Tag: Seattle Auto Body Shop

Have you ever hit a deer on the road? It’s not a pleasant experience. Not only is it upsetting to kill or injure an animal, but it can also inflict severe damage to your car. Deer collisions are happening more and more, as the deer populations have more than doubled since the 80’s. Today, such collisions happen about 500,000 times every year, causing over one hundred deaths and an average of $2,000 in damage to the car owner. So, in the interest of protecting yourself and Bambi’s mom, our Seattle auto body shop offers the following advice.

• Deer are most active in the early morning and evening.  If you are driving during these times in a wilderness area, be vigilant.
• Your high-beams can scare off deer from a greater distance.  Use them if it is safe to do so.
• If you see a deer in your path, brake firmly.  Do not swerve; this is not only dangerous, but it can confuse the animal.
• Always wear your seatbelt!  Many injuries result from deer collisions, most due to a failure to buckle up.
• Remember that deer seldom appear alone.  If you see one deer, be on the lookout for more

More and more people are worried about the environmental impact of owning a car, and this concern extends to the way you keep your car clean. Indeed, a properly cleaned car means a car that is resilient to the wear and tear brought on by harsh dirt and environmental effects. A regular car wash can keep your paint job well intact, which translates to fewer trips to our Seattle auto body shop for touch-ups and repairs.

When it comes time to wash your car, an automatic car wash represents one of the “greenest” options available. Though it may seem economical to do your own wash by hand, it has been observed that an automatic wash uses up only half of the water you might otherwise use with a conventional bucket-and-hose method. Commercial car washes are also required to clean and recycle their water, accounting for even further savings.

When looking for an automatic car wash, look for a no-contact pressure system over a rotating brush system. These are likely to do less damage to your paint job, and keep you driving cleaner, greener, and longer.

Many drivers on the roads today are mocked by the memory of gasoline that cost less than two dollars a gallon, and the unfortunate reality is that this is unlikely to be anything but a memory ever again.  With that in mind, the name of the game in our modern world is to get the most out of what we have.  Greenwood’s auto body shop in Seattle offers these tips for driving more economically:

• Obey the speed limit.  Your mileage decreases as your speed goes up, and the difference between sixty and seventy mph can cost you two to four miles per gallon.  Also, faster driving generally means more braking, which is only more inefficient.  Try to maintain a regular, reasonable speed on the freeway.
• Avoid idling.  When you’re waiting at a rail crossing, stuck in a gridlock, or waiting for your carpoolers to wake up, you’re still burning gas.  Turn the car off if it’s safe to do so, and those idle minutes will add up.
• Roll up your windows.  Open windows make your car less aerodynamic, and your fuel economy can suffer by as much as ten percent at freeway speeds.
• Don’t “warm up” your engine too much.  This is a largely antiquated notion with modern, fuel-injected vehicles.  Though it is true that many important fluids need to warm up on a cold day, your engine can warm up all the more efficiently once you actually begin driving.  As long as you’re not putting too much strain on it for the first few miles, you’ll be fine.
• Only buy the recommended grade of gas!  If your car takes regular, you’re not doing it any favors by giving it premium.
• Maintain your car.  A well-maintained engine is a fuel-efficient engine, and properly inflated tires get you the most out of every tank of gas.

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An auto accident can be bad enough without being taken advantage of by unscrupulous body shops. Carefully review any materials presented to you by your mechanic, and look out for any red flags that you’re being taken for a ride in your own wreck.

Firstly, be wary of any unsolicited referrals. Whether somebody is referring you to a body shop or your body shop is referring you to a medical or legal office, this may be a sign of illegal activity. Organized rings exist that work to actively cause car accidents in order to garner your patronage, and they will do what they can to snatch up your money in the form of attorney, doctor, and mechanic fees.

After you have your car repaired, keep an eye on what you are being charged for. Dishonest repair shops may try to report damages that did not exist when the vehicle was brought in, bill for repairs that were not authorized, or charge for new parts while either repairing the existing parts or even replacing them with junkyard salvage.

Remember, not everybody is as reputable as Greenwood Auto Body. Seek us out for all your car repair needs, and you will not be taken advantage of.

Cell phone use in the car is popular among younger generations, and despite the number of collisions it’s been causing, the trend is on the rise. Talking on the phone and texting are the two leading distractions, but iPods, GPS, and other portable electronics are becoming common culprits also. A 2010 CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) analysis detailed cell phone use while driving by surveying respondents from the U.S. and Europe.

Over 25% of U.S. respondents stated that they regularly use their cell phones while driving, most of whom fell into the age group 18-39. Texting was also dominated by this age group, with 9% of the overall count claiming to do so regularly. Statistics gathered in Europe varied, but the U.S. out-scored everyone in distracted driving.

Although states are successively implementing new laws to prevent cell phone use while driving, people are still having a hard time tucking them away. In 2009, nearly 1,000 deaths and 24,000 injuries were attributed to cell phone use. Our Seattle body shop, Greenwood Collision, reminds you to drive safely and attentively to avoid accidents like these.

You may be confident in your own defensive driving, but you should always be prepared in the event that you are hit by someone else. Accidents are unpredictable, so it’s smart to always take the following safety precautions.

The first safety precaution is all too obvious: always wear your seatbelt. This knowledge has become widespread, but there are still fatal collisions today in which a buckled seat belt could have made the difference between life and death.

Airbags can save lives when used properly, but children (typically 12 and under) are still at risk of injury or death if placed in front of an airbag. Car seats should always be installed in the back seat, but if this isn’t possible, they should be forward-facing with the seat moved back.

While a basic first aid kit is definitely essential, many drivers keep larger survival kits in their trunk to be prepared for serious collisions. Some recommended provisions include a cell phone, flashlight, extra water and food, rope, a tool kit, emergency tire repair (sealant), maps, and booster cables. Areas with heavy snowfall should also keep tire chains, matches, a snow scraper, and a blanket.

These tips will help reduce the consequences of a collision; leave the rest up to our Seattle body shop, Greenwood Collision.

Car paint, like all other types of paint, fades due to prolonged exposure to the elements. Poor initial application may speed up the fading process. Even in the Pacific Northwest’s mild climate, Greenwood Auto Body’s car paint technicians regularly see paint jobs that have succumbed to weather exposure, and exhibit the characteristically dull and/or chalky finish that results from ultraviolet radiation and perpetual expanding/contracting due to temperature fluctuations.

Repairing Faded Car Paint

Few things make a vehicle look more worn-out or neglected than faded car paint. However, Greenwood Auto Body has the expertise to quickly and affordably restore it to new, if not better. In some cases, car paint can simply be abraded and then polished, which is generally the simplest technique for restoring the shine of your car’s paint job. In more severe cases, re-painting the car is advisable; this may consist of either spot paint or total car paint, and can even begin with paint stripping if the original surface is in especially rough shape.

We invite you to learn more about Greenwood Auto Body’s car painting services, and we are happy to provide an estimate of what it will take to give your car’s paint a shine and consistency that you will be proud to show off.

One thing to keep in mind while choosing car paint is that light, metallic colors have relatively little pigment, which makes them lose their luster a bit quicker that other paints, unless you opt for additional UV protection.  Of course, Seattle car paint isn’t exposed to the same amount of UV radiation as car paint in other locations, but this is a critical factor that the experts at Greenwood Collision can help you consider.

The formulation of car paint begins with a resin, the highly cohesive substance that literally holds the rest together.  A pigment, as its name suggests, is what gives the car paint its color–one of over 10,000 colors, in fact.  The paint’s sparkle and iridescence (pearliness) are the results of optional metallic and mica flakes, respectively, which can be manipulated to create striking highlights and other effects.

What is car paint?  At the risk of sounding a bit cheesy, it might be the unsung hero of the auto industry.  After all, just think about the multitude of purposes it has to serve:

• Maintain a lustrous finish over many years
• Repel the elements
• Protect the car’s body from rust
• Withstand decades of UV radiation

What’s more, car paint must do all of the above in an incredibly thin coating (just a few thousands of an inch!).  To top it all off, if car paint isn’t applied correctly, then the time and money spent applying the coat are all for naught.