Update on Brother Allan

My brother has been a fixture here at the shop almost since we opened in 1986. He has served as the co-host of our radio show for 5 years now. He is one of the best automotive technicians I have ever worked with.

If you listen to the show you noticed that he has been missing the past few weeks. I have missed his quirky sense of humor, his vast knowledge of cars and his ability to push the right phone line button, something I still haven't mastered.

Last week Allan was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer. He will begin treatment for this terrifying disease shortly. As his health allows he will continue to appear on the show but unfortunately we will not be seeing him in the shop for the foreseeable future.

If you want to contact Allan you can use the show email allan@thecarcounselor.com

Please keep him and his family in your prayers.

Baby Girl Gets Married!

In case you haven't heard me bragging about it lately - my daughter Courtney got married on March 24th!  She is now Courtney Leanne Alva.

The young man she married, John, works for Amergy Bank. While we all know that no guy is good enough for our daughters, John comes pretty close and with a little work should do just fine. Actually he is a great young man and we are proud to have him in the family.

The wedding was held at Ashelynn Manor in Magnolia. If you are looking for a place to hold a wedding this place was great, I highly recommend it.

The newlyweds will continue to live in Houston

I'll let you know about grandchildren when they tell me.

Summer Routines

Spring Break is over and we have about 2 more months until school is out and we start our summer routines. I know that with the higher price of gas many of us will not be taking the summer vacation drive that we may have in the past. Still during the summer months we tend to put on a lot more miles, even if we don't really go anyplace special.
Running the kids around, visiting family, taking advantage of the nice weather and late sun sets all add up to many extra miles on our cars.

There are a lot of things that you can do to get the best possible mileage from you car or truck. Most of them are pretty simple and best of all free or very inexpensive.

First, check the air in your tires. Low air pressure is a mileage killer, costing you 5% for every 10 pounds of pressure you tires are low.

Next, get all of that unnecessary stuff out of the trunk or bed. Hauling around a couple of hundred pounds of unneeded weight just adds to the work your car has to do and burns more gas.

Then you can check the easy things like your intake air filter and on most cars the cabin air filter. The intake air filter cleans the air coming into your engine and when it gets dirty it restricts that air flow causing a significant loss in economy. The cabin air filter is like the air filters on your home AC system and cleans the air circulating inside the car. When it gets dirty the AC has to work harder and that effects the mileage.

Other low cost maintenance that you can do, or have done for you, that will increase or maintain good mileage include keeping your oil changed on a regular basis, servicing the transmission fluid, replacing the differential fluid with synthetic gear lube, and making sure that the ignition and fuel systems are in good tune.

If you are planning to take the car, the kids and the spouse on the highway I suggest that you have the car checked before you leave. An inspection of the tires, belts, hoses, coolant, other fluids and brakes may save you serious problems on the road.

Freedom Auto will be glad to do a free pre-trip inspection. We want you to have a safe and happy summer, whether you stay close to home, or wander across the country.

Do you hate ROAD CONSTRUCTION!?

We do, especially when it keeps you from being able to get to the shop easily.

So we are doing something about it for you. Call us and schedule your service and we will pick up your car, service it, and return it to your door.

There is no charge for this service, we just want to make it easy for you to continue to have your car taken care of by the folks you have trusted in the past.

All we ask is that you set an appointment for the concierge service.