My Garage Auto & Tire
1006 - 93 Gateway Drive NE T4B 0J6 Airdrie, AB, Canada

We sure have a beautiful back yard. Love living in Alberta! Great shots from Scott Sunderwald.

It's true: We perform a recall search on your vehicle when we service it, and we'll even drop your car off at a local dealership to have the recalls performed. There's no charge; it's just part of the great value that we strive to offer our clients.

Is your vehicle ? If it was built after 2014 and runs on gasoline, there's a good chance it is. And that's a good thing - except for one issue: After years of reliability improvements, these are the first generation of engines which won't last as long as the ones that came a decade before. Why? Direct injected engines are harder on oil. Direct injected engines burn "dirtier"; leaving a lot of fine soot and particulate matter in the oil. Like sandpaper, these a...brasive particles wear down engine parts from the inside. Issues that we had almost eliminated 20 years ago, like timing chains wearing out, are coming back. As an owner, what can you do about this? Your best defense against this abrasive wear is to use the best oil filter that you can. Quality oil filters trap and hold more of this fine dirt; keeping your oil cleaner. You'll be happy to know that we always use a premium oil filter when we service your vehicle - but this isn't the norm. Find out more here: http://mygarageairdrie.ca/comparing-economy-vs-quality-oil/

A few vehicles we're servicing today! The owner of the red Chevy Cobalt was expecting major repairs with the awful noises his brakes were making, but the car just had a rock stuck behind one of the rotors. Honest answers and a quick fix. The silver Ram 1500 came in for some regular maintenance, and has some very shiny wheels thanks to an "oopsie" of ours. We accidentally cracked one of the wheel covers! Noticing how out-of-place the new one looked compared to the three old...er ones, we bought the owner a complete set. The Nissan Cube was with us for some electrical testing. You don't see many of these, and they sure are neat cars! Like the other vehicles, it left our shop clean and completely sanitized inside.

Thanks to Leah Royer for the great job on our office windows! With no Christmas parade this year, we still wanted to do something fun.

Something to think about! Thanks to all of our great clients, who understand and appreciate true value. The cheapest price is very rarely an honest price.

Has it been awhile since you ran out of washer fluid? If you've been servicing your vehicle with us, that might have something to do with it! We fill up your washer fluid as part of every maintenance service package. Every year this adds up to hundreds of jugs of fluid that we give away at no charge to our amazing clients.

Most of us are too young to have experienced the staggering loss of life during the World Wars. Living in Canada, most of us are also far removed from the pain and devastation experienced in more recent conflicts. The average Canadian growing up today is lucky not to understand death and suffering on a grand scale. Today we honour those who have and who continue to serve - The brave men and women who made our ignorance possible. #CanadaRemembers

Kind of a neat one: This week we repaired a Ford F-150 with a misfiring (rough running) engine. Having already thrown some parts at the problem themselves with no improvement, the client realized it would have been cheaper to seek a professional diagnosis. And that's exactly what we gave them: Our skilled technicians quickly located and replaced this broken valve spring inside the engine.

Thanks Chelsie for the review! We're glad that we could impress you. When Chelsie first called us to schedule in, she was apprehensive about bringing a hybrid vehicle to an independent shop like ours. "Should you bring this type of car to a dealership?" We informed her that she was in luck, because she called just the right place! As Airdrie's most future-focused auto service centre, we are your local destination for hybrid and EV maintenance or repair.

Sometimes it's hard to know how often you should complete certain services on your vehicle. Everywhere you look, you get a different answer! That's because some automotive businesses have cooked up their own "in-house" service schedules, which can differ wildly from that of your actual vehicle manufacturer. As you might expect, some of these in-house schedules are rather pushy and aggressive; sometimes recommending services THREE TIMES as often as they're actually required! ...While we're definitely proponents of maintaining your car properly, and a little extra maintenance doesn't hurt, that's a bit much. In recent years, the biggest perpetrators here have been dealerships, who sometimes misrepresent their in house service schedule as official requirements from the automaker. However, you'd find the same tactics at some independent shops too. So, where you you find the right information? Check your owner's manual. In the maintenance section, you'll find a complete guide that outlines most of the maintenance your vehicle will need. Remember that unless you live in Vancouver, most of Canada falls within the "severe service" schedule due to our climate. You can also contact us! We subscribe to service information from all of the major automakers, and so all of our maintenance recommendations are made based on official information right from the company who built your car. Well, almost all of them! Based on our years of experience in the industry, we do deviate from the factory schedule in rare instances. One example of this lies with the Ford F-150, where Ford doesn't recommend a differential fluid change until a whopping 240,000 km! In our experience, the differentials have usually failed and require a rebuild by that mileage if the fluid hasn't been changed. For those trucks, we've found every 100,000 km to be a very suitable interval. Because our whole staff is 100% hourly paid, and not incentivized at all, you can trust our team to look after your best interests when it comes to recommending service for your vehicle. After all, looking after you is our ONLY job. :)

The phone rings. A customer says "My car won't start, and I want my fuel pump replaced." At this point, we'll usually recommend diagnosing the issue first, which sometimes upsets people! Here's how by suggesting a diagnosis, we're actually trying to save you money - even though it hurts our profits in the process.

Did you know? We've been missing at least one staff member every day for almost 2 months now. That hasn't made things easy during our busiest time of the year! Why is this? It's cold and flu season, and while in previous years we'd just "tough it out" and keep working with a cold, things are different during a pandemic. We're taking no chances during COVID19, so everyone has been required to stay home if they are sick. Rob, Glenn and Trevor all dealt with a nasty flu last mo...nth and had to completely recover (and get tested, of course) before they returned. Some of us have been lucky and only experienced a minor bug that sidelined us for a couple days. We take the health of our clients and staff very seriously, so we've decided to take this responsible approach despite the negative effects, which include lost revenue and slower service for our clients. Every day, our remaining team members have been absolutely working their butts off to pick up the extra slack, and we really appreciate such an effort from our great crew. We're hoping to be back to full strength soon, and in the meantime we hope any interuptions or delays in service haven't been too noticeable.

Leaving the shop after a 15 hour day today, it's very satisfying to see these types of messages in our staff group chat.

Today marks the end of National Technician Appreciation week! Driving away from the shop for the weekend, we reflected on how lucky we are to employ such a great staff. Positivity attracts positivity, and we've been fortunate enough to recruit some of the best people in our industry. Airdrie has reacted overwhelmingly to our winning combination of quality, honesty and true care for the client, so we've grown like crazy through the past 16 months. This has not been without it...s challenges! We're now busier than shops and dealerships who've been here for 20+ years. That's amazing, but also tricky when you consider that those competitors have had decades to refine their systems and procedures along the way! As you can imagine, our explosive growth sometimes puts a lot of pressure on our staff. Though we've made a few mistakes along the way, we're so grateful for how hard the whole team works maintaining the attention to detail and service that made us this busy in the first place. As part of this commitment, this month we've hired two new team members! Glenn is a very caring fellow who will be joining us in the front office, assisting in booking appointments, providing estimates and looking after good people like you. He's fluent in both English and Newfoundlander! Trevor is a parts specialist who helps with the resourcing of parts and supplies, keeping things organized and helping sort out the many parts-related challenges we encounter every day. He has also forgotten more about wheels and tires than most of us will ever know. These two gentlemen will help maintain our high service standards, and allow us to introduce some exciting new ideas over the coming months. Thanks to our great team for working hard every week and helping to build something special!

Why are we this busy after just over one year? Situations like this probably have a lot to do with it. When you pay us to diagnose a vehicle problem, that diagnosis is guaranteed. But this week, a rare mistake: We misdiagnosed an engine issue on a client's minivan. (Hey, it happens! Even the most skilled technicians are still human beings.) The difference is that with us, you'll never pay for those mistakes. When what we thought was a sensor issue turned out to be a jumped timing belt, we installed a complete timing belt component kit for the client at no charge - even though this job cost about $1000 more than the originally quoted repair. In our words to the client: "When we told you it was going to cost (insert price) to make your van run properly, we meant it."

Another big year for the Autopro brand! While we didn't make first place this year, JD Power still ranks our team well ahead of most competitors.

Legend has it that the first person who catches Glenn without a smile on his face will be awarded with 3 wishes.

Getting a little love in the Airdrie City View! Thanks for all your support, everyone.

If you're bored and want to experience some of the world's weirdest automotive creations, check out the group called Like photoshop, but with welding!

Here's a neat photo showing the difference between a premium brake rotor (top) and an economy part! Both rotors have the same outside thickness, so both will technically fit your car. However, the economy rotor has a LOT less metal in it, so it weighs less and can't absorb as much heat. This means it "warps" easier - which causes a vibration when braking. Cheap brake rotors also rust faster, and are more prone to those annoying brake squeaks. You'll be happy to know that we only use high quality coated brake rotors that perform well (and look good) for years into the future. That's real value!

Recently our owner Chris was interviewed by the Nature Conservancy of Canada about why he wants to run a green business, and why we support their charity.

Wishing you a happy and productive week!

Our new 18,000 truck hoist has been coming in handy lately! This week technician Jay is doing an engine and transmission swap for Tires On The Run.

We want to say BRAVO to all the proactive clients calling us this week to order tires, or book their winter tire swaps in advance! We know it's coming, because it happens every year: After the first snowfall our industry becomes a zoo for 6 weeks. The phone rings every 30 seconds, with frustrated callers discovering that everyone in town is booked 3 weeks out. We'd love to help you avoid the scramble by doing your swap a bit early, or saving you a spot for later.... Due for an oil change or EV maintenance soon? Remember that our full maintenance packages include rotating on your winter tires (when they're on rims) at no extra charge!

Another big day this week: We completed our 3000th service for a client. That's a lot of tune ups, tire swaps, brake replacements, engine repairs, diagnostics and more! All that in just over one year. Thank you to all our amazing clients for your continued support. We'll always keep working hard for you!

We'd like to welcome Don, Elaine and the whole team from Lacombe Auto Service Centre to the award winning NAPA Autopro family! Their shop was the 2019 CARS magazine Shop of the Year winner, and they are truly great people. We've known Don and Elaine for a while now, and we know what a big decision it was for them - as it was for us - to bring their shop under the Autopro banner. We're very happy to see another high-level shop like theirs on the Autopro team! And yes, this makes 604 605 Autopro locations across Canada who will honour the warranty on repairs completed with our shop. :)

What happens when you turn on your headlights? These two images from an upcoming blog post of ours help illustrate just how complex vehicles have become these days.

In honour of Labour Day, we will be increasing our labour rate. Just kidding! But we are closed on Monday for the holiday. Have a great long weekend, everyone.In honour of Labour Day, we will be increasing our labour rate. Just kidding! But we are closed on Monday for the holiday. Have a great long weekend, everyone.

A very unsafe tire we took off the road today.

This is a beautiful F-150, but the dash looks a bit strange! #airconditioning #acrepairs

It's that time of year again: The best auto service shops in Airdrie are very busy, and booking at least a week in advance. In the midst of this, we're receiving lots of phone calls from new clients who've experienced a breakdown or other automotive emergency. Despite working 12+ hour days in our efforts to help as many people as possible, we just can't fit them all in. Scrambling to deal with these unexpected emergencies is definitely a hassle for us AND for the vehicle owne...r. Here's the thing, though: It doesn't have to be this way! While some breakdowns can't be predicted, most of the issues that we're phoned about . These include: - Worn out or grinding brakes - Leaking power steering hoses - Frayed or broken belts - Dead or weak batteries Failures like these are 100% - and any of these issues would have been caught well in advance during our full service oil change inspections. Our regular clients know 3-6 months ahead of time when their brakes will need to be replaced, as an example. This gives them time to budget for the repairs and fix the vehicle on schedule. This is why we believe in servicing your vehicle as a whole; a process that we explain in one of our recent blog posts here: http://mygarageairdrie.ca/are-you-maintaining-your-whole-v/ If you'd like to take control of your vehicle ownership expenses and get off the breakdown roller coaster, we'd love to show you how it's done. (587) 600-1346 [email protected]

Would it really be summer without it?

Poor Jay. Not even 10:00 in the morning and he's already soaked in coolant. #oops #ilovemyjob

This is heartbreaking: a nice young man purchased a decent looking older vehicle and brought it in for an insurance inspection today. We discovered that underneath, the body is rusted to the point where the structure is comprised and the car is not insurable. You to have vehicles inspected prior to purchasing them; not afterwards.

Love this, and we agree 100%.