We began the business together in December 1974, starting as service station dealers for Unocal.  It's hard to imagine that so many years have passed; we've met countless people and helped "raise" many young people, especially in the beginning when we employed numerous high school students to help pump gasoline. In 1991, we made the move to eliminate gasoline from our business, but continue to train students through internships and employment.

We've achieved many successes over the years. Some of the more recent: In 1996, Dakota-K was named a semi-finalist for the Illinois Family Business of the Year. In 1997 and 1998, we won awards from the Chicagoland Better Business Bureau for Ethics. In subsequent years we won other industry and ethics awards and have become involved in teaching ethics to the automotive industry.

Our mission is "Peace of Mind in Auto Repair" and our goal is "Excellence".

Peace of mind means operating so efficiently that our customers can be confident that we're doing everything possible to "get it right" the first time, at a fair price; never selling them what isn't necessary.  Peace of mind means providing our staff the confidence that they can count on us to handle our financial matters appropriately so they will always have a job to come to, that their insurance and benefits will be intact and they are working for a company they can be proud to be a part of.

Excellence is the vehicle that helps achieve the above.  When we fall below this standard, our mission is in jeopardy.  We make every effort to achieve excellence, but if we should fall below that mark, our customers can count on us to make it right.

No person or company is perfect, but when we strive for perfection - we can achieve excellence.

To see a slideshow of our business through the years, click here (Requires Flash Player)