There are a lot of Toyota lovers in Santa Fe who wouldn't even think of taking their car any other place than Toyotech.

"Just taking it in for an oil change is like dropping it off at a good trusted friend's," said Beverly Hasner, who has been going to the independent Toyota service center for five years.

Toyotech started 15 years ago when Ross Martinez decided to open his own shop. "It was tough going at first, when I first started the business," he said. "I went around town putting fliers on people's cars." But it worked. People began bringing their cars in, and today he and business partner Rick Montoya have "thousands of repeat customers" as happy as Hasner.

Martinez and Montoya worked together at a Toyota dealership in town servicing cars. A year after Martinez opened Toyotech, he brought his friend and co-worker in as an equal business partner.

"I used to be an aircraft mechanic in the Air Force. We had to maintain those military planes for safety, and it gave me a better sense of making things perfect. I do the same when I'm working on cars," Montoya said.

Martinez's beginning as a mechanic was a little shakier. His first job was shining shoes at his uncle's barber shop at the Holiday Inn. After his father passed away when he was a teenager, he got a broken down pickup truck. "I tore it apart and tired putting it back together again. I was unsuccessful. But I took to the challenge and decided to really learn how to do it."

He went on to get certified at the Denver Automotive and Diesel College in the mid-1970s. After a year, he returned to Santa Fe. "I really didn't want to leave. Denver was a fun town," he said.

But he did return to Santa Fe and began working in the automotive service center at K-mart, quickly becoming service manager. Then he got a job at the Toyota dealership, where he worked for the next 10 years. During that time he went to Toyota school, earning the Automotive Service Excellence certification.

He also found he liked working on Toyotas. "It let me focus on one certain brand, one idea as opposed to dealing with 40 different concepts," Martinez said. But Martinez found, as have so many others, that having a boss was irritating. The notion of being his own boss began appealing to him more and more. He left the dealership in 1994; a year later he enticed Montoya to join him.

Today, their specialty in Toyotas also includes Lexus, which they call the Cadillac of Toyotas. They do major repairs, including air-conditioning work, for both Toyota and Lexus.

The partners started in a Quonset hut on Fifth Street. Now their business is off San Mateo Road, near the Chocolate Maven. Besides his business partner Montoya, two other employees work at the shop.

Ramon Bermudez Jr., a local musician, bought a Toyota four years ago. "I'd heard some good things about Toyotech, so took my car in. If you go to the dealership, the cost can be pretty stiff. These guys are fair and reasonable. It feels good to go to a place you can trust. They're really honest," said Bermudez.

For the owners, what they like is helping people and keeping cars running and safe. "What I don't like is doing the taxes," said Martinez. Other than that, he's glad he chose to become his own boss.

TOYOTECH
Owners: Ross Martinez and Rick Montoya
Address: 821 W. San Mateo
Employees: 3
Phone: 986-8554
E-mail: toyoross@yahoo.com
Web site: www.toyotechSF.com