Jim’s Service Center, located at 404 W. Brown in Pampa, was opened in 2005 by Jim Fre. In 2012, he turned it over to his son, Steven Fre, who had worked with Jim since 2006.
Steven was raised around mechanic work on vehicles.
“I’ve been working on cars my entire life,” Steven said. “He taught me how to do paint/body. He’d be out in the driveway working on a vehicle. This is probably my first time working in a shop.”
Jim’s Service Center is most known for vehicle state inspections and the service makes up the bulk of their business.
“We mostly do state inspections,” Steven said. “Kelly (Oxley) does his thing over there (in the right-side bay) on his own with brakes, tune-ups, oil changes and minor mechanic work on most vehicles. He don’t really get into the major rebuilds.
“I mainly do inspections. If I have time I’ll knock out an oil change. But most of the time we are so busy on inspections. It keeps us going. We’ve been blessed.”
In 2015, the State of Texas went from the long-time two-sticker system to the one sticker we see today, which Steven said didn’t affect his bottom line at Jim’s Service Center.
“We had to buy stickers in advance,” Steven said. “We paid $7.50 a sticker and then charged $14.50 for an inspection. Now, you pay $7.50 on top of your tags so the State gets their money and we charge $7 here.”
Steven added that $7.50 is a State-regulated price. If a business charges a customer more, they need to be reported.
State inspections can sometimes be a frustrating process for the customer, especially if they weren’t aware of an issue. But Steven said most of the time, customers are understanding.
“We’ve had a few that have been cantankerous,” Steven said. “Most of our customers are really good people and they understand.
“If the windows are tinted too dark we will do what we can, if they want to peel it off. If they need windshield wiper blades they can get the blades and we will put them on.”
As for the violations customers have tried to get past Jim’s Service Center?
“Window tinting,” Steven said. “They will come in with their windows down, 50 degrees outside and heater blasting. I’ve done this long enough, I’m going to check the tint. They will try to tell me it’s factory. Some will try to get the exhaust past me but I can hear that thing from six blocks away.”
Jim’s Service Center is open from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., but Steven said he is willing to meet with customers outside of those hours if they call the shop at 806-688-0705.
“We try to cater to our customers,” Steven said. “We’ve been real blessed by some really good customers. A lot of loyal customers. We don’t charge first responders, veterans, Purple Heart recipients, etc. for State inspections.”
