Fuel Efficient Autos

If you are self-employed or have a small business and you use your Pontiac cars for business purposes, there are several tax deductions you may be missing. Here are some last-minute tax tips you can use for your Pontiac cars if you are still filling out your taxes.

• Between January and June of 2008, your standard mileage allowance is 50.5 cents per mile driver for business purposes. For the months of July to December of 2008, the allowance increased to 58.5 cents per mile because of the higher gas prices. Both allowances are better than the one in 2007, which was only 48.5 cents per mile.
• You can either deduct the mileage on your Pontiac cars for small business or deduct the actual expenses. However, you must use the same method each year. You cannot switch from the mileage method one year and switch to the actual expense method the next year or vice versa.
• The actual expense method allows you to deduct the amount of depreciation, oil, maintenance, insurance, gas, parking fees, tolls, towing fees, license fees and much more. If you are self-employed, you may also be able to deduct the interest on your car loan if you use your Pontiac cars for your business.

These are just a few things to keep in mind and ask your accountant about. These days, every little deduction helps!

Remember back in the day when cars had manual transmissions instead of automatic ones? These days, it’s difficult to find stick shifts unless you ask for it specifically or look for older cars. Some of the most popular manual transmission vehicles are old, powerful Pontiac cars, or muscle cars as we call them. But if you’ve never learned how to drive a stick, buying one of these may be intimidating for you. Here are some tips to help you stay in control behind the wheel of Pontiac cars with a manual transmission.

• Put your foot on the brake to start the car. Next, put your left foot on the clutch, which is the pedal furthest to the left. With both pedals pressed down, shift into first gear with the gear shifter.
• When you are ready to start moving, release the parking brake and slowly take your foot off the regular brake pedal.
• Slowly apply pressure to the gas pedal with your right foot. As you do this, ease your left foot off the clutch. Try to sync it so you are adding as much pressure to the gas pedal as you are releasing from the clutch.
• To switch gears, press the clutch and move the gear shifter at the same time.
• Practice, practice, practice. The only way you’ll master the technique is to practice. Find an empty lot somewhere and follow these steps before hitting the road. Once you learn how to drive stick shift Pontiac cars, your car-buying horizons are limitless!

We all want to be safer drivers. Being a safe driver is not only good for ourselves and our families, but safe drivers also have cheaper insurance premiums. Here are some ways to be a safer driver in your Pontiac cars.

• Always be careful around intersections. Just because you have the green light doesn’t mean you can go through it safely. Try to look both ways as you are approaching the intersection to see if other cars are coming.
• Be alert when driving near parked cars. Parked cars are a good hiding place for little kids. They can dart out at any second and you don’t have time to stop or swerve if you’re not alert.
• Stay out of blind spots. You may be in a driver’s blind spot for a couple seconds, but don’t linger there. Staying in a blind spot is just asking for trouble.
• Get plenty of rest. Sleep-deprived drivers are often as dangerous as inebriated drivers. Get plenty of rest when driving especially if you are planning a road trip.

These are just a few ways to increase your chances of being safe in your Pontiac cars. Of course, using some common sense will be very helpful, too!

One of my favorite things to do about this time of year is to get a great mix of songs on my Zune, plug it into the jack on my Pontiac cars, roll down the windows and just cruise around town. There’s just something about the excitement of warmer weather that brings this out in me. Here are some of my favorite songs to blare when I’m driving my Pontiac cars.

Gypsy Road – Cinderella
Okay, I’ll admit it…I’m a glam rock fan. But it really does not get much better than Cinderella. Gypsy Road is a great song, but anything blaring by this hair band will suffice.

Sweet Child o’ Mine – Guns N Roses
The guitar solo at the beginning of this legendary song is just the beginning. Combined with Axl’s high voice, this is one of the greatest songs EVER! It’s just begging to be blared from the speakers in your Pontiac cars.

One – Metallica
I know this is a somewhat depressing song, but the drum solos by Lars make this one of the songs that you must turn up when you have the windows down.

Zombie – The Cranberries
I know this is a weird choice, but the song is mesmerizing and has some pounding riffs and drums that cannot be ignored.

These are a few of my favorite songs that make me want to “turn it up.” What are some of your favorite songs to play when you’re cruising around?

A recent article in US News & World Report was entitled, “5 Reasons to Buy an American Car.” Since this is a blog about Pontiac cars and General Motors is an American company, we’re going to look at a few of the author’s reasons to “buy American.”

1. The quality has improved. According to reports, GM models are at the top of their game. In 8 out of 11 car segments, a GM model was rated as one of the top three vehicles.

2. Payment protection plans. When you buy and make payments on your Pontiac cars, General Motors offers a type of “payment protection plan” now. If you lose your job, the company will make your payments for several months rather than coming and taking the car away. The plan covers up to nine months of payments for up to $500 per month. In addition, GM offers cash payouts if you buy one of its products and you cannot afford to trade it in later.

3. Better styling. Let’s face it. Americans still love their muscle cars. Even if they don’t have the roar and power that they used to, they still like the appearance. Many new Pontiac cars still have a muscle car appearance that will probably never go out of style.

These are just three of the reasons this author thinks you should buy American-made cars. You can read the rest of the article and the other reasons here. Just don’t forget to visit your PA dealers to invest in the Pontiac cars you’ve always wanted!

If you’ve been thinking about investing in GM and Pontiac cars, there has probably never been a better time than the present.

With all of the stuff going on between the federal government and the auto industries, the President of the United States is encouraging Americans to buy cars. In fact, he’s doing more than that. He is approving a plan that would offer sizeable tax deductions for people who buy new cars this year.

Along with the US government, the IRS is trying to bring awareness to these new deductions. Under the new legislation, you can receive a tax benefit for car purchases as of February 16, 2009 and the end of the year. The tax benefits include deducting the cost of any excise and sales taxes when you do your returns next year. According to President Obama, the new provisions “could save families hundreds of dollars and lead to as many as 100,000 new car sales.” His press secretary followed up the statement by encouraging Americans to buy new cars made in the United States.

So there you have it. Visit your Pennsylvania dealer today and look at all the new Pontiac cars that are just waiting for you to purchase them. With tax benefits like this, there’s not reason to wait!

If you’re used to using your cell phone or texting while driving your Pontiac cars, you better get ready to change your habits.

Currently, there are 42 states considering legislation restricting or outright banning the use of cell phones while you’re driving. There are also more than 250 bills that have been proposed for the same purpose. Just 10 months ago, there were only 120 bills proposed for restricting cell phone usage behind the wheel. That just shows how much the support is growing for this type of legislation. Here are some more bits of information about this topic:

• Idaho, Georgia, Texas and North Carolina are considering a ban on all types of cell phone usage when driving. This includes hands-free devices.
• Nationwide Insurance offers parents a discount on their premiums if they buy devices that disable their teens’ cell phones when they are in a moving car.
• Six states currently have laws that ban handheld cell phones behind the wheel of a car.
• According to a report in 2008, about 270 million people in the United States own cell phones. That’s approximately 90 percent of the population!
• At any given moment of the day, about 11 percent of the drivers on the roads are talking on their cell phones.

Talking on your cell phone while driving your Pontiac cars should only be done when you’re pulled over or stopped. Even if it’s not a law in your state, it’s safer for everybody around you.

Have you been planning on buying one of the new or used Pontiac cars at your local dealer but the choices are overwhelming? If so, there’s no need to be overwhelmed. Here are five things to keep in mind when choosing your next Pontiac cars.

1. Daily Needs – Are you buying the car to commute to work every day or just for pleasure on the weekends? Will it be primarily for rural driving or driving through the city?
2. Resale Value – If you decide to sell the car after a couple years, will it hold much of its value? Will you lose a lot of money if you decide to sell it in a year or two?
3. Monthly Payments – Do not just consider the monthly payments. Make sure you have some extra money left after making the payments each month for other car-related expenses.
4. Insurance – Are some Pontiac cars much less for insurance coverage than others? Research this before making your final decision.
5. Fuel Efficiency – How many miles does it get per gallon?

These are a few things to get you started when choosing your next Pontiac cars. Visit a local dealer armed with this information and you’ve won half the battle!

Driving your Pontiac cars at certain times of the day or night can be more dangerous than others. A recent study by Forbes showed some surprising results.

One conclusion that the study made was that the most dangerous time to drive your Pontiac cars is during the afternoon rush hour. That might not seem surprising because this is when people are trying to hurry home after work and they are often more careless in their driving habits. The weekday hours between 5 and 7 p.m. account for an average of 6.6 deaths per hour in the United States.

The hours between midnight and 4 a.m. are also dangerous. According to the study, 5.87 people for every 100 million driving at this time get into a fatal accident. More than 35 percent of these fatalities are related to drunken drivers while only nine percent of daytime accidents are related to alcohol. More than 70 percent of the people killed in traffic accidents after midnight were not wearing a seatbelt. Compare that to 55 percent during the daytime hours.

Keep these facts and figures in mind when planning a trip with your Pontiac cars. It could just save your life.

The GTO is possibly one of the most popular Pontiac cars ever made. Many people refer to it as the very first muscle car. But there are many other things about the GTO that you may not know.

• Pontiac only manufactured the GTO between 1964 and 1974. In Australia, Holden manufactured the model from 2004 to 2006.
• Russell Gee, Bill Collins and John De Lorean were the minds behind the creation of the Pontiac GTO.
• De Lorean came up with the name for the GTO, which stands for Gran Turismo Omologato. That’s Italian for homologated when racing in the Grand tourer class. It was inspired by the Ferrari 250 GTO.
• If General Motors had had its way, the GTO would have never gone into production. The management of the automaker did not want to build any performance cars or any other models that were designed to “go fast.” Before the GTO, Pontiac had a reputation for producing more conservative vehicles.
• In 1965, Pontiac sold more than 55,700 two-door hardtop GTO units. The price at the time was only $2852. More than 11,300 two-door convertible units were sold, too, at a price of about $3100.