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Laconia Quick Lane is the no-appointment-necessary car service facility at the Irwin Automotive Group. Laconia Quick Lane is dedicated to making your life easier by offering a one-stop location for routine car maintenance like oil changes, tire rotations, battery changes, brake jobs, and more! And now, Laconia Quick Lane is making it even easier to get all the information you need with its brand-new website, www.laconiaquicklane.com! The new website provides useful information that allows you to shop for tires, learn about car care tips, schedule service, and more! The new website lets you compare trusted, industry-leading tire brands like Michelin, Dunlop, Good Year, BFGoodrich, Pirello, Yokohama, Kelly,  Hankook, Cooper and more to find the tire with the performance and price tag to match your automotive needs and your budget. If you need mechanical work performed to pass a NH State Inspection, then check out some of the great deals we have on service specials over on the Coupons page. Laconia Quick Lane offers very competitive pricing on brake work, battery replacement, and wiper blades. If you're feeling down about high gas prices, then check out our Fuel Saver Package, which is designed to help your vehicle get the most out of each drop of gasoline. Does your car need detailing? Laconia Quick Lane can make that happen. We offer a variety of different detailing packages, from a basic wash, to a complete reconditioning to get your car back into tip-top showroom condition. We look forward to meeting all of your automotive needs at the Laconia Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center.

The re-designed 2015 Ford F-150 already has people talking, and it will not even be released for over a year! The new and improved F-150 will use lighter materials that may reduce its weight by as much as 20%. A lightweight frame coupled with an EcoBoost engine may help the F-150 meet CAFE standards for the next 10 years, meaning it would not need a substantial redesign until 2025! As always, the F-150 is a work truck, and it is designed to get the job done. The 2015 offering will include innovative work features such as hidden cargo ramps and integrated tie-downs in the cargo box floor, a high-power outlet in the cargo box to recharge tools, and a tailgate step that turns into a cradle for longer pieces of cargo. IF you want to learn more about the 2015 Ford F-150, check out your local NH Ford dealer or just give us a call at 603-524-4922.

Summer maintenance is as critical as winter maintenance Summer is just around the corner and this leads to longer trips and more time on the road.  Have you remembered to prepare your vehicle for the summer heat and rainy days? Here at the Irwin Automotive Group, we will complete a thorough inspection of your vehicle and provide the results to you in a colorful brochure, which include all estimates.   If your vehicle needs tires, alignments, coolant flush, routine maintenance or an air conditioning repair, we will meet or beat any competitor’s price on the equivalent service! Why do I need my coolant changed in the summer?   Coolant, also known as anti-freeze, has a double duty.  The coolant not only protects your vehicle from freezing in the winter but also protects your vehicle from overheating in the summer. Why do I need to worry about my tires in the summer?   Most people do not realize that a vehicle can hydroplane in heavy rain with as much as 4/32” still left on the tread.  A thorough tire inspection to be sure of the tread depth and the edge wear conditions are as critical in the summer as they are in the winter. Why do I need an alignment?   If you are noticing edge wear, pulling to one side or the steering does not seem to be reacting correctly, your vehicle’s wheel alignment could be the concern.   An alignment check is also recommended whenever you replace all four tires, in case the alignment is off and can be corrected so you do not get early edge wear on your new tires. Please set an appointment today for your courtesy vehicle multi-point inspection to ready your vehicle for summer at www.irwinzone.com or call our service department at 603-581-2954.   Happy motoring this summer! Thank you to our guest blogger, Ron O'Connor, Service Manager of the Irwin Automotive Group

As our economy has been improving many of you are starting to look towards replacing their vehicle with a newer, safer, and better equipped model.   Technology and comfort certainly have changed in the last 4-5 years.  Another thing that may have changed is your credit scores.  Many people took a few credit blows on the chin during the last 5-6 years and are fearful they will not qualify for an auto loan.  I’d like to write a few words on that topic. Auto loans are available for people with almost any credit score.  There are some things you can do to improve your chances before you even come into the dealership. Five factors to know when applying for an auto loan 1. Credit score -There is no way around it they are going to see your bureau(s) 2. Money down-The more you have down the more likely you are to get approved and the lower the rate may be if you do. 3. Term-Shorter terms are more preferred by lenders when dealing with lower credit score. 4. Length of employment/residence-Where and how long you have lived and worked in an area will show the bank you aren’t as much of a risk as someone who jumps around frequently 5. Capacity to pay-You cannot ask for a $400 payment if you make $1500 and your rent is $1,000 of that.  You must keep your payment in line with what you can legally prove you earn. There are many other factors that may affect our ability to secure you a loan but understanding those 5 is a great start.  I will touch upon others in future posts.  As always feel free to contact me with any questions regarding this topic or for any reason I may assist. Dennis Marhefka, Financial Services Manager

Ford Motor Company has announced that part of its ambitious five-year plan includes reducing the amount of waste sent to landfills by 41% per car built by 2016. This initiative comes on the heels of a separate pledge in June that Ford will reduce its energy consumption by 25% over the same time period. Both efforts are part of Ford's renewed push for sustainability, which is increasingly both a critical aspect of its brand and a key driver for its financial success. Using raw materials more efficiently will allow Ford to reduce the amount of waste produced per car from 22.7 lbs to 13.4 lbs, saving money both by spending less on materials, and less on disposal of waste produced. Ford successfully reduced the waste produced from 37.9 lbs per car to the current 22.7 lbs per car between 2007 and 2011, in part by sending paint solids to local power companies. Under this program, the paint solids were used as a fuel source to generate electricity rather than ending up in a landfill. Ford has also found recycling to be a profitable endeavor. In 2012 alone, Ford generated $225 million by recycling 568,000 tons of scrap metal just in the U.S. and Canada. Globally, the company could earn huge sums of money just by recycling scrap metal. Decreasing energy consumption by 25% will save Ford Motor Company literally tens (if not hundreds) of millions of dollar every year. These decreased operating expenses go directly to the bottom line, pleasing shareholders and environmentalists alike. Crucially, this increased operating efficiency makes Ford more competitive, allowing it to reduce prices and sell more Ford vehicles. Sustainability is a key initiative both for CEO Alan Mulally and Executive Chairman Bill Ford, a self-proclaimed "environmental industrialist." The decreased costs and increased revenues resulting from these sustainability initiatives show that they are not just good from a public relations perspective, these initiatives make a great deal of financial sense.

Irwin Ford Lincoln is delighted to announce that our new website is live and ready to serve you! Our new website is powered by DealerOn, a boutique website provider for car dealerships. We believe that the new website will be easier to navigate and less cluttered than the old one, and we hope you think so, too! So look around on our website and let us know what you think.  Be sure to check out the huge discounts we have on our new Lincoln vehicles! If you're looking for a new Lincoln MKZ, MKX, or MKS for sale, you search should begin and end with Irwin Ford Lincoln... we have some of the best prices in New England!