Category Archives: Tips

WET N WILD INVENTORY BLOWOUT SALE!!!

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Posted in Dealer Information, Holidays Sale Events, News, Tips

Hurricane Joaquin may have turned it’s back on the East Coast… but we haven’t.  At Beach Auto Brokers we have all kinds of vehicles ready to weather the storm!

AND WE’RE PRACTICALLY GIVING THEM AWAY!!!

We’re having a Wet N Wild Hurricane Party!  Now thru Wednesday, October 7th, mention this ad and you’ll receive $500 off your vehicle purchase!!

We have all models available – Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Ford, Chevrolet and pretty much every other make and model!  Get to Beach Auto Brokers today and check out our full inventory – we’ll make sure you don’t get wet!

Need to trade in your current vehicle?  NO PROBLEM!

Need help with your financing?  NO PROBLEM!

Beach Auto Brokers has been in business since 1985, Driven by excellence and proudly serving the Hampton Roads community for over 25 years. The Beach Auto Brokers full inventory of vehicles is available for you to look at, test drive, and ask questions about.  And our knowledgeable staff is ready to help you.  And while you’re here, we’ll take a look at your current vehicle and tell you what its worth – on the retail market and the trade-in value.

How Much Money Do Bad Roads Cost You Per Year?

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Posted in News, Tips

America is great at many things, but one area where we could stand some improvement is our transportation infrastructure. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, our nation’s crumbling highways and byways cost drivers more than $500 per year – and the situation is likely to get worse.

That shouldn’t come as a shock to some of you. Roughly one-third of U.S. roads have been rated substandard, and in 2013, it was reported that our country’s 607,380 bridges needed at least $3.6 trillion of repairs. In fact, 20,808 of them were judged to be “fracture critical”.

How has this happened? A big reason for the slow, painful collapse of our infrastructure has been the persistent shortage of funds to repair and improve it. Much of that money comes from the federal gas tax, which hasn’t been raised since 1993 and – not surprisingly – can’t cover the costs anymore. Various solutions to the problem have proposed, including increasing the gas tax and adding toll roads, but none of those ideas have gained traction with tax-averse politicians.  Think about how much it pains you to fill up your vehicle with gas as the price is increasing already.

It’s true that state and local funds are available for infrastructure improvements, but many of those sources scaled back spending in the wake of the Great Recession and have kept funding levels low. Between federal, state, and local resources, the Congressional Budget Office says that infrastructure spending has tumbled 19% since 2002.

How do bad roads affect us and our cars? Potholes are perhaps the most obvious examples: they can ruin wheels and tires in a snap. Other bumps can create fractures or cause belts to fray and wobble. We can go out of our way to avoid those trouble spots, but then we’re using additional fuel, which costs money. And of course, all those issues cause our vehicles to depreciate in value.

What’s the solution? According to a recent study from McKinsey&Company, the U.S. should raise infrastructure spending from 2.6% of GDP to 3.6%, a jump of at least $150 billion per year. While that figure seems high, the return on the investment would be some $270 billion to $320 billion in annual economic growth.

Beach Auto Brokers has been in business since 1985, Driven by excellence and proudly serving the Hampton Roads community for over 25 years. The Beach Auto Brokers full inventory of vehicles is available for you to look at, test drive, and ask questions about.  And our knowledgeable staff is ready to help you.  And while you’re here, we’ll take a look at your current vehicle and tell you what its worth – on the retail market and the trade-in value.

Would You Pay For Gas Insurance?

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Posted in Dealer Information, News, Tips

These days, everything can be insured: cars, homes, our health, our pets,various body parts. But would you pay insurance for gas? A Houston-based start-up called LoveMyGasPrice hopes that the answer is “yes”.

The premise is pretty simple:
– You agree to pay LoveMyGasPrice $3.99 per month.
– In doing so, you lock in a price cap on gasoline that’s around 50 cents more than current prices. So, with today’s price for a gallon of unleaded regular hovering around $2.25, you could lock in a cap of $2.75 per gallon, which would be valid for the next 12 months.
– Over the next year, LoveMyGasPrice monitors average fuel costs via the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
– If the average price creeps above your price cap, you’ll receive a refund for the difference. (To keep things simple, the site assumes that participants use a full 20 gallons of gas per month — no more, no less — though there are plans to allow variations in that number down the line.)
– Those refunds could be substantial. If, for example, you locked in a rate of $2.75 and gas suddenly shot up to $3.75, you could get $240 back over the course of 12 months.

There are however, some caveats:
– Price caps are re-evaluated every 12 months. So, the awesomely low rate you lock in today might not be around in a year (when most of us think that prices will have risen considerably).
– There’s no allowance for premium gas buyers. Why? LoveMyGasPrice says that fuel prices move in lockstep with one-another, so a 50-cent rise in regular prices mean an equivalent 50-cent rise in premium. In our experience, however, that’s not always the case.
– There’s no allowance for geographic differences, apart from California. This puts folks in the South at slight advantage, since they usually pay less for gas than most of the country. In other words, people in Louisiana or Georgia might get refunds for money they haven’t properly spent. It also means that subscribers traveling to California and places with other high fuel prices won’t get reimbursed for what they actually pay.
– The site uses PayPal exclusively — no credit cards, checks, or Square. If you have issues with PayPal, this isn’t the product for you.
– LoveMyGasPrice is an online start-up, and it has the customer service to prove it. You can cancel at any time with an email, but if you want to speak to a real person, you’re up a creek.

Beach Auto Brokers has been in business since 1985, Driven by excellence and proudly serving the Hampton Roads community for over 25 years. The Beach Auto Brokers full inventory of vehicles is available for you to look at, test drive, and ask questions about.  And our knowledgeable staff is ready to help you.  And while you’re here, we’ll take a look at your current vehicle and tell you what its worth – on the retail market and the trade-in value.

#beachauto #beachautobrokers #usedcars #usedcarsvirginiabeach #usedcardealerships

Texting and Driving OR Eating and Driving…

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Posted in News, Tips

Cheeseburgers and steering wheels are a dangerous combination, just as bad as texting and driving.

A resident of Cobb County, GA learned this the hard way when he was ticketed for eating and driving – that’s right!  He was doing what many folks do every week: juggling the demands of two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, a sesame-seed bun, and brakes. That’s when an unnamed police officer decided that this resident’s eating habits posed a threat to himself and other motorists, in violation of the county’s distracted driving law.

Was the officer right?

There are a number of dangers that lead to distracted driving, such as texting and driving, and how both teens and adults do it behind the wheel, even though they know it’s wrong; and parents and how distracted they can be, coddling their baby bundles of joy.

But eating and driving?

We probably don’t think about it because it’s so common, and nearly all of us are guilty of it. If we weren’t, fast-food restaurants would likely have far fewer pick-up windows.

Next time you stop for that oh-so-important, hunger-satisfying-burger-on-the-run take a moment to think about how or if it will impair your driving.

Beach Auto Brokers has been in business since 1985, Driven by excellence and proudly serving the Hampton Roads community for over 25 years. The Beach Auto Brokers full inventory of vehicles is available for you to look at, test drive, and ask questions about.  And our knowledgeable staff is ready to help you.  And while you’re here, we’ll take a look at your current vehicle and tell you what its worth – on the retail market and the trade-in value.

Great Job America!!!

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Posted in News, Tips

There are a lot of questions that we get when people are looking for a vehicle – What are the safety features?  Does it have the latest technology?
And the most common question – What is the fuel economy like?   And we confidently answer:
Cars are much more efficient and cleaner than in 2007!!

How do we know this?  Smaller and more efficient vehicles are becoming more popular in the U.S., so it should be no surprise to learn that fuel economy figures have climbed steadily since 2007.  New data from the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) has determined that the combination of average fuel economy and emissions is at its lowest level in the United States since 2007.

The distances driven are still at 95% of what they were in 2007, but the amount of fuel used has dropped considerable as well as the emissions of greenhouse gases from new vehicles.  The latest data shows a 23% reduction in overall vehicle emissions over the last six and a half years!!  The average fuel economy today is 25.2 mpg; representing a significant increase from 2007 when it was 20.1 mpg.

So we have to repeat – Great Job America!!!

Regardless of what your questions are about your next vehicle, Beach Auto Brokers is here it help you!  Beach Auto Brokers has been in business since 1985, Driven by excellence and proudly serving the Hampton Roads community for over 25 years. The Beach Auto Brokers full inventory of vehicles is available for you to look at, test drive, and ask questions about.  And our knowledgeable staff is ready to help you.

Wreck Less! The Checklist

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Posted in Dealer Information, Tips

Distracted driving is a hot topic these days.  The focus is predominantly on texting while driving, but there are a number of things that can be distracting while you’re behind the wheel – including backseat drivers!  There is a distracted driving prevention program called Decide to Drive that now helps you try to prevent distracted driving.  They’ve come up with a wreck less checklist that can be anonymously emailed to those distracted drivers.  It covers almost every distraction we could think of, and what better place to share it than here!

Decide to Drive is sponsored by American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) and the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, and provides plenty of resources that attempt to encourage safe driving.  For more information, visit www.decidetodrive.org.

Beach Auto Brokers has been in business since 1985, Driven by excellence and proudly serving the Hampton Roads community for over 25 years. The Beach Auto Brokers full inventory of vehicles is available for you to look at, test drive, and ask questions about.  And our knowledgeable staff is ready to help you.

Repair or Replace – The Ultimate Vehicle Question

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Posted in Dealer Information, Tips

For many consumers, owning a car is not a luxury but a necessity. That doesn’t mean they can’t enjoy their car, but time and road miles tend to wreak all sorts of damage and wear on even the best-kept vehicle.  Sooner or later, the decision must be made whether to repair or replace your car.  So how do you decide?  Here are a few helpful tips.

When repairs or maintenance cost more than the car is worth. You’ll know it’s time to get rid of the car and get a new one when the dollars start adding up to the point where it’s going to cost you more I repairs or continual maintenance than the old car is actually worth.  And don’t forget to look at potential future repairs. Plunking down $1,500 or so for a repair job now may help you eke out a few more miles from your old car, but what’s likely to come next? This is the automotive equivalent of a home money pit.  The more the repair estimates or forecasts climb, the closer you may be to deciding to replace.

We always have to think about safety.  New cars today come equipped with a lot of standard safety equipment, things like advanced airbags, side airbags, better handling and brakes, electronic stability control, and even rearview cameras. Optional active safety technology includes blind spot monitoring and lane departure warning systems, forward collision alert, and automatic parking. Since your old car likely doesn’t have these safety features, when it starts to show its age, maybe it’s time to look at a new car as a replacement.

There’s also a lot to be said for getting out of your old car and into a new one just because you’re past being okay with what you have. You may have started a new job and want something more appropriate for business or you’ve yearned for a new car for the past few years and kept nursing the old one along as long as you could. In this case, if the financial picture makes sense and you can snag a good deal, go for the new car.

Our biggest tip – know what your car is worth. Before making the decision to go ahead and pay for repairs on your old car, you should take the time to find out what it’s worth.

Beach Auto Brokers has been in business since 1985, Driven by excellence and proudly serving the Hampton Roads community for over 25 years. The Beach Auto Brokers full inventory of vehicles is available for you to look at, test drive, and ask questions about.  And our knowledgeable staff is ready to help you.  And while you’re here, we’ll take a look at your current vehicle and tell you what its worth – on the retail market and the trade-in value.

TRAVELING SAFE THIS LABOR DAY

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Posted in Tips

Since Labor Day is right around the corner, we thought we’d give you some traveling tips.

AAA anticipates that 34.1 million Americans will journey 50 miles or more during the holiday, a 4.2% spike from 2012’s 32.7 million.  In addition, AAA, which defines the Labor Day travel period as Aug. 29 through Sept. 2, estimates that 29.2 million Americans, 85% of the total, will drive to and from their destination. The average traveler is expected to cover a round-trip distance of 594 miles, 32 miles less than last year, while spending an average of $804, a more than 7% increase.  That’s a lot of people on the road this holiday – and we want to help you to be completely prepared.

It is a good idea to drive defensively – always be aware of nearby vehicles and anticipate possible movements by other drivers. Also, it is important to know that driving laws are set by each state and rules and speed limits may differ slightly when traveling across state borders, so be aware of those Speed Limit signs.

Exert great caution if you find yourself in a situation with

an angry, “kooky” driver.  If someone is tailgating you, just let them pass. DO NOT purposely slow up, then go fast, then slow up again, to annoy them.  This may cause a dangerous problem.  Let them in, if they need to get in. Otherwise, you may incite an incident of “road rage” – which isn’t safe for you, anyone in your car, or anyone around.  And remember its safer if you stay calm yourself.

Plan your journey and know your next turn.  Although roads are generally well marked, heavy traffic conditions on multiple-lane roads can make advanced movements essential.

In the event of a flat tire or other road emergency, try to ease yourself to the right side of the road. Put your emergency blinkers on to warn other drivers.  Get in and out of your car carefully, and preferably on the passenger side away from traffic.

Wear a seatbelt and ensure children under 8 years have a car or booster seat.

The Beach Auto Brokers full inventory of vehicles is available for you to look at, test drive, and ask questions about.  And our knowledgeable staff is ready to help you.  No matter which vehicle you decide is the best fit for you, remember to drive efficiently and safely.

Drive Efficiently

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Posted in Tips

Everyone wants to get the most bang for their buck these days – and this is true when it comes to cars as well.
Driving your vehicle efficiently will help you keep some of those precious dollars in your pockets.  MPG (miles per gallon) is something that we are asked about every day by almost every customer.  Here are some of our tips on making your car efficient and getting the best gas mileage your vehicle can deliver.

Be Sensible  Aggressive driving wastes gas, it’s that simple.  As tempting as it is, refraining from speeding, rapid acceleration and braking can lower you gas mileage up to 33% at highway speeds and 5% around town.

Speed Limits  There is actually an additional benefit to your car if you drive the speed limit other than saving you from getting that annoying ticket you have to pay, especially around town.  Gas mileage usually decreases significantly above 50mph.  You can assume that each 5mph you drive over 50mph is like paying an additional $0.25 per gallon for gas – does that hurt your pocket yet?

Remove Excessive Weight  All of that extra “stuff” that you are keeping in the back of your vehicle adds up, and makes your engine work harder, and… uses more gas.  An extra 100 pounds in your vehicle could reduce your MPG by up to 2 percent.

Don’t Idle  You actually use more gas when you idle than by turning your car off and then back on when you’re ready to drive again.  Idling can use a quarter to a half gallon of fuel per hour, depending on engine size and air conditioner use. Turn off your engine when your vehicle is parked. It only takes a few seconds worth of fuel to restart your vehicle.

Replace that Air Filter  Replacing a clogged air filter on vehicles with fuel-injected, computer-controlled gasoline engines—such as those manufactured from the early 1980s to the present—or diesel engines does not improve fuel economy, but it can improve acceleration – which takes us back up to driving sensible.

Coast to Decelerate  By anticipating traffic slowdowns as early as possible, you can decrease your speed, conserve fuel and save money by simply taking your foot off the accelerator.  Most vehicles are equipped with fuel-injection systems that automatically shut off the flow of fuel to the engine when the accelerator is fully released, so you’re not using that costly gas when you simply are coasting.

The Beach Auto Brokers full inventory of vehicles is available for you to look at, test drive, and ask questions about.  And our knowledgeable staff is ready to help you.  No matter which vehicle you decide is the best fit for you, remember to drive efficiently and save a few dollars.

National Tire Awareness & Safety Week

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Posted in Dealer Information, Tips

 

 

 

 

At Beach Auto Brokers, we strive to make sure that our customers have the knowledge at hand to properly maintain their vehicle.  According to a study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 660 highway fatalities are caused by under-inflated tires annually. Since this week is National Tire Awareness Week, we thought we’d take this opportunity to share some tips on how to properly maintain and care for you tires so that you get the most out of them.

  • Tire Pressure – Don’t risk a blowout – you should check your tire pressure regularly as well as tire wear. You can usually find this information in your vehicle’s service manual, or on the vehicle information label found on the driver’s side door jamb. Also, don’t forget to check your spare tire as well.
  • Tread Depth – You can check tire wear with the quick and easy penny trick. Put a penny into each of the tread grooves, with Lincoln’s head toward the inside. If you can see the top of Honest Abe’s head, your tires are worn. Be sure to check several grooves across the width of the tire. Tires are worn and unsafe with anything less than 2/32” of tread depth.
  • Tire Rotation – Maintain consistent wear of your tires on your vehicle, this will allow you to control your car better.  To get the most out of your tires and the longest life to maximize your investment, rotate your tires every 5,000 to 8,000 miles.
  • Adjust for Loads – in the Hampton Roads area, we are constantly towing a boat, or loading down our vehicles for that trip to the beach, and packing up for vacation.  You may need to increase your tire pressure to accommodate the additional weight of your load.  Refer to your owner’s manual and/or the tire placard for recommended pressures.  And when you’re done, don’t forget to adjust back to the normal pressure your tires need.
  • Avoid Potholes – Driving through just one large pothole, even in the summer, can weaken a tire, reducing its long-term durability and ride quality.  Potholes can also knock a vehicle out of alignment, reducing handling and tire life.  Drive around large puddles as well, they often hide deep, rain-filled potholes.

We encourage all of our customers to be aware of and follow-thru with ongoing maintenance.  This is why we offer all of our customers a lifetime of free oil changes and state inspections with their vehicle purchase!  We are happy to help our customers with any questions they have regarding tires, fluids, brakes, lights, wipers, and dashboard lights.  So if something comes up, don’t hesitate it call us!