In my experience, buying a new car is like preparing to have a baby – everyone who’s gone through it wants to offer you advice, even though every person’s experience is bound to be different. Not that these people aren’t well-meaning, they absolutely are, it’s just that buying a car is a unique undertaking, and is strongly influenced by your situation. Some of this advice might be on-point, and some may be a little misguided, although it’s hard to discern. For my last post as an official CarWoo! blogger, I’ll leave you with a little hard-earned wisdom about when not to pay attention to what people are telling you. Continue reading
Author Archives: Chloe
Car Pet Peeves
Pet peeves – we’ve all got them. And since we tend to spend more than just a little bit of time in our cars and driving, it stands to reason that our list of car and driving pet peeves would be long and exhaustive. It doesn’t help that we often spend a lot of time fighting traffic or commuter-type jam ups, so our extra cranky dispositions might lead us to find more to be annoyed about. Vicious cycle, that. Outlined below are 5 of the most common car and driving pet peeves that I hear from people, but feel free to add yours to the list in the comments below. Continue reading
Best Sports Cars for Women
It’s like sports cars were made for women, designed especially with us in mind. There’s the looks, the speed, and the power that we love in a pair of running shoes, a job, or a handbag – why wouldn’t we demand the same of our cars? A sports car used to come across as a status symbol reserved strictly for men, but more women are finding lots to love about these high-performance machines. And to that end, for all of you ladies out there contemplating your next sports car purchase, I give you a little insight into my best sports cars for women list. Continue reading
Best Cars for the Beach
In my opinion, the best cars for the beach are the ones that a) you can actually drive on the beach or b) that you look really fly in driving to the beach. If you’ve ever been a college senior in America, then chances are you fantasized about a beach road trip in a red convertible. I don’t know if it’s the remnants of Rebel Without A Cause left on our collective psyche, but flossin’ on a beach simply requires a sweet ride. So, here are a couple of options I’ve pulled together to contend for best cars for the beach, but you’re definitely going to have to do some field research and decide for yourself. Continue reading
Car Maintenance Tips for a Good Resale Value
We spend a heck of a lot of time in our cars every day. This is America after all, and cars are an essential part of our identities, both as a country and individuals. One thing we might not give so much thought to on a daily basis is what we can do to maintain our cars in order to get the best resale value. A lot of people might think that age and mileage are the most important factors in reselling a car at a good price, but the condition of the ride holds just as much weight. The good news is, that’s totally based on your level of responsibility, and there are plenty of car maintenance tips that will help you get the most cash once you turn those keys over to some other lucky driver. Continue reading
Driving Mistakes That Teenagers Make
A teenager’s life is full of mistakes (remember your Sophomore yearbook photo?), and unfortunately, once they get behind the wheel of a car, that includes driving mistakes. There’s something about the combination of inexperience and the burning desire to put pedal to metal that makes for accident-prone youth on the road. You may have some preconceived notions about what makes our mobile newbies so hazardous, but you’ll be surprised to find out that the driving mistakes they make are not the ones you might have expected. Continue reading
Professional Vs. Car Maintenance at Home – Which To Choose
Lots of people consider themselves to be the gurus of car maintenance at home; these are the people that you see, tucked under their car on the weekends. At-home car whisperers, if you will – those that eschew the repair shop for almost every issue under the sun. “Tinkering” is how they colloquially refer to it, if I’m not mistaken, and it’s practically an epidemic with a particular set of those that perform their car maintenance at home. A DIY approach to taking care of your car isn’t a bad thing – it can really save you some money if you do it properly. That last part is crucial, so pay attention to this list of repairs to attempt, and ones to save for the pros. Continue reading
Best Car Date Ideas
Ever since the 1950’s, when cars became the symbol of teenage freedom, date ideas revolving around cars have been popular, generally evolving to suit the generation. Back in the 50’s, it was the “gee whiz” wholesome date of driving to a burger stand and having milkshakes delivered to the car by a waitress in roller skates. While a trip to Sonic might not have the same appeal to couples these days, there are still plenty of clever date ideas centered around the greatest of American possessions: the car. Continue reading
How to Prevent Driving Tired
Driving tired is one of those collective bad habits – we’ve all done it at least one or two times in our driving lives, despite the fact that our Driver’s Ed class explicitly warned us not to. Each year around 100,000 auto accidents are caused by sleepy drivers, so it’s best to arm yourself with techniques to avoid driving tired. Of course, the number one obvious rule is to not drive at all if you’ve, say, pulled an all-nighter up with the baby or studying for your comps. But, barring that, here are a few tips for taking the road with safety in mind. Continue reading
Car News at SXSW Interactive
As some of you may know, I live in Austin, TX, and because South by Southwest is in my back yard every year, I make an effort to go and check out all of the festivities. When 19,000 extra people descend upon your city, it’s wise to go and see what the fuss is about. This year I attended SXSW Interactive, and noticed that there were a few interesting schemes and developments in the world of cars and driving, so I thought I’d do a quick summary of what I saw for you. Continue reading
Finding a Car Washer for Busy Folks (ie – EVERYONE!)
You know what takes up a lot of your time? Life. You know what shouldn’t take up a lot of your time? Finding a car washer. You’ve probably cast a weary eye to your back windshield where someone’s written “wash me” with their finger and realized that it’s time for a good scrub down and detailing. After all, the way your car looks reflects back on you, right?
If you don’t have a Saturday afternoon to do all that spraying and hosing yourself, never fear – you have options! Here are a couple of ways that you can make sure your ride doesn’t look like it belongs to the Dust Bowl family from Grapes of Wrath. Continue reading