Car Care
Chronicles
Welcome to the Car Care
Chronicles
, your free, pre-written, pre-designed customer newsletter from the Car Care Council.
It's easy to reproduce and tailor to your needs.
Volume I
Spring 2003: National Car Care Month, spring car care tips
Lead article: "Home Alone? What About on the Road Alone?"
QuarkXPress (.zip/284 KB),
Adobe Acrobat (.pdf/185 KB)
Volume II
Summer 2003: summer vacation tips
Lead article: "Your Rest
Stop Can Be Your Best Stop"
QuarkXPress (.zip/1.3 MB),
Adobe Acrobat (.pdf/63 KB)
Volume III
Fall 2003: back to school, Halloween safety
Lead article:
"Will You Lose Mega MPG This Thanksgiving?"
QuarkXPress
(.zip/149 KB) - Adobe Acrobat (.pdf/49 KB)
Volume IV
Winter 2003: holiday traveling tips, gifts for your car
Lead article: "See and Be Seen on Busy Highways"
QuarkXPress
(.zip/607 KB), Adobe Acrobat (.pdf/91 KB)
Volume V
Spring 2004: National Car Care Month, preventive maintenance
Lead article: "Spring Clean Where it Can't Be Seen"
QuarkXPress
(.zip/1.3 MB), Adobe
Acrobat
(.pdf/82 KB)
Volume VI
Summer 2004: lighten up to travel, O2 sensors
Lead article:
"Breaking the High Test Habit"
QuarkXPress
(.zip/1.2 MB), Adobe
Acrobat (.pdf/90 KB)
Volume VII
Fall 2004: battery facts, flat tire test
Lead article: "Are
You Transmission Savvy?"
QuarkXPress
(.zip/12 MB), Adobe
Acrobat
(.pdf/369 KB)
Volume VIII
Winter 2004: commuter tips, cold-weather tire inflation
Lead
article: "What Women Say vs. What Women Do"
QuarkXPress (.zip/739 KB), Adobe
Acrobat (.pdf/85 KB)
Volume IX
Spring 2005: National Car Care Month, brake and shock tips
Lead article: "April is National
Car Care Month: What's Under Your Hood?"
QuarkXPress
(.zip/660 KB), Adobe
Acrobat (.pdf/96 KB)
Volume X
Summer 2005: Summer Car Care
Lead
article: "Car Care Awareness, FTC Style"
QuarkXPress
(.zip/300 KB), Adobe
Acrobat (.pdf/75 KB)
Availability -
The Chronicles will be available
quarterly. Each issue will be focused on the upcoming season and be
posted online, approximately one month before the beginning of the
next season. For example, the spring issue (April, May, June) will
be posted in mid-February.
Paper size and
color - The Car Care Chronicles is designed to be
printed on 8.5" X 14" (legal size) paper. Use a light-colored paper (white, yellow, pastels, etc.)
for best results, with black ink. Use the best quality paper that
your budget will allow for a good final product.
Quantity - If you
send the newsletter to your entire customer base, then the quantity
is simple to determine. However, don't forget about other opportunities to distribute this
piece. Consider copies for: new customers, your counter, seats of cars just
serviced, counters of businesses with whom you cross-market, etc.
Files - The
Chronicles are available as both high resolution PDF and
QuarkXPressTM files. The PDF is for in-house printing
use; QuarkXPressTM is for print shop use. The
QuarkXPressTM
files provide more opportunity to customize your newsletter.
In-house printing
- For premium quality, we recommend reproducing the newsletter at a
print shop. However, the Chronicles can be reproduced
in-house from the high-resolution PDF file. After printing a clean copy of
the front and back pages, you will need to produce four customized
boxes to cut and paste over the original copy.
1. The coupon - This
space measures 3" X 8.5" and can be covered with a seasonal
special, a picture of your crew, your facility, etc.
2. The logo corner - Located in
the bottom right corner of the main page, your logo
can be inserted below the words, "This newsletter is brought to you
compliments of..." The space measures approximately 2.5" X 1.5".
3. Contact information box -
Located adjacent to the mailing panel, the contact information box
should include your company name, full address, hours, phone, fax,
e-mail, Web site, accepted credit cards and any other important
consumer information. For example, do you accept
checks? Do you have a towing service, discounts for seniors or a
company slogan? This space measures approximately 2.5" X 4".
4. Return address - Located in
the upper left of the mailing
panel under the "Be Car Care Aware" logo, this section should include
your shop name, address and Web site if applicable.
Print shop
printing - Reproducing the newsletter on an offset press at
a print shop results in a higher quality print job. Aside from a
better look, it allows for greater customization on your part. Items
can be modified from the original layout to include your own items. You can include: your
photo, a photo of your shop or crew, your own articles, cartoons,
etc. This greatly enhances the personality of the newsletter.
To have the Car Care
Chronicles for the upcoming season downloaded by your print
shop, simply tell them to download the QuarkXPressTM file
from the industry section of www.carcare.org
.
If you choose to include
information other than what is already in the newsletter, your
printer can replace any article, headline, box, picture or cartoon
in the file. This provides an excellent opportunity to tailor the
newsletter to your shop, your customers and your community. For example, if you
are sponsoring a National Car Care Month activity, you would want to
include a promotional article with all the pertinent information.
Whether or not you chose to make changes, four sections
will need to be customized with your shop information.
1. The coupon - This
space can be used for a
special coupon, announcement, a picture of your crew, your facility, etc. Reverse
type (white on black) looks good in this space.
2. The logo corner - Located in the bottom right
corner of the main page, your logo can be inserted below the
words, "This newsletter is brought to you compliments of..."
3. Contact information
box - Located adjacent to the mailing panel, the contact
information box should include your company name, full address,
hours, phone, fax, e-mail, Web site, accepted credit cards and other important
consumer information. For example, do you accept checks? Do you have a
towing service, discounts for seniors or a company slogan?
4. Return address -
Located under the in the upper left of the mailing
panel under the "Be Car Care Aware" logo, this section should include
your shop name, address and Web site if applicable.
Customization
Ideas - Your newsletter can be
customized if reproduced at a print shop. You can swap out any
article and consider including any of these promotional ideas:
-
If you get a new employee, a
tech gets a new certification, your staff
helps a Girl Scout troop with its car care badge or you
invest in building/equipment improvements, put it in your newsletter.
-
Often a photo with a good
caption is as effective as an entire article. For example, this
caption says it all:
Owner Tom Ho and Little League coach
Jerry Smith check out the new Tom's Automotive team uniforms. This
is the third year that Tom's has sponsored a team
.
-
For a more family-oriented feel, you can
include staff announcements such as marriages, babies or graduations.
-
Consider helping a charitable
group advertise their event with a small box in your newsletter.
Example:
Don't miss the Band Booster rummage sale at the
HCHS, Saturday, May 11 from 7 a.m. - 2 p.m.
.gif)
