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Video shows Brooklyn auto repair shop apparently operating with expired license

By
Tim McNicholas
Tim McNicholas
Tim McNicholas is a reporter for CBS News New York. He joined the team in September 2022 after working in Chicago, Indianapolis, Toledo and Hastings, Nebraska.
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Tim McNicholas,
Walter Smith Randolph

/ CBS New York

A license suspension, a fine from the state and a series of CBS News New York investigations apparently isn't enough to get a Brooklyn auto repair shop to follow the law.

Investigative reporter Tim McNicholas first looked into State to State Automotive back in February when customers told him the shop was holding their cars hostage.

Then, just this month, McNicholas found the shop working on cars again without a license to do so.

Brooklyn auto repair shop fined for failure to provide work orders

Back in February, customers Louis Denory and Sara-Lee Ramsawak told CBS News New York the garage on Atlantic Avenue held their vehicles for months and refused to return them.

The shop finally returned both their cars after CBS News New York started asking questions.  

A month after that story aired, a Department of Motor Vehicles inspector visited the shop and said State to State failed to provide the right paperwork for Ramsawak's car and four others.

The state suspended the shop's operating license until a virtual hearing in May, where the DMV asked the administrative law judge for stronger punishment — a six-month license suspension.

The judge agreed State to State failed to provide work orders for four cars, despite arguments to the contrary from State to State Automotive manager Steven Ventura, but ruled against the longer suspension and instead ordered State to State pay a $1,000 fine.

The DMV says the shop's license expired on May 31, so it cannot legally work on cars anyway.

Worker caught on camera applying heat gun to car

On July 3, however, a CBS News New York Investigates producer called State to State to ask if they'd be open to work on a car, and whoever answered said yes, asking the producer to text pictures of the car. 

On July 4, CBS News New York found someone applying a heat gun to a car at the shop with the garage door wide open until Ventura spotted the camera, came out and denied they're operating.

An individual applying a heat gun to a car inside an auto repair shop.
On July 4, 2025, CBS News New York found someone applying a heat gun to a car at the shop with the garage door wide open at State to State Automotive in Brooklyn. CBS News New York

"You're working on a car in there right now, though," McNicholas said.

"There's nobody working on no vehicle. We're moving cars out. That's a storage lot," Ventura said.

Ventura later claimed they were only cleaning the car, but a heat gun is typically used for paint jobs and detailing, not cleaning.

The DMV says they're looking into the video. CBS News New York will be following up.

© 2025 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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