A Patterson native, Jamie Furtado’s life-long love of cars began at a young age, when he started working with his dad on tractors and automobiles. Soon after finishing high school, he knew he wanted to work on cars for a living, so he attended Wyoming Technical Institute (aka WyoTech) in 1994, graduating with honors. Two weeks after graduation, Jamie began his professional automotive career at a Jeep dealership, where his passion for working on Jeeps started. His next position took him to a Lexus dealership and, during this time, he went to night school to be certified as a Smog Technician. Jamie used his smog certification while working at independent auto repair shops, where he gained experience in smog-related repairs. This is also where Jamie developed strong skills in diagnosing and repairing all different vehicle makes and models.
In 2000, Jamie opened The Smog Shop, which was a test-only smog station in Modesto, CA, where he was living at the time. After four years of focusing on smog testing, he decided he wanted to branch out into general auto repair and open his own auto repair shop in his hometown. So, he relocated back to Patterson and opened Five Star Automotive. Jamie has enjoyed growing his business and expanded the shop to include another bay in 2009.