Road Trip Joy Mixed With Car Care In Yakima

Sometimes you're looking for an excuse to make a road trip, and sometimes you just have to go. Friday, I had to go. That doesn't mean I was not going to turn it into some fun along the way, but I did have to go to get regular scheduled maintenance on my car. 

So, it was time for a road trip to Yakima. I got up bright and early and hit the road before the sun was up. My destination was Steve Hahn Auto Group in Yakima. Blewett pass was pretty much a breeze, bare and wet over the top, dry on the way down. I stopped in Ellensburg for a brief break to top off the battery on the car.  

A stop in Ellensburg

Normally I would be stopping at the Taco Bell in Ellensburg because that's where Some of the most convenient charging stations are, but when I hit town, Taco Bell didn't have their sign turned on and I couldn't find them. What I did find was Circle K just a little way farther down the road, and they have 6, 180 kilowatt chargers. 

One of the great things about the charging stations at Circle K's is that they're all new and they're very user friendly. Basically, you just plug it into your car, it says hello, asks you if you want to charge, you say yes, you swipe your card, and it does its thing. 

Then you have a little time to go into Circle K, buy a snack, and get back to the car. After the battery was topped off, I got back on the road and headed for Yakima. 

At my destination

My appointment at the service department at Steve Hahn Auto group was scheduled for 8:30. I got there at about 8:15, so I parked the car and went in to say hello. I introduced myself; they knew I had my appointment at 8:30 and everything was great. This was a scheduled maintenance appointment in order to maintain my warranty, so the do a general inspection of the car, making any necessary software updates, and replacing the cabin air filter, so it wasn't going to take a super long time. 

One of the nice things about the service department at Steve Hahn Auto Group is that there's lots of room to find a place to sit and relax; they have an area with a TV and couches. They also have another seating area with chairs and tables in the sales area. The parts department is right around the corner if you need parts. 

I just found a convenient table, sat down, popped open the laptop and did a little surfing. If you need snacks, they have a vending machine and there's always coffee and bottled water available. 

Over the years, I've used service departments or purchased Kia’s at four different Kia dealerships in Washington state, and of those four dealerships my best customer service experience has been at Steve Hahn Auto Group.  

About an hour and 45 minutes after I dropped off my car, I was notified that it was almost done. They got the paperwork ready to go and when everything was finalized, I jumped into the car and turned it on, and I noticed that the fan motors sounded different. I went back into the service department and asked them about it, and they immediately had a technician out there to take a look, found the problem and fixed it. 

Now, what's next?

Now everything was finally squared away, and it was time for me to take off. I looked at the clock and I thought, “I'm not that far away from lunch”. (You know how I feel about lunch) I had a little bit of time to kill and then I took the advice of my buddy Lon, who lives in the tri-cities, who told me a place where I had to go to get what he thought was the best hamburger in Yakima. 

But that's another story.