Thorold Automotive Solutions in Thorold South is celebrating 40 years in business. Owner Frank Serravalle credits the longevity of the auto parts recycle shop to his father Lenny who started it all.
“I’m sure he’d be happy we made it to 40 and we’re still going,” says Serravalle, in an interview with ThoroldToday. “I took over a little business but he left me a good name and a good reputation of honesty. My goal has been to keep that going more than anything.”
The story of Thorold Automotive Solutions starts in 1982.
“There was a company called Thorold Auto Supply,” explains Serravalle. “My father purchased them as they were about to go bankrupt. He was in the bodyshop business and then he thought he’d take a chance and jump into the auto recycle business.”
Serravalle’s father was an immigrant from Calabria, Italy, who had moved to Canada—together with his wife Marcella—in search of a better future.
“My mother spoke English but my father never spoke any English so she was a big part of the success,” Serravalle says. “My father would be the risk taker but my mother would follow through.”
As a child, Serravalle spent a lot of time at the shop.
“This was always a love of mine,” he says. “Every summer I’d be here. I worked in every single department. I started from taking parts of in the yard, to delivery driver, to inventory clerk, sales person, I spent some time in the account office—I did have that in mind that I wanted to learn every facet of the business.”
Under the leadership of Serravalle’s father Thorold Auto Supply grew steadily.
“They made some huge steps,” Serravalle says. “They left a five acres facility and came to a 23 acres facility so there was huge growth.”
In 2000 tragedy struck and Serravalle’s father took a fall that left him paraplegic.
“The tragedy was a big unexpected part,” says Serravalle. “I was 23. It just threw me into this. My mother wasn’t able to be here because she was looking after him. It was heavy pressure. I wasn’t really ready for it but I had to be.”
It was a difficult time for Serravalle and he remembers evenings where he was crying in his car on the way home.
“The business had changed,” he says. “My father was in a time where a lot of these cars, people were buying and fixing them again. They would buy the car, put it back on the road and it wasn’t our problem. They came out with new legislation so people couldn’t buy a car from us. We had to sell more parts to survive, so there was a huge shift. We always did sell parts but we had to depend on it more.”
Serravalle changed the business' name to Thorold Automotive Solutions and slowly but surely amassed a tight-knit group of employees who he could depend on.
"It’s a family-oriented atmosphere," says Serravalle. "That’s how we were raised."
These days, Thorold Automotive Solutions has become a one-stop auto shop for the local community, offering car maintenance and as well as the sale and recycling of auto parts.
“You have to do many things well these days to survive,” says Serravalle. “It wasn’t about growing to where we are today. This was just surviving. It was always reactive instead of proactive.”
Serravalle says that the auto recycle market is currently undergoing changes due to the pandemic and the introduction of electric cars.
“Right now there’s a lot of unknowns,” he says. “We’re in somewhat of a transition stage. We’re always exploring more services.”
Giving back to the community is also important to Serravalle. That’s why Thorold Automotive Solutions has a special multi-year partnership with Ronald McDonald House Charities.
“My daughter had a bad accident in 2018 and she was at McMaster Hospital for six months,” Serravalle says. “We kind of got familiar with the Ronald McDonald House. I pay for a room there for these families to stay.”
To celebrate their 40th anniversary, Thorold Automotive Solutions raised funds for Ronald McDonald House with a TV raffle. Serravalle personally matched the amount raised by the shop, creating a whopping total of $10,830.
It’s a big gesture that speaks to the values instilled in Serravalle by his father: “Treating people good, giving quality service, and treating staff right.”
It makes it easy to understand why Thorold Automotive Solutions is still going strong.
“I’ve been doing it longer than my father did now,” Serravalle says. “We never really went looking for growth. It just kind of happened on its own. Never in my wildest dreams I thought we’d be this big.”