7 Affordable Car Hacks

WESTLAND, Mich.,–– Want an inexpensive and great way to spruce up your car's exterior? How about some easy organization for your vehicle's interior? We, at North Brothers Ford, have put together the a list of 7 affordable car hacks to make your car, crossover, SUV, or truck look and feel great inside and out! Several of these solutions use materials you may already have at home and the rest can be found at the convenience store of your choice. From repurposing old objects to using household items in new unique ways, take your car to the next level with these hacks!

1. Use Toothpaste to Clean Your Headlights

Believe it or not, toothpaste, especially whitening toothpaste, works wonders on headlights. Scrub toothpaste on your headlights with a rag, then wipe it away with a clean, dry rag. Use toothpaste, not the gel, and you'll have sparkling clean headlights before you know it!

2. Turn a Cereal Container into a Trash Can

Using an old plastic cereal container and a trash bag, you can create a mini trash can in your vehicle with a closable lid! Avoid trash buildup in your vehicle and keep it all contained in one place with this easy hack. It's also a great way to encourage your passengers to take care of their mess. 

3. Use Carabiners to Organize Your Vehicle 

Tired of hearing your items roll around in the back of your vehicle? Carabiners can be used to hold groceries, shopping bags, purses, and more in place and off the floor! Plus, it frees up leg room for any passengers you bring along, too.

4. Repurpose Your Shower Caddy Into a Food Holder

Are you a person that's always eating on the go? Turn your old shower caddy into a food holder to make driving and eating a much cleaner and easier process! Instead of having to shuffle through your bag to find what you want, you can put everything in a neat and organized caddy to reduce the chances of distractions on the road and avoid messes.

5. Fix Small Dents With a Toilet Plunger

With some hot water and a toilet plunger, you can fix small dents on the exterior of your vehicle! Be careful and wear gloves if need be to protect yourself from the hot water. Watch the video above for a quick tutorial on how to do this dent removal hack. Can't get the dent to budge? We'd be happy to help you fix it at the North Brothers Collision Center! 

6. Remove Stickers With Warm Newspaper

Have an old registration sticker you just can't quite seem to peel off? Wet a newspaper in warm water and place it over the sticker for 10 minutes. The warm water will penetrate the sticker, removing the adhesive and allowing it to fall off into your hands. You can use this method for interior and exterior stickers. 

7. Organize Your Vehicle With A Collapsable Shelf

Using some easy to find hardware and supplies, you can make a collapsable shelf that can help you organize everything in your trunk! You won't have to worry about smushed groceries, mixed up luggage, or misplaced items again with a collapsable shelf in your trunk.

From painless sticker removal to easy dent removal, these 7 affordable car hacks should give you all the tools you need to make your vehicle look and feel good as new! You can keep your vehicle running well with our tips and tricks, and keep your vehicle protected from the hot sun this season with our summer car care advice. If you need help taking care of your vehicle, whether it's a simple oil change or auto body work, we're here for all your auto maintenance and repair needs! 

North Brothers Ford is located at 33300 Ford Rd Westland, MI 48185 and proudly serves as one of the premier dealerships in Metro Detroit, and is committed to exceptional customer service! Stop by or give us a call at 888-806-7163, our knowledgeable and helpful sales team will be more than happy to assist you!

Visit our website: http://www.northbrosford.net

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5 Car Organization Hacks

WESTLAND, Mich.––Driving to work, the kids' practice, the grocery store, and every where in between equals a lot of time in the car. It also means a lot of stuff that accumulates in your car! Clothes, shoes, snacks, toys, garbage, etc. all end up in your car can easily be forgotten about and ignored throughout our daily activities. If you're feeling a little overwhelmed at the thought of cleaning out your car, you might want to consider these 5 car organization hacks. 

1. Desk Item Holders

You can find these, or something similar, at a office supply store. These are typically used for paper clips, notepads, etc. but work great for other small items that go missing in your car like change, headphones, etc. These can work for those strange spaces near your cup holders or in your center console.

2. Baskets

Baskets are great for a whole lot of reasons, but simply put, for holding plenty of like items in one easy place. Shown above is a more fabric based basket which would work well for squeezing in certain places, and as a bonus it has a nice pattern. We recommend using a basket for emergency items for easy access when in a pinch.

3. Gum Containers 

Having change everywhere looks messy, but this little hack will keep it all together. These gum containers are big enough to fit lots of change, and some bills if you choose, and fit perfectly in your cup holder. These containers can work for other things like small snacks, hair pins, etc. 

4. Shoe Organizers

A shoe organizer works wonders for all those mismatch items that pile up. You can keep extra socks, toys, snacks, and whatever else you can think of in these perfect sized slots. This placement works for both the driver and passengers in the back. 

5. File Organizers

A small file organizer can be found at an office supply store and works really well to store important documents. Things like your title, registration, insurance, pet documents, maps, etc. that you need to always keep in the car or for travel can all be kept in one spot. This file organizer should also help keep the documents from getting dirty or wrinkled. 

You can use these tips to organize your car and keep it from becoming too messy again. At North Brothers Ford we're here to help with any auto need including tips like these 5 car organization hacks! It's our goal to make auto service and routine maintenance easy for you. For your convenience you can schedule your check-in time for your service appointment online! We can also help save you a future headache by regularly performing maintenance like oil changes, tire rotations, and brake inspections to help your car run its best! We've put all the best advice and answers to your questions in our newly updated FAQs page that will help you take care of your vehicle. 

North Brothers Ford is located at 33300 Ford Rd Westland, MI 48185 and proudly serves as one of the premier dealerships in Metro Detroit, and is committed to exceptional customer service! Stop by or give us a call at 888-806-7163, our knowledgeable and helpful sales team will be more than happy to assist you!

Visit our website: www.northbros.com

Follow us on social media: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube and Google+

5 Easy Car Hacks to Get You Through Winter

WESTLAND, Mich. –– We've all experienced the shock of finding a foot of snow covering our vehicle in the early morning, and beneath it an fresh sheet of ice waiting to surprise you. Clearing all of this off can take a while, and it's a major inconvenience when you're trying to get on the road to get to work. Winter brings a slew of inconveniences for drivers, from slick roads to issues with vehicles. Fortunately, these 5 easy car hacks to get you through winter can make things a little less stressful for you until we get into the warmer months.

1. Use old socks as windshield wiper blade covers.

If you live in a wintry state, you know how much snow and ice can build up on your vehicle's windshield wiper blades. Scraping and knocking off the ice from your windshield wiper blades is a messy, tedious process. It's much more convenient to prevent snow and ice from building up on your windshield wiper blades than it is to remove it. An easy way to handle this is to simply use old socks as windshield wiper blade covers when your car is parked for long periods of time and you're expecting inclement weather.

2. Use these methods to de-ice frozen vehicle doors locks and handles.

Not everyone has the luxury of a key fob that can unlock their vehicle doors and, in some cases, even start their vehicle without having to use an ignition key. If you're forced to use your key to unlock your vehicle doors, you could have some difficulty even getting your key into the door lock in the winter. If it's cold enough, vehicle doors locks and handles can freeze up and become dysfunctional. If this occurs, there are a few simple methods you can use to de-ice frozen vehicle doors locks and handles, including:

• Heat up your vehicle key with a lighter. When you insert the key into the door lock it should begin to melt the ice and loosen the lock up. Wiggle the key until the lock begins to move properly again.
• Blow through a drinking straw directly onto the frozen door lock. The heat from your breath will melt the ice.
• Squirt hand sanitizer onto the door lock or handle hinges. The alcohol in the sanitizer should melt the ice.

The best options you have to prevent your door locks or handles from freezing in the first place are to use WD-40 or cooking spray on the areas that easily freeze. Applying these household lubricants to your vehicle's door locks and handles should keep them from freezing, or at least keep them easier to budge when it's below freezing on a bitter winter morning.

3. Increase headlight visibility with toothpaste. 

Toothpaste isn't just great for cleaning your teeth, it also works well for increasing headlight visibility. Apply toothpaste to your dirty headlights and spread it around with a sponge as you would when cleaning any other part of your vehicle. Then wash the toothpaste off. This will clear your headlights up, and save you money compared to purchasing a headlight cleaning kit, which can be expensive.

When your headlights gloss over and a white haze forms, it prevents them from producing the full luminary effect they're intended for in darker conditions. This can be especially dangerous in the winter if you're driving during a snowfall or on a dreary day, when headlights are necessary for your safety and the safety of other drivers. 

4. Use cat litter or floor mats to get unstuck.

It's easy for many cars to get stuck in deep snow, regardless of the type of tires they're equipped with. Fact it: continuously applying the gas pedal and hoping for your spinning tires to somehow catch traction with the snow, which is meanwhile accumulating in mounds behind your tires, only makes it even more difficult to get unstuck. An easy solution to getting unstuck quick is to simply spread cat litter around your tires and vehicle. This will provide traction for your vehicle's tires and help you get moving.

Another, less appealing option you have is to use your vehicle's floor mats. Place the floor mats in front of or behind your tires, depending on the direction you're trying to move in. This is an easy, reliable way to give your vehicle traction in the snow. Once you get to a place where your vehicle has more traction, you can put your floor mats back in the vehicle.

5. Drape your vehicle with a tarp or other cloth.

The simplest way to avoid any vehicle issues with winter weather is to drape it in a vehicle tarp or an old bed sheet. By draping your vehicle with a tarp or other cloth, you can prevent elements like snow and ice from ever even touching the actual body of your vehicle. In the morning you can simply pull the tarp or cloth off and beneath you'll have a clear car ready to hit the road once it's warmed up. 

Use these 5 easy car hacks to get you through winter and stop worrying about the hassles of inclement weather for the next few months. These methods are easy to apply and will help you get on the road so you can get where you need to be in time. If you're looking for more winter car tips, check out our blogs on saving gas and winter driving tips.

North Brothers Ford is located at 33300 Ford Rd Westland, MI 48185 and proudly serves as one of the premier dealerships in Metro Detroit, and is committed to exceptional customer service! Stop by or give us a call at 888-806-7163, our knowledgeable and helpful sales team will be more than happy to assist you!

Visit our website: www.northbros.com

Follow us on social media: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube and Google+