Don’t Warm Up Your Car Before Driving – and Other Things to Avoid in the Winter It is a common practice in winter and maybe you’ve done several times. There is snow covering your car and ice has settled over your windshield. And it is very cold. So, you trudge outside, start up your car and go back in your house and wait for the car to defrost. Contrary to popular opinion, that isn’t what you should be doing. In fact, there are several mistakes people make with their cars during the winter. Here are a few. Letting your car idle while it warms up. Several minutes isn’t going to kill your car, obviously, but letting it run while you finish breakfast inside is can be bad for your engine – unless your model is one that was built before 1995. Most cars built before 1995 had a carburetor, which combines air and fuel. With those cars, it was a good idea to let the car warm up for a while, as it helped your odds of the en ... read more

Winter is now here, which can be an enemy for cars across many parts of the country.  Cold temperatures, snow, sleet and ice can cause problems on how a car operates and drives on the road. Not having your car prepared for the winter can be potentially harmful to you, as well as others on the road.  So if your car isn’t winterized yet, it’s time to get your car prepared. Think about your battery. Freezing temperatures can reduce a battery’s power by up to 50 percent – and during the winter, when you have the heat on, the defroster going and maybe the windshield wipers, you’ll want your car to be operating as well as possible. You’ll also want to keep track of your battery’s age, so that you don’t wind up stuck somewhere in the cold.  Car batteries often last three to five years. Monitor your fluids. You probably know that keeping your antifreeze and coolant mix at the appropriate levels ... read more

The holiday season often presents a great opportunity for people and businesses to help others who are less fortunate.  We are often moved by the spirit of giving and try to make this special time of year for everyone. Mr. Transmission owners Lowell and Cindy Hester are a great example of this desire to help others in their community around the holidays.  They participated in their local Toys for Tots campaign, which is a program that distributes toys to children whose parents cannot afford to purchase Christmas gifts.  This year the Hesters filled the box with 50 toys and $250 in donations for deserving children in the Atlanta area.  “Just the thought of kids not having something for Christmas is heartbreaking,” said Cindy.  “It is rewarding to be able to reach out to others for their support and know you’re are doing something ... read more

Some people think that if you’re a franchise owner, that’s it. You own one franchise, and you’re almost a glorified employee who works for the franchisor. You aren’t really a business owner. You can never grow your business. You just have one stand-alone store in the franchise network, and that’s it. But that simply isn’t the case, as you may already know. Some franchise owners end up running businesses that operate and manage several different franchises. You could own a corporation that has five gas stations in a region, six restaurants and three clothing stores. No, it wouldn’t happen overnight, but the point is that some people do take that approach. Those people are often called master franchisees or area developers, and obviously, it takes a long time to get to that stage in one’s career, if you go that route. But the point is, being a franchise owner never means that you can’t grow and expand your business – and we tak ... read more

You would think that most drivers, if a check engine light came on, would take their car into be serviced – right away. Because it says check engine. But as you know, if you’ve been driving awhile and owned a few cars in your lifetime, that doesn’t always happen. People are busy. Sometimes money is tight. And if the car is still driving and seems okay, it’s easy to justify not taking your vehicle in. And the more days, weeks or even months that go by, the easier it becomes to rationalize. “The car is running fine,” you may be thinking, “and I have this money in the bank, and I don’t want to complicate my life with a big car repair bill. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” But the problem with that thinking is -- it probably is broken! So, yes, fix it. And taking your car in now may save you from a far, far bigger car repair bill in the future. At Milex/Mr. Transmission, w ... read more

John Olson is often traveling. Sometimes that means he is behind the wheel of a customer’s car, trying to diagnose a problem. But frequently, he is doing actual traveling with his wife, Becky, on vacation. Olson – who owns two Multistate Transmission shops, one in Ft. Worth and the other in Haltom City, Texas – has been on quite a few excursions the last several years, as their businesses continue to grow. So maybe it’s no surprise and Olson won the annual Franchisee of the Year Award from Moran Family of Brands in the transmission division, which is voted on by his fellow franchise owners throughout the system. So what’s he doing right? We talked to him and came away with several interesting nuggets of information that will hopefully be helpful to his peers. So what’s the secret to your success? “We’ve done better with our marketing,&rdquo ... read more

We all have bad habits, and some of them are worse than others. And sometimes our bad habits can really hurt us, literally and financially. We see that sometimes at Milex Complete Auto Care. That’s why we thought we’d spotlight some bad car habits that a lot of people do – that can sometimes cause you to bring their car in to be looked at, far more than they had planned. What sort of bad habits are we talking about? Well, see if you ever do any of these. You ignore a potentially troubling sound coming from your car. Maybe it’s the brakes. A screeching sound. Perhaps it’s a banging sound. None of those sounds are good, but maybe you downplay their significance if your car is still running without a problem. If you’re hearing screeching when you’re braking, you probably need brake pads, and if you’re not careful, and the screeching continues, you may need to replace the brak ... read more

August is Brake Safety Awareness Month, which is a great time to make sure your car’s brakes are in proper working order.  Although the issue of if your brakes are functioning correctly sounds like an easy question, there are several things to monitor when looking and listening for signs that perhaps you need new brakes. Are you seeing or hearing the following? Thin brake pads. You can actually tell by looking at your brakes if you likely are going to have problems. All you need is a ruler. If your brake pads are less than a quarter of an inch thick, you should replace them. Low brake fluids. If the brake fluid level in the master cylinder is low, you may have a problem. Another red flag that you probably need new breaks is if there’s a copper content of 2000 ppm or greater in your brake fluid. Scraping or grinding noises when you press down on the brakes. If you hear this, it’s time to get brake pads as soon as possible. If you don’t, you could do enou ... read more

If you’ve thought many times about starting a business but quickly dismissed the idea, there are probably some logical reasons holding you back.  Fear of failure, having the proper guidance and being able to market and sell your product or service could all be reasons why you hesitate in starting your own business. One possible solution to overcoming many of these fears is by looking into franchising. That is, running a business that is part of a regional or nationwide company. As you presumably know, McDonald’s is a franchise. So is Subway, Ace Hardware and Circle K. In fact, there are over 3,000 types of franchise brands in a wide range of industries. When you own a franchise, you’re the business owner – but it’s a little similar to being a condominium owner. In that situation, you own the property and have a lot of leewa ... read more

Owning a business isn’t for everyone, but for some, it’s a calling. You know who you are. But if you haven’t started a company but have thought about being a business owner for years, it’s probably because you’ve been thinking, what do I sell? How do I get started? What if I build a business and nobody comes? Those are all good, smart questions. We’ve all read the statistics about how numerous businesses fail. Which is one reason a lot of business owners think about franchising. Of course, franchises can flop, too, for a variety of reasons (Blockbuster never saw Netflix coming…), but generally, if you buy into a good one, you at least have a strong brand name going for you and a business model ... read more