Jimmie Higgins: The guru of Subarus

Higgins Automotive is a Subaru and Toyota Specialist that has been located on South US 29. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

Jimmy Higgins, at Higgins Automotive, is a Subaru and Toyota Specialist that has been located on South US 29. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

By Mark Wineka

mwineka@salisburypost.com

Meet the Subaru man.

Jimmie Higgins loves Subarus. His livelihood depends on them. Everyone in his family drives one. As a mechanic, he knows them inside and out — and it’s been like that for close to 35 years.

The marketing people for the Japanese-made Subaru should hire him as a spokesman, or at least make a television commercial with him.

“I’m thinking it’s one of the best cars on the road for the money,” Higgins said Tuesday when we visited him at his shop off U.S. 29 South.

The front expanse of Higgins Automotive is filled with Subarus. Some are for sale. Some are used for parts. But something about each one caught Higgins’ eye.

They’re just good cars, said Higgins, whose repair shop also specializes in Toyotas.

As far as he can tell, Higgins Automotive is the only independent Subaru repair shop in central North Carolina.

So he sees a lot of Subaru owners from Rowan County and beyond — those folks who don’t have a Subaru dealership close by, or just prefer taking their cars to a smaller operation.

Higgins’ shop only has two other employees.

“The customers are a dedicated group,” he said of Subaru owners.

When they walk into the garage, they always seem to say two things:

• They love their Subarus.

• And they’re glad they found Higgins.

Higgins, 65, says his typical day runs from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. The telephone seems to ring every two minutes, he protested, and that tends to make him more of an administrator than a mechanic too often.

He is the former service manager for Bruce Lanier Subaru in Salisbury, and his experience with Subarus dates back to at least 1976. He also drove truck for about 20 years, including 10 years with Food Lion.

He liked the truck-driving job, because he could drive from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., then work the rest of the day on cars.

Higgins went full time into business for himself in 1994, and he has been at this particular spot on U.S. 29 between Peach Orchard and Peeler roads for 14 years.

“I saw a need for a Subaru shop in the county,” Higgins said.

Old-timers might remember Higgins’ present location as the former site of Leo Stiller’s salvage yard.

Higgins figures he has been fooling with cars since he was 13, and he remembers coming to Stiller’s junkyard for parts when he was 16.

Higgins told me he’s a longtime fan of the Salisbury Post and reading it was the first thing he used to do getting off the bus home from elementary school.

Now, “a lot of the paper carriers have Subarus, and we do a lot of work for them,” Higgins said.

For the record, Higgins drives a Subaru Justy; his wife, an Outback; a son, a WRX sports model; and another son, a Baha truck.

His sons didn’t become mechanics like their father. One is a banker, and the other works for a steel company.

Higgins said he has a grandson who might be the next Subaru guru in the family.

But don’t bring out the retirement cake for Higgins anytime soon.

“I hope I’m still working on Subarus when I’m 90,” he said.

Contact Mark Wineka at 704-797-4263.