Waterloo Automotive

Are you ready for prom? Last time we started a list about making prom night fun and memorable. It’s so easy to get stressed out when you’re trying to coordinate a group. Where should you take pictures, where will you get dinner, who is driving, and what will you wear?! This year, don’t get freaked out. We’ve already talked about making a schedule for the day and picking a driver for the night. Check out the rest of our tips for a fun prom night! Check out the first three prom night tips.4. Buckle up
We know you don’t want to wrinkle that handsome tux or beautiful dress, but they will hold up fine! Keep your seat belt on no matter who is driving- it’s worth it. 5. Get Your Car Ready
If you do drive, make sure your car is ready. Give it a thorough check. How are the tires, windshield wiper fluid and oil? Have a mechanic give a chec

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Are you counting down to prom yet? We’re betting that you might have the perfect dress already, and maybe you’ve made plans for after prom. Planning for prom is exciting- it’s not only a fun night, but it’s a clue that the end of the school year is near! Prom can be a fun night that you’ll remember for years, but it can also turn into a horrible memory. Every year, newscasters have to share the details of accidents that took place on prom night. Too many young adults lose their life too early because of prom night excitement. This year, make sure prom is a night you’ll want to remember. Prom night can be stressful- planning who you’ll go with, where you’ll have dinner, and what you’ll all do after the dance. Make it fun from start to finish. If you have a plan, there will be less stress. You’ll be able to focus on having a good time. Here are the first 3 tips for making prom night fun. Our next post will cover the rest! 1. Make a Schedule ... read more

Celebrating the New Year is a great and fun way to celebrate everything in your life and starting over in a different year. If you are going to celebrate with friends this year, it is good to keep these tips in mind: Drinking If you are under 21, be careful about drinking. Do not put yourself in a position you are not comfortable with or in an unsafe environment. Be mindful of drunk people opening champagne bottles (whether they are alcoholic or not). Some people do not aim the cork away from people. It is all fun and games until someone gets hit in the eye. Unless you are with a close group of friends, make sure you pay attention to your drink at all times. Do not sit your drink down, walk away, and end up drinking it later. Hand it off to a friend if you need to use the bathroom. Driving Do not drink and drive. If you have had a couple drinks, have a sober friend drive you or get a cab. Cops will be out in fu ... read more

The next month and a half is supposed to be considered the most wonderful time of the year because of the holidays. But we all know that also means a lot of time with your family. For those of you college students coming home for Thanksgiving and winter break, you may have a big wake up call in regards to your personal space and your freedom. Here are some tips to help balance your expectations with your parents’ expectations. Prioritize – You will want to see your friends during the holidays but you also need to prioritize family time. If you go to a local college, prioritize seeing friends who may have moved out of state and are back for a short amount of time. If you went far away from home for college, consider getting a group of friends together so you get to see many people at once to limit the amount of time you are away from home.
Remember that your family will want to see you just as much, if not more, as your friends do. Your parents are u
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Every year, teens across the country celebrate Halloween in one of two ways: innocent and fun or reckless and dangerous. Once they outgrow the desire to dress up like their favorite cartoon characters and go trick-or-treating, they often develop a spirit of adventure—one that can lead them into trouble if they’re not careful. That’s why, when it comes to making sure their teens stay safe on October 31, it’s important for parents to talk to their teens about all the evening will entail. The first and most important thing to do is to get the details. Know where your teen will be and when, who will be with them and how they can be reached. Other details including the presence of alcohol and method of transportation are also key. Parents, it’s your right and responsibility to establish rules for and with your teen in order to ensure their safety, so don’t be afraid to put your foot down if you feel uncomfortable with any situation. Remember, they’ll thank you for it later ... read more

Fresh information hit the news last month when Liberty Mutual Insurance and Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) revealed the results of a survey regarding the amount of influence a parent’s driving habits has on the ones of their teenage drivers. According to the survey, which polled 1,700 teens from across the nation, adults are engaging in poor and risky driving habits while their teens are in the car and, in the process, doing more than just putting their families at risk. By engaging in behaviors such as texting, speeding and driving while intoxicated, parents are setting poor examples for their teenage drivers and causing them to follow suit by repeating the actions in nearly equal amounts. Not surprisingly, the most common destructive driving behavior modeled by parents was talking on a cell phone while driving. The second-most repeated offense was speeding, followed by texting, driving without a seatbelt, driving while intoxicated and, finally, drivin ... read more

ICE can do a lot more than make your drinks cold. When it comes to driver’s safety, ICE can actually save lives. No, we’re not talking about applying it to injured areas. We’re talking about the three-letter acronym for In Case of Emergency, and it’s a simple abbreviation that can be life-saving in distressing situations—especially for teenage drivers. For the past few weeks, we at Meyer’s and Waterloo Automotive have been talking about teen drivers and their safety behind the wheel. As auto service providers, we don’t like reading the statistics that show just how many of our young men and women are losing their lives on the roads every year. As the leading cause of death among teenagers in America, auto accidents are a very real threat to their safety and their lives. That’s why this week we’re talking about the ICE method. Now, if you’re a parent, you may have already heard about this practice. If that’s the case, we’re happy that you’re using it! It’s a helpfu ... read more

Parents, do your teenagers know what to do if they’re involved in a car accident? Whether we want it to happen or not, it’s a real threat. There are more than six million car crashes in the U.S. each year, and many of them involve young men and women who are just learning the rules of the road. As the leading cause of death among teens in America, car crashes can be more than just costly, they can be deadly. At Meyer’s Automotive and Waterloo Automotive, we hope this never happens to your child, but just in case it does, it’s best to be prepared. So, parents, it’s time to sit down with your teenagers and help them understand what to do if they find themselves facing the situation. Who knows? You might need a refresher course yourself. First, the important thing is to try and stay calm. Yes, it’s going to be a scary situation. Be prepared for that. It’s going to be emotional, and it’s going to shake up all parties involved. That’s okay. The important thing ... read more

Fact: Underage drinking is a problem in the United States. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), a recent survey found that an estimated 10 million people under the age of 21 had consumed alcohol within the previous 30 days. SAMHSA also reported that 10 percent of high school students who drank chose to drive afterward, and 28 percent got in a car and rode with an intoxicated driver. Automobile accidents are the leading cause of death for teenagers in the U.S., and alcohol is one of the main reasons why. When combined with inexperience behind the wheel and the distractions of passengers, music and cell phones, alcohol can be the deadly component that sends a teen driver to the emergency room. Or, worse yet, the cemetery. It’s not a fun subject to address, that’s for sure, but it certainly deserves our attention. And the best place to start the discussion is in the home. Parents know that open communication ... read more

According to the AAA Foundation, 94% of Americans consider texting while driving to be unacceptable behavior. Why then do more than 1/3 of us admit to engaging in it? Statistics show that any sort of cell phone use quadruples a driver’s risk of crashing–a number that skyrockets when it comes to teenagers. We’ve said it before, but we’ll say it again: Automobile accidents are the leading cause of death among teenagers in the United States. Why? Because of a combination of factors that include inexperience, alcohol and—you guessed it—distractions. While the aforementioned habit of texting is just one of the many culprits, it’s where we’ll start. Texting while driving is a problem among every age group, but it is particularly heightened among younger drivers due to their culture. Statistics released in March of this year showed that today’s teenagers send and receive an average of 60 texts per day. And because teens reportedly expect text messages to be answere ... read more