About Us

In 1964, I was only 21 years old but already had more than average knowledge of how cars functioned because I had the good fortune of coming from a family which were lovers of the automobile.  My father, as well as all my uncles and some of my cousins were directly or indirectly involved in the car business.  It was inevitable that I too would want to involve myself with repairing and maintaining automobiles.  It was what I loved to do.  

After graduating from high school I enrolled at a technical school where I could expand on my knowledge and get the certifications necessary to work at a dealership.  After acquiring the needed certificates I went to work for the Mercedes Benz dealer where I stayed for a couple of years.  When I found out there was an opening at the Volvo dealership I applied and was hired.  In 1972, I decided to open up a shop of my own and with the help of my wife and friends we started a lifelong business.

My family and I have been providing Volvo owners with expert and honest service ever since we started originally repairing Volvos in Puerto Rico. The business was then called Rios Auto Service.  But, as life would have it, we came to Busch Gardens on vacation and fell in love with the Tampa Bay area.  Back home, we made the decision to try our luck in this wonderful city and found ourselves packing and arranging the move to a strange city,  left our beautiful island and settled in Tampa. 

We arrived in Tampa in 1979 and found a very small percentage of Volvos in the area.  It was decided that we would wait until a more appropriate time to start our Volvo repair business.  I went to work for a dealer but in 1984 we decided to go for it.  Mike’s Automotive opened its doors but no one knew we existed.  We placed a couple of ads that caught the attention of a few Volvo owners that wanted to check us out.  These same customers spread the word around and before we knew it, we had a flourishing business and mostly due to all our great customers who would recommend us to others.  Our love for the car, our work ethics, our staff and our valued customers made our business what it is today.