Ocala Auto Repair

Photo by Christopher Hooker   Welcome to Pals Ocala’s June blog! We hope that your spring was fun and that summer isn’t already turning out to be too hot for you this year. Stay cool when you can!   Here’s a reminder that if you and your family are getting ready to do some sightseeing this summer with things beginning to reopen, it might be wise to give your tires some attention. June is National Tire Month, and the last week in June/first week in July is National Tire Safety Month. The event coincides with the peak travel week, just before the 4th of July when the most significant percentage of the population returns to the road.   The treads on your tires decide two crucial factors to your drive: road traction and hydroplaning. With as much rain as Ocala sees, neglecting your tires is a terrible idea. Make sure the tread is enough to protect you on the road!    And that’s not just on the outside edge, that’s all over the ... read more

Photo by Tristan Billet on Unsplash   Welcome to our May blog! There’s loads of news and things to cover. But first, we invite you to a charity car show event that’ll be taking place May 16th called the Car, Truck, Jeep & Bike Show to support Boys & Girls Club of Marion County.    Before spilling the beans about all the cool events coming up, let’s chat about the issues that your car can develop from not being driven often!   With the pandemic, business models have changed, and more and ... read more

Photo by Kenny Gaines on Unsplash Welcome back to another PALS Ocala blog! We hope that life has been treating you well throughout March and you are achieving all your goals. The PALS Ocala website has a page for what we call ‘Partners’. These aren’t partners in the strict sense of capitalism; they represent our partners in building a better Ocala together. If you click the link and go to our website, you’ll discover some of the many charities and organizations Linda and I support. We’re proud of these organizations and the work they are doing for the life and soul of Ocala’s adults, children, families, and even pets.  It’s a collection ... read more

Welcome to March! With the new month comes the beginning of allergy season, and there are lots of things to do to prepare for it if you want to minimize the trouble it can cause you.   Allergies don't affect everyone the same, thank goodness, but your car can be a moving hotspot for irritants. And just as those irritants can trouble your body, a heavy pollen count can also disturb your vehicle.    A vehicle covered in dust, or pollen, or soot, means that tiny particles that form can try to get into the engine and can eventually clog up your fuel system, as well as your air intake. So if this year's pollen count is exceptionally high without enough rain to keep it washed away, consider these critical pieces of advice:   Wash your car and vacuum your engine out. Cleaning out the chassis helps prevent pollen from getting into the vehicle's engine and damaging the fuel system. Replace the air filters. In the heaviest pollen, they will begin to clog up ... read more

Welcome to 2021, everyone! In July of this past year, we were honored to restore a 1966 Corvette for a client! We thought we’d take you through the process of restoring this beautiful car to show you why love restorations. She’s been a loyal client of ours for a few years. She was recently given her father’s old Corvette, and chose Pals Ocala Auto Repair to do the restoration on it! The Corvette has been garaged for almost 30 years, so it needed a full body and frame restoration. Chuck Perry estimated the repairs to be about $80,000 in the end. With her deposit in hand, we set to work restoring this beautiful classic to its original glory. Stage one was removing the body from the frame. The next step was delivering the body of the Corvette to a body shop for restoration.  The third step is to rehab the chassis. Every damaging blow to the underside of the chassis is being worked out and put back to factory specs. Our goal is to make certain that restoration woul ... read more

November 9th marks the 400th anniversary of the day passengers of the Mayflower spotted the Cape Cod shoreline after 65 days of hardship in the crossing, in which a new child was born (named Oceanus). Passenger William Brewster led the pilgrims in a reading of Psalm 100 to thank God for their arrival, to lands that mean renewal and freedom. At Pals Ocala, we want to give thanks for so much this year. We want to thank you, our loyal and dear customers, for continuing to put your trust in us, as well as for exercising safe practices and consideration for others during the worst, most uncertain months. Thank you for helping us survive and thrive. Pals Ocala Auto Repair managed to remain open during the pandemic and as essential workers, we helped our customers keep their cars running. Our staff has survived as well. While we grieve for the friends we have lost this year, we also celebrate those that survived… especially all the other essential workers and medical/emergency person ... read more

Welcome to October! Time for the leaves to start turning, the temperatures to cool off, and the Pumpkin Spice to flow. Now that we’re officially in the Fall season, there’s a lot going on in the Ocala area for the family.  Pals Ocala Auto Repair’s special of the month is a free oil change and tire rotation! Don’t forget to take advantage of this free offer. This is great preventative maintenance and a good measure to take before the holidays make life very busy, so book in today! Of course, Halloween is this month’s biggest event, on October 31st. This might just be one of the biggest Halloweens we’ve seen in years, with the day falling on a Saturday, and with a lot of people feeling cooped up indoors over COVID19 safety concerns.  Our concern this year is that kids will be trick-or-treating on the streets and almost all of them will have costumes featuring masks this year, to help protect them from catching or spreading COVID19. As a re ... read more

Ah, September! The weather is terrific. We’re enjoying the last days of Summer. The Labor Day Weekend is on the horizon. It sounds like the perfect time to enjoy a Labor Day Road Trip!   2020 has been an interesting year, hasn’t it? One of the things we are blown away by is the number of RVs and campers we’ve seen on the road. Before the COVID pandemic, we used to enjoy going on cruises a few times a year. But since the cruise industry has practically shut down, we bought ourselves a new motor coach and are exploring the Southeast. What fun!   At Pals Ocala Auto Repair, we have taken great pride in repairing everything on wheels:  RVs, horse trailers, light-diesel trucks, Slingshots, ATVs, boat trailers (and the boats on them), classic cars, and all kinds of family vehicles. So, of course, we eagerly became owners of a Recreational Vehicle because we knew our auto repair team would be able to service it without any problems.   But road trips have b ... read more

August! This summer feels never-ending. Coming up, we have a few national days… National Roller Coaster Day is on August 16th, so find someone adventurous and head to Walt Disney World. But for goodness sake, play it safe. Also, International Beer Day is August 7th. Which one of these options is safer? Well, that depends on your perspective. With quarantine and shelter-at-home ending in most places after a very long summer, our kids are heading back to school again. That means more young drivers will be navigating our Florida roads to get to school, and safety is a priority. Speaking of priorities... It seems like most of what kids focus on these days is technology-based. Does this new generation still use pencils and erasers anymore? Calligraphy has become an art school trade instead of something taught as an advanced technique on cursive. Are our kids still learning how to write in cursive though? Surely typing is being taught with the QWERTY keyboard popular on phones and ... read more

When you think about Independence in July, you think of Independence Day, right? Yes, most of us do. But today, we want to take a closer look at independence, your car, and what that means to you as a driver. But before we get started, Happy Independence Day! We love our country, we love living here in Florida, and we love our Ocala community. We are so lucky to be here and to serve our friends and neighbors. Life may not be perfect, and we have a lot of challenges to overcome, but the Pals Ocala Auto Repair team considers itself to be very fortunate to have the talent and resources to contribute. Our goal is to make the world a better place, one auto repair at a time, for it helps to support working people, families, travelers, retirees, vacationers, and the like. Next, let’s look at what independence means for the average driver. For new drivers who are teens, young adults, or people who are new to driving because they ... read more