The Romay family of Romay’s Auto Service are (from left) daughter Celina Romay, owner and father Alfredo “Fred” Romay, grandson “Lil Freddy” Romay and son Freddy Romay. Photo by Jane Kathleen Gregorio
Since 1973, Romay's Auto Service has helped generations of customers with vehicle repair and maintenance service in the Corpus Christi area. It was founded by patriarch Alfredo “Fred” Romay, who grew up in Samieira, Pontevedra, Spain.
In 1959, Romay took part in a mechanic apprentice program and discovered his passion for working on vehicles. Later, he joined the Spanish Legion and the Merchant Marine to explore the world. When the ship on which he was serving in 1966 landed in Corpus Christi, he met Mary “Olga” Garcia and, according to daughter Celina Romay, “fell in love with Olga at first sight.” They courted for over a year until they married in 1967.
Fred Romay began his career in the United States as a day laborer and then became a Fiat mechanic for Rudy’s Fine Cars. A few years later, he wanted to learn how to repair other kinds of vehicles and left to work for Toyota and Datsun dealerships. Meanwhile, wife Olga, who originally was attending pharmacy school before she met Fred, switched to business school with the intent of helping him start his own shop.
In 1973, Fred and Olga officially opened Romay's Auto Service with Fred working on the cars while Olga worked on the books.
“Back then, it was just our mom and dad,” said son, Freddy Romay. “Then, in 1978, we moved to our first location at Airline and South Padre Island Drive. There were four stalls and three other mechanics. We were at that location for more than 34 years until we moved to our current location at Cimarron Boulevard in 2005.”
A bigger facility, the new location provides 10 stalls and has 10 employees, including two managers and five techs.
Growing up in the family business, both Freddy and Celina Romay followed in their parents’ footsteps with Freddy helping as a mechanic’s assistant part time while going to school and moving up the ranks to serve as general manager today. Older sister, Celina, followed in her mother’s footsteps, taking care of accounting, bookkeeping and payroll.
“For me, during high school, I was in a work-study program, which gave me the opportunity to help out with my family’s business,” she said. “Our spring breaks and summers were spent at the shop, just helping out — my brother on the mechanic side and me on the accounting side. By ninth or 10th grade, I already knew how to do the books. We didn’t have QuickBooks back then, so I had to calculate everything by hand.”
When Mary Romay died on Oct. 21, 2011, both children stayed by their father’s side to help him continue the business.
“I was working in real estate, at the time, but decided to pick up the reins from where my mother left off,” Celina said. “So now, I do all the administrative, office, payroll and staffing responsibilities. Anything about the shop and immediate decisions, that is performed by brother Freddy, who is the general manager and head service writer.”
Romay’s Auto Service provides scheduled maintenances and repairs for batteries, brakes, tune-ups, oil, electrical problems, lube and more. The company website allows for booking appointments online as well as enabling customers to create an account to view their vehicle’s service history.
“We pride ourselves in our work and stand behind it,” Freddy Romay said. “Customers can go online and schedule appointments and set up friendly reminders that let you know when your car is due for service.”
While customers are treated equally, women should especially feel comfortable bringing their car into Romay’s, Celina said.
“Unfortunately, automotive repair is a business where people can easily get taken advantage of, but our dad really instilled honesty and ethical practices within us and to treat customers the way we want to be treated — with honesty, respect and fairness,” she said. “I get satisfaction when I hear from women that they feel comfortable and don’t feel like they’re getting upsold at Romay’s Auto Service.”
The employees take time to explain every job and always give estimates in advance.
“We will only sell you what you need, without trying to upsell you on things you don’t,” Freddy Romay said. “We feel pride and satisfaction being able to troubleshoot and diagnose the problem and get that non-running car to start running again.”
As for the future, both Romay children plan to buy the business from their father.
“Our parents worked so hard for this business, so even after our father retires, we want to be able to continue operating it successfully for as long as we can,” Celina said.
Freddy’s 12-year old son, “Lil Freddy,” is already showing promise of taking over the business himself someday.
“He’s very mechanically inclined, and I think it’s from being around the business for so long,” Celina said. “In fact, when he was 2 years old, he would mimic his dad and his grandfather, pretending to inspect the tires and look under the hood of our personal vehicles. At 8 years old, my brother taught him how to do a tune-up on his mother’s car. After school, he would come by to learn more about cars. Whatever he chooses to do, we want him to finish school first.”
Romay’s Auto Service is located at 2830 Cimarron Blvd. in Corpus Christi. For more information, call (361) 991-4665 or visit romaysautoservice.com.
