Work ethic has paid off for car fanatic
Paul Sandoval never let a lack of education stop him.
As a matter of fact, it spurred him on. Sandoval, the parts and service director for Toyota of Santa Fe, has been with the dealership for 26 years, working his way up from a lot boy washing cars to one of the dealership’s upper management.
“I have a ninth-grade education,” he said. “Then I went to work and I’ve been working since. I’ve worked my way up the ladder with no education. I never went back and got a GED. I got into the car bushiness and loved it and made a good living and never looked back.”
Cars had been a passion as long as he could remember so Sandoval said he just decided to get to work.
“Honestly, I just wasn’t a school person and I liked messing around with cars,” he said. “I was always interested in cars. I was infatuated with automobiles and I was always reading about cars. I wasn’t doing good in school so I thought I might as well try to get a job in the automotive field.”
Sandoval started as a driver for an auto parts store, then landed a gig with Santa Fe Mazda Volvo, eventually working in the service department. When his manager Jeff Locke moved onto Toyota of Santa Fe, he asked Sandoval to go along.
The secret to his success, Sandoval said, is pretty simple: work ethic.
“I was a hard worker,” he said. “I would work two or three jobs at a time. I was just a hard worker. With any task they gave me, I was going to make sure I was going to the best I could do.”
It’s a mindset that hasn’t changed to this day, even as he’s the supervisor of about 50 employees.
“I would say I have the same values,” Sandoval said. “I work hard and I won’t ask anybody to do something I won’t do. If there’s trash outside, I’ll go pick it up. If we’re shorthanded and we need car a washed, I’ll wash it. I want to be an example.”
It even worked with his son, who started working summers and after school at the dealership when he was 15.
“When he graduated from high school, he came to work for us full time in the parts department,” Sandoval said. “I taught him everything I know in service and now he’s a service adviser. He’s following in my footsteps, but he graduated.”