North Cowichan Automotive

Ryan Biela's been honing his car cleaning acumen for more than 16 years. Originally a mobile detail service, The Detail Shop expanded into a brick-and-mortar business and augmented its growing detail service with auto-glass installations. The dutiful technicians remedy crestfallen rides with deep interior cleanings, wax and polish treatments, and paintless dent removal. Additionally, certified industry professionals replace windshields damaged by flying debris or bit by feral hood ornaments. While cars revel in the attention, a lobby with free coffee, WiFi, and TV entertainment gives motorists a break from the drivers seat, and an in-house showroom doles out detailing products, car accessories, and audio equipment.

Cycle BC Rentals & Tours sends adventurers on two-wheeled explorations of British Columbia. Riders saddle up their preferred bicycle, scooter, or motorcycle before shooting down the open asphalt as they visit mountains, gardens, beaches, and castles. Over the years, Cycle BC has compiled their favourite routes—complete with distances, notable sights, and celebrities most likely to be caught hitchhiking—into one extensive online database. Riders can rent adventure, sport touring, or cruiser motorcycles, two types of scooters, as well as electronic-hybrid bicycles that give an extra umph when pedaling up daunting hills.

Helmed by owner Monte Graham, Great Canadian Oil Change's technicians keep domestic and foreign vehicles purring with a lineup of services that garnered them the "2009 Company of the Year" award fro m the Westshore Chamber of Commerce. Requiring no appointments, Graham's techs take approximately 10 minutes to replace dirty old oil with conventional oil from brands such as Mobil or synthetic blends mixed by the world's most noted bartenders. They also check other necessary fluids and perform minor maintenance such as windshield-wiper replacement. After chariots gallop out of the shop, the staff sends all used oil, filters, and antifreeze off to licensed and bonded recycling companies.

The team at Exclusive Detailing hand-labor facility meticulously scours vehicles, with services that include everything from traditional waxing and tire-dressing treatments to specialty services such as removing tree-sap and pet-hair. To keep UV rays out and antsy ghosts in, Exclusive also outfits rides with window tinting. Cars that seek refuge from the harsh winter weather can cozy up inside the shop’s heated, alarmed, and insured storage facility.

In just three years, Integra Tire Auto Centre has expanded from a single store into a successful franchise with 70 centres sprawled across Western Canada. The team at Integra credits its swift success to its commitment to the word written right in its name: integrity. Not only licensed but also continuously trained on the new techniques, the technicians at each location exercise the best practices during each and every service, from outfitting rides with new tires by Firestone, Dunlop, or Samson to swapping out oil or replacing melted ice cubes in the air-conditioning system.

The Integra crew occasionally emerges from beneath the car to donate time and money to the community. In 2011, technicians in Edmonton leaped from airplanes in the “Jump for Jugs” fundraiser, and in Balcarres, the team rounded up the entire community to raise $8,000 for cancer research.

Brian Jessel Autohaus is a local port of call for high-performance European vehicles. Its showroom stocks shiny, high-octane roadsters from BMW, Audi, and Mercedes-Benz. The team of certified and factory-trained technicians preps each vehicle for sale with an extensive 50-point safety inspection and can also supercharge vehicles for speed with KW suspension systems, Toyo tires, and Akrapovic exhaust units. To keep vehicles looking their best, the dealership’s auto spa pampers rides with heaps of hand wax, gentle chamois drying, detailing of doorjambs, and tar removal.