Montpelier Auto Repair

Pink Wiper BladesShow your Support forBreast Cancer Awareness Month With any service or repair during the month of October, ALL our Pink Windshield Wiper Blades will be 1/2 off! With every blade sold a donation is made to the National Breast Cancer Foundation “Change your Blades, Change a Life” Call (802) 223-2253 or Email: [email protected] If you live FAR Away – You can purchase PINK WIPERS ONLINE.

The Car Care Council Women’s Board (WB) announces Amy Mattinat, owner of Auto Craftsmen in Montpelier Vermont, has been elected the new president of the organization, effective following the WB reception at AAPEX on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2013 in Las Vegas, Nev. In this position, Mattinat will preside over all meetings and board leadership, and supervise the activities of the board for a three-year term. “I love being a part of the Car Care Council Women’s Board and I am honored to be the next president,” said Mattinat. “I am looking forward to presiding at our meetings and helping our group of dedicated automotive women move forward with our mission of providing career leadership to women in the automotive aftermarket, providing car care information to female audiences and encouraging young people to investigate opportunities in the automotive aftermarket.” Mattinat is owner and manager of Auto Craftsmen, an independent auto repair sales and service center in Mon ... read more

If you own a vehicle with a healthy engine, a strong transmission, a beefy suspension and great brakes, but your tires don’t grip the road properly, then you have no traction and no control. It is the tires that determine the type of traction, grip and control that you have with your car. If you add up the amount you paid for the vehicle + the cost of car insurance + the maintenance and repairs you have in the car + the new stereo you bought for it, the cost of good tires may be one of the most economical purchases you can make. To help illustrate how important tire traction is, I’d like you take a sheet of paper 8½x11 and fold it length wise, then width wise. This is approximately the size of the contact patch of each tire. The traction of these tires must handle the job of starting, accelerating, steering and stopping – a big job for a small amount of rubber rolling on the ground. The compounds that make up a tire vary quite a bit depending on what ... read more

Once a year we take our bodies to our primary care physician to make sure we are still healthy. We are prodded and poked and looked over from head to toe. They take some of our fluids and test them to make sure there are no surprises. Sometimes we are hooked up to machines to see what is going on inside. If we have noticed any weird lumps, bumps, squeaks or rattles, now is the time to ask questions. It is best to find out ASAP what is going wrong so that it can be righted before it becomes critical to our health and well being. Like our bodies, our automobiles need to be looked at on a regular basis to make sure that everything is safe and sound. Like the physician, the auto technician prods and pokes, hooks your car up to machines, checks out the fluids, and checks out any weird lumps, bumps, squeaks and rattles. Just like our bodies, if problems are found sooner than later, accidents are prevented, and fixes are cheaper. Vehicles are misdiagnosed all the ... read more

I’m putting on my Women’s Board Hat when I tell you that it’s National Car Care Month & time to get your vehicle ready for winter. Winterizing your car is essential to getting through a Vermont winter with no problems! Here a the 8 Steps to Getting Your Car Ready for Winter. 1. Clean your vehicle inside and out. Getting your vehicle washed and waxed helps protect the paint surfaces from snowy bombardments, and it will also make snow and ice easier to brush off. Since you will be sitting in your car with the windows up for the next six months do yourself a favor and give your car a thorough cleaning ASAP. To prevent that stale air / locker room smell, consider replacing your cabin air filter. It’s also a great idea to take out your carpeted floor mats and replace them with a set of water-resistant rubber mats. 2. Make sure you can see. A winter s ... read more

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

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

DON’T BE THIS PERSON? Her auto technician told her 3xs that she should get the timing belt changed on her 2002 PT Cruiser. But she kept putting it off – because she did not want to spend the money. While driving to work – the timing belt broke… and because this vehicle has an interference engine, the engine is probably toast. The vehicle got towed to Auto Craftsmen. The only way to find out if the engine survived is to put a new timing belt on the engine (approx. a five hour job). It is will either be OK – or not Ok – It’s about a $500 gamble! So Sad!

Exercise while you wait for Automotive Services at Auto Craftsmen You asked for it… and we listened! We now have an exercise room (air conditioned too) so you can get a work out while waiting for an oil change or other minor service on your car. If the service or repairs are going to take too long to wait – we have a shuttle service into the greater Montpelier area & five loaner cars available for you to use