They were sick of the ‘boys club’ of auto shops. So they bought their own garage.
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- Fluid Community Garage will be Durham’s first women‑ and queer‑owned auto shop.
- Owners will offer transparent billing, advice on delaying repairs, and community classes.
- The garage is located on East Rockway Street in Durham and opens May 16.
Nikki Puckett Bosov still remembers the pair of brakes she bought when she was 20.
The pricey repair, which a mechanic pitched as a must-have replacement for her brand-new sedan, still rings in her mind 20 years later because it’s one she now sees plainly — she never needed in the first place.
“I felt stupid,” Puckett Bosov said. “But I had to get it because I wasn’t educated enough on what happened.”
It was that lesson that launched her career in the auto-repair industry. But after stints at a handful of shops, it’s also what fueled her to forge her own path.
“I was like, ‘I don’t want another man to tell me what’s wrong with my vehicle,’” she said. “I want to be able to diagnose this myself.”
That mission now drives Fluid Community Garage, Durham’s first women- and queer-owned body shop, co-owned and operated by Puckett Bosov and business partner Bear O’Brien.
The garage, on East Rockway Street in northern Durham, aims to scrap the intimidation they say women and gender-fluid people often face in the “boys club” of repair shops. And in an industry dominated by men, Puckett Bosov and O’Brien say they want to create a safe haven for people of all identities to be “loud and proud.”
“I really want a place, especially for women, where they don’t have to call their husbands or their brothers or their dads to ask ‘Do I need this?’” Puckett Bosov said. “I want them to be like, ‘Yeah, OK. I really trust that these people are telling me the right thing.’ That’s huge in this field.”
With the garage slated to open May 16, the team plans to walk customers through the charges on their bills and why they’re necessary — a step they said is more vital than ever as oil prices and supply-chain costs climb. And for customers on a tight budget, the owners are also prepared to advise patrons not only on the best repair for their vehicle, but also what work they could save for later.
“Cars break down all the time,” Puckett Bosov said. “Why not just be honest with people and tell them what they actually need and what they can wait on?”
But it’s in the property’s backyard where the owners plan to honor their name as a “community garage” — transforming a dusty shed into a classroom to teach skills like changing a tire or understanding the parts under a cars hood. It’s through lessons like this that Puckett Bosov and O’Brien, who taught a handful of similar classes at Durham’s Night School Bar two years ago, say customers can become self-reliant and prevent being upsold on their maintenance.
“I want people to learn certain things that they can do themselves and empower them,” Puckett Bosov said.
More women entering automotive industry
The number of women entering the automotive industry is trending upward. According to Rick Sapienza, the dean of transportation technologies at Wake Technical Community College, female enrollment in auto-care certification courses at the college has more than doubled in the past 10 years.
But the number of female technicians remains low, with women making up just 10% of the auto repair and maintenance workforce last year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The duo said working for male-run auto shops before opening their own garage meant being called “sweetie” or “honey” during interactions, or even once for Puckett Bosov, being slapped on the backside while repairing a vehicle.
“There was no regard for inappropriateness,” O’Brien said. “And not having a space to just be able to feel comfortable was really draining.”
Just days after moving into their new space, O’Brien said two men, who had taken their cars to the previous shop that leased their space, came in and laughed at seeing “girls work here now.”
“Women,” O’Brien told them.
One of the men laughed and blew kisses in their direction.
The exchange was a wake-up call, the duo said. They installed cameras the next day and even invested in terrorism insurance.
“We’re creating a space for us to feel comfortable in and for others to feel comfortable in,” O’Brien said. “And yet it’s still following us and still trying to beat us down even though we’ve accomplished this.”
But the outpouring of support has far outweighed any negativity, they said. Last month, the garage hosted a Community Day that brought dozens of people in to help tidy the shop ahead of its opening.
On a tour of the property in April, each corner prompted a new story about a community member who’d lent a hand. There was the local graphic designer who made the garage’s business cards, a couple who’d spent a humid afternoon hauling leaves from a ditch behind the shop, and even a community member who spent the day painting the garage’s logo on the building.
And with just a few weeks until opening, Puckett Bosov and O’Brien were bursting with more ideas, like building a playground and fairy garden for kids, adding a wall in the waiting room showcasing work from local artists and reserving a stretch of grass in the backyard for flowers and fresh herbs.
“You never really know how much support you truly have until you actually see it,” O’Brien said. “And we’ve been seeing it.”
