German Motor Werks of Asheville

Owner & Lead Mechanic: Scott Spence
Lending Partner:  Capital Bank   
Location: Asheville
Project: Construction of 10,000 sq. ft. building
Community Impact:  Seven jobs created

Scott Spence has been passionate about fixing German cars since his early teens. After 16 years of running a successful auto repair business just outside Jackson, Miss., he set his sights on Asheville. Taking out an SBA 504 loan with Capital Bank and Self-Help, Scott bought property near a burgeoning commercial area south of I-40 in Asheville, where he built German Motor Werks of Asheville. The business provides high-quality service to German-manufactured cars, specializing in Porsche, Mercedes and BMW.

“Getting the 504 loan was a simple process for me mainly because we had a great commercial banker, Lacy Cross, at Capital Bank.” said Scott.  Lacy Cross’ organizational skills and advice helped in putting our package together to get our business started here in Asheville.”

Scott serves as his own lead mechanic and also manages the business. He has a colorful history with the German car industry. In the 1980s Scott worked for Garretson Enterprises, the most winning private Porsche race team in history. In fact, the inaugural 1987 edition of Bruce Anderson’s book, Porsche 911 Performance Handbook, Scott is featured on the cover.

“The first week after opening our doors on Feb. 5, 2007, we did 60 percent of our normal income from our previous shop in Jackson, Miss.,” said Scott. “That exceeded our expectations. We billed out about 39 hours that first week! This week we’re coming up on 55 hours billed, and are gaining on average about one new customer per day, which is terrific.”

Scott’s wife, Elisabeth (Liz), has handled the books and office work for the business since 2004. Prior to assuming her position there, she was a successful Hollywood audio specialist for albums, TV and movies, winning the Cinema Audio Society’s award in 2002 for “Outstanding Sound Mixing for Television - Variety or Music Series or Specials.”

German Motor Werks of Asheville is located at 1274 Sweeten Creek Road and is open Mon-Fri. 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.