Are you ready for holiday driving?
If you haven’t got your car, caravan, motorbike or 4WD serviced and ready for the summer holidays, now is the time to do it.
Hannah Motor Services is one of the top names in town when it comes to wheel alignment and suspension work – aspects that are especially important when you’re on a long road trip or getting off the beaten track.
The Middleton workshop also provides trusted mechanical repairs of other kinds as well as all servicing and tyre needs. But like many others they close down for the Christmas-New Year break. They are, after all, a close-knit family team who need a holiday too.
‘‘Every year we have people who leave it to the last minute,’’ says Tina Butland, who with partner Rob McKay, daughter Kirsty Butland and Kim Larkin makes up one of the friendliest automotive crews in Christchurch.
‘‘If your car’s pulling a little to the side, get it sorted before you go away because it will be chewing through the tyres. Tyres need to be checked regularly too, because with the 12-month warrants of fitness there’s a lot of time for them to wear and lose their grip,’’ she says.
‘‘We’re shutting down for three weeks at Christmas so you’ve got to think ahead.’’
Hannah Motor Services has a reputation as a real mechanic’s workshop, the sort of place others in the industry refer their toughest jobs to, or who they call for advice when the situation is hard to read.
Insurance companies also regularly send work their way, and they service fleets for a number of local companies.
Rob’s decades of experience with suspension and alignment issues has in many areas been passed on to Kirsty, and together they keep the wheel alignment machine humming away from early morning till evening.
Tina can also talk sub-frames, shimming suspension arms and camber and caster matters with the best of them, although the easy-going approach and patience of the whole team is an equal blessing for the uninitiated.
Tina says a lot of workshops have high-tech diagnostic equipment but knowing how to read the information they provide is a separate skill.
That’s where the experience comes in; combined with the right data and machinery, fixes are usually smooth and swift. In an industry that typically charges for repairs by the hour, this can quickly pay off for customers.
Hannah Motor Services also provides warrants of fitness by appointment, transmission flushes, cambelt replacements and air conditioning servicing so when it’s blazing hot outside, you can be cool on the road.
Located in Middleton not far from the motorway, the workshop is easily reached from across town. Just don’t leave it too late, because they’ll be closed from Friday December 21 to Monday January 14.
To make an appointment, call Hannah Motor Services on 03 338 6632 or stop by to see them at 7B Vulcan Pl, Middleton.