Spring/Summer

During the hot summer months, contaminants, such as pollen, dust, mold spores and smog, can easily enter a vehicle's passenger compartment through the air conditioning, heating and ventilation systems, making the air in the car six times dirtier than the air outside, cautions the Car Care Council.

Ten or 15 years ago, auto technicians would rebuild hard parts for customers right in the shop. Today, that system doesn't work, because consumers don't have time to wait and don't want to pay for the additional labor. Remanufacturing now solves these problems, and as such, it is one of the largest product categories in the automotive aftermarket. The entire remanufacturing industry generates approximately $65 billion in sales, with the automotive segment representing $37 billion of that total.

Ladies, do the men in your life procrastinate when it’s time to replace windshield wiper blades? Are you tired of nagging about smearing, screeching and chattering wiper blades? Do you dread another rainy Sunday drive, feeling unsafe without the benefit of an unobstructed view of the road?

Don’t tolerate it any longer. Act now to preserve peace and promote safety. Buy a set of wiper blades and install them yourself. It takes only a few minutes, says the Car Care Council. Simple directions are right on the box. Before you begin, here are two suggestions from the council:

“It looks like new! I would have never guessed that car was eight years old.”

That is what we owners want to hear, but keeping our cars looking like the late models is tough, even with today’s long-lasting finishes. Dents, dings and cracked glass are several items that age the appearance of a vehicle. Fortunately, technology has helped advance the solutions to these problems, making the fixes quicker and less expensive. With mobile repair units, these items often can be repaired on site at your home or work, adding to the convenience.

According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), floods are one of the most common and widespread of all disasters. Most communities in the United States have experienced some level of flooding from high water due to spring rains, heavy thunderstorms or winter snow thaws. While your vehicle may not have been flooded or completely covered in water, that doesn't necessarily mean that you should not be concerned about water damage. If you drove through high water, there's a chance that you may have damaged your vehicle.

Picture yourself driving 500 miles at more than 200 miles an hour, under the most stressful conditions, never knowing what you might have to avoid in the next fraction of a second. That goes with the territory in the NASCAR racing circuit.

Compare this to your own driving. How much time would you need to deal with a road emergency? At 60 miles an hour, that’s 66 feet per second, you’ve already gone about 60 feet since you began reading this sentence.

Auto technicians say the key to keeping vehicles running well-today and down the road-is routine maintenance. Yet many drivers tend to stall when it comes to keeping up with some everyday auto-basics.

A recent survey by the Car Care Council found:

In domino fashion, failing to plan for maintenance can turn small problems into larger ones, putting a serious dent in your automotive budget. The penalties of procrastinating on vehicle maintenance range from a heater that runs cold to a battery that won’t start the car.

Take care of your car’s seasonal services immediately and make plans to get ahead of the game next year. An early visit to your repair facility provides the opportunity to budget for unanticipated repairs. The Car Care Council offers the following checklist:

Automotive technicians are often compared to doctors. This comparison undoubtedly makes some techs smile and others grimace. But in the end, the two professions have a lot in common. It may surprise consumers to find that by choosing these professionals wisely, they can get better care at a better price.

When it comes to choosing a repair shop, many experts extol the virtues of the clean facility, a wall adorned with ASE certificates or a coffee pot and some tasty snacks. While these items are important, these four vital questions tell most of the story:

Henry Ford told buyers of his Model T they could select any color as long as it’s black. Today we see cars in any of 7,000 hues, including shades of rust that won’t appear on color chips in new car literature.

“Serious rust damage, including a hole right through the metal, can begin with a minor scratch in a parking lot from a shopping cart,” said Rich White of the Car Care Council. “Steel is strong and lasts a lifetime when it’s protected, but when that protection is invaded, the metal is exposed to the elements. That’s when rust begins its invasion.”