SALT LAKE CITY — The excessive heat is leading to more business for local car service and repair shops.
Robbie Carter, the Manager at Big O Tires near the intersection of 900 S and 300 W in Salt Lake says they’ve seen a 15% increase in business as of late.
“We’ll service between 90 and 100 cars, most likely an average day is probably about 70, said Carter.
One of those cars belongs to Nicholas Collins, who works as a notary.
“My tires were getting so worn and unevenly worn,” said Collins.
Collins drives his 2008 Mazda about 30 hours a week to six different counties for his job.
“My alignment was kind of starting to go out even though I just got it done a couple of months ago,” said Collins.
With temperatures hovering around 100 degrees, Carter explained the heat puts a strain on a car.
“The whole drivability of the car is that as the temperatures are outside are hotter than the car runs hotter so that it puts a bigger stress on the car systems,” said Carter.
The issues Carter said they are seeing revolve mainly around two things – air conditioning units and tires.
“If they feel that the A/C is blowing cool instead of cold then that’s generally a sign that it needs to have some maintenance done, most common would be like evacuate and recharge and that takes care of probably 90% of the A/C concerns,” said Carter.
As for tires, Carter explained they have seen a big increase in the number of tire replacements caused by separations, which is caused by the high temperatures.
“The heat and tires are not very good friends and so the heat will cause a lot more tire separations, particularly on older tires or tires that are more worn down,” said Carter.
Collins said he is taking the necessary precautions to keep his car up and running.
“It’s also super important just to keep my vehicle running because that’s my livelihood,” said Collins.
Carter stressed the importance of not only drivers taking care of their cars, but also, making sure they get the proper maintenance done in order for their cars to run cooler and smoother on the road.
