Planning a trip to the beach this summer or trying to get away for the upcoming Memorial Day weekend? Don’t forget to inspect your vehicle before vacations to ensure safer travel and to put your mind at ease. The Car Care Council suggests not only gassing up your vehicle, but giving it a full inspection in order to fix any necessary changes before your road trip.

Here are some tips for inspecting your vehicle from the Car Care Council to help avoid breaking down miles away from home:

• Scheduling a tune-up before your trip to help the engine deliver the optimal balance of power and fuel economy, while also producing the lowest level of emissions.
• Check the break system and the battery.
• Inspect filters and fluids, including: engine oil, antifreeze/coolant, windshield washer and power steering, brake and transmission fluids.
• Hoses and belts need to be replaced if they happen to be broken, fragile, loose or show signs of excessive wear. These are essential to correct performance of the electrical system, air conditioning, power steering and the cooling system.
• Check tires, as well as tire pressure and tread; uneven wear can signal a need for wheel alignment.

Car Care Council offers a free personalized schedule and e-mail reminder service that’s an accessible resource intended to help you drive smart, save money, while making better decisions. In order to ensure safer road trips this summer visit www.carcare.org for more information, as well as the council’s Car Care Guide.

Full disclosure: We love buyers who research cars online. You are the reason we are in business. But would you believe that 10% of shoppers buy a car without ever driving it?

No matter how much information you find about a car online, there are things that have to be experienced. Factors like comfort, visibility, and driving style will vary from person to person, and those are things you simply can’t evaluate online.

Factors to consider on a test drive:

Oh say, can you see? Identify the car’s blind spots, and make sure you can adjust the mirrors correctly to parallel park, reverse out of driveways, change lanes, and perform other driving operations safely.

Junk in your trunk. If you routinely haul items in your trunk, take them with you to the dealership. Don’t get your new vehicle home to discover that your double stroller, your golf clubs, or dog crate, or other important cargo won’t fit.

Have a seat. Most of your time will probably be spent behind the wheel, so make sure it’s a good fit. Make sure all power-adjust features work correctly and all necessary controls are within reach. If you have a family or carpool or regularly transport any other passengers, you’ll want them to be comfortable as well. Climb in to check out rear legroom. See how easy the seats are to adjust. If there are removable or fold-flat seats, see how easy they are to operate.
 
Hit the road. Don’t just cruise around the block. If possible, take the car on varied terrain to evaluate performance on different surfaces and in different traffic conditions. Make sure the car can take you where you want to go by testing the highway acceleration, parking garage maneuverability, hill-climbing capabilities, or whatever your case may be

Having said all that, we invite you to browse CarLocate.com for the car of your dreams. Then, to avoid future nightmares, make sure to contact the dealership and go take it for a spin!

Volvo is taking the next step in creating a vehicle that can drive itself. They are preparing to produce a vehicle in 2014 that will allow the car to automatically follow the vehicle in front of them in slow-moving queues up to 50 km/hr.

The driver will activate the traffic jam assistance function with the press of a button. The engine, brakes, and steering will respond accordingly. The Adaptive Cruise Control (already available in the 2012 Volvo V40 hatchback) automatically maintains a set gap to the vehicle in front and controls the steering. The car will then follow the vehicle directly in front; however, the person driving is always in charge and can take back control at any time.

Americans spend more than 100 hours a year commuting - that’s more than the average vacation time (2 weeks at 80 hours)! Drivers in large cities spend even longer than that commuting to and from work daily. Volvo’s focus is on making the commute less stressful for the driver.

Volvo’s mission is to increase driver confidence in self-driving cars. Vehicles that require very little human interaction is a major focus in Volvo’s development work. This new traffic jam assistance function is a big step in achieving that goal. While it will still take time to develop a car that can safely drive with no human interaction, they are certainly taking the necessary baby steps to encourage confidence in such a vehicle.