If you caught yourself in a car collision accident, what are the things you need to do? Here is a list of those things to make sure that you will make it back safely and minimize the damage that the accident caused.
Things happen fast on the road (unless you are stuck in traffic). And one mistake can cost a huge accident that might cost you your car and even your life. Because of that, we need to be good defensive drivers to prevent accidents.
Frankly, tuning up your car can be a bit tricky and letting a shop do it for you can be confusing. For one, you might not know that the things that are tweaked and checked during a car tune-up might vary depending on the shop or mechanic. And due to that, the price of getting your car checked and maintained can wildly differ from shop to shop.
If you feel like doing it yourself, we will be happy to provide you with some tips below.
Battery Scrubbing
To ensure that your battery will not be too strained whenever you driver during a hot day or leaving it under the sun for quite some time, it is best that you clean your battery terminals from time to time.
An easy way to do that is to get some baking soda, and sprinkle a small amount on the terminals. Get some water, and spray it on the terminals, which are covered with baking soda. Leave it for an hour. After that, wipe the mixture with a wet sponge.
Fluid Levels
Of course, never forget to check the fluid levels in your car, especially its coolant or antifreeze. Make sure that your car has decent amount to avoid your engine from overheating. As a precaution, never check your coolant tank when the engine is still hot.
Tire Pressure
We are sure that you frequently check your tires’ pressure levels. You do not need to check it just before you drive to office. Check it when you will driving for a long time.
In this part, be meticulous. Always estimate the number of passengers you have and the weight of the items or cargo that you have in your car whenever you drive. Correct the tire pressure according to those considerations. Aside from helping you prevent an accident and prolong the lifespan of your car tires, making sure that your tire pressure is always optimal can help you save fuel and improve the fuel economy of your car.
Wiper Blade Check
One of the most ignored part of a car is the wiper blade. Always take into heart that you should replace your wiper’s blades every 6 to 12 months. However, if you find your wiper blades are dry or they are squeaking and providing you poor vision of the road, be sure to replace them immediately.
Selling a car is not that difficult. But without proper guidance, it can be hellish. If you do not want that to be that way, listen to us. This article might even let you land the perfect deal that you want.
1. Do Not Just Wait for a Buyer
Be a bit aggressive. You should start with placing advertisements for your car. Thankfully, there are multiple channels that will allow you to advertise free of charge.
One of those channels is your social media account. Just post your ad on your wall, and definitely, your friends will notice it fast. On the other hand, you can join social media groups that focus on selling and buying cars. Join a group like that, and post an ad about your car.
2. Be Informational When Selling Your Car
Do not just skimp on important details. Tell your car’s price upfront. You do not want to waste your and a potential buyer’s time by letting him ask for the price. Also, be sure to include any feature or information that can make your car a great buy for anyone.
3. Setting the Right Price
In this part, it is best that you observe other car sellers and their ads. Check the current markup price second hand cars. And be sure to check cars for sale that are similar to your car. On the other hand, you can browse around used car dealers and see how much they sell the same brand and model of your car to their customers.
4. Make Your Car Appealing
Before posting that ad, be sure to take a flattering picture of your car. Send it to a car wash first, and if you have enough cash to spare, replace anything that could be replaced in it. To make sure that buyers cannot easily devalue the price of your car, send it to a car shop and get it tuned up.
5. Always Be Ready for Meet-ups
The next person that messages you can be your car’s future owner. Be sure to be ready to meet them and show your car. If you do not have a lot of time in your hands, be sure to indicate the place, date, and time you can be available to entertain your potential buyers.
6. Expect Some Haggling to Happen
You cannot really expect people to buy your car impromptu. Even if you price your car lower than the average, buyers will still definitely haggle. Do note that some of them are not really actually looking for a car that they will use. Some of them are buy and sell people. They want to buy cars at the lowest price possible, and sell them at a higher amount.
Looking for a car audio system and needs it to be expensive? The best answer for that worry is to get a used one. If you are just into getting some FM blaring off your car, then that will be the perfect answer. But if you have other considerations other than that, then you might need to read everything here.
In case you are into good quality sounds, you might think that used car audio system might not be right of your alley. Unfortunately, you could be wrong. First of all, a new system does not guarantee some good sounds. And if you are truly nitpicky, you must buy some expensive audio system stuff. But that will defeat the purpose of saving up some cash.
If you were convinced that used audio system is the way to go, then read on.
Before you even look for one, please consider these things. First, you need to check for the audio systems that will match your car. Not all systems will fit into your car — remember that.
Second, you must choose between buying from a used item shop or an individual seller. Used item shops’ prices can be quite a bit high. But the advantage here is that some of them offer refunds. You can also freely shop the make and models that you want to get.
On the other hand, getting your system from an individual seller can be tricky, but can be rewarding — if you play your cards right. You can bargain with some of them, and in some cases, perform trades to lessen the amount that you need to give.
However, the drawback is that most of them do not allow refunds. Although, a few might be okay with it, but expect that they will need some compensations for the trouble. So, be sure that you are getting the right thing that you want.
The best resource people that you can ask to know what kind of audio system will fit in your car are audio specialists and car salespeople. Just ask them what will work in your car, and they will be able to provide you with information even if they do not check your car personally. Of course, for best results, you need to show them your car.
In addition, make sure that you do not buy from people that will not let you test the equipment. Most sellers nowadays are honest, but if you are in bad luck, you might stumble upon a fraud.
Getting a used audio system, or any other car part, can be a bit complex. But it will be assured that you will be rewarded for your efforts. However, if you cannot go through all that trouble, then go ahead and settle for a new one, which is a bit better if you value warranties a lot.
Want to avoid poor car performance or nasty expensive car repair? Well, you better perform these simple car checks and maintenance steps to ensure your car and engine are always healthy.
Change Oil
One should never forget to change oil. Without changing your oil, your engine will be prone to overheat due to the lack of lubrication that old and used oil provide. If you keep on using your car without changing your oil, the result will be a permanently damaged engine.
The frequency of changing oil primarily depends on the brand or make of your car (engine). Also, never forget to change your oil filter every now and then.
Maintaining Your Engine’s Cooling System
The oil is not the only thing that keeps your engine cool. Your engine has a dedicated cooling system to prevent it from overheating. The system is composed of the coolant, water pump, water, thermostat, and radiator.
Always check your engine’s temp whenever you drive around, especially during summer. If the engine’s temp rise faster than normal, you might want to get it check, or perform simple checks on your radiator and coolant.
Clean Your Air Filter
Aside from the cooling system, air flow keeps your engine from heating up too much. However, air does not easily flow inside your engine. It must go through an air filter first.
This air filter collects dust and dirt that may enter your engine. And it becomes too dirty, air will become more scarce in your engine. Consider cleaning it once and a while. However, if the dirt in it becomes too tough to remove, do not hesitate to replace it.
Check for Leaks
When you are doing your routine check in your engine, be sure to look for leakage. Two things that you do not want to leak in there are oil and antifreeze. Prioritize checking the tubes within your engine. Those tubes are the common hotspots for leakage.
Aside from using your eyes, you can use your nose to detect leakage. Both oil and antifreeze are pungent enough to easily catch your nose’s attention. If you smell something fuzzy or weird, make sure to be more meticulous in inspecting your engine.
In your daily drives, it is natural to come across issues like engine noise, leaks, electrical issues, air conditioning or heater malfunction, brake pulsation, transmission problems, and plenty of others. However, there is no point in fretting in getting a technician to get your car fixed in a jiffy. If you are worried about the cost, do not. Many technicians and repair shops, such as Eddystone Auto Collision, that offer cheaper automotive repair fees.
But if you really dread to spend some money in getting your car fixed, below are some easy ideas that can let you save money and prevent your car from becoming a repair shop regular.
Act Early
Get your car patched up before it encounters a problem. With a little know-how in exploring within your car’s innards, you can immediately prevent engine troubles, transmission problems, and AC issues. And with heightened senses, you can immediately feel, see, hear, and even smell a car engine trouble or issue before you get stranded in the middle of traffic.
Be a Car Diagnostician
There is no use in acting early or detecting possible cause of problems if you have no idea what the problem is. Get to know your car more and learn some car science. Aside from helping you to easily fix your car before a serious problem happens, it can learn you identify what to fix when you bring your car to a tech.
Let’s face it. Some technicians and shops take advantage of a customer’s ignorance on what the problem is in his car. And it often leaves the customer to expensive car repair fee, which caused by misdiagnosis and unnecessary repairs.
Get to Know How Much Each Part of Your Costs and if They Are Fair Priced
The scariest thing that might happen during a car repair is a parts replacement. All is good if the car is still under warranty or it is a recent model. The biggest expense that might happen is that when the parts of the car have become as rare as an old Chinese coin. And people can take advantage of you if you have no idea if the parts you are getting is fair priced since some might claim that the part you need is already a rare occurrence in the parts market.
Recycle
You do not need to buy new parts for your car. You can actually get some spare parts from junk shops. They are cheaper, and might be reliable. Take note of the word might. Before you deal and work with recycled parts, especially if you are going to get them from eBay, make sure that they will actually work on your car.
DIY Repair for Minor Problems
You can easily fix minor scratches and dents. And most of the time, you do not need to perform a paint job. Car scratch gel and sprays are available, and you can use them to apply a fast fix on minor scratches.
Your car’s life does not always give you provide clean rides; humps and bumps are but natural occurrences along the way. And due to those, car issues or automotive accidents are generally inevitable.
And unfortunately, most of them will require major automotive repairs. Due to this fact, it pays to be knowledgeable about the cost of car repairs today. Just in case one will put in the spot, and your pocket is already in deep trouble.
Look for Inexpensive Mechanics and Shops
When asking for a car restoration, keep in mind these few things to ensure that you are in control of the repair negotiation against the mechanic you are going to hire.
- Know the specific defect of your car. Perform some research and ask different drivers. In the event you’re not so sure about the problems you found, you can inquire from an auto mechanic to confirm your suspected trouble. Just ask, don’t pay.
- Survey the prices of at least three mechanics or car shops to find the cheapest. It is a tiring task, but it’s worth the savings you will get.
- When you have finally chosen the one you will hire, ask about the details about the repairs and the amount it will cost. Be aware that some outlets impose fees for just checking out your car and giving you a quote. Find one that does not. Ask your friends or relatives if they know a place or someone that you can deal with.
- You can also surf the web to search for software that gives an ordinary estimate for numerous automobile repair works. However, know that these are solely guides. The prices will vary depending on your car’s make and model.
Cost management is crucial, particularly in case you’re coping with a serious restore or if the cost is considerably large. That is especially true if lots of your car’s parts aren’t stock parts or your car is customized.
Do It Yourself
To avoid wasting on the cost of automobile repairs, you can opt to do some car tinkering on your own. For easy or customary repairs, such as changing oil pump or alternator or altering oil, you can easily learn to do them by watching free online demos or asking your friends how to do them. Your car’s manual can also be helpful on teaching you how to do basic repair and maintenance.
On the other hand, be wary of potential issues within your car. If you sense, odor, or hear something uncommon or defective in your car when you are driving it, attend to it promptly to avoid a bigger problem.
Lastly, you can consider getting or extending your car’s warranty for you to save more, especially if you know that your car or you have a history of getting into accidents.
Lowering the cost of automobile repairs and upkeep is possible. Just follow the above-mentioned suggestions and you will certainly be saved not only from automotive restore and maintenance prices but as well as from stress. With all these, you can add miles to your everyday peaceful journey and enjoy your car more.
After a long time, your car’s tint will peel off, which is disgustingly ugly if you ask us. It would be better for you to remove or scrape it off, just to give your car some saving grace. Of course, the best course of action is letting us do that job for you. However, your budget might be tight this month, but it doesn’t mean that you should just let your car be like that.
What we’re saying is that you can fix that yourself. Though, be informed that that is not a job for people with poor dexterity. One wrong move and you might scratch your window so deep that air can pass through it. It’s an exaggeration, yes; however, we’ve seen a lot of cases of DIY fails.
Anyway, the materials you need are: a clean rag, a single edge razor, and a spray cleaner. Solvents can work, too, but make sure that you use protective garments. Also, make sure that you choose a solvent that is gentle to your car window material and paint if you go with the solvent route. You just need to remove the adhesive on the tint, not the window itself.
Do note that your car tint is just a film that sticks on your car’s windows. It’s not paint. Don’t even try to use a paint stripper.
Moving forward, use your razor to get the corner of the tint to come off. After that, the next step is to gently pull the film away from the window.
Don’t completely remove the tint yet. When you are a few steps away for detaching it from the window, spray some cleaner or solvent on the window. Once that’s done, put the film back to the window, and let it sit there for 15 to 20 minutes. Rinse and repeat until all the adhesive and remaining tint is still on the window.
After all that, use your rag to wipe the residues of the cleaner, solvent, and tint on the glass. Then you’re done! To replace that tint, just go to your local car shop and just follow the instructions on the product. Basically, you just need to stick that new film, and your car will be good as new.
Incidents like car crash can be very tragic, which is even worse if there are injuries involved. To find the best auto body collision repair center to fix your car can be tricky. To help you have an easier discovery of a trusted and with most excellent car expert, here are some factors for you to consider:
- Consider the Word-of-Mouth. A company recommended by someone you know just implies their proven satisfying customer service.
- Cost-effectiveness of their work. It is impossible to repair a car in a very low cost when the value calls for a major job to accomplish. It does not matter if your car needs a major collision repair service, auto frame straightening, paint less dent removal, or quick minor damage repair, a good and trusted company will let the customer be acquainted with the real cost that his car requires.
- Top workmanship. The best auto body collision repair centre can revamp the collision damage of your car in a safer condition. Every part of the car must be restored back to its much better condition possible.
Above all else, run through a few local shops that provide with major or minor repairs before your car requires a big work.