Business Profile: Foxy Auto and Truck Repair

Have you ever been to a female mechanic? Proprietor and Mechanic Sally Dawson opened Foxy Auto with her sister Sheila Lawrence in 2006. Dawson fixed cars while Lawrence took care of the books, marketed and decorated. Dawson credits her sister for the feminine flair – the pink stripes, the posters and the name.

“Anything pink is pretty much by her hand,” Dawson said.

The shop is tucked away behind a vast weed-strewn, swamp-filled lot, concrete buildings and a billboard. It sits across the street from the former Stop and Shop; pink stripes line its walls and a 50's poster of a pin-up girl mechanic draped over a car hood hangs across the room from a poster of Rosie the Riveter.

In October of 2009, the Today Show’s Amy Robach paid a visit to the shop with a camera crew in tow. But to Sally, the shop’s chief mechanic, there was nothing unusual about a woman working on cars. She grew up leaning over many car hoods with her father.

“It was kind of one of those things that couldn’t be avoided, because I was actually home-schooled,” said Dawson. “So, I had a lot of free time.”

After her mother taught her how to clean house, bake cakes and swaddle babies, she was hungry to learn something new.

 “I went to work for my father when I was about 13 and pretty much learned everything just by watching him and by being exposed to it all the time,” Dawson said.

She developed a love for the process of diagnosing and solving problems. That love expanded its net into a fascination for running a business; she discovered a natural aptitude for seeing the big picture and putting all the necessary pieces in place. And she also developed her own sense of the right way to run a business. By 2006, she was itching to get out on her own.

“I think you just reach that point with your parents where you get to a certain age and you need to be your own thing, ” Dawson said. 

Just when she was ready to open her own business, the garage across from her father’s shop was planning to close. 

 “I just started strategically buying their equipment,” she said laughing.

Foxy Auto’s business has grown steadily ever since, and most of her customers find her through word of mouth.

By the time Lawrence came around and “exposed the shop” i.e. marketing its feminine flair, Dawson had established herself as a confident, trustworthy and capable mechanic, who loved her customers.

 “I wish I could write a book about how awesome my customers are,” Dawson said.

Although more of her customers are women, almost half are men. And although one can find plenty of sexism against female mechanics just by doing a Google search, Dawson has not encountered it. Growing up in auto repair shops, she assumed every girl spent their childhood learning about car engines.

“I was able to open a shop, almost like in a bubble, I had no exposure really to how harsh it can be out there for women in this field and even for women having their vehicles repaired,” Dawson said.

Jay Cavallaro has been bringing his car to Foxy Auto for three years.

 “Sally takes her time to try to figure out what’s wrong, rather than a lot of guys just dive in and buy a pile of parts and if it doesn’t work they buy more parts," Cavallaro said. "Sally takes the time to do it right; she cares almost like it’s her own vehicle.”

The recession has not dampened Foxy Auto’s business. Dawson said when it first hit there was a lull; eventually cars came in on tow trucks because customers had waited too long. Since then, she has coached her customers on maintenance and repair.

Dawson feels that the current economic crisis has increased her business, as well as empowered her customers to understand their cars. They are cracking open manuals and coming to her with questions.

“There’s definitely a certain power that comes from having money to spend,” Dawson said. “But I think there’s an even greater power that comes from not having money to spend; it forces you to become more independent, to become more resourceful and you learn that you have more capabilities than you thought.”

Foxy Auto is at a cross roads, though. Lawrence is busy tending to her four-month old baby, and Dawson, now 29 and in a new relationship, is contemplating whether she will be able to have a family and continue as a mechanic. Expanding the shop by hiring mechanics or teaching car repair classes are both potential options.

“You really can’t do clutches, you know, when you are nine-months pregnant,” said Dawson.

For now Foxy Auto will stay open and she will continue to be its chief mechanic and sole proprietor.