Tag: Greenwood Auto Body

It’s a pretty good bet that your car was not meant to go underwater.  If you get caught in a flood, drive into a lake, or otherwise submerge your vehicle, you’ve got a big problem on your hands.  The good news, however, is that your local Seattle auto body shop can help you through such an ordeal.  So stay calm, call your insurance agent, and try following these simple tips to keep the risk of further damage to a minimum.

Firstly, DO NOT START THE CAR.  This could damage the engine further.  Assess the damage, taking note if the engine or the interior got wet.  Taking photographs can help you in an insurance situation, and possibly give your mechanic insight on what to look for.

Have the car towed if you need to, preferably somewhere that can help you dry it off.  High powered fans are the best way to do this.  You’ll want to watch out for mold in case the car can be salvaged, so take special care of the interior.

Even after your car dries out, you can’t expect it to perform like it used to.  Your electronic systems may have to be replaced altogether.  Be prepared for some lengthy repairs, and get your water-logged wreck down to Greenwood as soon as possible.

http://autos.aol.com/article/flood-damaged-car-insurance/

How well do you know your tires?  If you woke up one day and had a different set on your car, would you notice?  If you’re like most Americans, you probably wouldn’t, and Seattle auto body shops that are less honest than Greenwood know how to take advantage of this.

Tires are expensive, and we go through a lot of them.  Each year, our country spends a total of about twenty billion replacing tires, adding up to an average of five per driver.  With this in mind, an unscrupulous auto mechanic stands to make a shady bit of extra profit off of you by replacing your wheels with older tires.  It’s easy enough to do once your car is in the shop, and nearly impossible to prove after it’s been done.

If you’re ever dealing with a mechanic whom you don’t yet trust, try discretely marking your tires to foil potential tire thefts.  Document this marking and inspect your bill carefully to see if they’ve recorded any services that you didn’t ask for.

Of course, you can always choose the easy route and take your car to Greenwood instead.  We have a reputation and an integrity as robust and stable as a good set of tires ought to be!

http://autos.aol.com/gallery/repair-shop-scams/

Not every Seattle auto body shop is as honest as Greenwood!  There are places out there that will try to milk your business for all it’s worth, even resorting to tricking you into thinking that you need to replace a part that doesn’t need replacing.

Should you ever find yourself in an unfamiliar body shop, be wary of the extra services they try to tack on to your bill.  One common scheme involves the mechanic showing you a part that he claims came out of your car and telling you that it needs to be replaced.  Popular items here are fuel injectors and air filters.  This part may be caked in filth such that even a non-expert like you should agree that it needs to go.  However, it’s entirely possible that this part is a dummy, specially prepared to trick customers.

Keep track of when you last changed your fuel injectors and air filter.  An air filter should last you about a year, or 15,000 miles.  Fuel injectors can last you for 35,000 miles at very least.  If your mechanic tries to tell you otherwise, there is a good chance you are being lied to.  Get your car out of there and bring it down to Greenwood ASAP!

http://autos.aol.com/gallery/repair-shop-scams/

Have you ever been frustrated with your fuel gauge?  Have you ever wondered how such a simple device manages to consistently misrepresent exactly how much gas is in your tank?  Before you haul your car down to your Seattle auto body shop, take the time to get to know your gauge.  It isn’t broken, it’s simply experiencing the same limitations that plague all fuel gauges.

If you could open up your gas tank and look inside, you’d find something that resembles the floater in your toilet tank.  This is the device that is operating the needle on your fuel gauge.  When your tank is full, the ball floats to the top and your dashboard needle points to “F”.  When it’s empty, the ball drops to the floor and your needle points to “E”.

The problem with this system is that the floater logically needs to be bigger than the rod it’s attached to.  It’s therefore bound to hit the ceiling of your tank before it’s full of gas, and bound to hit the floor before the gas entirely runs out.  This is why your gauge might claim that your tank is full for a good fifty miles after your last fill-up, and why it points to “empty” long before you find yourself rolling to an untimely stop.

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/fuel-gauge.htm

Our Seattle auto body center sees a lot of damaged cars come in that ran out of control when their tires suddenly lost their grip with the road.  Whether through a flat tire or a slippery spot in the road, these kinds of situations can happen unexpectedly and are frequently not your fault.  In order to minimize any potential damage to yourself or to your vehicle, try keeping these tips in mind.

Blowing a Tire: If you think that one of your tires has blown out, keep your cool and don’t hit the brakes too quickly.  Your compromised tire pressure is less able to handle a sudden drop in speed, and you might lose control if you slow down too quickly.  Keep your car moving in a straight line as much as you can and ease off the gas until you’re at a comfortable enough speed to pull over.

Going Into a Slide: Sliding on a slippery surface is a lot like blowing out a tire, in that you don’t do yourself a lot of favors by slamming on the brakes.  Again, ease off of the gas pedal and turn the wheel into the skid as much as you can.  Try looking towards where you want to go rather than where you are going, as your hands tend to follow your eyes.

Stay focused, follow this advice, and you should be pulling yourself through these potential disasters with a minimum of damage.  When the road should get the best of you, though, be sure to bring your vehicle to Greenwood Collision.

https://autos.aol.com/buying-guide/Safety/avoid-common-car-accidents/

Our Seattle auto body shop knows that there’s little as frustrating as having to deal with an accident that wasn’t your fault.  It only takes one bad driver to ruin two drivers’ days, no matter how good of a driver is in the other car.  You may never be able to entirely avoid the distracted motorists and road-rage barbarians of the world, but by following these tips you can at least minimize your chances of coming fender-to-fender with one.

• Keep Your Cool: Aggressive driving can be contagious.  If somebody is cutting you off or showboating on the road, don’t encourage them.  Remind yourself that the law of averages is bound to catch up with this driver eventually, and that you don’t have to be in the crossfire when it does.
• Treat Intersections with Particular Caution: Intersections are magnets for collisions.  Be mindful of the fact that some drivers are going to be pushing the limits of yellow lights, or talking on a cell phone when they should be focusing on their turns.  An extra check in both directions can pay big dividends.
• Turn and Look Behind You when Merging: There is a big blind spot that you can only compensate for by physically turning and looking over your shoulder, and it’s all the more important to watch this blind spot in an age where the person behind you has a tendency to speed up when he sees your turn signal.
• Avoid Driving at Dangerous Times or in Dangerous Areas: You probably know of certain places, or certain days of the year, which are prone to drinking.  Drunken driving accounts for a full third of auto accidents, so it may pay off to plan on avoiding the road entirely when the revellers start stumbling into their driver’s seats.

Every so often, particularly during the wet winter months, your distributor cap may be responsible for your no-start problems in your car.  Therefore, before you call your Seattle auto body shop, save a little unnecessary effort by familiarizing yourself with your distributor cap and learning how to check it for problems that may prevent your engine from starting up.

First off, you need to know where to find the distributor cap.  This is a fairly easy task, because all of your spark plugs should be connected to it.  If you’re having trouble, locate a spark plug and follow the wire it’s attached to until you reach the epicenter of all of your spark plug connections.  This is your distributor cap.

When you find the distributor cap, inspect its condition.  Is it cracked, loose, or scored with carbon?  Any of these could allow moisture inside the distributor, which can send your car’s electrical current haphazardly throughout the engine instead of into the spark plugs.  This may be the reason your car isn’t starting.

http://www.howtodothings.com/automotive/how-to-check-the-distributor-cap
http://autorepair.about.com/od/troubleshooting/a/ts_no-start_2.htm