Today we’d like to introduce you to Everett Barter.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Brakeout Auto started the way many of the best small businesses do — as a high school summer job for two brothers who happened to love cars.
What began as a way to earn money over the summer quickly turned into a genuine passion. Brothers in the work and lifelong State College natives, Sullivan and Everett Barter cared less about the paycheck and more about the transformation — the moment a customer sees their car looking better than the day they bought it. In 2023, they made it official and founded Brakeout Auto Detailing, LLC.
Since launching in 2023, the Brakeout Auto team has detailed hundreds of vehicles across State College and the surrounding region. With every project, the team refined its process, invested in better equipment and earned manufacturer certifications, expanding from interior and exterior detailing into ceramic coating, paint correction, window tinting, vinyl, and paint protection film. The business grew almost entirely through word-of-mouth referrals — one happy customer telling the next.
That growth shows. Brakeout Auto has earned more than 500 five-star reviews, climbed from #2 to #1 Best Auto Detailing in Centre County’s Favorites, and built a team of six trained professionals — all in just a few years. But the heart of it hasn’t changed: it’s still a passion project, run by local people who take real pride in their community and in every car they touch.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Honestly? No — it hasn’t been a smooth road, and I wouldn’t want to pretend it was. Brakeout started as a high school summer job, and there’s a big gap between detailing a few friends’ cars on the weekend and running a business people actually rely on. A lot of the early struggle was just learning the stuff nobody teaches you: how to price your work, how to talk to customers, how to handle a job that doesn’t go exactly to plan, and how to show up consistently even when you’re exhausted.
Being fully mobile is a huge part of what makes us different, but it’s also been one of our biggest challenges. We bring everything to the customer’s driveway — water hookups, extension cords, all our own equipment — so every job carries a layer of logistics a fixed shop never deals with. Weather basically runs our calendar. Central PA winters are brutal on cars with all the road salt, but they’re just as brutal on us trying to detail outside, and one rained-out day can mean reshuffling a whole week of bookings. We also made a deliberate choice early on not to be the cheapest option in town, which meant we had to earn trust before people would pay for quality. With no real marketing budget, almost all of our growth came through word of mouth — rewarding, but slow. You’re only ever as good as your last car.
The student side of it is its own challenge. Running this while being a full-time student means there’s basically no true downtime. Classes and exams don’t pause because you’ve got five cars booked that week, and bookings don’t pause for finals. I’ve done homework between jobs, answered customer texts in the back of a lecture hall, and caught up on schoolwork plenty of nights after a full day of detailing. The work is physically demanding too, so you’re managing your energy on top of your time. And in a town like State College, a big chunk of our customers are students themselves, so the calendar swings hard with the school year — summers and breaks look completely different from the middle of a semester, and you have to plan around that.
The tradeoffs are real. While a lot of people our age were spending their free time and money on the normal college stuff, we were reinvesting everything back into better equipment and saying no to a lot so we could say yes to this. But that’s exactly what’s made it worth it. We’re State College natives, and this was never just a way to make money — it’s a passion project. Every hard lesson made us better at it, and getting to build something real in our own community, with a team we trust, while we’re still this young, is something I wouldn’t trade.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Brakeout Auto is a State College-based detailing and vehicle protection company, and we actually operate two ways. For detailing, paint correction, and ceramic coating, we’re fully mobile — we bring the shop to your driveway. All we need is access to water and electricity, and we handle the rest: hoses, extension cords, and professional-grade equipment. For our precision film work — window tinting, vinyl wraps, and paint protection film (PPF) — you come to our shop here in State College, because that kind of install needs a clean, climate-controlled environment to be done right. Over the last three years we’ve detailed hundreds of vehicles across Centre County, and we’ve grown into a team of four who genuinely live and breathe car care.
We started in detailing — interior and exterior, paint correction, waxes and sealants — and have expanded into the full range of vehicle care: ceramic coatings, window tinting, PPF, and custom vinyl wraps, plus detailing for boats, RVs, and even planes. For our film work we’re certified 3M installers, so it’s backed by real training and warranties, not guesswork. Whether someone’s driving a daily commuter or a rare exotic, we treat every vehicle with the same level of care and respect.
A few things really set us apart. The first is flexibility: for the services that can be done anywhere, we come to you — no waiting rooms, no driving a dirty car across town — and for the work that demands a controlled space, we’ve got a proper shop to do it in, instead of cutting corners in someone’s driveway. We’re also one of the only detailers in the area using biodegradable, eco-friendly products, so you get a flawless finish without harsh chemicals, lingering smells, or residue left behind. And we deliberately source our supplies from local, family-owned businesses, because we’re State College natives and supporting our community matters to us. We’ll be honest — we’re not the cheapest option in town. What we offer instead is passion, attention to detail, and a real obsession with getting it right.
Brand-wise, what I’m proudest of is our reputation. We’ve earned over 500 five-star reviews and been voted the #1 detailing service in Centre County, but the part that means the most is how much of our business still comes through word-of-mouth referrals. People trust us with something they care about, and they tell their friends — you can’t buy that, you have to earn it one car at a time. For a young team that started this as a high school summer job, building that kind of trust in our own hometown is something we’re incredibly proud of.
If there’s one thing I’d want your readers to know, it’s that this isn’t just a service to us — it’s a passion project. We back every job with a 100% satisfaction guarantee because we actually care about the result, and we treat every car like it’s our own. Whether you want us to come to you for a detail or ceramic coating, or you’re booking tint, a wrap, or PPF at our shop, we’d love the chance to show you the difference. You can book online or reach us anytime at 814-424-5367.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
For us, success isn’t really a number — though I’ll admit the milestones feel good. Hitting 500 five-star reviews and being voted the #1 detailer in Centre County are things we’re proud of. But honestly, those are the scoreboard, not the game. The real measure for us is referrals. When someone trusts us with their car, walks away happy enough to tell a friend, and that friend books too — that’s the truest sign we did the job right. You can’t buy that or fake it; you earn it one car at a time. A business that grows mostly on word of mouth is a business that’s actually delivering, and that’s the kind of success that means the most to me.
On a personal level, success is getting to build something real, in our own hometown, while we’re still this young and still in school. We’re State College natives, and Brakeout started as a high school summer job — so the fact that it’s now a real company with a team of four, a shop, and customers who count on us still doesn’t feel small to us. Success is doing work we’re genuinely passionate about, on our own terms, instead of clocking into something we don’t care about.
And it’s consistency. It’s the next car looking just as good as the last one, and a customer being 100% satisfied every time, not just most of the time. We’re not trying to be the cheapest — we’re trying to be the kind of business people remember and come back to. As long as we keep earning that trust and keep getting better at what we do, that’s success to us.
Pricing:
- Mobile detailing starts at $197 for an interior detail and $299 for a full interior-and-exterior detail, with pricing scaling based on your vehicle’s size and condition.
- Ceramic coating packages start at $500, include a warranty, and offer 3–10 years of protection depending on the package you choose.
- Window tinting ranges from $197 for a windshield or single area up to $450 for a full-vehicle tint, all backed by a lifetime warranty.
- Vinyl wraps range from $1,499 for a partial wrap (like a tuxedo top) up to $4,999 for a full color-change wrap, backed by a 10-year warranty.
- Paint protection film ranges from $1,499 for a full front-end package up to $3,999 for full-body coverage, backed by a 10-year warranty.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.brakeoutauto.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brakeoutauto/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrakeoutAuto
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@BrakeoutAuto
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/brakeout-auto-detailing-state-college-6?osq=car+detailing&override_cta=Get+pricing+%26+availability
