recs for owning a car in los angeles :)

Question

Jamie · Answer

Call Around for Car Service Quotes: Perhaps common knowledge to the less phone-shy among us, but you can save truly HUNDREDS of dollars by just calling around to different shops when you need maintenance. Got quoted across the spectrum between $260 and $132 for simple maintenance yesterday, so glad I didn’t just settle for the first one even though picking up the phone feels like torture to me. I’ve had decent luck with good prices from Firestone service centers in SoCal :)

Space Camp · Answer

Trash Can / Tissue Combo: This baby hangs on the back of the seat + is the best! We like to use the side mesh pockets for an umbrella + wipes.

Louise Buckley · Answer

Get a sunshade!: Never knew just how much of a difference these things made until I got one this summer. Life changing purchase! Thank you for the rec @Stuart

Sophia Lucchesi · Answer

An Electric Car That You Charge in Off-Peak Hours: I’ve had four electric cars here in LA (3 bmw i3’s, and now a Hyundai Ioniq), so here are a handful of recs. Leasing is better (try Lease Hacker, it is amazing) because electric car technology changes by leaps and bounds from year to year. The Ioniq is rated one of the safest cars in its class, uses a Tesla charger (and comes with a set of chargers you can use at all kinds of stations). If you have an at-home charger, highly recommend a Grizzl-E, and charging your car from 11pm-7am, or on the weekends to avoid peak pricing. You can set all of that in your car’s app!