The Mighty PROS Vol 14 No 3

STAYING CONNECTED WITH MIGHTY — BY KATE ROSS / Mighty Auto Parts With so many different social media outlets out there, it’s easy to keep connected with your favorite companies and brands! We want to keep you informed on the latest and greatest happenings and events with Mighty. It is as easy as scanning the QR codes or visiting the links below! THE MIGHTY BLOG The Mighty Blog covers the most up-to-date knowledge on how to sell more preventive maintenance services, tips for making businesses more efficient, in-depth looks into Mighty products and industry trends. Go to blog.mightyautoparts.com LIKE US ON FACEBOOK For most of the Mighty community, this will be the easiest place to connect with us. When you like our page, you will find: • Photos • Current events and news • Locations Scan the code or go to https://www.Facebook.com/MightyAutoParts FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @theMightyPros Here you can get updates on Mighty news, promotions, and even products in bite-sized messages. Mention @theMightyPros and let us know how the Mighty Program helped: • You • Your business • Your customers

NEW VS7 ®CAR WASH AND DETAILING PRODUCTS Mighty Distributing System of America has announced its new VS7® Car Wash & Detailing Products, available to the automotive aftermarket through its authorized Mighty Auto Parts franchises. The VS7 vehicle car wash & detail product lines are comprised of more than 50 different chemical washes, cleaners, waxes and more. It includes 30 different product applicators to ensure the most effective use of the products. The categories are listed below: VS7 ® CAR WASH PRODUCT CATEGORIES • Brake, Wheel Cleaner & White Wall Cleaner • Lava Wax • Presoaks • Rinse Agent & Protectant • Specialty • Soaps & Detergents • Tri-Foams VS7® DETAILING PRODUCTS • Car Wash • Clay Lubricants • Compounds, Waxes & Polishes • Degreasers • Exterior Dressing • Floor Cleaners • Glass Cleaners • Interior Cleaners • Leather Cleaner & Conditioner • Service Items & Dispensers • Specialty Cleaners & Products • Tire & Wheel Cleaners

2017 Planning Your Business Smart owners and managers don’t REVIEW YOUR MENU OF SERVICES wait too late in the year to plan shop improvements for the new year. Task someone—possibly the service Instead, they’re evaluating potential manager—with reviewing your shop’s menu of upgrades now—if they haven’t done so services and comparing it to the competition’s already. Put on your thinking cap and weigh offerings. What’s more, task a manager with these suggestions before they’re overlooked reviewing the types of vehicles and vehicle altogether. systems that are becoming more popular. Then budget for the tools, equipment and TOOL AND EQUIPMENT NEEDS training that will enable your technicians to repair these newer products. Schedule a tool-and-equipment meeting with your service manager, shop foreman and YOUR FACILITY’S OVERALL IMAGE technicians. Give each person a fresh notepad a week ahead of the meeting. Instruct them to Urge the entire crew to offer suggestions for create their own tool and equipment “needs” improving the facility’s overall image. Their list; the pad should be handy so ideas can be suggestions could encompass things such logged before they’re forgotten. Then compare as adding Wi-Fi access and a new coffee and discuss these ideas as a group. Let this maker to the customer waiting area. Some discussion guide future tool and equipment workers may have ideas for updated signage investments. and/or revised company logos. Meanwhile, others may request new business cards UPDATE AND REFRESHER TRAINING or a reworked diagnostic questionnaire for customers. Factor these suggestions into your Tell them to create a training needs list on budget for the new year. that same notepad. That is, write down the topic areas in which they either want update USER-FRIENDLINESS OF WEBSITE training or possibly refresher courses. Once again, compare and discuss the training Finally, assign the most tech-savvy person needs lists at a team meeting. Use them to on the staff to review the user-friendliness steer your training expenditures in 2017. of the shop’s website. Perhaps this calls for feedback from a variety of customers who have used the shop’s site. Listen for those little details that could make it “friendlier” than those of your competitors. Hopefully, these topics will get you started— and started now—on productive plans for 2017. Typically, there is room for improvement and the best suggestions come from your own crew. Stop, look, listen and then implement.

Ideas for 24 Months / 24,000 Miles of s —By Dan Marinucci Greater Driver Confidence FOCUSING ON FIVE FORGOTTEN Starting in January 2017, Mighty FEATURES OF FRIENDLY SERVICE customer shops will have the opportunity to offer their customers Sometimes, busy shop owners and managers a greater feeling of confidence after neglect essential elements of people- vehicle repairs through the newly pleasing service. When you’re mapping enhanced MightySure® Nationwide your goals for 2017, be sure those plans include Repair Warranty. a renewed focus on these five often-forgotten features of personal service. The new MightySure® Nationwide Repair Warranty offers shops and 1Coach all staff members to acknowledge every their valued customers the following customer promptly and cheerfully. You’d be coverage benefits: amazed how much a smile and a gracious hello impresses people. • 24 Month / 24,000 Mile Nationwide Repair Warranty 2 Remind all staff members that good grooming and professional attire make them look like • Over 40,000 service centers in they’re worth the customer’s time and patronage. the US and Canada What’s more, your crew only gets one chance to make a favorable first impression! • All registered MightySure® locations listed on 3 Groom service sales specialists to show MightyAutoParts.com motorists empathy and respect by prioritizing the work. The needed repairs you identified on the • NO chargebacks to original repair vehicle always appear more affordable when you shop have spread the expense over several thoughtfully timed appointments. • Authorized warrantable repairs paid immediately via credit card 4 Encourage service managers and service writers to write “thank you” on a business • The MightySure® Nationwide card and clip it to every invoice. Or, create a Repair Warranty even warrants professional-looking thank you card specifically non-Mighty parts installed at for this purpose. This is a small but memorable authorized participating shops gesture. CONTACT YOUR MIGHTY 5 Remind technicians to alert the service REPRESENTATIVE FOR DETAILS manager the moment they realize that an unexpected problem will delay the repair/service. Sure® The vast majority of motorists will cooperate with you – provided they know that the job’s going to NATIONWIDE REPAIR WARRANTY take longer than you originally estimated.

Changing Seasons Means Changing Tire Pressure Checking tire pressure is one of the most important, several miles of driving, tire temperature can rise by 20°F, yet commonly overlooked inspection procedures. increasing tire pressure by 2 PSI. Consider the fact that air pressure is responsible for supporting the weight of a car, not the tires The effect of changing temperatures on tire pressure themselves. Manufacturers’ tire pressure specifications are explains why drivers with TPMS (Tire Pressure Monitoring designed to ensure safety, peak handling and traction while System) equipped vehicles experience low pressure maximizing fuel efficiency and tire service life. warning lights as temperatures drop. Unfortunately, drivers of vehicles without TPMS may not be aware of a possible Maintaining recommended tire pressure is more than simply unsafe tire condition. “fill it and forget it.” Seasonal changes in temperature impact tire pressure significantly. Hotter temperatures Check your tires regularly, especially during seasonal cause air in tires to expand, which can result in tires being changes in temperature. For best results, always check overinflated. Cooler temperatures have the opposite effect, tire pressure when the tires are cold, or only after driving reducing air pressure. Interestingly, it is estimated that a the vehicle a short distance. And always follow the 10°F change in temperature will increase or decrease tire manufacturer’s recommended tire pressure, found in the pressure by 1 pound per square inch, or 1 PSI. In North vehicle owner’s manual or tire information placard located America, the average change in temperature between on the driver side door jamb (see below). summer and winter months is 50°F, meaning that changing seasons could impact tire pressure by 5 PSI or more, assuming no additional air loss has occurred. Normal driving also affects tire pressure. It’s estimated that within New API Diesel Engine Oil Standards The last time the Automotive Petroleum Institute (API) in licensing allows marketers time to test their new introduced new diesel engine oil standards was in formulations and ready them for market. 1994. This will change on December 1, 2016, when the new API standards, CK-4 and FA-4, begin appearing for • Most truck manufacturers recommending API-licensed the first time on the API Service Symbol “Donut.” CJ-4 engine oils will likely recommend truck owners start using licensed API CK-4 oils as soon as they are SERVICE C SERVICE F available. API CK-4 oils will better protect today’s diesel engines. SAE SAE 10W-30 10W-30 • API FA-4 oils, however, are different. These oils have A-4 been designed to protect diesel engines that are K-4 expected to be on the road sometime in 2016 or 2017. API Some engine manufacturers might recommend API FA-4 API oils for their previous model-year vehicles, but it is likely manufacturers recommending API CJ-4 oils today will These new diesel standards are very different in their just recommend API CK-4 for these vehicles when the application. It’s therefore very important that shop owners, new categories are introduced. technicians and vehicle owners understand the new standards and how they will work. API noted the following For official descriptions of the API CK-4 and FA-4 standards, it’s recommended key points related to the new standards on their website. that you visit the API website at http://www.api.org/products-and-services/ engine-oil/eolcs-categories-and-documents/latest-oil-categories. • API CK-4 and FA-4 will first appear in the API Service Symbol “Donut” on December 1, 2016. This delay

Battery Knowledge is Power! FIVE THINGS YOUR CUSTOMERS NEED TO KNOW toward the use of AGM (Absorbed Glass Mat) products as a vehicle’s original equipment battery. AGM technology adds 1 BATTERIES NEED MORE additional durability to the battery’s design POWER to enable it to last longer under less than People depend upon their vehicles today ideal circumstances and demanding accessory loads. This helps accommodate more than ever. To satisfy consumers, and complex vehicle electronics and the demand government regulations as well, automotive they put on the battery. This premium manufacturers are integrating more systems technology also holds up better under into cars that place a greater demand on vibration, stop-start conditions, or periods the battery such as: start-stop functions, of nonuse. starting assist, powering cabin accessories, drive-by-wire power backup, and brake-by- IS IT A MATCH? 4wire power backup, just to name a few. It is also more critical now that a battery be properly matched with its intended LIFE IS TOUGH ON BATTERIES application. One of the most common causes of battery failure is from using 2 Extended periods of use or non-use can the wrong battery in a given vehicle. For have adverse effects on battery life and instance, if the vehicle requires a certain performance. A longer length of driving amount of starting power, installing a battery time can be both beneficial and detrimental that isn’t designed to provide that much to the longevity of a battery—beneficial starting power will quickly wear out to the because frequent starting can be hard on point of a no-start situation. Also, if the it over time. On the other hand, the longer battery’s dimensions don’t align with the the vehicle is in use, the more vibration vehicle’s requirements, it might not have a and shaking it undergoes. Conventional good fit and suffer damage from vibration or automotive batteries perform best when clearance issues. Always pay close attention they are at a full state of charge. The to the Battery Application Guide and hardest scenario on a battery, however, is specifically follow its instructions. not using it at all. Batteries that sit for long 5 REGULAR TESTING IS CRITICAL periods of time can lose power or self- The increasing demand on batteries means discharge, and this can cause permanent that they should be tested more frequently. damage to the battery. Battery testing should be a standard part of every vehicle inspection program. The 3 NEW TECHNOLOGY: AGM TO average life of a battery is between 4-5 THE RESCUE All of these factors have forced the years, so when the battery is that old, more automotive industry on an upward trend frequent testing is highly recommended.

VOL. 14 NO. 3