Alicia Brown

The Automotive Service Center, which is located at 124 w. Folsom st., opened its doors on Sept. 21. Owner and manager Kevin King hopes to provide automotive services to SDSU student.

King is working on letting students use their Hobo Dough for car repairs.

King, who graduated from SDSU in 1994 with a business/economics degree, worked for automotive repair shops while he was in college and said he always wanted to open his own business.

“I felt Brookings needs a more modern approach to automotive services,” King said.

The shop provides maintenance services for both foreign and domestic vehicles, including oil changes, transmission flushes and tire rotation. They also work on brakes, shocks, belts and engines.

“We emphasize maintenance over repairs. You can do maintenance for $40 instead of repairs for $400,” King said.

But the Automotive Service Center provides more than just car maintenance.

“I want to educate our customers, make them comfortable while they wait, and we have a really clean and modern shop,”King said.

The service center will show car parts to customers to explain what caused a problem — a service many repair shops do not provide, King said.

Along with King, the shop also employs main technician Chris Rouge and service technician Jim Straight, an SDSU student.

“It works really well with my school schedule. I can work all day on Tuesday and Thursday,” said Straight, a park management major from Gregory, who works part-time at ASC.

Straight said he did his own car maintenance work before starting at the service center in September. At the shop he changes oil, provides regular service on vehicles, changes spark plugs and performs light mechanic work.