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Motorhead to Company Head

Andy Oelkers' life-long love of cars led him to his dream business

Andy Oelkers has been a gear head and grease monkey since before he could drive the cars he loved.  He was working at the co-op gas station in Cozad, pumping gas, changing oil, doing basic service work when he was 15. Back then, his primary goal was to save enough to buy his first car.

After high school, Oelkers went on to complete auto-body repair classes at Southeast Community College in Milford.  He found a job in Mesa, Arizona doing something he loved: restoring high-end automobiles to their former glory. Although he loved the job, Oelkers and his wife, former high school sweethearts and Nebraska natives, wanted to raise their family the Midwest.

 

"Obviously, I'm a car guy. This is the world I know. So Auto Air Plus was perfect for me."
- Andy Oelkers

 

Last year, Oelkers started looking for opportunities that would bring them back home to Nebraska.  The jobs he found did not fit the needs of his growing family.  Since he could not find the right fit in someone else’s business, he thought about owning his own.  He reached out to The Firm Business Brokerage.

“We worked together to figure out the best fit with what I know and what was available,” he says. “Obviously, I’m a car guy. This is the world I know. So Auto Air Plus was perfect for me.”

Oelkers has been running the store at 4910 L St. since March.   His family is back in Nebraska.  At some point, he hopes to buy other businesses in Omaha; and yes, they will surely be related to his passion for cars.

"Honestly, I wouldn’t feel comfortable if there weren’t cars and trucks involved,” he says. “That’s just who I am.”

 

The Firm Deal Review

Reason for Purchase: Buyer moved from Arizona to Omaha with family for new business opportunity

Multiplier: 2.4

Financing: Combination loan from Pinnacle Bank and 1st State Bank

Reason for Sale: Seller divorce

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