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What You Should Do After an Accident

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car accidentIf you have been involved in an accident and aren’t badly hurt, there are certain steps you should take following the incident. While the police will write a report, dealing with insurance companies can be brutal—and the more information you have, the better chance you’ll have getting them to pay for medical bills and vehicle repair.

If you are seriously hurt but can move, stay where you are; you could make the injuries worse. Call a friend or relative to help you document the accident and make sure your personal items are removed from the vehicle before it gets towed.

Documentation

Use your smartphone or a camera to document the accident. Be sure to take pictures of the whole scene, plus close-up pictures of the damage to your vehicle and other vehicles involved in the accident.

Witnesses

You may need witnesses, especially if the person who caused the accident doesn’t have insurance. Get the names and phone numbers and/or emails of those who can provide an eyewitness account, should you need it. You can write the information down or you can enter it into a notepad app in your smartphone.

Insurance

Call your insurance company to advise them of the accident. Be sure to get their fax number, so you can fax the police report and other documentation to them. At the same time, get the other person’s insurance company information. You will need to submit the claim (including documentation) to them. Do not rely on the person at fault to submit any documentation on your behalf.

Vehicle Location

Make sure you know where your vehicle will be towed to. The insurance companies will most likely want access to it even if you send pictures; they will need to document the damage in order to pay out the claim.

Repairs

Obtain an estimate from a body shop. Before you drive to a shop, ask what type of work it does—if you need to repair minor dents, the shop should be able to do paintless repair. Chapman in Scottsdale does some body work and paintless dent repair. If you need a new fender, bumper or other body parts, be sure the shop can replace them and has the ability to paint the new body parts.

If you need engine repair, ask the body shop if it can do this. Some body shops have the ability to do minor repairs such as replacing radiators, hoses, belts and some steering and suspension parts.

Medical Care

Make an appointment to see your doctor as soon after the accident as possible. Some injuries may not show up until a day or two after the accident. Tell your doctor you were in a car accident.

If you have injuries that are immediately apparent, go to the emergency room, even if you don’t feel you need to. These injuries could exacerbate over the next hours and days. Furthermore, you will need medical documentation for your claim—the sooner you see the doctor, the less the chance the insurance company will argue that you are filing a false claim.

Author –  Gina Hooper  Gina works as a financial planner and consultant. When she is not busy crunching numbers, she likes to spend her time blogging about the financial industry.

Cars and the Men Who Drive Them

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Beauty stylish guy in car .Automobiles and personalities are almost always in sync with cars that reflect the character, preferences, dreams and goals of their owners. What men want and what men get as their vehicle of choice is almost always a statement of how they perceive themselves and how they want others to perceive them.

Sports Cars

Sports car guys love fast and flashy cars with an expensive and sporty look — the kind that can be adorned by an amazingly beautiful woman in a sophisticated garment. The sports car represents excitement and adventure, things that may be generally lacking in their personal lives. Driving a fast and elegant car may be just the ticket. There’s nothing more sensuous than a high-performance sports car. For the man who wants to feel extraordinary, UK Autocar recommends these Top Sports Cars:

  1. The new Porsche 911 delivers features that are either new or improved, such as electromechanical power steering, a seven-speed manual gear box and more aluminum to reduce weight. The primary visual design feature of the cabriolet is the exciting panel bow-top roof, giving this vehicle a high tech and sleek look that stands out in a crowd.
  2. The Audi R8 has essential new features, like a restyled exhaust system, restyled grill and updated valence in the rear. A seven-speed manual clutch transmission makes for a hassle-free ride, while standard sat-nav, Bluetooth and iPod connectivity keep you in touch at all times. The New Audi R8 has a level of agility and response that everyone desires in a sports car.
  3. Nissan’s GT-R has superior industry-leading performance at a surprisingly low cost.

Luxury Cars

Luxury vehicle owners may be more concerned with branding, prestige and image than they are in value. One example is Landover – a high priced mediocre car with a poor performance record, great look and hyped history. This vehicle is frequently acquired by men preferring image to substance. More savvy luxury owners are the movers and shakers who want to see great things accomplished and who value productivity. These are the men who expect top quality and get it. Forbes top pics for luxury cars are:

  1. Bentley – The new 12-cylinder Bentley Continental GT Speed Convertible is a rugged coupe with a ludicrous top speed of 205 mph. Those in a rush will be delighted with its acceleration — 0-60 mph in 4 seconds. It’s one of the fastest production models ever.
  2. The Mercedes-Benz CLA compact sedan competes neck and neck with BMW for sales supremacy and has the performance and quality most seek in a top-of-the-line luxury vehicle.
  3. The 2013 Cadillac ATS is the only American car taken seriously in Forbe’s luxury list. It is aiming directly for BMW with its fast, sporty ATS.

Earth-Friendlier Cars

Tree huggers who feel responsible for our environment gravitate towards low-emission, hybrid vehicles. As nurturers of the planet’s environmental health, they choose vehicles with the least environmental impact. Add a set of tires from Kumho, a company known for its earth-friendly manufacturing techniques, and the carbon footprint gets even smaller. Mother Earth News analyzed the best green cars of 2012 and here are some of the top findings:

  1. As America’s best-selling passenger car, the Toyota Camry Hybrid has a spacious, well-designed passenger cabin and an efficient 200-horsepower Hybrid Synergy Drive system. When you consider its combined 41-mpg, it’s easy to see why this impressive vehicle leads the pack.
  2. 2013 Toyota Prius V is the largest member of the Prius family and offers the most utility. Despite an impressive 44 mpg in city and capacious cargo capacity, its fuel efficiency and practicality are heads above other vehicles in the same class.
  3. Chevrolet Volt is an extended-range electric compact hatchback with 95/93 MPG, electric range of 25 to 50 miles and 375 combined miles using both electric and gas.

Family Cars

Conservative family men valuing safety and comfort will no doubt share their vehicle with spouse and children. Many will look for the latest high-tech safety gadgets and the smoothest ride.

Yahoo Autos recommends the Toyota RAV4, Honda CRV and Jeep as the most popular SUVs. What all have in common is a powerful look and standard equipment that includes fuel efficiency and 5 or 6 speed automatic transmission.

  1. The Toyota RAV 4 has a 176-horsepower engine with MPG ratings of 24 city and 31 highway. A 6-speed automatic transmission with overdrive is standard.
  2. The Lexus LX comes with a standard 2.4-liter, I4, 185-horsepower engine and gets a 23/31 mpg. A 5-speed automatic transmission with overdrive is standard.
  3. Jeep’s Laredo 4X2 is equipped with a standard 290-horsepwer, 3.6-liter, V6 engine and gets 17/25 mpg.

Practical Cars

Practical men who are logical, reasonable and likely to make great accountants or engineers prefer cars that are compact, are efficient and have great safety records.

  1. The Nissan Leaf is an all-electric, compact hatchback with the equivalent of 106/92 MPG. The annual fuel cost is estimated at $600 – a great buy for the practical minded man. The Leaf is the most successful all-electric car ever, but competition from Ford, Honda and Tesla is not far behind.
  2. Volkswagen Passat TDI is a brand new diesel sedan with 30/40 MPG and annual fuel costs of $1,800. It is the most fuel-efficient non-hybrid on the road today and excels in efficiency as you can travel 800 miles without refueling.
  3. The Mitsubishi I electric compact hatchback has a low annual fuel cost of $550 but has a limited electric range of 62 miles – suitable for a local commute.

Author: Jonah Berg

Jonah is a dad and tech blogger who loves to work on cars in his spare time.

Gotta Need for Speed? Steps to Increase Your Car’s Horsepower

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speedYou can’t have your cake and eat it too – in most cases, more power decreases fuel mileage. There are some exceptions to this rule. Muscle cars – mid-size vehicles from the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, have high horsepower. The horsepower is relative to the weight of the vehicle. The more the vehicle weighs, the more power you need to keep a certain speed rating. In racing circles, it is well known that every 100 pounds of weight decreases measured speed – usually the time it takes to go one-quarter mile – by one-tenth of a second.

Engines are built to certain specifications for horsepower, torque and weight. The average vehicle might weigh in at under 3,000 pounds and have low horsepower – about 110 average horsepower. These vehicles usually have excellent fuel mileage.

What Makes a High Performance Engine?

Vehicles that are considered high performance include the 2005 Mazda RX-5 and the 2008 and 2009 Chevrolet Cobalt SS. You could also make your own high performance vehicle. Here are a few “high performance” picks from Popular Mechanics, manufactured between 1965 and 1971:

  • Chevrolet: Chevelle, Camaro and Nova
  • Dodge: Challenger and Charger
  • Ford: Mustang

There are many more, but these were the popular models that had the auto world buzzing. Auto technicians often rebuilt the engines in these vehicles with high performance parts. The engine blocks were often bored and stroked, says HotRod.com. When you bore an engine, you increase the diameter of the cylinder. You can stroke an engine by using a shorter piston and longer rod or vice versa.

Building a high performance engine can be expensive. Pistons should be lightweight aluminum to decrease the weight in the engine. Rods should be “pink” or “x” rods, if you are using Chevrolet production rods. If not, you can purchase a number of strengthened rods from other manufacturers.

If you’re going to go all-out and stick a blower on top of the engine, you’ll definitely need a steel crankshaft with double keyways. Cast crankshafts crack under the pressure the blower puts on the engine. Plus, keep in mind, that anything sticking out of the hood of your vehicle is illegal in many states. The camshaft and heads also play an important role in creating a high performance engine.

Putting it All Together

You can’t just buy parts and throw them at the engine. Everything has to fit just right. If you buy a camshaft with three-quarters of an inch of lift, you need heads and pistons that will handle the camshaft. Keeping the valves open longer (duration) requires larger valves in the heads. Remember, what goes in, must go out. As the camshaft opens the valves, the vacuum in the engine sucks in air and fuel. If the duration is too long and you don’t have an adequate fuel supply, the engine is going to bog.

That philosophy applies to parts as small as a rubber seal. If you remove a metric o-ring that is .20 by .20, you better replace it with the same size (you can double check these by using a metric o-ring chart, which Apple Rubber has on its website).

A larger lift may require dished pistons instead of flat-top or domed pistons. The lift moves the valves further into the cylinder; and two things cannot occupy the same space at the same time. Too much lift with the wrong piston could result in cookie crumbs at the bottom of the piston hole and in the oil pan.

You also have to get the combination just right. Just because you put domed pistons in the engine doesn’t mean you are going to significantly increase horsepower. Everything must match. Since one part affects another part in the engine, you usually won’t have much increase in horsepower or toque by replacing one part of the engine.

With today’s vehicles, it is not as easy to make more horsepower because of the computers. Whenever you make changes to the system, you’ll have to program the vehicle’s ECM/PCM to the change in values created by high performance parts. Before computerized engines, it was very easy to double or even triple the horsepower in some engines by changing pistons, valves, heads and the camshaft to increase compression – or by adding a roots-type blower or supercharger.