Fire devastates Mikey’s Total Car Care, community rallies to help

(COLORADO SPRINGS) — Local auto repair and maintenance shop, Mikey’s Total Car Care , will be closed for the foreseeable future as its owner, Michael Chavez, and his staff work to reopen after a devastating fire earlier this week.

You may remember that FOX21 News first featured Mikey’s Total Car Care in March while Chavez and his team were collecting submissions for a free car giveaway. At the end of April, a winner was selected; a single mother of three, Kim. She told FOX21, “We feel blessed,” and thanked Mikey’s for fixing up the car, which Chavez repaired out of his own pocket.

“Reading stories was heartbreaking, it was really emotional,” Chavez told FOX21 in April, adding that the need in Southern Colorado was evident. “One car out of 300 people is pretty overwhelming and we wanted to do more,” telling FOX21 he hoped to do something similar to the free car giveaway at least once a quarter.

Fast-forward to today and Chavez said he and his staff are devastated about the fire, which happened in the early morning hours of Tuesday, May 28 around 3:30 a.m. He thanked a local business nearby which called in the fire and said if that hadn’t happened, it could have been much worse for the business.

Chavez thanked the community for its support and posted to the company’s Facebook page , writing in part, “Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers, as I don’t know when I will be able to recover from this.” He continued, “If you had an appointment with me I apologize but we will not be able to service your cars until we can be temporarily opened.”

Chavez told FOX21 that he and his staff are working out of a separate trailer and it could be a month or longer for the closure due to smoke damage inside the building. While Chavez hopes insurance will cover the costs, he said he’s grateful for the community’s support, and that customers have since set up a GoFundMe to help.

The cause of the fire is under investigation but if you’d like to help or donate to the business, click on the GoFundMe link above. Mikey’s Total Car Care has been around since 2017 and is located at 6180 Lake Shore Court, just south of the North Powers Boulevard and Constitution Avenue intersection.

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