About one in four used vehicles for sale has a history of damage, according to CARFAX. Previous damage does not automatically make a vehicle a poor purchase of course, but buyers should understand what happened and how it was repaired. A history report is a useful starting point, but it’s not a substitute for examining […]
Yes. And September can be a good time to see it happen. In September, two years ago, Springfield averaged a high of 82.7 degrees and a low of 59.8 degrees, a swing of roughly 23 degrees between afternoon and early morning, according to the National Weather Service. Temperature changes like these can add stress to […]
Missouri’s weather shows up in the numbers. Severe storms accounted for 82 of the 120 billion-dollar weather disasters to hit the state since 1980, more than two-thirds of every major weather event on record, according to NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information. Hail is a big part of that pattern, and it sends a steady stream […]
Not every shop that fixes cars is trained the same way. I-CAR reported that, at the end of 2024, it had just over 10,000 Gold Class shops across the country, a milestone the organization calls a halfway point toward its long-term goal. With thousands of body shops operating nationwide, that number tells you certification is still the […]
A cracked or shattered sunroof can be alarming, especially if it seems to happen without warning! While many cases are caused by road debris, others occur unexpectedly. A federal review of thirteen automakers identified more than 4,000 complaints involving spontaneous sunroof glass shattering. If your sunroof or moonroof glass cracks, here’s what you should do […]
A dented car door may look like nothing more than bent metal, but there’s a lot more behind that outer panel than most drivers realize. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, side impacts accounted for 22 percent of passenger vehicle occupant deaths in 2024. This helps explain why vehicle doors are engineered with reinforced […]
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, more than 6 million police-reported traffic crashes occurred on U.S. roads in 2023. Not every collision leaves a vehicle with major damage. Paintless dent repair (PDR) is one of the most effective methods for fixing minor types of collision damage, but misconceptions about the process still keep some […]
A pesky, flying rock can chip or crack your windshield. But there are many other things that can do similar damage. According to the Auto Glass Safety Council, a windshield provides up to 45% of a vehicle’s structural integrity in a front-end collision and up to 60% in a rollover. This means any crack is […]
Bumpers look simple from the outside: a plastic cover wrapping the front or rear of your vehicle. But modern bumpers are a layered system, and they regularly contain backup cameras, parking sensors, and other safety equipment. According to a federal rule, all new passenger vehicles manufactured after May 2018 are required to include a rearview […]
According to Kelley Blue Book, new cars typically lose about 55% of their original purchase price within the first five years. Most of that loss is out of your control, but certainly not all of it. The condition your vehicle is in at trade-in time has a direct effect on what you get back, and […]
