How to be a Fuel Miser

With fuel prices soaring, we need to be more conscientious of our vehicle’s state of health and our own driving habits.

Service Tech Magazine, in September 2000, reported that 147 million gallons of fuel is wasted each year due to evaporation. It is estimated that 115 million gallons of fuel is lost because of a loose or missing fuel cap. This is an easy fix; pay attention to what you are doing: don’t leave the fuel cap on top of your vehicle or the gas pump, and make sure the fuel cap screws on straight and tight.

Other areas to focus your attention are:

1)    Air filters – dirty filters can cost you up to 10% fuel usage. Have the air filter checked every time you do an oil service.

2)    Tire pressure – low pressure creates excess friction or drag, costing you 1-2 miles per gallon. Remember to check your tires on a monthly basis.

3)    Worn spark plugs or a dirty fuel induction system can also decrease fuel economy. Therefore the fuel system should be cleaned every 40K miles.

*        Fuel deposits that build up on an injector will interrupt proper fuel burning, this leads to increased fuel emissions and drivability problems such as hesitation, surging, misfire and loss of power.

4)    Don’t be an aggressive driver. Aggressive driving may lower your gas mileage from 5% around town to 33% on the freeway.  For every 5 mph that you drive over 60 mph you will pay up to an additional $0.24 cents per gallon

Information and facts mentioned in this article can be found at US Department of Energy Website, http://www.fueleconomy.gov,

Schedule Appointments Online

We have an exciting new program available. Through MechanicNet, the company that we use to send out all your service reminders, you can now schedule your appointments online.

Here's how it works: You choose the date and time. Then the program sends us an email to confirm or reschedule for a conflict. Everything is done through email. No phone calls needed.

It's actually kind of cool. So far, we've had one customer use it to schedule his appointment. There was a conflict with time, so I emailed him back with a better time for that same day. So simple. I know that there are a few people who prefer to do everything online and not use the phone. Please use this option if it's easier for you. And, like I said before, we'll contact you via email with a confirmation or an option for an open time/day.

Visit tomsmm.mechanicnet.com to learn more.

As always, please call us with any questions, concerns, or to schedule an appointment. We're here to help you!

Happy New Year

I hope everyone has had a great 2010 so far.

We wanted to do something nice for all of our wonderful customers. In honor of this new year and new decade, we have lowered our oil change prices to $20.10! Take advantage of this offer now as it will expire the end of February. Though, if we get good feedback from all of you, we might just keep the lower price around a little longer.

Here's to a great new year!

Changing the ways of car safety

So I subscribe to the NY Times online and every now and then there's an article that I come across which I have to share with people. This one seemed particularly suited for you.

As with a lot of companies, sales are down. Ford Motor Company included. So they've decided to try and turn their seat belts into a new marketing tool. Beginning in 2010, it plans to be the first auto company to offer inflatable rear seat belts, a technology aimed at reducing injuries to children and elderly passengers in a crash.
I thought that was quite interesting. Most cars have the side passenger airbags. The idea of turning your seat belt into one just boggles my mind; but in a good way. I think it's pretty clever. Especially if you have kids in the backseat and god-forbid get into an accident.
I like the idea of it, I'm just curious how well they will work. I've heard stories about how airbags went off and totally cut up their face from the force of release. If these inflatable seatbelts do come to fruition as Ford says they will next year with the 2011 Explorer SUV, what are the other risks? Will there be horror stories of seat belts cracking ribs or of internal injuries because of the impact of its release and the force of the car hitting another. I like the idea of it, and I'm looking forward to seeing the end results.

You can read the article here.

Anyways, that was just something on my mind that I wanted to share with you.
What are your thoughts on the airbag seat belts?
 

Tom's In 60 Seconds

Today we filmed our very first 60 second video/commercial. It took about an hour and a half, and the videographer got A LOT of footage - testimonials from a couple customers and an interview with Tom. I should hear back from the video company within 10 days to view the outcome and make any changes if necessary. I have to have faith that this is going to generate us some new business. TurnHere, the video company, is going to host the video for us for a year, put it out in cyber world on all the video searches, and we will be able to put it up on both our Facebook and personal web pages. If all goes well, maybe we'll make a new one next year and just kinda make it a yearly thing. Do something different every year. But I don't want to get ahead of myself. One step at a time.

Thanks to our wonderful customers that came out! It was much appreciated. 

60 Second Video

Well, I found this company, TurnHere, that will make us a 60 second video to promote the shop. It'll get posted on Facebook on our page and I think also all over Yahoo, Google, and YouTube videos. Which would be great exposure for us. If there's anyone who's interested in being in the video next Friday at 10am, please let me know.

So, I sent out my first new montly letter to all you wonderful customers. There has been a decent response from it via Facebook. I'm watching the number of fans we have grow. It's kind of cool. I'm hoping that all these things will help generate some new business as well as bring you all back to us. I know times are tough, and we want to work with you, thus my reasoning for having monthly specials for you to take advantage of. Please let me know if there's something you want to see happen/change/etc and I'll try and make it happen.

I hope you all have had a great month of October so far.

'Til next time,

Deb

A Glossary Of Useful Auto Terms

Have you ever wondered what all those auto parts and repair terms were? Well, I found a very handy glossary that AAA put out. I thought it might be useful for you.

You can find it here. 

It's a PDF of everything. So save it to your computer for future use.  I hope it makes you feel a little more confident when walking into an auto shop with some knowledge of what they might talk to you about. Though, feel free to ask Tom or Mike about any questions if you don't understand something. They are here to help!