Even though we’ve seen high gas prices come down a little it still hits hard on most of our budgets. If the price you pay for fuel is consuming a bigger portion of your budget, you may be tempted to put off other needs of your automobile – like scheduled maintenance at Professional Automotive. News reports and industry studies have indicated that you’re not alone. Some 9 out of 10 cars on the road have at least one maintenance or repair item that hasn’t been done. Some of these items can be considered serious safety concerns. While most of them will simply affect the cost of operating your vehicle. Some of the best examples of people who know how important maintenance is are people like  professional vehicle owners. Fleet companies like trucking and delivery services. Their livelihood depends on how well they take care of their vehicles. They have gotten scheduled maintenance down to a science. And the last thing you will see them do is skimp on regular vehicle preventive maintenance. Why is that? Remember the old saying, “A stitch in time saves nine?”Routine maintenance prevents expensive repairs and costly breakdowns. Plus a well-maintained vehicle uses less fuel.  When you own or operate a large fleet even a small percentage of less than optimal performance can keep them from being profitable. Professional Automotive offers services that could potentially save you on fuel costs. Things like Fuel system cleaning, transmission service, differential service, wheel alignment, oil change, and tune-ups. Ring any bells? Is there at least one thing that has been recommended to you but you have been putting it off? For example, let’s say you chose to spend $150 and get caught up on some of these services and they improve your fuel economy by 15%. What would that mean to you in savings just in fuel? The average personal vehicle is driven about 12 to 15,000 miles a year. If you get, lets say 20 miles per gallon, over the course of 12 months you would pay for the $150 worth of maintenance and save an additional $165 if gas is at $3.50. The more expensive gas is the more important it is to keep your car fuel efficient. This example just figures the savings you will have in fuel expense. There are also savings from premature wear or breakdowns. So catch up on those services you’ve been neglecting. Talk with your friendly Professional Automotive service adviser about your vehicles needs. Get a couple done now and a couple next time. Chances are you’ll save a lot of money on fuel this year – and a lot more on repairs in years to come. Give Brandon or Curtis a call at Professional Automotive today. Professional Automotive 317.596.0898 7013 E 86th St Indianapolis, IN 46250 At Professional Automotive in Indianapolis IN (46250) we install quality NAPA replacement parts. Give us a call at 317.596.0898. To learn more about NAPA AutoCare, visit www.NAPAAutoCare.com.

What is GDI? Professional Automotive Answer: GDI stands for Gasoline Direct Injection. It’s a type of fuel injection that more and more manufacturers are using these days. It’s different from the normal port fuel injection you may be more familiar with. Port Fuel Injection uses a small port on the outside of the cylinder on the engine. It works a little like this. Fuel is injected, at a determined amount by the computer, into the air intake system. It is made available to the outside of the intake valve. When the intake valve opens the fuel is drawn into the combustion chamber and ignited by the spark plug. The burning process of the fuel shoves the piston down creating power to spin the engine. The Gasoline Direct Injection process is a little different: You wont find a port for fuel to spray in this engine. In a GDI engine the intake opens and draws air in the combustion chamber to compress it. Then at the right time, which is determined by the computer, an injector sprays fuel directly into the combustion chamber then it is ignited by a spark plug to burn the fuel. Why switch to a GDI? When trying to meet the ever increasing cafe standards enforced upon the auto makers they are having to always try to come up with new ways of squeezing more and more mileage out of every drop of fuel. The GDI system allows for more precise fuel control and delivery. With the fuel being directly sprayed in the combustion chamber area, it allows for more power and better fuel economy. Normally fuel injectors need about 46 to 65 psi of fuel pressure to make them operate. The GDI fuel injectors will require upwards of 2000 psi. They require more pressure because they have to over come the high pressures of the combustion chamber. This brings up some maintenance issues. Intake valves build up carbon deposits over time and some of this gets cleaned off in a port injected engine because the fuel flows over the valves and washes it away. With a GDI engine this doesn’t occur because the fuel is directly injected into the engine. So pouring a bottle of fuel system cleaner in the fuel tank will not reach the back side of the valves in your engine. A professional cleaning at Professional Automotive will keep those valves clean and keep your GDI engine operating efficiently. GDI will continue to be more prevalent in the Indianapolis, Castleton, and Fishers area on everything from compact cars to pick-up trucks. Ask your Professional Automotive service adviser if your car could benefit from a fuel system cleaning. Give us a call. Professional Automotive 7013 E 86th St Indianapolis, IN 46250 317.596.0898

Dealership vs. Independent Repair Shops There are so any times Professional Automotive beats the dealership not only in service but in being able to repair something they couldn’t. I would love to share this with our neighbors but how do you do it without sounding like your ringing your own bell? I want others to know what we can do and how well we can do it so we can save them wasted money and time. There seems to be two schools of thought that somehow get programmed into the consumers mind. The first one is the dealer is the place that knows my car the best therefore they must be the most qualified to fix and maintain my car. Secondly, the dealership is the most expensive. Base on my experience I would say that really neither are true. Dealerships don’t get their technicians from some magical place that makes them a guru when it comes to fixing cars. All shops pull from the same pool of applicants. The shop that makes it expensive to work on your car is the one that doesn’t fix it right the first time or a shop that tries selling you things you don’t really need. When buying service it’s always better to find a business that has a great reputation in the community verse buying price. A cheap price now means you will be paying more to have it done right the next time. When your reading the reviews you should be able to read things like, “Excellent Service”, “My car was done on time and at the price quoted”, “The staff was friendly and knowledgeable”. When you can read reviews like that, that is a place people want to do business with. Sure all shops will have a bad review here and there. We all make mistakes and drop the ball from time to time. Plus there are some customers who can’t be pleased no matter how they are treated. I read a recent survey done by Consumer Reports that was based on 121,000 vehicles – 80,000 of which were repaired at dealerships and more than 41,000 at independent shops. The survey found that, in general, independents outscored dealerships for overall satisfaction, price, quality, courteousness of the staff, and work being completed when promised. With few exceptions, the entire list of independent shops got high marks on those factors. The same couldn’t be said for franchised new-car dealers. If you live in the Indianapolis, Castleton, or Fishers area, I hope you will consider us the next time your looking for a place to take care of you the way you deserve. -Chris

When we drive in the Indianapolis, Castleton or Fishers area, we will encounter various blind spots. We can generally reduce those blind spots by making sure we adjust our side and rear view mirrors to give the best visual coverage possible. Make the adjustments to your car before you even start the engine. First, be sure to adjust your rear view mirror giving the best possible view directly to the rear of your vehicle. Some of you may use it to get a better view of the sides of the car, your wonderfully behaved kids in the back seat or your bright smile, but let use it for its intended purpose. The rear view mirror should look to the rear of you vehicle. Secondly, Keep in mind that your vehicles mirrors are used to to help eliminate visual blind spots. So as your adjusting the the passenger and driver side mirrors you will want them to be aimed at objects to your sides. When adjusting them, set them so that you barely see the side of your car. The up and down setting is also important. You will want to make sure that they are not pointing too high or too low. You should error on the side of being set lower than high. As long as you can see the top of the average car behind you that should be plenty. If set too high it will create a blind spot towards the rear bottom side of the lane next to you. With your vehicles mirrors adjusted properly in this way, you’ll have maximum coverage. Of course driving in the Indianapolis, Castleton, or Fishers area is a highly fluid process – as you know things can change very fast. So be smart and take a quick look to the side when passing to make sure that another car hasn’t suddenly appeared into an area you couldn’t see in your mirrors. As you drive in the Indianapolis, Castleton, or Fishers area, try to avoid being in other diver’s blind spots. You can’t always count on other drivers to be watching their mirrors and looking out for you. Always give larger vehicles the right of way. Be sure to pass them on the left whenever possible. A larger vehicles blind spot is on the right. Pay attention and always be sure to wear your seat belts, and thank you for reading! At Professional Automotive in Indianapolis IN (46250) we install quality NAPA replacement parts. Give us a call at 317.596.0898. To learn more about NAPA AutoCare, visit www.NAPAAutoCare.com.

February 2, 2015