Uganda: KCCA Gets Shs40b, to Suspend Parking

Kampala — The current street parking arrangement is to be suspended to pave way for new lanes for busses under the new Bus Rapid Transport System, officials at the Kampala Capital City Authority have said.

The announcement was made yesterday as news emerged that the government had allocated Shs43 billion to KCCA to improve the city road network. Talking to Saturday Monitor, the Executive Director, Ms Jeniffer Musisi, said the funds will be allocated to different divisions depending on need.

The funds will, however, be controlled at the headquarters and not at divisions contrary to earlier government position. "I am so happy with the Shs43 billion road fund allocated to KCCA. I believe this will take us to another step as far as improving city roads is concerned," Ms Musisi said.

She said more funds are expected to tackle other city sectors. Under the new KCCA Act, the executive director is mandated to be the accounting officer for all the five city divisions, including Kampala Central, Kawempe, Makindye, Nakawa and Rubaga.The funds allocation to KCCA is above the usual Shs15 billion which has always been allocated to Kampala City Council annually. KCCA caters for 900 kilometres of roads in the five divisions of Kampala.

The city headquarters primarily takes care of the tarmac roads while the divisions are responsible for the gravel roads. Out of the 900-kilometre road network in Kampala, 600 kilometres are of gravel roads with several potholes. Majority of Kampala roads were built during the colonial days and have outlived their usefulness.

Last year, former Kampala mayor Hajj Nasser Sebaggala said about Shs345 billion is needed to reconstruct the entire city road network. He said repairs are a temporally solution to the worn-out city roads demanding total reconstruction.

Addressing journalists on Thursday, KCCA spokesperson Simon Muhumuza, said road side parking will also be suspended at the commencement of the new roads' project expected soon.

"Our clear plan is to encourage a mass transport system. We want a faster system than the private cars but safer than boda-boda," Mr Muhumuza said. Under the new arrangement, several routes will be re-organised to encourage use of public transport to curb traffic congestion in the city.

KCCA will, however, work with private companies to enforce the new system. "We shall encourage the public-private partnership because certain things will not be done by the authority. For example, we shall not own the buses, instead we shall create lanes and level the ground for their quick performance," he said.

Currently, street parking is managed by Multiplex Limited, a local trading company, contracted by the city authority at Shs240 million per month and is responsible for managing at least 5,000 parking slots.

Credit: Robert Mwanje

29 June 2011

Governor Warns on Illegal Parking Along Airport Roads

LAGOS State Governor, Babatunde Fashola pictured above has warned against indiscriminate parking of vehicles along the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Road, Ikeja, Lagos stating that such unauthorized act has aggravated congestion along the Agege /Oshodi link road from the airport.

Governor Fashola who gave this caution yesterday during an unscheduled visit to the link road in company of senior Nigeria Army, Nigeria Air Force, and Nigeria Police officers also bemoaned the practice where some of the motorists exhibit their cars along the road for sale.

He explained that it was wrong for anyone to take the law into their own hands by parking their cars along the road, even as he stating that the cars were blocking the road.

He also addressed police officers on the need to contribute their best to maintain law and other order in the state, explaining that it is wrong for anybody to apportion to himself any part of the road for business or as a car park which is not covered by the laws of the land.

Fashola in an interview urged the military personnel to do all they could to ensure that traffic along the Airport Road is maintained to avoid congestion, which usually led to loss of man hours, in the metropolis.

The governor urged them to within the next 24 hours remove the cars obstructing traffic along the road, even as he said that failure to remove the cars will force the state government to exploit the full weight of the law, as the state task force will tow the cars away.

Fashola, who was given a rousing welcome at the domestic police station, urged all to abide by the laws of the state such that the general security of the state will improve for the overall good of Lagosians.

In their response, the military officers promised to abide by the directive of the governor, even as they have already started removing the cars that were parked to block the access road.

Most of the military and police officers who spoke to reporters lauded the directive by Fashola, affirming that they have always expressed reservations why people will park cars along the road.

Meanwhile, there is anxiety that most of the cars along the road will be towed by the Lagos State Task Force on transportation, which is poised to ensure that there is seamless flow of traffic along the airport and its environs.

Credit: Anthony Omoh

30 June 2011

Curtailing Hazards of Abandoned Vehicles

Monday, 27 June 2011

Abandoned cars removed at Ore-Meji, off Lagos - Ibadan Expressway 

Roads in the country have become death traps to users, owing to unfixed pot-holes and activities of men of the underworld. Constituting more hazards to road users and the environment, generally, are broken-down vehicles that litter our cities, especially highways. Environment Watch takes a look at the phenomenon and the need to address it urgently.

June 16 was not actually a good day for the corporate existence of Nigeria. It was the day a new dimension was introduced into the hollow quest for a change in the system of governance by the Boko Haram sect.

The group took the battle to the Abuja police headquarters – the base of the law enforcement agency in Nigeria. At the end of the mayhem, lives and property  were destroyed in one fell swoop.

The following day, characateristic of the Nigerian government where no action is taken on pertinent issues until the damage is done, the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Hafiz Ringim, was quoted to have issued an order that all abandoned vehicles be evacuated from all police stations, nationwide.

But beyond the police stations, what happens to countless abandoned vehicles that litter our highways, major and minor roads of cities and villages constituting great hazards to the environment?
Nature and types of abandoned vehicles

On major roads, abandoned vehicles are visible. There is hardly any street without one. They are usually parked by roadsides including highways such as the Lagos/Ibadan expressway. In some cases, petrol and cement trucks, some with detached heads, are found by median strips and road sides. Some have their rear potruding from the bush, to the peril of road users. Petrol tankers, after falling victim of fire accidents, are hardly removed from the spots by their owners. Perhaps, they are more concerned about the content than the container!

On minor roads within cities, rickety commercial taxis are common sights. Most are crawling coffins. Even in remote villages where there are no good roads they would suffer rejection.

Owners of such abandoned cars and buses have cultivated the habit of leaving ‘carcases’ of their worn-out vehicles on the streets.

Investigations reveal that some of the abandoned vehicles were imported into the country and left where they are for some years. They are neither bought nor removed.

Ismaila Abu, resident of a slum in Okene, would have no blame apportioned to abandoned vehicle owners. “Where do you expect them to dump the ‘refuse?’ The only way to go about it, is park it somewhere and pretend you never owned it,” middle-aged Abu stated.

The situation is the same in Lagos, although with much effort being put into eradicating the problem. Some of these broken-down vehicles have broken windscreens, foreign plate numbers, some harbour wastes such as disused tyres and old bumpers.

In Ibadan, most roads (of both major and minor streets) are freely littered with disused cars and buses. Between Ibadan toll gate and Ojo expressway for instance, the number of abandoned trucks and other vehicles is alarming as the situation is causing lots of havoc.

The Akure/Ilesa road is grimed with carnaged luxury buses, articulated vehicles, buses and cars, all abandoned at median strips or the two sides of the expressway.

Risks and hazards 
Abandoned vehicles cause both environmental and human hazards in great magnitudes. Stories abound on accidents that resulted from vehicles parked by road sides of highways.

Accidents and traffic gridlocks
Last year, a pastor of a fast-growing pentecostal church, together with his family of six, was travelling to Lagos for an annual one-week programme of the church. As they came near Ile-Ife on the highway, the vehicle ran into a truck abandoned by the road side.

The incident claimed the lives of the family of seven. They were crushed beyond recognition. It is believed that there is no week lives are not cut short through indiscrimate abandonment of vehicles on road sides.

Ibadan is notorious for narrow roads, some of which can hardly occupy two vehicles at a time. Yet, with inpunity, vehicles are usually parked and abandoned on these same narrow ways, thereby causing traffic obstruction and accidents.

The University of Ibadan/Agbowo Express road is notorious for its narrowness. Yet, vehicles are abandoned, hindering free traffic flow in the process.

Filths and grasses
Abandoned vehicles are avenues for heaping up refuse which  constitute environmental challenges to the society. Nearby residents and road users see them as refuse bins where they can discard their wastes.

So, it is common to see commuters throwing banana peels and ‘pure’ water sachets in abandoned vehicles. Residents turn them to ready dump sites, where all sorts of rubbish are thrown.

“ You can see that grasses have grown around many of these broken-down vehicles, which indicates that the owners do not care any longer,” Richards Asuquo, a university student stated.

Abode for miscreants and lunatics, others
Most abandoned vehicles are homes to the homeless such as the mentally ill. They are off in the morning and return at dusk to pass the night. This is common along express ways and within cities and towns.
Some miscreants such as street urchins take turn to utilise the facility in carrying out their nefarious activities. They even lay siege in abandoned vehicles to rape girl-hawkers. They also serve as hide-outs for criminals.

Broken-down vehicles, during fire outbreak, could aggravate the spread of fire such that lives and property could be endangered. They pose more risk during the dry season.

Abandoned vehicles in the neighbourhood could be home to reptiles and other dangerous animals which may portend danger to residents of that area. This is common in villages and slums in cities like Lagos and Ibadan.

Abandoned vehicles are an eyesore on the expressway and streets and they are even as bad as  pot-holes and craters on the road. “They deface the beauty of the environment and make everywhere so ugly,” Omowumi Omoniyi, a civil servant, observed.

Danger to human lives
Human lives are greatly endangered by broken-down vehicles as they narrow the space on roads and force pedestrians to make use of service lanes where they can easily be knocked down by motorists.

A resident of the Ijesha area in Lagos, where there are so many of such illegally parked vehicles, Ogibe Onyeka said:
“Indeed, they should all be towed away to the crushing facility established by the Lagos State government in Epe where they can be put to some use rather than allow them remain the danger and eyesore they constitute at present.”

In July 2009, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) issued a threat to owners of abandoned and broken-down vehicles and other objects disturbing the flow of traffic on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, to remove them or face prosecution and possible forfeiture, if they are evacuated by the FRSC. But today, greater obstructions are still being caused by abandoned vehicles with many lives put on the line despite the threat three years ago.

Taming the menace
It is, however heart-warming that the Oyo State Road Traffic Management Agency (OYTMA), under the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources in Oyo State, have begun the evacuation of abandoned vehicles from streets and major roads in the city. An official of the agency, who preferred not to be mentioned, told Environment Watch that a fine has been placed on every towed abandoned vehicle which the owner who wishes to recover his vehicle, must pay before being allowed to do so.

However for an effective job to be done, there should be a synergy among the Ministry of Environment at federal, state and local levels, the FRSC and other agencies in charge of environment to checkmate the reckless abandonment of vehicles on roads.

The existing laws guiding road maintenance should be ugraded and applied where necessary. Efforts should be made to find a way of replacing rickety commercial vehicles by government through soft loans, since the primary essence of governance is to make life comfortable for the people.

The government should also provide a means of recycling some of the components of these abandoned vehicles as it is done in advanced countries.

Through community efforts, abandoned vehicles should be taken away from residential areas to improve the quality of life.

The populace should be enlightened on hazards associated with abandoning vehicles beside homes and road sides.

A newly established professional parking company, V-Park Management Solutions Limited is currently in discussion with Government Authorities in Nigeria on the way forward.






Credit: Environment Watch (Nigeria).

Lagos, Nigeria in Perspective

Transportation & Parking Challenges facing one of the Largest City in Africa


Prior Year 2000

Up to 1981, there was no urban transportation plan for the whole Lagos metropolitan area. What often happened was that road networks were laid out in specific areas as they became incorporated into the built-up area of the city. There are about 2,700 km of road, about 40 per cent of which are tarred, and three main bridges linking Lagos Island and the mainland. However, inadequate land was generally reserved for road networks, with the result that some houses cannot be reached by motorable roads. In many cases the provision of parking spaces for motor vehicles was virtually ignored.

The problems of providing an efficient transportation system in metropolitan Lagos are threefold. First, there are the institutional problems, which seem to constitute by far the greatest problem. At least six different public agencies are responsible for the supply of transport facilities and the provision of transport services in the metropolis. These include the Federal Ministry of Works and Planning, the Lagos State Development and Property Corporation, the Nigerian Railway Corporation, and Lagos City Transport Services. Institutional reforms to improve the capacity for transport programme development and administration are clearly needed (Federal Ministry of Transport, Aviation and Communication, 1993). 


The lack of coordination between federal, state, and local council networks results in the existence of sharp breaks in road quality and maintenance standard. Similarly, the failure of the Lagos State Development and Property Corporation to integrate development of government layouts with those of private developers has produced ineffective integration of road networks within the metropolis. The inherent physical characteristics of many areas, especially the swampy terrain, constitute a second important challenge for efficient transportation networks. 


This involves technical problems in providing efficient drainage networks and in building roads of a high standard. This problem can be surmounted, provided the necessary financial resources are available and contracts for the construction works are awarded on merit to capable and experienced civil engineering firms. An integrated network of underground drainage channels, though costly for the whole of the metropolitan road network, would eliminate the perennial problem of street flooding during the rainy season in the metropolis. 


The social problems of traffic control, traffic discipline, and the observance of traffic laws and regulations constitute the third main problem. There is generally a low standard of traffic discipline on the part of motorists. This is aggravated by the extremely low standard of traffic control at strategic four-way intersections. In addition, traffic safety measures are poor, especially with respect to cyclists and pedestrians, particularly schoolchildren.

During the oil boom period in the early 1970s, commuters who earned over 600 naira per month normally owned private means of transport, thus reducing the demand for public transport. However, the current economic situation in the country has turned many marginal car owners into public transport users. The emerging trend is that more people, irrespective of their income levels, now depend on public transport services for mobility. This trend is bound to increase, because car ownership is now beyond the reach of many workers, thus leading to rapidly expanding demand for public transport.

Estimates of transport demand in metropolitan Lagos in 1990 ranged from 7 to 10 million passenger trips daily, of which over 95 per cent were undertaken by road, primarily by car, bus, and taxi. Of these, 80-85 per cent were made by public transport. However, there has been a considerable decline in the number of vehicles available for public transport, particularly since the mid-1980s. 


The total vehicle fleet in Lagos State declined from 165,000 in 1984 to 100,000 in 1988. Newly registered vehicles declined from 72,000 in 1982 to 17,000 in 1986 and 10,000 in 1988. New public transport vehicles declined from 16,500 in 1983 to 1,500 in 1988 (Lagos State Government, 1990). 


Imported used cars and buses have partially filled the gap. In 1991, 80 per cent of the 35,000 used vehicles imported into Nigeria were concentrated in Lagos. Many of these are used to operate the unconventional, unregulated, and unregistered services called kabu-kabu. A survey of the kabu-kabu services in December 1991 recorded 3,961 such minibuses on 24 of the over 300 public transport routes in metropolitan Lagos (The Guardian, 11 February 1994, p. 18).

Total annual passengers carried by the Lagos State Transport Corporation have fluctuated from 90 million in 1978 to 53 million in 1983, 76 million in 1989, and possibly fewer than 60 million in 1992 (The Guardian, 11 February 1994, p. 18). Consequent upon the SAP riots in 1989, the federal government introduced the Mass Transit Scheme, under which buses were distributed to states to assist in both inter-urban and inter-state transportation. Lagos metropolis benefited from this. In addition, in 1991, the Lagos State government introduced new fleets of buses for metropolitan Lagos. 


In 1992, the state government bought 90 buses and leased them to private operators to help ease the acute transportation problem. However, the scheme appears to have been grounded owing largely to default by many beneficiaries. A Task Force has been set up to recover payments. As of June 1994, four buses had been seized by the Task Force. Other bus operations sponsored by Lagos local government, which started in 1991, have reached more than half of the Lagos State Transport Corporation's capacity. 


Eventually, in 1993, the Corporation was dissolved and its staff laid off owing to inefficiencies and frequent breakdown of the buses. A few local governments continue to operate their own intra-city bus services. However, the services remain grossly inadequate and private sector operators have taken advantage of the vacuum to increase their operations. The 14,000 taxis in operation carried about 1.1 million passengers in 1989. In contrast, the minibus and midi-bus operators may be carrying about 4.5 to 5 million passengers daily. They are thus the most significant means of public transport. This major adaptive service comprises mostly old, often rickety used cars and minibuses up until year 2000.


Post Year 2000

The population of Nigeria is currently estimated to be over 150 million with 1/30^th of the population are in possession of at least one vehicle which is on the rise. Nigeria undoubtedly harbors the highest number of vehicles in the West Coast of Africa. A recent statement by the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport revealed that more than seven million vehicles operate on Nigerian roads on a daily basis with lack of adequate road infrastructure which includes parking. In Lagos alone, the population is expected to hit 21 million by the end of Y2011 and 25 million by Y2015 ending - Projected at a growth rate of approx. 5% per annum. Expansion of the motorist brings the need to solve the static traffic. It has been estimated that about 242 vehicles per square km are in Lagos metropolis with limited or insufficient parking spots all around the city. The number of vehicles imported to Nigeria is still rising and 95% of vehicles lifecycle time is parked.

Every 10 cars are vying for a parking spot virtually every second in Lagos metropolis. About 87,000 cars alone were imported to Nigeria last year compared to about 43,000 the year before. Parking is seen as infrastructure but it can only be a structure if it is paid for by those who use the infrastructure and left in the hands of the experts to manage. Nigeria is still very green in this area as steps are in process to change our thinking of parking as free infrastructure. Lack of appropriate parking regulations both at the state and federal levels also a contributing factor. Parking Investment in this areas lack expertise and most land owners relies solely on local property developer who can only work within their means and  resources in providing very limited parking facilities for each property built be it for commercial or residential purpose thereby adding to the problems associated with parking around major cities in Nigeria mostly in Lagos. To be continued. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Evm4mBHZkUQ&feature=player_embedded

The Car Parking Egyptian Invention link for your convenience.

Enjoy and please leave your feedback after watching the video. Thanks

Car Parking Egyptian Invention

Please follow link below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Evm4mBHZkUQ&feature=player_embedded

Based on recent research this invention is currently been developed in Mexico as Egyptian Government will not allow the inclusion of fifth wheel in motoring. What an old farce!

Thanks for your visit.

The Death Trap Parking Garage Floor

DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Tuesday, April 26th 2011, 2:02 PM

A 76-year-old woman was killed when her car crashed through a barrier and soared off the third floor of a parking garage in Los Angeles, fire officials said.

Rescue crews were called to the scene at around 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday and were able to pull the driver from the car, which had flipped over and crashed on its roof on the sidewalk.

The woman died at the scene, police said. Her name was not released because police wanted to notify her family.  

The cause of the crash wasn't immediately known, but investigators said it was an accident.

Building and safety officials were also on the scene to check any damage to the parking garage.

Credit: Fox

A new Land Rover engine failure

Have you had an oil pump fail on a 2000-2004 Land Rover V8?  At Robison Service, we are seeing pump failure more and more.

Last week we encountered a 2003 Discovery with a failure I have not seen before.  The car came to us with an oil light on most of the time, and lifter noise when the light was on.  The noise vanished as soon as the light went out, confirming that the car has a problem with oil pressure, and not a problem with the oil light sender.

This engine is reasonably clean, and free of sludge.  This wasn't a neglect issue.

We removed the front cover, and found the oil pump fractured.  I have seen several similar failures in the past year, but most of the time, when we get them, the engine has already blown.  This one had not.  The outer gear of the pump had fractured into four pieces.  I don't know how much longer it would have worked before failing entirely but it was clearly close to the end.



















I thought we should pull the oil pan to check the bearings, and to my surprise we saw this laying in the pan.  As you can see, the pan is otherwise pretty clean.  The spots in the image are just bits of crud you see in any oil pan.  There is no metal or evidence of damage visible.  The oil is normal looking.

The crescent piece you see is the thrust face from the center main bearing cap.  With no washer in place the crank moves back and forth a few mm.  I think this is the original failure . . . I think the center bearing broke for some reason, the crank moved back and forth over a period of time, and that led to the eventual cracking of the oil pump gear.

Had we not caught this, the engine would have failed in the fairly near future. We will repair the bearing and time will tell how that holds up.  I have some concerns because the crankshaft face may be galled. and that would ruin a new thrust face in short order.  If we find that we face the choice of filing it in place, or removing the engine and essentially getting into an overhaul situation.

Now that I know this I realize we can check for the problem on an assembled motor by moving the crank pulley back and forth to check for excess play.  I wonder how many more of these are out there, waiting to fail?

List of Parking Companies in Africa

Coming Soon

The Change in Tide

1^st Parking Guidance System (PGS) Project in Nigeria

Guaranty Trust Bank PLC was licensed in August 1990 and started operations in February the following year. The Bank which is one of the leading banks in Nigeria is locally known as GT Bank.

The MD/CEO was fascinated with the idea of PGS by Cirpark during one of his many trips overseas and decided to implement it at their prestigious Corporate Head Office in Lagos, Nigeria for is staff and customers in 2010. PGS is a simple system that parking system that display real-time parking information to drivers indicating parking availability.  The system does not only make parking easier but also helps motorists save money and time for circling around car parks.

Cirpark was choosing among few contenders to install the system which also interfaced with the car lift system installed at the parking so that the VIP can easily find their designated spots available for them.

According to a reliable source name undisclosed, the total costs estimate for the whole project was in the region of 0.6 billion Naira for is 220 parking spots and that it was designed to erase congestion within a parking facility by directing vehicles to the nearest available parking spaces and reducing energy consumption thanks to energy saving system integrated into Cirpark. He also stated that the new feature helps the system to work standalone without necessity of a PC.

Many factors made the choice from GT Bank to choose for Cirpark, including: simple system structure communication, scada software, integrated with recharging station for electric vehicles and LED lighting control and the efficiency concept adapted by CIRCONTROL in the design of this system. The project was completed by CIRCONTROL, SA early this year.

Scan tools and why you don't need one

Recently I heard an ad on the radio for a product called CarMD that would allow you to save hundreds on car repairs. So being my naturally inquisitive self I decided to see what it actually is. After going to the CarMD website it looks like this device is just an ODB-II scan tool . It is a on the high end of price for one but I wouldn't recommend buying it. Simple fact is that an OBD-II scan tool can be had for less than $30 if you really need one.

So why don't you need one? A number of auto parts stores have loaner tools and will let you use a scan tool free of charge. I know the local O'Reilly Auto Part stores loan out tools usually you can just leave your licence and use the tool in the parking lot, or if you need to take it with you you just leave a deposit (the cost of the scan tool) and get that back when you bring the scan tool back to them. Also I have heard ads stating that Advance Auto Parts also loans out scan tools and will even do the scan for you. There are probably other auto parts stores that will loan out the tool as well but these were the 2 that I know do. The reason that they loan out the tool is simple, it is convenient for you the customer to find out what what the check engine light means. The people behind the counter know what the codes mean and can tell you what part you need to fix your car so they get a sale out of it and you leave a happy customer.

The only reasons that I would recommend purchasing one of these tools would be if there wasn't an auto parts store near me that doesn't loan the out, or I am using one almost every day. I would say that the 2 times a year or so I need to use one I can spare the 15 minute round trip to the auto part store. I don't have any reason to believe that the CarMD produce is a scam, bad product, or a dodgy company, they seem completely legitimate and there isn't anything magical about a scan tool. For the $119.85 they are asking for a scan tool you could buy an inexpensive OBD-II scan tool (they all read the same data) and about 3 shop manuals that will tell you how to fix the problem with your vehicles.

I am not paid by O'Reilly Auto Parts or Advance Auto Parts, I was only used them as examples of companies that loan out the scan tool. Additionally the scan tools I linked to are only examples, I am not endorsing either of them, nor was I paid to provide links to them. The links are provided for example purposes only.

Car Service Customer Referrals on Supermedia for our Parker Colorado shop

Excellent place to get any needs for your car taken care of. I have been with them for 15 years (another location before this one). They go above and beyond with customer service, paying close attention to customers' needs and frustrations. Diana

I went in for a oil change and they pointed out that my tires were very bad. They sold me 4 tires for $383.20 w/allgnment. I had n idea how much they could save me. Thanks Pride. Amy G.

Great value and customer service. They fixed all of the things another shop failed to fix.

All staff very customer service oriented and friendly. Service very fast and high quality. haven't met an employee I haven't like yet! I won't go anywhere else.

Very professional people and reliable. Paul M

Excellent. I went from hating car mechanics to absolutely loving them. they're honest and excellent work. Marlene

Fast, honest work. Good customer service! We will be back!

Very efficient and professional service!

A good friend of mine, Jimmy. Who now is a diesel mechanic, recommended me to Pride Auto as my dealership was miss diagnosing my care and driving me under. Here with Pride I feel back at home walking in the door. ~ Jake

Always accommodating, walking distance to my home, ride always offered. Prompt.

Kermit was friendly and very helpful in selecting the appropriate products for my older vehicle.

Pride Auto will not take advantage of you. Honest and helpful. Their service is great.

We work hard to do our best for your our valued customers. Please be sure and check out the car service coupons on our website before your next visit

Customer Appreciation Days - Free Giveaways - Live Radio Remote

 

Join us for our Customer Appreciation Days June 23 & 24 Friday and Saturday Free hotdogs and popcorn after 11 a.m. daily!

Door prizes hourly!

• Free Oil Changes Given Away Every Hour
• FREE set of tires
• $250 Pride Auto Care Gift Certificate
• GPS for your Car
• Rockies Tickets Give-Aways
• Years worth of free oil changes

Always here to serve you at one of our three South Denver Locations:

Pride Auto Care - Parker CO 11133 S Dransfeldt Rd. Behind Super Target Parker, CO 80134 303-805-2430 Super Pages Reviews Yelp Reviews Google Reviews Location convenient to Parker, Castle Rock, Franktown, Centennial & Aurora Colorado	Pride Auto Care - Centennial CO 8787 East Dry Creek Rd. at Yosemite, next to Conoco ½ mile west of I-25 & Dry Creek 303-220-0249 Super Pages Reviews Yelp Reviews Google Reviews Convenient to Denver Tech Center, Lone Tree, Meridian, Englewood & Highlands Ranch Colorado	Pride Auto Care - Littleton CO 8080 S. Broadway, next to Conoco 2 blocks north of E-470 303-794-5545 Super Pages Reviews Yelp Reviews Google Reviews Convenient to Ken Caryl, W. Highlands Ranch, Englewood Colorado
Service Center Store Hours Mon - Fri 7 a.m. - 6 p.m. Saturday 8 a.m. - 3 p.m.

70 Auto Repair Testimonials & Counting!

We received another wonderful testimonial from a great customer that we just replaced her engine in her 2001 Mitsubishi Montero. She was able to keep her vehicle and get a 3 year NATIONWIDE warranty on her engine. Thank you for your business, Kristy! We appreciate it! 


"Mastermind did a great job on a really big job (replacing the motor) in my Mitsubishi Montero. I shopped around quite a bit and they came to me highly recommended from knowledgeable people. Their service did not disappoint. They kept me up to date of what was happening with the car and their price was reasonable. I would highly recommend to anyone looking for a good mechanic."


- Kristy
Denver, CO


Read more of our happy customer testimonials on our website. 


Have a great day! :)

5 Minute Car Care

Here are some basic car care tasks that take less than 5 minutes each.

1. Change you wiper blades. Wipe blades wear out and need to be replaced every 6 months to a year. On most vehicles they just clip on. To make this job easier use a slotted screw driver to depress the little tab that holds them in place. The new ones just clip in.
2. Change your air filter. Air filters need regular replacement so you car can perform at its best. This is a simple task that requires at most a screw driver. 
1. Open the filter box, sometimes the filter box is held closed by clips, other times by screws
2. Remove the old filter
3. put the new filter in
4. close the box, put the screws back in or redo the clips.
3. Change you PCV valve if you vehicle has one. When the PCV valve gets plugged your vehicle will smoke a lot because it is sucking up oil.  This is really easy it only takes about 30 seconds and a new PCV valve is usually in the range of $3-$5. 
1. Find the PCV valve (hint it is in the valve cover on the top of the engine and will look kind of like the new part you just bought)
2. pull the old PCV valve out of the valve cover
3. remove the hose attached to the old PCT valve
4. connect the hose to the new PCT valve
5. put the new PCV valve in the valve cover
4. Check you tire pressure. This will maximize your tire life, fuel mileage, and ride quality. The longest part of this fix is going to a gas station if you don't have your own compressor. You will need a tire pressure gauge and if you don't have one buy one it they are a couple of bucks.
1. Go around to each tire and check the pressure (you can find the correct tire pressure in either your owners manual, on the drivers side door pillar, or the gas door)
2. add some air if it is low or let some out if it is high, 
3. recheck and add or remove air as necessary until at the correct pressure.

Doing all of these tasks is cheep, typically you could do all 4 of them for less than $15 if you didn't own anything and needed to buy a screwdriver, and tire pressure gauge. 

Tahaka Road show.

I am glad to communicate the timely event staged by Samora Ramusa and the entire Tahaka crew, which took place in South Africa began on the 16th of june 2011.
A showcase of craftsmanship,innovation and design was the name of the game. A roadshow that brought African Automotive design to the forefront, inspiring the youth of Africa. The the unique low profile sports car is the vision of Samora Ramusa a young African visionary of our time. More will be updated on his developments and the Tahaka design group.

Referral for our Parker Car Service Center

Hi Darrell and Al,

A while ago my mom referred me to Pride because she knew and respected Al from the Cash group.  Since then I’ve received great customer service during the several times I’ve been into the shop.  However, I wanted to send a special thanks for the customer service I received when my car was at another shop.  Yes, I know that’s unusual, but my car broke down away from home and your shops and I had to tow it to a totally unfamiliar shop.  I received some, what I felt, odd information from that shop and called Pride for help.  Darrell spent several minutes talking with me and ultimately said go ahead and give them the OK to run one hour of diagnostics on the car, if they can’t find it in that time something is wrong.  Well that was great advice.  The shop found the problem quickly and repaired it for a reasonable cost.  I wanted to thank Darrell and Pride for helping to ease my mind in a very challenging situation.  This certainly was way above and beyond customer service and I am grateful!  I will always remember that and I’ll be referring Pride out whenever I’m asked.  Thank you so much!

Best,
Lisa U. Parker Colorado

Soft tops for Land Rovers

The iconic Land Rover Defender 90 was sold in the United States from 1994-1997.  If you own one of those trucks, or a grey market rig, or an older Series vehicle, you may be in the market for a new top.  Perhaps your top is just old and ratty, or maybe a jealous husband shot it full of holes as you fled down the street one night.  Whatever the reason, most original soft tops are due for replacement by now.  

In addition to folks with ratty soft tops, there are people with hard top trucks, who dream of fresh air and canvas. Finally there are a few of you who long for that musty smell of canvas, first experienced in Macedonia with the Foreign Legion.

Many good suppliers offer Defender and Series soft tops.  The best known are those from Rovers North and Atlantic British.  The best quality top, by a substantial margin, is made by a geek on the cape they call The Badger.  The Badger, or Chris Laws as it says on his mug shot, has been making Land Rover tops in a small shop out there since the beginning.  I have installed many of them over the years and cannot praise them highly enough.  Here's a link to his website.

His tops have resisted sun fading, tears from trees, intrusive children, marauding rodents, and much more while still looking great.  The top in the photo at the top is six years old!

Hard top trucks can be converted to soft top with the removal of the original top and fitment of a soft top frame and canvas.

Here are some details of the top showing how it's finished

The workmanship on these tops is really good, and the material is of significantly better quality that what's found on lesser products.  The Badger tops seem costly, but they are well worth the money if you're after the best, or in it for the long term.  I have found the original Land Rover canvas tatters in 6-7 years while the Badger material is still looking new.

See you on the trail!

Some thoughts on Right to Repair

You may have read that Massachusetts is voting this June 28 on a piece of legislation called Right to Repair (R2R) which is touted as a law that will force carmakers to give independent repair shops (the so-called little guys) the same access to car repair data as franchised dealers.

The claim is that this law will save consumers tons of money while giving them a newfound freedom of choice. Unfortunately, it won’t.

Here’s why that law is a waste of time and money.

Right to Repair is a proposed law to give small shops access to repair information. Giving access implies that access is denied today. It isn’t.

Small repair shops already have equal access to service information. I know that because I own a shop and I access that info every day. The National Auto Service Task Force was established almost ten years ago in response to widespread consumer complaints about access to service data and test tools. Thanks to NASTF efforts and Federal legislation, any shop can log onto Ford or BMW or any other carmaker’s database and buy daily, weekly, or monthly subscriptions to service data; the very same data their dealers have.

The only data that is restricted on those websites relates to vehicle security and the coding of keys. That same data is restricted to dealer technicians to prevent vehicle theft. It’s sometimes a hassle, but the carmakers are required to do that for motorist’s own security. Would you want any schmuck to be able to order keys for your car off the web? I thought not.

There was a time when carmakers did hold back information and it was very frustrating. They also restricted access to their proprietary service tools. All that changed thanks to the Federal government stepping in about ten years ago. In my opinion, the information access problem is essentially solved. The problems that remain are being worked out cooperatively by the NASTF, with no need for new state laws.

The proposed R2R law purports to ensure customers can choose where to get their cars fixed. Customers have always had that right. The smarter question to ask is, Who is qualified to fix your car? If you have a high-end car like we work on, your choices are indeed limited. However, you are not limited by “right to repair” issues. You are limited because there are not many people who are both qualified and possessed of the specialized tools to properly service a late-model Mercedes, BMW, or Land Rover.

That brings us to the biggest issue in the aftermarket auto service industry: technician and shop competence. I can’t tell you how many times I hear xxx ripped me off, or xxx screwed me, or xxx fixed my car and it’s worse than before. 99% of those complaints stem from incompetence, in my experience. Only a tiny fraction results from dishonesty or malice.

At Robison Service everyone in the shop attends brand and system specific training every year to stay current. We would be lost without that training and the backup of tech support from Bosch and our test system manufacturers. But training is costly, and few independent shops do it. Dealers have to do it to keep their franchise. We have to do it because we’re committed to being the best.

The second (related) issue is tooling. The days of fixing 99% of the cars with a box of hand tools are long gone. It’s an electronic world, and you’ll need ten to twenty grand for the diagnostic tools for any high-end car, if you want to have dealer-level capability. Otherwise, you’ll be telling customers you can’t do this, or that. You will never hear we can’t do that, you have to go to the dealer at Robison Service. But that certainty comes at high cost; hundreds of thousands invested in tooling and more every year.

Luckily, the tools are cheaper for ordinary cars, and training is more available. Even still few independents avail themselves of it.

Training and tooling are the two principal reasons independents can’t fix cars properly. Both those things are available, at the same cost a dealer would pay. The playing field is already level, thanks to Federal legislation passed in the 1996-2002 time frame.

Another claim is that drivers will be protected because they will get notice of recalls and service bulletins. Once again, that is a problem that’s long been solved. Every manufacturer service website provides that service when you input a VIN. In addition, Alldata and Mitchell (the two principal aftermarket service data suppliers) offer the same thing. All you have to do is buy the subscription. Like us, and every other properly equipped shop or dealership.

Finally, they claim this bill will protect jobs. How? We are not losing our jobs now. This bill will not cause more cars to be fixed in Massachusetts. The problem with jobs in auto service is that we have sky-high unemployment where I live and work. Many of our customers are struggling to stay above water, and car repair is a low priority. That reality drives service workflow for most shops.

I don’t think passage of this bill would hurt me, or my shop. However, it certainly won’t help. What it represents is a waste of time, and political posturing, when we have real and pressing problems to solve elsewhere. Let’s drop this and spend time solving our employment and housing crises. Bills like this are nothing but red herrings to draw people from the real issues.

Tahaka (South Africa)

Tahaka is a young and new emerging auto design and production company which will soon pave way to Africas auto industry. The founder of this unique design movement is Samora Ramusa. He points out by saying "We are currently focusing our energy on supercar production while developing an institution that is non-existent in Africa, which is called auto-design. Due to material, machinery and financial limitations, Tahaka will focus on craft production until adequate development. For now our prime focus is on generating public awareness, generating funds and developing ourselves, to the like of the world of the supercar producers". Through this process we will develop the youth of Africa and create an environment that will shelter their ideas and let them expand their thinking abilities. Tahaka will have a road show showcasing their innovations with the following objectives.

• To highlight the foresight of the youth
• To trigger the young creative minds
• To showcase our hard work and intellectual property
• Empowering the youth with positive examples and innovative products
• To mobilize and unite the youth and community(community gardening, library and design centre)
• Exposure for Tahaka as a brand and movement
• Boost our people’s Self-esteem
• An opportunity to get support from our own home base
• why we are keeping the road show as a local event

 We greatly appreciate the opportunity to be exposed on a national level
we are more than willing to share Tahakas objectives, aims and goals.
why we will not make the car as a subject matter of the interview

 We rather generalise on our side projects than focus on our current project as many Ideas which Tahaka would like to share with the nation

 youth development via design centre
 Auto design institution in the making
 Revival of the robot contest
 Agriculture programme
 Sketch design book compilation
 Tahaka as a movement (uplift and develop the community through technology)
 Creating a global platform where young African youths can exchange ,assist and develop concept design from all spheres of discipline e.g social networks(facebook AADA)

Auto Repair Shop Specials in Denver

Want to know where to find our auto repair specials? Here's just one of the great coupons you can find on our website to help you save on auto repair in Denver. Find more great shop specials on our website -
http://www.mastermindofdenver.com/specials.html.

Have a blessed Thursday! We hope you enjoy this beautiful day! :)

TUMBLING DICE

I know, I know, you’re here to read about cars; but sometimes we need to drift from the hardware, to the habits. People express themselves through their vehicles. Stereotypes abound: rednecks drive pick-ups, blondes cruise in convertibles, and soccer moms haul it all in the mini-van. Drivers can be who they want to be through their wheels. To each their own! However, there is one area that I just plain do not understand. What’s up with the dangling debris hanging from rear view mirrors?

My exhaustive research has turned up everything from the traditional air fresheners, to the clichéd tumbling dice. The list includes prayer beads and Mardi Gras beads, St. Christopher medals, Hawaiian leis, security badges, graduation tassels, plastic skulls, key chains of all shapes and sizes, good luck rabbit’s feet, and even a wayward G-string (no kidding).

In my case, I have no choice. My work requires that I display a parking tag from my mirror. It’s small, tight to the mirror’s stem, but it’s there nevertheless. In my defense, at least it’s not hitting me in the face every time the car makes a move.

Honestly, don’t the dangling distractions drive their owners crazy? Isn’t it annoying to take a mouthful of Mardi Gras beads at every turn? The rattling noise alone would aggravate me. Isn’t it dangerous to have your attention diverted by a dangling rabbit’s foot, especially if it pokes you in the eye? Rolling dice obscures the driver’s visibility and could be illegal. What you choose to dangle could also be embarrassing. Think about it, how do you explain to the police officer that you caused an accident because you were distracted by a G-string?

I’m all for freedom of expression, as long as you drive safely while you do it. Consider demonstrating your personality through your Mini, your Maxima, or the color that you choose for your car, instead of dangling debris. It might make the roads a whole lot safer.

MaineAutoMall.com Auto Blog

Promote Your Page Too