Anyone who has ever owned a vehicle knows that repairs can get expensive. The problem is that it’s difficult (and sometimes impossible) to anticipate when something is going to go wrong, and unforeseen car expenses are never ideal. In order to reduce your long-term spending, it’s important to take steps to protect your vehicle now – while it’s still running properly. Here are 5 tips that will make owning a car less expensive and troublesome in the long run.

Check Your Manual for Maintenance Scheduling

That book in your glove box provides a great deal of helpful information. If you no longer have yours, you should be able to find a copy online. Check the manual to see how often you should perform basic maintenance such as changing the oil and coolant, rotating the tires, replacing the cabin air filters, and so on. You may even want to set a calendar reminder on your phone, or you could write down the dates on an actual calendar. When the time comes, don’t put off maintenance. The low cost now is preferable to the high cost of repairs later.

2. Find a Good Mechanic

Unless you’re well-versed in automotive repair, you’re going to have to get professional repairs done eventually. Going to an honest, skilled mechanic is one of the easiest ways to save a whole lot of money. Once you’ve found a good mechanic, don’t go elsewhere. Repeat business is naturally going to lead to better service and sometimes even better prices. To foster a positive relationship with your mechanic, Forbes recommends communicating effectively, dropping off a clean vehicle, and being accessible without micromanaging the project.

3. Have an Emergency Kit Prepared

Left untreated, a minor issue can turn into a bigger one. For example, if your car overheats and you keep driving it to get home, you risk further damaging your vehicle. CNN recommends packing a kit with the following essentials:

• Motor oil
• Jumper cables
• Coolant and de-icer fluid
• A flashlight with spare batteries
• Emergency flares
• Spare tire and jack
• First aid kit

4. Listen to Your Car

While some problems may go undetected until it’s too late, many can be avoided. If your car is making unusual sounds, have it checked. If a warning light comes on, have it checked. It may seem obvious, but many drivers ignore the problem until it’s too late. According to Cars.com, some symptoms that may be signs that your car needs a tune-up include low fuel economy, sluggish acceleration, and hard starting.

5. Use Quality Components

It’s always tempting to go for the cheapest replacement part available, but you’re going to pay for it eventually. At the same time, you don’t always have to pay a fortune for replacement parts either. These days, plenty of savvy shoppers are buying their own replacement parts online, rather than ordering directly through a mechanic.

Technicians at Enjuku Racing, a specialty automotive parts retailer, say that upgrading and maintaining a car is rarely an easy process, so it may be in your best interest to seek professional help when it comes to doing the actual labor. However, you may be able to find better parts online at the same cost (or less) than you would pay in-store.

Author Bio:

Frankie Little is a freelance writer from Denver, CO who lives for cars, racing, and aftermarket modifications. When he’s not writing about cars, driving them, or tinkering away in his garage, Frankie enjoys basketball, fitness, and bicycling.

Imagine you are driving and suddenly coming up to a heavy traffic jam. There is no way you could escape the traffic jam then. If only somebody had informed you about the impending traffic in advance, then you could have slowed down your car and sped away on an alternate route. Well, this is exactly what vehicle-to-vehicle technology does. The numerous cars on the roads are connected to each other through a wireless network and each car sends out the entire information about their drive.Put in simple words, vehicle-to-vehicle technology (V2V) is a system where cars are able to talk with each other while on move.V2V is also known as VANET which means Vehicular Ad Hoc Network.

How it works                           

Under this system, the cars will have a 360 degree communication range of 300 metres up to one kilometre. It would be more like a WI-FI network where every car will be able to send, capture and retransmit signals. All information will be exchanged including a vehicle’s position, and many more. It could also give out information regardingapproaching road conditions, routes, signals, parking space availability, accidents or breakdowns of any particular link. Such a system will surely avoid any accidents and also save lots of time.

Deterrents

Although V2V technology will offer loads of benefits and safety, there are a couple of issues that question the smooth working of the system.Firstly there are concerns about privacy. Secondly if the software system is hacked there could be major traffic jams on roads or cars would be bumping up into each other constantly. The signals can be affected by poor weather as well. Further V2V is going to be a costly affair as the system’s technical framework and management structure has to be hi-tech. It is also not clear as to who would bear this cost – the consumers, automobile manufacturers, transport department, state and local governments or others.

Implementation

Currently this system is nowhere in practice, but there are studies and research going on everywhere. Automobile manufacturers like BMW, Audi, Honda, General Motors, Volvo and Daimler are working hard to liven up this technology. The U.S. Department of Transportation has been conducting studies on this technology along with the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute in Ann Arbor for the past few years.And now United States is the only nation to approve V2V technology and has even plans to make it mandatory by 2017. India is still very far from this technology as our market here is just opening to the idea of hybrid and electric cars.

Author Bio:    http://autoportal.com