Stars Align Perfectly for Retail Auto Dealer in Vegreville

Stars Align Perfectly for Retail Auto Dealer in Vegreville

Michelle Pinon - News Advertiser

Family means everything to Jason Spithakis, and it was the key factor when deciding whether to pull up stakes and move from Edmonton to Vegreville.

The father of three, and general manager of North Star Auto Sales and Services, said he met an elderly couple from Vegreville who were selling their house. After touring the property his wife Rayna fell in love with the property and they moved into town on December 1, 2020. Jason said he and his wife asked God for guidance before making the decision. His only stipulation was for the community to be within an hour’s drive of the city.

“It was an absolute no brainer and my business partner had been bugging me for a year that he wanted to branch out into sales. I figured that while I’m here I should see if I can find a shop.” He found the perfect property, a former hitch business in the downtown area of Vegreville. “This shop is absolutely incredible. As far as opening a small family dealership you couldn’t have asked for a better facility. I got in contact with the owner and did up a deal.”

Jason admits his head is still spinning after working day and night to open the retail dealership in only 30 days. “It’s unheard of. It takes most people a year, but because of the support of the town, business development centre, community engagement; it was so easy to set up shop. Things aligned perfectly. It’s like we were supposed to be here. Everything went click, click, click.”

It didn’t take him long to fall in love with the community. Now, “There’s nowhere else I want to be. The people are so friendly.”

Faith, family, finance and fun are his core principles. Jason’s primary role is to help people through the purchase process. The prices of all the vehicles he sells is under $10,000 and he specializes in vehicles under $5,000. All vehicles are, “Fully inspected. Full disclosure. Full history reports,” noted Jason.

He also pointed out that, “You’ll spend the exact same money buying something privately, but you won’t get any of the certification, peace of mind, and a team that cares who will keep you safe on the road!”

Because it’s a volume based business, Jason said, he has low overhead costs which translates into savings for his customers. “We are able to charge $100 flat shop rate which is the cheapest rate in western Canada. Nobody else is offering that.”

The have two full bays. One bay is for detailing and the other is for general service and maintenance. They offer inspections and appraisals and have three journeymen mechanics on-site three days a week.

“We can take anything on trade. We don’t payment sell. We buy and sell outright. We specialize in a first time buyer’s program. We’ve moved over a dozen units since we opened three weeks ago.” Half of the clientele he’s had so far are from out of town, from people he says don’t want to drive into the city. Saddle Lake, Andrew, Lloydminster, and Tofield are just a few of the communities his clients are from.

Honesty and transparency are two of the values he upholds and with nearly two decades in the auto industry he has the knowledge and experience to make the buying and selling process as easy as possible.