Montpelier Auto Repair

Correct Weight = 57 lbs 1st place: A FREE Club Card worth $517.99 of automotive discounts 53.25 lbs / Barb Colf 2nd place: a $50.00 Gift Certificate to The Black Door Bar & Bistro in Montpelier. 53 lbs / Anthony Otis

When Jody Devere, the President of AskPatty.com (the premier automotive site for women) called and asked if I wanted to go to Akron, Ohio in July to review Goodyear’s new Assurance TripleTred All-Season tire I told her I would love to, and did my happy dance around the shop! Now you may be asking yourself, why would anyone get so excited to go to Akron, Ohio in July to check out a new tire. Well, the simple answer is that I love anything car related, especially tires. I sincerely feel that tires are one of the most important parts of your vehicle. They determine if your car can safely stop, start, turn and swerve. Think about this, you can be driving a car with a fresh tune-up, new brakes, four wheel drive, traction control, and every other automotive widget known to mankind, but if your tires are worn out, you could easily get into an accident. Please Rem ... read more

Driving a Hybrid Vehicle in Vermont causes unique problems, which are not explained in the owner’s manual.*Cabin Air Filter: If the cabin air filter is clogged in a hybrid, the high voltage battery is cooled less. This takes life out of the big expensive battery and reduces the car’s power and fuel economy. And, just like a plugged vacuum cleaner, a cabin air filter with restricted air flow can’t suck up the dirt. old pads and new pads *Brakes: Hybrid vehicles have a regenerative braking system. This means that the conventional brakes only work when going 5 mph or less. Vermont has an excess of moisture and salt on our roads that cause brakes to rust and because the conventional brakes don’t get used much, they never build up the heat that helps to burn off the rust. Many Vermont hybrid owners are driving around with the bra ... read more

Do you own a car? Is it registered in Vermont? Did you know that Vermont requires you to take your vehicle to a State Licensed Inspection Station once a year for a safety and emissions inspection? Interestingly this is not a national requirement. Each state government is free to decide whether to require a safety inspection as well as the specifics of what the requirements are to pass that state’s inspection. In 1990 Congress passed federal vehicle emissions regulations called The Clean Air Act. States were told to implement vehicle emissions testing programs to make sure vehicles are in compliance with the EPA standard, but again, programs vary from state to state, region, and even by metropolitan areas. Some states have state-operated garages that only do inspections. Other states, including Vermont, have the inspections done by licensed repair shops and dealership service departments. Only about 18 states still have mandatory vehicle inspe ... read more

My Dear Clients,My Friend Greg Buckley sent this to me, and I wanted to share it with you! By now all of us are awe struck and saddened by the horrible earthquake and tsunami that the people of Japan have recently suffered. There are no words to describe what a tragedy like this can mean to the lives of the thousands living in the heart of the stricken area or the families that are watching, waiting and praying from afar. The American Red Cross is actively taking donations online to support the rescue mission. You can click here for more information. http://www.redcross.org/The Aftershocks For The Auto Industry And You As much as we should focus on the human element of such a cat ... read more

It’s been a long, cold snowy winter so far and we still have March and April to get through. This time of year seems to be hard for many folks. I wish I had enough money to close the shop for a week and take my staff to somewhere sunny and warm. But since I don’t, we have been busy doing shop-projects. This years winter project has been, re-organizing the parts room. Thanks to one of our part vendors we received a bunch of shelving. We are organizing a bunch of the parts that we stock for your cars. We have 3 shelves filled and have 1½ left to fill. I love organizing things and getting rid of clutter, and this has been a fabulous change in my world! I also love it that we now have room in the parts room to store all our specialized machines to keep them clean! My next project is to re-organize all the shelves and cupboards in the shop