September 2019

4 Reasons to Avoid Driving on Underinflated Tires

Believe it or not, driving with too little air in your tires can be risky for more than just your well-being. It can jeopardize other parts of your car and even wreak havoc on your budget without compromising any of your hardware.

Luckily, inflating your tires is quick and simple with a tire gauge, an air pump and a little time. Make sure you’re consulting your owner’s manual to find the exact pressure. By keeping the amount of air at this level, you’ll be dodging a lot of these road troubles.

Why You Don’t Want to Drive on Deflated Tires

Reduced fuel economy

As soon as you take to the road on underinflated tires, you’ll be feeling some pocketbook pain at the pump. A drop of 6 psi can make a sedan’s fuel economy drop by 5 percent. That can mean sacrificing a couple of miles per gallon, which will add up quickly during any commute.

Easier tire blowouts

You won’t be kicking yourself at the pump if you get a flat before filling up again, though. Underinflating your tires is the easiest way to kill them — the inner pieces of the tire don’t function well without the correct air pressure. This can spell immediate trouble if you’re normally hauling heavy cargo, too. If the tires are severely underinflated — any pressure 20 psi under the suggested amount — you may experience a blowout sooner rather than later.

Blowouts mean paying more to get the tires replaced, or getting into an even more dangerous situation.

Decreased braking force

The reason the owner’s manuals suggest such precise tire pressure is because the equipment is made to have the highest contact with the pavement and greatest efficiency at that level. Underinflated tires cause performance issues, the most dangerous of which is increased stopping distance. On underinflated tires, you may roll a few extra feet after slamming on the brakes. In an emergency, every inch matters, and those extra feet could mean nicking a bumper or getting into a worse accident.

Increased tire wear and tear

Even if your tires don’t blow out, having too little air in them will cause them to break down quicker. Underinflation will cause greater wear on the treads toward the sides of the tire. In the case of a Honda Accord the source used as an example, a drop in 6 psi would cause the tires to degrade roughly 25 percent faster.

Keep your tires inflated at appropriate levels to lengthen the lifespan of your equipment and keep some extra cash in your pocket.

Don’t let deflated tires stand between you and a care-free road trip. Especially with used cars, maintenance and extra care is critical for safe, cost-effective driving. For all your budget-friendly, secure driving needs, visit NJ State Auto Auction in Jersey City, NJ.

What Should You Do If You Have a Flat Tire While Driving?

A flat tire can be one of the most annoying and inconvenient obstacles for a driver to have to overcome. While there’s never really a good time for a flat, driving through town or even down the freeway with a punctured tire is one of the most irksome situations to find yourself in. In fact, driving on a flat at cruising speeds on a highway can be especially dangerous if drivers respond poorly.

While certainly a major concern, a flat tire doesn’t have to be a total car catastrophe. Here’s what you should do if it happens to you.

How To Handle a Flat Tire While Driving

Identify the flat

You may not always realize right away that you’ve got a flat tire. While puncture damage, such as running over a nail, tends to announce itself a bit more aggressively, sometimes a flat can be caused by a slow leak or a damaged valve stem. In such cases, there may not be an immediate telltale.

Your car does a good job of telling you something’s wrong, but it helps to know what to look for. If you notice that you’re having difficulty accelerating, or feel like you’re driving with the parking break on, there’s a good chance a tire may be flat. Difficulty maintaining speed can be another sign, as can your car pulling to one side, generally toward the direction of the flat.

Get off the road

Driving with a flat is not a good idea for you or your car. You may be tempted to finish your trip home or to a gas station and fix the problem then, but if you do, you not only compromise your car’s ability to handle and brake, but you also risk dealing more serious damage to the wheel itself. As soon as you notice you have a flat, you should make an effort to get off the road as quickly as you can, but try to do so as calmly and safely as possible.

Don’t slam on the brakes or jerk the wheel — you could lose control of the vehicle. Instead, slowly guide your car toward the breakdown lane or shoulder of the road, easing up on the gas slowly but steadily until you come to a complete stop.

Get Tire Service at Your Local Tire Center

If you experience a flat tire or any other problems with your vehicle, make an appointment with your local car care center. For help finding a car, get in touch with us at NJ State Auto Auction where we have a broad inventory of pre-owned vehicles in Jersey City, NJ.

The Ultimate Checklist for Buying a Used Hybrid Car

Since the introduction of the Toyota Prius to North America in 2000, a portion of the general public has had a fascination with the hybrid vehicle. With impressive gas mileage and environmentally-friendly features, it’s not hard to see why.

Now, almost a decade later, there are more hybrids on the market, and interest among car buyers continues to grow. For those who are interested in purchasing a used hybrid car, what exactly goes into researching this type of automobile? And for those who have purchased used cars in the past, can their prior knowledge be used toward a hybrid purchase?

Here are some things potential hybrid owners should consider when looking at used cars.

Used Hybrid Car Buying Checklist

Get the history

As with all used car purchases, it’s still important to run the history of a car — be it hybrid or not. It’s worth knowing what kind of work has been done and whether or not the car was involved in an accident. It may also be a good idea to get a pre-purchase inspection from a dealer who is authorized to sell the same make of the used car you’re looking at.

Factor in the mileage

In the past, people who were looking to purchase a used car usually paid attention to the mileage of the vehicle. High mileage meant there was most likely more wear and tear on a car. However, this way of thinking may not apply to used hybrids.

These cars are meant to have higher mileage, so it may be typical to see cars with 80,000 miles on the odometer. In fact, there have been reports that some hybrids in the market have already gone past 100,000 miles.

Understand the hybrid battery

Part of the reason hybrid cars get such good mileage is that they partially run off a battery, which also helps owners save on gas (a full tank of gas in a hybrid can go much further when compared to a standard gas-powered car). But like all batteries, there may come a day when the one in an older hybrid model needs to be replaced.

It’s important for used car buyers to get a full understanding of what a battery replacement may entail. For example, those looking into a used Toyota Prius should conduct research and talk to dealers so they understand how they should replace the car’s battery if it should come to that.

Learn how to drive

Finally, keep in mind that hybrids are a different kind of car and that just turning them on may confuse some consumers who have spent years driving gas-powered vehicles. Doing the necessary research on how to operate a hybrid car will help buyers be more comfortable during and after the process of buying a used car.

Shop Used Hybrid Cars in Jersey City, NJ

Now that you’re equipped with your checklist, it’s time to check out some cars. We stock several options in our inventory of used hybrid cars for sale in Jersey City, New Jersey. Visit NJ State Auto Used Cars to see which is the best fit for you.

NJ State Auto Used Cars Ranks the Top 4 Car Rivalries Ever

Like many of you, we recently saw the trailer for the highly-anticipated Ford v. Ferrari, which is set to hit theaters this November. That got us thinking: What other matchups do we consider among the greatest car rivalries in history?

You’ll have to keep reading to find out.

Our Favorite Car Rivalries

Toyota vs. Honda

The two big Japanese manufacturers have a long and turbulent history together. Sub5Zero explains that Honda was founded in an act of seeming defiance — Soichira Honda went his own way and created the company’s first car, the T360 pickup, despite the protestations of Japan’s manufacturing leaders.

The two brands bump heads frequently with their sizeable control of the family sedan market, though their supercars like the NSX and Supra sometimes scuffle, too. Maybe there are good feelings underneath it all, though: Honda’s founder shared pistons with Toyota prior to World War II.

VW GTI vs. Ford Focus ST

These two hatchbacks both bring the heat. The VW GTI has the street cred, according to Popular Mechanics:

“For hot-hatchbacks devotees, the VW GTI is as revered as the Porsche 911 or the Chevy Corvette. This is the car that defines the segment.”

Pretty high praise, to be sure. But Ford brought its A-game with the Ford Focus ST, generating more than respectable horsepower and torque to surpass the GTI in engine performance. However, the Focus ST is a bit heavy and doesn’t have the GTI’s torque.

The verdict: Tie. Popular Mechanics decided that the two cars are rather evenly matched — a perfect opportunity for Ford and VW to raise the stakes in the coming years.

Nissan GT-R vs. Porsche 911 Turbo

Speaking of the Porsche 911, it’s caught up in its own little rivalry. Perhaps “little” isn’t the right word — Jalopnik readers named this feud as one of the top ten most vicious car rivalries of all time. Nissan threw some serious shade back in 2008 when it decided to start setting some lap records on the tracks in Nürburgring, Germany, also known as The Royal and Impenetrable Kingdom of Porsche (unofficially).

Of course, Porsche went into full get-off-my-lawn mode and took its 911 model to Turbo status. Nissan boosted its GT-R, Porsche responded with their own updates, and the two cars took the track to see who reigned supreme.

According to Raphael Orlove in a post for Jalopnik:

“Sure, the monomaniacal focus on lap times got a bit silly, but it was an epic battle for sports car dominance nonetheless.”

Ford Mustang vs. Chevrolet Camaro

The Ford Mustang and Chevrolet Camaro have been fighting since they were first introduced. The Mustang shook up the U.S. car market when it arrived on the scene in 1964, and Chevrolet knew it had to up the ante, Sub5Zero explains.

Thus were the competitive circumstances of the Camaro’s birth on a fateful day in 1967. Did the Camaro bow under the weight of the pressure and all the hopes and dreams riding on it? No. It rose to the occasion, proving a formidable opponent to the Mustang in the ensuing decades.

There may be a whiff of change in the air, though. USA Today reports that the redesigned Mustang has set itself apart as the favorite, with its updated engine and suspension. The proof is in the numbers: Ford sold 113,607 Mustangs in the first 11 months of 2015 — a 55.4% increase in sales, while Camaro sales were down 9.5%.

Don’t think this fight is won, though — it’s very possible the Camaro will make an epic comeback.

Shop Used Cars for Sale in Jersey City, NJ

If you’d rather take a break from all the competition, head to NJ State Auto, where you can find the best car to suit your needs, at an affordable price. We feature many of the above automakers in our inventory of used cars for sale in Jersey City, New Jersey.