Still miss Herbert's Autohaus Frankfort service that moved to Murietta a few years ago. I like John and Miguel at Carlsbad Independent and can also recommend Joe and his crew at European Motorsports in Vista, a bit of a drive for me.

Recently, though, when my transmission went out, I found Carlos up in Sylmar to rebuild the transmission for half the cost of installing a rebuilt on locally. I had to have the car towed to Sylmar but it was worth it. Carlos did a great job, fixing some other things as well. For parts and service, I recommend Autohaus America. See Autohaus America Web Site

No, not the cheapy Earl Scheib $199. special. Even if it might be Ok, I guess I grew up listening to too many Earl Scheib commercials and would rather pay for a good paint job than the marketing budget.

How about a high quality job for $1,000 more or less. Where can I get that kind of service? Do I need to go to TJ?

A Test Only Smog station is located now in some of the space formerly occupied by Gorilla Tool Rental on Oak St. just east of the city works department at the corner of Tyler. I am not sure it's open yet but the signs are up.

Does anyone know a good Smog Test Only place?

I used one at 242 S Coast Highway in Oceanside. It was nothing special. Last go around, it was closing at 3 and already had people waiting so I went to one at 1106b S. Coast Hwy. It was OK but nothing to brag about. I had to go get the car tuned to pass and got a good discount for the retest there but was disappointed to find these places closed at 3 PM on Saturday.

The Bressi Ranch Circle K is now carrying E-85 ethanol fuel

2741 Gateway Road
Carlsbad, CA 92009
760-431-2741
Open 24 Hours
Map

See WebSite for Pearson Fuels Bressi Ranch Information

Thinking of converting my diesel to run on waste vegetable oil but I am unsure where I'd get it and how I would transport and process it.

Any Bud have any real experience to share?

What do you do if you decide to take a vehicle out of service, sparing yourself the cost of insurance?

You have a couple of choices but there have been some changes in DMV regulations.

If the vehicle is up for registration renewal, you can file it under Planned Non Operation ("PNO"). You are not required in this case to show proof of insurance. In my case this was a $17 annual fee, not the $60 registration fee. You cannot drive the vehicle legally and it cannot be parked on a public street.

The catch with PNO is that if you later wish to drive the car, you will need to register it and pay the original full fee, in my case $60. So there turns out to be an extra cost of $17 for the right to not drive the vehicle (go figure) but you do save on the cost of insurance, at least for a period of time.

If, however, the vehicle is currently registered, PNO is not an option. If you take the vehicle off insurance, the insurance company is required to notify DMV and it will suspend the registration, requiring a $14 reinstatement fee to be paid when you wish to reinstate the registration. In this case, the penalty is $14. In addition, you have the complication of having to clear the matter up with Vehicle Registration Financial Responsibility Program, not the normal DMV offices, or, in my case DMV services at AAA.

To avoid extra payments, the best thing to do is to notify the DMV when you take a vehicle off insurance by filing an Affidavit of Non Use. See the instructions for use of the form. DMV says it will then cancel the registration. This sounds like the worst thing if you intend to drive the vehicle again later but DMV indicates that reinstatement does NOT require payment of the $14 reinstatement fee. Understand? Not easy is it?

One AAA agent told me to wait for the letter of suspension before sending in the Affidavit of Non Use. This, however, seems to be the wrong thing to do because there will be a $14 reinstatement fee for a suspended registration whereas DMV will cancel ( a good thing) the registration if you get the Affidavit to DMV before they suspend the registration. Go it?

This information was cleaned by first talking with two agents at AAA and by following up with research on the DMV site.

DMV registration information

With the departure of Autohaus Frankfort from Carlsbad ( Click here to see earlier posting, the option for Mercedes service in the village is Carlsbad Village Indepedent Mercedes & Volvo run by John D'Andrea

A big nasty looking spring on my garage door is broken.

Many DMV services can be accomplished at the local AAA office where service is quicker and the environment more relaxing. Be aware that even if you get a renewal notice, the information may not yet be in the DMV computers do handle processing until 60 days before the renewal is due. You can call ahead to the AAA and see if your renewal can be handled.

If you take long trips, you may wonder about long term parking. Carlsbad municipal code limits street parking to 72 hours. Although it is inconsistently enforced, one is supposed to move a vehicle at least a tenth of a mile.

Where do you recommend going for electrcial diagno

Try Autohaus Frankfurt. I have used them for ten years.