Tips Archives | Cerified Auto

Keeping Your Older Car Saves You Money!

Prices seem to be out of control these days and new car prices are no exception. I was shocked to read that a few decades ago you could buy a skyrocket for the price of today’s new cars. Is that where the expression, “prices are skyrocketing” came from? Hmmm… It just makes financial sense to keep your current car running well and your bank balance healthier. How do you do that? Here is a list of ways to keep your car for years to come.

Pay attention to the warning lights! They really are trying to tell you something.
Follow the manufacturer’s preventive maintenance schedules.
Keep the oil changed regularly.
Wash and wax to keep the outside looking good.
Clean the inside frequently.
Make sure your tires are properly inflated, rotated in a timely manner, and have good tread.
Vehicle alignment is important…especially if you frequently hit potholes.
Fluids are the life blood of your vehicle. Have them checked and changed regularly. If you notice leaks on your garage floor or on the pavement where you park your car, get it checked out.
To keep your emergency brake healthy…use it!

We are here to help keep your vehicle healthy for miles to come!

Renewable Vehicle Materials Attracts Wildlife

To be “greener”, car manufacturers are using soy-based (and in some cases cannabis) on the wiring covers in vehicles. Some manufacturers are even using soy in the foam of their car seats.

It seems mice, rats, squirrels, and other wildlife classified as rodents, enjoy it. Now, we know that rodents chewing on wiring in cars is nothing new, but since soy has been introduced in wiring components, there has been an uptick in the problem. Why are they attracted to wiring? Rodents’ teeth continue to grow, much like our fingernails, and they chew sticks, branches and yes, wiring, to file them down.

Chewed or bent wiring can be a very expensive and difficult repair and service. The best plan of action is to prevent it from happening in the first place. Here are a few suggestions:

Peppermint Oil – Spray it on the wiring. Wildlife do not like the smell or taste. You can find it online or at auto parts stores.

Keep Your Car Clean – We see a lot of vehicles and can tell many people eat in their cars. If crumbs are dropped, it is an open invitation to animals to “come and dine!”

Drive – Cars that aren’t driven for long periods of time are sitting targets for rodents. They like to build a cozy nest under the hood.

If you find debris under the hood of your vehicle from rodents, be very careful when trying to clean out the mess. An airborne disease called Hantavirus is caused from rodent urine and feces. Always wear gloves and even a face mask to protect yourself.

Most insurance companies will cover this problem if you carry comprehensive. They may have a deductible though. It is a good idea to check with your insurance company just in case. When it comes to your car, prevention, as always, is the best solution!

Keeping Your Vehicle’s Air Cooler and Fresher!

Most all vehicles have a recirculation button with the AC controls. It is the picture of a car with a U-turn arrow on it, but many of us are unsure when to use it. Well, the easy answer is to use it in the summer and turn it off in the winter. The recirculation button simply takes the air from inside the car and recirculates it in the cabin instead of pulling fresh air from outside.

On days when it is miserably hot outside, the recirculate button uses the cooler air in the cabin, which will keep the inside air cooler, instead of pulling hot air from outside and trying to cool it. Using the recirculation feature will get your car cooler and will decrease the wear and tear on your AC system.

Here is something that is good to know! If your car has been baking in the sun all day, it’s better to roll the windows down and turn the recirculate off for the first minute or so to get rid of the super-hot air inside the car before turning the recirculate on.

Also, any time you are stuck in traffic (summer or winter) be sure to use the recirculate. If you are pulling air from outside, then you are pulling in all the pollutants and carbon monoxide from all the traffic. Studies show that recirculating your AC can cut down on the pollutants entering your vehicle by 20% when stuck in traffic!

Don’t forget your cabin filter! This will also ensure smooth and quite blower operation and keep out dust and pollen! Have your cabin filter inspected every 15,000 miles.

Certified Automotive Specialists
“Always Glad to Help”
Vermont – 626-963-0814 or Route 66 – 626-852-0908
or visit our website www.CertifiedAutoCa.com
Hometown Service You Can Count On!

It’s Kind Of Like…

Your vehicle’s health systems are a lot like our own personal health. Really!

Clogged Filters – When your filters get full of debris, they can’t do their job. Like how a person with asthma must feel. Cabin air filters protect you and your passengers from contaminants such as pollen, mold spores, dust and other small and annoying particles. Oil filters extend the life of your engine, transmission and differential fluids.

Sludge – This is actually a gooey, tar like substance that deposits itself inside your car’s engine, similar to a clogged artery. Motor oil, in addition to lubrication, protects your engine from excessive heat. When engine oil fails, sludge deposits are the result. Some engines have more trouble than others due to poor design. Their passages are smaller and oil actually bakes inside the engine.

Smoke – We all know by now how bad smoking is for us. When your car has a smoking issue, it is actually sending you an SOS – “Help me!”

Black exhaust smoke means the engine is burning too much fuel. The first thing we check is the air-filter and other intake components like sensors, fuel injectors and the fuel-pressure regulator.

Blue smoke is a clear sign that the engine is burning oil. Likely the valve guide seals or piston rings are worn out, and oil is penetrating beyond the moving parts being lubricated, into the combustion chamber where it’s being burned up with fuel.

Gray smoke can mean that your car is burning oil or suffering from a bad turbocharger. With older cars, automatic transmission fluid can get sucked into the engine through the vacuum modular or could simply mean a stuck PCV (positive crankcase ventilation) valve.

Certified Automotive Specialists
“Always Glad to Help”
Vermont 626-963-0814 or Route 66 626-852-0908

Hometown Service You Can Count On!

Something To Consider

The cost of new cars is high! Here is something to keep in mind. Keeping and maintaining your existing car could be a great investment! The average cost of service for most cars is $800 to $1200.00 per year.

Consider these facts:

Just 8% of new cars on the market right now cost less than $30,000. That’s down 38% from before the COVID pandemic began in 2020.

In 2017, the average cost of a new vehicle was around $35,000. Today, it’s nearly $50,000, according to CNBC. 10% of all vehicles sold cost more than $70,000. That is an increase of 7% from five years ago.

According to an Edmunds report, the average price for used cars are 44% higher than five years ago. Thankfully, the price has dropped 6.4% in the first quarter of 2023.

Interest rates are also hammering buyers of both new and used vehicles. The average annual percentage rate (APR) on new vehicles bought in the first quarter of 2023 jumped to 7%, compared to 4.4% a year before. This is the highest level since the first quarter of 2008.

“Consumers paid an average monthly payment of $730 for new vehicles in the first quarter of 2023, compared to $656 a year ago, according to Edmunds. For used cars, consumers paid an average monthly payment of $551, a slight increase from the $542 they paid last year,” Fox reported.

Monthly payments exceeding $1,000 has hit a new record. 65% of auto buyers who have $1,000 monthly auto payments have an average loan-term range of 67 months and 84 months, with their average APR rate between 8.5% and 9.6%.

There are better ways and worse ways to spend $1,000 per month on a vehicle.

Certified Auto Specialists: the friendlier and more helpful auto shop! Feel free to call 626-963-0814 with any questions and we will be glad to help, or visit our website at CertifiedAutoCa.com.

Hometown Service You Can Count On!

Make It A Happy Thanksgiving!

Whether an extended road trip, a rush to the airport, getting groceries or just doing some Black Friday shopping, you probably will need your car. Here are what the road-side assistance companies say to have checked out before the holiday to make sure your vehicle is safe and your Thanksgiving less stressful:

Tires – Make sure each is properly inflated. If even one has bad tread wear and needs to be replaced, it is better to do it before you breakdown!
Wiper Blades – Many accidents could have been avoided if drivers could see where they are going, and most people are not seeing as clearly as they might believe. New wiper blades can make a huge difference.
Battery – If your car’s battery is dead, so are your plans. A simple 10-minute test is all you need.

Don’t let your car be a “roadside assistance” Thanksgiving statistic this year. Let us do a quick vehicle inspection – it will give you what we all want most on any trip – peace of mind! Besides, I would be personally offended if one of my customers had to sit by the side of the road – and you do want me to have a happy Thanksgiving also, don’t you?!

The Problem with Air Fresheners!

Those little trees that dangle from vehicles’ mirrors may look innocent, but are they? Here are a few things to consider if you use them.

They can obstruct your view and are actually illegal in many states!
Oil residue from them damages the plastic trim around a car’s air vent.
Chemicals in the fragrances can cause allergies and also trigger asthma, headaches, and even dermatitis.
They can add potentially hazardous pollutants to a car’s interior due to their volatile organic compounds.

The best way to keep a vehicle’s interior fresh is to clean it. The “fresh” scent from these dangling air fresheners don’t last long. If you simply can’t part with these little trees, please read the instructions carefully before use. They can do harm to your car’s interior when they come in contact with plastic, painted and varnished surfaces and upholstery by melting and then sticking.

We just felt this was something you “auto-know.”

Certified Auto Specialists: the friendlier and more helpful auto shop! Feel free to call 626-963-0814 with any questions, and we will be glad to help, or visit our website at CertifiedAutoCa.com.

Hometown Service You Can Count On!

Using Your Senses To Detect Car Trouble

We get calls all the time from customers that tell us their car “sounds like” or “smells like” this or that. Often customers feel self-conscious about doing this but it truly is helpful to us. Our vehicles are really good communicators. I know we have dash lights that illuminate to tell us many things but our senses are great at it too.

For example, if you notice a puddle under your car that is dark brown or black and oily looking in appearance, that is most likely engine oil. This tells us you might have a bad seal or a loose oil filter. If you see a red oily spot it is probably a transmission or power steering fluid leak. A clear puddle of fluid is most likely air conditioning condensation and is the only puddle you don’t need to be concerned about.

If you notice a smell of burnt toast it could be an electrical problem. The smell of burning sulfur usually indicates a catalytic converter or emission control system problem. An acrid odor could be burning oil or oil leaking onto a hot engine part. A chemical or resin-like odor might indicate a “dragging brake” or an emergency brake that’s been left on by mistake. A sickly-sweet smell and a fogged inside windshield are strong indicators of a heater core failure.

Hearing the following sounds definitely means your vehicle wants attention! A squealing or scraping sound when you apply the brakes, knocks or pings from the engine when you accelerate or climb a hill, your muffler making a rumbling or hissing sound, the thumping of a tire due to a flaw, the clicking of a worn CV joint when you make a tight turn, an engine that keeps chugging when you’ve turned off the ignition. All these noises indicate trouble!

Certified Auto Specialists: the friendlier and more helpful auto shop! Feel free to call 626-963-0814 with any questions, and we will be glad to help, or visit our website at CertifiedAutoCa.com.