Rad Air of Garfield Heights’ service manager Eric Spape is passionate when he talks about taking care of the community he serves. Garfield Heights is a diverse community near Cleveland, Ohio, and Eric considers it his duty to take care of the people in the neighborhood by providing above-and-beyond vehicle maintenance, repair, and service.
“Some of the shops in the area don’t pay attention to the quality of service they provide. We consider it our duty to not only service the cars but provide a safety check before the vehicle leaves our shop, so we know our clients are safe and taken care of.” – Eric Spape
That’s what neighbors do.
Eric has been with Rad Air for 39 years and started all the way back in 1981. In July of that year, Eric was looking for work after spending time with Firestone and Goodyear. He called the Rad Air Medina shop and talked to a friendly woman named Lisa, and she invited him to come in for an interview. The next day, Eric and Lisa met, and he was hired on the spot! The only problem was that Chuck, the manager of the shop, had no idea the two had talked. After some coaxing from Lisa, Chuck decided to take a chance on Eric and so began a long and successful career.
Eric started as a lube technician and general service technician (he would add garbage man to the job description) for Chuck and then Dave George. Dave eventually relocated to the Fairlawn facility, and Eric was promoted to be the Garfield Heights service manager in 2007 and has maintained the position since.
Ask Eric what makes him successful, and he’ll say his desire to treat the clients and staff like family members, repair the vehicles correctly the first time, and operate the business like it was his own. Eric takes a lot of pride in the quality of work that leaves the bays, and the team that he has put in place to deliver that service.
Jim Bogucki is the shop foreman, and he’s been with the team for 15 years.
John Siba has 12 years of experience running diagnostics, and his combination of patience and even temperament enables him to provide an unparalleled level of attention to detail.
Scott Dipetta left a career working for the city to join Rad Air because the flexible weekend schedule enabled him to spend more time with his daughter.
Ryan Gillock is a hard-working, highly productive, and top-notch technician.
And then there is Andreas Hobbs, a recent graduate of Garfield Heights High School, who won over Eric with his attentive listening and desire to perform his job well. Andreas went from having no experience in the auto industry to being able to perform oil changes, brake jobs alignments, and more in a very short time. Now, Andreas is attending CCC’s automotive program and is in our apprentice program.
In those rare moments when Eric gets out of the shop, he loves to spend time on his new patio, equipped with a TV, to help him and his wife escape the everyday grind. He is meticulous about his lawn care (no surprise there based on the attention to detail he provides to his clients’ vehicles). When he isn’t in the yard, you can find him hitting the lanes at the local bowling alley.
We are tremendously lucky to have Eric and his team working for us. They truly make a difference for the people they serve, and that is why Rad Air is Cleveland’s most-trusted car care company.