Hot weather is just a few weeks away in many areas of the country, and that means plenty of air conditioning service opportunities. Years ago, A/C was considered a luxury. Now it's a necessity. Automatic climate control systems use A/C year-round for defrost and dehumidification as well as cooling. Even so, it's hot weather that really brings out the A/C customers. In fact, you can usually count on your volume of A/C service work rising in direct proportion to the temperature.

When the A/C stops blowing cold air, most people can only tolerate the loss of cooling as long as the thermometer remains below 80 to 85 degrees and the humidity isn't too bad. Beyond that, a trip in heavy stop-and-go traffic can be a near-death experience. As temperature and humidity go up, so does the level of discomfort. Eventually, the desire to remain perspiration-free will overcome a person's desire to postpone repairs, and you'll soon see their vehicle for service.

WHO ARE YOUR CUSTOMERS?
According to a recent survey by the Mobile Air Conditioning Society (MACS), approximately 40 percent of the vehicles that were serviced last summer for A/C-related problems were older vehicles (1994 and back) with R-12 A/C systems. The average odometer reading was over 100,000 miles! The rest were 1995 and newer vehicles with R-134a A/C systems.

The same survey also found that about 9 percent of the older vehicles were retrofitted to R-134a when t...