Blog

DOT has been busy all winter keeping roads cleared. But summer is when the salts used in road maintenance get BUSY. Your car, snow-machines, water haulers—anything that has been on a paved road since the first snowfall—needs your attention. If you are not proactive you can look forward to 20-50% more on equipment repair than […]

Rebecca Levey 2 min read This is what we see when a customer comes in reporting “a deafening roar under the seat upon starting vehicle”. Sadly, we don’t have to look far to find the cause. Catalytic Converter theft has become as common as moose on ski trails. To us at METRO, it is startling […]

Vehicle vandalism has become a pandemic within the Pandemic. Specifically, the systematic extraction of expensive exhaust parts has become an economy in Fairbanks. If you drive these cars, you are the supply chain*: Honda Element Toyota 4-Runner Toyota Tacoma Toyota Tundra Toyota Prius (especially 04-08 second generation) Nissan Pathfinder All four-wheel drive pick-up trucks 1998 […]

Let’s debunk the “Parking Brake” Myth Put your car in “P” for park. This is more than enough to keep it still. Reefing on the hand-brake after parking has become the emotional equivalent of cinching a good knot so your pony doesn’t run off. But you know what’s funny? It’s been 50 years since anyone’s […]

Ever tried to sip frozen custard through a straw?  Welcome to what your car engine does when you choose the wrong oil-change provider. Oil changes alone are the difference between a tight, lasting engine and a car racking up an expensive repair.  Maintenance is when you run out of toothpaste, wear out a toothbrush or […]

We love picking crans and freezing them. It requires some planning to harvest and store enough crans to have muffins, apple cranberry pie, cranberry chutney. Some of our customers have dedicated “berry freezers”. One for berries, one for salmon and moose. At any rate, cranberry muffins are just around the corner and for us at […]

Let’s talk about dirt. Vehicles are never able to relax in Alaska’s climate. Mud and dirt seem innocent enough, but they are not! Read on to get the scoop from METRO.

Auto repair is the most difficult choice car-driving consumers make with their money. According to an extensive survey by AutoMD , drivers would much rather spend $1,500 on painful dental work than on a 1.5K car repair. I agree entirely. My twenty-nine years in the automotive industry corroborates this survey sentiment. Motorists regard car repair as the ultimate […]

At METRO, we are scientists and we love this about what we do. We pay attention, find patterns, advise our customers and come up with dynamic plans of maintenance that are specific to not only our climate, but also to our clientele! Let’s take standard “maintenance intervals”. These are predictable mileage and time markers that […]

🌼It’s June and winter roads are a distant memory, overgrown now by a gloriously tangled landscape of fireweed, vetch, birch and alder greens. Salt, however, is etched in the present timeline of anything that has ever been on a winter road. Salt is not seasonal and it does not sleep. In fact, summer is an […]