Emergency Response: Flat Tire, Car Overheating, Brake Pedal Failure, Throttle Stuck, Engine Light Comes On, Car Phone & AAA Membership Car Maintenance: Preventive Maintenance, Required Maintenance, Engine Oil, Coolant, Brake Fluid, Transmission Fluid, Tune-Ups, Timing Belts, Summary Choosing a Repair Facility: Credentials, ASE, ASC, AAA, Trust Your Feelings Communicating with Your Repair Facility: Give Symptoms, Your Expectations, Tune-Ups, Tell the Truth, Leave a Phone Number, It Is What It Is, Patience Protecting Your Rights: Authorized Repairs, Saving Old Parts, Paying for Incompetence, Who to Turn To, Bureau of Automotive Repair, AAA, Small Claims Court How to respond in an emergency Flat tire: Pull as far off right side of road as possible, use reflectors or flares when needed (if too close to shoulder, dark night etc.) If area is unsafe to stop, drive to a safe, well lit area.Check your owners manual for instructions on changing spare & location of tools required. Check to make sure all tools are in car & spare is properly inflated or if it’s a space saver spare make sure an inflation bottle is there & charged up. Before jacking car up loosen lug nuts with brake applied. Car overheating: Turn heater to maximum heat, pull over as soon as safely possible and allow engine to cool for at least 1/2 hour if possible (much less painful than buying a $3,000 engine!)During this cool down period you should call your repair facility for advice. Overheating can be caused by many things but sudden (non chronic) overheating is most frequently caused by a coolant leak, broken drive belt or stuck thermostat. You should be prepared to tow your car, unless it is a small coolant leak & adding water is sufficient to get you to a qualified repair facility. Brake pedal failure: Try pumping brake pedal rapidly. Shift car into lower gear. Use parking brake. Look for a safe place to stop or something soft to to help stop your vehicle. Do not put auto transmission into park or reverse. Do not turn key off to steering lock position. Have car checked immediately if brake pedal feels unusual. Newer cars have tandem master cylinders that seldom fail completely without warning. Throttle stuck: Turn key to off position but not to steering lock. Step on clutch or take car out of gear. Check floor mat is not interfering with accelerator pedal. Have car towed if cause is not found. Engine warning light comes on: If car is running okay, check engine temperature & oil pressure when applicable. Continue driving & contact repair facility at your earliest opportunity. If car is not running properly, check for overheating & oil pressure & level. Drive a minimum distance until convenient to contact your repair facility for advice. Some problems can cause an engine or emission system damage & may be safer to tow. Note: Most newer cars have a check engine light that will come on whenever a malfunction is detected by the electronic control unit(ECU). There are dozens of data streams that the ECU monitors for malfunctions, if any fail the check engine light will come on. Most of these failures will not keep the car from running but can effect gas mileage, emmissions, engine performance ect. Your car will not pass a smog check with the check engine light on. If the light is flashing the failed system may be causing damage to your vehicle, get it checked out ASAP. Get a car phone & AAA membership: Your best defense to avoid emergencies is to properly maintain vehicle. However, some breakdowns are inevitable. Being prepared in advance can help you avoid some very inconvenient scenarios. Having a cell phone and belonging to a club that can provide roadside assistance such as AAA is inexpensive & money well spent. How to properly maintain your car Benefits of preventive maintenance: A safer & dependable car. It keeps your warranty, less chance of a costly breakdown, doing your part for cleaner air, a car that retains that new car feel & is worth more at trade in. Know what maintenance your car requires: Familiarize yourself with your owners manual & how to read maintenance schedules. If you do mostly around town driving use severe service schedule (stop & go, extended idling, high temp, tow). If you do mostly freeway driving use regular service intervals. Oil changes: Everyone should know about oil services, failure to change engine oil at regular intervals can cause sudden or long term failure of critical engine components. Manufacturers typically recommend longer intervals than oil change franchises & most repair facilities. We know changing oil too frequently won’t damage your car but does affect the environment. Check your oil frequently & be sure it is on level ground & engine off for a minute or two. Coolant changes: Probably the best keep maintenance secret! Most consumers know the value of frequent oil changes but few consumers realize the damage that can be caused by corrosive coolant. Cooling system services are inexpensive & when done on regular intervals can prevent a multitude of cooling system & engine problems from leaking hoses to blown head gaskets. We recommend a service every 12 months. Never open radiator cap when hot, check radiator itself not just the overflow bottle. Brake fluid changes: Brake fluid absorbs moisture after a period of time which will lower the boiling point of the fluid & cause brake fade. It will also cause corrosion of expensive brake components if not changed regularly. Transmission fluid changes: Transmissions are expensive to repair or replace, changing the trans fluid at recommended intervals is your best defense against costly repairs, especially auto transmissions that are under severe duty use. Most cars also require differential fluid changes. On most cars automatic trans fluid is checked on level ground with engine running & in neutral. Most standard transmissions have a plug in the side of it’s case & require a lift to check level. Tune-ups: With high energy ignition systems & precise fuel management through computer control, tune-up intervals have increased significantly in the past 30 years. Most newer cars can safely go 25-30 thousand miles between tunes. Failure to have tune-ups done at required intervals can cause poor running, hard starting, decrease in fuel economy & excessive emissions. Some cars also require valve adjustments with a tune-up check your manual & make sure those are done if required. Timing belts: Many cars now use a timing belt instead of a timing chain, because the belt is constructed of reinforced rubber it wears out after a period of time and needs to be replaced. If the timing belt breaks it can cause serious (expensive) damage to the engine. Check owners manual for recommended replacement intervals. Summary: Regular maintenance helps you save money, prevent breakdowns and gives your repair facility an opportunity to inspect your car and advise you of pending problems. Choosing a competent repair facility Credentials: Every repair facility must be licensed by the Bureau of Automotive Repair, no test of competency or knowledge of the industry is required, there are no minimum amounts of equipment. Technicians are not required to be educated or licensed unless they perform smog tests or repair.So how do you know if your repair facility is adequately equipped & educated to handle your motoring needs? It is up to each individual repair facility to seek out and obtain the education, certifications, equipment & trained employees to service your car. The following organizations help shop owners meet these critical objectives. ASE: Automotive Service Excellence, Technicians can be tested by the ASE and become certified in various aspects of repair(brakes, eng repair, tune-up, strg & susp etc.), after passing a minimum of eight areas of repair he achieves a Master Technician status. In order to keep current the tech is tested & re certified every four years. Most technicians that make the effort to become ASE certified are dedicated to their profession and seek out the training needed to stay current with this rapidly changing technology. ASC: Automotive Service Councils, The ASC is a statewide organization of independent repair facilities united by the common goal of keeping high standards of excellence in the automotive industry. These repair facilities subscribe to a code of ethics intended to promote good will between the motoring public & the automotive industry. Look for the ASC sign at your repair facility. AAA: The Automobile Club of Southern California has an Approved Auto Repair Program that repair shops can participate in but they must meet AAA’s high quality standards.These qualifications include employing certified & experienced technicians, having the proper equipment to adequately diagnose & repair your car and having a high customer satisfaction rate. They also agree to binding arbitration with AAA members in the event of an unresolved dispute. Trust your feelings: Most people have pretty good instincts, within a couple of moments you will decide if you feel comfortable dealing with that repair facility, even if they can perform adequate repairs you still need to deal with your service advisor on an emotional level so you must be able to trust his advice. Communicating with your repair facility Give symptoms: When you bring your vehicle in for repair, give the service advisor an accurate description of the symptoms your vehicle is displaying. Let him decide what course of action should be taken. His job is to help you resolve your repair needs as effectively as possible. Be clear of your expectations: Be sure your repair facility knows what you expect when you get your car back (example: say-My steering wheel shakes on the freeway, I want that fixed, don’t say “give me an alignment”). Inform them of the time you need your car back. On multiple repairs prioritize your list & inform us if some minor items are not too important & you don’t want to spend too much money on repairs. Tune-ups don’t solve every problem: Many consumers think a tune-up will solve a multitude of problems. Noises, lack of power, poor gas mileage, vibrations, hard starting & dying are usually caused by something other than tune-up related problems. Most newer cars go 25-30 thousand miles between tunes & quality tune-up parts seldom cause problems unless they are really old.So be sure to address the symptoms you want resolved instead of just saying “I need a tune-up”. Tell the truth: Some customers think they will save money or maybe are too embarrassed to give all the facts. Maybe they tried to fix their own car, it got hotter than they are willing to admit or they accidentally hooked up the battery backwards. The more accurate the information you give your repair technician the faster he can identify the proper repairs & make recommendations. Leaving out critical facts more often results in additional problems & expense to you. Leave a current phone number: Be sure & inform your service advisor were you can be reached. It is important that you can be contacted to make decisions about your vehicles repair needs & the costs associated with them as they arise. If you can’t be reached you may authorize repairs up to an agreed upon dollar amount when the vehicle is dropped off. It is what it is: If you are dealing with a honest & competent repair facility the cost of repairs are dictated by the problems your car has, not the needs of the repair facility. Costly repairs can be frustrating to you but please don’t take it out on your service advisor, he is only the messenger doing his best to resolve your automotive needs. Be patient: Your repair facility is doing it’s best to keep every customer happy. Special order or wrong parts, sick employees, emergency repairs, small jobs that turn into bigger ones are challenges that disrupt our schedule every day. You can help by saying “I would really like to have my car back today but if it doesn’t happen it’s OK. Protecting your rights Do not pay for repairs not authorized: You decide what repairs you want done to your car.The contract you have with your repair facility is legal & binding. If you do not authorize repairs you can’t be charged for them. If you do authorize repairs you must pay for them. That is why it is important to stay in touch with your repair facility because they can not proceed with additional repairs without your prior consent. Saving old parts: You have a right to see your old parts. However you must inform your repair facility of your intent to inspect the old parts before the repairs are made. You pay for incompetence: Most laws enforced by the Bureau of Automotive Repair are for procedural errors, few if any are enforced for incompetence or unfair pricing. If you agree to pay a certain price for a repair you are responsible for paying it even if the price is way too high. The bottom line is if a repair shop is guessing or overcharging you have little recourse if you agreed to those repairs. Your best defense is to use a competent & trustworthy repair facility that will stand behind their work. Who to turn to: The first place to turn in the event of a problem is the repair facility who performed the repairs. A competent repair facility will try very hard to resolve your concerns & retain you as a customer. Auto repair is a very complex business and even the best repair facilities make mistakes, it’s how they respond to those problems that really makes the difference. Bureau of Automotive Repair: The government agency responsible for regulating auto repair business. Every repair facility must have a sign displayed that informs consumers of their basic rights and a phone number for the BAR. They may not always be able to resolve the complaint but can assist in investigating the facts and making recommendations on how to proceed. The BAR phone number is 1-800-952-5210. AAA: American Automotive Association, commonly known as the Automobile Club of Southern California only has influence over AAA approved facilities. AAA facilities can have their rating revoked if they do not conform to AAA standards. AAA customers can resolve disputes through binding arbitration. Small claims court: This may be your last line of defense. It can be successful if enough documentation is provided and you can prove the shop violated the law.