April 15 isn’t that far away and with it comes taking stock of your available deductions. What you may not know is your car can save you money come tax-time. There are some common car-related tax deductions available. While some people fill out their tax return themselves, many go to Novato area professionals (such as an accountant) for help. Either way, be sure to gather your receipts and documents in preparation for that important meeting. Read on to learn what to discuss with your accountant or other tax professional.

Business Use
If you use your car exclusively for business, you can deduct car expenses, according to the IRS website. This tax deduction applies if you own your own business, are a freelancer or entrepreneur. Car deductions are for a car, van, pickup or panel truck used for business according to the IRS website.
If you use your car for both business and personal purposes, you must divide your expenses based on actual mileage. Note: costs related to travel between a taxpayer’s home and regular place of work are commuting expenses and are not deductible.

Leasing a business vehicle. If you lease a cars for business, the entire lease payment can be deducted from the taxable income. In some cases they can combine this with individual deductions, such as operating costs.

There are other less common vehicle deductions that might apply to you.
If you own a rental property, you can deduct mileage driving to and from it. Driving to and from charitable or volunteer events allows for a 14 cent per mile deduction. Traffic and parking tickets do not qualify. When you are working and on company time, those are your responsibility, not your employer’s.

Taking a business class or workshop? You can also deduct the miles you drive to qualifying professional development classes and workshops that help you maintain or improve your job skills. The course or courses are required by your employer or law to keep your present salary. You must itemize these costs on your tax return. Check the IRS website for the correct form.

Had job interviews last year? The standard mileage deduction may apply to your travel while looking for a new job.

The trip must be directly related to your job search. You can’t include miles driven while on a shopping trip that same day. You must itemize your deductions and claim them as a unreimbursed expense.

For updated information, refer to IRS Publication 463, Travel, Entertainment, Gift, and Car Expenses.
For a list of current-year and prior-year mileage rates see “Standard Mileage Rates.” There’s a separate table for those who lease their vehicles. If you are self-employed, you may either deduct your exact expenses or use the optional standard mileage rate to calculate deductions.

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NOVATO CHEVROLET

1. Have a professional check your fluid levels: Although this seems as such an easy enough task, there is a safety risk if not performed properly. Our certified technicians can check your fluid levels, and the systems they control.

We recommend checking Brake Fluid, Coolant Fluid, Power Steering, Transmission and Windshield Washer Fluid in addition to Motor Oil.

2. Ensure Proper Tire Care: The only think keeping your vehicle safely on the road is your tires. During the Holiday Season, the additional wear from the extra workload increase the chances of irregular and premature wear if your tires are not properly inflated you run the risk of overloading them. Be sure to have your tires, alignment, suspension and steering components all checked out to make sure they are in good condition.

3. On Schedule Oil & Filter Changes: There’s nothing like a well-oiled machine to ensure safety and longevity on the road. Next to you, trust us when we say regular oil changes are your vehicles best friend. Oil changes are the least expensive form of maintenance you can do to maximize engine life and reduce repairs.

4. Check your battery, test the heater, lights and wipers: Checking your battery before it fails, will save you additional stress during the holiday season. While checking your battery, take a few minutes to test your heat. Nothing is worse than finding out your heat isn’t working when it’s chilly outside. In addition, check your interior and exterior lights to ensure everything is working properly. Lastly, no matter what Mother Nature throws your way, you’re going to need to see the road. Test your wiper blades for signs of wear and replace if necessary.

We want you to enjoy your Holiday Trips to see family and friends, without worrying about any vehicle problems that could arise. We recommend following these tips for stress free travel this Holiday Season. Enjoy your Holidays!

When it comes to picking the ideal car for your needs, knowing where to start the search always helps. Today, though, most people usually don’t have the cash spare or the immaculate financial profile needed to land a loan today. To help you out of that problem, you can find all the help that you need waiting for you with a lease.

Car leasing is much more affordable, flexible and generally beneficial than buying a car outright. It removes all the stress about handling repairs and makes sure you can concentrate on being an insured, fully taxed member of the roads with a car that isn’t going to fail on you or come with a nasty post-purchase surprise.

While the expense of early lease termination can be insane, a good lease – if picked right – can be a major benefit to you. to help you make the right call, then, let’s take a look at the various benefits of securing a lease. Shortly, you’ll start to wonder why you fretted about being vetted for a loan!

Turn It Over
The best part of any lease is the fact that when the lease ends, if you take on a new one you just hand the car over and get a replacement. No messing around with an old model that needs work and having to take huge financial hits to pay for it. You can avoid all of that – and then some – by using a lease.

The days of having your money and car value torn away from you because of the changing of time and a minor malfunction costing you hundreds in fees and weeks of time.

Less Expensive
From managing the taxation side of things to the actual up-front cash outlay – even the monthly costs and maintenance fees – having a lease car is gloriously affordable. They make it much more effective for you to get a car that you can believe in and enjoy driving, while knowing you won’t be put off the road by some weird error that you cannot afford to pay for to correct.

The cost of a lease is smaller than a loan, and your car is likely to be much more affordable in the grand scheme of things.

New Models
With a lease, you get a new model when you renew your lease. This means a new car every 2-4 years, allowing you to build up a really nice collection of cars in a short space of time. Add in the fact that the lower overall price means you can lease something a bit more grandiose than you could buy, and it becomes much easier to see why people love a lease today.

If you want to get on the roads and to make your driving experience as safe as possible, a lease makes perfect sense. The lack of down payments, lower overall cost, greater selection, easier management and constant renewal will ensure you see a wholesale change in how you thought about the entirety of the driving scene once and for all!

FICO Auto scores are specific industry version. It is delicate and predictive in the potential condition of auto loan repayment crisis. The base FICO Score is created first then adjusted on predicting the probability to pay as agreed in the future such as an auto loan.

FICO score is the basis of FICO Auto Score. FICO Score is the one that designates you in the level of worthiness in any sort of credit. On the other hand, FICO auto score is the one that designates you in the level of worthiness in any sort of credit specifically for auto loans.

Some of the automobile finance lenders use the FICO Auto Score instead of FICO Score. It is essential to know what score lenders need to use in their review process of the credit. They also determine the other information they need to consider in the review process of the credit. They need more information about income, the value of the collateral and employment history of the person.

The FICO Score and FICO Auto Score are different in scoring range. The base FICO score falls between 300 and 850. On the other hand, FICO Auto Score ranges from 250 to 900. As you want to shop for financing to buy car or vehicle, there are some factors that will affect your payment.

Length of Loan
Buyers choose a car loan that lasts for five years or longer. The average car loan length is about 65 months in the last quarter of 2012. The good in having a longer car loan is that in terms of payment, it will be lower. The disadvantage is that you may owe your car or vehicle more than it’s worth.

Down payment
It is made easier for you to reduce the amount you borrow if you have a larger down payment. Some prefer to sell their current car or vehicle to use as a down payment but there are some lenders who don’t require a down payment.

Credit Score
The credit score will help you find out the interest rate of your payment. If ever you don’t have a not so perfect credit, it does not mean that you don’t have a modest rate. The auto lender credit score may be different from the score you see if you have your own credit.

Refinance Car Loan
If you get a lower rate, you will save money and you can pay your loan quickly. There’s another option, which is that you can extend your loan term. It makes your payment affordable. It is easy to do. Just refinance your auto loan then apply to determine if you qualify for it.

In time, the lenders will check your credit or even request a score. It will be noted on more than one of your credit reports but most credit score structure will ignore the current auto loans queries. If you want to protect your credit, watch out for the interest rates for it may increase without any notice. If you are desperate to have a car or vehicle, try to get a personal loan. If you can’t, try a non-profit credit agency which can help you find solutions in times of financial difficulties.

It’s summertime and that calls for being out and about more on the roads. Are you planning a summer road trip, traveling on the weekends to your summer cabin or spending your evenings out enjoying the hot summer nights?

It’s time to think about your vehicle and the seasonal maintenance it might need. Here are some tips to ensure safe summer driving this August:

1. Beat the Heat. Your cars cooling system is critical to your summer driving so make sure to give it extra care through the season.
2. Air Conditioning. Make sure your air conditioning won’t quit cooling for you this summer, inspect the system for any worn out, damaged belts and that it’s clear of any debris.
3. Summer Tread. Opt for All Weather tires or get some summer tires on your vehicle. You’ll get more speed, better handling and better fuel efficiency with the right tires.
4. Brake Check. Summer weather patterns can bring all sorts of weather. You’ll want to make sure your brakes are in check and ready to go for what summer weather may bring. Hot weather can also cause brake pads to wear more quickly so keep tabs on yours and make sure they are in good shape.

Last but not least we hope you are enjoying this summer season and don’t forget those sunglasses!

Whether you’re listening to the latest podcast or NPR channel, you might just end up wishing you had some great music along for the ride. Music and road trips go hand in hand, and if you’re looking for some new tunes, there are many places to find and download music:

iTunes Store
Amazon MP3
Spotify
Napster
eMusic
7digital

There are even more places to find a good song list. But how do you entertain the whole family? Or your best friend who decided to take his or her vacation time, so they could drive with you across the country.

If you’re travelling with your family, show tunes are always a great choice. Most of us can even sing along to some of the old standards:

South Pacific
West Side Story
My Fair Lady
Bye, Bye Birdie
Grease
More genres to choose from, to satisfy most musical tastes:
Folk
Pop
HipHop
Jazz
Country
Classical
Rap
Punk
Reggae

Doing a simple search online can go a long way to help you build your library. Searching Spotify, Pinterest and Google, will come up with some great choices, whether it’s an old favorite we know all the words to, or something brand new. Have a great trip, and drive safe!

Here comes the sun and rising temperatures, which means an entirely different strategy for car care. Here are six simple tips to help you care for your vehicle as we make way for spring!!

1. Wash and Wax
One of the single most important things as spring starts. Allowing debris and grime to build up on your car can affect its paint and finish.

2. Clean the Inside, Too
Nobody wants to spend time cleaning out their car during a cold winter day. That’s why spring is the perfect time to clean your car’s interior, Spring Cleaning we like to call it. Remove and throw away any trash and other items that have accumulated in your vehicle over the winter.

3. Check Your Tire Pressures
As air gets warmer again in the spring, tire pressures can increase; If the pressure increases past your manufacturer specification (because you added air during the winter), it can seriously affect your car’s drivability and fuel economy.

4. Inspect Your Wiper Blades
As spring starts and temperatures warm up, check your wiper blades for any signs of wear. The wiper itself could wear dramatically over the winter due to ice buildup or other issues on your windshield.

5. Check Under the Hood
Do a thorough check under your hood to make sure your car’s engine made it through the winter without problems including checking your fluids. Specifically, check belts and hoses to ensure the cold temperatures haven’t rendered them brittle or heavily worn.

6. Check Alignment and Suspension
If you find yourself frequently traveling roads with huge potholes or rocks that have emerged from the asphalt, it could ruin your car’s alignment or damage suspension components. We advise that if you’ve taken your car to a mechanic to check under the hood, ask for a quick suspension and alignment check to make sure nothing is too far outside the manufacturer’s specifications.

Happy Spring!

Spring time brings rain and the after effects of winter weather, potholes and uneven pavement.

Keep these driving tips in mind before you travel:
•Spring showers bring may flowers – and wet driving conditions. Slow down on slick roads, and increase your following distance even when mist begins to fall. Just a small amount of water can mix with oil and grease on the road to create slippery conditions.

•Share the road. Warm weather brings out motorcyclists, bicyclists and pedestrians.

•Understand the impact of medications on driving: For many people, spring means seasonal allergies. Over-the-counter allergy drugs can have side effects or interact with other medications to diminish your driving ability

•If possible, go around potholes.

•Deep potholes can throw your car out of alignment or worse, forcing you to buy a new wheel and a new tire. You may be able to file a claim (laws differ from city to city and state to state), but you you’ll likely have to prove negligence on the part of the city.

•Avoid driving through large puddles. Driving through water can impair your brakes, cloud your vision, or cause you to hydroplane.

•Keep your tires properly inflated. Full tires can reduce the damage caused by potholes and other road hazards.

SCHEDULE SERVICE with us, and we’ll make sure you’re in tip-top shape.

For anyone in the military, you might have found that buying a car can be a prohibitive expense. If you are away most of the year, then buying a car can feel pointless. However, if you are looking to either get a car for yourself or for your family, then you’ll be happy to know that military discounts for GM vehicles just became better than ever before.

This military discount program could help you save several hundred – and in some cases, thousands – of dollars in car investment. All eligible participants can make sure they have a reliable car that can keep everyone safe without seeing all of their hard-earned cash going down the drain!

Getting Your Military Discount with GM Vehicles

• To start off with, you simply need to come and look at the GM store and ‘create’ your own ideal vehicle. You can work through their platform, see the offers on hand and just decide on what kind of car perfectly fits with what you would have been hoping for.

• Then, you need to give your dealership the authorization number provided to you by GM. You can contact them directly and verify if you are someone in the military who qualifies for this wonderful saving service.

• Afterward, you just need to head on down to the dealership, make your purchase and drive off a happy soldier!

The GM Military Discount

At the moment, their military discounts program has just undergone the largest buff-up in its short history. From January 2016, more than 23 million new US veterans would have become eligible – alongside their spouses – to join the program. This is part of the wider program that allows all active preserved and retired duty service personnel to get awesome discounts on their cars as and when they are needed.

This first started in 2008, when the program was introduced as the GM Military Discount. It offers far lower pricing than the recommended retail price for all eligible GM vehicles. This allows for reserves, retirees, active duty and veteran troops to get the help that they need to get a vehicle at a price they can afford.

You do so much hard work elsewhere in the world, so why not enjoy a bit of a benefit from all of that stress, effort and challenge emotionally and physically?

Interestingly, the program used to have a cut-off point of one year after separation from the military. That is no longer the case. If you are interested in this, then you should absolutely get in touch with GM Motors or speak to someone in your military group to see if they can help you move towards getting that car at a better price.

GM and the US Military have a long history, ever since they helped to serve the war effort so commendably in the Second World War. This is a mere extension of their constant commitment to those who lay their life on the line for others to get a little something back when they return to normality.