What acid rain does to your car's finish

In our part of Wisconsin, River City Auto Body sees the impact of pollution on vehicles resulting from acid rain. Actually, we see it from acid snow and acid fog as well. Even acid dew. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, any sort of moisture that makes it to the ground after passing through pollution is acidic. And it takes a toll on your car.

First, acid precipitation is unavoidable. If you garage your car, at some point, it's going to get wet. Acid rain results when sulfur and nitrogen particles are emitted into the atmosphere. A third of the particles comes from cars, trucks, chimneys and smokestacks. Two thirds of these particles come from electric power plants. We have them all over… if you don't live next to a power plant, wind currents take care of sweeping the nitrogen and sulfur into our area from points west. Sulfur and nitrogen react with water to make sulfuric acid and nitric acid. Which weakens and fades paint over time.

The real enemy however, is the sun. The precipitation hits your car… during evaporation the droplet magnifies the sun's intensity causing the acid to pit the surface microscopically… then the acid is left when the water evaporates.

Imagine the gradual effect of millions of tiny acid-made pores over the life of your car's finish. Even on some of the newer cars River City Auto Body repairs, the paint damage from just a year or less is visible to the naked eye.

Here's how you can minimize acid rain damage beyond just covering the car when it rains:

·         Wash your car frequently with mild soap followed by hand drying it with a clean cloth. River City Auto Body thinks the Auto Detailing Network is right on when it suggests a thorough wash weekly.

·         Wash it right after a rain. Just hosing off the rain spots won't help because it only activates the acid deposit.

·         Use wax or sealants designed to protect the clear coat finish, or – better yet – have your car professionally detailed.

·         Come see River City Auto Body for painting and finishing to bring back that showroom look.

 

 Photo by Olga Yastremska, used with permission.

Five tips for handling damage during hail season

Hail can fall any time of the year, but according to National Weather Service statistics, May is the most common month in southeast Wisconsin for hail that's pea-sized or larger. It was exactly a year ago that dozens of vehicles were at River City Auto Body with damage from quarter-sized hail that fell late morning on Saturday May, 7… exactly when there were a lot of cars out and about on family errands.

Hail damage is cosmetic. Your car still runs. But you have to look at the pockmarks and dents every time you're in your vehicle. Unrepaired cosmetic damage from hail is going to lower the resale value of your vehicle, or will cost you when your lease ends.

Here's how to handle hail damage:

1) If you're driving, safely reduce your speed. A pea-sized hailstone can fall at as much as 20 mph on a parked car. If you’re traveling at 65 mph in a head wind, the velocity of that little dent maker is more than tripled. And you'll hit more of them by covering distance.

2) If possible, get under an overpass in the breakdown lane with your hazards on until the storm passes. Hail episodes seldom last more than five minutes in a location.

3) If you have hail damage, don't delay in calling River City Auto Body and your insurer. Most dents are small. They can, however, compromise the paint's ability to prevent corrosion or rust on the underlying metal the longer the dents go unrepaired.

4) Hail damaged sheet metal may need to be hammered and painted. For lightly damaged surfaces, trained technicians may recommend paintless dent removal (PDR), which involves using tools on the underside of a damaged panel. Either process takes time… PDR takes less time, but usually in a hail event, a repair facility has several cars with the same damage awaiting repair.

5) Check the repair thoroughly under daylight and fluorescent light from a few angles. If it's not done to your satisfaction, remember it is YOUR car, not the insurer's.

 

 Photo by Andrei Seleznev, used with permission.

Work van or work truck painting and repair demand special handling

There's on-going debate over which type of vehicle is best for a contractor or fleet vehicle. Contractor website toolsofthetrade regularly surveys business owners to find out what they're driving. A standard pickup is the vehicle of choice for 40 percent. Standard vans are used by another 18 percent. Thirty-six percent use a trailer, cube van, or a pickup with a service body. River City Auto Body respects that this isn't just your point-A-to-point-B mode of transporting equipment…

…it's a rolling advertisement.

As an ad, the condition of the vehicle says a lot about the condition of the business. Remember the TV sitcom, 'Sanford and Son?' That was one beat-up pickup: Fred, Lamont, Grady, Rollo, and Bubba were some beat-up sketchy characters. That isn't to say a beater truck is always going to be driven by deadbeat contractors, however the service vehicle is often the first – or only – visible advertisement for contractors. Make it count.

Four things to consider:

1) Repair damage immediately. With the amount of miles a typical local business puts on a vehicle, collisions are always a risk. When you have collision damage that's unrepaired, consider how many people see your name next to the dent or scrape every mile it rolls down the road.

2) Elements and acid-rain deteriorate the image. Many times the service vehicle has to be stored outdoors all year due to its size compared to a standard height (or width) garage door. Wisconsin's climate isn't kind to your advertisement.

3) More aluminum is being used today than ever before. Check out the River City Auto Body archive on aluminum frames and body panels. These require specific certification to be repaired and repainted properly.

4) Taller service vans are growing in popularity. Dodge's Ram ProMaster and Ford's Transit are just two of the dozen vehicles on the market specifically for business owners. First, consider these are taller and you will need a repair business with the extra-tall paint bays needed to accommodate the size. (River City Auto Body can accommodate any vehicle, BTW.) Second, some of these vehicles are now coming into their second owners: If you're that second owner, do you want the old business's paint scheme? You'd only be advertising their business, not yours. Even when you peel off the old decals, the climate changed the paint around the old logo. Start fresh. It's your ad.

 Photo by A Ancu, used with permission.

Bring some clarity to warranty, guarantee and honesty

With more than three decades in the collision repair business, River City Auto Body witnessed more than a few similar business come and go over challenges involving those three words in the article title. Realistically, no one expects warranty and guarantee to mean the same thing. However, they're frequently used for the same principle: When something goes south, it gets fixed. Period.

Warranty and guarantee do mean the same thing from a legal standpoint. The Uniform Commercial Code, which has been adopted in some form in every state, protects consumers when it comes to promises made by a seller.

We simplify it here:

·         Pieces and parts are warrantied. This comes from the manufacturer. For example, who hasn't come across a product recall? Some piece or part fails or creates a safety-compromising situation. It's replaced. Done. A warranty is a form of a guarantee, and comes from the maker/manufacturer. You see them ranging from 30-days for consumer electronics to years for car systems to the rare Lifetime Warranty.

A bit about parts and the warranty. Remanufactured parts carry a tag or label shortened to 'reman.' Sometimes remans carry a warranty from the REmanufacturer which isn't necessarily the company that originally manufactured the part. That original maker is usually called the OEM, by the way, short for Original Equipment Manufacturer. ‘

This is where honesty comes in. River City Auto Body believes in using new, OEM parts whenever possible and fully discloses when the parts used in a repair aren’t. Even if you don't use us, please ask any repairer to give you that courtesy.  

·         Work is guaranteed. You can use the best parts, but what about the installation or assembly? When you find a business willing to put it on the line that their employees do work so well – even the intricacies of paint work – they'll guarantee the labor.

At any rate, as we mentioned last week, an insurer doesn’t warranty claim repairs because they don’t make the equipment, and they don’t do the labor. We guarantee our parts (new and used) and labor – even refinishing except for damage from acid rain or stone chips – for a year because WE CAN. The fit and finish of a job are too important to us to cut corners. As long as you own the vehicle, we guarantee our work for a year. No fine print. The fine-print mentality is another form of dishonesty.

   

 Photo by Val Thoermer, used with permission.

Auto repair mythbuster: You CAN take your car anywhere

When River City Auto Body welcomes a new customer, about half the time it involves an auto insurance claim. We make sure every customer knows – up front – that as the owner of a vehicle they can take the car to the repair shop of THEIR choice. Many people don’t realize that. But it is the LAW.

A mythology has evolved around car repairs and quotes and insurance coverage. We do our level best to help bust those myths, not just when it’s to our advantage to do so. This particular myth is one we find challenges customers too often because an insurance policy is a complicated contract. State law clarified one thing with certainty: Your insurer may suggest, but cannot require, you have your car repaired at a specific auto repair shop. If anyone tells you otherwise, you can call Wisconsin’s Department of Ag, Trade and Consumer Protection to defend your rights at 800-422-7128. 

When insurers attempt to direct you to a specific shop, the practice is called STEERING in auto repair circles. You’ll see the topic quite a few times in upcoming River City Auto Body articles.

Repair ‘choice’ is a win for everyone involved. Repair shops gain an equal footing when there aren’t rules limiting competition. Insurance companies win because service can be fast, local and competitive. Most of all, YOU win because you have choice where to have work done… and since there is competition for your business, quality goes up and costs (including insurance premiums) are more manageable.

This isn’t like that “If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor” scheme we heard not too long ago. Here you have a situation where if you like your repair shop or what you’ve heard about a repair shop like ours, you can keep it. If you don’t like a repair shop’s reputation, you can go elsewhere. It really is that simple.

Repairing a vehicle after it’s been damaged requires precision to restore the vehicle to specs. River City Auto Body is so proficient at what we do that we’ve earned the trust of many insurance carriers as a Direct Repair Program (DRP) shop. However, not one of the insurers can tell you that you have to use us. Our track record and our ability to GUARANTEE our work as long as you own the vehicle will make you want to choose us for your damage repair. It IS your choice!

 

 

 Photo by Karammiri , used with permission.