GearHead Garage, a new locally owned auto repair shop founded by lifelong friends Sean Hunt and Luke Durbin, officially opened its doors earlier this year, bringing performance work, general maintenance, and motorcycle service to the Owensboro community.
The shop, located at 2000 Triplett Street, is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
For Hunt and Durbin, the launch marks the realization of a long-shared dream rooted in a childhood spent around cars and years working side by side in the industry.
We’ve been friends for a while, and from the beginning we were always working on cars together, both for fun and professionally,” Hunt said. “Owning our own shop had always been a dream, and eventually we decided it was time to just go for it.”
Both owners said they grew up immersed in the car scene, influenced by parents who introduced them to working on vehicles at a young age. They later met while working together at Firestone Complete Auto Care in Owensboro, where they discovered they had each independently envisioned owning a shop one day.
“We both had planned dreams of opening a shop before we even met each other,” Durbin said. “And when we started talking about it, it just built up from there.”
Finding the right location was one of the first hurdles. The pair said they prioritized an in-town site to streamline service and parts delivery.
“We really wanted to be in town so we could get parts quickly and provide faster service,” Hunt said. “If you’re waiting on parts to be delivered 20 minutes out of the way, that slows everything down.”
It took about a month to prepare the building for customers, complete paperwork, and establish vendor relationships. The shop has since added equipment such as an on-site battery rack to reduce wait times.
GearHead Garage offers a range of services, from oil changes and tires to alignments and more specialized performance work for modified vehicles, a niche the owners believe has been underserved locally.
“There’s not really a good place around town to bring modified vehicles,” Hunt said. “We can take care of lowered cars and custom alignments, but we also handle everyday vehicles — oil changes, tires, routine maintenance — making sure people can get from point A to point B safely each day.”
The shop recently began offering a three-year, 36,000-mile warranty on parts, a move Durbin said reflects their commitment to professionalism and reliability.
In addition to cars and trucks, the business has begun servicing motorcycles, a decision the owners say fills a gap in the local market.
“That’s a big thing for Owensboro because there really aren’t many places here that service motorcycles,” Durbin said. “A lot of people end up going to Evansville or Bowling Green just for something simple, like an oil change. We wanted to give that community a place they can bring their bikes locally and keep that business in town.”
To ensure quality, the shop performs an 18-point inspection on every vehicle.
“We want to make sure every vehicle leaves here in the best condition possible,” Hunt said. “We check for any underlying issues customers might not know about — anything that could potentially leave them stranded on the side of the road.”
Just over a month in, the owners describe the response as steady but promising.
“It’s been a little slow as people are still learning about us,” Durbin said. “But everyone who’s come through the door has left with a smile and has been really happy with the work we’ve done.”
Looking ahead, Hunt said their goal is simple: grow their name within Owensboro’s car community and beyond.
“We want to grow our name within the local car scene and throughout the community,” he said. “Over time, we hope to expand and continue being a shop people can rely on.”
