Dimitri Schleif
Specialty - Audi/Volkswagen
20 - Years of Experience
As is the case with the rest of the Berg Performance pit crew, Dimitri Schleif had cars on the brain at an early age, from posters on his bedroom walls to car books and magazines. His passion for Audi specifically came into focus with his father’s 1988 Audi 90, when he was about 6 years old. Annual road trips are among his favorite memories of that car—and one year in particular, when an ongoing joke to honk the horn on a long, open road led to the punchline: the horn stopped working.
But it wasn’t until an automotive class in high school—originally elected for the easy pass—that Dimitri’s career and future would start to take shape. Dimitri clicked with the teacher and found his direction, confident that he would excel in the automotive industry. A demonstration from Universal Technical Institute further sealed that fate, and the tech school’s partnership with Audi would become his foot in the door.
Within a few months of graduating, Dimitri’s Audi Academy instructor pointed him in the direction of a dealer in Sacramento that had an immediate opening. Niello Audi/VW flew Dimitri out from Chicago and wound up offering him the job plus moving expenses. As the new guy fresh out of school, Dimitri still appreciates how the team there took him in and molded him into what he is today.
Family brought him back to Chicago a couple years later, where he landed at another Audi dealer, and a VW dealer after that. A decision to wipe the slate clean and start over in 2012 had the Dimitri family—Dimitri, wife Jennifer, son Dominik and daughter Gianna—putting the Midwest in their rearview and venturing to Colorado. Picking up where he left off on the employment front, Dimitri took up work at a VW dealer and back to Audi for a number of years before the same old dealership life finally wore on him.
Berg Performance had popped up on his radar through the mechanic grapevine, and Dimitri’s interest was piqued when he heard tell of the shop doing a manual transmission swap in an S6. Flipping through Facebook one day, Dimitri came full circle: Berg was looking for an experienced Audi/VW tech, and a message to Aaron had the two chatting in person the next day—where Dimitri continued to be impressed with what he described as a beautiful, clean, well set up, clean, organized, clean shop. He was part of the team and family within the month and quickly came to be known as the “quiet” one.
Aside from the spotless environment, Dimitri’s reverence for Berg comes from his ability to be transparent with customers, fully explain what the car needs and why, what they can expect in the near future, and ensure all questions and concerns are addressed right away. In his words: “It instills a level of confidence and trust that I have never felt being at the dealers.”
Dimitri’s vehicle stable currently consists of his winter car, a 2003 A4 1.8T; his other car, a 2011 VW Sportwagen TDI (which he bought new in 2011 and has zero intentions to ever sell); and a project: a recently purchased 2001 Audi Allroad with upgraded turbos. Jennifer drives a 2015 Q7 TDI, and Dominik a 2003 VW Passat wagon.
True to the Audi brand to the core, one day, his garage will also house an RS6 Avant, a car he loves for its simplicity, speed, aesthetic and down-to-earth nature.