Category: Car Care Tips

7 Tips Before You Head back to Class In a couple of weeks, you’ll be heading back to school.  Maybe it’s your first year after high school, maybe you’re an upperclassman.  The point is that you’re going to be getting back into the groove, and you need to make sure that your vehicle is ready for the semester. Here at Big Sky Collision Center, we want to make sure that you are driving a safe vehicle.  As the best auto...

Help Reduce Your Chances of Being a Victim Billings sees a lot of vehicle theft.  There are a variety of reasons, not the least of which that the police have their hands full with a lot going on in the city.  While it would be nice if we could all leave our doors unlocked and valuables in plain sight, that’s not the case. To help keep your possessions under your control, we have rounded up the 7 best ways to...

How to Know When You Need New Brakes We don’t need to go through how important brakes are on your vehicle.  We know that without them, you can’t stop and you end up crashing and necessitating a trip to the best auto body repair shop in Billings. But what if your brakes don’t give off that scratching noise that is indicative of brake pad wear?  What if you don’t know that your brakes are about to go out?  We have...

Not All Damage is from a Collision Here at Big Sky Collision Center, we specialize in fixing body damage.  While collisions cause the majority of the damage to your vehicle, there are other ways that your vehicle can be damaged that don’t involve a wreck.  Fortunately, the majority of them are preventable. We have rounded up the top causes of vehicle damage, and want to share with you how you can keep your vehicle looking great. Park Farther Away One...

Stop the Clutter; Keep it Clean When you first bought your vehicle, you probably were pretty meticulous about how it was treated.  Kind of like Richard in the movie Tommy Boy when he’s constantly getting after Tommy for eating in the car and getting it dirty. As time goes on, things lapse a bit.  You stop being quite so meticulous about things.  A little slides here and there, and soon you have piles of garbage in the back seat, and...

A Responsible Car Owner Maintains a Better Vehicle Most of us consider ourselves to be responsible.  We know that maintaining our vehicles is important, and we don’t speed (much), and definitely don’t drink and drive.  When behind the wheel we pride ourselves in our defensive driving where we are constantly playing the “what if” game. But how responsible are you really?  You are probably a good driver, but do you maintain a vehicle that could literally kill you if it’s...

Don’t Forget these Important Maintenance Items We often take our vehicles for granted.  It feels great to jump into a new car or truck, and for a while you take meticulous care of it.  But over time, we tend to forget some of the more important maintenance issues.  The oil gets changed, but what about many of the other necessities for a smooth running, and safe vehicle? Maintenance goes beyond regular oil changes and semi-regular washes and waxes.  Maintenance will...

6 Easy Ways to Get Top Dollar When it comes time to sell your vehicle, you have a few options.  You can trade it in for something else, you can sell it to the dealer, or you can sell it on your own.  Going the dealer route is going to save you the most time and effort, but you won’t get quite as much for it.  Selling it on your own will net you the most money, but you will...

You Could Even Be in an Accident! Cars are a depreciating asset.  That means as they age, they are worth less and less.  Some will hold their value longer than others, but if you really want to wear yours down quickly, we have put together the list for you! Try to incorporate as many of these as you can so that your new vehicle will be destroyed in short order.  Bonus: you could even get in a wreck! Accelerate Quickly...

Is Idling Bad for the Engine? Living in Montana, you probably don’t jump into your vehicle in the dead of winter, crank it over, and take off down the road (unless you’re running very late).  Instead, most people will start the vehicle and often go back inside to finish their coffee and gather their things for the day.  Vehicles run better when they’re warmed up first; in fact they need to be warmed up… right? The truth is, not really. ...