Thursday, December 13, 2012

Preparing For Winter

Many times after the first snow of the season, drivers wish they would have taken the time to prepare their cars for the winter. Instead of waiting until the first snow fall, Central Collision Center encourages you to be proactive this winter. Our managers shared their best practices for preparing and maintaining cars during the winter weather. Here is our managers' advice:

Before winter:
  1. Create a winter emergency kit to keep in your car. Include the following:
    • Jumper cables
    • Blanket
    • Extra clothes, gloves, hats and scarves
    • Snow scraper
    • Snow shovel
    • Flashlight
    • Bottled water
    • Snacks, such as granola bars
  2. Do a car check-up. Here's what you should check:
    • Air pressure and wear of tires
    • Radiator coolant level
    • Washer fluid level
  3. Wax headlights and taillights
  4. Program local safety numbers in your cell phone 
During winter:
  1. Use a snow scraper, not windshield wipers, to clear away snow on your windshield
  2. DO NOT use hot water to melt ice on windows. The hot water will cause the windows to shatter
  3. Use a spray bottle to spray a 3 parts vinegar 1 part water mixture on your windows to prevent ice. The acetic acid in the vinegar prevents the water from freezing
  4. Leave more distance between you and other vehicles
  5. Charge your cell phone before you begin to drive in bad weather

Before the snow hits, please take the time to follow through on these tips. We hope this information can help keep you safe this winter. If you have any questions on how to better prepare your car for winter, please feel free to call any of our six locations.

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

17 Years and Counting

Today marks Central Collision Center of Mokena's 17 year anniversary. Central Collision of Mokena opened on December 12, 1995 and was originally located at 8501 W. 191st Street in Mokena. We moved to our current location, 9646 W. 196th Street, in 2000. This spring, we expanded our facility with a marketing office and training center that holds 100 people.

To celebrate our anniversary today, we shared some of our favorites memories and traditions (over cake, of course). Here's what some of our team had to say:

Mike Caruso, Owner/President of Central Collision Center:

Central Collision of Mokena was a huge step for our organization. It is our second location. Our team had to learn together how to run more than one location at a time and communicate well between the two. Our biggest goal was to make sure we still treated our customers as friends, even though we were dealing with many more.

My favorite memory was when Fitz (Mike Fitzpatrick, Central Collision's Chief Operations Officer) dressed up as Santa and Jill, our office manager at the time, dressed up as Mrs. Claus in 1995. Fitz still can't believe he did that!


Sandi White, Bookkeeper:


My favorite tradition at Central Collision of Mokena is Donut Day. Every Thursday, we have donuts from Fleckenstein's Bakery in Mokena. It's a tradition that started at Central Collision of Peotone and came with when we opened Central Collision of Mokena. Now, several of our locations have Donut Day.

Kristie Cooper, Customer Service Representative Manager:

I have a few favorites. One of my favorite memories is when Fitz received his official parking space on his 25th anniversary with Central Collision. 

Another is the demolition derbies we used to compete in. Every summer, some of our employees participated in the Will County Fair Demolition Derby in Peotone. We would stay after work to work on the cars together and then we would have a big family party the day of the derby before we went to the fairgrounds.


Our new classroom is also very special because it shows how far we've come since Central Collision of Mokena opened 17 years ago.


Jen as the Queen of Hearts in this
year's Halloween costume contest.

Jen Perales, Office Manager:

I have two favorites memories. First, we had a Cinco de Mayo celebration and George, facility manager at the time, rode around on our pinata.

My other favorite is this year's Halloween costume contest when we dressed up as Alice in Wonderland. 




Marissa Caruso, Public Relations:


My favorite memory has to be participating in the Frankfort Fall Festival Parade this year. We weren't completely sure what to expect because it was our first parade. But it was so much fun decorating the truck and throwing out candy to all the kids. The best part was watching my dad play "baseball" with some kids in the parking lot while we were waiting for our turn to start walking.







Thank you to all of our employees and customers who have supported us through 17 years of business. We couldn't have made it this far without you. We're looking forward to being a part of the Mokena community for many years to come!