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getting cagey about selling high voltage components over the counter. So that scarcity is making it di cult for us to do things in an e cient manner and not have cars stuck for time waiting for parts,” Salvo says.

Getting Your Feet Wet with Electric Vehicles

For shop owners interested in getting started with electric vehicle repair, or dipping a toe into the service, Salvo says start by learning to understand how electricity works, how the systems work and how high voltage systems interact.

“It’s very similar to like, if you worked on one gasoline engine you can get your way around most others; all the components are the same, but just how they’re assembled in the vehicle might be di erent from one manufacturer to the other,” Salvo says. “Buy a car and let your techs take it apart and gure out how it works. So many people are just scared of it because of the implications of high voltage and in reality, as long as you’re smart about how you’re doing things, there’s very minimal risk to you or your people.”

Top Insurers Refuse to Cover Some Hyundai and Kia Models

Two of America’s largest insurance providers, Progressive and State Farm, refuse to cover older Hyundai and Kia models.

According to reports, the insurers say that some models of these two auto brands are too easy to steal in certain cities.

In Denver, Colorado and St. Louis, Missouri, Progressive and State Farm have stopped writing policies for these vehicles altogether.

“State Farm has temporarily stopped writing new business in some states for certain model years and trim levels of Hyundai and Kia vehicles because theft losses for these vehicles have increased dramatically,” the insurer told CNN. “This is a serious problem impacting our customers and the entire auto insurance industry.”

The problem stemmed from viral TikTok videos demonstrating how easily Hyundai and Kia vehicles could be broken into and stolen.

Cites Highway Loss Data Institute reports, some 2015 through 2019 Hyundai and Kia models “are roughly twice as likely to be stolen as other vehicles of similar age, because many of them lack some of the basic auto theft prevention technology included in most other vehicles in those years.”

“During the past year we’ve seen theft rates for certain Hyundai and Kia vehicles more than triple and in some markets, these vehicles are almost 20 times more likely to be stolen than other vehicles,” wrote Progressive spokesman Jeff Sibel. “Given that we price our policies based on the level of risk they represent, this explosive increase in thefts in many cases makes these vehicles extremely challenging for us to insure. In response, in some geographic areas, we have increased our rates and limited our sale of new insurance policies on some of these models.”

Autoshop Solutions and Turnkey Marketing Partner Together

Two automotive marketing agencies, Autoshop Solutions and Turnkey Marketing, have announced a partnership that will allow them to offer a “comprehensive marketing solution” for auto shops, according to a recent press release.”

“We are very excited to work with Carrie-Lynn and her entire team at Turnkey Marketing,” stated Margaret Palango, Chief Executive Officer, Autoshop

Solutions. “With the combined efforts of their marketing guidance and our digital services we can now offer a robust and comprehensive marketing package.”

“Turnkey Marketing and Autoshop Solutions have partnered together to help auto repair shops have a complete marketing strategy and excellent implementation,” stated Carrie-Lynn Rodenberg, Founder of Turnkey Marketing. “We partnered with Autoshop Solutions because they are a leader in automotive aftermarket digital marketing and truly want what’s best for their clients.”

With this partnership, Autoshop Solutions and Turnkey Marketing can now provide an even more powerful marketing program for their customers. Both companies only focus on the automotive aftermarket and have the same goal of keeping those bays full!”.

Iowa Shop Fined $30K by EPA for Tampering

An auto repair shop in Sibley, Iowa, has been caught making the emissions controls in vehicles “inoperative,” KIWA radio reports, and will have to face penalties.

The shop, Turbocharged Performance LLC, disabled emissions controls by “tampering with car engines” and installing what are called “defeat devices.” This has been done at least 581 times.

“The installation of defeat devices or any illegal tampering of auto emissions controls is both a violation of federal law and a significant contributor of harmful air pollution,” said David Cozad, director of EPA Region 7’s Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Division.

Turbocharged Performance will have to pay the EPA $30,000, as well as ensure no more defeat devices are sold and destroy any that exist.

Disabling emissions controls is not only a violation of the federal Clean Air Act but contributes to “significantly higher releases of nitrogen oxides and particulate matter,” EPA officials say, which can cause air quality to deteriorate and illness in people.

Black Hills Tire to Launch Automotive Camp for Adolescents

Black Hills Tire, owned and operated by Weston and Tenise Chapman, announced the launch of a new automotive-focused summer camp aimed at helping adolescents ages 12-15 discover the industry. Camp Drive, a two-day camp that runs from June

9-10, 2023, in Rapid City, S.D., will feature hands-on experiences and lectures where to teach campers the ins and outs of tires, brakes and alignments, with the ultimate goal of participating in a repair.

"We were inspired to create this camp because our industry is a career to be proud of. It’s constantly changing, and as long as you are a technician that likes to learn, you can always grow and be vital to the automotive field. We feel passionate about that and do whatever we can to promote that," said Tenise Chapman.

The camp will also feature guest speakers from the auto care industry and will hold pit crew challenges, where the campers will collaborate in a NASCARtype rotation.

"Our goal for the camp is to introduce the automotive industry to young women and men. We hope to create a passion in them about our industry to help grow future technicians," added Chapman.

The Chapmans hope to create a camp for older teens in the future and hope to get their local technical college involved.

"We also hope to create a camp for older kids, ages 16-18, that will be a little more in-depth and discuss how to make this industry a career," said Tenise Chapman.

Registration for Camp Drive opens April 1, 2023, and is limited to 25 attendees

Hyundai and Kia Hybrid Vehicles Recalled for Fuel Leaks

Hyundai and Kia are recalling some of their new plug-in hybrid vehicles due to a fuel leak issue, Autoblog reports.

In a defect report to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Hyundai states that a manufacturing issue at one of their suppliers, the fuel tank was not properly molded at the seam, which can cause a fuel leak.

Hyundai says the defective tanks were manufactured from April 7, 2022, through April 9, 2022, and that the issue was remedied on April 10, 2022. Hyundai reports they have received “no confirmed crashes, injuries, or fire related to this condition” within the United States. The recall was issued because of three incidents in Europe.

Due to the mistake being caught and corrected, only 326 Santa Fes and 34 Sorentos were affected by the recall. Owners of recalled vehicles may expect to hear from Hyundai by the end of March with steps to obtain a tank inspection and replacement.