Their emergency shouldn’t be yours unless they pay a premium to fix it.
I’ll gladly pay an independent shop more for a rush repair, and I’m not alone
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The pros (and more than a few cons) of chrome
My Shop Press colleague Lemmy and I have had an ongoing debate about chrome. Since I’m a lover of antique cars, particularly Tri-Five Chevys, you can guess that I’m a pretty big fan of chrome. I think it makes any car look luxurious and stylish. Lemmy, on the other...
TECHNICIAN CHALLENGE: Can you identify these dash lights? (VIDEO)
TECHNICIAN CHALLENGE: Can you identify these dash lights? (VIDEO) Description Think you know your dash lights? Shop Press contributors Keith, Miriam, Chris, and Greaser try their best to identify all kinds of lights, symbols, and indicators. Some are easy, others...
Dash warning lights: feature or bug?
Warning lights are something we’re all familiar with—all too often, they’re the reason a customer steps into your shop. Mechanics of a certain age will remember a time when the phrase “idiot light” was used to describe a dash light. The derisive term referred to the...
Three lessons from “Traffic: why we drive the way we do (and what it says about us)”
I recently had occasion to sit down and leaf my way through a book entitled “Traffic: why we drive the way we do (and what it says about us).” It was very well-documented and researched, but perhaps a bit closer to a college textbook than light reading material for a...
Don’t let the grind of fixing cars wear down your love for ‘em
Fixing automobiles all day is tough. The work’s too hard, the customers get ornery, the money ain’t what it oughta be, working conditions aren’t always the best, and the hours are too long. In spite of that, I have yet to meet a tech, service writer, or counterman who...