It’s starting to heat up across the country – in some places, anyway – and that means that tires around the US will be dealing with varying temperatures each day. A good way to make sure your car is ready for the transition to late spring and early summer is to properly maintain your tires.

That’s where our first Junk Car Prevention post comes in. Check out some basic tips on tire maintenance here – it’s one of the easiest and best things you can do to keep your car running in top form. Replacing tires can be expensive, and one of the most common mistakes people make is not checking their tires regularly.

Don’t fall into that group. Check out the article, check your tires and stay on the road safely!

I’m extremely happy to announce that Cash That Junk Car has teamed up with elite automotive writers to bring you the “Junk Car Prevention” series of articles.

I expect these articles to be coming out in the next few weeks, and basically, they’ll focus on everything you can do to make sure your car doesn’t become a junk car. Even though we’re all about junk cars here at Cash That Junk Car, we’re also about keeping everything for as long as you can, and a healthy car means a healthy life.

So stay tuned for some tips and advice on how to keep your car running at its peak for years to come. Some of the things we’ll cover in the series:

• maintaining fluids and changes in order to keep your car running smooth
• how to perform basic checks when you need service
• keeping your tires, alignment and other things straight and good

Keep on coming back for more information. Eventually, we’ll be like the Walmart of junk cars: the only place you’ll need to go for everything you need!

It’s been clear that the economy, in the past few years, has seen better days. But all over the country, signs of improvement are beginning to show, and one area that is starting to really turn around is car sales.

Car sales, both for new and used autos, is a great way to see what’s driving the economy, pardon the pun. When car sales are improving and looking forward, that means more Americans have the disposable income or resources to get new vehicles and ditch the old ones.

This also means that there are a lot more job opportunities available. In each city around the country, there are car lots, car repair shops, junkyards and other businesses that rely solely on cars and the people that buy and sell them.

So why is that good news if you have a junk car? Well, it also means that junk cars are a factor in the economy as well. When the prices of scrap metal are increasing, there’s a greater demand for junk cars and other large sources of metal, so more junkyards and other companies are looking for your scrap metal.

As a junk car owner, this is great news. This means it can be easier than ever to sell your junk car and get cash for it. Rather than going through the hassle of trying to sell the junk car to a junkyard yourself, you can use a third party to handle the process, thereby saving yourself significant time and money in the process.

Sure, there’s more to the economy than car sales and junk cars. But historically, when you look at car sales compared to other economic indicators of success, there’s a correlation that’s difficult to ignore. When car sales are booming, it’s good news for all of us, even those that don’t own junk cars.

So the next time you read about the economy, consider how well car sales in your area are doing, and if you need to sell your junk car, you’ll know that you’re in a great time and location to do so.

Well, the groundhog got things right again this year. Spring seems to have come early, and for all you car enthusiasts out there, this couldn’t be better news. Our friends who ride motorcycles are especially happy, as are those with convertibles, jeeps and the like.

So what does spring mean for car people? Well, it’s the start of nice driving weather. You can cruise the town like you used to, throw some music on and drive by as the world wakes from its slumber.

Or you can choose to wash your car, get it in tip-top shape and ready for vacation season. In any case, what you want to avoid at all costs is holding on to that junk car of yours.

I know, we’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: if you have a junk car lying around, now is the perfect time to do something about it.

Look at it this way: if you don’t cash in your junk car now, it’ll be around when the weather starts to get even hotter, things start getting sticky and humid – depending on where you are – and it’s generally not an enjoyable time to have to deal with a junk car.

So save yourself the hassle. If you really want to jumpstart your spring, get rid of the junk car and get on to some new projects. Maybe the cash you get for your car will be enough to really push you in one direction or another with your hobbies. Or maybe you just need some extra cash to fix things up around the house.

Whatever the situation may be, cashing in your junk car in the early spring is the best way to stay ahead of the curve for the rest of the year. And assuming we all (or at least some) survive December 2012, you’ll be ready to hit the winter of this year and the spring of 2012 with ease.

So what are you waiting for? Spring doesn’t last forever! Get your free instant cash offer now!

Last November, Nevada legalized self-driving cars, which are getting more press attention these days, thanks to Google, which uses the cars for mapping purposes, and a number of other companies that have been experimenting with driver-less cars.

But what’s the big deal?

Well, if many car companies, it’s going to be a big deal. In particular, there are many industry experts that think self-driving cars could drastically improve the safety of driving.  Computer-driven cars theoretically means less accidents because of fewer impaired drivers, but this remains to be seen if this is the case.

And now, Nevada has announced regulations for self-driven cars, so they can’t do anything they want; they will be subject to the law just as you and me. Most of the regulations deal with the regulation (really!) and automation of the cars. For instance, what cars will be allowed to drive without a driver?

When will they be allowed on the road? How will the department of motor vehicles spread information and awareness about the issue? Those are just some of the questions facing Nevada, and largely, the country, as more states face the fact that eventually, many cars will be driven by computers, robots, or whatever you’d like to call them.

Here at Cash That Junk Car, we’d like to think that the best drivers are human, breathing ones, but if driver-less cars means a safer road environment for today’s drivers, then we are all for it. In any case, it will be interesting to see how the situation plays out in the next few years, and we’ll see how energy efficiency also comes into play with these computer-driven cars.

Monday is Presidents Day, also commemorating the birth of George Washington, our nation’s great leader, and even greater dresser. So what are you doing this Presidents Day?

Well, for many people, it’s a day off work, perhaps lounging around the house or enjoying the outdoors, if the weather’s right and that’s your thing.

What’s that you ask? How should I spend Presidents Day if I have a junk car?

Great question! It would seem this is a common situation people fall into every Presidents Day. Do they get rid of their junk car, or just enjoy the three-day weekend and forget about it until it comes up again?

If this describes you, may I be so bold as to make a suggestion. Stop putting it off! Just get rid of that old junk car and get cash for it instead. Why let it sit and rust? Get your momentum going and cash that bad boy in right now.

You’ll be glad you did.

In the meantime, what are everyone’s plans for Presidents Day? Hopefully you enjoy it!

Last week, the groundhog predicted six more weeks of winter. And though it’s been a mild one for most parts of the country, there’s still expected to be some heavy winter action before it’s all said and done.

And after that, spring will be here and it’ll be time to really dig into 2012. So that begs the question: do you still have a junk car laying around? If you do, now is the perfect time to get rid of it.

If you live in a cold, snowy place like I do, you know how easily metal and old junk can rust. And this is especially true with junk cars. So when you have a junk car that’s been sitting all winter, it’s going to look even worse when the snow melts, the sunshine comes and everything is green again.

Your junk car is going to stick out like a sore thumb!

But it doesn’t have to. Getting rid of your junk car toward the end of winter is a great way to do today what you’ve wanted to put off for awhile now. Even if you just recently ran into your junk car problem, and have only had it for awhile, you’ve probably already come to terms with how annoying it can be.

So don’t let your hassles with your junk car go into spring. Get a fresh start in March by taking care of your junk car today. You can cash in your junk car as soon as you’re ready, and just think, in a few weeks or a month or whenever spring arrives, your garage, driveway or yard will be clear of that old junk car.

So why wait? Do what you need to to today. Cash in your junk car and get started on the road to a junk car-free life. Cash yours in today!

Well, we are less than a week away from Christmas the holiday season is in full swing. If you need cash this holiday season, consider trading in your old junk car for cash. It’s something that we’ve seen time and time again: a family needs some spare money for gift giving and what such, and when all else fails, they realize they have a junk car that they can get rid of, just in the (St.) nick of time.

It’s not always that easy, but it is worth bringing up: if you have a junk car you’ve been meaning to get rid of all year, now is most definitely the time to do it. But if you don’t have a junk car, here are a few other ways you can raise some spare money for gifts and holiday joy:

• Sell something on Craigslist. Always a good way to get some cash.
• Take up a gig on Craigslist. If you’re good at something, find a gig on CL and pitch your services.
• Borrow from friends. If you have nice friends, it might be a good idea to ask for their charity around the holidays.

In the next five to ten years, there are going to be sweeping changes in the auto industry. These changes, which have been theorized and drafted for years now, are already seeing the light of day, and today’s car buyer is faced with myriad options – electric, hybrid, gas cars – it’s all available.

But in the future, cars that run solely on gasoline are going to become more and more scarce, and over time, the road will be populated predominantly with electric cars and other vehicles that run on power sources beyond the typical fossil fuels.

So what does this mean for the economy? On the one hand, it means that production of vehicles will stay steady, if not increase, as new technology paves the way for new cars. Some of this production will still be done by human workers, so the auto industry is expected to remain a major employer in the U.S. (and internationally) in the near future.

But what are the other complications? With more, newer cars on the road, this will mean more junk cars that are no longer on the road – and what to do with those? For the most part, these junk cars will be recycled and the metal and other materials that can be taken from them will be used for other purposes.

With any hope, we’ll have more advanced recycling techniques in the future that will make the break down and repurposing of car parts easier, more efficient, and ideally, environmentally friendly. So the question is arguably answered that even with all the changes and adaptations the auto industry makes, it’s expected, in any case, to still provide opportunities to the economy.

It’s also clear that with so many changes comes the opportunity to do with what isn’t done right now. There is no clear answer to how to effectively get rid of junk cars, but we can only work on the technology side of things to make sure our use of junk cars is environmentally, morally and humanly progressive.

More and more, today’s vehicles are integrating with mobile and computer technology to give drivers and passengers a safer, more convenient ride.

But is integrating more and more computer technology really good for today’s drivers?

Although today’s mobile technology that allows drivers to drive, talk and even text without using their hands or peeling their vision from the road, it’s difficult to say for sure whether or not this technology is good. On the one hand, convenience will always be a leading factor in the features cars have, but with technology – even the hands-free type – also comes another distraction from the road.

A wise Buddhist monk said, “when you are driving, drive.” It’s all about on focusing on what you do. And it’s even proven that distractions on the road, whether minor or major, are one of the leading causes of traffic accidents and fatalities. With today’s technology, cars can dial and talk to people just on the commands of the drivers voice. So when the driver is thinking about talking, then talking on their hands-free mobile systems, then closing the call, these are all things that take away from driving itself.

So what do you think? Is computer technology in cars good. Is the convenience provided better than the possible distractions caused by having such technology at our fingertips while we’re behind the wheel? While both sides of the equation have an argument, it’s important to realize that this technology will never go away, it’ll just come and go in different forms as cars and mobile technology evolves.