Auto Car Care Repair Service Interview-Febuary 2010, Channel 11-Houston,TX

How Auto Car Repair / Service / Care Insurance Works in Houston
Similar to car auto insurance, an auto repair / service / care insurance in Houston policy is a contract between a vehicle owner and the car insurance company, which binds the company to pay for all repairs done on the vehicle for a fixed length of time.
Coverage varies widely from company to company and few states in the U.S. regulate auto insurance coverage. So it’s important to become familiar with auto repair insurance terms and industry requirements, while also understanding how auto repair insurance is regulated in your state.

What It Covers
A standard auto repair insurance policy typically covers the breakdown and the wear and tear of your car, although the two are not always mutually inclusive. Some companies may only offer breakdown coverage, which means they are only liable to pay for repairs necessitated by breakable parts. If you want a wear and tear policy as well, which covers parts that wear out over time, you may need to purchase that from a separate company or shop around for a car insurance company that offers both.

There are also auto repair insurance policies that cover the engine, transmission, and other parts of a vehicle through which oil flows. However, this would be least preferable in terms of coverage, since it does not include a majority of a vehicle’s components.

Bumper-to-bumper policies are also available from some car insurance companies, which cover nearly all the mechanical systems of a vehicle (from bumper to bumper). If there are any exclusions, the policy will list the parts that are not covered. For instance, policies do not cover parts like brake pads and windshield wipers. Likewise, most policies do not cover overheating resulting from a faulty radiator.

Before you buy your auto repair insurance, make sure you know exactly what is covered, as well as how much you will be paying by way of deductibles. Even if the manufacturer’s warranty has lapsed, you can still receive coverage on vehicles that have done less than 100,000 miles. But keep in mind that as your vehicle clocks up the miles, the cost of a policy will increase, as will repair costs.

A perk you’ll want to know about: if you buy a transferable policy, you can actually leverage it to increase your car’s resale value.

While most people are very aware of the benefits of having auto insurance, few understand how auto repair insurance can protect you from unexpected repair bills. Now you have a better understanding of how it works so you can make an informed decision on whether this type of insurance is right for you.

Midtown Auto Service: Auto Repair Houston Texas – Diagnostic Codes

Technicians’ Top 5 Favorite-Featured Article Clip-Houston,Tx


MIKEY YU, owner ASE-certified L1 master technician
Midtown Auto Service Houston, TX
ALLDATA Information System —Shows T S B s and proper procedures of automotive repairs. Snap-on Scanner — Monitors, graphs and reads sensors; input and output. High-speed Internet — Great for finding other technicians’ opinions and to search parts options worldwide. Worldwide Emission Machine/Computer — Has dyno capabilities; reads hydrocarbon, carbon monoxide and NOx readings. Good for emissions repair. Canon Digital Camera — Enhances parts that are faulty; good for documentation of broken/faulty parts.


DEBRA FARBER, vice president
All Brand Auto Service KensingtonMD Snap-on MODIS — A powerful tool for a broad range of diagnostics and applications.Identifix — A world of information on one website. By checking www.identifix.com before starting a technical job, diagnostic time is saved because the answer is usually right there. Snap-on Smoke Machine — Many different kinds of uses, including finding intake manifold leaks. Hunter 411 4-Post Lift — Has the capacity to lift a Ford F-350 quad cab truck in the air. A heavy-duty lift that is able to accommodate those extra-large vehicles that most shops can’t service

Mick Cipolla
Courteous Car Care Largo, FL Snap-on A/C Machine — Excellent machine, easy to operate, very accurate, great ROI. ShopKey — Fast, in depth, great flow charts, easy to navigate when downloading discs onto hard drive. Coats Tire Machine and Snap-on Wheel Balancer —We’ve been able to mount and balance tires others couldn’t.Very fast and accurate.Snap-on Vantage Scope — Easily trace out intermittents and voltage drops, and monitors wave forms. And lastly, my most important investment — the professionals I am so pleased to work with every day — Cindy Kocik, Mike Gotay and Chuck Reynolds. They set the standard by which all others will be judged. With Cindy flawlessly performing those important everyday operations that we so often take for granted, and Chuck and Mike for their commitment to their craft, to themselves and to our customers. Employing master techs has been the best investment to date — not just in income, but peace of mind — quality repairs, confidence, professionalism and a sense of family. When everyone shares the same goal, everything else falls into place.

CHRIS “Dr. Mopar” KETTEMAN
owner Dr. Mopar’s High Performance Burlington, NC www.DRMOPARSHP1.bravehost.com The crew at Dr. Mopar’s participates in the annual AMC/Mopar “Hospice Nationals” Show, a national car show/race/swap meet to raise money for Hospice. The show is held at Roxboro Dragway in Timberlake, NC. Thanks to all those in the crew, who use these tools. Campbell-Hausfeld Air Compressor — Very reliable, never have problem with slow buildup of pressure, always quick.And last, but not least, is our 2-Ton Foldable Shop Crane. From Central Hydraulics — This has been put to good use, and doesn’t take up much space, if any, in our shop.All the above tools are just some of the many we use. We have a one-bay shop, and perform restorations, routine maintenance, high-performance motor, tranny and rear end rebuilds, all on Dodge, Chrysler, Plymouth, Jeep/AMC vehicles only.

Undercar Digest-Auto Tech Trade Magazine-Houston,Tx

Mon Yu, owner of Midtown Auto Service in Houston, never planned to follow in his father’s footsteps as a shop operator – it just turned out that way. While working on his degree in criminal justice from the University of Houston, Mon spent weekends at his father’s shop, Mikey’s Muffler & Brake. For Mon it was just a way to have some extra money for the weekends.

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The owner, Mikey, explaining to a customer a diagnostic report on a check engine light.

To earn it, he performed the duties of porter, estimator and counterman – all at the same time. It was a start at learning the business from his father, Man Yu, who had learned shop management from a man who made a name for himself in Houston and the United States – Sam Meineke. Mon came to the United States from South Korea with his parents when he was only 3 years old. His father found employment with Sam in the heyday of muffler shops. In 1986 the franchise founder of Meineke Muffler & Brakes offered to sell the senior Yu one of his original three-bay buildings in Houston’s inner-city district. Because of his marketing sense, Man named the shop “Mikey’s” so it would sound similar to Meineke. To this day the Yu and Meineke families are friends. “I was planning on being a police officer, but my dad was at the age where he wanted to retire, so he sold the business to me,” Mon said. “Back then the American dream was to own your own business, and he said, ‘Why don’t you take over the business?” Back then this shop was only three bays.

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Mikey, showing the front of his shop displaying his State Certification and Master ASE signs.

In the past eight years that I’ve owned the business, I’ve increased the bays to a total of seven and I have revamped the shop. I’ve redone the floors and the outside parking lot, sixteen camera surveillance system added metal-rod fencing outside and rebuilt the entire building.” He also changed the business from a muffler and brake shop to a complete auto-repair center. Midtown’s services include engine diagnostics, alignments with the Hunter DSP600 laser aligner, electrical troubleshooting (the only one in the area), oil changes, brakes, starters and alternators, radiators and heaters, belts and hoses, air conditioning, timing belts, overheating issues, engines and head gaskets removal and replacement, muffler replacement and custom exhaust with a Huth bender.

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ASE Auto Technician Vicent Poliski discussing an electrical issue with the owner about a customers car with a battery drain.

“We are a recognized emission-repair facility, which means we have an ASE L1-certified technician, that our shop is certified and we have followed all the rules and regulations.” This allows Midtown to inspect and make emissions repairs, he said. In the case of low-income vehicle owners, the state will provide a
waiver and give the owner up to $600 to get the vehicle up to the proper emissions standards.Those repairs can be made only at a recognized facility, such as Midtown Auto Service . Mon gets quite a bit of that business, since only about 140 of the nearly 2,500 shops in the Houston metro area meet the criteria. Marcos Rodriguez is Midtown’s L1-certified technician, Mon Yoo is a Master Auto Tech and Kareem Burnley and Vincent Polisky have several ASE certifications each and are working toward their Masters. Mon supports training, paying for ASE tests that the technicians pass and any other technical classes that are being conducted in the area. Midtown also supports the community by sponsoring baseball and softball teams. Mon said Midtown’s success has a lot to do with
the shop’s location and the quality of service and repairs. In the early days under his dad’s ownership, the location was considered “the inner city” with older, lower-income housing and not much else. Today, the shop is between downtown and the Medical Center of Houston, where people from throughout the country come for cancer treatment.

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ASE Auto Technician Larry Wagner installing a new Ac Delco battery.

The area has gone through a renewal period, Mon said, with old homes and apartments being renovated. New townhouses with 1,800 square feet of living area are starting at $300,000. “It’s turned into townhouses and yuppies” moving in,” Mon said. “We’re really in a great spot on a major
intersection. Our main customers are white-collar, and we normally run about three shuttles a day to take customers downtown or to the medical complex.” Mon noted that Midtown prides itself on its customer service. “We don’t take in more work than we can handle, and we do quality work. Although in the earlier days Mikey’s repaired a lot of older Ford, GM and Chrysler products, today the shop works on a wide variety of vehicles including OBD-II domestic and most imports, as well as Lexus, Volkswagon, BMW, Audi and Jaguar models. Mon said he has no regrets about not entering the field of law enforcement. He is proud of the accomplishments he and his team have made. “One of my bragging rights is that in 2005 I was the winner on Yahoo’s search engine,” he said. “Out of 100,000 clicks, I beat out every single shop in this area. In 2006 I was winner of the Best Auto Repair Shop in houstonbest.com. In citysearch.com, in two different search engines, we were winner of best auto-repair shop.”