North Side Automotive Service

North Side Automotive Service, Williston, North Dakota 

North Side Auto Rebuilds is the sales line for North Side Automotive Service and is a working repair shop that got tired of watching people get burned on used trucks. Almost every week we see the same story. Someone buys a truck that looks fine. A few hundred or thousand miles later the engine, transmission or 4x4 system fails. The selling dealer says “as-is.” The aftermarket warranty says “pre-existing.” The buyer is left with a payment and a useless vehicle. The law does not protect them. We have seen a $15k pickup have major transmission issues on the drive home. A recent customer spent $22k on a Dodge Ram that needed a new camshaft, and it was purchased less than a month ago, another costly repair that was not expected. After years of these gut-wrenching stories, I decided to stop only repairing the wreckage and start building a better used truck. We have already been doing this for customer who keep their own trucks — engines, transmissions, suspensions, interiors — with outstanding results. So, rebuilding and selling them, with a shop warranty, is the next step. 

What we sell

We rebuild 1/2 tons through 1-ton pickups and SUV's 

We buy trucks with straight bodies and good interiors. We do not care if the engine, transmission, or both need work, as long as the outside and inside are solid. Then we rebuild the systems that actually fail: engine, transmission, transfer case, diffs, brakes, suspension, seals, cooling, and the small items that make a truck look and drive new; seat covers, stereo, backup camera, lights, weather stripping, rust treatment — the details all lots skip. Every unit is sold with a real in-house warranty from our shop. No third-party administrator. No “pre-existing” runaround. If something we warrantied goes wrong, it comes back here. These are not new trucks, and they do not cost new-truck money. New trucks now run $60,000 for a basic truck and well over $100,000 loaded. Ours are thoroughly sorted used trucks at roughly half that, built so the owner can drive them — gas and oil changes — for a long time. 

How the business works

North Side Auto already operates as a full repair shop. The rebuild line uses the same crew, the same parts sources, and a written intake / punch list so every truck is processed the same way. We are not flipping dirty trade-ins. We are producing a consistent product: rebuilt, documented, warrantied trucks.

The team

Tom Mecham, Shop owner and working technician with decades in repair, fleet work, and shop management.

Keni, front counter manager — former O’Reilly store manager, handles customers, paperwork, and sales flow.

A crew of experienced technicians who already rebuild engines, transmissions, and full suspensions every week as regular shop work. We know how to build these trucks. Two flagship F-150's prove the process, what we are building now is the ability to produce them in volume — rebuilt, documented, and warrantied — so a buyer finally has a real truck that's worth every dime they are spending.