2007 November | Car and Accessories

Archive for November, 2007

Nov/07

5 Steps to a Worry-free Vacation: Preparing Your Vehicle for the Summer

by carsolutiononline.com/blog under Car Maintenance

Car trouble on your summer vacation is more than just a repair bill . It can mean towing charges, accomodations and a rental car. When you consider the cost of extra phone calls, meals and general annoyance, your vacation can turn into a budget-buster. Most breakdowns can be avoided with a pre-vacation inspection by yourself or a qualified service technician.

So before packing, set aside the time to make sure your car is ready. 15 minutes of preventative maintenance in your driveway just may eliminate hours of aggravating on-the-road problems. Follow these 5 steps and you’ll start your trip right.

(1) Fluids:
Check all your vehicle’s fluid levels. This would be engine oil, coolant, transmission fluid, brake fluid, power steering fluid, and windshield washer fluid. Most cars have transparent reservoir tanks so you may not even need to get your hands dirty. Check the owners’ manual for procedures for checking and adding fluids. When you check the brake fluid level, look at the fluid color. You want it to be clear or light amber. If it’s dark and cloudy, you’ve got contaminated brake fluid, and it should be replaced and the brake system flushed.

(2) Belts and Hoses:
All drive belts and hoses should be checked for signs of wear and deterioration. Replace any belt that’s frayed, cracked or has chunks missing. With the engine cold, look at all the hoses for leaks, cracks, or swelling. Replace as neccessary.

(3) Battery:
One of the biggest culprits is the battery when it comes to vacation stoppers. Make sure the electrolyte fluid is at the proper level. Remove battery caps and look inside- the level should be above the battery plates. If your battery is more than four or five years old, consider replacing it for an even more worry-free trip.

Also, ensure that battery terminals and cables are clean and firmly attached to the terminals. If the terminals and cables are covered with "snow", remove the cables from the battery and thoroughly clean the cables and terminals.

(4) Cooling system:
Continual highway driving and hot summer days combined put a big load on the engine cooling system. How many times have you passed some poor guy on the side of the road with the hood up and steam coming out of the radiator? If your radiator has regular green anti-freeze which hasn’t been changed for two years, now is the time to do it. If it has extended life anti-freeze go check the recommended change intervals and if the mileage will be reached during the trip, change it now.

(5) Air-conditioning: Make sure your air conditioning is working well. Run it for a while in each of its modes, checking that the airflow is coming from all vents. If the system takes an unreasonably long time to cool the inside of the car, or the air just doesn’t get cold enough, odds are the system needs to be checked for leaks and recharged.

While following this list of checks, be aware of more generalized warning signs as well. Ticking, clunking or knocking noises, a sudden vibration or shimmy, or anything out of the ordinary is probably a symptom of a hidden problem that should be checked before hitting the road.

No matter how thorough your pre-trip preparations, unexpected problems still occur. That’s why it’s a good idea to have a basic road-kit onboard if something should happen. Jumper cables, flares, a pre-paid cell phone, spare anti-freeze, a gallon of water, three quarts of oil, and some hand tools are all great to have. You can buy a ready-made emergency kit or make up one your own.

While no inspection can absolutely guarantee your car’s performance, it is sure comforting to know all the precautions that were taken. Now you are as ready as you can be, enjoy your vacation and relax.

D.Demetre is an author and webmaster at Caroom, where you can find Car Accessories to help in your summer vehicle preparation.

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Nov/07

Driving Customers to You – Your Car as a Marketing Vehicle

by carsolutiononline.com/blog under Advertising Vehicles

You can turn your vehicle into a rolling advertisement. Costs start at just a few dollars, and you can put your business name, slogan, phone number and web site URL in front of thousands of potential customers while you are driving along the freeway, stuck in traffic or even while you are parked. Here are some of the best ways to use your vehicle as a marketing tool.

Bumper stickers are so inexpensive that you may want to print enough for employees, friends, family members, customers and others. Publisher Susan Sabo of Small Dogs Press made bumper stickers saying, �I do bad things for love,� along with the Small Dogs web site URL. The line is from one of their books, and everyone who sees the bumper sticker wants one. Sabo sells them at her web site, and gives them away at book fairs. Of course, she has one on her car, and says she has given them to all of her friends, too.

License plate frames are a favorite of car dealers and auto repair shops, but they can work for any business. You can have them custom made with your business name or slogan, along with a phone number or URL.

Magnetic signs are an easy and low-cost way to put a lot of information on your car. Put them on both sides of the car, and make sure the lettering is large enough to read, even from a distance and when the vehicle is in motion. Personal chef Sue Gaughenbaugh added an effective twist to this idea. She bought a supply of magnetic business cards and placed them around the sign on her truck. When customers see her truck in a parking lot, they can pick up a card to take with them. Gaughenbaugh started getting calls from new customers within days of putting the take-away magnetic cards on her truck.

Vinyl decals and window stickers are a highly visible way to promote your web site. Put the URL in large letters across the width of your rear windshield. After all, you never know who might be behind you in traffic. This is most effective if you have a catchy and descriptive domain name. Custom stickers are available at prices starting under $20.

You can order many of these items from local printers and sign shops. Or, do an online search for companies that can create bumper stickers, magnetic signs, decals and other promotional items.

And when you are ready to go all-out, consider a vehicle wrap. These vinyl decals look like a custom paint job and cover your entire vehicle with bright, high-quality graphics. This is not a do-it-yourself project, but you can hire companies such as www.coloredink.com to design and install the graphics. At an estimated cost of $3,500, this option is much more expensive than the others described here, but it will certainly make an impression on the other drivers you encounter.

When your car is a traveling billboard, the time you spend in traffic will become more productive.

Copyright Cathy Stucker. As the Idea Lady, Cathy Stucker can help you attract customers and make yourself famous with creative strategies that help your business excel. Get free tips and discover what she can do for you at http://www.IdeaLady.com/.

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Nov/07

How To Buy Used Vehicles Debt Free

by carsolutiononline.com/blog under Loan

New cars are one of the worst purchases that we can make due to the rapid decrease in value, especially over the first three years. When we finance these vehicles, this turns a bad situation even worse. We have now added a couple thousand dollars in interest to the cost of a depreciating item. Used cars are the answer to avoiding this big hit in depreciation, but many people still finance the used car.

Let’s take a look at how you can buy used vehicles even when you have very little to start with. Let’s assume you wanted to purchase a 2005 Accord for $20,990 and financed it for 6 years at 5.95%. The payment would be $341.85 per month for a total amount paid over the life of the loan of $24,613.40. That includes $3,623.40 in interest paid. Since you had decided that you could afford the $341.85 payment to the finance company, we assume that you can afford to pay yourself $341.85 into a savings account.

We round off this savings and do not account for any interest and assume that you save $4,000 each year. We will also assume that you can drive your current jalopy for one more year while you save this money.

January 2006 you now have $4,000 saved and can afford to buy a 1992 Honda Accord.
January 2007 you can sell the 1992 for $1,400, add another $4,000 to it and buy a 1995 Honda Accord.
January 2008 you can sell the 1995 for $2,000, add another $4,000 to it and buy a 1997 Honda Accord.
January 2009 you can sell the 1997 for $2,300, add another $4,000 to it and buy a 1999 Honda Accord.
January 2010 you can sell the 1999 for $2,600, add another $4,000 to it and buy a 2000 Honda Accord.
In January 2011 you have reached the value of used car purchases where selling the 2000 and adding $4,000 to it will not substantially upgrade your car, so you continue to save.
January 2012 you can sell the 2000 for $2,400, add $8,000 (two years of savings) to it and buy a 2006 Honda Accord. Now we can compare the two decisions. If you had bought the new 2005 you would have a paid off 2005 in 2011 and you would have paid interest ($3,623.40 to be exact) on top of the purchase price.

Using our example you could have had a 2006 one year later in 2012 completely paid off and your money made interest for you while in your savings account. These numbers are all conservative and you could do much better by continuing to save and delay your used car purchases longer than one year.

This would be the best thing to do so that you do not keep losing value on selling cars. For example, if you kept saving and bought a used car every two years you could have bought a 2008 Honda Accord in 2012 completely paid for. When you stretch out your used car purchases while continuing to save, you can purchase much newer vehicles.

With this method you can always purchase newer used cars and never pay interest to anyone. The key to making this work is the disciplined savings. If you have decided that you can make a new car payment, you can put the money in a savings account earmarked for used cars.

Also remember that since you do not have a car payment, if you have a financial problem like a job layoff etc., you will not have to worry about losing your vehicle. Driving paid for used cars is a wise financial practice. It is said that it is the millionaires that purchase and drive used cars. It is those in deep debt that drive new and leased vehicles.

The prices for these vehicles all came from Kelley Blue Book. The purchase prices are just under the KBB retail value and the selling prices are just over the private party value. The values that I used were conservative and you could do much better, especially if you hold onto your vehicles longer while continuing to save.

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buy used car debt free, buying a used car, debt free, debt free living, used car, used cars 1 Comment more...

Nov/07

Auto Auctions – Luxury Vehicles for Economy Budgets

by carsolutiononline.com/blog under Luxury Cars

Auto auctions are making it easier than ever for consumers to get into the car of their dreams. Like most Americans, you probably have luxury taste, but live on an economy budget. With a little research and patience, however, that luxury vehicle you’ve been eyeing could be in your driveway sooner than you ever thought possible.

Contrary to popular belief, auto auctions are not solely restricted to car dealers. This little known fact is what continuously drives Americans to purchase from car dealerships time and time again. Just imagine how much money you could save if you bypassed the dealer’s huge markups and purchased directly from their sources.

Consumers regularly report savings of 60% to over 90% off book value! That’s an incredible savings that no dealer could ever offer you. The majority of these vehicles are late models with very low miles. Some are still even under their manufacturer’s original warranty.

So how did these great vehicles end up at auction, you ask? Well, it’s really quite simple. A majority were repossessed by banks and other financial institutions for defaults on loans. And others were seized by local and federal government agencies. Because of the huge costs associated with storing these vehicles, it is necessary that they be auctioned off as quickly as possible.

Auto auctions put you, the consumer, in control. When you go to a dealership the sticker price of the vehicle is either what you pay, or the dealer has a certain price in mind that they’re willing to settle for. At an auto auction, however, there’s usually a low starting bid of $100 to $500, and the bidders determine the final price.

If you research and plan accordingly, you can probably attend an auction on a slow business day with very few competing bidders, and walk away with a great car at an incredible price.

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