Tag Archives: ft. worth gmc

Get Your Dallas Buick, or GMC’s Air Conditioner Ready For a Hot Summer

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This is something that Freeman Grapevine recommends that you check now. A broken A/C unit in Texas heat can probably be one of the most frustrating and uncomfortable things I can imagine going wrong with my car.

So, how do you know if your Air Conditioner needs service? There are two ways. You can do your research on the net and find videos like the one below. There are a lot of useful videos that can be found and used to diagnose almost any problem you may encounter.

Of course, once you diagnose an A/C issue, what then? How do you fix it? Well, that’s the easy part. Bring your Buick or GMC into Freeman Grapevine. We’ll confer with you about your suspected issue and check ourselves. Upon finding the issue we’ll repair the problem quickly and cost effectively. There are a lot of things you can do yourself, but messing with your A/C unit, other than diagnosing a potential problem, can exasperate the issue. You are much better off having us take a look at it.

Air Bag Safety And Children

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At Freeman Grapevine, we take child safety very seriously. As a Dallas Fort Worth car dealer, it is our responsibility as much as it is yours to provide safer solutions for children while they are in your Buick, or GMC.

Let me first start by saying that in the late 80’s automakers began installing airbags in cars for safety reasons, and there’s no doubt that over the past 30 years airbags have saved thousands of lives.

However, it is important to note that airbags are designed to protect average-sized adults…not young children.  I know we’ve all heard it, but airbags can pose a serious risk to children who ride in the front seat.

In fact, according to research conducted by Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, “children exposed to airbags during a crash are twice as likely to suffer a serious injury”.  The American Academy of Pediatrics states, “children under the age of 13 are safest seating in the back seat of a car”.

The following are some safety guidelines for children riding in a car.

  • Infants seated in a rear-facing safety seat should never be placed in the front seat of a car that has an airbag – When the airbag engages, the force of the airbag is directed right at the infant’s head as it comes out of the dashboard.
  • Children seated in a forward-facing child should not be placed in the front seat of a car that has an airbag. – Again when the airbag engages, the child’s head is in the path of the airbag as it emerges from the dashboard.
  • Remember for children 13 and under: The safest place to be in a car is the back seat.
  • For children ages 13 and up riding in the front seat remember:
    • All children should wear a lap/shoulder belt.
    • Move the front seat as far back as possible from the dashboard.
    • Make the sure the child doesn’t lean forward.
    • Have the child sit upright against the seat at all times.

Note: Engineers are constantly improving airbags to improve safety.  Known as 2nd-generation, or de-powered airbags, these airbags are still NOT designed for children.  Children are best protected in the rear seat.

The Children Hospital of Philadelphia has put together a great video on airbags and keeping children safe.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sCZoQr4uIw

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them here. If you’d like to see us, Freeman Grapevine, just stop by and we’ll look and some really safe and very kid friendly vehicles for you and your family.

How To Keep Your Kids Entertained and Keep Your Sanity

The summer is upon us and so are road trips.  While vacations are fun, getting to your destination may not always be enjoyable.  Whether you are going near or far  you will most likely hear, “Are we there yet?”  Luckily, I know a few ways to keep the kids entertained.

  • Movies!  If your Buick/GMC didn’t come with an in-car entertainment system, invest in a portable DVD player and few pairs of headphones.  The kids will love watching their favorite movie for a few hours and you will love the silence from the backseat!
  • Hit the library up before you go.  For a free mode of entertainment take your kids to the library the day before you leave and let them pick out a few books to bring on the trip.
  • Have an in-car scavenger hunt.  Make the kids a list of things to look for as you drive.  Examples: a red car, a license plate from another state, a horse, a pink flower, anything you might see as you drive.
  • Pack trivia cards. Each kid can take turns reading a card and guessing the answer.
  • Always pack music.  Even though the Barney sing-a-long may not be your favorite music, let the kids have 20 or 30 minutes of their favorite music.
  • Zitch-dog!  Every time someone sees a dog they yell zitch-dog! The person who sees the most dogs first wins a prize at the end of the trip.

Do you have any other suggestions for keeping kids entertained?

Fort Worth: Looking to upgrade your Car Audio…Start here first.

First, before you even open that Crutchfield catalog, you need to learn the basics of reproducing a clear and sonically well-rounded aural environment in your vehicle. To dumb that down, “How do I make my Car Stereo sound better?”

There’s no doubt that cars play a significant role in almost everyone’s lives. Everyday, people spend hours and hours inside their cars whether driving to and from work, running errands or simply being stuck in traffic. What’s the first thing you do? If you are anything like me, you hit the radio for some entertainment. I can’t drive 10 feet without getting the tunes going in my car.

So who should I thank for the hours of refocusing the days events while I use my car as an entertainment bubble? Well, that honor goes to the Galvin brothers who developed the first radio used in cars in the 1930s, drivers around the globe can now listen to music while on the road. Forty years and billions invested in audio technology later, the Galvin brothers system is still being used along with its different features to make drivers and passengers’ driving experience better.

So, what do you need to understand about car audio before you go Mod crazy and start buying 1,000 watt power amps and 15″ woofers? Well, in actuality, your first car audio system can be quick and easy upon taking into account a number of factors that will determine a great outcome. First set a budget and research your brands. Check Consumer Reports for accurate and unbiased reviews. Blaupunkt, Pioneer, Bose, Denon and Kenwood are the more popular brands. Then you’ll want to consider all the functions you expect to get like the capacity to play MP3s and CDs. There are hundreds of options, layouts, controls and features available in the modern car receiver/deck, so figure out what you’d like to have. For example, do you need a line in to connect an MP3 player of some kind? Will it play MP3 CDs? Is there a hard drive for music storage? Nail these questions down before you start shopping.

Now this is actually the trick part: choosing the right speakers. What are the right speakers, you might ask? Speakers come in three types including the loud speaker, tweeters and the subwoofer. Loud speakers are for middle sound ranges and while being able to resonate a wide range of sounds, it is only able to do so in a limited manner. This is the reason it needs the other types. Mid-range is the tonal frequency that allows the music to be heard with clarity and cleans up some of the muddy nature of Bass heavy tracks.

Tweeters are small speakers that produce high notes. This is the very top end of the sound. It’s the top end that makes the sound “shimmer”. Tweeters make it possible for high notes to be heard in a fuller and clearer tone.

The third type is the subwoofer that allows for the lower sound range to be emitted. Bass as a tone is omnidirectional,so the bass feels as if it is surrounding you. Tweeters and Loud Speakers are, for the most part, mono-directional, meaning the sound quality will change hen moving left or right from dead center. Beautiful bass and clear baritone can be attributed to the subwoofer.

One other important thing to remember is the fact that your vehicle isn’t wired for extreme audio upgrades. Here is a good video to watch to educate yourself about audio wiring:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p82xRzCr-lc&feature=youtu.be

Like in purchasing anything of significant value, research can prove very helpful.  Check the numerous online shops that offer car audio systems and the different deals available. Reviews and tips from others who have purchased and used the same products can be very helpful. Pay particular attention to reviews that aren’t the glowing reviews, they are usually the most objective and honest.

If you have any questions or are looking for an audio system upgrade for your car, then don’t hesitate to give us a call…we can really help turn your vehicle to a rolling entertainment center.

Dallas Fort Worth Buick GMC: Getting Pulled Over Without Your License

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Here’s the deal, and the same holds true in any traffic stop situation: be polite, up front and courteous. If you are all of the above, the attending officer will likely be the same. Be up front about not having your license immediately. Don’t waste the officers time, or he’ll probably end up wasting yours. Plus it is a good display of honest and respect for the Officer.

Let’s say you didn’t leave your license at home but are driving after you’ve had yours suspended. What do you do? Again, be up front. The attending officer is going to find out anyway, so just tell him immediately that you are driving on a suspended license. If you are lucky, you will get out of there with just a citation. Make it difficult for the attending officer and the only way you will be leaving is in the back of his cruiser.

Check out this video for the right way to interact with the police in regards to your missing license.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsZEzCLk9o8&feature=g-vrec

The bottom line is that your Dallas Fort Worth Buick GMC Dealer, Freeman Grapevine suggests that you be up front with the officer that has pulled you over. Chances are if you made a mistake and left it at home, he’ll let you off with a warning. However, if you aren’t up front with him or her, your situation may end up being less than pleasant.

Dallas Fort Worth Buick GMC: Top Ten Highway Safety Improvements We Take For Granted

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For the past few years (it seems like ages) there has been highway construction in front of your Dallas Fort Worth Buick GMC dealer, Freeman Grapevine, and while it can be a huge nuisance, we also know the work has to be done for safety reasons and driver accommodation.

It’s not just our vehicles that are safer these days.  Highway safety engineers have been working overtime for years to improve both traffic flow and highway safety.  Improving traffic flow contributes to safer roads as well as getting you to your destination more quickly. So, instead of railing against the inconvenience, let’s take a look at some of the highway advancements we take for granted.

Ten Traffic Safety Improvements We All Take for Granted

  1. Divided Highways
  2. Median dividers and barriers engineered to turn vehicle wheels back into the proper lane of traffic.
  3. Improved and increased lighting for roads and highways
  4. Energy absorbing crushable barricades around fixed objects
  5. Small groves or buttons down the side of the highway to alert drivers drifting off the road.
  6. High speed, multi-lane interchanges (instead of intersections or traffic circles)
  7. Improved signage and use of reflective materials.  (If the buttons down the middle of the road in front of you are red reflectors, you are going the wrong way.)
  8. Expanded use of improved guardrails
  9. Brighter LED traffic signals with pedestrian control lights.
  10. Improved reflective paints for highway lanes, crosswalks, and directional arrows.

Before the Interstate Highway program began very few highways were divided.  Roads were one solid strip of asphalt divided only by a line painted down the middle. Learning to pass slower vehicles by moving into and back out of the on-coming lane of traffic was a very important part of driver training.

Short wooden poles, strung together by a single strand of steel cable, were all that separated drivers from the road and a deep ditch or sharp curve.  The guardrails and barriers of today weren’t yet invented.

There was much less street and road lighting and some of the light bulbs were always burned out.  Halogens and LEDs have been a huge improvement.

One of the big killers in the past was drivers dozing off while driving and drifting into on coming traffic or bridge supports. The addition of median dividers, crushable barricades, and road shoulder grooving has significantly reduced head on collisions.

Highway safety engineers will continue to make improvements, but we shouldn’t take all the improvements we have now for granted.  Despite all the traffic, our roads and highways are built to be a lot safer for us than for our parents and grandparents.

Leave Freeman Grapevine a comment below and tell us what you think about the ongoing construction in your area. Is it more of a hindrance than a help?

Fresh Rain Brings Fresh Accidents To Dallas Fort Worth

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Summer time in the Dallas Fort Worth area usually doesn’t get too rain, but when we do, the roads become unnervingly slick and your Dallas Fort Worth Buick GMC dealer, Freeman Grapevine has seen plenty of fender bender repairs come through our shop. While accidents can happen at any time, they chances start to increase with bad weather, and knowing how to be a better driver during and after the rain falls can help protect you and your car.

If you are driving on roads that have experienced rain for the first time in a couple of weeks, you have to take extra caution.  While it may not seem like too much water is on the road, the little bit that there is can loosen up all the oil, grease, and dirt that has dried on the asphalt.  This can turn any road into the world’s largest slip and slide, causing you to have trouble braking and turning over this slick surface.  If you are planning on driving on wet roads, be sure to give yourself more travel time so you don’t feel like you are running late which may cause you to drive less safely.

While driving, keep extra distance between your car and the car in front of you.  This will give you more time to brake and adjust to any other situation in front of you.  If you do need to brake, do so earlier and with less force than you normally would.  If you slam on your brakes, your tires may lose traction on the wet and slippery road and it may cause you to lose control of your vehicle. If you are on a highway or multi-laned road, drive in the middle lane or the lane farthest from the curb.  Water can accumulate in places that you may not see causing you to hydroplane.

If you start to hydroplane, take your foot off the pedal and allow your tires to catch up with the speed you are going.  Don’t accelerate or brake, because this will cause your car to veer, and hold the wheel firmly to avoid causing your wheels to change directions.  Driving on wet roads means more caution is needed so be sure to act accordingly.  If you are looking for a new car for any kind of weather, then be sure to come into Freeman Grapevine.

Dallas Fort Worth GMC: Get A New Car With A Lease Takeover

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Your Dallas Fort Worth Buick GMC dealer, Freeman Grapevine is going to let you in on a little secret. Everyone knows that when someone leases a new car or vehicle, it is new only on the first day, right?  The moment they drive off of the lot the depreciation begins. Therefore, if you find a vehicle or car for Lease Takeovers, where the lessee has already paid all the upfront fees that are associated with a new lease (anywhere from $1000-$3000), you can just take over the monthly lease payments and get a great deal.

If you are lucky, the person trying to get out of the lease may be willing to give you a few installments and other monitory incentives just to entice you into the lease takeover. That is why you should not reject a lease takeover and lease transfer option, or offer. It may be financially beneficial for you to at least analyze some offers and weigh the pros and cons of each offer individually and see if you can get a better deal with a lease takeover, rather than opting for a new vehicle lease.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0eHnP1ySDs

Now, why someone would be willing to pay you some money or offer some incentive for a new car lease takeover?People may want to get out of their vehicle leases due to marriage, divorce, losing a job, a new job, getting a company car, moving to another country, financial problems, etc. Besides this, the lessee may have to face the payment of thousands of dollars in early lease termination expenses.

Before you begin to transfer a lease or continue with this process at all, you’ll first need to contact the leasing agency or company and inquire as to whether or not they allow transferals of their auto leases. Many companies do allow such a transfer, but only after a certain period of time has passed since your lease was initiated. Other companies may not allow you to transfer your car lease at all.

The bottom line is, if someone else is driving the car of your dreams, it might be  a nightmare for them. If you want to learn more about taking over a lease, don’t hesitate to call your Dallas Fort Worth Buick GMC dealer, Freeman Grapevine.

Replace the Brake Pads In Your Dallas Fort Worth Buick Or GMC

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What’s the first line of defense in avoiding an accident in your Dallas Fort Worth Buick, or GMC? Your brakes of course. However, they will do little good if they are extremely worn. The good new is that changing your brake pads is a very easy job, even for a novice weekend mechanic. Plus, Freeman Grapevine knows that performing some of your own maintenance will save you some cash, and that’s a good thing.

Did you know that your front brake pads provide up to 70% of vehicle stopping power? that means that your front brake pads wear out twice as fast as rear brake pads. Replacing brake discs can vary depending on the make and model of car or truck, two wheel or four wheel drive. Always replace brake rotors with top quality, or OEM (original equipment manufacturer) brake rotors, some less expensive brake rotors can squeak and not dissipate heat as well because of their inferior metal quality.

Check out the video below, for a very detailed, step by step How-To instruction on changing your brake pads.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uuJsxJ6V8k&feature=related

See! It’s not so hard. In fact you can probably do the whole job yourself in about 2 hours even with minimal experience under the hood of your car. However, if you are a little gun shy about working on your Dallas Fort Worth Buick, or GMC, don’t hesitate to bring it by Freeman Grapevine for an evaluation and repair if needed.

Dallas Fort Worth Buick GMC: Independence Day 2012

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Independence Day is this Wednesday and while you are getting ready to enjoy the day off with family and friends, your Dallas Fort Worth Buick GMC dealer, Freeman Grapevine wants to remind you that Independence Day isn’t all about firing up the grill and shooting off fireworks. It’s about celebrating one of the most poignant moments in American history: the drafting and implementation of our Declaration of Independence. Our forefathers knew that there was going to be an amazing future in the history of that young country. To show you the true grandeur of the event here a snippet from a letter John Adams wrote to his wife, Abigail.

The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJmMuNKw7R4&feature=related

Remember the true meaning of this national holiday. It’s the celebration of everything that we hold true to be uniquely American. It’s the celebration of our freedom and the vision of a group of men who knew we could be more than just subjects to the English Crown. It was a dream and a vision that has come to fruition and shaped the nation we have become today. There are very few who can afford the freedoms we enjoy here in the United States of America. Don’t take them for granted. After all, Freedom is never Free.

That being said,Freeman Grapevine wants to wish everyone a happy and safe 4th of July. When you polish off all of those burgers and hot dogs, swing by Freeman Grapevine and test drive Dallas Fort Worth’s hottest selection of Buicks and GMCs. There’s nothing like driving American, and we’re proud to offer you the best vehicles America has to offer.