Tags: car maintenance / finances

6 Ways You Are Prematurely Killing Your Car without Realizing

- Rabu, 16 Desember 2015 No Comments

2013 Dodge Journey. Image courtesy of Dodge.

For most people, a car is their second biggest investment. It is a reliable form of transportation that takes them anywhere they want. And yet, many treat their car as any other regular appliance. Sure, the elements can be tough on your car, but your bad habits might be making things worse than bad weather.

Not caring about your car until something is wrong is an awful habit. Since the cost of replacing certain parts can be extremely expensive, it is important to keep your car alive as long as possible, so you don’t end up back at the dealership. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you will be able to tell when something is wrong with your car. Sometimes, problems can go unnoticed, and coupled with bad maintenance and usage practices, you might be on the verge of prematurely killing your car.

Here are six ways you are hurting your car without realizing.

1.      You Never Check or Change Your Car’s Oil

According to AutoMD, cited by abcnews.com, one of the most common and most costly problems car owners face is related to oil. Although car engines today don’t burn oils as they used to, a lot of issues can still arise. By simply checking the oil level every couple of weeks, you will be able to catch most problems on time.

Oil level isn’t the only problem that is prematurely killing your car. As the old oil passes through your engine, it can have a huge impact on is integrity. If you don’t change your car’s oil regularly, your engine will wear out, and your vehicle will suffer.

2.       You Don’t Change Your Car’s Air Filter

Another common problem that can affect your car is neglecting to change your car’s air filter. Just like a person, a car needs to breathe to survive.

The air filter is your car’s respiratory system. If not enough clean air passes through, the performance will drop significantly. Since bad news loves company, guess what else will suffer damages if the airflow is restricted? The heart of the car itself, the engine, which will overheat and cost you a lot of money.

3.      You Don’t Change Your Car’s Fluids

Cars need proper maintenance to run smoothly. Neglecting to change the steering fluid, coolant or transmission fluid is a surefire way to get your car sick. Anyone can lift a hood and check the fluid levels, so you don’t have to schedule an appointment with a mechanic every other week. Doing this on a regular basis will keep your car running well and your maintenance costs down.

Consider adding a transmission oil filter and a bypass engine. They screen the fluid to 3 microns, and they do that using a small amount of oil. Also, a coolant filter prevents overheated parts, so do your car and yourself a favor and invest a bit in this.

Image courtesy of Lotus. 

4.      How About the Brake Pads?

If every time you hit the brakes, you hear a screeching noise, then that’s your car telling that it’s time to change your disc-brake pads. The pads that stay between the rotor and the metal caliper wear down at some point because of the friction. Neglecting to change the pads will not only affect the effectiveness of the brakes, but it will also damage the rotor. As a rule of thumb, you should change the brake pads every 20,000-25,000 miles.

5.      Your Shock Absorbers Are Shockingly Worn

Well, not so shockingly, but since they perform a lot of duties of great importance to your car’s suspension, handles and rides, you should expect them to wear fast. They basically “decide” how your car takes the corners regarding comfort and handling, and they’re the difference between comfort and discomfort when it comes to potholes and bumps. Your car suspension elements will wear extremely fast, especially if you live in a place with a cold climate.

Image courtesy of Chevrolet.

6.      Let Your Car Warm Up

Cold oil won’t get your car very far. You don’t go out in the cold immediately after you wake up, or do you? The same scenario applies to your car.

You just fire your engine. Let it purr for a while and warm up before going about your day to day business.

As you can see from this list, a large part of your car’s maintenance is preventative. Checking your car on a regular basis and going for scheduling regular professional check-ups is the perfect way to make sure that your car stays healthy.

Tags: car maintenance / finances / tips

How to Make Your Car Last

- Jumat, 18 September 2015 No Comments

Image courtesy of General Motors

Cars cost quite a lot of money, not only to buy but also to maintain. By maintaining your car properly, whether you do it through your car dealership, a private shop or at your home, you will save money by avoiding at least some major problems as well as extending the overall life of your car. By enjoying more years without car payments or large mechanical problems, you can stretch your money further. Of course there are some specific ways to accomplish this goal, so read on to find out what they are.

Keep your tires properly inflated. Too many car owners don't even think to check their tire pressure, or they think the tires need to be inflated to the pressure listed on the tires' sidewall. The vehicle manufacturer specifies how much air pressure should be in the tires and places the information on a sticker located in the driver's door jamb. Keeping your tires properly inflated will help the tread last longer. Also, underinflated tires make the engine and transmission on a car work harder, which places more strain on them and will cause them to fail sooner.

Maintain your car's battery and the ignition system by parking in your garage as much as possible in the winter. If you cannot park in a garage, install a battery insulation kit to keep your battery warm enough at all times. Hook the battery up to a tender regularly to ensure it keeps a full charge, which will take some strain off the rest of the ignition system. If you do have a garage, absolutely do not heat it since it will cause your car to rust.

You can make your brakes last longer by using them sparingly. Some drivers like to speed up quickly from a stop, then practically slam on their brakes when they reach a red light. Instead, coast toward red lights and touch your brakes as little as possible. You can even shift to a lower gear to slow your car down instead of riding the brakes.

Most people completely forget about their windshield wiper blades since they are small and relatively inexpensive. You can extend their life significantly just by cleaning them once a month with denatured alcohol. The cleanings not only remove debris buildup, they also keep the rubber more flexible so it holds closer to the glass, eliminating streaking that otherwise would appear.

Use synthetic oil. While synthetic oil isn't exactly cheap, it lasts significantly longer and provides better protection for your engine's internal parts. Synthetic oils are even designed to not break down in extreme temperatures, making them excellent for driving in hot weather or on long road trips.

Washing your car regularly is about more than just looks. As you wash your car, you remove corrosive agents from the paint, keeping it in better condition. Waxing your car then places a protective coating over the paint. A well-maintained paint job will prevent corrosion like rust from taking hold on a car, which if left unchecked can lead to its ultimate death. You can also protect the paint by keeping the car covered or in a garage as much as possible.

Tags: car maintenance / finances

Ways Car Owners Waste Money

- Senin, 24 Agustus 2015 No Comments

Owning a car is not only liberating but it can also be a source of extra expenses. While there are some costs associated with owning a car that you cannot avoid, such as registration fees or insurance premiums, there are other expenses you can minimize. Knowing the common ways car owners waste their money helps lower the cost of owning and driving your own car, increasing the amount of money you have in your savings or to pay other expenses.

Using a Higher Octane Fuel Than Recommended

You should never use a higher octane fuel than recommended by your car’s manufacturer. Using a higher grade of gasoline will not harm your car, it will hurt your pocketbook since it offers no performance benefit. Higher octane gases are formulated for cars with high compression ratios, typically luxury vehicles or vehicels with turbochargers or superchargers, to prevent engine knock. You are not giving your car a special treat by giving it higher octane fuel than needed, but you are giving the oil companies more of your hard-earned money.

Changing the Oil Too Often

You should always follow your car manufacturer’s recommendations for oil changes, as well as for the type of oil to put in your car’s engine. The manufacturer knows how long the oil can withstand the conditions in the engine before the oil begins to break down and not protect against engine wear as effectively. Some oil change stations or mechanic shops will place a sticker in your windshield that directs you to return for another oil change much sooner than the manufacturer recommends. Changing the oil more often is unnecessary and simply wastes money.

Neglecting the Tires

Everyone leads a busy life, and as a result your car’s tires are probably not always at the forefront of your mind. By starting a habit of maintaining your car’s tires you can save money in multiple ways. Newer cars might come with a tire pressure monitoring system that alerts you when your tires’ pressure drops too low, making maintenance easier. You should regularly check your car’s tire pressure, especially when the outside temperature changes drastically. Driving on underinflated tires lowers your car’s gas mileage. Low tire pressure also increases the distance your car needs to stop and negatively affects your car’s handling—which can cause you to get into an accident. Driving on your tires when they are underinflated also wears them out faster, which means you must buy tires more often. You should also follow your tire shop’s recommendations for balancing and rotation, which also protects against premature tire wear.

Paying to do Simple Maintenance

Cars require many other small maintenance jobs that need to be done on a regular basis. Every time you have a mechanic, lube shop or any other automotive professional perform maintenance on your vehicle you must pay for labor. When it comes to simple maintenance items, such as replacing your car’s windshield wiper blades or air filter, you can save a fair amount of money doing it yourself. Many shops mark up the price of the equipment they put on your car, increasing the cost of the maintenance on top of the labor. If a maintenance item is something you can easily do in less than 30 minutes, save yourself the money and do the maintenance yourself.

Tags: finances / fuel efficiency / green cars

Inexpensive Ways to Make Your Car Greener

- Senin, 20 Juli 2015 No Comments

Most people want to go green, whether it's for an intrinsic value of helping the environment or a desire to save money, or maybe a mixture of the two. While there are plenty of ways to decrease your environmental impact at home, there are also ways to make your car greener. Despite what some think, you don't have to purchase an expensive hybrid model to make this a reality. In fact, there are some incredibly inexpensive ways to improve the efficiency of any vehicle, from an aging compact coupe all the way to a large diesel pickup truck.

Every car has an air intake, which draws in fresh air for the engine to use in the combustion process. There is also a filter that is usually housed in a black plastic box in the engine bay. That filter becomes dirty over time as it captures dust and other particles in the air before they reach the engine. Just like in a vacuum, when the air filter becomes clogged with the debris, it starts to block the flow of the air, which in turn lowers the car's fuel efficiency. You should check your air filter every time the oil is changed. If it's dirty, either replace it or at least use a vacuum to clean the dust out.

Most car owners almost entirely ignore their tires until a mechanic tells them they need to be switched out. If you want to consume less fuel without even changing how you drive, pay closer attention to your tires and maintain them properly. Every vehicle has a recommended air pressure level for the front and rear tires. You can find that recommendation either in the owner's manual or in the driver's door jamb. Check the air pressure regularly, like when you fill up with fuel, and add air as needed. By keeping the tires inflated to that level, you ensure that the engine and transmission don't work harder than necessary, which conserves fuel. In addition, your tires will last longer, which also benefits the environment as fewer tires are needed.

You can make your car's battery last longer simply by insulating it against the cold temperatures of the winter. The simple fact is that car batteries are full of toxic chemicals that aren't the greatest for the environment, so anything you can do to cut down on how many batteries are in existence is a good thing. Most automotive stores sell insulation kits for batteries, and it's easy to apply.

Some people treat their car like a giant junk drawer, leaving all kinds of random items in the cargo area or even the backseat and never cleaning it out. All of those unnecessary things add weight to the car, and that added weight causes it to consume more fuel. At least every few weeks, you should go through your car and remove anything that doesn't need to be there, like tire chains in the summer or exercise equipment that has not been touched in weeks. This will also help your suspension last longer and improve your car's handling.

Tags: car repairs / finances / mechanics

Mechanic's Fees Aren't Always What You Think

- Rabu, 05 November 2014 No Comments

Photo courtesy of GM

A few weeks ago I was reading somewhere about a person who was complaining that his mechanic was charging for five hours of work when the customer found out the repair only took two and a half hours to complete. I wish I could remember where it was, but I honestly don't.

The point is that the commentary by the customer and the comments from different Internet users generated a spirited debate. Some people called such a practice unethical, while others pointed out that it's a method that is widely used.

Let me back up and provide a better explanation of how some mechanics figure out what to charge for different repairs. Different shops use different guides that state how many hours a repair on a certain vehicle should take, which when combined with the cost of the parts is how a price is calculated. For example, such a guide might state that replacing the alternator on a 2003 Honda Civic should take 1.5 hours to accomplish, so the shop takes its hourly cost of labor at $100 an hour and would figure that labor should cost $150. If the part is $200, the final repair bill would be for $350. Those are totally random numbers, so don't get hung up on that fact.

People say that's unethical because some mechanics can swap out an alternator in just an hour, so the final bill should only be $300. These same people are always trying to find a way to save a buck on their car, which is why they drive on tires until the steel belts are clickety clacketing away on the road.

The truth is that a flat rate fee schedule actually acts as a form or protection for the consumer. If your mechanic is an idiot and shears a bolt while trying to remove the alternator, you don't have to pay for the extra work it takes to complete the job. Or if the new guy is doing the swap and he needs 2 hours to complete it, you're not going to have to shell out an extra $50 just for that. I've done enough car repairs to know that sometimes you run into a novel situation fixing something that seems routine, which makes the job last longer.

I also know from my experience that the more you do a certain repair, the faster you get. You also do a better job with that repair. The flat rate system favors mechanics who are proficient, since they can complete work faster and essentially make more money. In other words, those mechanics are rewarded for being good at their job. Who doesn't want that?

So you see, there's nothing unethical about flat rate charges for work performed on your car. There is, however, an ethical quandary when it comes to attorneys who double-bill clients, but that's another post for a different blog.