Flipboard 2025 Car Tips

You spend hours comparing engines, safety features, screens, and financing, then weeks later reach for AM radio and discover it simply is not there.

The price was settled. The money was sitting in the bank. All that remained was handing over a check and driving home. Instead, the dealer rejected the payment and started pushing a loan nobody had asked for. That may be perfectly normal—or the moment this deal stopped smelling right.

Your mechanic may be right, even if the quote feels surprisingly high. Cars with automatic start-stop systems put their 12-volt batteries through more work than older vehicles, and many require enhanced flooded batteries or absorbent glass mat batteries instead of the cheapest conventional option. The price premium is real, but so are the technical differences.

You weren’t speeding or weaving through traffic, yet the officer said you accelerated too fast and called the maneuver reckless driving. Before assuming the charge either has to stick or has to disappear, figure out exactly what the state says prosecutors need to prove.

Can your neighbor legally idle a diesel truck for 30 minutes every morning? Here’s how anti-idling laws, noise ordinances, vehicle weight rules, and cold-weather exceptions can affect the answer.

Your car recorded a crash, but your automaker wants a subscription before you can view the footage. Is that legal, and who controls the video?

Your neighbor leaves their EV parked at a public charger overnight. Are charging spaces supposed to have time limits, or is that allowed?

Gas stations were everywhere in the 1970s. But many of the names on those signs were not the same as they are today. And we're betting that most people probably couldn't name five of them—even if they filled up there every week.

You find a car advertised online for $29,995, arrive at the dealership, and suddenly learn that a protection package, security system, or other dealer product is mandatory. The vehicle may now cost thousands more than the number that brought you through the door. Under current Federal Trade Commission guidance, that kind of pricing can raise serious concerns under federal law.

Bought a used car advertised as “one owner” only to find conflicting history records? Learn why reports differ, what evidence to save, and what options buyers may have.

You hand over your keys, expect a smooth night, and then spot a chewed-up wheel when the car comes back. The valet says it was already there. In that moment, the big question is not just who caused the damage, but who has to prove what really happened.