J.E.R.S. Automotive Featured In Glen Life!

“…if I find something, I have to tell them that. Even if it’s something they didn’t come in for. They may not like it, but I’m OK with it. Because it may cause them serious danger. If I didn’t tell them and something were to happen to them, I wouldn’t be able to sleep.”

J.E.R.S. Automotive in Glenview

If you asked Joe Chin, the owner of J.E.R.S. Automotive, back in high school if he would’ve been doing the thing he loves to do today, he would have said “No. I had no interest in cars whatsoever. I knew that it had four wheels and doors. I couldn’t tell the difference between a Chevy or a Cadillac.”

So how did this all come to fruition? Just with many things in life, chance. When Joe was in school, his older brother knew about cars, tinkered with them, fixed them. He was surrounded by car parts most of the time and became familiar with the names of so many of them. It was during high school that Joe stumbled upon an auto repair manual. And with great curiosity, ripped through the pages, recognizing the parts he saw on a frequent basis. As with any curious mind, fiddling became a common occurrence. Fiddling turned into a hobby and a hobby into something that clicked with Joe.

“…it peaked my interest and I just read the whole book, the whole thing and the next year I took auto shop.”

Though fixing and repairing are the essences of what us non- mechanic, non-engineering types view, it is the “why” and the theory of why a part is engineered the way it is, and how those parts form a system. It’s the underlying theory that drove Joe to connect with what he does today. This “why” is what makes Joe and his shop a destination for loyal and repeat customers.

Joe has a great process of getting to the root cause of an issue. Simplicity. He gathered through the years, that if automotive engineers built something a specifc way, there was a good reason to it. That reasoning is what drives Joe’s knowledge base of automotive repair. There’s a lot of mechanics and serious hobbyists that can fix the unusual sound or check on YouTube what has to be done. But if you talked to Joe, he would be able to take his high aptitude of automotive knowledge and break it down to what’s important to you.

When I was interviewing Joe, there was a lovely couple who had two of their cars in the shop. One of the cars had a perceivably big enough issue for it to be brought in. Going through the process, Joe simply informed them, “the part was loose, but it’s a part that has to be tightened to a certain amount. But it’s good you brought it in.”

Then there was an older gentleman who’s been going to Joe for five years. He sat there comfortably waiting as if he knew exactly what to expect. The gentleman was approached by Joe’s other mechanic (coincidentally also “Joe”), who sat down next to him and showed him the car part that’s been causing the issue.

Something has to be appreciated with people who service the things we may take for granted. I drive my car every day and for the most part, works as expected. And when I break it down, my car is a 3,500-pound metal behemoth, with hundreds if not thousands of moving parts, sensors, controlled explosions, chemical reactions, that all must work in concert to transport us to our daily lives. And for many of us, bring our children to school, pick up the groceries, haul our home projects and more.