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.

Auto insurance steering isn't us vs. them, it's about you

Earlier in the River City Auto Body article archive, we shared two 'myth-buster' articles on auto insurers steering claim repairs to a shop of the insurer's choosing. They can't require you to go anywhere for your repair: It's your vehicle. Yet they may attempt to sway your decision by suggesting a collision repair shop, and that's legal – mostly.

We work with a lot of insurers. They're an important part of protecting your vehicle investment and your peace of mind. Not to mention your wallet. River City Auto Body recognizes the valuable role your insurer plays in your life, and how they can make or break our business. Insurers work with the same auto repair shops every day. And since you, as a driver, aren't likely to have that much experience with getting collision damage repaired quickly or cost-effectively, you probably appreciate any effort the insurer makes to help you through the crisis.

The suggestions they make are in that spirit: The spirit of helping you. However, the insurance industry is, as a business, committed to cost savings. Those two concepts can be contradictory. To put it another way, the insurer works for its shareholders or policy owners (in the case of a mutual company). River City Auto Body works for you.

Something to consider… A 2016 J.D. Power and Associates study indicates consumers are more apt to shop for a new carrier after they've had a claim, whether they're happy with the claim response or not. So, if the insurer possibly will lose you anyway, what would their incentive be to do anything but cut its repair costs?

That survey indicated you are more likely to stick with them after a claim when you rank highly your experience in these 10 areas:

— Answering all customer questions
— Managing expectations regarding the settlement
— Expressing genuine concern
— Avoiding negotiated settlements
— Providing flexible appraisal appointments
— Returning phone calls
— Sharing information between representatives
— Providing proactive updates
— Ensuring customer is at ease with claims process
— Giving customers a time line and meeting it

Who delivers that level of individualized, face-to-face service, the insurer? Or the shop doing your repair? When River City Auto Body does right by you, we're actually helping the insurer keep customers. Our commitment to your satisfaction with our work is how we ensure referrals and repeat customers.

 

 Photo by Dmitry Kalinovsky, used with permission.

Aluminum vehicles require high-tech, high-touch repair

Automakers are betting the ranch that aluminum body frames and panels will deliver the new fuel efficiency requirements imposed upon them. Aluminum, while lighter and potentially stronger than steel, doesn’t fare well in collisions as seen in some of River City Auto Body’s repair vehicles.

The dents require more care and more often than not require replacement of the panel. According to a Massachusetts Institute of Technology study, aluminum is more expensive than steel in a raw state, in its conversion to a usable sheet metal, and in its assembly — resulting in a 60 to 80 percent cost premium. That aside, you want the finish to last. River City Auto Body has been repairing and refinishing aluminum long before fuel economy became the reason for changing metals.


Ford is one automaker that was using aluminum well before they ramped up their flagship truck production to all-aluminum in 2015. A common issue with those older panels: Corrosion under the paint. It’s a quirky way the paint bonds to the metal that’s gotten better with manufacturing improvements. Some repair shops aren’t up to speed on those improved techniques.

Audi, Volvo, and several other luxury and sports brands have been using aluminum body panels for twenty years – Mercedes Benz even longer, going back to the early 20^th century. Those cars have an unwarranted reputation as being hard to fix right. According to Doug Richman, vice president of engineering for Kaiser Aluminum this simply isn’t true. “They’re not more complex, they’re not more difficult. They’re different.

“Technicians need aluminum-specific knowledge to do repairs properly,” he says. When repair staff is up to speed on aluminum repairs and how to avoid corrosion issues, your repair can be done efficiently, and the finish will last. River City Auto Body techs have this specialized training for this generation of vehicles, the last generation of aluminum cars, and the next one.

SAE International, initially established as the Society of Automotive Engineers, has an interesting write up on aluminum body repair for additional reading.

 Photo by Vlad Teodor, used with permission.

A fresh look for your RV this spring

How often do you paint a house exterior? Every five to eight years here in the Midwest. Our seasons take a toll on our largest investment’s exterior.  How about the exterior of the second-largest investment for some: The RV? Both investments are bombarded by sunlight, acid rain, ozone, and temperature changes that wear a finish over the years. River City Auto Body also sees – in nearly every RV – how the flexing and bouncing down the roads can crack welds, seams, and/or paint, taking some value out of the investment.

The process is similar to an auto repair/repaint job in only one regard: Repair first.

Any body work to repair damage should be done before painting, otherwise, there isn’t much point in painting. This vehicle is exposed to four seasons of corrosive weather, too, even if temporarily stored inside or under a tarp. That means rust. River City Auto Body inspects for rust before any surface is painted because the vehicle will continue to deteriorate even under a coat of paint or primer.

The largest consideration for your RV is taking it to a shop with the capacity to handle large vehicles. Almost a no-brainer there: If it doesn’t fit in the paint bay, it doesn’t belong in that shop. Some will attempt a makeshift temporary booth, resulting in inconsistency in the finish. River City Auto Body built a permanent booth we’ve specifically designed from the ground up for massive investments like RVs and tractor trailers.

Consider three more facts:

• Homeowners repaint the house to keep up with the times. An RV doesn’t last nearly as long, but it isn’t uncommon for a vehicle to be in use two or more decades. River City Auto Body can accommodate any color scheme you desire… even if it’s simply a fresh coat of the factory colors.
• Homeowners repaint to house to add to resale. If your RV is on the market for the upcoming vacation season, it could be worth it to boost its looks with fresh paintwork.
• Some repair operations offer a quote, but it isn’t free. River City Auto Body quotes are free. Always.   

 

 Photo by Tomasz Zajda , 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.