When it comes to running a highly successful automotive service business, experience counts. Just ask Steve Rozansky.
The president and CEO of Friendly Auto Centers. Rozansky started working in the industry in his teens, learning the ins and outs of automotive care at the hands of some of the best mechanics in the business.
“Like a lot of teens, one of my first part-time jobs was as a gas station attendant.”
Steve Rozansky, a Long Island native, born and raised in North Bellmore. “But to me, it wasn’t just a way to earn a few dollars. I really liked everything about the business and was lucky, because the owner of the station took me under his wing and taught me every aspect of the operation.” A graduate of Calhoun High School in Merrick where he majored in electronics and auto mechanics, Rozansky eventually went on to other shops, gaining from each, experience in the maintenance and repair of a variety of vehicles. For the past 40 years, he has been a certified automotive technician, an industry designation from the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence that recognizes excellence in the field.
By 1994, Rozansky was ready to go into business for himself. Committed to the community in which he grew up, he found the perfect site in a 3,000 square foot service center on Grand Avenue, Baldwin that had been shuttered for several years. It was the perfect location for Family Auto Service. Although business built quickly, experience taught Rozansky that if he wanted to stay competitive. “That’s where my affiliation with key industry organizations came in.”
Under Rozansky’s leadership, Family Auto Service became part of the NAPA AutoCare Centers system, a network of more than 9,600 affiliated parts and repair companies committed to providing customers with quality parts and repairs. As a NAPA affiliate, Rozansky can offer customers a broad range of parts and services including nationwide six month/6,000 mile warranties on qualifying parts and labor and extended warranties on 14 major car components. This coverage ranges from 12 months/12,000 miles up to seven years/100,000 miles, depending on the vehicle. In addition, Family Auto Service has direct access to NAPA’s 200,000 quality parts and accessories in stock, every day – including more than 33,000 parts for imports and hard to find parts, too. “This brought us to a totally new level of business,” says Rozansky, reflecting on his decision to become part of the NAPA network.
Rozansky moved to Arizona in 2014 and opened Friendly Auto Centers, the leading auto repair shop in Mesa.
When he’s not at Friendly Auto Centers or speaking at an industry meeting, Rozansky can be found in the kitchen. “I’m a bit of a gourmet cook,” he says, modestly. “And I also practice ju jitsu.”