Longtime friends and admitted “gearheads’ Dale Wisk (right) and Greg Moore are the proud co-owners of 27 Auto Marine Detail, a new detailing shop located on Lakeshore Drive. (Keith Lacey photo)
Dale Wisk and Greg Moore are not only good friends, but proud “gearheads” who share a passion for cars, engines, boats and motors.
The two Osoyoos men are confident their talent and passion will translate into a successful new business as proud owners of 27 Auto Marine Detail, a detailing shop for cars, boats, motorcylces and recreational vehicles that opened recently in a garage on Lakeshore Drive, next door to the new Tumbleweed Spirits distillery.
“We’ve worked together many times in the past and we’re both retired and were looking for something we could do together to supplement our retirement income,” said Moore, who moved to Osoyoos 25 years ago from 100 Mile House.
“We’re both gearheads and love cars and fixing them. When the Area 27 racetrack opened last year, we talked about what we could do and decided a detailing shop would be a good idea because there aren’t any in this area.”
Wisk, who worked as a marine engineer with B.C. Ferries before moving to Osoyoos 20 years ago, said he and Moore had a tough time finding a suitable location, but were thrilled to find a nice garage for 27 Auto Marine on Lakeshore Drive.
Their new detailing business has been open since Feb. 1 and they’re thrilled with the response so far, said Moore.
“We started out in a trailer for six months last year and were doing smaller jobs and it took us another six months to find this shop,” he said. “We’ve found a great spot and we’ve had great support from the local business community since we opened.”
As Moore describes it, “detailing” involves cleaning, upgrading, shining, polishing and basically making the interior and exterior of vehicles look immaculate.
“We basically take your vehicle and make it look great,” he said. “This means a commitment to being detail-oriented and not making mistakes.”
They both point out, 27 Auto Marine Detail is not an auto body repair shop in any way.
“We do detailing, not auto body repairs,” said Wisk.
Wisk says detailing a vehicle takes a lot of patience and commitment to excellence.
“All of the products we use are of the highest quality in the industry,” he said. “We buy all of our stuff from Auto Shine, which is the big player in the detailing industry.”
It can take hours to remove scratches and marks from the exterior of a vehicle and shine and polish it to perfection, said Wisk.
“It’s all about patience, attention to detail and knowing what you’re doing,” he said. “Customer satisfaction is our only concern and that means doing what has to be done to get the job right. We offer value for the dollar.
“If that means spending several hours polishing and shining, then that’s what it takes. We take great pride in what we do and we think it shows.”
Wisk and Moore offer free estimates, but insist that all cars, boats, RVs and motorcycles they work on are brought into the shop before they assess the job and offer an estimate.
“If the job is going to take two or three days, we want them to know up front,” said Moore. “In this business, there are no shortcuts and we let our customers know it’s going to take what it takes to get the job done right.”
27 Auto Marine Detail is located at Unit 5-6001 Lakeshore Drive. They are open Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. You can book an appointment at the shop by calling 250-485-3051.
KEITH LACEY
Osoyoos Times
