So, it was three weeks ago and I was driving between my house and my boyfriend’s house. Mind you, this is about a fifteen-minute drive, so I wasn’t expecting anything too crazy to happen on my drive. Of course, with my luck, I was so wrong. About halfway there, I started smelling something weird. I figured it was just a smell on the road (you know, like, sometimes you’ll smell a skunk on the road but never see the actual roadkill). But then, I noticed smoke coming out from under my hood. This has literally never happened to me before, but I knew I should pull over, so I did.

I popped the hood once I was on the side of the road with my hazards on, and thank goodness it was light out, because I was freaking out. My engine was definitely smoking and I was kind of scared that it was just going to blow up in my face like in an action movie. Thank goodness it didn’t!!! But I propped the hood open so that the engine could air out and cool down, and I called my dad, who called for roadside assistance.

When the tow arrived, which was super fast, I had them take me to King Volkswagen, because that’s where I got my car. It’s a really cute little Beetle, and I didn’t want it to be broken because, like, I love my car! Thankfully the techs were really fast and took a look and it turned out that the only thing that was wrong was that I had a tiny oil leak that was dripping on the engine and burning. They patched it right up and I was good to go in like an hour! It was amazing.

So basically, the moral of this story is that no matter what happens to you on the road, you should have a good system for any situation. Make sure that you have access to roadside assistance, that your cellphone is charged, and that you can stay calm if something DOES happen. And ask the tow truck, if you need one, to take you to your dealer! The techs there totally know the ins and outs of the cars they sell, so if you have one, they’ll be able to fix it like such pros. It’s amazing!

Anyway, I hope you liked this, and you should check out King Volkswagen! They helped me out big time, and I want to tell everyone how much I loved my experience there. Go go go!!!

If you’ve ever been caught on the side of the road in an emergency, you’ve probably wanted to have an emergency kit with you. If you had one already, you’re one of the lucky ones! If you didn’t, and still don’t, come on! Putting together a functional emergency kit is super easy and inexpensive and can help in the long run a lot more than you know. It’s useful even when you don’t have an emergency – like, the band-aids are useful when someone gets a paper cut or something. An emergency kit is always a good idea. Trust me on this. If you need to make one, check out the list below for things you should be including in it. This stuff can make a huge difference in not only how well you respond to an emergency, but in how safe you feel in that situation.

• First Aid kit. Some of the items to include are:

  • Band-Aids

  • Hand sanitizer.

  • Antiseptic.

  • Antibiotic ointment.

  • Bug spray.

  • Aspirin (or similar).

  • Cotton balls.

  • Gauze pads.

  • Tweezers.

  • Bandana.

  • Ace bandage.

• Fire extinguisher.

• Road flares (if not already in your tire-changing tools).

• Jumper cables.

• Rain ponchos.

• Tarp.

• Flashlight and extra batteries.

• Rags.

• Duct tape

• Scent-free baby wipes.

• Drinking water and non-perishable snacks.

• Multipurpose tool.

Now go forth and feel safe! And if you have questions about emergencies or need help bringing your vehicle back from a crash, come visit us at King Volkswagen and we’ll set you right again.

If you have a car, you know that it’s gotta be registered to the owner. But what happens when it’s time to renew your registration? Here’s a quick guide to that process that will hopefully simplify the process for you a little bit! If you already have a registration, this guide is for you.

One way to renew your Maryland vehicle registration is online. You need your vehicle title and license plate number, and you can only do this if the name, address, insurance, and vehicle information on the registration renewal notice you received are the same. You can also renew your registration over the phone! A third way of doing this using ~technology~ is to do it through the eMVA Kiosk, which is at all MVA locations. You need your current registration card or renewal notice, insurance information, and some money (either plastic or a check) for the associated fees. At these kiosks, you can not only renew your registration but also request your driving records, apply for a personal identification number, change your address, request a replacement title, request an extension for the inspection deadline, order replacement plates, pay fees, order county pride stickers, request temporary registration, or request duplicate or additional registration cards.

You can also renew your registration via mail. You need your registration notice, and all you need to do is fill it out. Don’t send cash in the mail for the fees, though – only send a check or money order. Write your driver’s license number and home or work phone number on the check and you’re good to go!

Your County Treasurer’s office will also renew your plates for you, for a fee, Monday through Friday. This is only to renew your tags, so if that’s what you need to do you can go here. Locations and hours of these offices can be found online.

Here’s some more information, straight from the MVA:

• Registration surcharges increased from $13.50 to $17.00 as part of Transportation Infrastructure Investment Act of 2013.  New dollars go directly to the Maryland Emergency Medical System Operations Fund to support Maryland’s world-renowned trauma and emergency management system, including the Maryland State Police Aviation Command, R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, the Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute and the Volunteer Company Assistance Fund.

• Renew now. If doing so by mail, your renewal notice must be received at the MVA no later than 15 days prior to the expiration of your current registration.

• If renewing your registration only, you will receive one license plate sticker. If receiving new license plates, you will receive both a month and a year sticker.

• Trailers not for rent or lease do not require insurance.To avoid a substantial uninsured motorist penalty fee, return your registration card and plates to the MVA on or before the day the required insurance is terminated.

• Administrative fees will be assessed by the MVA if your vehicle registration is being withheld as a result of failure to satisfy the requirements of a traffic control device violation, law enforcement agency referral, or failure to satisfy the requirements for a returned check. The Administrative fee by the MVA is assessed for each administrative action imposed. Any fee remaining unpaid may be referred to the Maryland Central Collection Unit for collection.

• Post office boxes are accepted as long as the name of your street is provided and the zip code is the same for the post office box and street.

• If your license plates are lost or mutilated check the box above the tag number on your renewal notice and include applicable fees.  Please remember that when you receive new plates, any old plates in your possession must be returned to an MVA office.

• If the vehicle is sold, traded or junked and you have NOT transferred the plates, throw away this renewal notice. Remember: The plates must be returned to an MVA office to avoid the penalty fees.

• You may apply for a refund if you have not used your 2nd year’s registration.

• If your plates have officially been transferred to a new vehicle, record your new vehicle information in the gray areas provided on the renewal notice.

And if you need a vehicle to register in the first place, King Volkswagen has you covered!

Driving in the dark is something that I definitely have a serious problem with. I am only 24 but I have worse eyesight than my grandmother! This means that my night vision is, of course, totally shot. The way I like to avoid having to drive in the dark is by just refusing to drive after dark. Are we going to be out past sunset? Awesome, you drive, cause I will not be able to see. But of course there are some times when we do have to drive after dark because it’s unavoidable or you misscheduled something – whatever happened, you’ll still have to drive in the dark. Here are some tips for driving after dark for those of us who might not be the most comfortable doing so.

First, throw away those nighttime driving glasses. Not your regular glasses, of course! Some people are making money selling nighttime driving glasses that actually don’t help at all. In fact, they decrease your vision, which is even more dangerous than your naked eyes on the road. Yeah, I almost fell for it too. But these things aren’t good. Unless they are actual night vision goggles, and you’re on a safari or walking around at night, you shouldn’t have anything on your eyes besides glasses or contacts after dark.

Your high beams are your best friends on dark, empty roads. If you’re driving alone on the road (as in, there are no other cars that you can see), you should turn on your high beams. Wildlife is a big threat to your safety in the car, and if your night vision is bad, you shouldn’t risk anything. Turn those high beams on! But as soon as you see another car, whether it’s oncoming or a car that’s in your lane in front of you, turn your high beams off. That’s just politeness!

If you encounter someone who has kept their high beams on even though there is another car there (yours), some good tips are to either look at the white line on the side of the road (your side) as they pass – you can still stay in your lane but you are not looking directly at the high beams and won’t develop spots in your eyes or ruin your night vision. This tip I actually learned in my driver’s ed class when I was 16, and it’s helped me through a lot of tough nighttime spots!

If you really can’t trust your eyes to get you through night driving, always err on the side of caution. Call for a cab, have a friend drive you, or just stay where you are. Schedule yourself well so that you won’t have to drive after dark. And if you need a car to get you around, come down to King Volkswagen and pick out one to test drive today!

When we think of gasoline, we usually think of it in terms of “leaded” or “unleaded,” but if you think about it, we never see gasoline that’s not labeled as unleaded anymore. Sure, we have the “regular,” “premium,” and “plus” (or related nomenclature) but it’s never referred to as anything but unleaded. Why is this? Why do we think of gasoline in those terms, even though we don’t have any context for referring to gasoline as leaded at all? Read on to find out!

So, there was such a thing as leaded gasoline. This literally means that lead (specifically Tetraethyl lead) was added to gasoline in order to increase the octane rating of the fuel. The octane rating simply means that the fuel can be compressed by the car engine’s cylinders even more – which means that more power comes out of each drop of fuel. When fuel is compressed, it will ignite due to friction. With a higher octane rating, the fuel won’t ignite as soon, so it can be compressed even more. The lead was added to increase this in the early 1920’s. Before the advent of leaded fuel, almost every car engine had a knock. This was the fuel igniting before it was supposed to because it had been compressed past its ignition point and ignited before it was really supposed to. With the addition of lead, this didn’t happen, and the knock was silenced. However, lead is an incredibly toxic substance for humans. As a natural heavy metal, it doesn’t decompose at all – it just stays. And because humans are who deal with cars and gasoline, the lead stayed in skin, muscle, and bone and caused lead poisoning and death. So, in the 1970’s, leaded gasoline began to be phased out and was banned completely in all vehicles across the United States in 1995. Now, since the ban on leaded gasoline, the average level of lead in the blood of people living in the U.S. has decreased by over 75%. That’s a lot!

So, the difference between regular and premium fuel today is still that octane level. Different types of car engines require different octane levels in the fuel they need, based on the engine’s performance and how much power it needs to run. However, these days the octane level isn’t increased by lead – thanks, modern technology! – so you can feel better about using premium fuel. If you don’t have a high-performance engine, though, don’t waste your money on the fuel. It won’t make your engine magically into that of a race car, it’ll just be pointlessly more expensive gas. If you DO have a high-performance engine, though, go ahead and fill up with that 92 – since there’s no lead, you’re all set.

Have you ever smelled something in your car that might have been a little…. Out of the ordinary? I know I have. Usually, my car smells really nice and fresh because I have a great little car jar thing that smells like lavender and lemons. It’s great! But then one day I got into my car and started driving and it started smelling decidedly like maple syrup, which I do NOT have as a car jar flavor! So I, being nervous and paranoid about everything to do with my car, took it into the shop. And thank goodness I did! It turned out that coolant had been leaking out of my car, which could have made my engine overheat! So, I got that fixed right away and now my car is back to the nice lavender and lemon scent, and I know what it means if my car smells weird. So, let me take a minute to share those smells with you, just in case you’re experiencing the same thing!

If your car smells like rotten eggs, it’s not that you’re driving near some trash – unless you are, of course! If it’s a persistent smell, you shouldn’t ignore it. This means your engine probably isn’t running very well and you could have issues with your catalytic converter. The “cat,” as it’s called, can be a really expensive repair, so you need to get this looked at ASAP!

Burning carpet smell is also an important one to keep a nose out for. If you experience this smell, it could be that your brakes need to be checked. Especially if you’re driving in normal conditions – as opposed to in winter or rain or something. Your brakes are one of the most important parts of your car, so take good care of them!

Like I said earlier, maple syrup smell can mean that you have a coolant leak – this can lead to your engine overheating! If you want to check on your coolant yourself, wait until your radiator is cooled down to remove the radiator cap and check the fluid level in there.

Burned rubber smell can mean slipping drive belts or loose hoses rubbing against other things in your engine. You should get this checked out quickly because you don’t want to throw or break a belt while you’re on the highway!

Hot oil smell may mean oil is leaking onto your exhaust system. Look for oil on the pavement underneath your car when you’re stopped, or for smoke coming out of your engine area. Similarly, gasoline smell can mean a leak in your fuel injector line or gas tank. Check under your car for leaking gasoline as well, and then hoof it on over to the shop to get that fixed!

If your car smells like dirty socks, even when it’s neat and clean as a pin, it’s probably mildew in the moisture condensing in your A/C evaporator. To fix this, just drive a mile from home and turn off the A/C and run the fan on high to dry your system out. Voilà!

I hope these sniff-tips have helped you out! Remember, if something seems funky, go to your dealer or shop and get it looked at! You’ll be so glad you did!

I’m a huge fan of organization. I watch all the TV shows where the lady comes into people’s houses, tells them that their lives are messes, and then proceeds to magically organize everything. I got that book about Japanese organization the day it came out. I fold my grocery bags into tiny triangles. It’s crazy! So, my wife suggested that I share some tips on organizing your car as a kind of… outlet.

I have to say, having kids definitely makes organization a little harder. You’re focused on them instead of on cleanliness, and so it can be hard to find a minute to tidy things up in all the hubbub of life with children. One of my strategies is to use the headrests of the front seats for hanging organizers that hang down into the backseat. That way, all the kids’ stuff is off the floor and seats and within easy reach of their little hands. Even when the kids aren’t in the car, these organizers are useful for storing things like pens, maps, spare change for tolls, and anything else that usually ends up on the floor.

Another great place for stuff to collect is the center console of the car. Mine definitely used to resemble a black hole more than anything, but ever since I cleaned it up it’s been a great place to keep things handy. I went to the store and got some cord keepers to tie up things like phone chargers, headphones, and GPS cords to keep them from getting tangled together into a terrifying mess. I also got little bins that fit inside the console to organize things like my tire pressure gauge, a compass, a flashlight, and anything else that I might need to be super handy.

The glove compartment is a danger zone for a lot of people, but as long as you make sure you’re not using it as a catchall for receipts and trash (looking at my wife here – love you honey!) it shouldn’t get too bad. What I try to do is go through my car for trash at least once a week, just to make sure what’s in the vehicle is what needs to be there, and so that the important stuff doesn’t get buried.

If you’re a fellow DIY organization lover, my best tip is to go to the store and pick up a bunch of little bins and organizers and keep them in strategic spots around your car. My mother always used to say – “a place for everything and everything in its place,” which I take to mean that nothing extra should be rolling around my car and that what’s there should have a home where it’s easily accessible.

I hope my tips have helped! Happy organizing!

Some people when they drive, they put the metal to the pedal and hit the ground running. That’s my dad. He has such a heavy foot, that his gas tank probably lasts only a week if that. Mind you he rarely drives.

His car isn’t a gas guzzler by any means, he just wastes so much gas when he puts his foot down. I recently told him about “Eco” drive mode which his car has. Since not all cars have that mode, he was unsure how to even use it. I let him know that it is even recommended that people drive on “Eco” mode to use up the most gas as possible.

The “Eco” mode shuts off parts of the engine in order to reserve most of the gas. It’s completely okay, really! The “Eco” driving mode comes on to let you know that you are getting the most out of your fuel tank.

Having your “Eco” driving mode is not only good for your gas but also good for the environment. I know my dad loves that it helps the environment so that was my selling point! He used to tell my brother who would rev his engine towards his plants, that he would kill them. He’d get so upset my brother would say he loves his plants more than him.

I told him how much money he would save since he wouldn’t need to refill his tank every week. Saving money on gas means that he can spend more money on his garden, on traveling, or even on me, but saving that green is what is important.

I told him since some vehicles don’t have this mode, that he should take full advantage of the fact that he did. I told him how some people don’t have the luxury of saving money for other things.

He loves it now, after months of teaching him how to use it. Mind you, teaching him how to drive and just pushing one small button to access the “Eco” drive mode. He is so much happier now knowing that his heavy foot won’t be causing him more money and more stopping for gas.

Cates, Spencer. “What Does the ECO Driving Indicator Light Mean?” YourMechanic Advice. N.p., 09 Sept. 2016. Web. 21 July 2017.