Great Lakes "On-Site" Vehicle Maintenance

Shortcuts

• Address
• Opening Hours
• Alerts
• Contact The Business
• Claim ownership or report listing

• 

  Want your business to be the top-listed Autos & Automotive Service in Lake City?

Our Story

James “Bob” Chaffee, owner and operator, began working on cars as a hobby when he was a teenager. He took his love of the work professional in 1982, when he took his first mechanic job. Since then, he has worked at several different companies, from dealerships to shipping companies, managing the maintenance of entire fleets. Working those jobs provided the benefit of being sent to dozens of specialized courses covering all aspects of vehicle repair, earning multiple industry certifications along the way, to include a Doctor of Motors. His skills in repairing everything from the small engines in your passenger car to the diesel-powered behemoths transporting goods across the nation have been clearly proven time and again.

Working each of these jobs gave Bob some insight into the industry and examples of different ways you can run a business. A defining moment in Bob’s career came when the non-mechanic owner of the auto repair facility that he worked at, pulled Bob aside and mentioned that not enough money was being made per car. This led to a conversation about telling unsuspecting customers that their vehicle needed unnecessary work or parts so that they could be charged more money; a proposition that did not sit well with Bob. He immediately put in his two weeks’ notice and began his plan to operate his own repair facility where no one would be taken advantage of in such fashion. However, he was unable to start his own company at that time, but in 1995, opportunity came knocking. It was that year that Bob was hired by Great Lakes “ON-SITE” Vehicle maintenance, then an almost-exclusively mobile repair service. Two years later, Bob and Kathy purchased the company from the owner and opened a garage in Lake City.

The vast experience Bob brings to the table is but a small part of what his company is about. Great Lakes “ON-SITE” is proudly family-owned and operated by the dynamic duo of Bob and his wife of over 30 years, Kathy. It was in the early 1980s when Bob and Kathy met in Girard. In the beginning, “dates” were simply pizza and Pepsi in the garage of Kathy’s father – wrenching on whatever needed attention that week! A few years later, Bob and Kathy decided that they weren’t content on just working on cars and chose to work on a family as well. They were married in 1984 and settled down together in the West County area.

 ...