A succession plan has come to fruition at Floyd Imports as Andy Floyd and his father, Eric Floyd, are now running the business together.
Brothers David and Eric opened the business in August 1994. David retired last year and Eric plans to transition to part-time in the coming year. Andy started working at the shop while he was still in high school.
"I grew up in the business," Andy said. "Driving customers to work, running for parts and detailing cars."
Andy joined Floyd Imports, 2320 Prairie Crossing Drive, part-time in 1996 and became a full-time employee in 1998. In 2019, he became a partner and is now
an owner.
Since 2003, Andy has focused on diagnostics, significant repairs, training employees and more.
"Where most techs are trained to work on a single car manufacturer's line of vehicles, I have worked on dozens of makes and models," he said, noting that his background is unique because he didn't start out working for a dealership.
His father and uncle both got their start in the automotive business working for Volkswagen. David attended school in Chicago for Volkswagen while Eric went to work for Volkswagen in Champaign in 1975, returning to Springfield in 1978. The brothers then worked for Howard Hembrough at Volkswagen in Springfield until they started Floyd Imports.
Following David's retirement, Josh Kidd joined Floyd Imports as the new service manager. Andy's nephew, Joseph Eddington, is studying automotive repair at SIU-Carbondale and will graduate this year. He works at the shop when he's not in school and plans to join the team full-time after graduation.
"We pride ourselves on being family-owned and operated," said Andy. “We also treat our customers and employees like family.”
"Our approach to car repair is unique in that our employees are salaried rather than paid by the job. Therefore, our automotive techs are encouraged to take the time to do the job right, even if it takes a little longer. Most repair shops pay their techs by the job to incentivize high turnover of jobs," he said.
The business has been located in Prairie Crossing since 2017 and specializes in the service and repair of import vehicles, including Volkswagen, Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Honda, Toyota, Acura, Subaru, Lexus and more.
