Unless you have a penchant for high-stakes gambling, you wouldn’t take your Ferrari to a place called Jimbo’s Car Hole.

So why would you take your hybrid to just any old oil slick? Especially when bets are the mechanics don’t practice the proper disposal methods of Freon, oil or any other of the deleterious fluids found in the garage.

Makes the whole going green thing a bit self-defeating, if you ask me.

Thankfully, with the surge of hybrid sales, enterprising entrepreneurs are finding a new niche in the automotive service industry that is practically untapped, and sorely needed.

It was on that premise that Carolyn Coquillette started Luscious Garage in San Fran’s hip SOMA district.

“There’s a critical mass of hybrids in the Bay Area, enough to support a shop like this,” she said.

With over 255,000 hybrids on the road, and 21,000 of them in the Bay area, she’s certainly onto something big, and things are really starting to take off for Coquillette, who at 29 seems an unlikely candidate for such a business.

A University of Michigan graduate with degrees in physics and English, Coquillette could have taken the more beaten path, but a frustrating problem with her car changed everything.

“I had had this problem with my vehicle and I thought, I’ve got a God damn degree in physics, I should be able to turn off my dome light,” she said.

She enrolled in an automotive repair course in a community college, became a certified mechanic and spent seven years in the trade before opening her green garage.

The business model is simple. Keep the shop clean, the atmosphere friendly, and thee environmental footprint to a minimum, all while keeping hybrids running at their peak of performance and efficiency.

Sounds easy, but as a mechanic in my past life, I can tell you that is a helluva lot harder than it sounds.

In my old shop oil got spilled, jugs of antifreeze got kicked over and lights got left on.

Never intentionally, mind you; it just seemed to be the nature of the beast. We were an unruly lot with more important things on our minds . . . like not setting our heads a-light with a backfire. Keeping things clean and orderly was damn near an impossibility.

And, while I’m proud to say my shop was never guilty of this crime, it was common practice around the industrial park to release Freon into the air instead of properly disposing of it.

“Typically people look down upon auto repair as dirty,” Coquillette said. “A green auto repair facility is so essential in terms of moving into this next stage where we have to be so mindful of our environmental impact. A lot about this shop is saying we’re aware of what we’re doing and we’re going to consistently try and do better.”

From efficient compressors, skylights, and re-refined oil to online receipts, an aggressive scrap metal recycling policy, and Coquillette’s bicycle commute, Luscious Garage is definitely practicing what they preach.

I know, I know, all good and grand . . . but what does it mean for you?

If the media blitz that Luscious Garage has received is any indication, Coquillette has struck a nerve in an industry that is often overlooked.

As Coquillette and other experienced hybrid mechanics continue to teach what they’ve learned to others and shops adapt themselves to stay ahead of the curve, people will see more and more of these specialized shops spring up.

As a result, unfounded fears over hybrid safety, repair cost and convenience will be filed in their correct spot under “urban legends,” and the market will see growth on par with solar and other alternative energies that have brought smart investors heavy gains over the past several years.

Stay tuned to Green Chip Stocks for all your hybrid news.

Keep your hopes in the future but your sense in the present . . .

Field Palmer