Marty’s Auto Works

by Jeannine Gage

Marty and Kathy DiSanto have an average-sized family – three kids and five grandkids. But their other family? That one’s huge.

“You know, you spend more time with the people you work with than you do with your actual family,” Marty says, “so I’m proud of the fact that we feel like a family here. That’s how we treat our people.”

“Here” is Marty’s Auto Works, with locations in Longwood and Oviedo. The close-knit team services all types of vehicles and prides themselves on their exceptional customer care.

“I will do anything to make sure the customer is happy,” says Marty.

Marty and Kathy started the business 26 years ago. Marty has worked as a mechanic since he was in high school and always wanted to open his own shop.

“We did everything ourselves in the beginning,” Kathy says, “and our kids basically grew up on the shop floor.”

Kathy’s official title is vice president, but she refers to herself simply as “Marty’s wife.”

Even the couple’s love story started with a car.

“I was picking up my dad from the shop [where Marty was working in 1984], and I drove up in my brand-new, just-off-the-showroom-floor Pontiac Trans Am,” Kathy remembers. “All the mechanics came out to see it, and Marty was one of them. He asked me out that day.”

The two have been together ever since and have seen a lot of changes in the auto-repair business. The biggest change by far, Marty says, is the new sophisticated (and complicated) electrical systems in cars. It takes a lot of continuing education and specialized equipment to be able to work on cars these days.

“I spare no expense to make sure we have everything we need to do it right,” he says.

All the company’s hard work continues to earn it some well-deserved recognition. Marty’s Auto Works has won numerous awards over the years, and it was recently named Best Oviedo-Based Business at the Oviedo-Winter Springs Regional Chamber of Commerce 2022 Ovations Awards.

“We are thrilled,” Kathy says.

The ongoing success at Marty’s Auto Works has allowed the founders to step back a little. They love being with their grandkids, and Marty moonlights as a crew member for Andretti Autosport.

“I’m very lucky to have such great people here I can rely on to take care of the business,” Marty says.               “They’re family.”