For students away from home with their own car, finding a place to service that vehicle may be difficult. Complete Automotive Repair Shop, located on the corner of South Adams Street near campus, is the ideal shop for students looking for quality repairs at affordable prices.
Owners Rodney Funderburk Jr. and Joshua “Josh” Imann opened the shop in January 2015 on the core principle of providing great service to each and every customer.
“We are both car enthusiasts who love helping people so it made sense to open a shop together,” Funderburk explained. “I graduated from Florida State University in fall 2013 with a degree in business management. So I learned how to do the things I like as a hobby for work.”
Funderburk serves as the sales and service manager. He is credited with the creation of the shop’s name. During his time as a student at FSU, Funderburk had an internship at Firestone where he was able to meet Josh Iman, an A.S.E master technician from Columbus, Ohio.
“I was still working at Firestone, as a technician when I met Rodney,” Iman said. “He was very familiar with the business side and I knew everything there is to know about cars so it made sense to partner together.”
The young owners went on to explain why it was so important for them to choose the south side of Tallahassee compared to other locations in town.
Photo courtesy of Nicole Williams
“One thing I noticed is that in other parts of town there were multiple chains of big commercial retailers, but this area never had as much.” Funderburk said. “We bring ASE certified mechanics that other big commercial shops in the area don’t necessarily have to a group of people who really need it. The people in the area need someone who is trained.”
In 2017, Iman and Funderburk bought the land that the shop sits on, an impressive feat for a pair of millennial business owners.
“We are looking to expand in the future. Now that we own this piece of land we can go on to open up other locations,” Iman said.
C.A.R.S. provides a strong brand presence for a smaller shop that relies heavily on word of mouth marketing. With only 5 employees apart from the owners working on location, Funderburk and Iman expect to see growth at the shop to continue as they help customers by focusing on investing in their staff and equipment.
“Our goal is to be able to offer more services, for example at the moment we don’t offer alignments, but we are investing in the equipment necessary to offer those services,” Funderburk said.
C.A.R.S. is located at 1529 S Adams St., and the owners hope to be able one day offer basic car repair classes on the campuses of FAMU and FSU. For more information on the shop, visit http://www.carstallahassee.com/. You can also visit their Instagram page for upcoming events and promotions.