San Diego Auto Repair

Car owners and manufacturers are always trying to stand out from the crowd, and understandably so; we all know someone who drives a blue Honda Civic. Some car features are the result of a safety idea, like the seat belts that slide across the door frame and buckle themselves (look ma, no hands!). Other features sound good in theory but are impractical, some scream ridiculous wealth, and some are just plain silly (fake bullet hole stickers, we're talking about you). Here is our list of those more ridiculous car features: Top 10 Most Ridiculous Car Features We'll start with an easy one: The Nissan Cube's headliner. The designers of the rectangle on wheels decided to think outside the box when decorating the interior. The juxtaposition of circular ripples on a car that shares its name with a uniform 3-D square is obviously a bit ridiculous. If you thought the Cube's headliner was out there, check out the Rolls-Royce starlight headliner. Not too sure on what the selling poin ... read more

New years mean new auto shows, and new auto shows mean lots of snazzy new rides. The auto shows this year were far from being an exception. By looking at the newly released vehicles by many auto makers, it's clear that style is the main focus. Even economy car brands like Hyundai and Kia are creating great looking new cars. Economy is still important to American car buyers, and fuel efficiency and low maintenance are still valuable aspects of new cars, but that's not the first thing anyone is going to notice. Here are the top 5 Cars Unveiled at Auto Shows in 2013: 1. Hyundai HCD-14 Genesis: The Genesis has been around for a few years now, and car buyers have pretty much stopped looking at Hyundai as a throw-away car. The future-release Genesis concept has "old fashioned power and glory" that's all about performance now. And if this car passed you on the highway you would be forgiven for thinking ... read more

In the last of our New Year's Resolution series, we'll show you how you can use your car to learn something new and reach that goal of self-improvement. Learning something new, trying a new activity, branching out and getting more out of life are all variations of the same resolution theme: to inject more excitement and enjoyment into your life. Learn to speak a new language: Yes, this very popular New Year's Resolution can be done in the car! Get an audio book or download a language learning app and start driving. You know how you have every word to "Livin' On A Prayer" memorized? It was just an awesome song to rock out to while learning to drive. Repetitive listening not only makes it far more likely that something will stick around in your memory, but when you apply it to learning a new language it will also help immensely with the pronunciation. You'll be oui-ing and si-ing in no time ... read more

Our third New Year's Resolution post in the series touches on another very common pledge: to take a vacation. However, people don't always literally resolve to take a vacation (although Americans are notorious for forgoing our hard-earned vacations in favor of working overtime), but they may resolve to learn to take it easy this year, or simply take a break. Sometimes we resolve to get out there more, to enjoy life more, or to live for something other than your 9-5. Vacations provide a ton of mental and emotional benefits that in turn transform into new benefits, like a clearer head to take on a difficult task, a fresh perspective, or even just a new experience you'd never have had otherwise that ends up helping you down the road. But what about the benefits that involve your car? Too often a vacation - especially a road trip - is seen as a stressor for your car. While this certainly can be true, there are other benefits tha ... read more

In the second of our New Year's Resolutions series, we'll explore how you can save money in the new year with your car. Unfortunately, new year's resolutions about money often make people think they are forced to make difficult choices: do you pay down your existing debt or finally get that check engine light looked at? These choices are a result of the common dilemma of more money now or more money later. As people, it's typically too difficult to think in the long term, even when long term choices are the better ones; gratification now is usually preferred, even if it means more work later. The good news is that saving money all year can be both a short term and long term resolution, even when it comes to your car. Perform regular maintenance: We'll start off with an obvious tip. Regular car maintenance means two very important money saving things: one, that your car will stay in top shape longer, requiring fewer and less expensive repairs over ... read more

Ahh, the new year. We always start off the new year with New Year's Resolutions in which we resolve to make a change from the last year. Common resolutions center around weight (especially after the feasting holiday season), money and life improvement. Car related resolutions also top the list, with many being to finally get that check engine light looked at, get a new car, pay off the car loan, or even just resolutions to clean and maintain the car regularly. Here are the top ways you can resolve to take better care of your car without affecting that other resolution you probably have: to save more money. Car Maintenance Tips Keep your car clean: This seems like a no brainer, but we all know someone who just can't keep their car clean, inside or out (or perhaps you're that someone!). If this is something you could work on, start small. Clean out old receipts, notes, shopping bags, clothe ... read more

The winter solstice is just two short days away, which means we'll officially be in the swing of winter. And we've certainly been feeling the winter already with all this rain! Fortunately, we live in San Diego so we don't have the same perils of winter that other cities and states have, like ice and snow and crazy winds for three months. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't be taking precaution and getting your car ready for this new season. Here are the top tips for how to get your car ready for winter, and you can always reference these tips on driving in the rain as often as you need to. Winterize Your Car Check your battery: Car batteries can be reduced by cold weather, and even though chances are slim it won't be getting terribly cold in San Diego it's still a good idea to check your battery capacity and the battery wires. If there is ... read more

We may still be in San Diego, but even paradise gets a little rain. With the rainy season upon us (and those menacing rain clouds overhead more frequently now), it's time for a refresh on how to safely drive around in the rain. Any San Diego driver who's ever been on a freeway when it's raining can attest that traffic seems to slow to a crawl or stop completely, sometimes even when it's just sprinkling. Frustrating, right? Hopefully everyone will follow these tips and we can all get to work and home safely. Stick to the speed limit: Rainy weather is not the time for speeding no matter how late you are because that's how accidents happen. You don't need to drive extra slowly, either, unless there is torrential rain, or you could get rear-ended. If it's the first rain of the season the roads will be extra slick with oil coming out of the cracks, so be extra careful. Stay out of the fast lane: There wi ... read more

Traveling is tough in general, but traveling with kids is even more difficult. Long car rides can make for restless children and frustrated parents. To avoid hearing the infamous “are we there yet” line, entertain your kids with fun family car games! For individual entertainment, game books are best. For kids a little older who are good with numbers, Sudoku is a great choice. Critical thinking skills will provide a distracting challenge. If your child is more of a word fan, Crosswords will do the trick. And for the creative kid, you can’t go wrong with coloring books and crayons. Having a tablet or smartphone handy can keep your child entertained for hours with kid-friendly apps and games. Guessing games are always a fun group activity. A guessing game to try is I Spy. One person starts by saying something like, “I spy something red” and then everyone else has to guess what it is. You can also say ... read more

This year, with Black Friday sales starting while some families will still be enjoying their pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving evening, Small Business Saturday is aiming to take a step in the opposite direction by encouraging shoppers to spend their money locally. Rather than give all of your holiday spending money to giant corporations who care about nothing but a profit, spend at least some of your money at local small businesses this Saturday, November 24th, 2012. Convoy Auto Repair, along with hundreds of other local small businesses, is taking part in Small Business Saturday with special deals and discounts for San Diego natives and their visitors. Small businesses are vitally important to communities around the country and they deserve support year round. This year is the second annual Small Business Saturday event, whi ... read more