A Sterling business serving first responders has now expanded to Aztec, New Mexico. Elite Auto Outfitters outfits police vehicles for law enforcement departments in Colorado, New Mexico, Nebraska, Wyoming, Kansas, Utah and Arizona.
The business was started by Danny Galvan, who was born and raised in Sterling. He has been in the auto industry since Feb. 2017, when he opened The Detail Shoppe at 104 Park Street. Elite Auto Outfitters was formed not long after that and in Aug. of 2019, Galvan was able to branch out and open a second location in Aztec, N.M., which is 36 miles south of Durango, Colo., “to emphasize on the cop car building, law enforcement aspect of the business.”
To date, Elite Auto Outfitters has outfitted police vehicles for several surrounding law enforcement agencies including Morgan County, Brush and Washington County.
“I saw the need of an outfitter here in Aztec, when I came up here to Aztec we ended up gaining a lot of speed very quickly, faster than I planned out,” Galvan said. “Now, we have landed bigger contracts federally, a lot of state agencies here now, the Apache Nation has a big contract for us here, San Juan County Sheriff’s Office, San Juan County Fire. Now that we’re big here I can kick a lot of work to Sterling.”
Elite Auto Outfitters is a 5-Star Feniex Dealer that sells Feniex, Code 3, Federal Signal, Angel Armor and B&B Enterprises products. They build custom single prisoner cages as well.
“A lot of people are starting to know where Sterling is now, up to Missouri and from this area up here in Next Mexico, they’re getting a general idea of where we’re at and what we do,” Galvan said.
You might say the auto industry is in his veins. At age 13, Galvan worked with his father at North Sterling Marina and Schmidt Imports, “so I kind of got into that line of detailing.”
His interest in law enforcement also started at a young age, when he became a member of Sterling Police Department’s Explorer’s Program.
“I’ve always had a fascination with law enforcement and just how things progressed. It makes me sound old, but I remember when the LED light bars came out and Sterling got it on the first Impala and then Impalas came back out and Sgt. Ronda Taylor, I rode with her and I just thought, ‘these could be a lot better,’” Galvan said.
He started keeping up with the latest technology available, the different aspects of what different lights can do and the whole safety aspect of it. Then he went into the police academy and the firefighter 1 academy.
“This has always been a calling of kind of just keeping up with the changing technology and the safety aspect of just what there is to offer, what people don’t know can save a life,” Galvan said.
Now that he’s opened up a second location in Aztec, where he employs five people, he hopes to get a bigger shop in Sterling at some point in the future. He is also looking at opening another shop in Nebraska, probably within the next year or year and a half, that way he can bounce the work where he needs to depending on what each shop has going on.
“But, Sterling’s always home, so that’s where I plan on keeping my corporate offices, when I get that big,” Galvan said, adding that his goal is to keep as much money as he can in the local communities where his shops are, instead of law enforcement agencies spending their money in other locations. “The service I provide now keeps everything kind of local.”
He would like to say thank you for all of the local support he’s received, not only from customers, but from Trae Miller, executive director of Logan County Economic Development Corporation, and a few other locals who gave him the confidence to branch out and pursue his dream.
“Hopefully there are bigger and better things to come in Sterling,” Galvan said.
Elite Auto Outfitters can be reached at 970-466-2613 or visit The Detail Shoppe Facebook page.
