Meet Michael Palazzolo

I'm Michael Palazzolo, and I was born and raised in the metro Detroit area. My wife and I have three children and live in Brentwood, Tennessee, which is a suburb of Nashville.

In my spare time I like to run, lift weights and ride my bike. I also am a licensed pilot and enjoy flying. I compete in many types of sporting events such as the Chattanooga Stump Jumper and a variety of expedition-length Adventure Races.

Being from Detroit, it's not too surprising that I found myself drawn into the automotive industry.

After graduating from high school, I quickly discovered I have a real passion for sales and marketing. My first job in the auto repair industry was as a manager of an AAMCO Transmission.

Within a year, I had taken one of the areas most under-performing stores and transformed it into one of the strongest in the region. I received a number of awards and recognitions for my accomplishments, and began looking for opportunities to start my own business.

In 1989, I opened my first brake repair shop, and within a few years I owned numerous shops around metro Detroit.

To fulfill my vision of having a national market presence, I started franchising the repair shops and soon had 100 franchises across the country. I eventually sold the franchise division, and in April 2001 my family and I relocated to Nashville to start Budget Brakes.

Because Nashville is centrally located in the Southeast, it provided the ideal market hub to grow my new model.

I was able to utilize all I learned the previous 20 years and create a new company that didn't involve franchising, which has given me an opportunity for more hands-on management.

In 2003, Steven Ryan became my business partner. Although our expertise was in very different areas, it didn't take long before we realized that we share a common vision.

We also realized that by blending our talents, we could create a customer-focused, service-orientated company that provides quality brake service at an affordable price.

That, in a nutshell, is what Budget Brakes is all about.