January 30, 2017

Meet Antonio Davila of Euro-Tech Motors in Silicon Beach

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Antonio Davila.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Euro-Tech Motors was founded on August 11, 2003, by Jose Davila in Los Angeles, CA. Jose Davila was trained directly by the engineers from Audi & Porsche while working at the dealership. Porsche is known to offer the most cutting-edge and difficult training courses in the industry. After several years at the dealership and with over 15 years of automotive knowledge under his belt, Jose felt it was time to move and build something for himself.

Euro-Tech first opened up on August 11, 2003, in a building shared by two other businesses. There was just enough room to fit in 3 cars, and that was with the two lifts occupied. Back then Euro-Tech worked on any European vehicle, however, the specialties were still Audi & Porsche. A year and a half after opening Jose hired the first employee to help out with the increasing business. By August 2006, Euro-Tech had overwhelmingly outgrown the location and it was time for expansion.

Jose (my father), with his mind towards the future, decided to take a risk and move Euro-Tech to a 10,000 sqft location in Culver City. After a year of providing unmatched quality and customer service, Jose had no regrets about the move. By 2008, 5 years after opening, Jose decided to exclusively serve Audi, Porsche and Volkswagen owners.

Jose realized early on that it does not make any sense to try to serve every brand from a business and quality standpoint. It was impossible to provide quality service and repairs if we attempted to work on every brand like every other shop does. Most shops work on anything because they take advantage of the fact that customers have no automotive knowledge, but we wanted to do things differently.

Years later, due to overwhelming demand, Jose had to cut out any new Volkswagen customers. By 2012, Euro-Tech Motors became an Audi & Porsche exclusive repair shop. After 13 years and over 10 employees later, we can confidently say we run the best and cleanest independent Audi & Porsche auto repair shop in Los Angeles.

What separates us from the rest is that each location is exclusive to a vehicle manufacturer. What we are creating is a dealer experience without the dealer costs and with a personal touch. In 2016, we opened our second location, five minutes away in Marina Del Rey. “Do one thing and do it right,” is what we are all about. Our new location offers the best in auto repair. From the facility to the equipment, everything is state of the art. So get ready Los Angeles, because we are changing the auto repair business!

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Like any other business, this business has its ups and downs. At one point internal problems almost caused us to shut down but we ended up bouncing back and we are now stronger than ever.

Other than that, we have the typical problems that every other business has and that is being able to provide the best possible customer experience without sacrificing quality.

Please tell us about Euro-Tech Motors.
After getting my degree at LMU in Mechanical engineering, I decided to pursue a masters in Civil Engineering while simultaneously attending an audio engineering school in Hollywood. After several talks with my father, it became apparent that we may possibly be on to something. I took a leave of absence from grad school and quit my job at the music studio I was working at in Hermosa Beach in order to work at Euro-Tech Motors full-time.

It has definitely been a learning experience so far. Everything I have learned about business has come from my experiences at Euro-Tech Motors. I am now the manager of the business and oversee everything that does not directly apply to actually fixing the car itself. For example, I manage the accounting, advertising, picking up parts, driving customers, payroll, online estimates, website, and make long-term decisions that will enable us to work effectively. I am not a specialist in anything, I guess I just do a little bit of everything.

I am very proud of Euro-Tech Motors so far. It is crazy to see how my father managed to make all this happen as an immigrant. It is literally one of those crazy stories where its one in a million. This guy managed to cross the border, learn English, and become the best and highest paid mechanic in the country according to Audi of North America…and that’s even before opening the business. The business he created in is unique as well, we are the only shop that actually turns away customers! Most auto repair businesses take in whatever they can get, but we have become so good at what we do that we make a living from working on just two brands, Audi and Porsche, and recently BMW with the new location we just opened this year. You could write a novel on my dad’s story, it is ridiculous.

People love us not only because of our quality of work but because of our customer service. We understand how difficult it is to find a good mechanic and one without an attitude so we try our best to be as transparent as possible. We are even working with a Silicon Valley startup to overhaul our entire software system at our shop to better serve our customers!

The last thing that sets us apart is our cleanliness. I truly believe that we have the cleanest independent shop in the country! With our second location, we wanted to treat the place like a medical facility. There is no reason why a mechanic shop can’t be as clean as your doctor’s office!

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Well, one of my favorite memories would be helping my dad fix cars on the side in our garage. I and my mom would be the ones holding the flashlight while my dad worked like an animal.

Contact Info: