MANKATO — Pete Meixl loves kids. They’re a big reason his new Rent-A-Geek business is doing well.

“If you have kids, that’ll wreck a computer. Kids will just do anything, click on anything, borrow disks with viruses on them. They’re good to have around. We wouldn’t have half our work otherwise.”

Meixl and six other computer geeks, who go to homes or offices to repair or upgrade computers, have been visible in the Mankato area the past few months — primarily because of what Meixl calls his “fleet.” It consists of three, slightly banged-up old vans painted black, with big yellow Rent-A-Geek signs and flashing amber lights. At any given time, a third of the fleet is likely to be in the shop for repairs.

“I get old vans that seem to run at the time and then cross my fingers,” Meixl said.

To top off the singular look of the fleet, Meixl bolted a laptop computer to the roof of each van.

“It’s just for fun. People are always waving and yelling that we left a computer on the roof.”

Meixl, who attended South Central College, became an entrepreneur after sizing up the employment landscape.

“I applied at other computer companies and they weren’t paying much, so I figured I couldn’t make much less doing it myself.”

Setting his rate scale was simple: “I called every computer (repair) business in town and got their prices then charged 10 bucks less than the lowest one.”

The business name came easily. “One of my ex-girlfriends made it up. I thought it was funny.”

The name is not so funny to the corporate lawyers for the Geek Squad, a national computer-repair business owned by Best Buy that is known for its black-and-white Volkswagen cars.

“They’ve sent some threatening letters saying I’m confusing their customers. I’ll wait ’til they sue me and go to court. I’ll win, I’ve got the name registered with the state.”

Last spring, he put an ad in the newspaper offering computer house calls and business began to boom. Meixl opened a small office at 107 E. Cherry St., got a Web site (www.rentageekusa.com), hired on some computer-minded friends, and began to grow.

Most home-computer problems fall into three categories. “They’re running really slow, they lost some data, or they won’t turn on.”

Viruses picked up from certain Web sites and particularly e-mail attachments often cause problems. “Usually the e-mails are from their friends so they figure they’re safe and they click them open. It’s beautiful for us.”

Meixl said their business mission is straightforward: Do good work, do it quick, do it cheap, and put people at ease about their computer’s malfunctions.

“People like it when we drive up in our old vans. They have fun with it. It’s supposed to be fun.”

Rent-A-Geek also repairs computers at its office and will custom-build new computers for people, based on their needs.

With the business continuing to grow, Meixl is looking at starting a franchise in another state. And if all goes well, he might add to his fleet in Mankato.

“But maybe not such old vans. They break down a lot.”