Are you a born mechanic? I congratulate you. Personally, I drove my first car for years without even knowing how to raise the hood.

If you're like me and have no clue about the inside workings of automobiles and such, take heart. You can actually tell a lot by what your car says.

Yep. Those squeaks, squeals, rattles, and rumbles offer valuable clues about problems and maintenance needs.

Scenario One

Your car squeals at you. A shrill, sharp noise, (mostly related to engine speed) can indicate loose or worn power steering, fan or air conditioning belt. Loose car parts are not good news. Take your car in for a look-over.

You might already know the kind of car that you will settle for, and just nothing else will do. This can give you a tremendous edge, as there are numerous ways to research a particular type of automobile. Say, for instance, your heart's desire is a Chevy Malibu, and the year can be 1998 up to the present. One of the best places to start is the Kelley Blue Book. You can review the listings of nearly any automobile make and model, giving you the estimated worth of a car in almost any condition. It really is the used car "bible", so to speak. One caveat though, finding an up to date copy of the actual book can be a daunting task. Most car dealerships will have one, but it can be a pain to get them to let you browse through it, as their business is to sell cars and most of them would rather not have potential customers seeing the actual value of their merchandise.

So, you've been burned before by the used car dealers, despite careful preparation and diligent inspections. The next most likely place to look is in the classifieds of your local newspaper, where there are usually many different makes and models to choose from. You can also find them on bulletin boards at some businesses, or by word of mouth. It helps if you actually know the person that you are interested in buying a car from, but that is a rare situation. More often than not, you will have to search for your next ride in some other way, and you will usually be dealing with a stranger. Even so, buying from a private citizen will generally be a much better experience that going to a used car lot. Most people are not, and have never been a car salesman, making it easier on you when making inquiries about the automobile or going to check it out.

Assuming that you've had a chance to inspect your potential ride and that it went well, it's time to actually drive the car to see how it handles. The salesman may or may not want to ride with you, it will vary from dealer to dealer. If he does not want to ride with you, this is your chance to get to a local mechanic for a quick once over, but if he does, just let him as it may be their policy not to allow unsupervised test drives. With an automatic transmission, hold the brake and put it first in reverse, then neutral, then drive. The transmission should go into and out of gear smoothly in any position. If it hesitates before locking into gear, that might be a sign of trouble. Likewise, if it goes into gear quickly but makes a loud clank that's not a good sign either. With a manual transmission, it should shift into gear smoothly when the clutch is depressed and not make a grinding sound. A grinding sound when shifting could be caused by a failing clutch or it could indicate more severe problems.

When purchasing a car, whether new or used, there is a choice between many domestic cars and many imported cars. The choice is a very personal one and it is a subjective one. Now this article is from the viewpoint of someone living in and looking to buy a car in the United States. So imported cars means any car that is brought in from a country outside the U.S. Throughout the history of cars there has been a shift between whether imported cars are better cars or not. In the early days of cars, imported cars were not really an option, although, cars were being built in many countries around the world.

Car ferries are such a great way to travel. When you rid on car ferries, you can get on board on foot, bicycle, motorcycle and car, truck or sometimes, bus. Car ferries are a mainstream part of people's everyday commute in some areas. And car ferries are also sometimes a special attraction that are mainly used by vacationers and tourists. But either way, car ferries are a great way to get from one place to another, crossing the water…on the water.

There are various types of racing cars. There are stock cars used as racing cars. There are sports cars used as racing cars. There are formula one cars used as racing cars. There are midget cars used as racing cars and there are off road cars used as racing cars. Just about any type of car can be used as racing cars as long as you have someone to race against and somewhere to race.

There are many reasons that you might need to get involved in car rentals. Sometimes you need a car rental because you are on vacation and as you move from place to place while on vacation, you need a vehicle so you can go see the sights so car rentals become a viable option. Sometimes you are in need of a car rental because your primary car is out of commission for some reason. People who's cars have been damaged in a wreck often have to use car rental services until their own car is repaired and can get back on the road. And sometimes when a person car is being serviced at the mechanic's or the dealership, they use car rentals to get around. Car rentals can be quite helpful when necessary, but there are some potential pitfalls to car rentals.

Thinking about buying a used car? How do you know which car is right for you? It's all in asking the right questions.

First, ask yourself what you really need in a car. Who will be driving it most of the time? Where will you be driving in? Over what sort of terrain? Do you need a lot of storage space and lots of seating? Are you going to be traveling back and forth over long distances?

What features are an absolute must? Air conditioning, adjustable controls, cruise control?

What safety features you are looking for? Anti-lock brake systems, head injury protection, or child protection equipment?

Electric Cars were once more popular than internal combustion engine cars. Electric cars were among the first cars produced, but the limited state of battery technology meant that electric cars couldn't go very fast or very far so the internal combustion engine vehicles became more popular. this loss of the electric car to the internal combustion engine car was a loss for the environment as well as electric car produces, but the true scope of the environmental damage wouldn't be known for another eighty years or so.