Maaco, Meineke Open Together in St. Petersburg

Father-son team brings auto maintenance, collision repair to area

Longtime area resident Steve Menth this week opened a Maaco Collision Repair & Auto Painting center and a Meineke Car Care Center at 2500 34th St. North in St. Petersburg. Menth will operate both businesses with his son, Jeffrey, 33.

Maaco has close to 475 franchises, and Meineke close to 900, but this is one of the first to combine the two car care leaders. Maaco and Meineke are owned by Driven Brands.

By bringing both brands to the area, Menth will provide a one-stop shop for all automotive needs. Maaco specializes in “cosmollision”— a combination of cosmetic and collision repairs — including all kinds of auto body repair and painting.

Meineke is a full-service automotive maintenance and repair franchise specializing in brakes, maintenance services and general repair. There are currently seven Maaco centers and eight Meineke centers and in the St. Petersburg-Tampa area.

Previously, Menth worked for IBM for 34 years and AT&T for three years in the network services department. He left his IT career to open Meineke and Maaco.

“I knew I wanted to open a franchise with a brand name and I was very intrigued by Maaco,” Menth said. “Owning one Maaco wasn’t enough for me, but when I heard about the dual option of owning a Maaco and a Meineke, I was hooked. I am very excited to get started in the automotive industry and to work side-by-side with my son. I think we can be very successful in the St. Petersburg area and I’d like to eventually expand to open additional locations in Florida.”

Maaco and Meineke are owned by Driven Brands, the parent company to six franchised automotive brands. Other Driven Brands companies include Econo Lube N’ Tune (automotive repair/quick-lube services), Aero Colours (automotive paint repair), AutoQual (vehicle reconditioning, protection and appearance maintenance services) and Drive N Style (aftermarket installation services), as well as Tortal.net, a training company that specializes in developing interactive online training solutions.