Buying Parts Online with Credit Cards

Giving out your credit card information online is always daunting.  You can read all the payment policies and privacy policies in the world, but the discomfort is still there. The higher the price and the more technical the product is, the scary it gets. The last thing you’d want is to pay a lot of money on a technical product that does not work.  Pricey and technical is exactly what auto parts are.  Although paying with a credit card can seem suspicious, if you buy the right part from a legit company you can save a lot of money.

Before you ever provide credit card info, do a little research on the company you’re purchasing from.  Make sure they have those payment policies, and privacy policies stated clearly. Check out their online reviews.  See if they are a member of the Better Business Bureau.  You are about to give them a lot of valuable information about yourself. Thus, making sure you are dealing with a reputable company is very important.

Make sure you buy the right parts.  Online parts companies can only deliver the part that you order.  If you get the wrong part, odds are they are going to charge you a restocking fee when you send it back. You might first think this is unfair, but the company has to stop what they are doing and waste manpower and time to recheck your part back in, because of a mistake you made.  A restocking fee is an industry standard.  If you ever have a question about a part, feel free to call the company and talk to a sales rep.  If the company is legit, it should have a phone number clearly posted on the website.

If anything ends up going wrong, such as you receive the wrong part, or the part goes bad, then call the company.  They’re almost always willing to help you out, whether they replace it because it is under warranty or give you a deal on a new one.  I would never recommend that you do a charge back on your credit card.  A lot of times credit card users think that all they have to do is call the credit card company and cancel a transaction.  This may get the persons money back but what they do not know is that it is a red flag with their credit card company.  You only have so many charge backs before they cancel the credit card.

Another thing is that you need to make sure you have all your credit card information right.  If you put down the wrong billing information or type in the wrong credit card number, then the order may not get processed.  This could leave you with a broken car, wondering what happened to the part you ordered.

I know it seems a little scary to buy auto parts online but if you do it right you can save a lot of cash. A lot of times the parts are exactly the same that you would get from the mechanic, but much cheaper.   Purchasing parts online is growing extremely fast and I highly recommend it.

BMW M Diesels

If you live in the states you’re not going to have to worry about replacing a diesel injector or a diesel turbocharger for your new BMW M550d, because this car not going to be available for sale in the U.S.  Also not available is the other M Diesel cars that BMW just announced; the X5 M50d, and the X6 M50d. You can go ahead and add these vehicles to a long line of sweet rides available to rest of the world, but not available to us.

Ok… I have calmed down. I am no longer upset, and have realized that even if I had the opportunity to buy one of these, I couldn’t afford it anyways.  So, instead of whining about not having one of these great cars, let’s discuss what makes them so great. Each one has all-wheel drive and is powered by what BMW calls Performance Twin Turbo technology.  “Twin Turbo Technology,” Ha! These cars actually have three turbos.  Two smaller turbochargers deliver responsive power down low in the rpm range, and then there is a bigger turbo that adds top-end thrust. The engine is a 3.0-litre inline six, which has 381-hp.  The M-Diesels will all go from 0 to 62-mph in less than 5.4 seconds, and gas mileage will range from 36.7 to 44-mpg.

The cars also get the M treatment on the outside of the vehicles too.  This includes side mirrors and vent bars with a grey metallic finish.  The exhaust is highlighted with trapezoidal tips, there is high-gloss shadow line trim, and alloy wheels ranging from 19 to 20 inches.

No pricing was announced, and the vehicles will be debuted at the Geneva Motor show in March.

A Good Year at Ford

It’s been a good year for Ford. They did have to deal with some recalls involving wheel bearing hub assemblies on some sedans and rusting fuel tanks containing fuel pump assemblies on trucks. However, like other auto companies, Ford had a very strong year and will be giving out bonuses to their workers for the first time since the financial meltdown. Ford has gained steam this past year selling more than 2 million cars for the first time since 2007, and they show no signs of stopping with their completely remodeled 2013 lineup.

The Ford Escape, Fusion, Taurus and Focus will all show dramatic departures in styling from previous years in 2013. I’m really liking the 2013 Ford Fusion whose front-end (to me) resembles that of an Aston Martin. The Fusion will come not only in a gasoline-powered model, but in electric plug-in and hybrid versions as well. The Ford Escape, which has kept its boxy styling since it was introduced over ten years ago, will now resemble more of a cross-over with its new curves and smoother lines.

What might be the coolest part of future Ford automobiles is the technology that they will be equipped with. Ford’s MyFord Touch and SYNC system not only syncs all of your devices to the vehicle but takes it one step further with voice-activated commands. You will now be able to tell your car what song to play, have it read you your text messages, and also reply to those messages through voice commands. New safety features include inflatable rear safety belts and vehicle sensors used to monitor blinds spots and give collision warnings. You can simply set a cruise control speed and the distance you want to maintain from the vehicle in front of you, and the car will automatically slow down to avoid collisions. Other cool features include cap-less fuel tanks as well as the ability to control the color of dash and interior ambient lighting (blue, red, green, you name it!). Will 2012 be another great year for Ford?

Super Bowl Car Commercials

Cooling fans suck, radiator fans blow, and Super Bowl fans are known for loving commercials. A lot of times they are better than the actual game.  Whether they are funny like the Budweiser Frogs, sexy like the Cindy Crawford Pepsi spot, or a marketing masterpiece resembling the Apple 1984 commercial, they’re always entertaining.  The auto industry has always been a key player in Super Bowl ads and they will continue to be this year.

Volkswagen found a lot of success last year with a commercial staring a youngster dressed up like Darth Vader.  The commercial not only ranked high for the Super Bowl, but it also won some awards for best commercial of the year.  The company hopes to grow on this commercial’s success with another Star Wars themed spot.  In this year’s advertisement, VW ups the cuteness from a kid to puppies. Check out a teaser of the commercial CLICK HERE

Chevy also released one of their Super Bowl commercials.  It’s called “Chevy Happy Grad.”  The commercial is a humorous romp created by some miscommunication. Now, I can continue with pompous movie critic phrases such as “humorous romp,” or you can just watch the commercial CLICK HERE

Kia plans to air a sixty second commercial, and I don’t know what it’s officially titled but it should be called, “A 12 Year Old Boy’s Dream.”  It features UFC Fighter Chuck Lidell, Victoria’s Secret Model Adriana Lima, and Motley Crue.  It’s too bad 12 year olds can’t drive cars, and it is also a shame that I cannot figure out how to put those two little dots over the “o” and “u” in “Motley Crue.”

Other car companies that are going to buy commercial time on the Super Bowl are Honda, Acura, Hyundai, and Toyota.  And,  for the very first time in the history of the company, Lexus is also going to run an ad during the game,

Bio-ethanol May not Be The Biggest Hit But it Packs a Punch

Over the past few years car companies have been pushing the use of alternative fuels for vehicles. Most of these have gone unnoticed, mainly due to the fact that they are less potent than gasoline.  The fuel pump and fuel pump assembly are able to handle Ethanol without issue and the engines can as well.

The facts about Ethanol are easily seen, while the fuel may not work well in normal engines but once a few key components are changed to work with ethanol…watch out! The main issue caused by the way ethanol ignites, new injector timing and ignition are the main issues. Companies like Honda or Toyota have not really tried to push this set up because the cost to the average consumer would be around $3000 and not many of us are just willing to drop that much coin.

The companies that have been able to take advantage of the ethanol change are companies like Ferrari or Koenigsegg. While most of us will never be able to afford anything that these companies off…especially Koenigsegg who mainly makes cars that cost close to a million dollars, the technology is there for the taking.  New technology is always showcased in the more expensive cars and trickles down to the rest of us, usually in the Mercedes S class. Ferrari recently released the FF which is a 4WD that makes 650HP but tune it for Ethanol and that number jumps to around 875HP. That’s right no forced induction just a good tune. Koenigsegg tuned the Agera R from 927HP up to 1,100HP just by using Ethanol and there are many other examples of this fuel doing great things. Maybe sooner than later it will become main stream…oh and did I mention that it is a renewable fuel source.

Nissan Scratch Shield iPhone Case

I know how to repair steering parts and I know how to diagnose a failed turbocharger, but I cannot figure out how to keep my iPhone case scratch free.  Yes, the whole reason why you buy a case is so that it gets the scratches instead of the phone, but I am a car guy so any type of scratches bothers me.  Well, it looks like it annoyed some other, more important car guys too.  Nissan has come out with an iPhone case that heals itself from scratches.

The Japanese car company says this case is the first one to have “self-healing technology.” At first this sounded unbelievable, like something out of a science fiction movie.  This is a phone case, not an alligator’s tail. Nevertheless, as I read more about the case it sounded more plausible.

The iPhone case’s outer layer of paint is the same scratch proof paint Nissan uses on some of their vehicles.  The active ingredient that makes this stuff magical is called polyrotaxane.  (It’s word like polyrotaxane that make me happy to be a writer and not a reporter. I couldn’t pronounce that correctly if you gave me a hundred tries.) When the case gets dinged the chemicals flexible structure reacts by reverting back to its original state.  This action makes it look like the case is healing itself.   Small scratches can take less than an hour to heal, while deeper cuts can take up to a week.

The case is currently on a trial run in Europe.  If tests go well and demand is high, Nissan will bring the iPhone case to market.  I am not sure why they are spending all this money on testing these cases.  They could have just given my 3 year old nephew one of these things for a day and found out its true power.   

"You May Not Run Out of Gas" - Youngstown, OH

In light of news that Massachusetts has been charging $275 to fight a traffic ticket whether you win or lose, I was wondering what other ridiculous regulations were going on out there in the car world. I’m not talking about requirements that ensure your fuel injectors and turbochargers are in good working condition. I’m talking about some ridiculous, yet very real, traffic regulations such as it being illegal for a driver in Alabama to be blindfolded while operating a vehicle. This is obviously so dangerous that it should be illegal, but I wonder what happened down the line that this had to become an actual law.

Some of these laws are so old and just haven’t yet been abolished, while others are due to not-so-smart people doing some not-so-smart things. In California, no vehicle without a driver may exceed 60 mph. Also, women may not drive in a house coat. In Arcadia, CA peacocks have the right of way to cross any street, and in Temecula ducks have the right of way at all times. In San Diego, it is illegal to shoot jackrabbits from the back of a streetcar. Is your car getting dirty? Don’t go to Downey, CA where it is illegal to wash your car in the street.

Head over to the east coast and you’ll find some pretty crazy regulations as well. In Hartford, CT it is illegal to cross the street if you happen to be walking on your hands. In Marietta, GA it is illegal to spit from a car or bus, but you can from a truck! In Tennessee, driving is NOT to be done while asleep. In Virginia Beach, if you are drunk and not driving, but the driver is drunk as well, you can BOTH receive a DUI. What if you happen to hit a pedestrian in Sarasota, FL? Be prepared to pay the $78 fine.

While many of these regulations were made many, many years ago and just haven’t been abolished, they are all still active laws in their respective states. While I don’t think that a woman would be ticketed for driving a car without a man waving a flag in front of it (yes, this is still “illegal” in Louisiana), it is interesting to read some of these outdated traffic laws. And back to Massachusetts charging $275 to fight a ticket. They say these fees are necessary as thousands of people appeal tickets which are causing rising administrative costs. Sounds to me like pressure to just pay your ticket whether it was deserved or not, and I don’t think you should be charged to defend yourself in court.