My Garage Automotive Blog

Welcome to our blog, where we share information and news about our business; car care tips; general automotive industry knowledge and a whole lot more. We hope this page can teach you something new, or let you learn a little more about our business and what makes it special.

We have sorted our posts into several different categories that we hope you’ll enjoy. Check back again soon, because we’re always adding new content!


About Our Business

Longtime readers of the Calgary Sun are probably familiar with photojournalist Mike Drew and his column On the Road with Mike Drew. Every week, Mike travels the back roads of western Canada, taking photos and writing about what he sees. The photos are always enthralling, and Mike artfully exposes the beauty in the world around us; beauty that we often don't notice, driving by during our busy lives. It's a refreshing change of pace and ...
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Anyone who follows our business knows that the client experience is very important to us. We're constantly reviewing our processes and looking for ways that we can make your service experience better or more convenient. That's why you might be surprised to learn we're introducing a policy that - at first glance - doesn't look as customer-forward as you'd expect from Airdrie's premier auto service business. That policy is as follows: If you (or your ...
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Airdrie car oil changes
One question we've received a lot lately is "How much do you charge for an oil change?" We usually answer by saying that instead of just an oil change, we prefer to perform a full vehicle maintenance service instead. What's the difference? Let us explain! Lots of folks do a great job maintaining 20% of their car. They have good intentions and faithfully bring their vehicle in for an oil change every 5,000-10,000 km. However, ...
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From the big blue sign at the front of our shop, to the logos on our business cards, lots of clients are starting to notice the NAPA Autopro branding going up around our business. Customers who already know the Autopro brand have been really pumped about this, which is great! But for people who don't know the Autopro name, this has generated a lot of questions. "Are you a parts store now, too?" and "Is ...
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chris dekker
Welcome to our blog! My name is Chris Dekker, and I am the founder and owner of My Garage. Thanks for checking us out! Many of you already know me, because I've been involved in the Airdrie auto service community for over 15 years. First working as a technician in two local shops, I eventually moved on to co-founding the business that would become Alberta's highest-rated automotive shop, and would set the standard for what ...
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Car Knowledge

Airdrie Alberta car maintenance
From My Garage founder & CEO Chris Dekker Every Thursday at noon, we close our shop for two hours and take the team out for lunch at a local restaurant. Sometimes we use these opportunities to discuss new policies, to get everyone's opinion on new ideas, to celebrate achievements or to brainstorm solutions to a problem. Last week, we posed ...
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airdrie car inspections
Every couple months, we try to give back to the community by hosting free car care clinics at our shop. Our latest workshop was all about buying a pre-owned vehicle; an evening where we hoped we could help prevent at least a couple folks from making some common car-buying mistakes. Even though we earn a living repairing car problems, we ...
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airdrie car maintenance
For most of us, oil filters are probably something we never think about. We know that when we change our engine oil, the oil filter also needs to be replaced as well. What kind of filter should your mechanic use? Does it even matter? An oil filter is an oil filter, right? Wrong! Nowhere else in the automotive parts world ...
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warranty oil change
It's mind boggling how many drivers still think they need to service their newer vehicle at a dealership while it is under warranty, in order to maintain that warranty. This is simply not the case, and this false belief continues despite the best efforts of many automotive professionals (including myself) to educate the motoring public about this. Almost every week, ...
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airdrie diesel mechanic
This is a follow-up to a recent post of ours, where we discussed five car & truck engines that require very religious maintenance in order to survive. This time, we're looking in the opposite direction with our list of the five toughest engines that seem to keep on ticking, no matter what - even when a questionable oil change history ...
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airdrie oil changes
Do you know somebody who is - how do we say it? - not great at taking care of a vehicle? Does their car consistently miss oil changes; get serviced too late; or not see a mechanic often enough? Based on our experience servicing a wide variety of vehicles every day, we've put together a list of engines that these ...
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About The Automotive Service Industry

Airdrie Auto Mechanic
Oh boy, I love this question. Every week, at least a couple potential clients reach out just to ask this one question. We enjoy the great conversations that come about when we inquire why a person is asking. Most folks that ask about our service rate are trying to determine how expensive we are - or aren't. And that's fair! ...
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car repairs under warranty
When you purchase a new or pre-owned vehicle from a dealership, it's inevitable: You'll have to make the dreaded trip to the finance office. With the sale done and a price agreed upon, the finance office takes over to arrange your car loan/lease and other payment arrangements. It is also their job to sell you other add-ons such as protection ...
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airdrie car diagnostics
2020 marks my 18th year in the automotive service industry. Looking back, there are certainly workdays that I won't forget, and this post is partially inspired by one of them. It serves as a great example of how a shop like ours would rather perform a less profitable service like a diagnosis in order to truly look after a client's ...
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airdrie mechanic
This week, something strange happened. We charged a customer to diagnose and repair an issue that was 100% covered by their new vehicle warranty. Normally, we just wouldn't feel right about a situation like this, but the customer was happy to pay because they had taken the vehicle into the local dealership multiple times for this issue, but the dealership ...
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auto shop of the future
Note: This article is a little something different from our owner, Chris Dekker. Along with being a journeyman technician for 11 years, Chris has been a shop owner for 8 years as well. Very passionate about our industry, Chris spends much of his spare time reading about everything car-related or chatting with other automotive professionals. He has written for various ...
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Electric Vehicle Service in Airdrie

Electric Car Mechanic
From My Garage founder & CEO Chris Dekker Anyone who browses the news has undoubtedly read about electric vehicles over ...
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Premium service for Tesla vehicles.
From My Garage founder & owner Chris Dekker. At Airdrie's destination for hybrid and electric vehicle service, we welcome quite ...
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electric vehicle repair
Disclaimer: At Airdrie's destination for hybrid and EV service, we're car nerds - it's part of what makes us good ...
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Being Airdrie's newer vehicle service leader means we get a lot of questions about modern cars and new car technology ...
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Tires

tesla winter tires
As Airdrie's hybrid and electric vehicle service leader, we're often asked, "What are the best winter tires for an electric ...
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