The Secret To Enjoying Your Car Buying Experience

Do you have any summer vacations planned or do you have any road trips coming up? Your car is the most important piece of this trips so it is important to treat it as a priority. Make sure you’re taking all the right steps for a stress-free, smooth sailing vacation from the moment you leave the driveway to the moment you return. Here are some tips and tricks we suggest: Functionality. Check to make sure everything is functioning correctly and all fluid is filled. Make sure your windshield wipers aren’t streaking and your windshield wiper fluid is filled. Also, if you’re due for an oil change or tire rotation soon, you should schedule a service appointment before you leave. Battery life. Having a dead battery during vacation can certainly kill your vibe which is why you should look out for these warning signs before leaving: The engine is taking longer than usual to turn over Your check engine light could mean problems with your battery Battery fluid is low (look for a translucent area of the casing to check fluid level) A very swollen battery case could mean the battery has gone bad A very foul smell around the battery means the battery needs some cleaning or your car may not start If you’ve had the same battery for more than 3 years, it is a good idea to have it checked on a yearly basis If you do not know how old your battery is, you can check the code on the cover of the battery case. The first letter shows the month, the number that follows indicates the year. Status of Tires. Before leaving for a road trip make sure you take a look at your tires to see if there are any tears or bulges on the side wall. Also, check the treads to make sure there is still enough there to create traction in case it rains. Finally, find out what the pressure of your tires are suppose to read (you can typically find this on the inside of the drivers door) to make sure your tires are ready to hit the road. Brake. With any road trip normally comes traffic. Stop by your local mechanic and have them look at your brake pads so you can brake easily with any amount of traffic. Emergency kit. Your car should have an emergency kit in it at all times. This kit should include a flashlight, a blanket, a phone charger, a first aid kit, basic tools and some water and snacks. Hopefully you’ll never have to use them, but play it safe and keep it in your car. Load capacity. On the inside of the drivers side door you should be able to find the load capacity your car allows for. This number includes both luggage and passengers so make sure you don’t go over. Also, when using roof-top cargo, you should only be packing light, bulky items in these. Having a heavy load on top of the car will not only decrease fuel efficiency but it will also make for more difficult handling of the vehicle. GPS. Although some may prefer to use maps or printed directions, a GPS is useful in that it can find local gas stations and restaurants along the way. A GPS can also detect upcoming traffic and re-route to a different way that doesn’t have as much traffic. Some systems can even send emergency help to your location if you need it. Kids. If you are traveling with kids in the car, make sure to pack enough entertainment to keep them occupied. Whether it be books, movies, video games or card games - driving is much less stressful with quiet, content children. You’ll also want to make sure to pack enough snacks and water to keep them full. Follow the rules of the road and be patient with any traffic you hit. If you find you become more frustrated and more aggressive with the increase of traffic, consider leaving before the sun rises or after rush hour that way you are less likely to hit the more intense traffic throughout the day. We encourage you to follow all of these steps to ensure for an easy, laid back road trip. Have a great time on vacation!

Today’s roads are made up of a lot of whites, blacks, silvers, grays and some reds. According to Business Insider, white takes the lead with most popular car color followed by black cars and then silver and gray. Whether it be that we feel the need to go conservative when it’s finally time to make a decision or we’re just too impatient to order the color we want and wait for it to come in or if we’re already concerned about the resale price of a not so modern color, we all have our reasons. These reasons though is what drives a great majority of us to play it safe with the sober colored vehicles. You may not realize it, but the main reason for the color car we buy is our personality type. According to Bankrate.com: White- clean and elegant. The main driving force behind this concept is Apple’s marketing of their products that portray a smooth white color combined with some metal and chrome accents. Black - power. Between the black tie events and the little black dresses, it is very common to see these powerful people (or their drivers) making their way through town in a sleek, stylish, black luxury car. Silver - innovation. Those of us intrigued by new technology and stainless steel appliances are going to be drawn to a silver car. These people are generally perceived as high class. Gray - under the radar. Although gray is very similar to solver, it isn’t as flashy. It’s more traditional, it’s more mature, perfect for someone who doesn’t like the spotlight. Red - ambitious. Someone with a red car might be full of confidence and full of fun, willing to make risks. Blue - practical. Blue cars can signify a happy, truthful, stable person. Blue projects stability. Experts say to expect an increase of them over the next couple of years. Brown - safe. Brown represents a calmer, more peaceful place. These people generally don’t care about what’s trending but instead care about what will be most valuable. Their though process is more about what car they can drive for a long time instead of what is in season. Yellow/Gold - happy. When people think yellow, they think big round smiley face. This color emits joy and a positive attitude. Green - nature. Became more popular during the launch of the go-green campaigns but have since been decreasing in sales. Orange - value. Those who are more worried about saving for the future and less about pampering themselves in the present might be more attracted to orange. These studies are not 100% accurate but many of you might find yourself relating to the color of your car and the personality described for it. This may also help you in deciding what color you want your next car to be. Remember, for a stress-free car buying experience - choose the model that fits your needs first and test drive it, then find the dealership that treats you with the best deal and then choose from their inventory.

It’s hard to think clearly after being in an accident. As you may know, there are many steps to take but most are forgotten or ignored due to priority of checking to make sure everyone is okay. It may not seem important in the moment but later on when it comes to accident reports, insurance and claims, these steps are crucial in saving you time and money. As you may not know, there is an app for that! There are a variety of free apps to choose from that will help walk you through the process of creating hazard signals, collecting information needed and taking pictures to document. Many of the apps even offer an option to call for local help, some even go as far as to offer the form for the accident report. ConsumerReports.org took some time to research 2 of the more popular apps and reveal their findings: The two apps share many similarities as they both have an option to pre-load things like emergency contact information, personal data, vehicle make and model as well as insurance information. Each of them also have the ability to keep track of where you are based on your GPS location. They will both provide you with a list of steps to take and the order in which you should take them. Their accident report screens are easy to fill out as they provide you with the fields you need to complete about your vehicle and the other drivers involved. Car Accident Report takes it a step further by accessing your iPhone camera to take pictures of the scene and include them in the report. Users of Help I Crashed My Car benefit from this app by receiving links to nearby auto body shops and rental car companies. While they both provide a great amount of useful information, sometimes it’s too much information. The overwhelming amount of information makes for a smaller font and much more time spent reading. With the adrenaline pumping through your veins and the million of other things consuming you at that very moment, it’s going to make it nearly impossible for you to read. We would suggest reading through all of it now so you have an idea of what to expect. A more recent study done by a law group in the California/Nevada area suggests Accident Wizard. While this free app provides many of the same things as all the other ones provide, this one is like on-star in that it provides on-the-scene, live assistance to those involved in a car accident. The live assistance is free to anyone on this app. Accident Wizard also allows users to scan their license, insurance card and vehicle registration to store in case it is needed in the future. it can even send your information to the other drivers of the crash with just one touch. As we hope you never have to use any of these apps, we encourage you to download one of them, upload all your necessary information to it and read up on it so you can be better prepared.