askthemercedesmechanic.com

With a stagnant economy, prices on everything rising, the constant threat of high gas prices, and recent sales and state tax hikes on our automobiles has made it important to find ways to save anywhere we can. An easy area to save lots of money is auto insurance. It is amazing that regardless of the commercials like Geico and Progressive telling people to shop for the best rate that 90 percent or more never do. You need to make sure you are getting the best deal possible. You work too hard to through easy money away and make insurance representatives and executives rich. Recent research shows that you can save hundreds or even thousands of dollars just by making a few phone calls and shopping around a little bit. According to the Insurance Research Council the average savings by shopping around auto insurance carriers is $847. That’s $847 per year and that is a lot of money to throw away. To start saving first call your auto insurance company and ask if you are getting all the discounts you qualify for. Most will happily oblige you on this as they want to keep their customers happy. Discounts could be for things like no accidents, age, sex, driving history, college student, even good grades (I believe just Allstate has this one right now). Discounts of 2 percent to 5 percent may not seem like much but could easily become several hundred dollars or more per year really fast. The biggest deduction is usually a clean, accident free driving record and that can be from 4 to 20 percent or more per year in savings. Just be careful as it only takes 1 infraction to nullify most or all of these discounts.Check and see if you have any points on your license. If you do not remember if you have had a recent (last 4 years in most cases except DUI), just call your auto insurance agency. They can tell you exactly how many points, why or what the infraction was and what you can do to fix or reduce them. Many auto insurance agencies or companies sponsor safe driving classes if yours does not a simple call or visit to your local DMV will reveal many classes that can remove or lower points and reduce insurance costs or award deductions. Many of these classes are only a one day affair for 4 to 5 hours. Some are free and some may cost $20 to around $50. Regardless, in what they will save you in one year alone it is well worth it.And the big one, shop around. You need to do this every few years even if your current auto insurer is the best, they may not be in two years. Rates are constantly changing along with crash test and theft recovery numbers. It also depends on where you live. If you have recently moved or are planning a move then shop your auto insurance. The same auto insurance company may have totally different rates (and probably does) in different cities. Even if you have had some recent infractions or just received one, shop your rate. You need to do this as you will save big money. The average savings for all insured persons that shop their rate is $847. The average for those that don’t is obviously a big fat zero. Definitely include Progressive and Geico in your shopping as they will usually have the lowest rates and best service. I have personally found Progressive to have the lowest rates in

However, it’s not as simple as just fitting any old tow bar to your vehicle. Which type of trailer hitch you should use depends on the towing capacity of your vehicle and it would be unsafe to attempt to haul a heavier load. It is important to refer to your vehicle owner’s manual for information before fitting a towing hitch.Then you must make sure you use the correct class of trailer hitch for the weight you intend to pull. Class 1 hitches can haul up to 2,000lbs, where as at the other end of the scale, Class 5 hitches can have a weight capacity of over 10,000lbs.As a general guide, ball hitches are one of the most common types of trailer hitch and can easily be fitted to cars, SUVs and trucks. They have a ball that attaches to the socket of the trailer and are able to haul a variety of loads. Heavy duty trailer hitches are required for heavier loads, such as hauling horse boxes, agricultural or industrial equipment. Gooseneck hitches use a ball mount, but are mounted on a central position on the underside of a truckbed, for increased stability and more even weight distribution. They are not suitable for use on cars.Fifth wheel hitches are also fastened to the truckbed. This type of trailer hitch is mounted on a steel plate and becomes a permanent feature of the truckbed. Some fifth wheel trailer hitches require sliders for safer and smoother maneuvers. They have varying weight capacities, depending on the vehicle.If you buy a trailer hitch, providing it is compatible with your vehicle and with a suitable towing capacity, it should be easy to install in around 30 minutes and be of lots of use for many years to come.

The rush you get from dirt biking is like nothing else I had experienced until my friend took me along to his favorite weekend pursuit and brought his dirt bikes along, one for me to try.There is something quite primeval about riding such a raw, mechanical beast like a dirt bike and from the first time I revved mine up I knew I would take to it like a duck to water and dirt bikes would become a great hobby of mine, even surpassing some of my other pass times which get the heart thumping like rock climbing and white water rafting.Luckily my friend was experienced with dirt bikes and also a qualified instructor, therefore learning the safety and skills necessary to pick the sport up wasn’t much of an issue – after a few hours I was riding and taking those hills on my dirt bike, and I fell in love. The noise, the rough terrain and the trickery involved in actually staying on your foot and not falling off makes dirt bikes a real fun-packed challenge.I would highly advise people to look at dirt-biking as a potential new leisure pursuit as it is in fact on the rise in most countries – I believe this is down to the stress we all feel from working in those cubicles in our office jobs. Man needs a release and dirt-biking fills the role perfectly.If you are thinking about dirt-biking you should seek out of a professional tutor to get you up to speed on safety and how to handle a dirt bike, and then you’re set and ready to go. Most good motorbike shops will be able to give you a list of courses on dirt bike training and they aren’t that costly, and neither are the bikes themselves.

Auto insurance is a term used for insuring your trucks, cars and other vehicles. It is a cover for your vehicles against any damage that is caused due to accidents. Having car insurance has become more of a necessity that comes along with purchasing your car. There is heavy competition in the market, with a number of insurance companies blooming. It is thus important to get a fast auto insurance quote and choose a policy that suits your requirement.An insurance policy can cover the insured party, the vehicle as well as the third party involved. There are different insurance policies against theft, damage, or accident damages. It is now compulsory to go for an policy before driving on public roads. It has been studied that men have a higher proportion of accidents than women drivers do. Some companies even given a women discount, considering the fact that women in general are safer with cars. Teenagers with no driving record are charged higher car premiums. They are offered better discounts after they undertake specialized courses for training. Premiums get lower at the age of 25. Senior people are eligible for retirement discounts, expecting less driving from them.Coverage AvailableLiability CoverageIt is a cover given for damages that you become liable to pay for, in case of an accident. If you damage the road pavement, the insurance company pays for the damages. You are also eligible to pay for any other damage related to the accident. The liability coverage can be a combined single limit policy or a split limit policy·         Combined Single Limit- This covers a combination of property damage, liability coverage, and bodily injury, all under one limit. If you hit against another car and injure the driver, this coverage pays for the damages done to the other car as well as injury claims for the driver and the passenger. ·         Split Limits- This splits the cover into property damage coverage and bodily injury coverage. With the above example, you will have separate coverage payments made for the property damage and for the bodily injury cover. The coverage is split into two payments. CollisionThis coverage provides cover for the insured vehicle’s damage, if involved in an accident. It gives payments to repair the damages or cash value is given, if the damage is irreparable.ComprehensiveThis takes care of cover for the damaged vehicle for incidents, which is not considered collision like theft, fire, weather impact etc.You need to compare and get a fast auto insurance quote that is a great way to save money. You can even search online for the car insurance quotes, which are fast, and a convenient way to shop for rates.

Finally, every science fiction writer’s dream had come true – a fuel-efficient car. Why, then, isn’t a hybrid car in every driver’s garage? The answer to that is simple, and it has to do with human nature.You may think that since hybrid cars and other more fuel-efficient models have failed to become omnipresent, something strange is going on. Some people assumed that the technology would be in wide use once it was available because it made sense for the environment. These cars were good for us. Therefore, we would use them, right? Beets are good for us too, but think about how many people eat fries and cheeseburgers instead of beets. Fast food is more pleasant and it’s more convenient. When you keep this idea in mind, the reason why gasoline-powered vehicles are still so popular begins to make sense.Manufacturers have a particular infrastructure set up to produce a certain type of vehicle. To change this infrastructure would mean refurbishing factories, which would take a lot of money. In addition, manufacturers aren’t sure that, if they did refurbish their factory, the models they made would sell well. No businessperson in his right mind throws away successful products to rely on something untried in the marketplace. For another thing, the consumer has a particular way of behaving. He understands gasoline-powered cars. Perhaps he doesn’t want to spend the time researching how to fuel and care for a hybrid car. With every new bit of technology, there is a learning curve. Like the fast-food eater who doesn’t want to take the time to prepare beets and make them tasty, the consumer simply wants to do what is easiest and most convenient, not to mention what is the least expensive.There is another thing that needs to be taken into consideration as well – why people purchase cars to begin with. Human nature is not always straightforward. People do not purchase cars to get from Point A to Point B. If that were the case, we would all be driving basic-model cars. We don’t drive these cars, though, because we purchase cars to gain prestige. There is no prestige to be had from driving a hybrid. There is plenty of prestige to be had from driving a Mustang, however. There is most likely a place for hybrid automobiles in our future, but change will be slow. Automobile makers will have to be sure the cars will sell. That means people will have to start demanding the hybrid cars already on the market, and they won’t do that until the cars become easy to deal with, cheap and prestigious. Hybrid cars aren’t in everyone’s driveways because they don’t satisfy those three core needs that human beings associate with vehicles. Until that happens, hybrids will stay on the periphery of the market.

With the high price of gas these days, many consumers have decided that owning and driving an electric vehicle will be more efficient and cheaper to run over the long haul. If you decided to build your own, there are plenty of resources available to help you understand and work through the process of converting a gas vehicle into an electric vehicle.If you are one of those unfortunate souls that have to commute a long ways back and forth to work, an electric vehicle may not suit your needs because on average these vehicles run from 30 to 70 miles each day. Other factors such as the driving conditions, the weight of the vehicle and the quality of the battery will determine how many miles you can drive. You also have to consider how you will be recharging the batteries. If you live in your own home with a garage, then charging the batteries is not a problem. However, if you live in an apartment complex with no garage, it maybe a little tougher to charge the batteries every night.Some Important ConsiderationsFirst thing you have to consider is what type of car you want to use to build your own electric vehicle. Smaller cars would be more ideal, but bigger cars can be used as well. You should also consider using a car that has a manual four speed or five speed transmission, since standards are more efficient than automatics. Interestingly, since electric motors are so deficient, shifting gears up and down constantly won’t happen as much as it does in a gas fueled engine.When building your own, there will be additional weight added to your car. That weight can be anywhere from 200 to 500 extra pounds. Just make sure that the car you picked can handle the extra weight with the modifications and isn’t completely ridiculous and is well within reason.A few more things to keep in mind that are optional when building your electric vehicle is the power steering and air-conditioning. The power steering would definitely require another motor to make the power steering pump work. The air conditioning will put a huge drain on the batteries, but you can hookup the air conditioning using a special magnet system to work the compressor.In the end, there are plenty of resources out there to help you do the job right when building your own electric vehicle. As time passes and with the rising cost of fuel, these and hybrids will become more and more popular. Chances are the price of gas is going to continue to rise and for a lot of people, gas is almost not affordable. So going ahead and take a look at building your own; you may be surprised at how easy it is to convert your gas guzzler into and electric vehicle. The money you will save on fuel will pay for the cost of the conversion in very short order and there will be less pollution in the air too.

Along with cold weather and snow, winter brings it’s own particular challenges to maintaining and improving gas mileage. There are a few specific things you need to do in the winter to maintain good fuel economy.Make sure your oil is the proper grade for winter. As temperatures drop it causes the oil in your car to become thicker. If it gets too thick it will not be able to properly lubricate your engine. Not only will an engine that isn’t properly lubricated use more gas but it can also sustain considerable damage. It could even cause damage to the point where the engine would need to be replaced.Check your owners manual to determine the proper grade of oil for the winter. Generally cold temperatures require a thinner oil then you would use during warm weather. If you are using a multi-grade oil it might work just fine in the winter. Again, check your manual or ask your car dealer what the proper grade for your car is.If you are a do-it-your-self person, you can get oil and good advice from any automotive product store. They will be able to help you determine the best oil for your car. If you prefer not to do it yourself, the 10 minute oil change stores are a good place to have it done. They are much less expensive than a dealer and they make it completely painless, drive your car in wait 10 minutes and then you are on your way. A second problem that cold weather brings is a change in your tire pressure. In cold weather the tire pressure drops. If your tires were at the proper pressure at 70 degrees, those same tires will be 5 to 10 pounds too low at 20 degrees and will be 7 to 14 pounds too low at zero degrees.The most common gas robbing condition drivers face is low tire pressure. It is estimated that at least 25 per cent of all cars on the road have at least one tire that is too low. At 5 to 10 pounds under inflated you will be decreasing your miles per gallon by 2 to 4 percent.Every 10-degree drop in ambient temperature results in a one to two pound reduction in tire pressure. If you set your pressures in November, they’ll be too low in February.To correct and prevent the problem of low tire pressure you need to check the tire pressure on a regular basis. Check them every month at a minimum. Also check them when there is a significant fall in temperatures. It is a good idea to get a tire gauge and keep it in your glove compartment. That way you can easily check your tires whenever needed. You won’t have to make that extra trip to the gas station. There are many types available. I would suggest one with a dial or digital so that you can read it easily. Any store that carries automotive parts will have them. These are just two of the gas robbing situations that winter causes. You can prevent the loss of fuel economy and in fact improve gas mileage by being aware of these conditions and take steps to avoid them.

You can get an excellent deal on a used car with a lot of life left in it if you’re willing to put some effort into the search process and take a few precautions along the way. One of the main keys to getting an excellent deal on a used car is to buy from a party more interested in getting rid of or replacing the used car than interested in making a profit off it. Most of the time getting an excellent deal on a used car means not buying from a used car dealer, except when the dealer has had a particular car on the lot for a very long time.Tip #1: Consider Used Cars From Rental AgenciesA lot of people recommend not buying a used car from rental agencies. They believe people who rent cars treat them poorly. But, that may not be good advice. While renters have been known to treat rental cars poorly, it does not happen often. Further, rental agency used cars’ engines are usually maintained better than privately owned cars as they are put through constant maintenance during use.Tip #2: Look Online For Used CarsThe used cars that you see advertised in the newspaper are a small sample of the number of used cars available throughout the

There are many websites where you can list your car for sale and the internet allows you to reach a vast amount of potential customers looking for the perfect used car. The first step to take is to find the right place to advertise your vehicle for sale. You can do a search using one of the popular search engines and this will provide you with a huge list of sites for you to choose from on which to place your advertisement. Check them out and see what they offer along with what they charge. Site fees and terms and conditions do vary so take your time to look around. Some will offer to keep posting your advert for a flat fee until it is sold and of course this can save you a huge amount of money. Certain sites will post your advert to around 200 other sites for a one-off fee.Once you have made your choice then it takes just a few minutes to sign up for an account which will ask you for a few details. Most sites make the sign up process quick and easy.Of course when listing your car there is some preparation beforehand required. This however is only common sense. Make sure that you have prepared your car to its best advantage, give it a good clean inside and out to show it off to its best advantage. Get a good camera and take a lot of shots at different angles. Most websites will allow you to post up to five photos of your car and postings with lots of photos are likely to grab the most attention.Write a good description of your car and boast about its good points, such as it having one careful owner or low mileage or the fact that it has air conditioning. Think about what makes your car stand out from the rest and write it down.

What exactly is an Auto Consultant? For me, I know what it means, but for others it means something else.  A consultant is an Expert or Professional that gives advice, guidance, etc., so that one can achieve a result with the least amount of grief, all the while being proficient and effective. Funny thing, they don’t all operate the same in this sense.If you look at the hierarchy of the Auto Industry, there are a few positions. However, there is the retailer and the consumer, from the viewpoint as the consumer. As a dealer, the manufacturer is the wholesaler. That’s right, dealers buy the vehicles from the manufacturer. That’s why some of them get caught with their pants down at the end of the year and they have those blowout sales (mainly domestics). In terms of the manufacturer, everyone below is a customer.

I recently had some “conversations” with one of the Big 3 here in the States; and it was actually painful dealing with them, whereas a similar situation with BMW, which I’m not afraid to say was a pleasure. One, The red carpet treatment…the other a nightmare. Night and day. Incidentally, the client had bought four vehicles in a row from them, which makes it really off. I wonder why most of my recommendations are foreign?You are probably wondering how the two connect, the manufacturers and Auto Consulting. Very simply, will the manufacturer stand behind their product? Period. So, when I come across this type of situation it has to translate into confidence in the product and customer satisfaction/service goes a long way.As the reliability happens to be a staple in what people need and want in a vehicle there has to be some backing from the manufacturer.From my end, I have to see what the customer/client doesn’t see. We go over a 30 question questionnaire, but in my space, there are hundreds of questions I’m asking myself. As a result, they have a tailor fit vehicle.Sure, there are other Auto Consultants, but they may operate in different aspects of the heirachy or concentrate more so on the price. Not here. The right vehicle for the right person- for the right price.I’ll give you a great example. The Subaru STI…great product. One the best bang for your bucks. However, you will not get the frills, just the thrills. Sorry, I couldn’t resist. What they don’t realize with this particular vehicle, is that the tires have a treadwear of 140. What does that mean? Well simply, the lower the number (treadwear), the faster it will wear out. However, you will get the performance-that’s for sure. So, what does THAT mean? That means that you will be replacing your tires every 6 months, with that treadwear. You see, the car was designed with those tires to maximize the performance and it would be best to have those tires. The manufacturers spend millions in the fine tuning of the vehicle. So, what turns into being the “Best bang for the buck” seemingly might get struck. Further, those tires are not cheap. You can count on paying two times more, at least than an average performance tire. What’s the solution to this? Find the right combo. Maybe you spend a couple of grand more, but over the period of the car ownership you’ll save a lot more. Lotus Elise, similar situation. Great performance, if you are munchkin (you can’t be more that 5′9″ in that car and sit comfortably). In fact, I had to take off my shoe so that the gas pedal and brake didn’t hit. On a side note, the tread wear is 60, which means you’ll be changing your oil with your tires, every 3000 miles. Not cheap. And you never want to go into a driveway/parking lot wrong or hit a pot hole. Both will be very costly. Another factor with the STI(Subaru) -it’s all wheel drive AND Turbo. What does that mean in terms of insurance? Well, lets just say let’s hope Daddy has a trust fund. Solution, find something without the Turbo or the AWD. Again, on a long term basis you will save thousands and possibly get a nicer/upgraded car.Someone will undoubtedly send me an email telling me I’m wrong or off saying that they are amazing vehicles. Well, I’ll save you the trouble. They are both AMAZING vehicles, but they may be not for my clients.