Ft. Collins Auto Repair

On Thursday I testified before the Colo House of Reps committee on Health and Environment on behalf of emissions testing along the north Front Range. In case you have never btdt, it is mostly a crock. They have a hearing where they pretend to care what you say, attack the people who they don’t agree with, and shuck and grin with those they do like. It is politics at its absolute worst. Their minds are made up in advance and deliberation is instantaneous. I learned something new, the chair of the Weld County Board of Commissioners stated that the ozone threatening the north Front Range is not created by us, oh no, it comes here FROM CHINA. OH YEAH. China. I guess that sort of thinking comes from inhaling all those sweet smelling feed lot fumes they get over there in Weld. You know the ones, Fort Collins: they come here on a southeasterly wind from time to time. So they proposed killing the emissions program that has been running for two months on July 1, 2011 and then maybe bringi ... read more

Anne and I went to Winter Park this weekend and lucked into a powder day on Saturday. Having gone up on Friday evening we enjoyed clear roads and an easy drive. Getting up Saturday it was coming down, but with some wind. We stayed away from the top of the mountain at Mary Jane and had an exceptional day. They got 7.5 inches as it came down all day! On Sunday the sun came out and we had great snow again. It was colder because of no cloud cover, but less wind though there was some at the top. We took the Panorama lift to the top and came down the big bowl in the middle and the snow was deep and soft. That was my good fortune as I experienced my first face plant in recent memory. Anne thought it quite entertaining, and I thought it not so, but managed to ski like crazy the rest of the day. That snow will melt in few months and the payback will be when I use it to water my lawn. Thanks, Grand County for the great weekend. And thanks, good old 1988 Suburban for all these years of hauling us ... read more

Who is Givan Fox? Givan is a young man living in Fort Collins and working in Loveland at the Medical Center of the Rockies (MCR). MCR is the only Level II trauma center in Fort Collins and is a regional Cardiac Care and Surgery Center as well as Neurological Center. Givan is a paramedic who works in the Emergency Department. He is a thirtyish young man who drives a older model Toyota 4Runner and is married with no children. Givan is also a member of the Colorado Army National Guard with a medical battalion. His company was recently called to Fort Carson to prepare to serve in Afghanistan for a year. When his car’s engine began to have a problem that resulted in what is known as “throwing a rod” through the side of his engine block, he was just moments from home and just thirteen blocks from his regular garage, All Tech. As much as there is a rush hour in Fort Collins (nothing like Denver or the Springs thank goodness) he chose not to stop in rush hour traffic and get ... read more

We frequently get calls from folks looking to buy a used car or truck. They would like to have the vehicle inspected to find out if the asking price is right and if the new purchase will be a good fit for them. Over the years we have found that it is critical to have a used vehicle checked out before purchase, not after as several folks have done. Most people are honest and straight forward when selling a car or truck, but unfortunately there are some who are just trying to dump a junker off on an unsuspecting buyer. In fact, some of the worst cases we have seen involve foreign students who come here to study at CSU. We have seen some new students from overseas who have never owned a car sold a nightmare. So here is what we recommend: always, ALWAYS, have a used vehicle inspected before purchase. If the seller does not want to allow you to take it someplace for inspection, run, don’t walk away fro ... read more

From time to time we are asked to install auto parts that are purchased online from a store on the internet. Our experience has not been that good with this approach to parts purchases and a recent situation really reinforces this position. Our customer needed a new engine for his Toyota 4Runner and we found one online. The company is located in Colorado and we thought that the fact that it is in Colorado and not some out of the way place we never heard of, we would be okay in buying from them. Our concerns about online auto parts purchases include not really knowing the supplier, not knowing if the warranty will hold up, and not knowing if the part will meet the high quality standards we set for ourselves and our customers. Well, we should have listened to ourselves. The engine failed and the company refused to honor the warranty even though they never even inspected the engine. We are currently involved in an expensive legal battle to just get our $$$ back and it has taken its toll o ... read more