Meet the Founder

The Joe's Autos story starts in 1990, but Joe Smidi's story starts in the
early 1970's as a young US immigrant with a dream and not much else.

While working different jobs to make ends meet, one day he came across
a man stranded on the side of the road with a broken down vehicle,
a 1965 Pontiac Lemans to be exact. The man was frustrated with his vehicle
breaking down on him again, and Joe was frustrated that he couldn't help the man.
The quick-thinking Joe came up with a compromise: he would buy the broken-down vehicle.

Joe never saw that man again, but he was able to fix the car and resell it for a profit.
Out of that chance meeting, an idea was born, and an entreprenurial spirit was discovered.
Joe kept hustling at the different jobs he held until he was able to save up enough to open Joe's Autos.

We're still in the same location and built on the same foundation, both literally and figuratively.
Since then, we've grown from a 7-vehicle lot with one service bay to a 3-acre property with a full
service garage and a full line of cars, trucks, vans and SUVs.

Joe has since retired and handed the business off to his son, Adam. He still comes around Joe's Autos regularly to help out with the vehicles or snag a fresh cup of coffee. Quite frankly, we think he's only "retired" when he doesn't want to do something for us.

It's been over 40 years since Joe stopped to help that stranded motorist.
It's a part of the Joe's story, the catalyst for Joe's Autos, and a regular reminder of who we are.
We didn't start this business with a goal of just selling cars. We started this business
with the goal of helping people in need.