Donate a Car: The What, The Why, The Where, and The How

Donating a car is one of the most unique and easy ways to give back to the community. If you have a vehicle that you are not using, why not donate it for a good cause? Read below for what to donate, the why you should donate, the where you should donate and how you should donate your unused vehicle.

What You Donate?

Pretty much all vehicles are able to be donated. You can donate cars of any type, trucks, SUVs, RVs, boats, motorcycles and more. What you will need is the title in order to prove that you are the owner of the car.

Why Donate?

One of the first things that people question when they are thinking of donating a vehicle is why. There are many, many reasons to donate items such as these for charity. Donate Car for Charity is part of the Family Care Foundation, which is a nonprofit that assists with many humanitarian goals.

These goals include everything from orphans, AIDs Care, and medical relief. There are also focuses on computer literacy, those who are physically challenged, drug awareness, emergency relief, education and food programs. Finally, there are services for education as well as food programs.

How to Donate?

There are several different ways to donate depending on which program you use, what state you are a citizen of, and how you need to give the car. The very first thing you must do is that which is listed above: determine what item you are going to donate. This of course will depend on your needs and goals.

The next thing you must do when you consider donating a vehicle is to determine the value of that vehicle. According to Donate Car for Charity, you can deduct the entire price that the organization receives when the vehicle is sold. This helps keep you from overestimating or underestimating.

The next portion is form completion. Regardless of whether you donate your car through Donate Car for Charity or through some other organization, there is going to be paperwork.

Finally, the next goal is to insure that you have the title in hand when the vehicle is picked up. The vehicle is to be cleaned and emptied of all possessions. Arrange a time that will work through a towing company.

John Mancini is a true car maniac. To get more information about car donations, visit http://www.donate-your-car.net or [http://donatecarsnow.info]

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Driving Your Mercedes Benz Car in the Snow

If you live in Arizona, you don't have worry about how your Mercedes handles in a winter wonderland. Some aren't so blessed, and that means they'll have to consider the weather when they buy their Mercedes car and when they drive it.

Mercedes Benz cars are generally a rear-wheel drive outfit, and that sends chills down the spines of people who have to drive in snow and ice. Fortunately, there's nothing to fear if equip your Mercedes car correctly when your buy it.

Buying right is pretty easy. If you need serious snow and ice handling for a good part of the year, you might consider a 4MATIC all wheel drive model. You'll find these in several body styles, like sedans (C-Class, E-Class and S-Class), light trucks and SUVs (G-Class, GL-Class and M-Class) and the R-Class and E-Class crossovers and wagons. By most accounts from owners living in heavy winter areas like Alaska, the roadsters are poor winter cars, but that's probably obvious to most prospective buyers.

But an all wheel drive model isn't the only option. You can do just fine with a two wheel drive model, despite the rear wheel drive design. All you need to do is winterize your Mercedes  car appropriately.

You could probably spend thousands of dollars to winterize your Mercedes, but there's really no need to do that. The Benz engineers have helped you by building in traction control on many models. That helps with acceleration and deceleration.

Other than taking such commonsense measures like trying not to drive in the early morning hours (when it's coldest) and keeping to main roads (which either get plowed better or get more use and, thus, better snow melt), the single biggest step you can take to winterize your Mercedes car is to fit it with good winter or all-weather tires.

Buying winter tires is much like picking out shoes-there are so many options to choose from that it can be bewildering. But two tires seem to stand out.

The first is Goodyear's Eagle Ultra Grip line. These tires were designed with sport coupes and sedans in mind, specifically to improve road traction in wet or snowy conditions. But they're probably fine for a more modest C-Class sedan as well. Sylvie Rainville tried some out on a C-Class for a GuideAuto review, and said it the car performed better than a four wheel drive vehicle with all weather tires.

The second tire you might want to look at is the Bridgestone Blizzak. This is an extensively tested tire designed for winter weather. Their Multicell compound looks like Swiss cheese under a microscope, with uniformly distributed pores to wick away water on the surface of ice and snow and grip the surface better. Mercedes Benz forums are full of recommendations for them as winter tires.

As you might imagine, winter tires are for winter. You'll want to swap them out for summer or all weather tires from roughly mid-April to mid-November in most parts of the United States. You'll have to spend some extra money on tires to have sets for two seasons, but the upgrade in safety is worth the expense.

Adsit Company is a worldwide Mercedes Benz parts supplier specializing in new, used and rebuilt Mercedes parts, accessories, engines and transmissions. Adsit offers 10% discounts for online and fax orders as well as full service assistance by phone.

You can get a free, 100 page printed catalog mailed to you by visiting the Adsitco.com Mercedes parts website.

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Before Your Frequent Flyer Miles Expire

Many airlines are adjusting the policies for frequent flyer miles. The miles that you have been saving for a special trip or vacation may soon be at risk. Some airlines send a notice to you by mail, provided the correct address is on file. Other airlines may notify you by email, provided the notice does not get stopped by your email filter. In other cases the airline may not notify you at all. Rather than take chances, review your frequent flyer policy and the status of the miles that you have earned.

The following are a few of the airline policies current at the time of this writing, and are subject to change.

AirTran A+ Rewards expire 12 months after earned, so be prepared to use your miles within the year, or lose them

Alaska Mileage Plan miles expire after 3 years of inactivity, so be sure to fly on Alaska at least once every three years to keep your miles active

Aloha Airlines AlohaPass miles don't expire. Mahalo Aloha Airlines.

America West Dividend Miles expire after 18 months of inactivity, so plan to at least once every year and a half.

American Airlines AAdvantage Miles expire after 36 months of inactivity, so plan to fly American every 36 months if you want to continue earning miles

ATA Travel Awards points expire after 24 months, so use them before the two years are up

Continental offers OnePass and currently does not cancel or expire miles, so save up your miles for a special trip

Delta Skymiles previous program preserved for 36 months have been been reduced to expire after 24 months of inactivity, or until Delta expires, whichever comes first

Frontier Airlines EarlyReturns miles expire after two years of inactivity, thus the appropriately name program, Early Returns

Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles expire after 36 months of inactivity, can you really wait three years to get back to Hawaii?

JetBlue TrueBlue miles expire 1 year after the miles are earned, so you may not get a chance to use your frequent flyer miles, but at least the rates are low

Midwest offers Midwest Miles that expire if no additional miles are earned in 36 months, not very original, but neither is the program name

Northwest Airlines WorldPerks miles expire if none are earned in 3 calendar years, because it may take three years to earn enough points to see the world

Southwest Rapid Rewards credits expire after 24 months, earn them rapidly and use them rapidly

United Airlines Mileage Plus lasts for 36 months until December 31, and then they will expire after 18 months

US Airways Dividend Miles were previously preserved for 36 months, now expire after 18 months of inactivity, just like the America West program

What do you do if your miles are about to expire and you do not have enough for that dream vacation? Spend your miles elsewhere, combine them or donate them. Many frequent flyer programs offer alternative ways to spend your hard earned miles. Many airlines offer the option to cash in your mileage credits for magazine or newspaper subscriptions, or use the credits towards other benefit purchases. Look at the affiliate airlines to determine if there is an opportunity for you to transfer miles to another airline partner and combine your miles for a much deserved getaway.

AirTran Airways, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Midwest Airlines, Northwest Airlines, United Air Lines and US Airways participate in Operation Hero Miles, a program that enables you to easily donate unused frequent flyer miles to family members of wounded troops traveling to military hospitals to visit injured loved ones. For more information, please visit http://www.heromiles.org/

If you choose to donate your accumulated and unused frequent flyer miles to the Red Cross, the IRS even acknowledges this as a donation and a deduction. Just imagine, you can donate unused miles before they expire and the IRS recognizes it as a donation. America West FlightFund members may donate miles in 5000 mile increments into the Miles of Hope Program. Continental makes it easy for OnePass frequent flyer members to donate mileage through the web site or by calling customer service. Northwest Airlines offers two programs, you can donate a minimum of 5000 miles to the Red Cross, or you can donate $50 to the Red Cross and receive 500 WorldPerk frequent flyer miles in return. United Airlines frequent flyers may also participate with a minimum donation of 1000 miles. The frequent flyer miles collected by the Red Cross are used exclusively for disaster response. For more information, please visit http://www.redcross.org/donate/donatemiles.html

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Words of Wisdom

"The saying "Getting there is half the fun" became obsolete with the advent of commercial airlines."
- Henry J. Tillman

"Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first."
- Mark Twain

"If at first you don't succeed, find out if the loser gets anything."
- Bill Lyon

"I wanna hang a map of the world in my house. Then I'm gonna put pins into all the locations that I've traveled to. But first, I'm gonna have to travel to the top two corners of the map so it won't fall down."
- Mitch Hedberg

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About the Author:

John Mehrmann is a freelance writer and President of Executive Blueprints Inc., an organization devoted to improving business practices and developing human capital

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Dogs Cruise Free

Hundreds of dogs take over a boat cruise (donate a towel or blanket to the local animal shelter and you and your dog get a free bay cruise)



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfWJUOyuPJI&hl=en

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Chrysler's Rip Roaring SRT Family of Vehicles

Step back in time some fifty years ago and you would see that the American automotive market was much different than it is today. Three companies dominated the scene: GM, Ford, and Chrysler with the newly formed American Motors making up the bulk of the sales. Volkswagen was new to the U.S. market with its legendary Beetle while Toyota was still a few years away from marketing its very first cars. Although the term "muscle car" wasn't used until the 1960s, a series of "Hemi powered" vehicles from the Chrysler Corporation began to hit the streets. These particular models influenced this unique segment for several years until market changes in the early 1970s effectively eliminated that category. Today, muscle cars are back and the Chrysler Group is leading the way with its expansive line up of SRT vehicles. Although consumer tastes have changed as has the overall automotive market, Chrysler's SRT family of vehicles remains a popular choice for performance enthusiasts everywhere. Read on and we'll explore the vehicles that are shaping the new muscle car era.

Several years before Daimler-Benz and the Chrysler Corporation merged to form DaimlerChrysler, a team of Chrysler employees was tasked to invigorate the automaker's line up with bold and exciting models. The first vehicle produced by "Team Viper" was the Dodge Viper, Mopar's answer to the Chevy Corvette; a few years later it was followed by the Plymouth Prowler, a limited production retro-style roadster produced by a parallel group, "Team Prowler". Clearly, Chrysler was attempting to erase its uninspiring K-car image with the production of these two models and although production was very limited, the vehicles managed to positively impact the Dodge and Plymouth brands.

Team Viper and Team Prowler later merged operations to become SRT - Street and Racing Technology - a high performance automotive group that is part of the Chrysler Group at DaimlerChrysler. Although the Plymouth brand was eventually dropped, DaimlerChrysler decided to expand the SRT line up to include certain vehicles sporting Dodge, Jeep and Chrysler nameplates.

So, what qualifies a vehicle to wear the SRT designation? Several things including:

--Potent engines. Only the most powerful engines are reserved for SRT vehicles. While some are normally aspirated, many have been turbocharged or supercharged to beef up horsepower.

--Responsive handling. Relying heavily on its Mercedes connection, the SRT team employs state of the art steering and suspension systems in every model. Add in more powerful brakes and you have a vehicle that masters every turn and stops on a dime every time.

--Bold styling. No ordinary vehicle is eligible for the SRT treatment as massive aluminum wheels, front and rear spoilers, and bold air intakes are included to enhance performance. On the inside, race inspired aluminum pedals and sports car derived seating gives SRT drivers a true performance feel to match the energy brimming underneath every hood.

Currently, the SRT line up includes the following models with more vehicles expected to receive that designation:

Dodge: Ram SRT10 Quad Cab; Ram SRT10 Regular Cab; Viper SRT10 Coupe; Viper SRT10 Roadster; Charger SRT8; and the Magnum SRT8.

Chrysler: 300C SRT8; Crossfire SRT6 Coupe; and Crossfire SRT6 Roadster.

Jeep: Grand Cherokee SRT8.

Much like the muscle car era of long ago, SRT enthusiasts are beefing up their already potent vehicles with nifty aftermarket parts and supplies including supercharger systems, exhaust headers, cat-back exhaust systems, cool air intakes, lowering kits, traction bars, and more. Popular aftermarket performance suppliers are matching the introduction of every SRT model with new products of their own. Definitely, the SRT crowd is a unique group of automotive enthusiasts who simply won't settle for the status quo.

The Chrysler Group will be changing the SRT line up over the next several years with the introduction of three more Dodge models: the Caliber SRT4, the Avenger SRT6, and possibly a version of the Nitro SUV - Dodge's twin model to the Jeep Liberty. Last but not least, the ultimate blending of two generations of muscle cars will become evident when the Dodge Challenger makes its debut within the next three years. Yes, an SRT version of this most desired retro coupe will also find its way into the classiest of new classics.

Copyright 2006-2015 - Matthew C. Keegan is a freelance writer who writes for a variety of websites, blog, print publications and related works. Please visit Matt's Musings, his personal blog discussing a variety of topics including SEO tips, freelance writing, politics, trends, etc.

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