Auto Repair for West Nipissing Drivers
AutoNorth Auto Repair is a licensed auto repair shop at 1520 Cholette St in North Bay, open Monday to Friday from 8:00am to 5:00pm, roughly 35 km east of West Nipissing along Highway 17. West Nipissing covers 1,956.27 km² of Nipissing District, which is a lot of ground for 14,583 people. If the driveway at your end of it holds a truck, a car and something with a hybrid badge on it, AutoNorth services all makes and models, gas, diesel and hybrid, in one building, so a mixed set of vehicles does not have to be split between places.
Last updated August 10, 2026
How Far Is AutoNorth From West Nipissing?
Approximately 35 km of Highway 17 separates West Nipissing from North Bay, and AutoNorth Auto Repair sits at the North Bay end of it, at 1520 Cholette St, open Monday to Friday from 8:00am to 5:00pm. Highway 17 is the Trans-Canada, so the run east is one road the whole way rather than a series of turns.
- Highway 17 runs east into North Bay. It passes through the rural municipalities of Markstay-Warren and West Nipissing before it reaches the city, which makes it the road almost every trip east starts on no matter which corner of the municipality you leave from.
- Highway 64 feeds the whole south shore onto it. Highway 64 is 145.0 km long, running from Highway 69 near Rutter north to Highway 11 at Marten River, and it passes Alban, Noelville, Chartrand Corner, Verner, Sturgeon Falls and Field along the way.
- Highway 64 and Highway 17 share pavement for 15 km. The two meet at Verner and run concurrent to Sturgeon Falls, where Highway 64 turns north and covers another 57 km to Highway 11. Field and River Valley traffic and south shore traffic both end up on the same stretch through Sturgeon Falls.
- The municipality is very large and the population is spread across it. West Nipissing covers 1,956.27 km² of land in Nipissing District, with a 2021 census population of 14,583, up from 14,364 in 2016. Sturgeon Falls, the administrative centre, accounts for 6,939 of that, roughly half the municipality, at a density of 1,129 people per km².
- The communities are scattered, not clustered. Besides Sturgeon Falls, West Nipissing takes in Verner, Cache Bay, Field, Lavigne, River Valley, Desaulniers, Crystal Falls, Domremy and Notre-Dame-du-Lac, and the municipality sits on Lake Nipissing and is crossed by the Sturgeon River and the Veuve River.
- The name is official in both languages. The Municipality of West Nipissing is also the Municipalité de Nipissing-Ouest. The municipality is officially bilingual and French-majority: as of 2021, 56.2 per cent report French as a first language, 38.0 per cent English, and 73.4 per cent are bilingual.
AutoNorth Auto Repair. 1520 Cholette St, North Bay, Ontario P1A 0A9. Monday to Friday, 8:00am to 5:00pm, closed weekends. Call (705) 472-6060 or text (705) 571-4391.
DirectionsDriving Directions From Sturgeon Falls to AutoNorth
AutoNorth Auto Repair is at 1520 Cholette St, North Bay, Ontario P1A 0A9. Tap the button and Google Maps opens the route from Sturgeon Falls on your phone, ready to navigate.
Parking is on the gravel lot out front. If the shop is closed when you arrive, the after-hours key drop is at the building and the work starts first thing in the morning.
One Shop for Every Vehicle vs a Different Shop for Each
Say the driveway holds a truck, a car, something older that only comes out in summer, and one vehicle with a hybrid badge on the back of it. AutoNorth Auto Repair services all makes and models, gas, diesel and hybrid, at one address, which changes the logistics of running that mix before it changes anything else.
| One shop for every vehicle vs a different shop for each | Everything at AutoNorth | Split between places |
|---|---|---|
| Where the service history lives | One shop, one set of records, with the digital inspection report for each vehicle sitting alongside the others | A separate history in each place, held wherever that vehicle happened to go |
| Who has seen the vehicle before | The shop that did the last visit, with the photos and video from that visit still on file | Depends on the vehicle and on which visit you are asking about |
| How quotes get compared | The same report format for every vehicle, grouped by priority, so two vehicles can be read side by side | A different format for each vehicle, so the numbers do not line up against each other |
| How many places you deal with | One. Call (705) 472-6060 or text (705) 571-4391, and the two-way text messaging runs through the same system as the reports | One booking, one drop-off and one pickup for each vehicle, in each place |
| When one of them is a hybrid or a diesel | Same building. Ryan is a Toyota-certified Master Technician with hybrid certification, and oil changes cover gas and diesel | A separate arrangement to make for that particular vehicle |
| Seasonal tire changeovers | Every set for the household racked at one shop between seasons, close to 200 customer sets in total | Sets in different places, or in your own garage |
None of that makes a difference on a single oil change. It makes a difference in the third year, when a vehicle comes back with a noise and the question is whether it was already in a report eighteen months ago. One shop can answer that. Several cannot, because none of them has the whole picture.
Building the Repair Into a Trip You Are Already Making
If the day already takes you east on Highway 17, the shop is on the route rather than off it. That is the practical argument for a household in West Nipissing, and it is why the after-hours key drop and the shuttle matter more here than they do for someone living a few blocks from Cholette St.
- The after-hours key drop turns two drives into one. The vehicle can be left the night before and the work starts first thing in the morning, rather than starting whenever a vehicle that left Verner or Cache Bay at 8:00am finally arrives.
- The shuttle includes rides home. Mention it when booking so it can be arranged rather than improvised on the day. It is the difference between a full-day job costing you a day and costing you a drop-off.
- Approvals happen from wherever you are. Digital inspection reports go out by both text and email, with photos and video of your own vehicle, grouped by priority. Items are approved or declined from a phone or a computer, without a phone call and without standing in the shop.
- Highway kilometres are what the service schedule is counting. An interval measured in kilometres arrives sooner on a vehicle that runs a highway corridor regularly than on one that stays in town, which is worth knowing before the sticker date rolls around.
- Tires and front-end parts wear on distance, not on calendar. That is what a suspension and steering check and a wheel alignment are looking at, and an alignment is the cheapest way to stop a new set of tires being chewed up unevenly.
- One trip can carry more than one job. An oil change, a tire changeover and a safety certificate booked together are one visit instead of three, which is a bigger deal from 35 km out than it is from across town.
What Does a Visit Cost From 35 km Away?
AutoNorth quotes the price before the work is done. An oil change covers gas and diesel and includes a new filter, a 120-point visual inspection and a wash. Everything beyond that is quoted before the work is done.
- Oil changes are quoted before you book. Gas and diesel, new filter, 120-point visual inspection and a wash. Diesel and larger-capacity engines hold more oil, so give the year, make and model when booking and the number comes back before the drive rather than after it.
- Diagnosis and repair are quoted separately. The cost of finding the fault is a different number from the cost of fixing it, and the second one is only quoted once there is something real to quote.
- Nothing proceeds without approval. The report arrives by text and email with photographs and video of your own vehicle, and each item is approved or declined individually. From West Nipissing that matters more than it does for someone who can walk over and look.
- Technicians are paid straight time, not flat rate. Nobody at the shop earns more by rushing a vehicle or by finding extra work on it. That is a pay structure decision, and it is the one most often behind the complaints people have about this trade.
- Third-party financing is available through AT Clarke Enterprises. A repair that lands at the wrong time of the month does not have to wait for the right one. Ask when the quote comes through.
- Warranty and fleet work is covered. AutoNorth is an approved repair facility for Canada General and Global Warranty, and a certified Holman service shop, which is how government and municipal fleets are handled.
Call (705) 472-6060 or text (705) 571-4391 with what the vehicle is doing and roughly how many kilometres are on it. A price comes back before anyone drives anywhere.
Where Do Four Sets of Winter Tires Go in May?
Racked at the shop, ideally. AutoNorth keeps close to 200 customer tire sets between seasons, which is the part of the tire business that a multi-vehicle household feels most. Stock covers 21 tire brands, with mounting, balancing, puncture repair and seasonal changeovers all done in the same building.
- 21 brands stocked means the household does not have to standardise. A half-ton and a compact car do not want the same tire, and there is no reason to compromise one to keep the buying simple.
- Close to 200 sets are already racked at the shop. Off-season sets live on the racks rather than stacked against a wall in the garage, and they come back mounted and balanced rather than needing a second trip.
- Changeover timing is a temperature question, not a date question. Winter tire compound stays flexible below roughly 7 degrees Celsius. All-season compounds stiffen around the same point, which is why the swap is worth booking before the first cold snap rather than after it.
- Several vehicles can be booked into one window. Two or three changeovers arranged together is one conversation about scheduling instead of three, and the storage and the winter tire side are handled by the same people.
- Punctures and balancing come with the territory. Repairs, rebalancing and pressure checks are ordinary work at the tire shop, and none of it requires the vehicle to go somewhere else.
What an Independent Shop With Manufacturer Training Covers
AutoNorth Auto Repair opened on Cholette St in September 2025 and is rated 5.0 across 24 Google reviews. The range of what happens in the building is the point for a household or a small business with several different vehicles in it.
- Manufacturer training, independent shop. Owner Ryan Christadler is a Toyota-certified Master Technician with hybrid certification, trained at Centennial College. That training does not stop applying when a different badge comes through the door.
- All makes and models, gas, diesel and hybrid. A diesel pickup, a gas sedan and a hybrid can all be booked into the same shop, which is the whole argument for not splitting a household fleet up.
- A licensed MTO Motor Vehicle Inspection Station. Ontario Vehicle Safety Certificates are issued at Cholette St, so a vehicle being sold, imported or re-registered does not need a separate stop.
- Fleet and warranty work runs through the same bays. Certified Holman service shop for government and municipal fleets, and an approved repair facility for Canada General and Global Warranty.
- The inspection report is the same for everyone. Photos and video of the actual vehicle, sent by both text and email, grouped by priority, approved or declined from a phone. The shop runs AutoLeap, which also handles two-way text messaging, so a question about a line item does not need a phone call.
- 5.0 across 24 Google reviews. A small number, honestly counted, from a shop that opened in September 2025. It is a starting record rather than a decade of them.
Parking is on the gravel lot out front, and the key drop is there for anything left outside of Monday to Friday, 8:00am to 5:00pm.
Services a West Nipissing Household Books Most
Highway kilometres, a mixed set of vehicles and two sets of tires per vehicle decide most of this list. All of it happens at 1520 Cholette St, on all makes and models, gas, diesel and hybrid.
Oil Changes
Gas and diesel, with a new filter, a 120-point visual inspection and a wash.
Read moreHybrid Service
Hybrid systems handled in the same building as everything else.
Read moreTire Shop
21 brands stocked, mounting, balancing, puncture repair and changeovers.
Read moreBrake Repair
Pads, rotors, calipers and lines, with the wear shown in the report.
Read moreCheck Engine Light
Diagnosis quoted first, repair quoted separately once the fault is known.
Read moreFleet Services
Certified Holman service shop, for government and municipal fleets.
Read moreEverything else is on the full services list, and the contact page has the map, the hours and the booking form.
West Nipissing: Common Questions
How far is AutoNorth from Sturgeon Falls and West Nipissing?
Approximately 35 km, on Highway 17. West Nipissing sits about 35 km west of North Bay via Highway 17, and AutoNorth Auto Repair is at 1520 Cholette St at the North Bay end of that run. Highway 17 is the Trans-Canada and passes through the rural municipalities of Markstay-Warren and West Nipissing before it reaches the city, so the trip east is one road rather than a series of turns. The shop is open Monday to Friday, 8:00am to 5:00pm, and closed weekends.
What is the route in from Field or River Valley?
Highway 64, then Highway 17. Highway 64 runs 145.0 km in total, from Highway 69 near Rutter north to Highway 11 at Marten River, and it passes Field on the northern leg, which covers 57 km between Sturgeon Falls and Highway 11. South of Sturgeon Falls, Highway 64 and Highway 17 run concurrent for 15 km between Sturgeon Falls and Verner, so south shore drivers coming through Alban, Noelville, Chartrand Corner or Verner join the same stretch. Either way the last leg into North Bay is Highway 17 east.
Can one shop look after a truck, a car and a hybrid?
Yes. AutoNorth services all makes and models, gas, diesel and hybrid, at the same address. Owner Ryan Christadler is a Toyota-certified Master Technician with hybrid certification, trained at Centennial College. Keeping the vehicles together means one set of records, one report format to compare across them, and one phone number to book through: (705) 472-6060, or text (705) 571-4391.
Can I leave the vehicle the night before instead of driving in twice from West Nipissing?
Yes. There is an after-hours key drop at the Cholette St shop, so the vehicle can be left the night before and the work starts first thing in the morning. There is also a customer shuttle, including rides home, if you would rather drop off during the day. Mention the shuttle when you book so it can be arranged. Either way, the digital inspection report reaches you by text and email with photos and video of your own vehicle, and each item is approved or declined from your phone.
What will I be told about the price before I book?
The price for your vehicle, before you drive in. An oil change covers gas and diesel with a new filter, a 120-point visual inspection and a wash, and is quoted for your vehicle before you book. Diesel engines hold considerably more oil, so the number depends on what you drive. Call the shop with your year, make and model and AutoNorth will tell you the price for your vehicle before you book, not after the hood is up. Everything past the oil change is quoted before the work happens.
Can the winter tires for several vehicles be stored at the shop?
That is what the racks are for. AutoNorth keeps close to 200 customer tire sets between seasons, and stocks 21 tire brands, with mounting, balancing, puncture repair and seasonal changeovers all handled in the same building. On timing, the swap is a temperature question rather than a date question: winter tire compound stays flexible below roughly 7 degrees Celsius, and all-season compounds stiffen around the same point. Several vehicles can be booked into one window.
Book the Whole Driveway Into One Trip
Call or text AutoNorth with what each vehicle is doing. Ask about the shuttle or the after-hours key drop when you book, and a run in from West Nipissing covers more than one job in a single drive.