petesautomotive

Why We Love Working on Jeeps at Pete’s Automotive

Wed, 23 Sep 2026 20:18:53 GMT

We see a lot of personality come through the doors at Pete’s Automotive, but Jeep owners may have everyone else beat.

You can customize a Jeep in countless ways, but one of our favorite details is usually sitting right on the dashboard.

The ducks.

Some Jeeps come in with one or two. Others arrive with an entire flock lined across the dash. There are classic yellow ducks, themed ducks, holiday ducks, character ducks and plenty we have never seen before.

We love seeing the originality.

It also says something about Jeep owners. For many of them, a Jeep is more than transportation. It is something they make their own, and it connects them with a much larger community.

Why Are There Ducks on Jeeps?

If you are not part of the Jeep community, the ducks can be a little confusing.

The tradition is known as Jeep Ducking.

A Jeep owner sees another Jeep they like and leaves a rubber duck on it, sometimes with a small note or message. The owner who receives it can keep the duck, display it or eventually pass another duck along.

It is a simple gesture, but that is part of what makes it fun.

How Jeep Ducking Started

The tradition dates back to 2020 and is generally credited to Canadian Jeep enthusiast Allison Parliament.

What began with leaving a rubber duck on another Jeep as a friendly gesture quickly spread through the Jeep community. Owners began sharing their ducks online using #DuckDuckJeep, and the tradition eventually reached Jeep communities around the world.

Now those ducks regularly make their way right into our shop.

It Fits Jeep Culture

Jeep owners already have a strong community.

There is the Jeep wave, Jeep clubs, trail groups, meetups and an almost endless number of ways owners personalize their vehicles.

Ducking fits right in.

It gives complete strangers a reason to interact and gives owners another way to make their Jeep their own.

That is part of what we enjoy about working on them. Every Jeep has a little bit of its owner's personality attached to it, and sometimes that personality is represented by twenty rubber ducks watching us work.

Taking Care of the Jeep Underneath the Ducks

Of course, once a Jeep comes into Pete’s Automotive, we are paying attention to more than its dashboard decorations.

Whether your Jeep spends most of its time around Waxahachie or regularly gets off the pavement, brakes, tires, steering, suspension, fluids, cooling systems and routine maintenance all matter.

Our job is to help you understand what your Jeep needs, what can wait and what will help keep it running the way it should.

We love servicing Jeep owners because they bring a little originality and a strong sense of community along with their vehicles.

And the ducks do make the job more entertaining.

So why do we love working on Jeeps?

They’re just ducky.

Employee Spotlight: Uncle Gary

Wed, 16 Sep 2026 10:07:35 GMT

Last week, we got to celebrate someone who has been part of Pete’s Automotive from almost the very beginning: Uncle Gary.

Gary is Pete’s uncle, one of our original employees, and has been part of the shop for more than 30 years. He is family in every sense of the word, and we are grateful for every year we get to work alongside him and celebrate another birthday together.

If you have ever brought a big truck into Pete’s, there is a good chance you have crossed paths with Gary. Large truck alignments are his specialty, and he comes by that knowledge honestly.

Before he started working on trucks, Gary spent years driving them.

Trucking is actually what brought him from North Georgia to Texas nearly 40 years ago. It also played a pretty important role in another part of his life.

Gary met his wife while he was unloading freight in Dallas. She was standing there with a clipboard, looking pretty, and Gary decided she was the woman for him. Apparently, his instincts were pretty good. They have now been married for 39 years.

Around the shop, Gary is known for being steady, dependable, and very good at what he does. After more than three decades here, there is not much he has not seen.

He also has a soft spot for the shop dogs. On the weekends, Gary makes sure they are taken care of and genuinely enjoys spending time with them. The feeling seems to be mutual.

For his birthday, we gathered the crew, took plenty of pictures, shared plenty of laughs, and of course made everyone join in for a round of “Happy Birthday.”

Gary has been part of Pete’s Automotive for a long time, but more importantly, he has been part of our lives for even longer.

Happy birthday, Uncle Gary. We are sure glad we got to celebrate another one with you.

Employee Spotlight: Mike Martin

Wed, 09 Sep 2026 16:57:33 GMT

If you’ve had tires done at Pete’s, there’s a good chance Mike Martin had something to do with them.

Mike has been in the tire business for 30 years and has spent th e last 14 of those years here at Pete’s. Tires are his specialty, and after three decades, it’s safe to say he knows his way around them.

Mike’s history with Pete goes back even further. He’s known Pete for about 30 years, and one of his first jobs was actually working for Pete all those years ago. Pete’s uncle Gary, who still works here today, helped teach Mike the trade.

When we asked Mike what has kept him around, his answer was pretty simple.

“Pete’s always done me good.”

Outside of work, Mike is dad to two kids, ages 13 and 14.

We’re grateful to have someone with Mike’s experience and history as part of the Pete’s Automotive crew.

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