West Bend, WI – Some people find a career. Others seem to find the thing they were always meant to do. For Dean, it was cars.
Long before he became the lead technician at Auto Safety Center, 2000 South Main Street in West Bend, Wi, Dean was learning his way around vehicles with his dad. By the time he was 14 or 15, he was already working on cars.
“That’s all I’ve ever done is cars,” Dean said.
That experience now stretches nearly 40 years and includes salvage yards, transmission shops, dealerships, car lots and, for the past several years, Auto Safety Center.
Dean grew up in Milwaukee, attending Carlton Elementary School, Edison Middle School and Custer High School. He later moved to West Bend, where he has lived for about 23 years.
The move was partly about finding a quieter place to raise his family. “It’s beautiful out here,” he said. “It’s so peaceful.”
After high school, Dean and his father started a small salvage yard. From there, his career continued to evolve.
He worked in a transmission shop, then at dealerships where he built transmissions and engines and learned everything from brakes and alignments to more complicated mechanical systems. He also spent about 10 years running a smaller car lot, where he worked on vehicles while also selling them.
His education didn’t stop when he left high school.
Dealerships provided extensive manufacturer training, and Dean took classes through Chrysler and General Motors, earning Gold Certification through Chrysler. He completed training in transmissions, engines, brakes, alignments and other automotive systems and even worked with Volkswagen on some heavy-duty projects.
Over the decades, he has watched vehicles become more sophisticated.
“Yeah, the cars today are being driven longer,” Dean said. “But they’re also definitely getting more technical.”
That constant change is one reason continuing education matters.
At Auto Safety Center, technicians receive ongoing training through classes brought into the shop as well as outside training opportunities. Dean said technicians may have a teacher come into the shop for specialized instruction, or employees may be sent to classes to learn about new technology and repair techniques.
The classroom learning is important, he said, but so is learning from the people working beside you.
“It’s a good hands-on learning,” Dean said.
As a mechanic, Dean wasn’t recruited by chance. He went looking for Auto Safety Center.
After years of working farther away, including a job near the airport, he wanted something different and found a good fit in West Bend.
“When I started at Auto Safety Center, there were only three technicians,” he said.
Today, Dean and Kenny are the two original technicians still with the company.
“I really liked working with Joe and Mike, talking to the guys and seeing how they work,” Dean said. “It’s been a really good place to work.”
That small-shop feel was part of the attraction, but Dean said the company’s standards are what have kept him there.
At Auto Safety Center, he said, the goal is straightforward: be honest with customers and perform quality work.
“Making sure we’re doing a quality job, making sure we’re not selling them or doing some repairs that doesn’t need to be done,” he said.
The company also puts an emphasis on quality parts and strong warranties. Auto Safety Center says its repair work is backed by a 50,000-mile warranty.
For Dean, that matters.
Dean’s title has changed over the years, from technician to lead technician. But the reason he moved into leadership isn’t just his mechanical knowledge.
He likes people.
He likes talking with customers. He likes explaining what is happening with their vehicles. And perhaps most importantly, he likes showing customers what he sees.
That can mean photographs, videos or simply walking a customer through the problem.
“I just want them to see that we’re being 100% honest.”
That approach has made an impression on customers.
One Auto Safety Center customer recently called Dean “truly a lifesaver” after he discovered badly rusted and broken fuel straps during an inspection. Another customer praised Dean for replacing a broken water pump and saving the damaged part so the customer could see exactly what had failed.
That transparency is part of what Dean believes makes a repair shop trustworthy.
And it is also part of what makes him a good lead technician. He teaches other technicians, helps keep the shop organized and looks for ways to improve the operation.
Of course, he is quick to point out that leadership goes both ways.
“They showed me a lot, too,” Dean said.
Ask whether he likes his job, there isn’t much hesitation.
“I do, actually,” he said. “Yeah, I do like what I do.”
His own automotive history includes plenty of memorable vehicles. His first car was a primer-gray 1972 Chevy El Camino.
His favorite?
The 1969 Chevelle. He’s owned about four of them over the years and wouldn’t mind adding a 1970s Chevelle to the collection.
For someone who has spent most of his life around cars, the interest isn’t simply a job. It’s a craft that has continued to change, challenge and hold his attention.
So what would Dean tell a young person thinking about getting into automotive repair?
Listen.
“Listen to the older techs,” he said. “You can learn a lot. Just pay attention to what they’re telling you.”
Dean believes there is value in school and formal technical training, particularly when it comes to understanding the technology behind today’s vehicles. But there is no substitute for hands-on experience and learning alongside people who have spent years doing the work.
And he has one other piece of advice for young technicians: don’t get carried away buying tools.
Tool trucks can be tempting, especially when you’re starting out, but Dean said a young technician can quickly accumulate a bill that becomes difficult to manage.
“When you first start out, you’re not going to be making a lot of money,” he said. “If you go on them tool trucks, you’re going to be buying so much, you’re going to live for your tools.”
Instead, he recommends listening to experienced technicians and learning where to find good starter tools without taking on a mountain of debt.
It is advice that sounds a lot like the career Dean built himself: learn, work hard, pay attention, keep improving and let experience do its job.
That philosophy fits nicely with the story of Auto Safety Center, which opened in West Bend in 1965 and has grown from a small operation into a team of more than 40 employees. Owner Joe Valind started with the company as a high school student in 1995 before taking ownership in 2005.
Service Manager Michael Hilzley said the heart of the company isn’t the advertising or the billboards. It’s the people inside the shops who come to work every day and make the business what it is.
Dean is one of those people.
And after nearly 40 years under the hood, he’s still learning, still teaching and, most importantly, still enjoying the work.
