The coolest birthday present I ever received was a gift from my wife a number of years ago; it was a white 1962 Mercedes-Benz 220 sedan reasonably well-restored. But the classy antique car, with its deep fenders and leather seats, turned out to be a real lemon. That’s about all I remember about the car. But I remember a lot about Brothers Auto Service near Charlotte, North Carolina, where my elegant birthday present was frequently nursed back to health during the two years I tried to depend on it.

The two owners, Nicky and Joe, believed all customers were simply “good neighbors with car problems.” Their prices were fair, their workmanship superb, their hours convenient, but the same could be said of most of their competitors, including the service department of a major Mercedes dealership that was less than a mile away. However, it’s Brothers’ “in customers we trust” philosophy that has kept it in business since 1982.

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