Freedom- Automotive Newsletter

February 2007

Car Pros for Kids

Are you planning to change your oil this year? Maybe more than once? I have a great deal for you then! February is Car Pros for Kids month. During the month of February you can stop by any of the participating shops and donate $25.00 to Child Advocates and receive a certificate good for 2 oil changes. That's 2 oil changes on your car for less than most folks pay for one and all the money goes to the Child Advocates program.

About Child Advocates:
It's no surprise that Child Advocates has become a leader in the ongoing fight against child abuse. Twenty years ago, three individuals, armed with $5,000 and using a kitchen table as headquarters, created the organization. They served 18 children that first year. This year we plan to serve more than 1,750. Our vision is to help every abused child in Harris County who needs us. Our challenge is to find the volunteers, resources, commitment and compassion that will get us there.

Child Advocates, Inc. mobilizes court appointed volunteers to break the vicious cycle of child abuse. We speak up for abused children who are lost in the system and guide them into safe environments where they can thrive.

All you have to do is stop in one of the participating shops and make the donation in February and then you can get the oil changes done any time this year. Freedom Automotive is proud to be a participating shop in the Car Pros for Kids program. Come on by or call us at Freedom Automotive - 281-499-4797- we'll set you with with two oil changes for a $25 donation to Child Advocates. Freedom Automotive has been a part of the program for 5 years now and we consider it one of the best deals around for our customers, Child Advocates and the shop.

Of course some cars are not included in this program, you know who you are. Diesel trucks and cars, exotics or cars that use synthetic oil will not be covered. But you can still make the donation and apply our regular oil change price to the cost of these more expensive services.

For a full list of the shops in the program this year go to www.carprosforkids.com or click here

How Loyal Are You?

R. L. Polk just released the newest customer loyalty survey for the automotive industry. I found it a little surprising, but somehow reassuring at the same time.

The survey asked owners of a specific make or model if they would buy the same thing again. The results are the "Loyalty" to a specific make of car.

For the seventh year in a row GM has won the top honors as the manufacturer with the highest loyalty. This is for their entire car and truck line. They also took top honors for the Large Car, with the Chevrolet Impala, Prestige Sports Car, with the Corvette and Full Size SUV, with the Chevy Tahoe.

Overall loyalty to GM was 61.4%. In other words almost 2/3 of the folks now driving some kind of GM product would buy another for their next car.

Toyota won the loyalty contest for an individual make of car (no surprise there) with 57.7% of current owners saying they would buy another Toyota as their next car.

The next highest percentage of happy and loyal drivers was for the Ford F-Series trucks, they reported the 36.8% would buy another Ford.

Of the 16 categories that Polk reported American manufacturer's took the honors in 10. I think this says a lot about both the improvements in our domestic cars, and the faithfulness of the American buyer. While the auto industry is becoming more international in that you can no longer tell where a car is made just by the name on it, it is nice to see that most Americans still want an American car.

Look Before You Leap

We recently had a caller on the radio show who had changed the battery and his car wouldn't start. We had another who replaced the radio and then his remote door locks wouldn't work. Another put custom seats in his pickup and his air bag light stayed on.

What do all these people have in common? They are unwary victims of the technology on their cars.

If you replace the battery on a late model Volkswagen the computers have to be "Initialized" so that they can talk to each other again and allow the car to start. I have heard, but haven't verified, that the dealer gets about $300 to install a battery in one.

On late model GM products the radio receiver acts as the receiver for the remote key fob too. If you change the radio you may lose the signal needed to unlock your car.

Many vehicles have "smart air bags" now that sense the weight load on a seat to determine whether to deploy the air bag, and if so how hard to inflate it. When the seat is changed the sensor to weigh the passenger is lost.

The show is all about helping the listeners take care of their cars. In many cases we help them understand how to do the repair themselves, saving money and time. Unfortunately these days some very simple jobs can turn into a nightmare.

If you are a do it yourself kind of guy (or gal) then we have some suggestions before you find yourself mired in technology and modern science.

Call the Car Counselor Show or the shop and ask us what you might run into.

Subscribe to a program like Alldata so you can research the job before you get into it. Ask at the parts store when you are buying the part is there is any thing special you might need to know or do to make the job right. Go online and "google" the project to see if there is any information out there to help you.

Of course you can always just call us and we can take care of it for you, then you can go and do whatever it is you do best.

Did You Know?

In Texas 44% of the traffic fatalities were "alcohol involved"

There were more people killed on our nation's highways last month than deaths of service men since the Iraq war started.

A Jeep Liberty weights more than Lexus LS430