Under the Hood
How Oakland Started
In 2019 my wife and I went to DeNooyer Chevrolet to buy a 2003 Chevy Astro that had been traded in. The salesman, my friend Steve Boeve, knew I was looking for a vehicle that would fit our growing family.
This van was no peach and needed some serious work to be cleaned up. We bought it anyway, and I urged my wife to ‘trust the plan’. I super-cleaned the interior and polished up the exterior. It looked pretty good for an old Chevy ‘man van’.
I sent Steve an ‘after’ picture of it… He saw the transformation and suggested I try my hand at auto detailing. He brought his Audi A8 to me and I dialed it in.
He was thrilled, he paid me, and my thoughts on this shifted..
In 2019, I began operating Oakland Auto Detail as a side job. My full-time job at Pepsi as a delivery semi-truck driver was always first priority and a sort of ‘safety-net’.
What I couldn’t have predicted was how eager this surrounding Zeeland/Hamilton area was for high-end, professional auto detailing.
In January 2024 I said ‘good-bye’ to my full-time driving job and the coworkers of eight years to focus fully on Oakland Auto Detail and the growing demand from customers.
Where It’s Going Now
Today, Oakland Auto Detail has gone beyond traditional detailing and become a community of people who appreciate nostalgic vehicles, Y2K tuner culture, and the stories that come with them.
Through Youtube, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook, I share custom builds, tips and tricks, survivor vehicles, and the kind of car humor that reminds people why they fell in love with cars in the first place. What started with local customers has grown into an audience of enthusiasts from across the county who tune in for the next build, wear the merch, and fill the comments with ideas that inspire what comes next.
Oakland still offers a limited number of ceramic coating appointments in West Michigan for select vehicles only—newer cars and nostalgic builds that fit the work we take on, with spots available on a limited basis.
