07/30/2026
Hey Everyone! I wanted to share some news that's been 2 years in the making. So it all started when a friend of mine who owned a business right down the street from me approached me about buying the business from him.
The business was a pretty large 4 Bay automotive repair shop that included his towing business and RV rental side hustle.
It's called Neligons Auto Care Center and it's been owned by Kurt and Roe Neligon for 40 years! They built a pretty good business together and I've known them and done business with them for 20 years. So I was very tempted. But Speed Demon Cycles was doing really well and I couldn't see how I could run the 2 businesses and keep my sanity. So I had to talk it over with my wife Cheryl....
Cheryl and I talked about it and thought about it for a long time and decided it would be a great opportunity for our family. So we decided to move forward.
That's where the fun started.... Getting financing for a purchase this large was a long process. I went to the SBA and asked for the loan and I was referred to about 20 banks that were interested. We decided to go with Citizens which was our actual bank. Let me tell you something. Getting a loan like this was one of the longest and the most frustrating processes I've ever been through. It kept getting delayed and changed and this and that.
Kurt and Roe were pretty patient with this whole process and were pretty helpful getting me the reports and documents I needed multiple times!
But this whole loan process took about a year which we all thought was crazy! During that time my father had gotten really sick and I was helping my mom with him. Then when he was better and we were close to the finish line with the business purchase I lost my mother! It was awful. I was pretty depressed and really didn't have much drive left in me to do all this. But I knew my mother wanted this for me and my whole family was behind me and we all knew it was the right fit for us.
So on July 28th 2025 we finally closed on it! I was the proud owner of Neligons Auto Care Center in Bloomfield, Ct. At 1213 Blue Hills Ave.
Now the past year has had its ups and downs. We dropped the RV Rentals. (There was too much on my plate to try and learn that business) Kurt stayed on for close to a year to show me the ropes. It's definitely been a lot to learn but not too much different than running the motorcycle shop. Same type of issues just on a little bigger scale.
We kept Kyle and Paul on thank God! They're 2 of the best techs in the business! We added Kahari and Tess up front and they're doing a great job! We also added Shane out back and Nic is taking care of all of our towing so we can really handle it all. We've cleaned the property up and we've added a state of the art Alignment Machine, a big ass heavy wrecker and a brand new A/C servicing machine from Snap On!
So if you need anything from an oil change, battery, tires, and tune ups to engine and transmission repairs to front end alignments to brake jobs and A/C service we're your shop!
I welcome all my friends, family and Speed Demon Cycles customers to come see us! Give us a shot and see why we're the best service around!
