In Loving Memory of Ron Bettger

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Ron was born on July 16, 1939 as the first of four sons to Hilmer and Lucille Bettger in Sutton, NE.

Ron’s unquestionable work ethic developed early while working on his relative’s farm in Clay County, NE.

When his parents found jobs in the meat packing industry, they settled in Ralston where Ron graduated from high school in 1957.

He was a star of track & field and played football for the Rams.  He became interested in all things that had engines.  He studied auto repair and landed a job as a mechanic at H.P. Smith Ford.

Ron made a career switch in the early ‘60s and began selling tools out of a truck for Cornwell Tools and, later, Mac Tools.  He sold to professional mechanics all over the city of Omaha and began building relationships through his no-nonsense, trustworthy and outgoing personality.

He also began serving his community through his work with the Millard Lions Club.  His natural leadership came through as he served in many positions and spent countless hours serving and building life-long relationships with his Millard contemporaries.

During this time, he met his best friend, Gene Moberg.  In 1970, they decided to open their own muffler shop and named it House of Mufflers.  He was an entrepreneur by nature and all of his skills began to flourish.  The pair quickly grew their business from one shop on 84th & L St. to four shops in Omaha.  Ron and Gene split their business interests but remained the closest of friends.

Ron had big ideas of opening another business where he saw an opportunity in selling wholesale auto parts.  He opened Denver Muffler Warehouse in 1981.  All the while, Ron was establishing himself as a leader in the industry as he became president of the Exhaust Systems Professional Association and made friends across the country in the auto parts and repair field.

In 1986 he started Midwest Undercar Warehouse in Omaha and soon opened another location in Kansas City, MO.   Through his solid relationships with manufacturers, customers, employees and fellow wholesalers, Midwest Undercar became one of the most respected and successful auto parts wholesale businesses in the country.

At the turn of the century, Ron sold his businesses and devoted his retirement to he and Karen’s life and his family.  He took such joy in his six grandchildren.  Always proud, but never boastful, he watched them grow up in wonderment.  He built his life so he and Karen could enjoy time with them at their homes in Naples and in the Ozarks.  And all the while he built friendships around every home.

Ron never went to college.  It was never an issue in his life.  He was an entrepreneur before it was cool.  His thirst for learning never stopped.  He was never intimidated by anything.  He never said he was “gonna” do something.  He just did it.  Obstacles were never considered.  Natural leadership flowed out of him.  He never considered telling someone to do something that he wouldn’t do himself.  People were drawn to him and they were loyal to him, as he was to them.  He was successful, but never put on airs.  His life evolved into knowing that the paramount of success was loving relationships with family and friends.  He impacted countless lives without knowing he did.  His children and grandchildren are a reflection of him.

Does the Check Engine Light Magically Tell You What’s Wrong With Your Car?

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I’ll let you in on a little secret.  If you’re “Check Engine” light is on, you can take it to many auto parts stores and they’ll tell you what the trouble code is for FREE!  The only problem with that is the inevitable question:  “Now what?”

Let me give you an example:   Let’s say they plug their code reader into your car and it gives them a code DTC P0401 which means “insufficient EGR system flow.”  OK, but what is causing it?  It could be a bad EGR valve, a clogged EGR passage or a faulty DPFE sensor.  That code reader won’t tell you any of those things.  It takes a trained ASE technician to test for each potential problem.  That way you get your car fixed right the first time and you don’t waste money and time buying and replacing parts.

We are experts at diagnosing what’s wrong with your car.  So when you’re light comes on, don’t take it to the parts store, Take it 2 the House!

When to Fix It, and When You Can Wait

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When you decide to perform maintenance work on your vehicle, it's not up to us to decide what you do.  Our job is to provide you with information that you can use to make an informed decision.  And there are a lot of things that may influence that decision.

1) How long are you going to keep this car?

If the answer is more than two years, then you should think about using the Factory Scheduled Maintenance schedule.  That is the manufacturer telling you when you should have things replaced, such as fluids and belts.  If you're going to sell the car in six months, you might not get new spark plugs or change your struts.

2) How much money do you have?

If you're low on cash flow, then prioritize what you should get done.  The odds are pretty good you don't need to do everything at once.  Take care of the high-risk repairs first before worrying about routine maintenance.

3) Who's driving this car? 

If it's your 19-yr.-old daughter away at college, your timing will be different to do repairs.  If you take the car many miles from home, you also might want to prioritize differently.

Our job is tell you the condition of your vehicle.  We will be happy to counsel you on what we THINK you should have done, but we will NEVER pressure you to get anything done.  We're in this together for the long haul of the life of your car.

Don't Fall For Our Competitors' Deceptive Advertising

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We all get bombarded by coupons for auto repair every day.  Hey, we send some out, too.  But don't be fooled by ads that appear to be a good deal until you REALLY know what the final cost is going to be.  For example, there's a new guy in town who is touting his $59.95 brake job.  Sounds good, until you find out what you really get for that price.

The ad says that you get front pads for $59.99 and the labor is included. That also includes a 12-month warranty.  What they don't tell you is that everytime you replace the pads, you need to resurface the brake rotors.  Oh, and by the way, they charge $40.00 to do that.  Oh, and another thing, if you want a lifetime warranty, that's another $20 bucks.  So that makes the grand total $119.99  - that's quite a bit more than $59.99.

At House of Mufflers & Brakes, our new brake pricing means you get a front brake job for $79.  That INCLUDES resurfacing the rotors and a lifetime warranty.  And we use high-quality Bendix brake pads.

So, before you clip a coupon and head to the competition, make sure you know what you're getting yourself into.  It's practices like these that give auto repair a bad name.  Don't forget, we will always inspect your brakes for free and let you know exactly what it's going to take to get you stopping safely.  We have over 40 years in Omaha and our family-owned business values our relationship with you above all else.

What's the Heat Doing to Your Car?

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So you’ve let your lawn go dormant.  Your OPPD bill looks more like a mortgage payment.  It’s too hot to go to the pool.  Yeah, it’s been hot.  But now is not the time to take your car for granted.  This ridiculous heat wave can create all kinds of drama for your vehicle.  Here are a few of the things you should be checking out so that you don’t have to crawl out of your air-conditioned car to push it off to the side of the road.

Battery

Remember, HOT temperatures are harder on your battery than cold.  More batteries fail during summer than winter.  The heat causes the fluid in your battery to evaporate, which causes it to fail.  It wouldn’t hurt to get your battery checked to see how strong it is.  Especially if it’s over three years old.

Overheating

If your vehicle’s engine temperature gauge starts to signal in the red, then you’re already overheating.  At the first sign of it, shut off your air conditioner and get your vehicle into the nearest House of Mufflers & Brakes.

Coolant

A lot of people think their radiator should be full of anti-freeze.  The truth is, your radiator should have a mix of 50% water and 50% anti-freeze.  If you’re unsure, it might be time for a coolant service.  We’ve got a coupon for $20 off a coolant exchange to the right of this page.

Tires

Blowouts happen during the Summer.  Why?  If your tires are under-inflated, you’ll have more friction on your tires and combine that with the heat, they could blow.  Also, the heat will cause a rise in tire pressure, also possibly damaging your tires.   Just check the pressure on them.

Fluids

Make sure you’re fluids are all topped off.  They can evaporate with this kind of heat.  That’s power-steering, transmission, brake and engine oil.

A/C

A plugged cabin air filter can decrease the air flow going through your car’s air conditioning system, causing it to be inefficient and putting greater stress on it.

So, don’t ignore all the things that you take for granted, especially if you’re still planning on getting on the road for a few days of vacation.  We have one solution for you to make sure all of these items can stand the heat:  Take it 2 the House!

Not to Argue with the President, but Employees & Customers Build Businesses

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I'm not really interested in firing up a huge political debate on whether we need the government's intervention to help small business succeed.  If you take the president's quote out of context, it reads, "If you've got a business - you didn't build that - somebody else made that happen."  Now as someone who has worked in small business all of his life, I might immediately be offended.  I get what he was trying to say, that we're "all in this together," and some such rhetoric.  If he was trying to say the government helps by building roads and sewers and such, then I understand.

If he's saying small business owners have had help, he's absolutely right.  We built this business on the backs of the people doing the work and those who pay us money to do it.  So to the employees of customers of House of Mufflers & Brakes - thank you for building this business which has thrived in Omaha for over 40 years now.  To the government:  thanks for building the roads to our shops.

Why Are My Wheels Always Filthy?

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That constant coating of black dust is from your brake pads.  As they wear away each time you hit your brakes, they create a very fine black dust.  That dust sticks to your wheels, giving them that constantly dirty look.  So what can you do about it?  You should check to see if your pads can be replaced with those that are made of ceramic material.  Ceramic brake pads don’t create the dust that semi-metallic pads do, but they perform just as well.  Many vehicles come from the factory with ceramic pads now, but high-end vehicles usually come equipped with the metallic pads.

In the aftermarket, we have a huge array of ceramic pads to choose from to replace your original pads, and at very reasonable prices.  I’ve done it with my own vehicle and found the aftermarket pads to be even better performing than what came from the factory.  Just give us a call and we’ll see if we can replace them for your vehicle.