A service provided by the law offices of Kevin Le, TexasLemon.com is a detailed archive of everything you need to know about “lemon laws,” including how to document your case, and how long you have before the statute of limitations runs out. There’s also extensive information about different auto-sales related scams, like changing interest rates for financing because “paperwork was wrong” or credit scores placed you outside the guidelines for promotion, and tips on how to spot such attempts at fraud, and how to resolve them.

TexasLemon.com is much more than just dry facts and information, however. The site incorporates a home page which introduces you to the subject, as well as a biography of Kevin Le himself. There’s a collection of frequently asked questions about what to do if you think your car is a lemon that also addresses things like how much an attorney will typically charge for such a case, and how to go about contacting these law offices specifically, and the site also gathers all the actual Texas legal codes and warranty regulations in one place for visitors to review and refer to if required.

In addition to all that, TexasLemon.com also has an affiliated blog, TexasLemonLawBlog.com which is linked in the toolbar. The blog addresses lemon laws outside of Texas, often by comparing them to the Texas standard. It’s not updated every day, but the information presented is both topical and as current as possible, with new posts whenever there is a change in legislation, or an important milestone (such as the 20th anniversary of the lemon law in Florida).

While it’s not clear how much of the text of the blog – or the site – is written my Mr. Le himself, it’s made explicitly clear that he stands behind the information presented on behalf of himself and his firm. It’s also clear that he’s a big believer in consumer advocacy, and consumer education.

We at AutomotiveBlog hope you’ll never have to use Kevin Le’s services, but if you do live in Texas, and find yourself stuck with a lemon on wheels, we’re confident that this site, and the law offices of Kevin Le, can help you.

You may not be able to squeeze blood from a turnip, but TexasLemon.com proves that when handed a lemon, you really can make lemonade.

I just returned from a week in San Francisco (and let me just say that Mark Twain was right about the summer weather there), where I kept seeing these cute, tiny yellow cars populated by one or two helmeted tourists, and sharing audio GPS with passers by. I was curious, of course, so I looked them up.

What I was seeing were GoCars. They’re tiny rentals available to licensed drivers aged 18 or over, and, according to their marketing material:

GoCar Rentals is the first company in the world offering computer guided talking tour car. The GoCar is ideal to explore everything that San Francisco has to offer. Approved for use on city streets, the GoCar is simple to operate and its small size makes parking a breeze.

The cars are controlled by a handlebar system, and come with a talking GPS that not only tells the driver where to turn, change lanes, etc, but also provides information on nearby landmarks and tourist attractions. The programmed tour takes about two hours, beginning at Hyde St., near Fisherman’s Wharf, and looping through the Marina, Golden Gate Park, and down the crooked section of Lombard Street.

GoCar tours are also available in San Diego, Miami, Barcelona and Lisbon.
For more information, visit their website, at GoCarTours.com.

Members of the WPC Club include owners and aficionados of vintage members of the Chrysler auto family, including Plymouth, Dodge, DeSoto, Imperial, Maxwell, Fargo, Chalmers and Jeep, specifically, but the club has also recently entered into a joint operating agreements with the Town & Country Owners Registry, bringing fans of the Town and Country into their fold as well.

The WPC Club runs a club store which sells logo-wear, key fobs and window decals. Other benefits of membership, which costs $37 – $67 per year depending on where you live (in or out of the USA) and your preferred method of newsletter delivery (standard first class mail or something faster) includes the newsletter, which is really a full-color magazine that averages 28-30 pages (so get any images of stapled sheets of copy paper out of your head), as well as access to members-only sections of the club website, and access to club-sponsored events.

The site itself is easy to navigate and contains a lot of information, ranging from event lists to archived newsletters, and also has technical advice, a community discussion forum, and the expected gallery of member’s cars.

If you own a classic Chrysler or related vehicle, this club is the one for you. They bill themeselves as “the world’s largest Chrysler products club.” I think Walter P. Chrysler would be proud.

Then there’s Monte Millennium Generations.

Established in 2004, Monte Millennium Generations focuses on the Chevrolet Monte Carlo, and, as with the kinds of clubs mentioned above, it offers a gallery of user-submitted pictures, links to cars for sale, and technical articles. Unlike many other car clubs, however, this one also hosts events and gets involved in local charities, using a common interest – the love of the Monte Carlo – to unite its membership.

The love of this elegant car is evident in every page of the site, from the main page, to the storefront where one can purchase logo gear like t-shirts, watches, and mouse pads, but it is most evident on the history page which offers an evolution of the model, as well as an overview of different advertising campaigns.

As well as respect and admiration for the Monte Carlo itself, the Monte Millennium Generations website displays class and elegance. Even the events they endorse support this tone. Rather than rallies, there are celebrations of membership anniversaries, and links to such auto shows as the Concours d’Elegance.

Just as the Chevrolet Monte Carlo has always welcomed drivers and passengers to a driving experience that is both luxurious and comfortable, this club welcomes members from all walks of life, who own any model year of the car they so love.

The Monte Carlo is not just any car.
Monte Millennium Generations is not just any car club.

What is Carpool Connect? It’s a forum where people in major metropolitan areas throughout the US and Canada can register post ride-sharing ads, both requests and offers. It also offers a map of member locations, including the most recent 50 carpoolers (at any given moment).

The site has a fairly minimalist design, without a lot of flash to clutter the user experience. Some users have posted requests for art on the suggestions forum, while the folks who run the site told us that there are plans for pictures of carpool lots, and a forum for member reviews.

Right now, aside from the central ride-sharing portion of the site, Carpool Connect excels at offering information. They’ve taken a decidedly green stance, pushing the environmental benefits of using high occupancy vehicles, and filling the seats within them, and they have also provided a glossary of carpool- and driving-related terms – everything from “HOV” to “Van Pool” – so that their members can be well educated.

Sustainable transportation is going to be a major issue as long as we remain dependent on any kind of oil, but with sites like Carpool Connect, there is hope that we can work toward the greater good…and get a ride to work while we do it.

Now, however, there’s BeatTheTraffic.com, a website that currently offers up-to-the-minute traffic information in 50 metropolitan areas, including Miami and New York with more coming soon.

The goal at BeatTheTraffic.com is to provide commuters with information that is more complete, and better updated, than anything else available, and their information includes not just traffic flow information and lists of traffic incidents, but also live camera images of actual traffic, and other relevant information.

As well as current conditions, BeatTheTraffic.com provides congestion forecasts, which allow travelers to avoid potential traffic jams during holiday travel, as well as regularly occurring congestion peaks that affect daily driving.

While BeatTheTraffic.com collects information from a number of sources, their site aggregates it all, so that commuters only have to visit one source for information. As well, their site is easy to use, with both button- and text-based links, as well as easy-to-read maps.

Avoid congestion. Get to your destination faster, and with less frustration. BeatTheTraffic.

MAP Brake Safety Awareness Week takes its cue from the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s event of the same name, a program that only addresses the need for annual inspections in medium and heavy-duty North American trucks. The MAP program, on the other hand, reaches out to the American driving public, a sector much less likely to exhibit good habits when it comes to preventative vehicle maintenance.

MAP President Larry Hecker, described  the program as an event that will annually enhance consumer awareness of the need to have their brakes inspected by a professional to increase their personal safety and to decrease the number of brake-related accidents on American roads. “Our member companies, like thousands of other aftermarket professionals across the U.S., believe service shops and motorists should be partners in promoting vehicle safety. This program represents a major step toward that goal.”

If your brakes are making “funny” noises or not performing efficiently, have them checked immediately. Otherwise, keep your eyes out for promotional material on MAP Brake Safety Awareness Week (August 26 to September 1) in your area and get the inspection done for free at a participating auto service center.

Researchers in a study conducted in California determined that the temperature inside a vehicle, irrespective of the outside temperature, will rise on average 40 degrees in one hour. Some 80 percent of this heating occurs in the first half hour. Children are especially susceptible to heat stroke because their bodies do not regulate core temperature as well as those of adults. This effect, coupled with dehydration, equals a rapidly fatal combination.

“Cracking” the window is not a solution to the rapid temperature increases. Between 1998 and 2006, some 324 children died in incidents like that in Chattanooga earlier this week. In the vast majority of cases, the parents in question were not “evil” or “bad.” They “cracked” the window and ran into the store for “just a minute” only to return to a tragedy. The rule is simple — never leave your child unattended in a vehicle. It is not safe, under any circumstances, even on days when you think the temperature is mild.

It’s not just goods and services you can buy over the ‘net, however. You can also coordinate dinner with friends, or even meet the love of your life, and then arrange to have a limousine meet him or her at the airport (when they arrive on their e-ticketed flight). And now, thanks to a company called GoLoco you can also find a carpool service.

Yes, that’s right, you can carpool without ever leaving your desk.

GoLoco markets themselves as part eco-friendly service provider (after all, carpooling means less cars on the road) and part social networking service. After you have an account, you can either post information on where you’re driving and see if others need to hitch a ride, or arrange to ride-along with someone going in your direction. The service allows free carpooling, but it also works with pay-per-ride services, though it skims 10% off the top as a transaction fee.

In addition to providing basic “hook-up” services between drivers and passengers, GoLoco takes steps to make sure individual users are safe – safer, even, than any blind date. Their user profiles include photos and descriptions, as well as contact information, and once you’ve arranged to give or take a ride, your itinerary will be emailed not just to you, but also the “security buddy” of your choice, so that someone always knows where you’re going and who you’re with.

GoLoco users have branched out beyond merely ride-sharing of course, often using the site to arrange meet-ups for movies or dinner, or even to exchange recommendations for other service providers, like gardeners or electricians.

If you need a ride, chances are someone nearby is going in your direction. Go green. Go geek. And GoLoco.

You Auto Donate is sort of a clearing house for donated cars. First, visit their website, where you can find information on policies and procedures, as well as answers to frequently asked questions like, “Does the car I donate need to be in working order?” (Answer: No, but they won’t take cars that are over 15 years old, and if it doesn’t run, they have to be able to recoup the repair fees plus the towing fee and still make a profit.)

In order to make things easier for donors, You Auto Donate has a list of charities you can select from, all of which are 503(c) registrants, which means donations are tax deductible. (Check your local tax regulations to be certain though.) You can select one from a drop-down list, fill in a form, and arrange for a pickup.

In a few days your old car will be retrieved, and you’ll have a receipt you can use for tax purposes, as well as the knowledge that you’ve helped the charity of your choice earn some needed money.