February 7, 2008 Issue
Business Spotlight
Steve’s Auto Service—Taking Care of the Hundreds of Subarus in Boone For 25 Years
Story by Sam Calhoun
You can’t drive any road in the High Country without seeing a Subaru. The imported cars are everywhere because they’re reliable, sporty and great in the snow. Subarus are not, however, so good that they don’t break down occasionally or need replacement parts now and then.
Enter Steve Byerly. He’s your Subaru’s best friend because he’s been fixing the Japanese cars, as well as other imports, in the High Country for the past 25 years.
Perched on the hill above the west end of King Street at 1669 Highway 421 North, Steve’s Auto Service is a place for good conversation, mountain hospitality and, of course, car talk galore. At any moment in the day, Subarus and other Asian imports sit on lifts in the garage and local folks troubleshoot car problems with Steve in the office. Byerly, 58, gets his hands dirty every day, along with his two employees. You can tell Byerly loves what he does, but he’ll tell you that he just kind of fell into the business of working on cars.
Byerly grew up in Charlotte, but moved to Pompano Beach, Fla. and Atlanta, Ga. during his high school years because of his father’s job. After high school, Byerly was looking for a job in the Atlanta area and decided that he wanted to pursue a career in the auto service industry because of his love for fixing cars.
“[After high school] I started tinkering with my own [cars] and one thing just led to another,” said Byerly, who worked at various auto service shops in Atlanta, most of which specialized in imports. “I always worked on imports; I fell into it. You know in this business, you kind of start in something and then you fall right into it.”
In Atlanta, Byerly met his wife Karen. The couple has two children—Erin, 28, who teaches school in Ecuador, and Alan, 23, who just finished four years in the Navy and is now attending EMT school in Jacksonville, Fla.
In January 1976, Byerly and Karen moved to the High Country from Atlanta.
“We came because, quite frankly, the allure of the area, and my brother lived up here,” said Byerly.
Upon arrival in the mountains, Byerly took a job with a local import auto service shop—a job he kept for 1.5 years. At the same time, Larry Cone—the famous Boone Subaru dealer—bought Boone’s Subaru dealership that was located in the present day Spake’s Auto Service building on King Street. Cone had a mechanic picked out for his business, but just days before opening, the mechanic was in a motorcycle wreck and could not work. Cone called Byerly and offered him the job. Byerly worked for Cone from 1979 to 1983.
In 1983, Cone sold the dealership to John Cook, and Byerly saw an opportunity to leave the dealership and strike out on his own without hurting anyone’s feelings or burning any bridges. With a few thousand dollars borrowed from his mother, Byerly moved into a small building at the intersection of Pinnacle Drive and King Street and opened Steve’s Auto Service.
“It worked out great; I knew I wouldn’t be making anyone mad,” said Byerly.
For four years, Byerly worked out of the small building, fixing Subarus and gaining a customer base. During that time, Byerly knew that the business in a larger building located just up the hill from his location was failing, and he contacted the building owner to ask if he could buy it. In 1987, the owner sold the building to Byerly, and Steve’s Auto Service found a new home.
Business is good. Byerly loves specializing in Subarus because he believes they are good cars, long lived and reliable. And because he specializes in Subarus, he’s become quite the ace at fixing them over the past 25 years.
“If you specialize in something, it takes a whole lot less time to figure stuff out,” said Byerly.
Steve’s Auto Service is popular with locals. Byerly has a databank containing the names of thousands of repeat customers who have frequented his shop over the past quarter century.
“We’ve been blessed,” said Byerly, who added that he is thankful for all the customers who have patronized his shop.
“What I always try to do is provide quality work at a reasonable price,” said Byerly. “I stand behind what I do and I am honest with people.”
In terms of the future, Byerly has no plans to leave Boone or to expand or move his shop, although he is beginning to think of retirement.
“But I just plug along,” said Byerly. “I really like the size we are now.”
Steve’s Auto Service is located at 1669 Highway 421 North in Boone. The shop is open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. For more information, call 828-264-4369.
Community Interest
News & Notes
Events
Arts & Entertainment
