Car Blog

Americans love to get away during the summer. According to the federal Bureau of Transportation Statistics, the average long distance trip is 568 miles and 91 percent of summer travel is in personal vehicles.

With this in mind, The Hanover Insurance Group offered several tips to help summer travelers ensure they have the right insurance coverage and know what to do to get help quickly, in the event something happens during their trips.

“While many people remember to check their tires, belts, hoses, and fluids, insurance coverage is often overlooked,” said Mark Desrochers, president of The Hanover’s personal lines business. “However, drivers can face significant unexpected expenses that may ruin a long-awaited trip if they don’t have the right insurance coverage.”

With this in mind, The Hanover recommends that summer travelers consider “tuning-up” their insurance coverage to help minimize their risks on the road: Read the rest of this entry »

Scion announced that its first release series for the second generation tC sports coupe, the 2012 tC Release Series 7.0 (tC RS 7.0), will be available at dealer showrooms this summer.  Scion is also pleased to announce that the 2012 tC sports coupe will come standard with a new Pioneer audio system that features Bluetooth hands-free, Bluetooth streaming audio and HD Radio technology.

2012 tC Release Series 7.0

The 2012 tC Release Series 7.0 comes exclusively in High Voltage yellow exterior paint with contrasting black side view mirrors and black 18-inch alloy wheels.  The tC’s aggressive exterior are further stylized with a TRD body kit that includes front and rear lower valences and side skirts. The front bumper incorporates a honeycomb lower grille that is unique to this Release Series.

High Voltage yellow accents make their way into the tC’s interior with color-tuned black and yellow seat fabric, leather wrapped steering wheel with yellow stitching and an individually numbered badge.  The tC RS 7.0 features Smart Key, a convenient keyless entry system that unlocks the doors with a touch of the door handle.  The system also includes a red TRD push-button start allowing the car to be started with the push of a button.  The use of the Smart Key system is a first for Scion. Read the rest of this entry »

Chevrolet Cruze customers can rest easy knowing the engineers who developed their car packed a wide variety of advanced fuel-saving technologies under the hood.

One of those technologies is deceleration fuel cutoff (DFCO). While the vehicle is decelerating or slowing down, fuel is automatically shut off to the Cruze’s advanced Ecotec engine. When the driver accelerates, the fuel automatically begins flowing again and the vehicle accelerates as the driver commands. It’s a seamless process that the driver and passengers don’t notice.

The benefits: This technology increases fuel economy in the Cruze by up to 2 percent, depending on specific driving conditions and behavior. That means on a single tank of fuel, this technology contributes more than 17 miles of the overall range on the Cruze Eco model and more than 11 miles of range on the non-Eco Cruze models. It is an effective technology that helps keep money in a customer’s pocket when at the pump. Read the rest of this entry »

CarWoo! Employee Perks Programs Save Time and Money For Employers and Employees

CarWoo! has made their innovative solution available to employers and their employees through the CarWoo! Perks program.

According to CarWoo! CEO Tommy McClung, “Buying a car is the second largest and most stressful purchase people make.  At any point in time, 9% of the people in an office are buying a car.  We know that these people are spending about 20 business hours on this purchase, and, because buying a car is a social event, they are engaging their friends and colleagues.  A single employee buying a car costs his or her employer over $1,000 in lost time and productivity.  For every thousand employees, a company loses nearly $100,000 per year because of car purchases taking place.”

McClung continues, “With CarWoo!, because buyer anonymity is maintained, the phone calls and spam email are eliminated.  CarWoo! ensures multiple dealers are contacted and included in the buyers deal.  This ensures great market pricing and also gives the buyer the peace of mind that they are getting the best possible deal at any time.  Finally, CarWoo! makes it easy for the buyer or employee to comfortably conclude the transaction from their home and outside of business hours.  CarWoo! reduces the impact of car purchases to employers by over 90%.”

The CarWoo! Employee Perks programs make CarWoo! available to employers and their employees with three plan options: A) No cost to the employer and a 55% discount to the employee from the standard $49 per buyer cost; B) No cost to the employee, employer paid at a flat $3,500 per thousand employees per year; C) A charity focused option with either reduced discounts or increased employer costs, but with a significant contribution to the charity or cause of the employers choice.

CarWoo! will be at the Society of Human Resource Management Conference in Las Vegas June 26-28 (Booth #2924).

Ford will bold and thicken characters on many interior controls across its lineup beginning with the Ford Edge and Ford Explorer next year, making it easier for people of all ages, particularly aging Baby Boomers, to read display fonts.

Ford’s legibility study used Ford engineers for the younger subjects and local retirees for the older group. The study found that even small changes in the fonts used in interior graphics can make them easier and quicker for drivers of all ages to read and recognize.

The letters and numbers that form words and convey other information on the center stack display on the next-generation vehicles will be slightly thicker, with an approximately 40 percent wider stroke width.

Here is what the difference will look like, for example, on the air-conditioning control of the 2013 Explorer:

The key is to make the words and numbers a bit bolder, but not overwhelming, said Research Engineer Shannon O’Day. Even with high-tech gadgets and components, simpler often works better – and the key is to pay attention to the width and stroke of the text, allowing them to play off each other.

“If you choose wisely, the legibility of even relatively small text can be a comfortable reading experience,” she said. “That is especially helpful for drivers on the move.” Read the rest of this entry »

More than 40 percent of consumers view fuel economy as “extremely important” when considering a new vehicle purchase today, a new study finds.

What’s more, one third of consumers say fuel economy will have the “greatest impact” on their next vehicle purchase, and younger buyers place an even higher priority on miles per gallon.

“Customers are telling us clean and green vehicles matter most because they are good for people’s wallets and good for our planet,” said Mark Fields, Ford president of The Americas. “We hear what they are saying, and that is why Ford is absolutely committed to giving our customers vehicles with top fuel efficiency.”

The annual New Vehicle Customer Study has been conducted since the 1970s by Maritz Research, reaching approximately 200,000 consumers a year. The latest study, conducted in the first quarter, shows:

• 42 percent of people surveyed say fuel economy is “extremely important” in their decision to purchase new 2011 models – a 13.5 percent increase versus 10 years ago
• 37 percent indicated they expect fuel economy will have the “greatest impact” on their next new vehicle purchase
• Millennials place an even greater importance on fuel economy, with 46 percent saying fuel economy is “extremely important” in the new vehicle purchase decision – the greatest percentage among all age groups. Also, 41 percent say fuel economy will be the top factor in their next vehicle purchase Read the rest of this entry »