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Biz Buzz shares business tidbits from the tri-state area. In addition to this development from La Motte, Iowa, we will share other news in Tuesday’s edition.
LA MOTTE, Iowa — An automotive repair shop has changed hands in Jackson County, thanks in part to a high school program aimed at early career exploration.
Jack Kremer, 18, recently purchased Clasen’s Auto Service in La Motte. The business has been renamed Kremer Tire & Auto and offers a variety of tire and mechanical services for vehicles of all kinds.
Kremer has been working on vehicles professionally for more than three years, although his personal experience reaches back to a childhood spent working on cars with his father at their La Motte home.
“I’ve always liked working on vehicles. It doesn’t really even feel like work or a chore,” he said. “After I graduated (high school), I decided I wanted to try to do it on my own.”
While attending Bellevue High School, Kremer started working part time at Veach Diesel & Automotive Repair in Bellevue. He later expanded on that work and enrolled in a work-based learning program at the high school.
As part of that program, Kremer and other students had the opportunity to receive school credit for vocational training like the kind he received while working at the Bellevue repair shop.
In addition to working on vehicles and learning new skills, he completed journal entries on the work he did and prepared a presentation at the end of the semester to culminate a report of everything he’d learned.
“I learned a lot about how to treat customers and how to diagnose a problem and work it out,” he said. “(With customers) you need to really explain what’s causing a problem in a way they’ll understand.”
Kremer credited his time spent at Veach Diesel & Automotive Repair with much of his confidence and preparedness to purchase the La Motte shop so soon after his May graduation.
His shop works on personal vehicles, he said, but also on farm equipment and semi-tractor trailers. Tire replacements and repairs are a popular service, but he also offers basic maintenance and other mechanical work.
“Moving forward, I’d like to get a little bit of a stronger customer base and just get to know everyone a little better,” he said. “I know a lot of people from growing up here, but there’s still a lot of people to meet (in the professional sense).”
Kremer Tire & Auto is located at 905 Park Ave. in La Motte. The shop is open 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 6 a.m. to noon on Saturday. For scheduling or other questions, customers can call 563-773-2322.