The Cooling System

The number one cause of breakdowns in the summer is vehicle overheating. The cooling system is one of the most critical components of your vehicle. It is generally recommended that you completely flush the refill the cooling system every two years. Coolant keeps your engine running at the optimal temperature and prevents overheating of your engine, which can cause significant damage. It’s important to monitor your coolant level, and add coolant when it gets too low. But remember to never open your radiator cap or coolant lid when the engine is hot. Be sure to allow your vehicle to sit for several hours if necessary to cool down.

Engine Oil

With long distance travel that comes with summer, it’s a good idea to make sure that you are on top of your oil changes. Engine oil should be changed about every 3,000 – 5,000 miles depending on your vehicle and engine oil used. Engine oil is one of the most important components in your vehicle. It lubricates engine components and prevents damage when your engine is working hard on the road. Engine oil breaks down over time, and when it does, it cannot lubricate engine components as well as it used to, and as a result, friction and heat will cause your engine to wear.
Promptly responding to the minder codes is of the utmost importance when it comes to the appropriate care of a Honda vehicle. Each minder code indicates service that requires immediate attention. Delaying required service for extended periods of time could potentially jeopardize the reliability of any automobile and reduce its overall lifespan.

Tires

It is generally recommended that your tires be rotated every 5,000 miles. Drivers should check tire pressure once a month, if not weekly. Improperly inflated tires can reduce the vehicle’s handling and generate excess heat, which may cause a blowout. Maintaining the proper tire pressure will also give you the best fuel economy and prevent excess wear. Be sure to check the tire pressure of your spare as well. There’s nothing worse than putting on a spare tire just to find out that it’s under inflated.

Air Conditioning

While air conditioning may be a drag on fuel economy at times, keeping your windows down improves the aerodynamics of your vehicle. Air conditioning systems should be checked annually. If you’re A/C is not getting cold, then there’s a good change that you have a leak in your system. Adding refrigerant to such a vehicle will only temporarily solve the problem, so it’s important to invest in a proper repair. Depending on your vehicle, you may have a cabin air filtration system, which should be serviced as well. Keeping your car cool is certainly a top priority when it comes to comfort.

Check Your Battery

While you may not think that testing your battery is important in the summer, excessive heat and overcharging can shorten the life of your battery. Excess heat causes battery fluid to evaporate, which damages the internal structure of the battery. To get the most out of your battery, get your electrical system checked to make sure that your battery is charging at the correct rate. Dirt, corrosion, and excessive heat can all take a toll on battery life.

If you’re looking to have your vehicle serviced this summer, visit our dealership located in Hamilton, NJ, near Trenton and West Windsor. Our experienced and knowledgeable service department will perform the necessary diagnostics and repair to keep your car, truck, or SUV running in optimal condition.

Foremost, the Maintenance Minder indicates what percentage of the oil placed in a Honda vehicle is still usable. For example, immediately after the oil is changed this value will be set to 100% and as mileage accumulates this number will steadily decline. In addition, the driver will also see a code that includes a letter (A or B) and/or a number (1-5, or 6 in vehicles with rear differential fluid).

Maintenance Minder Code Definitions

The letter A indicates that the engine oil and filter require replacing. The letter B not only indicates that the engine oil and filter need to be replaced, but also that additional work, such as break inspection, fluid replacement, and a check of the exhaust system, requires attention. Each of the numbers indicated in the minder code adds further items to be checked or replaced. For example, checking the pollen filter, replacing spark plugs, and installing a new timing belt. Properly adhering to a vehicle’s essential maintenance is one of the best ways to maximize an automobile’s safety and reliability.

This system offers a number of benefits above and beyond regularly scheduled maintenance. For one, owners no longer need to check the manual frequently to keep on top of a service schedule. When service is due, the Maintenance Minder system will automatically inform the driver. Moreover, this system is customized to every owner’s unique vehicle. It will adjust the required service based off of the driver’s mileage, driving style, and environmental temperatures.

Benefits Of Honda Maintenance Minder Codes

The adaptive nature of the Maintenance Minder also saves every Honda owner valuable time and money. Whereas drivers used to have to get oil changed every 3,000 miles, this technology allows drivers to increase this interval. In fact, many drivers report being able to drive greater than 6,000 miles without having to change the oil of their Honda vehicle. Fewer oil changes means taking less time spent waiting on maintenance and less money spent on service.

Promptly responding to the minder codes is of the utmost importance when it comes to the appropriate care of a Honda vehicle. Each minder code indicates service that requires immediate attention. Delaying required service for extended periods of time could potentially jeopardize the reliability of any automobile and reduce its overall lifespan.

Hamilton Honda is known for the superior service and personalized experience we offer every customer. If one of your Honda Maintenance Minder codes has appeared on the dashboard of your Honda, call or stop by today to speak with one of our highly trained and open-armed service staff members. We are open six days a week and are always available to assist you with any and all of your service needs.

Financing Your New Honda Vehicle

The financing team at Hamilton Honda has a number of different options toj offer you. We have developed an extensive list of local and national lenders who are willing to work with our customers regardless of their current credit status. This allows us to extend financing to virtually anyone who comes to us searching for a new Honda vehicle.

Bear in mind that if you choose to finance your next new Honda vehicle, your monthly payments will typically be higher than those you might have when you lease a vehicle. The reason your payments may be higher is that you will be paying full retail price for your new Honda. Along with this, you will also be paying interest, a number of financing charges, along with numerous fees and taxes. There are also a number of upfront charges including a down payment, registration fees, sales tax, and documentation fees that must be paid.

Worth noting is that when you buy a new Honda, you are building equity in it because you are actually purchasing it rather than leasing it. When you lease a vehicle, you never build any equity as you do not own it unless you choose to buy it at the end of the lease period. Also, when you buy a vehicle instead of leasing it, you are not locked into a set period of ownership beyond the time during which you must make the payments on your loan. You can pay off the loan early or simply make all of the payments, either way, the vehicle is yours once you make the last payment.

Leasing Options

For many years, vehicle leasing programs were restricted to businesses and corporations who needed fleets of vehicles for their employees. Today leasing is now another financing option offered to the general public as a way of “financing” their next new vehicle.

The lease program offered at Hamilton Honda has been designed to be very flexible as far as how many months the lease term may run and the number of miles included in the lease period. In most cases the payments in a lease program are less than those you would have if you finance your new Honda. However, this is because these payments only cover a small portion of the actual retail price of the vehicle. They also include built-in depreciation, fees, taxes, and any other miscellaneous charges.

Also, with a lease you have to make all of your payments, you do not have the option to pay the lease off early and there are a number of upfront fees such as a lease acquisition fee, down payments, and several other fees you may have to pay.

At Hamilton Honda, our financing department is here to help you drive home in the new Honda vehicle of your dreams. You can start your financing application using our online application form and receive your approval within hours of application.

Here in New Jersey, state blue laws don’t allow us to sell new or used vehicles on Sundays, but at the same time these laws don’t say we can’t be open to take care of our customers. Here at Hamilton Honda we have only one goal in mind, to be here when our customers need us. Our dealership and our dreams of offering the best possible customer service were recently featured in the February 21, 2016 edition Automotive News.

Flexible Service Hours

Our dealership first opened its doors six years ago with the sole intent of being the one Honda dealership people in and around Hamilton could count on to be there when they needed us. With this in mind our service department was set to be open seven days a week. While many dealerships are only open during the week and some that are open part of Saturday, this leaves so many people unable to get to their dealership to get much needed service and repairs done.

The idea behind having our service department open seven days a week is that of simply being there when our customers need us. The vast majority of our customers work Monday through Friday and simply don’t have the ability to bring their vehicle in during “normal” business hours. On top of this many are busy with family events on Saturdays. If our service department was only open during “standard” dealership hours, these customers would have to take time away from work or family to get their service work done. We simply believe we can do better than that.

So Much More than Just Being Open

Building a loyal customer base is important to any business, especially a new vehicle dealer. We know that if our service department wasn’t open on Sunday’s our customers would find somewhere that was. To ensure maximum availability the Hamilton Honda Service Department is open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on Sundays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

On Sundays our Express Service Department is primarily open to offer oil changes. During the week and on Saturdays our main Service Department and Express Service are both open. However, while the main role of our Express Service Department is to offer oil changes on a first come first served basis, this does not mean our customers cannot have other services performed.

However, despite having a much smaller staff on duty on Sundays, if a customer comes in needing additional work or our Express techs happen to notice the need for additional work, there is a technician on duty to handle the necessary work. As with any other day of the week, every vehicle that comes into our Express Service Department for an oil and filter change will be given a thorough inspection to ensure it will continue to offer the owner optimum performance.

We believe the true measure of success is whether or not our customers keep coming back. While the average retention rate for most Honda dealers across the country hovers near the 55 percent mark, here at Hamilton Honda our retention rates for our service department is a firm 72 percent. This is why we decided that our Express Service Department needed to be open seven days a week and the numbers tell us that we have made the right decision.

One final simple service offered to all new car buyers here at Hamilton Honda is lifetime car washes and factory scheduled oil changes as stated in our Set For Life™ benefits. We do whatever it takes to make our customers happy and to keep them coming back for service work as well as new and used car sales.