Oakville Auto Repair

Well with winter comes cold weather. Money saving tip: After driving home in the rain or snow, make sure you turn your wipers off and let them “park” Then turn off the car. Why? Well if you turn the key off with the wipers on, they will stop right away on the glass, and freeze in that position. Now here is the problem: the next morning you start the car and the wipers will try to move or park, but are frozen in place, this can damage the wiper motor, wipers or the linkage, with new cars getting lighter and lighter to save fuel the wiper linkage is often plastic and replaced as unit. Please pass this on the younger drivers too! Cheers Mark

“Merry Christmas to all and a Happy New Year” from Mark and the staff. We will be closed for the holidays Dec. 25th – Jan. 1stReopen Monday January 4th 2010. “Warmest thoughts and best wishes for a wonderful Holiday and a Happy New Year” Mark Bergasse 905-844-1111, voice mail

We hosted a Worst Roads and Winter driving clinic at our shop on Saturday October 17th it was sponsored by CAA, It was a huge success thanks to my dedicated staff who came in on there day off to help. There was a power point presentation on winter driving tips, what bad roads can do to the car, followed by 3 mini workshops at different hoists in the shop, this is were they really got to get our hands dirty seeing different areas on vehicles taken apart for demonstration, Adrian Wong explained winterizing your car and testing fluid samples for wear, Shawn Edwards explained Steering and Brakes and Steve Handojo performed a Wheel Alignment and Tire demonstration. Thank you Iain, Candis, Shawn, Steve and Adrian Cheers Mark

It is less than a month until Christmas Day or more importantly only 25 sleeps until Santa arrives. Sandy was asking me what I would like for Christmas. Well I am looking forward to spending time with the family and maybe playing hockey with the kids. Sandy surprised me last year, she rented the local arena, called all our friends and we played shinny hockey at one end, while the wobbly skaters “practiced” at the other. We finished with some hot drinks and snacks. The whole event was….. “Priceless” hint: Sandy can we do it again? At this time I would also like to say “Thank you” to my other family: Iain and Candis on the front counter, Shawn, Steve, Ron and Adrian, in the shop. What can I say they are a great team! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Mark Bergasse

What is Bluetooth? Well from the website it is a wireless short-range communications system intended to replace the cables. The Bluetooth core system consists of an RF transceiver, baseband and protocol stack. Or in simple terms: Hands free connection to your phone! Why do I need this? Well it’s the law [in case you didn’t know] and for good safety in the car, you can talk hands free [if you need to] with your Bluetooth device. They come in 4 basic types: and you can buy them or we can install them for you. Price guide $=100.00 Ear bud type [visualize Star Trek look] clips to your ear. $ Remote speaker type [looks like a pager] clips on the visor $ Professionally installed in your car, and has buttons on the dash, and sound from your radio speakers $$-$$$$$ Built in the car [some cars as early as 2005, example Acura MDX] Visualize this: you're driving down the road, the radio is blasting out your favorite tunes or Hockey game, the radio mutes, phone rings, touch a button o ... read more

To all those who drive in Ontario, please read and be aware! New Ontario law now states that when approaching any emergency vehicle on the roadside with emergency lights flashing, you must slow down and move to the left lane. If not face a MINIMUM fine of $400! And also 3 points off your license. I change lanes as a caution, but will make sure I do from now on. The Police are cracking down hard on this because of injured officers. I did not realize this was the law. Please pass this on to your friends. Cheers, Mark

TPMS, what is it and what does it do? Well we all know that maintaining proper tire pressure saves gas right?..RIGHT? well it can also save lives..by warning of a potenial tire blow out and this is where Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems come to earn there space on the dash board, well the warning lamp any way. Basically speaking it like the name says Monitor Tire Pressure, but how? There are a few systems out there from mild to wild, some use the existing Anti-lock Brake System to measure Tire speed [how fast it turns] and if the tire pressure drops due to a puncture that wheel will turn faster as the circumference gets smaller, inexpensive, gets the job done, or meets the mandate, but not precise, the other system is more reliable and with that comes expense, it has a stand alone computer [TPMS Module] and 4 or 5 [spare tire] sensors inside the tire ... read more