Breaking Down Your VIN Number

A Vehicle Identification Number is a series of numbers we see all too often, but do we really have an understanding for what they are?  To the normal eye, it looks like a confusing series of numbers.  A VIN is the 17-digit string of numbers assigned to every vehicle.  It can reveal A TON of facts about your car, including airbag type, country of origin, engine size, model year and even the trim level!  It’s can be stamped into a plate that’s mounted on the dashboard, near the windshield, or on the driver-side doorjamb.  It could also be stamped on the engine firewall. 

If you’re looking to decipher the code, you can visit a site called decodethis.com, this site will translate the number into a readable document, changing the set of numbers into understandable content.  The information is accurate and worth a peek.  We ran a random vehicle, the result being:

The benefit of this info is using it to obtain a vehicle history report.  Before you buy a used car — even if it's from a dealer — it's important to get the vehicle's VIN and use it to run a history report that can reveal if the car has been reported stolen or if it has a salvage title. 

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How Much Does An Electric Vehicle ACTUALLY Cost to Maintain?

The Jetsons is the first thing that comes to mind when I think of electric vehicles, not necessarily a floating utopia equipped with flying cars, but it’s definitely a wave of the future.  With countless manufacturers rolling our production vehicles and prototypes, it’s not difficult to get lost in the shuffle.  We’ve heard the conversation around electric vehicles: they’re quiet, cheap to maintain, and environmentally friendly.  Lets delve a bit deeper and get the actual price of maintaining one.

According to Edmunds: to figure out the cost of fueling an EV, start with the electric car's energy consumption rate, which is expressed as kWh per 100 miles (kWh/100m). This figure will be listed on the EPA's upcoming EV fuel economy label (the 2011 Leaf's preliminary label is shown here, complete with an erroneous 12-cent per kWh figure in the cost estimate that Nissan says it is correcting). The next figure is your home electric rate, assuming that's the primary charging site. Multiply the kWh/100m figure by the electric rate to get the cost per 100 miles. For instance, the Leaf's kWh/100m figure is 34. If electricity is 11 cents per kWh — the national average — it would cost $3.74 to go 100 miles.

Utility companies, and the time and level of use set the electricity cost.  You pay more for kWh at peak hours, making a lot of electric commuters pay more than the national average of 11 cents per kWh.  How do real individuals save on their electric vehicles? 

Tom and Cathy Saxon have two electric vehicles.  They installed separate electric meters for their EVs (electric vehicles) in July 2009 and have been tracking them since then.  The Saxton's Tesla is consuming at a rate of 30.8 kWh/100m (bettering its official EPA rating); the RAV4 is averaging about 35 kWh/100m.  They pay an average of 11.25 cents per kWh.  In other words, they drive about 30 miles on a dollar’s worth of electricity, it would be much more expensive to drive with gas.  Results do vary, depending on a couple factors like when and where you’re charging, but the true cost of filling up is a tad more complicated than expected.

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How to Save a Life: A Group of Samaritan’s Save Man From Burning Car

 I’m not one to be cynical; the world is a strange and cold place, I know.  It’s full of thieves, negative influencers and shady politics, but today’s blog isn’t about debate.  It’s about a brief epiphany I had earlier, as I watched a group of people lift a car (yes, you read that correctly) and save a mans life who was tucked under the vehicle, a man they didn’t “know from Adam”.  Their amazing bravery caused me to choke up a bit, wiping my tears with the back of my sleeve.  The world DOES have good in it, and through our daily routines, we sometimes forget.  So, if you’re reading this blog entry, think back to when you’ve helped someone, or look forward TO helping someone in the near future, and check out the video below for an awe inspiring clip of perseverance through struggle.  Feel free to add your comments ! 

 

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Automotive Advertising

Twitter: Awesome Quotes Under 140 Characters!

Follow us @TexasMotorsFord.  Hello Fans! If you’ve come to our blog today, you’re in luck.  Twitter, the micro blogging social media site is an amazing little tool for self-promotion.  Through savvy, profound, and funny tweets, you can become a big player in an ever-growing market.  In today’s blog, from our friends over at allfamousquotes.weebly.com, we’ve got a great list of quotes for you to hit the site with, providing some fun and enticing quotes to increase your followers.  Check them out below:

 Best Twitter Quotes about marriage

Before marriage, a man yearns for the woman he loves. After marriage, the 'Y' becomes silent.

~ Anonymous.

Marriages are made in heaven. But so again, are thunder and lightning.

~ Anonymous.

Bachelors know more about women than married men; if they didn't they'd be married too.

~ H. L. Mencken.

The bonds of matrimony are like any other bonds - they mature slowly.  

~ Peter De Vries.

A long marriage is two people trying to dance a duet and two solos at the same time.  

~ Anne Taylor Fleming.

There is no such cozy combination as man and wife.  

~ Menander.

A man in love is incomplete until he has married. Then he's finished.

~ Zsa Zsa Gabor.

A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person.

~ Mignon McLaughlin.

Best Twitter Quotes about kids

Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of man.  

~Rabindranath Tagore

Children are unpredictable.  You never know what inconsistency they're going to catch you in next.  

~Franklin P. Jones.

Any kid will run any errand for you if you ask at bedtime.  

~Red Skelton.

If you haven't time to respond to a tug at your pants leg, your schedule is too crowded.  

~Robert Brault.

You can learn many things from children.  How much patience you have, for instance.  

~Franklin P. Jones.

Best Twitter Quotes Dads would love

Blessed indeed is the man who hears many gentle voices call him father!

~ Lydia M. Child.

A father carries pictures where his money used to be.

~ Anonymous.

A father is someone you look up to no matter how tall you grow.

~ Anonymous.

Daytime is ruled by mothers and fathers come out at night.

~ Margaret Atwood.

Best Twitter Quotes about Inspiration

Risks must be taken, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.

~ Leo Buscaglia.

Self-praise is for losers. Be a winner. Stand for something. Always have class, and be humble.

~ John Madden.

The biggest adventure you can ever take is to live the life of your dreams.

~ Oprah Winfrey.

What keeps me going is goals.

~ Muhammad Ali.

Positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking will.

~ Zig Ziglar.

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