Meet the Team

Joe Strong, Owner

Joe has been working on cars for well over 30 years. He has performed repair work on everything from a 1930 Model A Rat Rod to a 2015 SRT8 Challenger and a 2018 Ford Mustang GT Premium. The list continues to grow with each passing year! He is an ASE Master Certified Tech with additional college courses and hundreds of hours in automotive related, higher education classes.

Joe's background in automotive repair started as a teenager working on his own vehicles, followed by his family's vehicles, neighbors' vehicles, and so on.

In 1993, he started a mobile repair business. In 1997, he took a position with Advanced Transmission Service in Eugene, Oregon. Joe then moved on to AAMCO in Eugene as the Shop Foreman, where he contributed to significant growth and considered purchasing the business when it was offered to him. Instead, he left Eugene and moved to Redmond, Oregon in 2004, where he took a position with the AAMCO in Bend, Oregon (when it was originally owned by David Beezley) as a Transmission Rebuilder and Lead Diagnostic Technician. When new ownership of the Bend AAMCO took over, he moved on to other ventures, which led to the opening of Auto Experts in 2010.

Joe enjoys the challenging aspects the work brings. His passion is for the classics. . .especially muscle cars! He knows the success of a shop is only as good as its hard working, well qualified, happy employees. Joe values each of his employee's knowledge and the contributions they bring. Excellent customer service is also extremely important to Joe. Honesty and Integrity are core values he strives to maintain at Auto Experts, demonstrated by the fact most of our clients are direct referrals. Clients referring family amd friends is the ultimate compliment! Joe has no problem being recognized in the community, which he often is, as he knows his reputation is a good one.

In his spare time, Joe enjoys being a member of the Autocross Club of Central Oregon, participating in their events with his 05 GTO, working on his own classic cars, attending car shows, riding motorcycles and ATVs, shooting, camping, traveling, and most importantly, spending quality time with his two boys, three dogs, and lovely significant other at their home on the outskirts of Redmond.

Jennie Anderson, Office Manager Bookkeeper

Jennie has been in the Administrative and Bookkeeping industry for over 24 years, working in a variety of office settings including a CPA firm in Salem, Oregon. A native of Montana, Jennie moved to Salem, Oregon in 1997 to start her own life adventures. In 2002, she moved to Central Oregon. While a piece of Montana will always be close to her heart, with much of her family still residing there, Central Oregon is where she prefers to call “home.”

Joe and Jennie’s paths crossed while she was also working at AAMCO of Bend as the Bookkeeper. A short time after Joe opened Auto Experts, he asked for her assistance in setting up his books and the rest is history. Jennie also has a passion for the classics and loves attending car shows with Joe.

Jennie is also very active with the Alzheimer’s Association, specifically the Walk to End Alzheimer’s. Her involvement with the Association is very close to her heart, as her father Gary was officially diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2014, which is also the first year she started participating in the Walk.

In June of 2019, she was asked to step into the Co-Chair position for the Central Oregon Walk, which she was honored to accept. For 2020, she has been asked to move into the Chair position!

She is also a member of the Alzheimer’s Impact Movement, aka AIM, which is the advocacy arm of the Alzheimer’s Association and plans to attend the annual Advocacy Day and Regional Volunteer Summit in Salem for the first time in February 2020. She formed the Auto Experts Walk Team, “Forget Me Nots for Pops”, which participates in fundraising for the annual Walk. She assists in any way she can through long distance in caring for her dad, including being on “Dad Cam” to keep an eye on him if her mom needs to step out of the house for a quick errand.

In her spare time, Jennie enjoys traveling, camping, shooting, taking motorcycles rides with Joe, and riding her Hawkeye Polaris ATV. She is a devoted Dog Mom to her fur babies, Willow, Bentley, and Nika. She's also a loving Aunt to 25 nieces and nephews, spanning over two generations. At the top of her list, she loves the simple things in life like spending quality time with Joe on their 6 ½ acre home where perhaps someday, this country girl at heart, will have the horse she’s always wanted!

Willow … Silky/Yorkie Terrier. The original shop pup, Willow has been our little girl since she was just 6 weeks old when we drove to LaPine in the horrid snowstorm of February 2016 to get her.

As a puppy she accompanied Joe every day to work, often keeping residence in his front shirt pocket as she was so tiny. She is very much a Daddy’s Pup. . . wherever he goes, she goes. Don’t let her lean 9 lb size fool you: she is a very spirited, agile pup who loves to play ball and tug-a-war and is a fearless hunter! Willow loves anything on wheels and will take every opportunity to ride in the Razor towing in a car, on the forklift, or even the Zamboni floor cleaner. Motorcycle rides with Joe are her favorite!

She is known by a lot of longtime customers as “Security” due to the sweatshirt she often wears. Willow’s desire to come to the shop every day has dwindled a bit now that she has a new playmate, Nika, at home. They spend most of the day chasing each other around the yard and acting as “security” there. Their friendship is quite the thing to witness!

Bentley … Yorkie Terrier. At just 6 lbs, this little guy has 10x’s that in loves and snuggles! He will wiggle his way into your lap. . .and your heart!

Bentley officially joined the family in June of 2018, but we've known him since he was about a year old. He is a rescue dog and unfortunately spent most of the first year of his life in a kennel, so never learned how to play.  Little “B”, as we often call him, is very low key. . .basically like a fuzzy goldfish.

Bentley was originally rescued by a family friend. However, life circumstances changed for them, so Bentley came to live with us. We were very happy to have him join our pack!

“B” can often be found sitting on our Service Manager Andy’s desk, as his fuzzy paperweight. He can also be spotted laying in his bed next to Jennie’s desk or accompanying her on an errand or to Alzheimer’s Walk committee meetings and events. He LOVES to travel, car or plane, and is an awesome companion.

Nika … German Shepherd. At a striking size of 85 lbs and a massively large bark to go with it, Nika is really just a big furry love! She is the newest member of our pack. Never did we plan on three dogs!

Nika first came to our home as a foster in 2018. Having moved into a tiny house (500 sqft) while they searched for their permanent home, her original family needed someone to care for her while they made the transition. Having lots of room, we agreed to take her in. . . we never imagined how much we would fall in love with her and she with us! When it came time to go back to her other family, Nika had a bit of a hard time transitioning and became depressed. Fortunately, the family realized the signs and out of unselfish love for her, asked if we would be willing to take her back permanently. It was a very quick decision! So, in August 2019, Nika came back into our home forever.

Nika loves spending her days outside, rain, snow or shine, and although aging in years, loves to play her favorite game of “keep-a-way.” Currently, it is a bit of a rarity (treat) so see her at the shop. She gets excited greeting new people, but her size can be quite intimidating and powerful. Nika is extremely sweet and intelligent, so we are confident over time she will learn to develop proper shop etiquette and be seen more frequently.