AM/FM Radio Preferred Listening Option For Most Drivers

Although in-car connectivity appears to be on the rise, a new study revealed that most drivers prefer to listen to the old fashioned AM/FM radio while on the road.

The study was conducted by the market research firm Ipsos in an effort to determine what audio options drivers prefer. Over 1,000 drivers over the age of 18 were asked to select all the audio options they listen to in the car. After looking at the responses, researchers uncovered:

  • 99 percent of people are comfortable with their current car’s audio set up.
  • More than 90 percent of respondents said they prefer physical buttons and controls built into the dashboard compared to an app on the car’s interface.
  • 84 percent of drivers said they listen to the radio in the car.
  • 64 percent of drivers said they listen to CD players.
  • 22 percent preferred Sirius/XM radio, 18 percent listened to Pandora radio, eight percent listened to iHeartRadio, seven percent listened to iHeartRadio and seven percent listened to Spotify.

Car Repair

Thomas Spinelli, vice president of Ipsos MediaCT, said it’s clear that “in spite of consumers’ love of apps and new digital products, they have a great attachment to their AM/FM radio and an overwhelming desire to keep its operation and function as it is. The in-car AM/FM radio is still a universally known audio platform ­ and its ease of use, convenience, features and familiarity continue to make it a top consumer choice for in-car audio.”

This study might not be music to Hyundai’s ears, as they recently announced that they plan to phase out CD players in favor of infotainment systems that rely on smartphones and bluetooth connectivity.

Related source: Radio World

Cheaper Gas Means More Car Crashes

While declining gas prices may help you save money at the pump, it also may increase your risk of being involved in an auto accident.

Guangqing Chi, an associate professor of sociology at South Dakota State University, said the likelihood of being involved in a car crash when gas prices drops is also impacted by your age. Chi led a multi-institutional team of researchers through an analysis of crash data from three states – Alabama, Minnesota and Mississippi – to determine how gas prices impact crash data. Researchers looked at monthly crash data in Alabama from 1999 to 2009, in Minnesota from 1998 to 2007 and in Mississippi from 2004 to 2012. For data compilation, researchers tracked:

  • Traffic fatalities
  • Traffic injuries
  • Car damage only accidents
  • Average price per gallon of gas

Gas Prices MN

When looking at the Minnesota data, 0.6 percent of crashes involved a fatality, 31 percent involved an injury and about 68 percent only involved property damage. After the total number of crashes were crossed with average gas price, researchers uncovered that a 20-cent drop in gas prices correlates to 15 more traffic fatalities per year. That said, the number of fatal accidents don’t jump overnight. According to Chi, the increase in crashes becomes evident after about nine months.

“It takes time for people to adjust their driving,” said Chi.

However, teens take a lot less time to adjust their driving habits based on gas prices.

“If gas drops 40 cents today, you will see the number of crashes for these drivers go up within a week,” added Chi.

Chi said that where a person is financially affects how often they drive, so when gas prices drop, teens and young adults can afford to drive more. As we add more cars to the commute, our likelihood for being involved in an accident increases. Conversely, when gas prices are higher, teens drive less, taking a good chunk of cars and a demographic at high risk to be involved in a car accident off the roads. Chi also believes that as gas prices increase, people drive less recklessly.

“[When price per gallon increases] we suspect that people drive more carefully,” Chi said.

Interestingly, a drop in gas prices didn’t have much impact on drivers between the ages of 25 and 34. Chi believes that people in this age range are typically in the first years of their careers and are in the early stages of family planning, so they are sticking to their commute patterns regardless of a dip or rise in gas prices.

“It’s a matter of priorities in life,” said Chi of people in this age range.

Related source: Star Tribune

Should Car Repair Shops Root For Visiting NFL Teams?

Although the NFL season is behind us, new data suggests that auto body shops may want to root for visiting teams next year, as it could boost business.

According to data from the Highway Loss Data Institute, auto repair shops see an uptick in calls in the days after a home NFL team loses. The data suggests that accident claim rates among insured cars near the losing team’s stadium increase nearly 10 percent when the home team falters.

NFL Car Crashes

To determine how NFL scores impact collision data, researchers examined accident claims for ZIP codes in which the 31 NFL stadiums are located, as well as adjacent ZIP codes. Interestingly, researchers weren’t looking at the location of the crash. Instead, they tracked the ZIP code in which the vehicle was garaged or stored. After looking at the data, researchers uncovered:

  • On the days when the home team won, collision claims were 3.2 percent higher than on days without a home game.
  • On days when the home team tied or lost, the claim rate was 9.4 percent higher than on days without a home game.
  • Only the increase in claim rates after a tie or loss were statistically significant.

Although the data doesn’t examine where the vehicle was located at the time of the accident, researchers postulate that the higher traffic volumes associated with home games is likely connected with the higher claim rates. Additionally, a loss could lead a driver to make poor decisions behind the wheel or to drive erratically out of frustration.

Researchers said the crash data was more statistically significant in some cities than in others.

“The game day effect was much more pronounced at some stadiums than at others,” says HLDI Vice President Matt Moore. “This may point to differences in policing and traffic management strategies, which could present opportunities for improvement.”

Despite the findings, we’ll continue to cheer for the Vikings! Just be sure you drive with caution in the hours after a loss next year.

Related sources: Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, AutoBlog

Why Wheel Balancing is Important

Wheel balancing is just another great service we provide at Affordable Auto Service. Wheel balancing is important because it keeps your tires, bearings and suspension system in order.

See, when a wheel is set onto the axle with a new tire, it needs to have its weight evenly distributed around the axle. Our wheel balance can measure exactly how the weight is distributed and can determine where any offsetting weights need to be placed.

Problems With Uneven Wheels

Significant problems can develop over time even if your wheels are only slightly out of balance, including:

  • Uneven pressure on your tires, which wears them out quicker and can leave you susceptible to blowout.
  • Increased wear and tear on your wheel bearings.
  • Extra stress on your car’s suspension, which can lead to a bumpier ride.

Wheel Balancing

The problem with imbalanced wheels is that they can be tough to detect. If your wheels are significantly out of balance, you’ll likely notice that your car seems to vibrate at faster speeds. If you believe there’s something wrong with your wheel balance, you’ll want to get it serviced immediately, which brings us to our next point.

When To Check Your Wheel Balance

Similar to oil changes, wheel balancing is something you should check on a regular basis. As we mentioned in a previous post, you’ll want to get in the habit of rotating your tires, and as a result, balancing your wheels, every other time you take your car in for an oil change, Typically you change your oil every 5,000 to 7,000 miles, so try to have your wheels balanced every 10,000 miles.

How to Keep Your Car Safe From Damaging Road Salt

Minnesotans wouldn’t be able to drive in the winter without road salt, but it’s not a perfect solution. Salt lowers water’s freezing point, keeping icy patches off the road, but the salty mixture also causes corrosion to your vehicle. Today, we’ve compiled a couple of tips to help ensure your car’s undercarriage remains corrosion free. But first, let’s look at why road salt breaks down your vehicle.

Damaging Salt

Salt damages your car’s undercarriage through an electrochemical reaction between iron and oxygen. Iron is compromised of excess electrons, while oxygen is always looking to take on extra electrons. When they combine, corrosion is inevitable.

Enter water and salt. Water helps speed up the chemical reaction by bringing more oxygen and carbon dioxide to the so called corrosion party. The problem is that water alone doesn’t speed up the process all that much. Pure water without many ions doesn’t function well as an electrolyte . When salt is added to the mix, the free floating ions in its composition add a lot of ions to the equation. These excess ions rapidly increase the corrosive reaction.

Carbon dioxide in the watery mix combines with the iron on your vehicle’s undercarriage to create iron hydroxide, a form of rust that separates itself from the original metal base. This process will continue until the corrosion is removed and the open metal is sealed with an anti-corrosive product. So let’s discuss how to protect your car from these destructive road salts.

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Prevention

Although winter is already in full swing, you can still prep your car to prevent any future corrosion. Typically this is preformed in late autumn, but if the weather warms up, consider these steps.

  • Completely wash your vehicle, removing any dirt and grime.
  • Apply a coat of wax and wax sealant. These can be found at local automotive centers.
  • Pay specific attention to your vehicle’s undercarriage, especially the brake line and fuel line. Spray these with an anti-corrosion product.

Treatment

If you didn’t have time to prep your car for winter, you can still take some steps to stop road salt from corroding your vehicle. Some tips to consider include:

  • Regular washes. On particularly wet winter days, take your car to the car wash and give it a thorough cleaning.
  • Regardless of whether or not you prepped your car, you’ll want to give your car a mid-winter seal. On a particularly warm winter day, wash your car, wax it and spray the brake lines with an anti-corrosive agent.
  • Thoroughly dry your car, this will completely remove any road salt and prevent doors and windows from freezing.

Related source: Hemmings Daily

Independent Car Repair Shops Preferred Over Dealers

Consumer reports recently confirmed what we already believe, that local, independent car repair shops offer better repair satisfaction than franchised new-car dealerships.

The analysis by Consumer Reports weighed five key car repair factors to determine their findings. They five factors they examined were:

  • Price
  • Quality
  • Courteousness of the staff
  • Work completed when promised
  • Overall satisfaction

The data was based on Consumer Reports subscriber surveys collected from more than 120,000 individuals. 80,000 readers had their car serviced at a franchised dealer, while 41,000 had car repair work preformed at independent service centers. Although their overall scores tended to be lower, Consumer Reports did note that mechanics at both independent and dealership centers earned high marks for the quality of their work.

“To be fair to mechanics at franchised dealerships, our respondents also reported being very satisfied overall with their repairs despite being outscored by independent shops,” said Mark Rechtin, Consumer Reports Cars Content Development Team Leader.

Best Car Repair MN

Overall, the biggest issue consumers had was with the total cost of the repair. Certain specialty car owners like Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar and Mini drivers were much more satisfied with the overall service and price they received at independent dealerships than at franchised new-car dealerships.

“Mercedes, Jaguar and Mini dealerships got dinged in our survey for price. The customers feel they overpay for parts and labor,” said Consumer Reports spokesperson Simon Slater.

Other foreign car owners were equally satisfied with repairs from dealerships and independent shops. Consumer reports stated that drivers of BMW, Porsche and Volkswagens typically were equally satisfied with the quality and cost of their repairs, so you don’t need to drive 30 miles to get to that specialized new-car dealership to get the same price and quality as a local, independent dealer.

Related source: Consumer Reports

Minnesota Among Safest Driving States For Your Wallet

A recent study conducted by WalletHub found that Minnesota is one of the safer state’s to drive in, in terms of keeping money in your pocket in the event of a crash.

For their study, researchers analyzed three factors: State requirements for liability coverage, related types of required insurance (like medical payment coverage and personal injury protection) and the estimated number of uninsured drivers on the road. They developed a point system, which you can read about in more detail here, that awards points based on the amount of required coverage, if additional coverage is required, and for low uninsured driver percentage. After tallying all the data, researchers compiled a list that ranked the all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

The Top 10

The top 10 states that keep the most money in a driver’s wallet in the event of a crash are:

1. Maine

2. North Dakota

3. New York

T-4. Maryland

T-4. New Hampshire

6. Utah

T-7. Massachusetts

T-7. Oregon

9. South Carolina

T-10. Alaska

T-10. Kansas

T-10. Minnesota

Minnesota actually has more minimum bodily injury coverage per person and per accident than many of the states ranked higher on the list, but it as a relativity high percentage of uninsured motorists. WalletHub projects that about 10.8 percent of Minnesota drivers are uninsured. Of the top 10, only Maryland and Alaska have a higher percentage of uninsured drivers, at 12.2 and 13.2 percent respectively.

Minnesota Roads

The Bottom 10

Conversely, if you get into an accident with the wrong person in one of the bottom 10 states, it may take a significant chunk out of your wallet. The worst driving states for your wallet are:

T-42. Nevada

T-42. Washington

T-44. Alabama

T-44. Michigan

46. Tennessee

T-47. California

T-47. Mississippi

49. New Mexico

50. Oklahoma

51. Florida

Aside from rarely requiring additional medical or personal injury insurance, these states all boast high numbers of uninsured drivers. Six of these states have uninsured driver rates that top 20 percent, and Oklahoma takes the cake for the state with the most uninsured drivers, at 25.9 percent.

Related source: WalletHub

Subaru Issues Brake Recall For Minnesota Vehicles

Subaru has issued a recall of nearly 200,000 of its vehicles, citing a potential brake line issue.

Subaru owners should take note, especially if you live in state that gets plenty of winter weather, like Minnesota. According to the press release, the brake line issue increases the risk of crashes for drivers in snowy states.

The vehicles involved in the recall are:

  • 2009 through 2013 Foresters
  • 2008 through 211 Imprezas

The recall has been issued in 20 cold-weather states where road salt is used to winterize the roads. The National Traffic Safety Administration (NTSA) said rust can develop if the brake lines are splashed with salty water. The release noted that salty water can reach the brake lines through a gap in the car’s fuel line projector. Rust can increase stopping distance, which may leave drivers susceptible to a crash.

Subaru

This is the second time Subaru has issued a recall for the potentially defective brake lines. According to the NTSA, the previous recall included “incomplete repair instructions,” and some vehicles were not properly serviced.

Vehicle owners who purchased their Subarus in Minnesota or Wisconsin should take their car to a dealer. Subarus purchased in North and South Dakota are not effected by the recall. The other 18 states listed in the recall are Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C. Subaru said dealers will apply an anti-corrosion spray to the car’s brake line system, and owners will not be charged for the repairs. To find a participating Subaru dealer, click here.

The Do’s and Don’ts of De-Icing Your Windshield

Winter is finally here to stay, and with snow emergencies comes the need for drivers to clear their cars of ice and snow. There are a lot of different ways to clear snow from your car’s windshield, and some are better than others. Today, we discuss the Do’s and Don’ts of de-icing your windshield.

Do – Be cognizant of your surroundings. If there’s snow and ice on your windshield, there’s probably snow and ice on the roads, which can make it tough for drivers to stay in the middle of their lane. Try to scrap off most of your windshield and rear windshield while on the curb side, and only venture out to the street side when no cars are passing.

Don’t – Pour hot water on your windshield – If you knew somebody with a hot tub growing up, odds are you’ve gone hot tubbing in the winter. If you’re a daredevil, maybe you even made a snow angel or just ran around in the snow before quickly jumping back in the hot tub. If so, you’ve experienced the shock of going from super cold to super warm and vice versa, and while your body may be able to handle it, your windshield may not. Pouring hot water on a frozen windshield can cause what’s known as “thermal shock,” and it can result in a shattered windshield. If you’re set on using water to de-ice your windshield, make sure it’s cool or lukewarm at most.

Do – Consider de-icing solutions – Sometimes you can prevent snow and ice from accumulating by treating your windshield with de-icing solutions. Certain homemade salt or vinegar based concoctions are alright, but spending a few bucks on a solution at a trusted car care center is a worthy investment. While you’re there, you can also pick up formulas that you can spray on right before scraping to help ease the process.

Don’t – Use a brick, rubber mallet or metal shovel to clean or break up ice on your windshield. This may seem like common sense, but if you don’t have a scraper in your car, you might go looking for the next best object, and that can be a huge issue if you’re not careful. Only use plastic or soft tipped scrapers to avoid damaging your windows.

Windshield De-icing tips

Do – Be smart about where you park. This doesn’t directly involve de-icing your windshield, but here us out. Preferably you’ll park your car in a garage or covered parking stall before the snow hits, but if you park outside, park in a safe spot. Unlike summer where you might want to find a tree to provide your car with some shade, you’ll want to do the opposite in the winter. Particularly heavy snowstorms, like a few we had last winter, can dump a lot of snow in an area in a short period of time. If you park under a brittle tree that can’t handle heavy wind or snow, you may wake up to find a tree branch fell and damaged your windshield. Avoid parking under trees if you know a snowstorm is on the way.

Debunking Winter Driving Myths

There’s a lot of advice out there about how to drive during the cold winter months, but not all of it is useful. Today, we explore some common winter driving cautions and determine if they are fact or myth.

1. Let your car warm up before driving when it’s cold out – This myth takes one piece of general information, that cars are more fuel efficient when running in warmer temperatures, and incorrectly assumes you need to let your car warm up to optimal temperature before driving away in frigid conditions. During the 1980s and 90s, car companies began replacing carburetors with electronic fuel injectors, which helps the engine get the optimal mix of fuel and air. Fuel injectors essentially made the need to warm up your car irrelevant, and experts say your car reaches ideal temperature at a faster rate when driving. Car experts suggest you should allow your car to run for no more than 30 seconds before driving away, otherwise you’re just burning fuel!

2. All season tires mean they preform well in all four seasons – As we explained in our post on winter tires, swapping out your all season tires for a set of winter tires can make all the difference. Not only do winter tires provide you with a better grip of the road, they also help you stop sooner, which can be the difference between a safe stop and a fender bender. If you live in an area that sees a lot of snow during the winter months, consider investing in a pair of snow tires.

Winter Driving

3. You can get a ticket for not fully clearing your windshield and rear window of snow – This one is fact. There have probably been times when you’ve had to scrape your windshield off multiple times in one day, and although it can be annoying, it’s important you don’t ignore the snow. Driving in poor conditions is tough enough without doing it with impaired vision. Failing to clear your windshield makes you a danger to yourself and everyone on the road, and the police can ticket you for it.

4. Reducing tire pressure will increase your grip on the road – Some people believe a flatter tire will increase their traction, but improper tire pressure can make driving dangerous. Your tire pressure will drop as the temperature declines, so keep on top if your tire pressure as the weather fluctuates. Keep a handheld guage in your glove box for easy access.

Related source: Auto Express, The Spec