Fort Collins Auto Repair

If you and your family are hitting the roads for the holidays, know that you will be one of many. In a perfect world, holiday road trips are full of spirit and fun. While few families use this opportunity to jam out to Christmas carols, many sit in stress or frustration. To prevent a disaster on the road, we’d like to share these tips to ensure your road trip is safe and as stress-free as possible: Stay buckled up - Safety always comes first. That said, make sure everyone in the car is buckled in. Store valuables - For longer trips that span for several hours, stops for gas, restrooms, and even meals are inevitable. When you make stops, ensure valuables (including christmas gifts) are stored out of sight.  Prepare for icy conditions - Depending on where you’re traveling, you might hit some icy or snowy conditions. Make sure you take it slow while on the road. Additionally, make sure your vehicle is equipped to handle such conditions. Some areas to check include tir ... read more

Consider this: automotive repair is inherently a sustainable business.  Why is that? Because keeping vehicles on the road by repairing them is more environmentally-friendly than producing new vehicles. Truth is, automotive is the top recycling industry in the world. And believe it or not, about 86% of a car is recyclable. New cars are made from about 25% recycled materials.    A major part of day-to-day operations in an auto repair shop includes a lot of recycling. Everything from scrap metal, dirty fluids, old car batteries, used car parts, paper and corrugated cardboard are recycled daily.   If you’ve ever completed a car repair on your own, you know what we mean. At the end of an oil change, for example, you are left with a load of dirty motor oil plus a used oil filter. If ... read more

Isn’t it frustrating to spend your time and money taking your vehicle to an auto shop only to learn the problem is something you could have easily fixed yourself?  Knowledge is power. Therefore, we believe part of our job to educate drivers on how their vehicles work. Be sure to pick our brains whenever you come into the shop.     But for now:     We have five secrets to keep you from needing to make that appointment call.   1. Save yourself a trip to the auto repair shop by taking care of your car battery   If you go to start your car and the engine won’t crank and the electronics (lights, radio, door locks, etc.) won’t work, your car battery might be dead.      Now, instead of having your vehicle towed to the shop, you can try a few things on your own.   First, check for corrosion on the battery terminals.   When corrosion builds up on the terminals, it can make for poor connection to ... read more

Fleet Repair Management The more vehicles you own, the more difficult it becomes to manage maintaining them. Think about it--a vehicle requires an oil change and tire rotation about every 3 months, other fluids serviced at 6 or 12 months, and a host of other inspections and replacements recommended in the schedule of your Owner’s Manual. Depending on how much you drive, your vehicle may need to go into the shop or be attended to 4-5 times a year or more. If you have multiple vehicles that are used to get a job done--a fleet--it becomes ever more important to have a system in place that keeps them running in tip-top shape. Now imagine your fleet of five or ten vehicles, all of which are required for the proper functioning of your business, and keeping up on what service each vehicle needs and when. Sounds impossible! If you are a fleet manager, sm ... read more

SHOCKing!! Your mechanic says your vehicle needs new shocks or struts. You’ve heard it before. What the heck are these things, anyway? And do you really need them? What are they? Vehicles come equipped with shocks, struts or both. Shocks, or a shock absorber, do just that: they absorb unevenness or bumps in the road, allowing the vehicle to travel steadily along. Struts serve a similar purpose and are designed differently. Both are mounted to your vehicle’s suspension system and are an integral part of steering, handling & control, comfort and safety. Learn more about the differences here. Shocks                                                                            Strut ... read more