Car Insurance

I live in Detroit: one of the cities with the highest rates of auto theft in the nation. Here are some tips from an expert on how to avoid getting your car (or any of the contents of your car) stolen.

Be a Smart Parker

Remember to always park your car in well-light areas. Having your car in a high traffic area is also a good idea. You might even consider getting assigned parking at a lot with an attendant if you are concerned about your car.

Car Alarm Fallacies

Car alarms might sound like a great safety feature, but they might just be one more of the bells and whistles. You can put a sticker on your car that says that it has a car alarm without actually including the car alarm. You will save money this way. You will also save yourself (and others) headaches when people accidentally brush against your car.

Lock it Up

Almost half of all car thefts are performed when an owner leaves the car unlocked. This could mean that they forget to lock their car once, or it could also mean that they leave their car running while they just run in to do an errand. Turn your car off, take your keys, and lock your car whenever you leave it. It is also better for the environment if you turn your car off instead of idling it. You should also consider locking your garage door if you are using a garage. This brings me to another point: always park in a garage when possible.

Make it Less Attractive

Take away all of your belongings with you when you leave your car. This means that you should move any bags to the trunk, and make sure that there are no valuable visible from outside the car. If you can remove your car stereo, place it in the glove compartment or a similar out-of-sight place. Even something that seems as harmless as a glasses case could cause a thief to choose your car instead of another car, so be cautious when you leave your car.

Invest in some Safety

Having a steering wheel lock (such as the club) might not make it that much more difficult for a thief to steal your car, but it might also make them think twice. You don’t even have to lock your steering wheel lock if you find it too cumbersome to use.

Vehicle Identification Numbers are numbers that are etched into cars at various places, including on the windows and major parts. Thieves will be know where to look for vehicle identification numbers, and might avoid stealing a car with VIN etching because the parts will be harder to use, and the car will be easier for police to trace.

Ignition-kill switches and fuel-kill switches are other anti-theft devices that you can consider for you car.

Sometimes getting anti-theft devices can lower your insurance premiums, and so will be a good investment for the future. You might even end up saving money and gaining a peace of mind with them!

Think of the tow-away

Sometimes cars are not stolen by hotwiring, but rather, by being towed away. If you park with your tires facing the curb, it will make it more difficult for a thief to tow your car away. Using your emergency brake will also prevent being towed.

Who would have thought that buying a car you’ve never seen from a seller you’ve never met would ever take off? Well it certainly has thanks to the internet, and now more and more of us are purchasing our new cars online. But, how do you pick a winner and not a banger? The following tips from Desperateseller.co.uk the UK’s premier car selling and buying website will show you what you should do when you shopping for a car online.

Preparation Is Key. Before you start shopping, you first need to make two vital decisions: how much do you want to spend and what kind of car are you looking for? This is where the internet can really help. Several sites, including Desperateseller.co.uk have buyer’s guides that can help you compare one model to another within your budget. You can also read comprehensive reviews and ratings from leading car magazines and consumers who drive your potential future car every day.

As helpful as the internet is, there is one thing it can’t offer, and that’s first hand experience of how a particular model handles. So as soon as you know which car you are interested in, go down to your local dealer and take it for a test drive.

Know Your Price. Once you’ve selected the car you want, read all the reviews and taken your future car out for a test drive, it’s time to research prices. If it’s a used car you are thinking about buying, first check the Glass’s guide for the car’s current value, by visiting www.glass.co.uk.

To determine the price you are willing to pay for your future car, you need to find out the minimum price being offered to private sellers on online sites, the maximum price from retail dealers and the going rate from an average of the prices asked in the classifieds.

What you also need to include in your budget for your new car is the cost of insurance. Sites such as Money Supermarket (www.moneysupermarket.co.uk) can search all leading insurers by filling in one form to provide you with a quote for insurance.

Start Searching. Looking for your new car online as opposed to the local newspaper, gives you the opportunity to search and compare prices for thousands of cars in your area and scanning multiple pictures can also help you to get an idea of the car’s overall condition.

Desperateseller.co.uk is a great place to start your search. You can search using a range of different options, such as new or used car, private seller or dealer, price, engine size, automatic or manual and so on. All searches require your postcode, so that every listing returned includes the distance in miles from your location to the seller.

We recommend limiting your search to vehicles within 20 or 30 miles of your home. This way you can easily test-drive them and get them inspected by a mechanic you trust.

The Test Drive. Once you’ve selected a potential vehicle to buy, a test-drive is a must! Try and arrange the test drive at the seller’s home, this should give you a better feel for the car by visiting the seller’s home and talking to their family. Also, never be swayed by shining looks: a quick valet and a new set of number plates will make any old banger catch the eye.

Insist on viewing the full service history from new to the most recent service and check that all the paperwork is in order. And, if it is more than a couple of years old pay for a full independent mechanical inspection.

Buying The Car. Before money changes hands, make sure you’re up to speed on the legal aspects of buying and selling by reading the AA’s advice for private car sales, by visiting www.theaa.com

You also need to get an independent check from a company such as HPI www.hpicheck.com which checks the records to make sure the car hasn’t been written off, stolen or has outstanding finance.

By arming yourself with used car knowledge and know-how, beginning with these tips above, you’ll greatly minimise your risk of buying a vehicle that will be more of a costly headache than a joy ride.

The fast food or bank drive through (or any other drive through you can think of) has been one of the most convenient “innovations” in the shopping experience. Unfortunately, the drive through will also reduce your vehicle’s overall gas mileage and fuel economy.

Stop using drive throughs. Park your vehicle instead.

It’s certainly nice to never leave your car and have everything handed to you, but that convenience is probably going to cost you money. When your vehicle just sits and idles, or moves just a couple of feet every minute or so, your fuel economy drops to a whopping 0 miles per gallon (wow, what a surprise).

According to Fueleconomy.gov, an average vehicle will waste 17% of its gas by simply sitting in idle. That means for every 10 gallons you purchase, 1.7 gallons are used to keep the engine running while you sit in park.

At today’s average gas price of $2.38, that’s the same thing as giving away $4 for every 10 gallons you put in your car.

So, instead of sitting in the drive through for three or four minutes, wasting gas and money, park your car and go into the restaurant, bank or store.

Obviously there are going to be times when you need to use the drive through, like when you’re traveling with children or you’re in a rush, but the less you use drive throughs, the more gas and money you’re going to save.

Needing spares is a 24/7 business. With people working on their cars before they go to work and then again after they get home the usual shop hours of business don’t apply. Weekends and bank holidays are also prime times for repairs and keen amateur mechanics will work long into the night under arc lamps in garages and lock-ups across the country.

That’s why it’s true to say 24/7 car spares are in demand, because no one wants to wait until business hours to hunt for parts when they can get at them via the internet round the clock. There’s nothing more frustrating than being in the middle of a repair and having to stop, with the engine in pieces to wait for a scrap yard to open.

Supplying spares 247 makes sense when you consider the legions of mechanics working on their vehicles night and day. Although it may not make young modders very popular with the neighbours it’s often after-hours that the bulk of the work gets done. 24/7 you can bet that there is someone fitting a car spare somewhere in this country. Car breakers don’t generally work 24/7 so it’s no wonder that there’s an online car parts supplier demand.

The 24 hours a day 7 days a week nature of the internet has been used by many businesses to service their customers and car spares is no different. Where there’s a 247 demand there are 247 suppliers of spares and it’s all thanks to the internet.

Anytime, anywhere is a customer expectation that we’ve grown to accept and suppliers who are accessible round the clock seems like a normality now where just a few short years ago it would have been unthinkable.

Searching online at any time of the day for specialist parts allows mechanics and modders to pursue their obsessions long after the normal working day has finished and in that respect it’s one more way that the internet has improved life for ordinary people.

To be able to request a spare twenty-four-seven while the rest of the world sleeps might not be much of a bonus to most people, but to those individuals who live and breathe their cars nothing could be more natural. Obsessions don’t stop when it gets dark and thanks to the internet now car modders don’t have to either.

Attaching a trailer hitch to your car, van or SUV enables you to tow all kinds of loads. 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.