Stephanie Klein-Davis | The Roanoke Times

Don Foutz, 78, has owned Brambleton Auto Service since 1965. Semi-retired, he now owns the business with his son, Keith, 53 (right). Keith's 29-year-old son, Jared Foutz (center) also works on cars at the shop.

Recession? What recession?

The men of Brambleton Auto Service in Roanoke County aren't worried about the economy.

The garage is doing more work and bringing in more revenue than before the recession. Brambleton Auto had 20 percent to 30 percent more business than usual over the summer, and it's seen the same amount increase in monthly sales, owner Don Foutz said.

"I'm tickled to death," he said. "In the last three months it's been real good." The 78-year-old man, with bright blue eyes and matching shirt, flashed a smile and a thumbs up.

Mary Henley, a three-year customer having her Jeep Cherokee inspected, said she chose to give Brambleton Auto her business because a co-worker recommended it.

The garage is fair to its customers, she said. Henley, 42, from Roanoke, said she's never felt taken advantage of.

One of the ripple effects of the recession and the steep decline in new vehicle sales has been an increase in demand for car repairs.

Auto owners aren't buying new cars and are keeping their old ones longer, AAA spokeswoman Martha Meade said.

The roadside assistance service in the mid-Atlantic has received 4 percent more calls this year through August compared with last year.

"They can't afford the new ones, so they're fixing the old cars, which makes sense. Instead of a $30,000 car, they're spending $300 or $400 on their old ones," Foutz said.

Roanoke-based Advance Auto Parts Inc., which sells parts to commercial shops like Foutz's, reported third-quarter revenue in July up 7 percent from the same period a year earlier.

"Cars are too complex, they can't work on them themselves," Advance spokeswoman Shelly Whitaker said. "In that case, they do go to those mom-and-pop garages."

Brambleton Auto isn't exactly a mom-and-pop operation -- it's brother-and-brother, or father-son-and-grandson.

The garage opened as a partnership in 1965 between Foutz and his brother, Rodney, who has since died. The original shop stood less than a half block away on Brambleton Avenue, set back from the road, and it moved to its present location at 3323 Brambleton Ave. -- on the "main runway," as Foutz calls it -- in 1975.

One red toolbox on a table near the office has survived the years.

"We've actually been here 43 years, so I guess we've got so many good customers, regular customers who won't go anywhere else," he said. "We've survived pretty good."

Foutz retired last year. He doesn't work on cars anymore; his hands and fingernails are clean. His son Keith, 53, and grandson Jared, 29, do the dirty work now, along with two part-time employees.

Foutz still drives to work -- sometimes in his '77 Ford Ranger, though he doesn't want to put too many miles on it, he said -- almost every day at 8:30 a.m. to manage the business, a task he calls a headache. A half hour earlier, the servicemen start working on cars: repairing vehicles jacked up near the ceiling in the shop, towing some and selling parts.

They've had so much work recently that, among the five of them, they can't take any more business per day, Foutz said. The shop brings in about $300,000 in annual sales, he said, and he expects this year to end the same or better.

Although the amount of business fluctuates from month to month, the changing seasons don't affect sales much.

In the summer, shops work on air conditioning systems, and in the winter that work is replaced with fixing heaters, Foutz said.

Bernie's Auto & Truck Repair in Roanoke was hurt this summer because of a decline in air conditioner work. The shop typically does 80 percent of its business working on the cooling units, said owner Bernie Hall. This summer it was down to 10 percent, because drivers can choose to roll down the windows and live without working air, he said.

"This is the worst summer I've ever had in business," Hall said. "Even people that are well to do, I'm seeing them being much more money conscious than ever before."

Brambleton Auto didn't see much change in air conditioner work, though it has upped the number of oil changes it performs a day. The shop performed one or two a day on average before the recession, and now does five or six each day.

"They claim it gives you better gas mileage," he said. An oil change rings up at about $30, far less than the charge for Brambleton Auto's most expensive services. Replacing brakes or rotors can cost as much as $700.

Foutz has spent his four decades in business working to earn his customers' trust by "being good people, not robbing them," he said. The people who've gone to the shop from its early days have children who go there now as well. Customers' loyalty is another reason Brambleton Auto's business hasn't dropped off, Foutz said.

"They'll say, 'Don, fix my car,'" he said. "'If there are any problems, just fix it.'"