Author Archive: Chad Baus

Fitting a car into your household budget is no easy task, and financial experts do not agree on how to determine its affordability. One school of thought holds that all your automotive expenses — gas, insurance, car payments — should not exceed 20% of your pretax monthly income. Other experts say that a vehicle that costs roughly half of your annual take-home pay will be affordable. Then some frugal personal-finance gurus say you should spend no more than 10%-15% of your annual income on a vehicle purchase. Pretax, post-tax, annual income; these terms are enough to make a person ask: “How much car can I afford?”

There’s no perfect formula for how much you can afford, but our short answer is that your new-car payment should be no more than 15% of your monthly take-home pay. If you’re leasing or buying used, it should be no more than 10%. The reason for finding a vehicle [...]

Some of us keep absolutely nothing in our cars’ trunks, while others have enough packed in there that they could live in their car for weeks. Somewhere in between is this list of 30 things we think every car owner should always have on hand.

You can buy packaged emergency safety kits which includes a booster cable, flashlight, first aid kit, and many other items—but the DIY approach is more satisfying and cost-effective, as you probably already have many of these items lying around. It’s not just about emergencies or safety, either, so we’ve separated the checklists by category.

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If you’re buying or driving a 2008 or newer car, truck or SUV, it has a tire-pressure monitoring system (TPMS), which uses sensors to continuously monitor pressure in the tires and warn you with a dashboard symbol when tire pressure is dangerously low. The feature is standard on all 2008 and newer models, thanks to the TREAD Act, which Congress enacted in 2000 after rollover incidents involving the Ford Explorer and Firestone tires. Some 2006 and 2007 model-year vehicles also have TPMS.

The TPMS symbol is either a cross-section of a tire with an exclamation point in it or an overhead view of a car with all four tires exposed. Because of a variety of considerations from tire companies and automakers, a TPMS warning light isn’t required to come on until a tire is 25 percent below the manufacturer’s recommended tire pressure. That’s also well below the pressure required for safe driving, according to the American Automobile [...]

When most people think of exterior car detailing, the old-fashioned “wash and wax” comes to mind. Today’s drivers who know better realize much more goes into detailing a car’s exterior like the pros. For example, carnauba car wax following a hand wash was the go-to form of paint protection for decades. That standby has given way to paint sealants and ceramic coatings in recent years.

An often forgotten or unknown action is using a clay bar to deep clean paint and remove bonded contamination before adding a new layer of paint protection. And while the clay bar is excellent for wholly and safely removing surface contamination, chemical decontamination is necessary to remove the contamination embedded beneath the paint’s surface. Using an iron removal product will help remove brake dust from the color before it can blossom into unsightly rust blooms.

Read on to learn about the steps for professional exterior car detailing to help keep your vehicle looking new.

Click [...]

The Great American Road Trip can become even greater when you tweak a few simple things about your approach.

Heed our advice, grab a couple close friends, and get out there on the best trip of your life.

1. Make a plan, but not a rigid one.
If you’ve got a time limit (as most road trippers do), it’s smart to plot out which city you’ll sleep in each night before setting off. Plan so your driving time is eight hours or less per day, but don’t plan anything more than that. Then watch as your days become hilarious sagas of driving, wandering, and following your wild road trip whims.

2. Don’t research your stops beforehand.
Ahh expectation, the grand crippler of many a road tripper’s happiness. On a road trip, your schedule has extra room, so you can afford to enter a new city with no prior knowledge of what you’ll find. Being relatively clueless has [...]

Most people spend a significant amount of time in their vehicles. If you are one of those that live in your car and, especially those with kids, you know how dirty your car can get. Follow along as we show how to clean common automotive fabrics and stains.

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Having written not only one, but two blog posts about my grandfather, the second generation of our family business, literally on the day of his passing, I expected that I would be able to do the same about my dad, who I was blessed to work with almost every day for 19 years, and who passed away unexpectedly on Nov. 24, 2022.

But those words just won’t come – at least not yet.

Thankfully, words DID come at his Celebration of Life service, when we marked his passing with family, friends, church and community. So instead of waiting for what won’t come, I’m going to share here what already has been.

I pray it helps you remember Dad, or, if you weren’t privileged to know him, feel a bit more like you did.

Dad loved telling stories, and so after the service we thought it fitting marked his passing by telling some [...]

Larry N. Baus joined his heavenly Father on November 24, 2022. He was born August 1, 1950 in Wauseon, Ohio, the son of the late Edward D. Baus & Leanna M. (Nofzinger) Baus. A graduate of Archbold High School and Stautzenberger College, Larry was a resident of Archbold for most of his life.

He married his wife of nearly 51 years, T. Eileen Shinabery, on December 25, 1971, and she survives. They were blessed with two sons, Chad (Beth) and Aaron (Marissa), along with four grandsons, Daniel, Levi, Owen and Leo. Larry is also survived by one brother, Gene (Marva) Baus.

Larry enjoyed attending his grandsons’ sporting and musical events.

Larry was thankful to have been able to serve Archbold and our surrounding communities for more than 50 years through the family’s automotive business, Nofzinger Motor [...]

Preventative maintenance now can help ensure worry-free driving this winter

The vacations are over, the kids are back in school and cooler evenings have begun. Take advantage of the lull to prepare your vehicle for the winter ahead, advise the pros and the non-profit National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE). Breakdowns, never convenient, can be dangerous in cold weather period.

The following tips from ASE should give parent and student alike a road map to fall car care.