3 Rules for Keeping a Safe Distance

Have you heard of thinking in threes while driving? Follow these quick tips on keeping your distance from other drivers!

You should stay…

                3 Seconds behind the vehicle in front of you for speeds of 35-55mph

                6 seconds behind the vehicle in front of you for speeds above 55mph or in rain

                9 seconds behind the vehicle in front of you in low visibility conditions.

Top Summer Maintenance Tips

With summer around the corner, here are the top tips to keep your car in the best condition during these hotter months.

Check your tires – Tire pressure changes with the rise of temperature.  An under or over-inflated tire can be extremely dangerous, especially in hotter weather.

Check your fluid levels – Coolant, transmission, power steering, brakes.

Check hoses and belts – Check for cracks or loose connections, this is important for keeping your engine cool. 

Check the coolant and radiator – Summer time is tougher on cooling systems.  You should flush your coolant at least every two years.  Coolant should be added as a 50/50 mixture of antifreeze and water.

Replace your windshield wipers – With summer comes rain and thunderstorms.  Make sure your wipers are in good working condition.

Pet Travel Tips for the Car

Here are some tips to keep your pet safe on your next road trip

Start healthy – Make sure your pet is not sick before traveling.  A checkup at the vet can prevent any discomfort on the road.

Plan for restraint – Use a travel crate, pet seat belt, car seat, or other form of barrier to keep your pet safe.  Make sure you familiarize them with the restraint before traveling so that they are comfortable.

Pack enough essentials – Especially food.  Their particular brand of food might not be available or sold at your destination.  Don’t forget water bowls, bedding, leashes, and their favorite toys.

Frequent stops – Don’t go too long between giving your pet exercise and bathroom breaks.  This is also a good time to make sure they stay hydrated.

5 Car Battery Tips and Tricks

Is your battery corroding? Need enough juice to make it to the dealership? Check out these tips.

 

Aspirin – The acid combines with the battery’s sulfuric acid to produce a charge.

Baking Soda – Eliminates corrosive buildup, mix with warm water.

Epsom Salt – Dissolve in warm water and add to each cell if it’s starting to sound as if it 

won’t turn over.

Petroleum Jelly – Helps prevent corrosion and help keep the battery cranking through the cold winters.

Soda – The acidic properties help eliminate corrosion.  Just be sure to remove the sticky residue with a wet sponge.

Great Maintenance Tip of the Day

Hi friends! We're here to provide you with your car maintenance tip of the day. 

Buy gas at reputable service stations

Ask whether the gas you buy is filtered at the pump and if the station has a policy about changing the pump filters regularly. If you get a song and dance, find another gas station. Some stations don’t have pump filters, making you more vulnerable to dirty gasoline. Other stations may not mix alcohol and fuel properly — or worse, water down their product. Find a station you trust and stick to it.

 

The Who-What-Why of Daylight Savings Time

Well, it’s that time of the year again. We reach for our phones and check what time it is because we never remember if we have to go forward or backward in time or we do not know if we gain or lost an hour of sleep. In this blog post, we have decided to explain Daylight Saving Time aka DST. We agree that it tends to be quite confusing and some of us do not actually know why we observe DST in some states.

What is DST?
Daylight Saving Time (DST) is the practice of turning the clock ahead as warmer weather approaches and back as it becomes colder again so that people will have one more hour of daylight in the afternoon and evening during the warmer season of the year. The U.S. Energy Policy Act of 2005 changed to Daylight Saving Time, extending it three weeks earlier in the spring and one week later in the fall. Starting March 11, 2007 clocks spring ahead an hour on the second Sunday in March and fall back on the first Sunday in November.

Why do we shift our clocks?
The assumption behind the change was that it would decrease the need for artificial light sources and, as a result, save energy. Allowing us to use more of sunlight during the day and less use of the artificial lighting in our homes and workplaces allow us to save energy.

Who doesn’t do DST?
The state of Arizona and Hawaii do not observe the time change due to the fact that the sunlight is enough for them throughout the day that no change is required to really save energy.

Best Apps to Help You Save Time on Your Commutes

We all know that Traffic Technology is evolving at the speed of light. Also, the moment you drive off the lot you might find out that some insane new technology just came out! For this reason, we’ve compiled the best apps you can download to help you save time on your work commute. It will help you avoid, accidents, traffic, police stops and radars or basically anything that will prevent you from getting home fast.




Garmin Street Pilot 

This expensive software with photo- realistic mapping and right-now prompts, which worked well even when you are cruising through rural areas without a cell signal. That detail and immediacy are the result of maps that live locally on your smartphone, not in the cloud. Another distinguishing feature is Garmin's awesome mass-transit database. The app can route you to the nearest parking garage and it will drop a virtual pin on the map to help you remember your car's location. It even knows the bus schedule and will help you find the nearest Bus/Metro/Ferry stop. Live traffic information is provided by Here and augmented by crowd sourced data.





Waze

Recently purchased by Google we still need to say, it's not Google Maps with added directions. The maps and routings are built by 50 million worldwide users. Traffic data in the U.S. is based entirely on the progress of "wazers" currently driving. These generous volunteers provide information on speed traps, accidents, and other road events, which fellow wazers confirm and update. But Waze needs an internet connection; lose service and most of the info is unavailable. The police and traffic warnings are highly reliable, and points-of-interest searches are augmented by larger databases such as Google, Yelp, and Foursquare. This is basically a game-changer in the Traffic Apps of the world.




Scout

This product comes from mapping- and traffic-service provider Telenav, so they know what they are talking about.In case you don’t know who they are, they are the inventors of In-Car Mapping systems. We like the layers of information that come with directions, such as weather forecasts. Two other features stand out: OnMyWay texts contacts that you're en route, and the Meet Up function lets multiple users see the others' progress in real time. Scout also acts as an event guide, with listings of movie times, concerts, and so on. In-app upgrades include speed traps and speed cameras. Like Waze, Scout's prompts may be a beat slower than those of Garmin's StreetPilot, but, hey—it's free! We also love that you can choose a monster truck as the icon for your car. Basically, this is a very contender! Don’t miss out on it.




Trapster 

Directions and traffic alerts aren't the only ways to improve your commute—apps can also help you steer clear of cops, drive green, or find a charge. For those averse to tickets and fines, Trapster uses voice prompts to flag red-light and speed cameras along with known speed traps. Data is crowd sourced from 20 million users, and accuracy is solid.