A lot of customers at Clover Hill are like a second family to us. They get to know us and we get to know them.” Such an approach, he says, has long been successful. “If we’re trustworthy and honest, I think the rest will take care of itself.”

Dance has been in the auto repair business for 35 years, beginning with a stint at a Midlothian Esso station when he was in high school and college. He then spent eight years in the Air Force, and while stationed at Langley Air Force Base, used the skills he’d honed at Esso to fix cars on the base. “When it came time to get out of the Air Force, people told me to open my own service station,” Dance says. He ended up working for a Midlothian Exxon station for four years before buying it from its original owner. For nine years, he’d own that Exxon station with his father, and then would come his own business at Clover Hill Tire & Auto.

“I didn’t plan on doing it,” he admits. “It just came together that way!”  

Still, Dance is pleased with the way his career is unfolded, and says that the car repair business is “something he enjoys doing,” thanks to the daily challenges and the opportunity to meet new people. “This isn’t a boring job, and I like that,” he says. “Every day is going to bring a new challenge. No two days will carry the same problem.”

Cartech Tire & Auto is located at 6000 Blest Ln. off Iron Bridge Rd. and is open Mondays through Fridays from 7:30 a.m.-6 p.m. and Saturdays 8 a.m.-4 p.m.  For more information, call 275-4040.

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