Dana Meyer Auto Care

Dana Meyer: A Caring Career

By James Florence, Diamond Certified Resource Reporter

ALBANY — For Dana Meyer, a career in auto repair became just as much about caring for people as it was about caring for cars. “My brother was in the auto repair business, so I kind of followed him into it,” he recounts. “I found early on that I had a mechanical aptitude, so the work came easy to me. I also liked the fact that the results are pretty immediate with auto repair work. After I started doing it professionally, I found a lot of reward in working with customers and seeing the joy it brought them to have their car problems fixed. So, it’s a never-ending series of small rewards.”

Today, as owner of Dana Meyer Auto Care, Dana says his favorite part of his job continues to be taking care of customers. “We almost specialize in people who’ve given up on other shops or received insanely high repair estimates. We’ll have people call us and say, ‘The dealer says I need $8,000 worth of work on my car!’ And we’ll look at it and find it’s actually only one-tenth of that. So, customers really appreciate our honesty and reasonable prices.”

A resident of Albany (where he lives with his wife, June), Dana spends his time outside of work on a variety of pastimes. “I’m very active as a singer and I sing in a local symphony chorus. I previously sang in the Albany Community Chorus and the Brooklyn Broadway Singers. I also enjoy skiing in the winter.”

In regard to a personal and professional philosophy, Dana says he has a heart for service. “I would summarize it as being in service to people’s needs. I’ve always volunteered in the PTA at my sons’ schools and I’ve been president of community organizations. It just seemed like the appropriate way to utilize some of my skills. And, of course, that translates to my career in auto repair. Serving customers is what makes the job so rewarding for me.”

When asked what he’d do if he were to retire tomorrow, Dana says he would spend more time on the activities he currently enjoys. “I would definitely continue singing, and I’d probably go back to some of the sports I used to enjoy in the past. For example, I used to do ice dancing before I had kids, so it would be fun to get involved in that again.”

Ask Me Anything!

Q: What’s your favorite local restaurant?
A: Lao-Thai Kitchen in Albany.

Q: If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?
A: Israel.

Q: What’s your favorite thing to do on a rainy day?
A: Read a good book.

Q: What kinds of books do you like to read?
A: For the most part, I read science fiction and historical fiction books.

Q: What was your first car?
A: A 1951 Rover.