Venice Auto Repair

WELCOME TO VENICE, FLORIDA!  Sandy Beaches & Stunning Sunsets Myakka River Canopy Road or Mossy Oak Tree Lined Roads American Import Auto, Inc. wants to welcome all of our new residents and clients to this beautiful city on the Gulf. It's no lie this is one of the most amazing places to live, with America's number one rated beach only miles from Venice! We have the World Series Champion Atlanta Braves that play their spring training games here in town, a cute downtown eating and shopping strip, beaches, boating, and great schools your youngsters can attend.  This town is wonderful for those looking to escape the hustle and bustle, or the concrete jungle. It is a breath of fresh air and a true gem of a city to both raise a family or even consider retirement! There are opportunities to build relationships fast with a strong Chamber of Commerce leading the way with community driven events, and plenty of networking opportunities to get you ... read more

Seasonal Car Care - Florida Edition  Hi there friends, residents, and visitors of Venice, Florida!  Today we are going to go into detail about the importance of maintaining your vehicle while you might be away from it for some time. Florida is no stranger to visitors and seasonal travelers during the winter and early spring months. We want to ensure that while you might be away in your home state, your vehicle down here still needs to be maintained routinely. So, let us talk about best practices, and what might work best for you! It is only January, but this is good prep for when the time comes, planning ahead will save you from last minute stress!  Car Battery First, let us talk about car batteries. Especially important to know that car batteries can die just by sitting for extended periods of time. They can die even when they are left connected and not recharged for some time. We ... read more

What is the Brakes for Breasts Program?     For the month of October, until the 31st, we are offering our Brakes for Breasts promotion. That means free Brake Pad or Shoes all October long. We donate 10% of the proceeds will benefit the Cleveland Clinic Breast Cancer Vaccine Fund. This is not only to our shop but shops across the country are participating in this to raise over $100,000 in proceeds! We want to defeat our goal from last year which was $680.00. This all happens around Breast Cancer Awareness Month which is also in October.  This is a wonderful cause we are happy to support but some may be completely clueless when it comes to anything Brakes related, other than that they make the car stop. Let's be honest, when they tell me I need new Brakes, I am sent a detailed inspection report, and shown all the pictures to see that diagnosi ... read more

Why Does My Car Smell Like Burning Oil?    Oil, a major component to your vehicle, and often times can be leaking from those compartments that holds it. A guest of ours recently came into our shop with the complaint of a "hot smell". Our technician Tony informed me that the term "hot smell" usually always refers to the smell that stems from an oil leak, where the oil is dripping onto another component in the vehicle and burning essentially. In this case, the oil leak was coming from a bad Valve Cover Gasket. Oil leaking from or around the engine can be potentially dangerous. You could significantly damage your engine if you let an oil leak go. You want to avoid fire hazards, but also, future expensive repairs.  He found this leak upon doing a thorough visual inspection, oil residue found coming out of the Valve Cover Gasket.    What Tony found was the oil that was l ... read more

Why Is My Car Shaking When Idle?    Have you ever experienced a rough idle or lots of shaking while you are stopped at a stop light or maybe you are slowing down, and it just starts to shake out of nowhere? There could be a variety of different reasons for this, it's not something you want to ignore as it may be a big underlying issue!   We recently had a BMW X2 in the shop that was experiencing this symptom. Upon doing a full diagnosis to the vehicle, our technician found that this was coming from the Motor Mounts. After asking my Service Manager about this issue, he stated that Motor Mounts can have many names, and can be different depending on make and model of vehicle. For instance, trucks usually have Engine Mounts that are metal and rubber, whereas other vehicles like this BMW X2 have mounts that have rubber with liquid inside of them, also known as hydraulic fluid. For this vehicle, Chris our ASE Certified Master Import & Eur ... read more