our story

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Autocare's founder, Pietro Vizzaccaro was born in 1941 in Cassino, Italy. Passionate about cars, he studied mechanics and started working in Fiat's repairs. In 1961, he married Lucia and in 1962 they decided to immigrate to Canada. Arriving in Montreal, he looked for a job and was hired by Beaver Asphalt,  for their truck's fleet repairs. This job was only offered as a night shift but Pietro was willing to work there regardless. In 1968, he found a day job in a gas station as head mechanic. He was a hard-working man with 4 children and he worked 15 hours per day, to be able to satisfy his family's needs and his financial obligations. He has always been an ambitious man who loved his profession and was inspired to open his own business. He then received a great reputation for his work and was ready to open his first auto repair shop. He was a great mechanic but had little experience in management, thus leading him to no choice but to sell the shop a few months later. He found another job pretty quickly at a transportation company, where he took care of fleet repairs. He was well respected by his peers for his efficiency and knowledge. Still wanting to open his own business, in 1974 he decided to leave his job once again and open another auto repair shop with his brother Giuseppe. This repair shop was a huge success, and together they handled and managed it. In 1978, he felt ready for another challenge and bought a Texaco station. He worked long hours every day and would leave work exhausted. He then decided to rent the station to Texaco and continued working as a mechanic until 1983. His former employer, whom he remained in contact with, offered him an associate position for a new repairs shop in St. Leonard. He accepted.  ​  His three sons always helped out after school but Pietro didn't want them following in his footsteps and urged them to focus on their studies. They all finished their studies, Tony got a degree in aviation mechanics, Bruno in biochemistry and Mario in Finance. The boys loved the automotive business and were directly implicated in the shops. In 1987, Pietro repurchased the shares of his associate and the family business was now fully under his control. In 1989, he bought another repair shop in DDO which was another great success.  In 1991, an auto repair and gas station shop was created. It was first named "Club Essence." The name was then changed to "Autocare Montreal" in 2002.   

In 2004, the Autocare family grew and now has 6 garages, 6 associates and 38 employees. The company is still being run by the Vizzaccaro's and hopefully will stay in the family for many more generations.