Monthly Archives: June 2020

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Why You Should Rent a BMW i8

The BMW i8 is a fantastic example of why BMW is one of the most coveted luxury car brands in the world. This gorgeous car is a plug-in hybrid, though you wouldn’t be able to tell by the way it tears up the highway. Of course, if you want luxury, you have to be prepared to pay for it. The $148,495 to $164,295 price tag is enough to make even the most affluent buyer blink twice. 

We believe everyone should get behind the wheel of an i8 at least once in their life. If purchasing one isn’t in the cards for you, renting one might be the best solution to help you sate that craving. Why should you rent a BMW i8, and what do you need to do to make this dream rental happen?

Serious Hybrid Power

When you start talking about plug-in hybrids, vehicles like the Prius usually come to mind — utilitarian, but not necessarily powerful or luxurious. The i8 blows all of those hybrid stereotypes right out of the water. Under the hood, it has a 1.5-liter, three-cylinder engine. That doesn’t sound like much, but when you add two electric motors powered by an 11.6-kilowatt-hour battery pack, you’ve got a plug-in hybrid that can accelerate from 0-60 in 4.1 seconds. 

The i8 manages 35 miles to the gallon and can travel up to 22 miles solely on battery power. As with most BMWs, you also have access to their top-of-the-line driver-assistance technology. This includes emergency braking, collision warnings and parking sensors on both the front and rear of the vehicle. 

It’s a fantastic little sports car, but if you don’t have $150,000 to drop on a new ride, renting is a great option. What do you need to do to rent a car like the i8?

Renting an Expensive Car

Renting an exotic car like the i8 isn’t as simple as heading down to your local Enterprise or Budget Rent-A-Car. There are specialty rental car companies that specialize in these cars, as well as apps like Turo that match drivers with exotic car owners wanting to rent out their vehicles. It’s kind of like Airbnb for luxury cars. 

Expect to meet a lot of restrictions during the rental process. Most exotic rentals require the driver to be over 30, and you’ll likely have to put down a large deposit before you can get your hands on the keys. 

Insurance is also a concern because unfamiliar drivers behind the wheel of a luxury vehicle are 29% more likely to get into an accident than they are in their own car. The BMW i8 starts at just under $150,000, so the repair or replacement costs after an accident will be substantial. Your standard policy likely doesn’t cover exotic car rentals either, which is an additional motivator to avoid being on the hook for thousands of dollars in repairs. 

Getting Behind the Wheel

Driving a BMW i8 is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and it doesn’t need to be contingent on whether you can afford to purchase one. Rent an i8 and see what all the hype is about for yourself. 

Car Care

How to Wash Your BMW

There’s nothing better than seeing a freshly washed BMW glinting in the sun, except maybe sitting behind the wheel and feeling it roar to life. While you can take your car to a car wash once a week for a wash and wax, that can get expensive quickly — especially if you’re springing for the hand detailing. If you want to save a bit of money, how can you wash your BMW at home?

Clean It Often

You might not think you need to wash your BMW every week, but if you run into a situation where you end up with bird poop or tree sap on your paint job, you’ll want to break out the cleaning supplies. These substances are often acidic enough to burn right through the clear coat and paint, leaving your vehicle susceptible to rust. 

The best thing you can do to maintain your BMW’s appearance is to wash it once a week. Of course, before you start breaking out the buckets and sponges, you’ll need to know what type of supplies to use.

Choose the Right Supplies

How many times did your dad let you help wash the car as a kid? The first thing you were sent to retrieve was probably the dish soap from the kitchen, because it made great suds and easily cut through road grease and grime.

Don’t make that mistake as an adult, though. Make sure you’re using soap and other supplies that are specifically designed for use on cars. That standard dish soap may work great on road grime, but it often contains abrasives to help you cut through stuck-on food while you’re cleaning dishes. These micro-abrasives can damage your car’s clear coat and paint.

Choose a soap or cleaning solvent specifically designed to work without harming car paint. You have a number of different industrial and consumer cleaners to choose from, all with one specific purpose in mind — keeping your BMW as clean as the day it rolled off the line.

Park in a Shady Spot

You might be tempted to park out in your driveway or street on a sunny day so you can soak up some Vitamin D while you’re washing your car, but we recommend against it. Yes, washing your car in direct sunlight sill causes the water to evaporate faster, but that quick evaporation will leave water spots and other unsightly marks on your exterior.

Instead of using the sun, wash your car in a nice shady spot and dry it off with soft microfiber towels to prevent the water from leaving spots or streaks on your finish. It might sound like an extra chore, but it can help preserve your exterior and prevent little things from becoming bigger problems in the long run. 

Enjoy Your Hard Work

That’s all there is to it. As long as the water is beading up and rolling off your car, there’s no need for a new coat of wax, so all that’s left to do is sit back and enjoy all your hard work. Everybody loves the look of a freshly cleaned BMW, plus you get the satisfaction of a job well done.

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5 Ways To Keep Your Car COVID-19 Free

Our cars have taken on a lot more duties than they ever have before.  They’re a safe spot to pick up food from, a mobile area to drive through testing facilities, and the only way to let you be in public while ensuring that you’re not putting yourself at risk.  

With how much they have to protect us, it’s reasonable to be nervous about how to keep their cars safe.  If you’re worried about your transit transferring COVID-19 to you, here are some steps that may protect you.

Keep Sanitizers In Your Car

Although at the beginning of this pandemic, it was harder to get access to most common cleaners, since then, most stores online and in-person have restocked.  There are a couple of sanitizers you should keep in your car- and the rules for them are the same.

Make sure your cleaners are at least 60% alcohol, or they won’t be effective.  Don’t go for alternative sanitizers claiming that things like vinegar or coconut oil will clean- they aren’t sufficient to fight against COVID-19.

In your car, you should keep at least one small bottle of hand sanitizer.  This step will allow you to get in your vehicle and clean your hands immediately after you’re shopping or working.  It will help if you also kept a pack of alcohol or disinfectant wipes to allow you to wipe down surfaces in your car no matter where you are.  Don’t forget to keep a plastic bag, or some other disposal container, in your vehicle so that you have somewhere to get rid of the wipes.

Clean All Surfaces Thoroughly

Although most of us didn’t clean our cars more than once a month before this, times have changed.  With the disinfectant wipes, you keep in your car, it’s advised that you wipe down your steering wheel, door handles, and transmission shift at the end of your day of driving.  Once a week, you should also disinfect the parts of your car that you touch less often. 

Clean both the inside and outside handles of your car, and clear away the wipes as quickly as possible.  It can be all too easy for anyone to get swept up into obsessively cleaning, and although more is more when it comes to disinfecting, you need to keep a good view on it.  Obsessing constantly over cleaning everything around you can spike anxiety in people, and make it harder to live your life.  Set a schedule, instead, and use your non-dominant hand to open and close doors.

Pay Attention To Your Surroundings

Your car isn’t always safe.  Unfortunately, COVID-19 has caused some car accidents because of the strain the symptoms put on people’s bodies.  Although it’s advised by the CDC that people stay home if they feel any symptoms, many still have to go out to get tested or pick up medicine.  There’s no way to control how other people react when they’re sick,  many people won’t respond rationally.

You must reach out to necessary law resources after an accident.  After that, maintain social distancing while you exchange information, clean your hands, and avoid touching your face.  A car crash is traumatic enough; it’s a horrible thought that you might catch COVID-19 at the same time.

Clean Your HVAC System

Your car’s heating and cooling systems get built to circulate air continuously from the outside unless you set your vehicle to cycle the same air.  This outside air cycling can be dangerous if you live in a crowded area since an infected cough can hang in the air for up to three hours.   

This step is a little more drastic, and it calls for you to have time on your hands to leave your car untouched. 

With your car turned off, shake an air conditioner’s can-cleaning spray and spray heavily into every single vent in your vehicle.  Heavily coat the inside of these vents and ducts.  After that, please turn on your car and your air conditioning, and then let it run with your vehicle sealed for fifteen minutes.  If you can’t leave your vehicle running without fear of getting stolen, the best course of action is to stand outside the driver’s door and wait with it.  Don’t wait inside your car while it disinfects, or you’ll cause yourself harm.  Then leave your car off overnight, and it’ll be clean and ready to use by morning!  Disinfecting your HVAC system is a great way to go the extra mile to protect yourself and your loved ones.

Keep Masks In Your Car

Almost everyone owns a fabric mask at this point.  If you don’t, there are dozens of tutorials on how to sew masks from everything, including tee-shirts and old blankets.  Keep a rotation of masks in your car, a bag, or a container that you can sanitize.  The Mayo Clinic advises you should wash your fabric mask after every day of wear, so having spares is a good idea.

Keeping your mask in your car guarantees you’ll have one on hand if you have to go into a public area.  This step will protect you, and the people around you, without much thought having to get put into it. 

Your car can still be the haven that lets you see the crowded outside world through a sanitary bubble- make sure to take care of it and keep it clean and COVID-19 free.  A car is only as clean as you keep it, so don’t put yourself at risk.