All Posts Tagged With: "automobile"

If you’re like most of us, driving in traffic is probably high on your “worst places to be” list, am I right?

Of course I am … if you look at most freeways these days, you’d think you were on a freaking Indy 500 racetrack! However, there are three excellent reasons to break away from the pack of unsafe, aggressive drivers who are polluting them. First, when you drive like this, you put yourself and everyone around you in extreme danger. Second, driving aggressively is extremely stressful (your blood pressure goes way up, your grip on the wheel tightens, your eyes become strained, and your thoughts are spinning wildly out of control). Finally, you end up saving no time at all in getting where you want to go … this is the truth, so what’s the point?! Continued

I used to be a New Yorker (not a rude one) and was once taught a valuable lesson from a cab driver who goes by the name Donny.

While on the subject of how he keeps his cab (it was not company-owned) running in tip-top shape he told me, “Maintenance is about either paying for it now or paying for it later. Not conducting proper preventive maintenance has a huge impact because it is very cheap, relatively, to fix something early on with your own two hands (as opposed to taking it to a garage). If you break down on the road, it will usually cost you at least triple the repair cost at these highway bandit shops they’ll tow it to.”

“But, the focus should be on where to spend maintenance money,” he said, “because you can go broke by over-maintaining your automobile as well, so you’ll have to determine the key areas on the vehicle you need to maintain. Pay special attention to your brakes, followed by the tires, axle’s alignment, air and fluid filtration, the cooling system, batteries, transmission linkages, and all chassis and body fasteners.” I didn’t know what all this meant at the time; today, I broke down on the highway, and found out the hard way!

A few rules of thumb for preventative maintenance, you’ll need to stay on top of, are listed below (abide by them, and learn from my costly mistake): Continued

I’m taking a little trip to the West Coast (of Florida that is, which is only an hour’s flight from my pad) next weekend for a little fishing with the guys!

Your old penny-pinching buddy (that’s me, I hope) isn’t going to drive there either (even though it would be much cheaper … I must be going insane)! That’s right I’m hopping a flight over, because I just got a great deal on my tickets (thanks to my one guy [see above] and his sweet job in the travel industry). So anyways, I’ve just spent the last couple of hours trying to book everything and I know better than to get the hotel/car rental package, because that’s a pure crock of s$%t that most people are still falling for (important note: you should be getting these two services separately if you want to save).

Being ripped off is a common occurrence in this day and age of customer service, and I think it stems from companies not caring about the ones who keep them in business anymore! First off, they continue to pay rude people minimum wage salaries (this is a deadly combo in itself) and then they carry on the tradition of lying about what they can and can’t do to solve any problems that you might run across while you’re dealing with their lousy disservice. This is why most travelers still operate under the delusion that car rental rates are all the same, and that shopping around is just a huge waste of time and resources. But guess what … these rates DO vary greatly between companies and destinations!

Watch out for these little money makers (for the rental agency, not you) that everyone else seems to fall for when renting a car: Continued

The Hummer Company (LOL) is shutting its doors, due to low sales, and their target market isn’t happy about it!

Who drives these monstrous menaces to society, you ask? The answer:

1) Military personnel – who actually use them to keep their soldiers safe in the line of fire, while navigating over some very tough terrains (this is the truck’s intended purpose).

2) Middle aged posers – who 1) never served, 2) act like tough guys (but are really pansies), and/or 3) use this ugly thing as a status symbol, but are now changing to hybrids, because they’re the “it” thing to have now. These people change direction with a slight wind, I swear!

Thank you GM, you did us all a “solid”. Now keep this eyesore over in Iraq where it belongs!

BTW: Any merchandise with the Hummer logo on is “Made in China” garbage (stay away, this stuff is for the wannabes who can’t afford the truck).

You see a local dealer’s ad in the paper — a nice 2004 Ford Mustang with only 35,649 miles on it, for $7455.00. Unbelievable! The ad says that the vehicle has gone through a 40-point safety inspection and that they “wouldn’t sell a vehicle they didn’t believe in.” This offer seems too good to ignore, so off to the lot you go.

Two days after taking it home, this same “deal” dies in your driveway, and you find out (the hard way) that there is no warranty — you bought this puppy “as is”, remember? The transmission is toast, it’s going to cost you $3,600, and the “honest” dealer you bought this beauty from is giving you the run-around. Why shouldn’t he — he already has your money! An ugly lesson? Yes, but the following advice will help make sure this won’t happen again: Continued