Maintenance

Maintenance before Traveling

When traveling long distances in your car it is imperative to ensure that there has been an extensive maintenance check on your car. Not only do you need to ensure that your oil has been recently changed, but you should check tire pressure and also ensure that there aren’t any other services that you have been putting off that should be addressed before a trip. Items that we might choose to put off in our car including having your fuel injector cleaned, transmission flushed, tires rotated and balanced, etc. can have a significant impact on performance for long car trips. Now is definitely the time to ensure these are completed before expecting your car to run at top performance on a road trip, no matter how short.

No one wants to have to stop and have issues checked out while on the road, especially during trip that has specific time parameters. Aside from renting a car, getting maintenance performed on a car before leaving for a trip is the best way to ensure long-trip safety.

There are many shops within cities and towns that can perform these service needs and it is certain you can find an area existing close to your home to be able to be able to do some shopping around for price comparisons.

Without service performed on your vehicle, expenses can easily add up for areas that were not addressed prior to leaving, especially if the services were already overdue.

On long car trips it is helpful to bring jumper cables, an extra battery, as well as tools to change a tire, if necessary. Having specific tools on hand will also help your vehicle if a small emergency did arise, as well as keep you from being stranded. There is no telling what type of roads you might find yourself driving on, so having these tools will be helpful.

Filed Under: Maintenance, Travel Tagged With: Automobile, Road trip, Tire

GPS Navigation Systems

Twelve Thousand miles above the earth, there are approximately 24 GPS satellites going about seven thousand miles an hour. The Global Positioning System, or GPS, uses at least four of these satellites at a time to pinpoint your location and help give you directions to your destination. Each of these satellites constantly sends radio coded information. These signals can pass through clouds, glass and plastic. Each is designed to last for about ten years and is monitored by the Department of Defense. They are powered by solar energy, and when they are in the shadow of the earth, they use batter power that was stored during the part of the travel cycle when it was in the sun. Your GPS receiver receives and processes these signals, but does not transmit any information to the satellites. It takes about 65 to 85 milliseconds for a signal from the satellites to be received by your receiver on earth.

GPS receivers are as accurate as the signals that they are receiving, so it is important that when you are turning on your unit and entering the information about your destination that you are doing so in an open sky area. This way you will be able to get the clearest signal and it will remain the most accurate the longest.
GPS navigation is great for:

•    Daily travel to appointments and location within your city
•    Long trips across the country
•    Directions to your favorite places to eat when you are out of town and unfamiliar with the area.
•    Finding the shortest and safest route through traffic
•    Locating gas stations at any moment that you need them
•    And much more.

It is amazing the technology that we have today to help us get from place to place. Just imagining those 24 satellites in the sky speeding about the earth at such a high rate of speed, can guide your car along a road here on earth.

Filed Under: Maintenance, Safety Tagged With: Global Positioning System, GPS navigation device, Satellite

Dealing With Maps

Someone once said that if you ever wanted to torture most fathers, you need only tie them down and fold up a map incorrectly in their presence. While criminal confinement is never a legally or ethically desirable option (especially when dealing with one’s own family), maps can be a serious problem to the traveler who deals with them poorly. First off, a traditional map has no light of its own, and offers no instructions. So you are either expected to give directions to the driver in real time, or attempt to drive while simultaneously interpreting a map’s coordinates and their relationship to your intended direction. In either case, this is a stupid expectation and it could very well get you killed. So don’t do that.

A better idea when dealing with a map is to not use one. In this day and age, you have ample additional options, including a GPS unit which will give you directions in real time along with a simplified trip map. You could also just go to a website which provides directions and a crude map, and print off what it tells you. Either one would be substantially easier to follow in most cases, and would therefore make you less likely to end up becoming distracted and ending up in a terrible accident. However, sometimes a map is all you have.

First off, unfold the map while you are stopped. Few people are dexterous enough to maneuver and unfold at once. Secondly, try to only expose the sections of map that you intend to use. Third, trace out your path and say it to yourself out loud several times. “Turn right onto 70 West” is a direction you can probably remember for the few minutes until it actually comes up. And if all else fails, it is no dishonor whatsoever to stop a few times, get your bearings and determine your marching orders. The best generals know where they’re going.

Filed Under: Maintenance

Never let Your Tank get Low

Believe it or not, you do have a buffer zone which may stretch over 50 miles, even when your gas tank’s gauge reads E. There are two very powerful reasons why you never really want to explore this buffer zone, though. And it is not just because after the buffer is exhausted, you hear the distinct chugging sound that an engine makes as it begins to suck fumes, right before your car slowly coasts to a halt in some random place where you most likely do not want to be. Simply put, you do not want to hurt your car, and you do not want to take the unnecessary risk of putting yourself in harm’s way through running low (or dry) out there.

The best rule of thumb when it comes to gas is “fill up early, and fill up often.” It does not matter if you have three quarters of a tank going on right now. You simply never know when there will be another filling station which will have gas, accept your method of payment, and be easily accessible to you. If you go at the filling up issue with a state of near paranoia, you will fare far better than you will if you simply decide to take up the gambler’s credo of “let it ride.” Letting it ride is fine when you know where you are.

However, if you are in unfamiliar territory, you need to have an ace in the hole. And in this case, one of the few aces you have is your ability to get out of a situation if it turns bad. Until they invent a nuclear car, that pretty much means having ample amounts of gas in your tank. If ever you get beneath half a tank out on the road, your first priority has got to shift into finding and acquiring more at your earliest possible opportunity. The alternative could get very bad very quickly.

Filed Under: Maintenance

Asking the Right Questions About Used Cars

: Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Buying a used car always means taking a risk. Unless the dealership gives the full faith and backing to that car, there will always be a bit of a risk when the driver sell that car to a buyer. The key to not making your car buying a experience a big waste of time and money is to make sure that the right questions are asked and that the seller has the right answers. It’s not always in the answers they give either but more so in their ability to answer in a timely fashion and without looking flustered. Here are a few of those questions.

What is a typical day for the car? This is a question that doesn’t get asked but is worth it to ask. Asking what a typical day for the car is will tell the buyer a lot about the driving that the car has seen. The answer to the question should include where it was housed, how many miles it drove a person to and from work or school. It should include if it were expressway or city driving. Knowing these things will help to determine if the car has been abused in it’s time or if it has been handled with car.

How often was this car repaired and where are the service records? This might be the most important question. Cars go through repairs and need maintenance. It’s part of owning a car, but what a buyer doesn’t want to see are excessive repairs or multiple repairs to the same thing. Each seller should know what the service records were for the car and what the reason for the repairs were. The answer to this should make the decision on if a car gets bought or not. Buying a used car isn’t easy but knowing the questions to ask make it easier to decide.

Filed Under: Crash Test Performace, Maintenance Tagged With: Automobile, Buyer, Used car

You can’t always make Lemonade from Lemons

: Image via Wikipedia

People who are in the market of buying a used car think in terms of what type they are looking for. You go around at different dealerships or look online and find your “baby.” How much do you know about the vehicle before you take possession of it?

Think on these tips to help you make a good choice before buying a lemon:

1) Never buy from family or friends. Chances are that they mean well, but in the end, it something goes wrong, you are held responsible for it. This could also turn messy, making you lose close relationships over a clunker.

2) Try to avoid privet owners. Again, this will save you from heartache if your car becomes inoperable. Lawsuits are no fun and you may come out paying more then what the car is worth.

3) If you buy from a privet owner, ask questions! Never feel as though you are over stepping by asking plenty of questions about the car. The owner should have nothing to hide and should be able to provide all necessary paperwork on repairs.

4) Take the vehicle in to be inspected. Talk is cheap sometimes. If you still have a funny feeling about the car, take it to a mechanic to see if complex repairs need to be done. Sometimes used cars will need work, but make sure you are not paying for every nook and cranny. Again, an owner or dealership should have nothing to hide. If they object to an inspection, RUN THE OTHER WAY!

5) Always check the Kelly Blue Book Value to see what its worth. No one wants to pay more then they have to. Investigate cost by year, miles, or if any upgrades have been added. Doing online research is faster and more convenient.

Make sure that you shop around and take your time! This is a big decision and you want to make your investment worth wild!

Filed Under: Highway, Maintenance Tagged With: Automobile, Car dealership, Used car

The Family Investment

Buying a new or used (pre-owned is politically correct) car used to be a Saturday afternoon shopping trip. One might be out for the afternoon and drive by a dealership and a particular car would catch your eye. You would take a drive in, talk to a salesman and before you know it, you were driving out of the lot in a different car than you showed up in. For most of us car buying is no longer that simple. It is a huge investment.

The car may catch your eye from the street, but after driving up and looking at the price of cars, you might find yourself driving back out. No longer are cars only made to be around for 4 or 5 years. Cars now have manufacturer warranties that will have your driving your car for well over 200,000 miles or more. People are keeping their cars for up to 10 years or more before choosing to invest once again. Car payments that used to be spread out over one or two years are now spread out over as many as six to seven years. Cars are expensive and like any other investment, we need to make sure that the way we have chosen to invest our money is a good decision. Cars today can cost anywhere from a few thousand dollars to over $100,000 dollars, making cars almost as expensive as homes.

Once you make the decision to buy a new car, you really need to do some research, to make sure you are choosing the car that is right for you and your family. There are deals to beat all deals at dealerships across the country, and we all know they are not always what they seem. At 4saferoutes.org you can get help. Here you can get advice and tips on what to look for when buying a new or pre-owned vehicle. You can compare different cars, which one is right for you and your family? An informed consumer is the one who gets the best deal.

Filed Under: Maintenance Tagged With: Automobile, Automotive, Business and Economy, Consumer Information, Home, Motoring, Purchasing, Used car

Car Safety Tip: Making a Winter Safety Kit

: Image via Wikipedia

Your car doesn’t take a rest just because it is winter time. In fact, many car breakdowns occur during the winter months due to the harsher weather conditions on the car. While you can’t predict when your car might break down you can prepare yourself for the situation with a car safety kit.

Here are some of the essential items that are needed to develop a winter car safety kit that will get you through those annoying car breakdowns in the cold winter months.

Regular Car Safety Essentials. All cars should carry reflector lights, flares, jumper cables and a tire jack. These items are essential regardless of the season and will come in handy when you are trying to repair some of the minor car breakdowns.

Warm Blankets. Sometimes during car breakdowns the heat will go out in the car. In case this happens it is a good idea to have some warm blankets to keep you warm while you wait for a tow truck or repairman.

Gloves. Gloves can help keep your hands warm while you are doing the repairs to the car. It’ll be cold out there was you work on the car and the gloves will make sure you have warm hands while you do repairs like jumping the car or changing the tire.

Food and Water. You never know how far out you will be when your car breaks down. It is a good idea to pack some non-perishable food that can be easily opened. This will give you some food should you need to wait a while. The water can be packed in bottles of water and give you a water supply should you be stranded for a while.

Flashlights. During the winter months it gets dark really early. Pack a few flashlights so that no matter how dark it is you can see your way around the car and be able to fix anything that is wrong.

Filed Under: Crash Test Performace, Maintenance Tagged With: Automobile safety, Blankets (comics), Glove

Shopping Around

Everyone is changing the way they think about the economy. People are being more concerned about every penny they spend, and insurance is no exception. Those who have auto insurance are double checking the numbers to be sure they are getting the most protection for their money. This includes such coverage as classic car insurance and boating insurance. These things are important when owning the vehicles, but individuals are not willing to pay any more than they have to for the coverage.

Economic times are tough and paying more than necessary is no longer a possibility for many people, and for this reason they are checking policies and comparing prices. Understanding every detail about your policy is vital to getting the most out of the money coming into the household. No longer can a person just hand out money for the products that they need without doing some substantial shopping around first. This is where learning everything there is to know about what is being purchased comes into play. This can be done by talking with an agent or by taking the time to do some research. A great deal of this research can be done online.

Finding information on insurance is not difficult on the internet. Comparison shopping can be done fairly quickly with little effort from the individual. Being prepared with a budget is a great way to get started. It is important to know what your limits are before looking at what is offered. This will keep everyone on target and keep from spending more than what is available to spend. Keep in mind that like most insurance coverage, the insurance is often cheaper if paid for in cash and up front in one lump sum. This is instead of spreading out the payments over a year’s time. This savings can be a big deal for those needing to reduce debt.

Filed Under: Crash Test Performace, Maintenance Tagged With: Classic car, Insurance, Vehicle insurance

The Right Supplies for a Wrong Day on the Road

Driving is one of the great things that people love to do. People love the feel and control of being in their own car. The problem with driving your own car is that when an accident or an emergency happens, you are often unprepared. People don’t keep the necessary equipment around when it comes to their car. In a case like this, you often become stressed and you have to rely on others for help. I know all about this kind of scenario. It used to happen to me often. But then I began a big fan of preparation.
Here’s a little scenario that explains how I finally started being prepared for any roadside emergency and in that case anything that happened to me in everyday life. It may seem an odd way to learn about auto safety preparation, but I learned my final lesson while attempting to get into graduate school and get my MBA. To do this I first had to pass the Graduate Management Admissions Test. The first time I took the test – the first time – I bought a few books, studied alone daily and took the test. I did not pass. The next time I took the test, I took my preparation seriously. This time I took GMAT prep courses online. This course offered interaction between teachers and students. It offered complete practice tests. It offered feedback to help me better my practice question answering. I participated in them all. Taking that GMAT test prep course was the difference.
I prepared and I passed. When the test came along – much like a roadside breakdown – I was less stressed because I was prepared. The moral of this long-winded story is just that; always be prepared and when you are you will be ready to deal with any auto issue that arises.

Filed Under: Maintenance, Recalls Tagged With: Automobile, Flat tire, Tire