Maintaining the machines that move you.
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OUR MISSION
Through honesty, communication, consistency and quality,
Dancia Motors exists to cultivate the spirit of motoring and to
embrace both the old and the new. We are dedicated to providing
a positive and friendly experience to our customers.
OUR VISION
Our customers need to be safe and to feel confident, not only in
their vehicles but also in their servicing needs. Our employees are
thorough, friendly and trusted team members. We believe in
our team's ongoing training and commitment to the next
generation of honest and competent technicians.
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OUR STORY
In 1986, Henning Kristensen and his Wife, Monica, opened an auto repair shop specializing in Volvo - Henning’s personal favourite marque! Henning knew that the new company needed a Scandinavian name, but every idea he submitted was already registered. While doing some renovations at home, Henning and Monica chose some tiles…DANCIA tiles! Monica thought “Dancia Motors” sounded pretty Scandinavian, so Henning submitted the name…and it was approved!
Soon Dancia began to attract not only loyal and enthusiastic customers but weird and wonderful vehicles as well! The day when Rich Cote first came into Dancia Motors inquiring about a job, Henning was working on a DeLorean! Rich became fast friends with Henning and Monica and he purchased the Company in 2003. Rich grew the capabilities of Dancia Motors’ Volvo-centric reputation by adding BMW and MINI. Soon Dancia needed to expand and moved to its current location in 2009. By the time 2014 rolled around, Dancia Motors was again in need of expansion. The building underwent a major renovation and was transformed from a two-bay shop into a four-bay shop.
Rich Cote and Kevin Wood have worked together at Dancia since 2013. Kevin has recently taken ownership of the company and is working hard to ensure that Henning’s original vision of a shop that puts the “special” in specialists is honoured.
Now 2023 has rolled around, and Dancia Motors is still Valley-strong and is looking forward to the future!
OUR TEAM
KEVIN WOOD
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One day in late 2012, Rich Cote was spreading the word in the neighbourhood that he was looking for a new mechanic to join the Dancia team as another employee was moving away. Kevin was a mechanic at a nearby shop and already had a professional relationship with Rich - performing Dancia’s wheel alignments. The thought of focusing his mechanical talents and becoming a European specialist was appealing to Kevin and he approached Rich about the position, starting his employment at Dancia on January 2nd 2013.
Kevin was born in Duncan and has spent his entire life in the Cowichan Valley. He Graduated from Frances Kelsey Secondary School in 2004 and started a mechanic apprenticeship at Kal Tire, earning his Automotive Service Technician Red Seal in 2010.
An active volunteer for Scouts Canada, Kevin has been a Scout since 1992. He enjoys camping and the outdoors and believes in Scouts Canada’s mission - to develop well-rounded youth, better prepared for success in the world.
Cowichan is a great place for music! Kevin plays the guitar and sings and is appreciative that there are so many other skilled musicians in this community to play with and listen to.
Kevin has always been interested in machines and how things work! In high school, he built a go kart out of an old “beverage” keg and a Schwinn bicycle he pulled out of the creek!
Kevin and his wife, Sarah live in Mill Bay.
CORALEE ZUEFF
Coralee Zueff started her career in Automotive when she saw a poster for the Automotive Foundations course on her high school door. She was thinking about going into Law but thought this would be very valuable skills to have even if in the end she did not pursue a career as a technician.
The course was great and Coralee learned a lot, BUT she missed talking to people, so after the foundation courses she jumped right into car sales. The dealership that took a chance on hiring her was great and she had a wonderful mentor.
HOWEVER, when people were purchasing cars, they were not interested in hearing about maintenance or how easily accessible things are under the hood.
As you can tell, this story is kind of like Goldilocks and the 3 bears. Next, Coralee got a job at Canadian Tire in the Parts department and this was a great fit. She really enjoyed when men would come and plunk random parts on her counter (that they did not even know the name for) and she could find the correct part fast and efficiently. The Automotive Manager realized Coralee was excelling and offered her a service advisor position where she could utilize all her training and skills.
Mother hood was the next journey for Coralee. She took 6 years off from automotive to raise 2 fantastic girls and assist her husband in building his business. Her “wheels” were always turning and during this time she discovered Parts and Warehousing is a Red Seal Certification. Coralee challenged the final exam and passed with flying colours!
When the girls approached school age, Coralee decided to “get back in the game” and found a home at Dancia Motors in November of 2014. While the shop was shut down during Covid, Coralee wrote and published “Five Star Service Advisor” which has been an Amazon Best Seller in 4 countries and counting. In 2022, She attended Canada’s Used Car Week as a 40 under 40 honoured.
In the spring of 2023, Coralee was given the opportunity as the Parts and Warehousing Instructor at North Island College on Vancouver Island. She also enjoys visiting various high schools as a guest instructor for their trade sampler course as well as women in trades classes.
Not only does Coralee work in automotive, she also “plays” in automotive. Usually once a month, Coralee can be found at the local race track participating in autocross (a cone obstacle course). Her current dream vehicle is a 1987 Shelby Charger (there were only 1000 of these particular models made).
Outside of automotive, Coralee likes to travel with her Husband Clinton and daughters Shelby & Danika, scuba dive, and rock climb. Skydiving is the top thing on her bucket list.
LANDEN
Landen is from the Cowichan Valley and has recently graduated from Cowichan Secondary School. His uncle builds 4x4 rock crawlers in his home shop and got Landen turned onto mechanics. Between the high school automotive dual credit program and Camosun School of Trades and Technology, Landen has earned his Level 1 trade certification. He is happy to be an Automotive Service Technician apprentice at Dancia.
He is an outdoors enthusiast and enjoys dirt bikes, fishing and hunting. He has a soft spot for muscle cars and loves working on engines. VR is also pretty fun!