My Personal Finance Blog

Basically, fixing and repairing your cars headlights is something everyone can do. You could take your car to your local car dealer and pay hundreds of dollars or you could repair them yourself for as little as $15. I would rather keep my money than make my local dealer rich with their outrageous markups and prices. Here is how to properly evaluate, fix and repair almost any automotive headlight problem.

First, determine what the problem is. Are they dim, not working at all, hard to see with at night, have water inside, failed inspection? If they don’t come on at all either you have a burned out bulb or an electrical problem. An electrical problem can be expensive and very labor intensive to fix – but they are usually vary rare. So lets first look at the bulb. The bulb unscrews out of the back of the headlight lens on most newer cars (on older cars with glass headlights the whole lens is the bulb and you just replace it with a new glass replacement $10 – $20 at Walmart). After removing the bulb, look at it. Does it look burned out? Is it black, melted, discolored? If so, replace with a new one. You can purchase replacements at your local automotive store or Walmart for under $20. Insert the new bulb or bulbs and make sure not to touch the glass part of the bulb with your fingers – the grease we emit on our fingers will cause the bulb to wear more quickly or even blow. After installing the bulb try the lights. 99% of the time this is the reason they will not turn on. If it still doesn’t light you have an electrical problem and this should be referred to your local mechanic.

If you have water in your lens this is caused by a leak, crack, or hole in the lens. With the newer plastic lenses you need to remove the lens and then carefully drill a small hole into the bottom of the lens (be careful not to hit the bulb. Let the water run out and then patch with silicone (easily obtained at Walmart or your local automotive store). Then find the source of the water. Usually the seals start to go bad after 3-5 years. You can cover the seal around the lens with silicone to reseal the lens. If the leak was caused by a crack a clear sealant like urethane can be used to seal the crack or small hole. If it is a large hole it would be best to replace the lens.

The other major problem is cloudy, yellow headlight lenses which can lead to diminished output, poor nighttime visibility and basically an unsafe car. There are now headlight repair, restorer and cleaner kits available to cure this problem. In the past you had to resort to replacing your lenses which can be very expensive – $200+ per lens not including installation and labor at your local car dealer. Now for under $20 you can fully restore your headlight lenses to like new optical clarity and greatly improve your nighttime safety. For more information on these kits please see the link below.

There you have it – the three biggest problems with automotive headlights and how to fix and repair them for greater safety for nighttime driving – and save big by doing it yourself. Please take the time to make your headlights and rest of your car as safe as possible. As having volunteered for a volunteer emergency squad for years I have personally witnessed dozens of fatal crashes that could have easily been avoided by just properly repairing and fixing the headlights. Be safe, drive safe – remember the life you save may be your own. Please pass this around so that it may benefit as many people as possible and increase the safety on our roads.

A car is expensive. And many people know that. That is why people should take care of their cars as good as possible. There are many ways that people can do to take care of their cars. Like not buying the wrong accessories that can make a car break down. Now usually people have to pay expensive to get the right accessory. So that is why many people do not like to modify their car. But CARid.com will help people who are willing to modify their car with low prices. They offer the best accessories in the world with low prices. They understand that people sure want an accessory that will suit their car but can also work effectively in their car. In this company all their products are cool, cheap and can work effectively. There are many options of stuff that they can choose. One of the products that they have is car air intake. There are two types of intakes that people can get in this company, cold air intakes and also air filters. These systems are the great ingredient for people’s car. They change hot dirty air into cool breeze to breeze the engine. There are many other kinds of accessory that people can get in this company. All their accessories are a must have accessories for drivers that likes to modify their car. There are also dash kits, custom grills, floor mats, chrome accessories, rear spoilers, headlights and many more. All the accessories that they have are made from great material and that is why they are all very safe to use. So now people know where to get a good accessory, because they can get it in this company. For more information on the products that they have, people can come and check the website.

There have been hundreds of front page headlines over the apparent failure of Toyota to deal with what is called sudden acceleration syndrome. This is where you are just sitting in your vehicle with the engine running or driving it on the road and, without warning, it suddenly accelerates. If you believe the stories, we have had people unable to stop on the highways even with helpful emergency services telling the drivers to switch off the engine. It seems some drivers are really determined to experience uncontrolled acceleration, and their experiences may make it more likely driver error is one of the main causes of the syndrome. Indeed, if you listen to the manufacturers, they all sing the same tune. With the accelerator and brake being next to each other, it’s easy for the driver to make a mistake and press the wrong pedal. In reality, the syndrome has affected almost every make of vehicle on the road over the last ten years. It was because of the scale of the problem that manufacturers introduced the shift interlock system which makes it impossible to engage drive unless you have your foot on the brake.

Let’s put Toyota’s problems in context. Every major manufacturer has had recalls with problems affecting driver and passenger safety. The air bags in the Acura MDX were defective, and a plague of electrical problems affected the headlights in the Ford Focus. One of the reasons why Toyota has attracted more attention than the others this year is a type of protectionism. You attack the safety record of foreign importers to boost the sales of locally produced vehicles. Taking the statistics overall, Toyota actually has a better safety record than most other manufacturers, i.e. fewer people are injured per mile driven. With virtually every make and model recalled, the manufacturers show they are paying attention. Your safety is important to them. But what happens to your insurance premium if your vehicle is recalled?

Insurance companies find any excuse to raise their premiums but it’s very unusual for rates to rise following a recall. That would be penalizing you for the manufacturer’s design defects, and most states have regulations in place to prevent increases solely based on a recall. If you think you have been victimized in this way, report the facts to your local Department of Insurance. Should you prefer to change insurers, make sure you follow the terms and conditions for cancelling the policy. Many insurers impose penalties for early cancellation.

One word of warning – do not ignore a recall notice. Auto insurance companies like to find reasons to avoid paying out on claims. If you do not have your vehicle repaired and the defect causes an accident, that will be your fault and your claim will be reduced or refused. Even if there is no accident, the insurer can impose a surcharge or refuse to renew the insurance. It would be good if auto insurance companies always showed themselves in the best possible light. Unfortunately, the drive to make the maximum profit often makes them seem vicious and cold-hearted. There is no compassion in business. So always approach insurance like every other service. Shop around to find the best make and model of vehicle – one that does well in crash tests and is not popular with thieves. Then get auto insurance quotes from as many companies as possible and find the best deal. Rest assured. Recalls are the least of your problems and do not affect the premium rate over the short term.