by A1performance123 | Mar 16, 2016 | Auto Care Blog
Vehicle service and warranties come with your brand new car, and even many used cars. But when that warranty runs out a company will call you up and tell you that you should purchase a contract to extend your warranty in a service contract. Lots of promises are made about covering repairs, too. So, should you buy it?
Vehicle Service
The Better Business Bureau says you should definitely not buy the vehicle service contract, also known as the extended warranty. They get an amazing number of complaints about these contracts. Consumers file complaints against these companies for misleading advertising, failure to pay for covered repairs, and going out of business and abandoning them.
These contracts for vehicle service can cost thousands of dollars or just hundreds of dollars. They usually have fine print that gives them gaping loopholes that allow them to pay for nothing. They are in the business of making money, and not in business to spend money on your car. And they take that lack of duty to their customer very seriously.
The Better Business Bureau’s Report
Most of the vehicle service extended warranty companies are located in Missouri. The BBB says that the worst offenders (as of 2011) are National Dealers Warranty, doing business as Stop Repair Bills; Service Protection Direct or Protection Direct; and Car Safe or Dealer Preferred Warranties. The Missouri Attorney General has sued them all. For more information on these scam types of companies, see the BBB’s report on this particular industry.
Local Businesses
These extended warranty type of companies should not be confused with your local auto repair shop that offers an oil change contract or other vehicle service agreement. Local businesses have valid plans that are usually a good deal for their customers. It is the types of companies that are mentioned in the BBB’s report that are the rip off.
by A1performance123 | Mar 9, 2016 | Auto Care Blog
The Car Care Center needs to see you in the springtime to do some checks and maintenance on your vehicle. There are other things you need to do, as well.
Car Care Center
Visit your car care center, or auto mechanic, in the spring. Your mechanic will need to check your tire pressure and adjust it. Drastic changes in temperature will change your tire’s air pressure. The season’s change is also the perfect time to change the oil, oil filter and do other miscellaneous maintenance. Spring is a revival time in nature and it can be for your automobile, also! Give it a fresh start with the new season.
Update Policies
One auto related task is usually forgotten until it is too late. That is to check your auto insurance policy. Go through all the fine print and make sure you understand what you are being charged for and what it covers. If you are well on your way to building your fortune, make certain you have enough coverage for liability, medical and property damage. Sure, you aren’t going to plow into someone, but somebody might plow into you without insurance. So, make sure you have the coverage you need and get rid of the coverage you do not need.
Your tires should be checked by a tire seller, also. It is very easy to go well past your tire’s tread expiration in California. Without much rain, you don’t realize the tire tread is worn out until you go into a slide on the wet, slick road in a sudden cloud burst. Have a tire professional determine if your tires are still in good shape or if they need to be changed out.
A1 Performance Auto Repair
A1 Performance Auto Repair is here in Sunnyvale with certified auto mechanics as your car care center. Stop by soon for your spring maintenance and a tire check.
by A1performance123 | Mar 2, 2016 | Auto Care Blog, Auto Mechanic
An oil leak from your car is a real aggravation. Everywhere you park the car, in your driveway, at your friend’s home, on the street in front of your house leaves that telltale sign of the problem, the greasy puddle. It is bad for the environment and making you crazy. So, what needs to be done about it?
Oil Leak
The first thing you need to do is to put a big piece of cardboard on the ground where you park your car. This should catch the drips and stop the problem of the oil puddle on your driveway or on your garage floor. That should help until you have the time to go to the auto mechanic to have the oil leak fixed.
The Cause of the Leak
An oil leak is usually from a worn out engine gasket, old pan seals or degraded valve cover gaskets. Repairing those issues to stop the leak usually isn’t that expensive. It is well worth the money to not have that toxic puddle on your garage floor anymore.
To let the oil leak go for the long term is an expensive proposition. Your car or truck running low on oil all the time or running out of oil can cause a costly problem with your engine. When oil is leaking, you just have to find the time to get it fixed by the auto mechanic. While you can put it off for a few weeks usually, providing you’re checking the oil daily, letting it go for months is not a good idea.
Where to Get Auto Repairs
A1 Performance Auto Repair has experienced, certified auto mechanics that can get your oil leak repaired quickly and properly. Stop by the shop soon so that we can take a look at your car or truck and assess the cause of the problem and get it fixed for you.
by A1performance123 | Feb 24, 2016 | Auto Care Blog
Today’s Car Care Tips are to help you with keeping your car tidy in the California Drought. It looks like the lack of water is going to stay for a long while yet. You used to wash your car every weekend? Well, not anymore! Infrequent car washing does come with its own special issues. Here are ways to handle those as they come up.
Car Care Tips
Until March 31, 2016, it is illegal to wash your car at home using potable water. So, if you have some sort of recycled water, washing your car is OK. But, it is going to look like you’re using drinking water. So, it is best to take your vehicle to a commercial car wash that uses recirculating water. You’ll avoid getting into trouble and avoid having to prove you’re doing it properly later.
One problem you might run into with the lack of frequent car washing is mineral build up on your windshield. If you run your wipers and squirt windshield fluid, but the streaks are not budging, it is probably mineral build up. When it rains or your car it hit by a sprinkler, the water dries and leaves the mineral residue. Put some white vinegar in a spray bottle. Squirt it all over your window then rinse. It’ll take that right off.
Another car care tip from the “believe it or not” file, is the easy way to remove tar from the car body. If you picked up some tar on your paint from road construction, rub a fabric softener dryer sheet on it. The sheet will instantly melt the tar right off. Wash and rinse off the residue.
Good Car Care
Your mechanic at A1 Performance Auto Repair is always happy to share his knowledge and give you more car care tips when you come in for your auto maintenance. See you soon!
by A1performance123 | Feb 17, 2016 | Auto Care Blog
If you have a red fluid transmission leak, it could be a very minor fix, or it could be a major problem. Here are some things to think about to try to guess which it is. Whatever the reason it is leaking, it needs to be fixed right away. Transmission leaks are very bad for the water supply and will poison wildlife, so they should be fixed as soon as you notice it.
Transmission Leak
When you see that red fluid building up on the driveway then you know it is a transmission leak. This could have come from loose bolts making the transmission pan loose, allowing fluid to drip out. The transmission drain plug might need tightening, because it wasn’t tightened enough when you had the fluid changed recently. These are easy things to fix and your auto mechanic can stop that transmission leak in a jiffy.
A slightly more serious situation is when there is a transmission leak due to a worn out gasket. The gasket itself is only about $20-$30 and is easy to get to, so the repair is fairly inexpensive. Other problems can be rocks have damaged the transmission bell housing or fluid lines, but those leaks are severe and not a slow drip. You’d likely lose all the transmission fluid when it happened.
Get It Fixed Sooner rather Than Later
The transmission fluid that is leaking onto the ground can really upset the environment by poisoning rodents and insects, damaging the wildlife food chain in the surrounding area. It will get into the water supply, also, and the Bay Area has plenty enough water problems already. Stop by A1 Performance Auto Repair as soon as you can to have the repair made to stop the leak. Chances are that it is a quick and inexpensive repair.
by A1performance123 | Feb 10, 2016 | Auto Care Blog
How to change oil from your truck or car is fairly straight forward. Unfortunately, there are some downsides to doing this these days. But, in a nutshell, you unscrew the nut on the oil pan, let it drain out, change the oil filter, put a new filter on, and then screw the nut back on the oil pan. Then you refill the oil. It sounds easy, no? Well, it is, until you find out more.
How to Change Oil
How to change oil for your vehicle is something your dad may have already shown you. Today, there are regulations. No longer do you just take the old oil into the back woods and dump it. In the Bay Area you can also NOT put it in your trash. So, what do you do with it? You need to take it to a motor oil recycling center.
Frequently, when inexperienced mechanics or car owners try to change the oil in their car something goes wrong. The nut could be rusted and then you cause damage to the car in an attempt to get it off. Also, many times the nut gets put on cockeyed, leaving it leaking or worse.
Some people will change the oil, but try to save a little money by not changing the filter. That old filter will make the new oil very dirty, negating any new oil benefit.
Get a Professional Oil Change
How to change oil might be easy, but considering that many things can go wrong and you have to take the old oil to a recycling center, it is better to just let the professionals do it for you. The cost of an oil change is very low these days, because auto shops, like A1 Performance Auto Repair use it as a leader item to get you to come in for the first time. For $20-$40 or so, it isn’t worth the mess and trouble when you do it yourself.
