Automotive TNT

When embarking on an auto career, the first things you learn are the ins-and-outs of using the most popular industry-standard tools. In addition to these, however, there are other major tools not usually found in the garage of the hobbyist, but are absolute necessities for the automotive service technician. These tools are indispensable to building up your business from the ground-up, or becoming a valued member of a pre-existing team.

Tools You Can’t Do Without

Early in your auto career, you’ll come across the full range of electrical issues with the parts of a vehicle. As such, a voltmeter is an essential piece of diagnostic equipment, which drastically cuts down the amount of time you would otherwise spend trying to find shorted wires and faulty connections. Often sold together, a multi-meter for the checking of amperages is just as important.

Because a busy automotive service technician can easily encounter tens-of-thousands of bolts, screws and holes in a short period of time, you’ll find air-powered ratchets, ball drivers and power drills to be merciful instruments of construction and disassembly. They save your joints from inflammation and injury and allow you to easily tighten and loosen disagreeable bolts and screws.

For big jobs that involve razing down the thick metal of a car, cutting and making adjustments are easily handled by this next popular tool of the automotive service technician: the plasma cutter. Reaching temperatures hot enough to ionize the surrounding air, this is essentially the perfect knife and slices through hardware like butter. The plasma cutter is an indispensable welding tool that will serve you well in your auto career.

A work light is an absolute must. Even during the brightest day, there are nooks and crannies in the back of the garage where darkness dominates, and it is crucial that you see what you’re doing. Work lights come in super-bright halogens and low-energy LEDs, where the lack of an extension cord and power adapter proves handy.

Extensions and swivels are mechanical tools that allow you to reach and manipulate hard-to-reach bolts, which are either deeply-embedded in some corner of the car, or surrounding by too many other machine parts at an awkward angle.

Jacks and jack stands are instruments of dual-importance, so much so that they’re sold as the feature of many starter packages for the beginning auto mechanic. The jack is for removing car wheels safely, by allowing you to slide underneath the multiple-ton vehicle to inspect the underbelly.

These represent just slightly more than a handful of the essential tools you’ll encounter in auto careers, and serve as the bare minimum for a serious mechanic. Vehicles develop all kinds of problems through wear-and-tear, and these tools help you effectively apply your knowledge in finding solutions for satisfied customers as an automotive service technician.

Searching for Automotive Mirrors? Your search for Mirror Glass Replacement ends with Mirrorglassplus. We offer Replacement Automotive Mirror Glass of every variety possible.

If it’s on the road, it’s on our roster. There’s an exact-fitting, vehicle-specific Car Mirror Glass for virtually every make, model and mirror type: Heated, non-heated, signal, heated-signal, blue glass and high-bend convex.

For more mirror specifics visit our Numbering Guide. Given Below is Mirror Glass Part Number Suffix Guide to help you land on specific mirror of your choice.

3254- Unique Burco Redi Cut 4-digit part number.

3254H – The letters “H” following a mirror’s base part number means that the mirror has a heat grid and terminals on the back of the mirror.

3254HA – The letters “HA” following a mirror’s base part number means that the mirror has a heat grid, terminals and is encased in an assembly. The assembly can be seen as a black plastic edge on the front of the mirror.

2780HSEA – The letters “HSEA” following a mirror’s base part number means that the mirror has a heat grid, terminals, built-in turn signal, electro chromatic and is encased in an assembly. The assembly can be seen as a black plastic edge on the front of the mirror.

3254HRSG – The letters “HRSG” following a mirror’s base part number means that the mirror has a heat grid, terminals and a motor mount. This is a cost-effective alternative to the encased assembly.

3254HS – The letters “HS” following a mirror’s base part number means that the mirror has a heat grid, terminals and lasered holes for the built-in turn signal.

3254HSRSG – The letters “HSRSG” following a mirror’s base part number means that the mirror has a heat grid, terminals, built-in turn signal and motor mount. This is a cost-effective alternative to the encased assembly.

3254RSG – The letters “RSG” following a mirror’s base part number means that the mirror has a pre-applied motor mount. This is a cost-effective alternative to the encased assembly.

4017S – The letter “S” following a mirror’s base part number means that the mirror has lasered holes for the built-in turn signal.

3254HSA – The letters “HSA” following a mirror’s base part number means that the mirror has a heat grid, terminals, built-in turn signal and is encased in an assembly. The assembly can be seen as a black plastic edge on the front of the mirror.

If you are interested to know more about Automotive Mirrors, please search our site for more in-depth information and resources.

PressRelease – The Planet Automotive Group spent the entire month of May raising money for Victory Junction in Randleman, NC.

Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill, NC-SC – During the month, Planet Automotive Group donated $100 for every vehicle sold, new or pre-owned and $1 for every person that liked the their Facebook page. The mission of Victory Junction is to enrich the lives of children with chronic medical conditions or serious illnesses by providing life-changing camping experiences that are exciting, fun and empowering, in a safe and medically sound environment, free of charge.

Best known for beating down high prices and squashing their competition by giving customers great deals, Planet Automotive Group is now fighting to making a difference for the children of Victory Junction.

Showing their commitment to Victory Junction’s incredible cause, in a special check presentation ceremony, Planet Automotive Group donated $10,000.00 to the organization! Representatives from Victory Junction were on hand and graciously accepted the donation on behalf of the children.

Planet Automotive Group knew that not everyone could come out and buy a car in the month of May, so they provided other ways for the entire community to get involved. Besides donations related to vehicle sales, for every “Like” to the Planet Automotive Group Facebook Page between May 1st and May, 31st, 2013, they donated $1 for people’s thumbs up to this great cause!

“We were happy to join Victory Junction’s mission of enriching the lives of children suffering from chronic medical conditions and serious illnesses. We wanted to help the people of Charlotte to stay informed about this great organization. We wanted to do everything we could to help fund Victory Junction and give these children a way to fight back,” said Helmi Felfel, President of The Planet Automotive Group and a proud member of the North Carolina Automobile Dealers Association.

“I felt honored to be a part of this great cause,” said Laura Felfel of The Planet Automotive Group. “We’re happy to help them fight and to make a difference in their lives.”

Victory Junction is a year-round camping environment for children ages six to 16 with chronic medical conditions or serious illnesses. Founded by Kyle and Pattie Petty in honor of their son Adam, the camp is located in Randleman, NC. Victory Junction offers programs for a range of disease groups and maintains strong relationships with more than 30 partner hospitals. Victory Junction’s mission is to provide life-changing camping experiences that are exciting, fun and empowering, in a safe and medically-sound environment. As a not-for-profit organization, the camp operates solely through the support of generous individuals, groups and corporations to provide this experience at no charge to children and their families. For more information or to donate, visit www.victoryjunction.org.

About Planet Automotive Group:
Planet Automotive Group is a premier automotive dealer in the Charlotte area and is owned by Helmi Felfel, a member of the North Carolina Automobile Dealers Association. At Planet Automotive Group, we make buying new and quality used cars easy, we have a knowledgeable friendly sales staff and attractive financing options. Planet Automotive Group is proud to be the best solution for all of your car buying needs. At Planet Automotive Group, we strive to always deliver a superior buying experience and customer service is our number one concern. Planet Automotive Group wishes to earn your business for life. We know the only way to do that is to prove to you how important you are to us as a customer. Please come in and let us show you.

Planet Automotive Group is the best place on the planet to buy a car!
For any additional information please visit http://www.planetautomotivegroup.com/ or call (704) 209-7847

You may be surprised to learn just how much financial power rests in the hands of the person who answers the phone at your auto repair shop. As a shop owner, you put a lot of time into getting that phone to ring. The first phone call from a potential customer is your best chance to make a good impression. How is your business first represented to your potential patrons?

Customers needing auto repair have a sense of urgency when they make the call to your auto shop. Transportation is both a necessity and an investment; when they call your business for service, they want to know that their vehicles will be in capable hands. How is that first communicated to your potential clients? If your answering system involves an answering machine or an uninformed receptionist, you may be losing calls and clients by the day.

You may be the best shop with the most skilled mechanics in your local area, but if that is not communicated to your clients on the initial phone call, your business will suffer. The average auto repair ticket is approximately $300. If your phone answering system causes you to lose one call per day, and you are open 5 days per week, your business loses $1500 per week! This adds up to $78,000 annually!

Having a pre-determined script for any type of call that may come into your shop is an ideal way to assure that your receptionist handles inquires in a manner that will convert the call to sales, says Gerry Frank and Keith McCrone, co-owners of Automotive Profit Pro. When this is executed properly, 75% of calls can be converted into appointments.

Customers typically call auto shops for three main reasons:
1.They have a question or problem. This customer usually calls asking if you can fix their air conditioner or if you work on specific types of cars, such as, Do you work on Hondas? They want to know that you can confidently take care of whatever problem or vehicle that they may have.
2.Calling to schedule an appointment. This may be a current customer or a new prospect and they may be calling for either routine service or an emergency. It is important to determine all of the variables of the caller and help them accordingly.
3.To get an estimate. This person is usually labeled as the price shopper. Dont underestimate this caller; more often than not this customer is looking to establish a relationship with you and your auto repair shop.

Each of these phone calls is an opportunity to set an appointment and clinch the sale. Building a relationship with your potential clients as their auto care professional is established through their ability to trust you with their auto maintenance needs.

The automotive industry sales have increased in 2010 when compared to 2009. According to Motor Intelligence, there was a decrease of total automotive sales in the year 2007 from 16.14 million to 13.24 million in 2008 and 10.43 million in 2009. During the first two thirds of 2010, the automakers have sold 1.278 million vehicles in the United States which is up from 1.08 million during the first 8 months of 2009. This shows an increase of 18 percent.

To buy a high rated car with best price, many resources like editors reviews or car owners reviews play major key role. Most of the people are fond of buying a new car. But, they are not aware about how to find the best car. One can find the best car and can decide easily by using Edmunds. com. Here in this site, you can get the opinions of the editors as well as the consumers for selecting the best cars. Consumers or the vehicle owners and the editors will give the ratings as well as reviews for the cars.

Using the consumers ratings and review tool, consumers top rated vehicles can be decided. Generally, one decides the best car based on eight categories like performance, fuel economy, driving impressions, exterior design, interior design, build quality, reliability and comfort.

Generally, there are 21 categories which are covered for the best categories. After considering all these, the best picks for the year 2010 are as follows.

Coupes: Dodge challenger with the (price under $25,000), Nissan 370Z (price ranges from $25K- $35K); Audi A5(price ranges from $35k-$45K);Mercedes Benz E-class (price over $45,000) are best ones.

Convertibles: Ford Mustang (price under $35,000); Lexus IS 350C (price over $35,000) are the best rated ones.

Sedans: Kia Forte (price under $15,000); Volkswagen Golf(price ranges from $15k-$25k); Volkswagen CC (Price ranges between $25k-$35K); Lexus ES 350(price ranges between $35K-45K); Audi S4 (price over $45,000).

Wagons: Chevrolet HHR (price under $35,000); Lincoln MkT(price over $35,000) are the best ones.

SUVs: Mazda CX7 (price $25,000); Toyota Highlander (price ranges between $25k to 35k) ;Infiniti FX35 (price under $35K-$45K); Mercedes Benz GL-class (price over $45,000) are the best ones

Trucks: Compact truck:Nissan Frontier; Large Truck: Ford F-150. Are consumers top rated

Minivans: Chrysler Town And Country and among Hybrids: Ford Fusion Hybrid are consumers top rated.

After Toyota recalling more than 8 million vehicles due to unwanted acceleration complaints, many companies are now considering brake override systems in their new models. It is likely to become a standard feature like airbags, anti lock brake systems etc. in future. This technology gives brakes the priority if both the accelerator and brake pedals are simultaneously pressed. These are the current trends in the automotive industry of 2009.