Grand Rapids Auto Repair

Dreams of Spring Break dance through our heads as we continue to endure the cold, grayness of Michigan. Lying on the beach in the hot sun, with the sound of seagulls fighting over snacks left in the sand by previous sunbathers. I can almost smell the sunscreen! Are you taking a road trip for Spring Break? Every year, the week before Spring Break is very busy at local auto repair facilities -- people wanting to get their vehicles checked over before they leave, in hopes of avoiding an emergency pit stop along the way. I would recommend scheduling an appointment at least two weeks before your trip. Have your tires checked, oil changed, fluids checked and filled, hoses and belts checked, and battery tested. Your windshield wipers should be replaced if necessary. Have them check your brakes to see how much of the pad remains. It’s a long trip and parts that are nearing the end of their lifecycle should not be going on the trip with you. Every year, without fail, we get a co ... read more

My Mom always told me to have a pair of boots in the trunk of my car. Probably because she knew I would not have weather-appropriate shoes on if I was involved in an accident or my vehicle broke down. She was correct. Jeff and I were driving on the highway and were hit by another car on New Year’s Eve years ago. I had on an awesome pair of high heels appropriate for New Year’s Eve, but not so appropriate standing on the side of the highway in the winter. After Jeff boosted me out of the car, he was able to get the trunk open and get my boots. I called my Mom the next day and told her she was right. The lesson here is to make sure you have some emergency items in your vehicle. Michigan weather can be vicious and we should be prepared for it. Having a blanket, extra boots, gloves and a hat in your vehicle can mean the difference between being inconvenienced by a dead car or being put in a dangerous situation by not being prepared

We all do it. As we go about our day, we fail to think about the people who contribute to our day going well. We rely on our vendors and their employees. For example, you drop off your vehicle for new brakes on your way to work in the morning. After our technician determines what needs to be replaced, the system kicks into gear. If we don’t have the item in stock, we call our supplier. Someone pulls the part from the shelf, schedules it for delivery, then the driver delivers it to us. 98% of the time, the system works perfectly. Said part is delivered and installed in the allotted time frame, and you receive your vehicle with new brakes. It’s when the system doesn’t work that we all notice. We’ve all been at a restaurant and had a less than ideal experience. It could have been the hostess, server, dishwasher, chef, person bussing the table, or the cashier that caused the system to fail, but you feel the effect. If the server is having a bad day and isn’t very pleasant, you ... read more

We should make a tape of car noises. You could push a series of buttons and tell us which one best identifies the sound you’re hearing. Some customers come into the shop and are very hesitant to make the noise they’re hearing, while others are all in. They’re totally committed to making the correct sound. It’s surprising how many times the sound really does give the service advisor a good starting point to the follow-up questions they ask. This is helpful when passing the information along to the service technician to determine what is happening with your vehicle. So, if your vehicle is making a noise and you want to demonstrate that sound to the service advisor, go ahead. You won’t be the first or the last, and we’d never laugh. Everyone here has demonstrated the sounds themselves at some point. Customers will joke about turning up the radio to drown out the sound the vehicle is making. A good rule of thumb is to occasionally turn off your radio and listen to your car as ... read more