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The Night the Ballots Came Back
Some shops win an award and frame it behind the counter. Ceglarz Motor Repair & Sales is going to need a bigger wall. When the New Britain Herald published its Best of 2026 results, the same address showed up in the Auto section not once, not twice, but six times.
Best Auto Body. Best Auto Parts. Best Auto Repair. Best Oil Change. Best Tires. Best Used Car. That's not a good night — that's a sweep, the kind of across-the-board showing that only happens when a shop has been quietly taking care of a city for a long, long time. The Best Of results aren't picked by a panel or a committee. They're voted on by readers: the neighbors, commuters, and lifelong New Britain families who actually sit in the waiting room, hand over their keys, and drive the work home.
Look down that column and a pattern emerges fast. Category after category, the same three lines repeat like a chorus: Ceglarz Motor Repair & Sales, 581 W Main St., New Britain, 860-224-3532. In the Best Auto Repair category, Ceglarz shares the honor in a tie with Kensington Auto Services LTD of Berlin — a respectful nod between two hardworking garages, and the only category all year that anyone managed to split with them.
“For the experts in cars... call Ceglarz!”
— The shop's own motto, now backed up by six reader-voted trophiesWhat does it take to win six categories at once? It means the person who came in for a $40 oil change and the person who needed a full collision repair both walked out impressed enough to remember the name months later, find the ballot, and write it down. It means the family that bought a used car off the lot trusted the shop enough to come back for tires. It means parts, service, sales, and bodywork — four different businesses under one roof — all running at a level readers considered the best in the city.
In an era when independent garages are squeezed between dealership service centers and national chains, a hometown shop pulling off a near-total sweep of its city's reader poll is genuinely rare. It's the automotive equivalent of a diner winning best breakfast, best lunch, best dinner, and best coffee in the same year.
