New Owners Take Over at A1 Transmission
By Robin Vinci | Editor at September 15, 2023 | 6:15 pm | Print
A New Britain father/son duo are the new owners of A1 Transmission at 51 Wooster St.
Andrew and Jay Salvio, of New Britain, purchased the business as former owner Jean Leclerc is retiring and plans to move to South Carolina.
“My son has been in the automobile business for 7 years. I’ve worked in business and have a business degree, but never worked in this industry,” said Jay Salvio. “Andrew has always wanted to have his own place. I encouraged him and told him that when the time comes I will help you out. He looked at options earlier in the year and he came upon this place.”
The duo knew Leclerc for many years. In fact, Leclerc had helped Andrew with cars along the way.
“When Andrew came to me and said the Jean is selling his business, I was willing and ready to make a change in my own career. I thought this was opportunity knocking,” said Jay Salvio. “We started talking in late February and closed the deal on August 22nd.”
Leclerc will stay on for a year to help Andrew learn more about transmissions.
Andrew’s expertise is on German cars such as Audi, Porsche and Volkswagen. In the future, that expertise, will be an addition to shop.
Leclerc said that so far, “Andrew is solid as a rock.”
“We are very excited to be here. It is a new opportunity for us,” said Jay Salvio. “I am taking over the front office.”
Jay Salvio has an MBA and has worked in the healthcare industry for 25 years at Connecticare as well as smaller companies.
“I know there will be a big learning curve,” said Jay Salvio. “There is a lot I don’t know, but Andrew had the bug pretty early. When he was a kid, he would put pictures of fancy cars all over my wall.”
The plan is for Andrew to take over the business alone in 10-20 years.
“I’m really enjoying it. It is going well,” said Andrew Salvio, who is 26 years old. “This is something we always toyed with and we now have the opportunity to do.”
One of the focuses on the business will be to keep up the good and reliable service with fair prices that Leclerc established at the business.
“I recently misquoted a customer, but it was my fault and I had to be fair about it,” said Jay Salvio. “People trust the service they got from Jean. People tell us that all the time. We want to keep that trust.”
The shop is open 5:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Although it is called a transmission shop, it can make any general repairs.
“We are happy to be able to invest in New Britain,” said Jay Salvio. “We have been raises and live here.”
