Recent Hawaii Shipping News

The best time of the year to buy a car

Believe it or not, the best time of the year to buy a car is the end of the year. November and December are the months during the year when multiple sales quotas begin to come together for salesmen. This is when salesmen might get a little more desperate and willing to cut you a slightly better deal in order to close your sale. So, if you are thinking about buying a new car over the summer just try and hold off for a few months, you will likely end up getting a better deal as a result.
 

Use sales

Be sure that you take advantage of sales and promotions at dealerships too. Many dealerships have many sales that run throughout the year. The best plan of action is to call them before you even go to the dealership and ask them exactly what sales they have going on at that particular time. If they prompt you to come into the dealership in-person to find out, avoid that dealership.
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Year-end-sales-events are actually a perfect opportunity to combine this strategy with the above strategy of waiting until the end of the year to take advantage of the sales quotas.
 

Dealing with a car salesman

Dealing with a car salesman is not always the best experience. In general, they can seem pushy and untrustworthy. When you are buying a car, you can use the following tips to negotiate with a car salesman to make sure that you get the best deal possible:

• Remind them of your offer when they are desperate – Car salesmen are much more inclined to give you a deal or break if they are in absolute need of a sale. Times that they might be desperate might be before the dealership closes on Saturday or Sunday, the last day of the month or right after a major weather event when business is likely slow.
• Know how much the vehicle that you want is actually worth – Be sure that you know what the true value of the car you are looking to buy actually is. Car salesmen can smell when someone hasn’t done their research. Use sites like Edmunds.com to find out how much a car is actually worth before you even think about stepping foot on the lot.
• Always shop around – Use all of these tips at multiple dealers. See who can come in at the lowest price for you.
• The monthly payment is not as important as the total cost of the car – Many people end up getting bogged down by the thought of a lower monthly payment. However, what you should really be using to compare deals between dealerships is the total cost of the car. The total cost of the car is all the monthly payments plus whatever extra fees or add-ons you have to pay for. Also, the length of time that you are making monthly payments should not greatly exceed the length of the warranty.
• Do your best to avoid expensive extras – Many salespeople will do whatever it takes to get you to agree to as many (completely unnecessary) add-ons as possible. Use your head and only agree to what you need.

Conclusion

Buying a car can be a frustrating process if you aren’t ready to deal with a salesman. However, if you prepare yourself properly, it will be a lot easier and more tolerable. Use the tips and tricks we mentioned here to give yourself a bit of an edge in the car buying process so you can get the best possible deal on your new car.
If you bought your car from a dealership located a considerable distance from your location, you can always ship your car wherever you need it! Contact the car shipping experts at Hawaii Car Transport today!

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Car seat laws in Hawaii
How car seats will help save lives
Conclusion
 

Car seat laws in Hawaii

In Hawaii, car seats are required by law for kids under four years old. For children that are four through seven years old, they must be in either a booster seat or a child passenger restraint. You can also determine whether you need to use either a car seat or booster seat by a child’s weight. If your child weighs under forty pounds they need to be in a car seat. If they are over forty pounds and under eighty-five pounds, they must be in a booster seat.

If you allow children to ride in your vehicles without these and you are pulled over, you will need to go to court and you will be forced to take a four-hour course as well as pay a fine of up to five hundred dollars. It is also quite important that you make sure that you install the car or booster seats correctly. If you do not and you end up getting into an accident the safety that those seats could provide would be compromised. You should always put a car or booster seat in the back seats because it is statistically safer back there in case of a front-end collision.
 

How car seats will help save lives

Car seats increase safety for children riding in a vehicle by allowing them to be securely strapped into a seat that is fitted for them. This would never be the case with a regular adult-sized seat belt. Booster seats simply increase the heights of older kids while they are sitting so that the shoulder belts are not too high.

There is a ton of statistical evidence out there that points to how much car and booster seats increase safety for children riding in a car. First, traffic accidents are unfortunately the leading cause of death for children over one year of age in the United States. However, child passenger restraints end up reducing child fatalities in car accidents by over fifty percent each year.
 

Conclusion

If you drive with children in your car in Hawaii, they must be securely buckled into either a car seat or booster seat depending on their weight and age. You must make sure, whether it is a car seat or a booster seat, that they are properly and securely installed. If you allow a child to ride in your vehicle as a passenger and you get caught, you will face a court date and penalties. What is worse is that you are risking that child’s life in a big way by doing that. If you are shipping your car to Hawaii, be sure to remove any child or booster seats before the vehicle gets picked up as the cost of the child/booster seats will not be covered by the car shipping insurance if they end up getting damaged in transit.

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We ship much more than cars
What else you need to know about shipping a specialty vehicle
Conclusion
 

We ship much more than cars

Hawaii Car Transport ships tons of cars every year. What you might not know is that we ship all types of vehicles, not just typical passenger cars. Hawaii Car Transport also has the ability to ship trucks, SUVs, vans, motorcycles, limos, heavy construction equipment such as tractors and more. If you have a question about a particular vehicle’s ability to be shipped, you can always just call us and speak to one of our representatives about it at (808) 445-6695.
 

What else you need to know about shipping a specialty vehicle

The process for shipping a specialty vehicle could possibly be a bit different depending on what you are shipping exactly. Typical cars get shipped on either open-air carrier or an enclosed carrier. Larger vehicles such as a bus, limo or tractor will be shipped on a flatbed carrier. If you are shipping something like a motorcycle or scooter, your vehicle will be shipped on a pallet inside of a special enclosed carrier. Regardless, your auto transport company will take care of all of this, you will just need to worry about the preparation prior to the shipment.

Let’s say that you are shipping something like an RV. Your preparation will be the same as someone shipping a car, there will just be more of it. When you are shipping a typical car, you will need to do two primary things in preparation: remove any personal items and get the exterior of the car cleaned. This is the same for an RV, but it will take you considerably longer to remove all of your personal effects. It will also take you much longer to wash it because you will likely need to do it yourself and an RV is much bigger than a typical car.

Now, if you were shipping something like a combine harvester (a certain type of farm equipment), you would likely have the extra step of removing the tires so that it can be properly placed on the flatbed carrier. As we said, every specialty vehicle will likely have a slightly different preparation process and shipping process. All you need to do in order to know what needs to be done for your specific vehicle is to talk to your car shipping representative prior to booking your shipment.
 

Conclusion

There are very few vehicles out there that you will not be able to ship to or from Hawaii. You can ship motorcycles, scooters, limos, Humvees, RVs, tractors and much more. There will be some differences from typical car shipping, but your auto transport company will take care of most of that. You will just need to take care of the preparation for the shipment. If you have any questions about shipping a particular vehicle, you can always give Hawaii Car Transport a call at (808) 445-6695.

ELD Mandate

The ELD Mandate is short for Electronic Logging Devices Mandate. This came into play with auto carriers in 2012 but they were given until 2017 to get their fleets up to par with this mandate. This requires that all trucks have electronic logging devices which track a driver’s hours electronically and automatically by being integrated with a truck’s engine. This has been a big change for most auto carriers because this limits drivers to only eleven hours of driving in any fourteen-hour period. After that, they must take ten consecutive hours of rest.

Previously, many drivers could easily exceed this if they were running late with a car shipment. Now they have no choice but to stop driving for the day at the eleven-hour mark and rest. They also must take a thirty-minute break during that eleven hours.

This means that any time lost during transport due to things like traffic or inclement weather cannot be made up later on by driving an extra hour or two. This directly translates to longer overall transit times. As a result, this means slight increases in prices across the auto shipping industry. This does, however, mean safer roads with less overly tired truck drivers on the road.
 

Minimum insurance requirements

All car shipping companies must carry two major forms of insurance — cargo and liability. All auto transport companies are obligated by law to supply a copy of their insurance certificate to any possible customer that asks for it. If you are not sure of the legitimacy of the insurance certificate, you can also confirm it with the insurance company, or the DOTs verification website.

Vehicle transport companies are required by law to be able to prove that they have at least seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars in public liability insurance to pay for any damages to cars in transit or being set for transport.
 

Contracts

Auto transport cannot legally take place without a contract that you and the company both sign. In 2019, sitting down and signing a contract for a service like car shipping is very much a thing of the past. So, how do car shipping companies transport vehicles without a signed contract?

Well, they will require you to agree to the terms and conditions before you can choose to book your shipment. By clicking “I agree” you are signing off on the terms of the car shipping agreement AKA the contract. Your e-mail confirmation of your booking is considered a copy of your contract with your auto shipping company. You should print and keep a copy for your records.
 

Conclusion

All of these laws and regulations have a considerable effect on the auto shipping industry. It affects the entire industry, from the drivers all the way down to the end consumers. These unavoidable rules end up playing a legitimate role in the overall cost of car shipping for both the customer and the car shipping companies themselves. If you need your vehicle transported to the mainland or from the mainland to Hawaii, call Hawaii Car Transport today at (808) 445-6695!

Jump to section:
Residential Restricted Parking Zones
Parking ordinances
Parking rates
Conclusion
 

Residential Restricted Parking Zones

In Hawaii, parking is usually pretty congested. So, what many local town-governments are doing is instilling Residential Restricted Parking Zones. This means in certain areas on residential streets, parking is allowed by permit only. So, if you don’t have a permit, you can’t park there. If you aren’t a resident of that specific area, then you cannot get a permit. This can be frustrating, but it is for good reason though. Many locals are finding it increasingly difficult to find parking anywhere near their homes. So, this had to be done.

If you are moving to Hawaii, you might qualify for one of these permits depending on where you live. You can find out more here.
 

Parking ordinances

The following are places you can’t park in Hawaii. You cannot park within thirty feet of a stop sign. You cannot park within ten feet of a fire hydrant. You cannot park in front of a driveway. You must also be at least four feet away from the end of the “flare”. The flare is the end of the driveway. You cannot park within twenty feet of a crosswalk.

Then there are the places you can park in Hawaii. You can park at meters after you pay the meter. Make sure the meter is not broken. If the meter is broken, you may not park there. Broken meters are considered “No Parking” signs. You can park anywhere street signs permit parking. Be sure only to park there for the allotted amount of time on the signs. Parking enforcement goes on twenty-four hours a day in Hawaii. There are also parking facilities with attendants. You can read more about those below.
 

Parking rates

Parking rates will differ depending on where you park and when. There could be other variables involved such as the business that you are visiting validating the parking. The metered parking facilities in Hawaii generally allow you to park in a particular spot for between one and five hours. The most common time limit you will see is two hours. The meters usually cost either seventy-five cents or a dollar and fifty cents per hour depending on where and when you are parking.

The attendant parking facilities are obviously better for long term parking situations. These facilities will charge anywhere between ninety and a hundred and fifty dollars per month for parking. Those prices are pretty reasonable when you consider that it’s only four or five dollars a day for unlimited parking there, whereas parking on the street could easily end up running you over twenty dollars in a just one day. There is also short-term parking available in these facilities. However, the rates for short term parking in one of these are like metered parking on the street.
 

Conclusion

Parking in Hawaii can be quite difficult and frustrating at times. The streets are crowded, and the parking is scarce. However, if you plan ahead and know what to avoid, you should be just fine. If you are planning ahead for your trip and need your vehicle shipped to Hawaii, let us help you out! Get a free quote today!

Jump to section:
The basics about getting your tire patched
Avoiding the need for a patch
Wrapping up
 

The basics about getting your tire patched

Getting your tire patched is a quick and cheap way to fix a leak in your tire. This means if you have a nail in your tire or some sort of small tear or hole, you can use a patch as a cheap and temporary fix. You will eventually need to get a new or used tire either way. Choosing to get your tire patched will also take less time. This is useful if you need a quick fix when you are driving somewhere or want to wait and shop around for the best price on a new or used tire.

Typically, the cost of a tire patch will run you around twenty or thirty dollars depending on where you go for it and the severity of the damage. A brand-new tire will likely cost between a hundred dollars and three hundred dollars. A used tire will likely cost between fifty and a hundred dollars. So, you can see that getting your tire patched once can be a nice quick fix but anymore than that and you will just be better off buying a used tire.

You will be able to get your tire patched at places such as Pep Boys, Jiffy lube and typical mom and pop auto repair shops. However, you will want to try and go to an actual tire shop that does patches. They have the most experience and specialize in it. Anywhere you go will almost certainly do a fine job but if it is not a place that specializes in tires, it could take a while for them to complete the service whereas a tire shop could potentially do it in minutes.
 

Avoiding the need for a patch

Your absolute best option for a leaking tire is to avoid any leaks in the first place. It is obviously not possible to avoid tire leaks altogether, but you will be able to minimize the risk. First, you should always make sure your tires are properly inflated at all times. Under and over inflation can make your tires more prone to being pierced and torn.

You should also always do your best to avoid any hazards. This will include roads with the potential for lots of debris such as roads near construction sites. If you see larger debris in the road, slow down or stop and drive around it, not over it. Finally, avoid potholes or roads that are in poor condition if possible.
 

Wrapping up

Getting your tire patched in Hawaii is a temporary and cheap option for getting a leak fixed quickly so that you can continue to go about your busy day. Eventually, you will need to get a used or new tire. You should always do your best to avoid ending up with a leak by trying not to drive on roads in disrepair or near potential hazards such as roads that are next to construction sites.

If you need your vehicle shipped to Hawaii or from Hawaii, make life easy and leave the process up to the experts at Hawaii Car Transport. Call (808) 445-6695 today for a free quote!

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Emergency stopping only
Safety tips for shoulder use
Conclusion
 

Emergency stopping only

The shoulder of the road is the area that is sometimes, but not always, next to the active lanes of that road on the right and/or left of those lanes. Many roads do have shoulders, but some do not. The shoulder is never to be used for driving or recreational stopping.

The shoulder of a road is for stopping in case you are having car trouble, a health issue or some other emergency that reasonably would suddenly prevent you from driving safely. Needing to return a text or to get out and stretch your legs does not qualify as such an emergency and could result in you getting a ticket if you use the shoulder for reasons like these.

The reason that you can only use the shoulder for emergency stopping is that it needs to be clear for emergency vehicles such as fire trucks, police cars and ambulances to be able to get around heavy amounts of traffic in a hurry. Also, the shoulder would have less space to stop in case of a personal emergency or car trouble if drivers were allowed to stop there for recreational reasons.
 

Safety tips for shoulder use

Pulling over on the shoulder is typically safe, but there is definitely a risk of danger from the passing traffic. That is why you should take as much caution as possible whenever you need to pull over on the shoulder. You can start by signaling before you pull over that you are going to do so.

When you are pulling over, make sure that you pull over as far as you can in order to put as much space as possible in between you and oncoming traffic. Finally, keep your hazard lights on for the duration of the time that you are pulled over on the shoulder so that other motorists will have the absolute best chance of seeing you just in case they also need to pull onto the shoulder in the same area.
 

Conclusion

The shoulder in Hawaii and anywhere else in the US in for emergency stopping only. Emergency stopping constitutes an issue with your car affecting its performance and/or safety, a personal health issue that is preventing you from driving or driving safely and being pulled over by the police. You may not use the shoulder for something recreational such as a quick phone call. Always be as safe as possible when you are using the shoulder of the road in Hawaii.

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The penalties for speeding in Hawaiii
The risk you take when you speed in Hawaii
Conclusion
 

The penalties for speeding in Hawaiii

Speeding in Hawaii is just as much of a serious moving violation as it is anywhere else. If you are caught you will pay, literally. Like many other states in the country, Hawaii has a general speeding definition as well what is known as an absolute limit. The general definition is that someone will be considered speeding when they are driving at a speed that is unreasonable and greater than what current conditions such as heavy traffic or inclement weather would call for.

The absolute limits are much easier to understand and are more precisely defined. Another phrase for these absolute limits is speed limit. So, this is the hard miles per hour limit that each road provides for anyone driving on them. Any time that you get a ticket for speeding, it will be because you violated the speed limit and your exact number of miles per hour over the limit will be specified and recorded on the ticket.

In Hawaii, the fines for speeding are typically two hundred dollars for a first offense, three hundred for a second offense, and five hundred for a third offense within a year. However, this is for speeding violations of about ten miles per hour. If you are caught “excessively speeding” the penalty will be considerably more severe. Depending on the circumstance of a ticket and how severe the offense was, your insurance rates can also increase.

Excessive speeding is when a driver is driving eighty or more miles per hour and/or driving thirty-five miles an hour above the posted speed limit. The penalties for excessive speeding in Hawaii include fines of five hundred to a thousand dollars, license suspension and possible community service or jail time. Each one of these penalties will be more severe with each repeat offense within a five-year period.
 

The risk you take when you speed in Hawaii

When you speed or excessively speed in Hawaii or anywhere else, you are taking a big risk for yourself, your passengers and other drivers out on the road. You are putting them and yourself at risk of getting into a very serve accident that can cause serious injury or death.

When you speed it will take you a longer distance to come to a complete stop, there is a higher potential for the loss of control of the vehicle, a higher potential for a rollover and more of a chance for a multi-car accident. In fact, over one quarter of all traffic related deaths were directly related to speeding in in the US in 2019.
 

Conclusion

Speeding in Hawaii can be extremely costly when it comes to getting caught. You will need to pay hundreds in fines, have your insurance rates increase, possibly get your license suspended and/or spend time in jail. If that is all that happens as a result of your speeding, consider yourself lucky. That is because speeding can easily lead to you causing an accident where you hurt or kill yourself, your passengers or someone else on the road. Whatever you do, keep your speed under the speed limit.

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What counts as an unsafe lane change
What is the penalty for an unsafe lane change in Hawaii
Final word
 

What counts as an unsafe lane change

In Hawaii, or anywhere else for that matter, an unsafe lane change is when you change lanes without using your signal and/or first physically checking to make sure that it is safe to do so. This can include starting to signal as you are already changing lanes. As a rule of thumb, you should always check your blind spot before you change lanes as well as signal at least a hundred feet before you actually change lanes.

Its important to obey these rules, not just to avoid being pulled over and getting a ticket but also to avoid getting into a possible accident. You can easily get hit from behind as you change lanes if you do not give drivers in the lane you are merging into the right notice that you are doing so. You can also end up trading paint with the car next to you if you do not check your blind spot before trying to change lanes.
 

What is the penalty for an unsafe lane change in Hawaii

If you do end up getting caught making an unsafe lane change, you will be pulled over, ticketed and fined. The fine will likely cost you about two hundred dollars. There might also be court surcharges involved which can increase the price of the overall fine by about fifty dollars. Odds are you will likely have to go to court to determine the amount of money you will need to pay.

In addition to that you could potentially have your insurance rates increased. The way this is determined in Hawaii is based on the severity of the offense rather than automatic points on your license. If your unsafe lane change was deemed aggressive by a police officer, it caused an accident and/or this is a repeated offense by you, your insurance premiums will likely increase by at least ten percent.
 

Final word

Changing lanes safely is one of the simplest things that you can do while you are driving. However, many people take it for granted, get careless, or do so too haphazardly. When you change lanes in an unsafe manner, you put yourself and other motorists at risk of an accident which can result in damage to the vehicles involved or even injury. If you are caught changing lanes unsafely in Hawaii, you will be fined, likely will need to go to court and might even have your insurance premiums rise.

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How your car’s power windows work
How to ensure your power windows keep working well
Wrapping up
 

How your car’s power windows work

Power windows are a useful modern tool that makes your driving experience easier. Some of you may not remember this but cars that were produced a couple of decades ago had windows that had to be manually rolled down. If you are driving and you wanted your window rolled down or up, you had to take one had off the wheel and roll it up rotation after rotation using a handle. With power windows, all you have to do is press a button. Plus, in most cases, the driver will also have the same power over the other windows of the vehicle.

The way that power windows make rolling them up and down so easy is through a mechanical system in your door. This system is powered the driver’s door which is powered by a circuit breaker. The power from the circuit breaker is sent to a contact point in the center of the driver door where it is sent to either the driver’s window or the other windows. When you press a certain button, it connects a specific window to the power, when no buttons are pressed, no windows are connected to the power center point hence nothing happens.
 

How to ensure your power windows keep working well

Many people take their power windows for granted these days. They press a button, and a specific window does exactly what they want. Most people assume that their mechanic will take care of anything that is off with the power windows when they take their car in for service. However, you can extend the life of your power windows by doing a few simple things.

First, you should make sure that the window rubbers are always clean. Any dirt and grime will make it more difficult for the windows to go up and down. Next, you need to lubricate the rubbers near the base of your windows with silicon spray every so often as this will maximize performance. You should also utilize the power window lock when you have any kids in the car. Kids have a tendency to play with buttons, if they do this with the power window, they can end up burning out the mechanism. Finally, you must always get anything wrong with the windows or their buttons fixed as soon as you notice something is broken or off. Letting an issue go for too long can lead to much more serious and expensive issues with the power windows.
 

Wrapping up

Your car’s power windows are a major convenience in comparison to the arduous way that windows used to have to be manually rolled up. You must make sure that you do not neglect your power windows. This includes making sure that the rubber at the base is clean and lubricated as well as getting any problems fixed as soon as possible. Remember, your windows are powered by a fairly delicate mechanism, do not play with your windows or allow any passengers as the mechanism can burn out with sudden overuse.