Tag Archives: GMC Dealer

How good are you at keeping up your car’s records

Tips and HInts, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Hey guess what? As much as we are changing and rolling into the electronic age, I’ll bet your glove box is filled with receipts from oil changes, tune-ups, tire rotations and who else knows what. Or even better, you cram them in a cardboard box in your garage. Let’s face it, it’s probably about time to get rid of your maintenance receipt receptacle in lieu of something a little more organized and up to date.

I’ll be the first to admit that keeping records of automotive repair and maintenance is a chore few of us relish, but keeping organized files can save you and your mechanic time and grief down the road. Essentially, these records are your car’s medical records; it’s important to be able to present these to your auto technician, so they know how to diagnose and “treat” your vehicle! Especially if you are changing workshops. Whether they’re oil change records or transmission repair receipts, it’s a good idea to keep all these records together. Things like having a record of the last timing belt replacement can save you unnecessary maintenance costs, but they can also save you from breakdowns due to overdue maintenance.

Of course, this is a modern age and you’ll probably find it easier to have everything at hand on your computer. In fact, there are many software programs you can get to keep track of your car’s maintenance and repair schedules. Lonewolf Software is one good option, and so is MTCPro. Even working off of a simple Excel spreadsheet will be a lot easier than pulling your latest maintenance reports apart because of the gum you left in your glove box.

Want to keep all your papers together in the glove box? Take a look at the video:

The bottom line is, the better the records you keep the better your car can be serviced whereby making you a much happier driver…and giving Freeman Grapevine the chance to follow the paper trail of service which will help us nail down any repairs you might need.

 

What Would You Do If Your Tanker Truck Caught Fire

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Every now and then, I’ll come across something unique that I just have to share. This post isn’t about, changing your oil or rotating your tires, but is about 1 fearless individual who risked his own life to save the life of others.

The footage you are about to see was recorded in a gas station in Turkey. The tanker truck caught fire while filling the underground fuel reserve. The cause of the fire was blamed on static electricity . As you can see in the video the people who saw the fire expanding rapidly started running away, fearing an imminent explosion.

However, Engin Koçak, the truck driver, felt he had the duty to do something. He first attempted to put out the fire with an extinguisher. Quickly realizing that the blaze was too powerful for that,  he got in the cabin…yes the cabin of his truck attached to 1,000’s of gallons of fuel and drove the truck away from the station, risking his own life in order to save the lives of others.

Here’s a quote from carscoop.

“The fuel tank went up in flames instantly. At that moment, I said, ‘Let something happen to me, instead of the people nearby,’ and got behind the wheel. The tank turned into a ball of flames, but I managed to take it to a secure place. But some cars were burned as a result of the flames jumping from the tank,” said the driver, who reportedly jumped off the truck to save his life when he arrived in a safe area, 1 kilometer away from the gas station.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0m9BDGRJ4M&feature=player_embedded

Thanks to Koçak’s heroic actions, no one was hurt in the incident.

I just found this a really great story and how the actions of one man save a lot of people. If you’d like to leave a comment or even share a story with Freeman Grapevine and our readers, we’d love to hear them!

North Texas Weather and Driving: What you Need to Know

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Living in Texas and specifically, the DFW area, we are prone to violent and often times destructive weather. This can happen almost any month during the year, but when Fall rolls around the mixture of warmer rising air colliding with colder air is a prime atmosphere for generating torrential downpours and the ever dreaded…TORNADO!

There are a few things to know when stuck out in these conditions. I’ve been caught in 3 tornado conditions when driving and each was more terrifying than the rest. Kind of like this guy. This video was taken the weekend of October 24th, 2010.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5gzVE5wlkA

According to cnn: Authorities in northeast Texas were assessing damage Monday morning after a tornado destroyed homes, knocked train cars off their tracks and injured at least four people.

Five homes in Rice, Texas, were destroyed as 125 mph winds whipped through a seven-mile swath of Navarro County Sunday evening, said Eric Meyers, the county’s emergency management coordinator.

Meyers rode out the tornado inside a vehicle and videotaped the twister as it tore the roof off a school about a block away.



“The sheer power was just amazing,” Meyers said in an interview Monday on CNN’s “American Morning” program.
If you are in your car, find shelter immediately.
Here are some of the things that people describe when they tell about a tornado experience:

  • A sickly greenish or greenish black color to the sky.
  • If there is a watch or warning posted, then the fall of hail should be considered as a real danger sign. Hail can be common in some areas, however, and usually has no tornadic activity along with it.
  • A strange quiet that occurs within or shortly after the thunderstorm.
  • Clouds moving by very fast, especially in a rotating pattern or converging toward one area of the sky.
  • A sound a little like a waterfall or rushing air at first, but turning into a roar as it comes closer. The sound of a tornado has been likened to that of both railroad trains and jets.
  • Debris dropping from the sky.
  • An obvious “funnel-shaped” cloud that is rotating, or debris such as branches or leaves being pulled upwards, even if no funnel cloud is visible.
If you see a tornado and it is not moving to the right or to the left relative to trees or power poles in the distance, it may be moving towards you! Remember that although tornadoes usually move from southwest to northeast, they also move towards the east, the southeast, the north, and even northwest.
Finally, if you are in a car, and you can see a tornado forming or approaching, you should leave the car and take shelter as above. You may think you can escape from the tornado by driving away from it, butyou can’t know what you may be driving into! A tornado can blow a car off a road, pick a car up and hurl it, or tumble a car over and over. Many people have been killed in cars while they were trying to outrun the tornado, and although it is sometimes possible to escape, it is generally not a good idea.
An underpass may seem like a safe place, but may not be. While videos show people surviving under an underpass, those tornadoes have been weak. No one knows how survivable an underpass is in a strong or violent tornado. The debris flying under the underpass could be very deadly… head for a ditch.
Also, if you have encountered any hail damage from a recent storm, bring it by and Freeman Grapevine will  help get those dings out.

Fort Worth: How much do you trust Red Light Cameras

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After reading an article recently about the Vice President of American Traffic Solutions Inc., based in Scottsdale, Ariz misrepresenting himself to the public by posting supportive comments as a “general citizen”, it makes me wonder about the entire red light camera program itself.

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

Here are a few excerpts from an article in The Spokesman

Bill Kroske, the vice president of business development at American Traffic Solutions Inc., based in Scottsdale, Ariz., also posted comments on The Spokesman-Review’s website. The Herald, of Everett, Wash., reported that it tracked posts made by Kroske to the company in Arizona, and that he had signed up for the Herald’s website using his real name and work email.

A reporter covering a popular debate over the “Photo Red” program noticed that one person with the screen name “W Howard” had been commenting frequently, and discovered the account was linked to a company that appeared to be using the comments to promote its business, Herald editor Neal Pattison said. The user never identified himself as an employee of American Traffic Solutions.

After several people posted comments criticizing the cameras, Kroske said their response “is just why we need the cameras.”

“It is that same lack of common sense and emotional control that is found in aggressive and dangerous driving,” Kroske wrote.

…and this is the point that was running through my mind while reading the rest of the article

“Employees need to understand that as companies we are held to a higher standard and that posts, tweets, and blogs not only reflect on the individual but also the company that they work for,” he said.

So what does everyone else think about red light cameras? I can appreciate his drive to promote his product, but at the expense of misleading the public is just not right. In fact, this is the exact reason why I question the ethics of the cameras to begin with. If the advocates are lying, what about the cameras: are they accurate, are the ethical, are they really helping a problem, is there even a problem to begging with?

What does everyone else think. I think I’m secretly obsessed with this topic, so I may be way off base here, but my gut says I’m ok to feel this way. Leave me a comment and tell me what you think…and no, Bill Kroske, you aren’t allow to comment as someone else.

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

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buick gmc air condition, Buick Dealer, buying used car, dallas Buick Dealer, Dallas GMC Dealer, dallas GMC Truck, dallas new car, dallas Used Car, dallas Used Truck, dallas Used Truck. New Car, DFW Buick, dfw car dealer, dfw gmc, Fort Worth Buick, fort worth gmc, Fort Worth Truck Dealer, Ft. Worth Buick, Ft. Worth car dealer, ft. worth gmc, GMC Dealer, GMC Truck, Used Car, Used TruckSo, we’ve had a pretty mild winter here in the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex. Freeman Grapevine is willing to bet that means we are going to have another scorcher of a Summer this year. That being said, “How is your GMC, or Buick’s A/C Working”?

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.

Is your steering wheel sticking on your Buick or GMC

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If you are driving an older car, than you may notice that it isn’t as easy as it used to be to make turns.  If you think that you are having to use more force to turn the wheel, or that it starts to stick, then that means that you are probably going to need to add or flush your power steering fluid.  Like many other parts of your car, your power steering is accomplished by a fluid that helps you drive your car with ease.  Over time, the steering fluid may get low, or become dirty and contaminated, which means you have to get rid of the old, and add in the new.

This can be easily done at home, but there is more to it than taking off a cap and adding more fluid.  The video below is a great walk through on how to flush your car’s power steering fluid.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1u1EY2LCGRI

If you still feel that you are having problems turning your steering wheel, then you may want to take your car to a mechanic to make sure there aren’t any bigger problems. You can’t drive what you can’t steer. If you are looking for a new car that you can control with ease, then just swing by Freeman Grapevine and I’ll get you a great deal on a new Buick or GMC.

Air Bag Safety And Children

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Air bag safet, freeman grapevine, air bags and kids, air bags and children

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.

Driving your car in Fort Worth’s high winds

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Living in Texas, Freeman Grapevine is well aware of how the winds can suddenly pick up in our less populated areas. Expect it to happen even more as the weather changes from cold to warm. This temperature shift can cause high winds that can literally sweep across the country.  While you may look outside and see a bright and sunny day, that doesn’t mean that driving conditions can be severe.  A common problem of driving during high winds is that most drivers don’t take the same precautions they would during rain, snow, or fog because you cannot see the windy conditions.

I’m sure you have felt it in your car before.  You are driving at speed and suddenly you feel your vehicle being pushed into another lane from a strong wind gust.  During sever high winds, it may seem as though you are moving your steering wheel from one side to the other as though driving in a mini slalom course.  So what should you do when driving in high winds?

Wind can create difficulties for drivers of all vehicles. High winds are especially challenging for trucks, RVs and trailers, but they also affect cars and, not surprisingly, SUVs as well. When you experience high winds:

  • Reduce your speed
  • Be careful when driving close to trucks, buses and other large vehicles
  • Pay attention to travel warnings and bans; some states restrict the use of certain vehicles when winds are high
  • Take great care making steering corrections when going from protected to open areas.

Please keep these tips in mind when driving during windy conditions.  Just because you can’t see it, winds can still wreak havoc on  your car.  Have you ever had any problems with driving during high winds? The picture above is pretty telling in regards to how furious straight line winds can become.

Feel free to share your driving stories, or any scary encounter you may have had with unexpected wind or weather in our comments section. Or, just stop by Freeman Grapevine and tell us about it!

How do you know what used Car to buy

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dallas fort worth used car, dallas Buick Dealer, Dallas GMC Dealer, dallas GMC Truck, dallas new car, dallas Used Car, dallas Used Truck, dfw driving, GMC Dealer, GMC Truck, new carHere at Freeman Grapevine our used car selection is growing larger by the day. Why is that? Well, it’s a direct result of today’s modern lease programs and the rate at which people are turning over their cars for the latest models or style. The good news for you is that the chances of you falling into a really great used car are pretty good…that’s if you know what to look for. I found a good video that demonstrates 5 easy ways to judge the condition of the used car you are looking to buy.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szPE_YCjc6g

Keep in mind that if you are purchasing the car from Freeman Grapevine we will have already given it a multi-point inspection and give you a CarFax report on the history of the vehicle.

Remember, there are some very good things about buying a used vehicle, namely you can get more car for your money. Besides, does it really matter if it’s used? It’s new to you!

Does anyone have any suggestions on buying a used car?

How To Keep Your Kids Entertained and Keep Your Sanity

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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?