After 22 years you can still see Brian (Doc) Small using his stethoscope at his popular auto repair shop, Doc’s Auto Clinic on Copper Ridge Drive. And even though Doc is still serving many of the same customers he’s had for decades, this is the first time his shop has taken first place in Best of Boat. “Our specialty is customer care,” says Small.

In a market where retaining employees can be difficult, Small’s dedication to his staff is a priority. “It’s a hard job intellectually and physically,” he says. “You do a work schedule that allows them time to recover, so we don’t open on weekends.”

Small says the biggest change he’s seen in auto repair is the computerized systems on cars. “In some ways it’s easier and other ways more difficult,” he says. “We spend a lot of time on diagnostics, which some customers aren’t used to.”

Growing up in the automotive industry (his grandfather owned the first Ford Dealership in Washington, D.C.), Small and his wife Anne opened Doc’s Auto a year after they moved to Steamboat in 1996.

2019 Best of the Boat winners

Click here to see the complete list of winners from 2019’s Best of the Boat.