My Summer Travel Story

by Marjorie S., Cars for Keeps Social Media Manager

Since tomorrow is the last day of our Summer Travel Story Contest (hint hint), I thought it would be appropriate to share one of my own stories of travel misadventure. Even thought I'm not eligible to win the sweet weekend getaway we're giving away (HINT HINT!)

When I was going to college in Washington State's Puget Sound, I would often drive out to Anacortes to catch a ferry out to the San Juan Islands, where my uncle lived (with his dog, in a mancave). It was a trip I made so often that I tended to put myself on autopilot. Sometimes I'd wake up two hours after leaving my apartment with absolutely no memory of the drive, parking my car, buying tickets or boarding the ferry.

As soon as summer break let out following my Sophomore year, I threw my clothes in my 1991 Mitsubishi pickup and headed out to the islands to spend some time oyster hunting on my uncle's boat. My (amazingly rust-free) little Mitsubishi had a tendency to use oil, so I took my brain off autopilot halfway there, added two quarts of oil, then put my brain back to sleep and continued on my way.

Just as I was pulling in to Anacortes, something under my hood started smoking. Shortly, smoke was pouring out from under my Mitsubishi's hood, the temperature gauge sank into the red and my gears started making horrible clunking noises as I shifted. Terrified, late for my ferry and on the brink of tears, I pulled into the nearest parking lot. Which just happened to be the parking lot of an AAA auto repair shop (no joke).

A friendly mechanic in dirty overalls came over and asked me what was wrong. Through my "why is this happening to me" breakdown, he discovered the truck used oil. He popped the hood, took one look at the oil spewed over all the components and kindly suggested that I may have left the oil cap off when I refilled.

Sure enough, the cap was off. It was perched neatly a few inches to the left, still waiting to be replaced.

Because no man likes to see a woman in distress, the mechanic cleaned off the components and refilled the tank with oil. He only let me pay him for the oil. Embarrassed and relieved, I headed back out to the ferry dock just in time for the last boarding call.

Only 28 more hours to submit your own story! (hint hint), I thought it would be appropriate to share one of my own stories of travel misadventures. Even though I'm not eligible to win the free weekend getaway (HINT HINT).

A Woman’s Point of View: Car Brakes, Beauty and Functionality

by Colette Cooley, Cars for Keeps Office Manager

The other day I had new brakes put on my car. If you are anything like me the only thing you know about brakes is that you step on the little black pedal and the car stops. Also, if when stepping on the little black pedal you hear a teeth rattling squeal, you probably need new brakes. IMHO, that's more or less all you really need to know about the brakes on your car. The rest of it is what we keep our technicians around for!

Working at a car repair facility I get the opportunity to learn the finer points of car repair. When my brake discs came in, much to my surprise, they were gorgeous. They were the prettiest, shiny silver and had these swirly carvings on them. Being very interested in anything remotely, artistic, I asked why they were so pretty. I was told the swirls have a very practical reason for being there.


Over time, the swirls wear down with use of the brakes and when visually inspected lets you know when you may need new brakes in the near future. I also facetiously asked if they came in pink or lavender, only to be told that there are brake discs out there that are red and even blue, but for odd makes of cars only.

Is this the start of a new trend? Are manufacturers beginning to understand that women like pretty things? Even if they can’t be seen, it makes a woman feel good just knowing that her brakes are pretty and color coordinated to her personality.

American Soldiers Train Iraqi Security Forces on Routine Auto Maintenance & Repair

by Marjorie Steele, Social Media Marketing Manager

It's not very often I come across a story in the auto repair industry that is truly inspiring, but this story fits that bill.

According to the Army News Service, a handful of the 50,000 soldiers who remain in Iraq to assist in rebuilding the country are teaching valuable auto repair and maintenance skills to Iraqi Security Forces (ISF). The article cited Spc. Henry Moss and Spc. Edwin Perez, both mechanics with the 703rd BSB, who expressed the usefulness of this training. Both Moss and Perez have seen encouraging signs of ISF mechanics' improvement, a critical element in the future stability of Iraq.

Perez noted that vehicles in Iraq often need extra attention due to the country's extreme heat. According to Moss, a lack of regular preventative maintenance checks and services have been the number one cause of ISF vehicle breakdowns (sound familiar?) - until now, that is. With the help of auto technician-trained American Soldiers, Iraqi mechanics are quickly developing the skills to maintain their army vehicles and be more efficient with part replacement. Performing regular maintenance and service allows the ISF to maintain more reliable vehicles, making the country's infrastructure stronger and more secure.


According to Moss, Iraqi Army mechanics have improved their skills vastly since he began training with them.

"When we first got here, they would just replace any problematic (vehicle component)...Now, they are troubleshooting the equipment instead of spending thousands of dollars replacing it. Maintaining these skills is very important. If they don't have these skills, then they cannot defend against the people who are trying to attack them."

Thank you, troops!

A Women’s Point of View: Top Priority

by Colette Cooley, Cars for Keeps Office Manager

I stopped at a garage sale the other night to look at a desk sitting by the curb. The lady who owned it and I started talking and she began telling me that they were downsizing into their summer cottage here in Grand Haven from their larger home in Lansing. We talked of the risks they were taking by leaving her successful real estate business and starting over in another town while her husband was still commuting to Lansing for his job. The challenges of starting her kids in a new school, of meeting new friends and finding new places for needed services was daunting and a bit overwhelming at times.

I gave her one of my business cards and told her of some of the services we offered at Cars For Keeps. She let out a breath of relief and said that one of the worst things to leave behind was their trusted garage mechanic. She was very grateful to find a maintenance and repair facility to go here in their new town. With her job as a real estate agent and her husband commuting long distances every day, the reliability of their cars have become extremely important. A top priority for her was solved by a chance meeting.

Out top priority at Cars For Keeps is our customers' welfare and confidence in us.

Incidentally, although I did not end up buying the desk, I did buy a beautiful vase from her, and we both met a new friend.

A Woman’s Point of View: What We Do and Why

by Colette Cooley, Cars for Keeps Office Manager

Our Service Manager, Dennis, is on vacation this week so I am spending more time on the front counter waiting on and talking to our customers. I am enjoying it very much and have missed it since I am usually at my little cubicle talking to the computer, saying things like “No! I didn’t mean to do that” or “Yes! I can’t believe the figures match”. You get the drift.

Anyway, talking to people has gotten me in touch with their questions and feelings about what is needed to better serve our customers. Many of their questions are about what services we offer.

So, for the record, we do all repair and maintenance required on every make of car. We do not do body work, but usually if body work is needed, so is repair. We work closely with two body shops to co-ordinate repairs in the shortest time possible.

Mike, our head mechanic, has the conservationist's philosophy of saving every car, one car at a time. Another goal of ours is to provide our customers with a clean and comfortable environment when they come in. Let’s face it, waiting for your car to be serviced is not real high on anyone’s list of things to do, but we try to make this a little easier on our customers by keeping the shop spotless. Even the garage does not escape routine cleaning and freshening.

As I write this our fearless leader, Rob, is power washing and repainting the garage floor. A clean and organized work area helps to keep our mechanics happy, and when our mechanics are happy, everybody is happy.

So why not bring your happy little self down to look us over and get to know us and discover the quality service that we give to you and your car.

Fall Auto Maintenance Tips: 5 Ways to Prepare Your Car for Winter

by Marjorie Steele, Social Media Manager

Despite the beautiful 70 degree weather and sunny skies, we all know it's coming: winter. It will come with its ice and below freezing temperatures - and it will come, as all Michigan weather does, quite unexpectedly.

While few of us are likely ready for winter to begin, I think we can all agree that having our vehicles be prepared for winter when it hits is a good idea. The first ice storm of the year is definitely the wrong time to be changing those bald tires, and frustrating my-car-won't-start mornings can be easily avoided with a little preventative maintenance.

To that end, here are 5 relatively easy (and inexpensive) maintenance steps you should take this fall:

1) Fix starter issues. Have any start and/or idling issues examined and resolved. Rough starts, uneven idling and stalling are often easier to fix than you would think; many times a simple filter change, fluid change, new starter or new wire can take care of wintertime failure-to-start problems.

2) Battery and cable check. Have an auto technician take a look at your battery to make sure it's got enough power for another winter - but don't stop there. While he's at it, ask him to scrape away any and all corrosion from posts and cable connections, clean surfaces and connectors and tighten cable connections. Start problems are often caused by simple dirt and corrosion; even your car battery requires a little thorough cleaning from time to time.

3) Comprehensive routine maintenance. At Cars for Keeps, we have a service we call a "pit stop". When performing a pit stop, we check pretty much everything on your vehicle which can possible be checked, including lights, tires, wipers, belts, hoses and fluids. We analyze all your vehicle's fluids - even engine oil - to make sure they're still doing their job. This is a great way to identify fluid leaks, low fluids, faulty connections and any other problems before they snowball into a cold February inconvenience.

4) Check / change tires. If you've lived in Michigan for any amount of time, you're probably aware of how important tires can be when it comes to winter driving safety. Driving on summer tires and even all weather tires can make driving during inclement winter weather extremely dangerous. Snow tires are softer and "stickier", providing you with much better traction on packed snow and ice. So do yourself a favor: keep two sets of tires for your vehicle - one for summer, one for winter. And don't wait until the first snowstorm hits to have your summer tires swapped for winter tires.

5) Prepare yourself. While we certainly hope for the best, it never hurts to prepare for the worst. Take 5 minutes to equip your car with a winter emergency kit, including ice scrapers, spare blankets, kitty litter (for traction), a flashlight, flares, water, rope and a few nonperishable goods. Who knows? These items may help you out of a ditch, or they may help someone else in need.

A Woman’s Point of View: Helping Hands

by Colette Cooley, Cars for Keeps Office Manager

It has suddenly dawned on us at Cars For Keeps that summer is coming to a close rather fast. We are all madly planning our vacations before we lose them to winter’s cold blast. How can normal, intelligent people lose track of time like that?

So, along with our normal, everyday multi-tasking, we are training each other to do the most essential tasks in our jobs. First and foremost is to meet our customer’s needs. And to make it look effortless, like we have been doing the other person’s job forever. Don’t ever let them see you sweat!

The big test will be when Dennis, our Service Manager, takes his vacation this first of September. It's going to be be a loooong week. But never fear; my stalwart and knowledgeable co-worker, Robert, will step into Dennis’ shoes that week as he has done before, and has always preformed his duties well and to our customer’s expectations.

Our accountant, David, is stepping up to cover technical record keeping, payroll and closing the days’ business. He went home today with his head spinning with too much information thrown at him from crash courses. He is a real trooper. There will be ‘cheat sheets’ allowed.

Our head mechanic, Michael, is also taking a well deserved few days off. The newbie mechanic, Leslie, is stepping up to the plate to make sure that each customer receives the same knowledgeable and professional work that is expected at Cars For Keeps.

As you read this blog today, I will be heading home from a leisurely and restful week in Macinaw, knowing that there have been helping hands on the job, and doing it well. Thank you guys.

Win a Weekend Getaway: Cars for Keeps' Summer Travel Story Contest

Back to school season can be tough on everyone. As the summer ends, so do vacations, languid weekends and open schedules. Professionals have to go back to their jobs, moms and dads must swing back into their routines, and we're all left to stare longingly at the vacation photos we've posted on Facebook.

That's why we at Cars for Keeps are offering a free weekend getaway at Grand Haven's Lakeshore Bed & Breakfast. One lucky couple will spend two nights (flexible dates) in the suite of their choice at the Lakeshore mansion, and *gasp* we're even throwing in $100 in cash for spending money - or for babysitter fees.

The Lakeshore Bed & Breakfast sits on one of Lake Michigan's many white sand beaches. Want to see more? Visit the Lakeshore B&B website.

What's the catch? Just tell us a story. Specifically, your favorite summer travel story, either from this year or from years past. Tell us a tale of hilarious misadventure, roadside breakdowns, amazing moose sightings - anything, so long as it's a story about vacation traveling. Write a story as long or short as you'd like (but please keep your epics less than 500 words) - we want to hear it!

How do you enter? Click the image link below, complete the entry form and write your story. (and don't forget to tell your friends!)