email – Adam's Auto Advice

Win One of Eleven Free 1-Year Subscriptions to Motor Trend from Adam’s Auto Advice

Following the success of my Baltimore Auto Show ticket giveaway (and the marginal success of my carseat giveaway) I have decided to do another giveaway. What am I giving away? A total of Eleven Free 1-Year Subscriptions to Motor Trend magazine! That is a $50 value that you can get for free! Sounds awesome, right?

What do you need to do to win a Free Subscription? It is as simple as 2 mouse clicks. A “Like” on Adam’s Auto Advice Faceboook page and a follow on my Twitter feed. That's less than 3 seconds of work for enjoying a whole year of Motor Trend.

Well, you also must leave a comment below to inform me you are interested in winning a free Motor Trend subscription with a valid email address. Please include funny car stories, adages or maxims, or just a fun reason why you need or want a Motor Trend subscription. Still that isn't much work to enjoy a great publication all year long like Motor Trend.

For additional chances to win make sure to Share, Tweet, ReTweet, Email, etc. this Motor Trend giveaway. If you noticed I have Shareholic installed on this website for easy sharing. If you want to be even more ambitious you can become a Facebook Friend, add me to your Google+ Circle, and also include Adam’s Auto Advice Google+ Page.

I think you get the idea and this is similar to my ticket giveaway to the Baltimore Auto Show. Follow me on social media to get a chance to win, but your chances increase the more social media platforms you follow and share me on. Good luck and I hope there will be a lot of happy people getting these Motor Trend subscriptions!

Now for the nitty gritty of the contest. Contest ends March 28th, 2012 and winners will be announced the following day via a post on Adam's Auto Advice. Please allow 6-8 weeks for the first issue to arrive. This giveaway is only open to residents in the US. Each address or household is eligible for one subscription. Adam's Auto Advice is not affiliated with Motor Trend or it's subsidiaries. This website and the owner and operators are responsible for issues not being delivered or other crazy things that could happen with a magazine subscription.

Win Free Tickets to Baltimore’s 2012 Motor Trend International Auto Show – February 9th-12th

The 2012 Motor Trend International Auto Show will be heading into Baltimore this weekend. I am sure there are a lot of gearheads that are excited about the Auto Show as well as eager consumers looking for a new car this year.

Like last year, Adam's Auto Advice is giving away tickets to the auto show. This year I am giving away 10 free tickets! All you need to do is “Like” Adam's Auto Advice Faceboook page and leave a comment below telling me why you deserve these free tickets. People can include funny car stories, adages or maxims, or just a fun reason why you need a ticket.

For additional chances to win you can also follow my Twitter feed and make sure to Tweet and ReTweet this giveaway. If you want to be even more ambitious you can become a Facebook Friend, add me to your Google+ Circle, and also include Adam's Auto Advice Google+ Page.

I think you get the idea. Follow me on social media to get a chance to win, but your chances increase the more social media platforms you follow me on. You can even increase the likelihood of winning these free tickets by leaving comments on these social media platforms and getting the word out about this giveaway.

Please leave a valid email address when you leave a comment below, so I can contact you if you do win. The contest ends Thursday February 9th at 11am. Again, there are 10 tickets in this giveaway. I will choose the winners based off how much they have shared my content and shown the most enthusiasm for my promoting my website. Winners can pick-up tickets or have them mailed. However, I am not responsible for tickets lost in the mail or tickets arriving late via the USPS.

The 2012 Motor Trend International Auto Show will be held at the Baltimore Convention Center from February 9th-12th (Thursday-Sunday.) For more information please visit: http://www.motortrendautoshows.com/baltimore/

Need a Car Seat? Follow Me On Twitter!

Do you love Twitter? Do you need a car seat for your small child? Then you are in luck! The first Adam's Auto Advice Contest has officially begun.

I am looking to get over 1,000 Twitter Followers in 1 month. If you help make that happen, then you could win a Graco Car Seat!

I won't just take into account Twitter followers, you also need to Retweet and Mention my blog. Increase your chances of winning with a Facebook “Like”, Google+, Google Circle Add. Hey if you like to use Digg, Delicious, StumpleUpon, etc. share my articles on there too. Basically whoever shares my blog posts and articles the most will win. Currently I am at 125 followers, so better get cracking. Good Luck!

If you want to win the Graco Car Seat, please email me with the subject “Win Graco Car Seat.” I will then choose a winner who has clearly shared my contest the most. If there are a few awesome people who have shared my content and shown a commitment to promoting Adam's Auto Advice, I will then randomly select the winner. Car seat is rated for a small child up to 40 pounds. Will ship to the lower 48.

Harley-Davidson Violates Your Privacy!

A few weeks ago I got a phone call at my house. This is how the beginning of the conversation went:

Me: Hello

Rep: Oh this is Jamie, How are you today?

Me: Ummm… Ok

Rep: I was just calling to inquire about how your recent visit to Harley-Davidson of Baltimore with sales associate Heidi Harris was?

Me: What?

Rep: Well you it says here you visited the dealership and spoke with Heidi Harris recently!

Me: ….NO!

I went on to tell the operator about how I had never set foot in Harley-Davidson of Baltimore. I actually have no idea where it is located, who she was talking about… and how annoyed and disturbed I was that she was calling me. I said I had some dealings with another Harley-Davidson (H-D) dealership regarding my blog, but they should not have my personal info except my email. I asked, “How did you even get my phone number?” The operator clearly was at a bit of a loss for words, sensing my angry. She paused then said, “Well… mmm… I really don't know. Did you go to any motorcycle events recently? The answer was a a big, “NO!” After awhile it came out that my they must have gotten my phone number from when I visited the Harley-Davidson plant in York, PA years ago. I told the rep, “I am really annoyed I am getting this phone call.” It turned out the rep was from an independent company and was not directly from Harley-Davidson. Still this reflects poorly on Harley-Davidson and she claimed she was representing them. I requested to be removed off the list and assumed that would be end of that.

Not quite! I got an email on October 28th from Harley-Davidson of Baltimore… from Heidi Harris. She saw I had mentioned I didn't want additional information, but she still would be happy for me to stop by and and see what they are all about. Since I am a licensed rider, I am entitled to demo rides on any Harley product.

I mean really? WTF? I don't really want phone calls at my house about visits to dealerships that never took place. I specifically request to be taken off the list from future contact and they send me a friggin email! I guess motorcycle sales must be really down because of the economy. This email was sent to my Yahoo email address that is checked infrequently since I use Gmail. This tells you how long Harley-Davidson has been holding onto my info in desperate hopes I will go into a dealership to buy a bike.

Now I never intend to buy a Harley-Davidson! Especially knowing how much they violate peoples privacy, including my own. Until they have a change in privacy standards and practices, I would recommend to all my readers to not buy one either.

My New Business Cards

Adam's Auto Advice has some new official business cards! I can give them out at car shows, events, as well as family, friends, etc. Basically whoever is interested in my work.

I am happy with design and how the overall look of the cards came out. I ordered through OfficeMax, but they use Vistaprint's system. Officemax was cheaper though because Vistaprint charges a lot for shipping! Vistaprint was $15 for 7-day shipping, while Officemax had Free Shipping for these cards. Officemax charged more for the cards, but it came out less expensive because of the shipping. I assume Vistaprint makes a lot of money charging ridiculous shipping prices.

I paid a little over $40 for this batch of 500, which was not a good deal at all. While I like the image and look of the card, the paper is thin. Like cardstock you would have bought from the store and printed at home. The cut on some of the cards did not come out well. I don't really feel like I got my money's worth with Vistaprint.

I did some checking around and found other websites with much better deals and quality. A lot offer free shipping on any order and proofing. If you are looking around for business cards or thinking you might want to get some in the future, I would recommend signing-up for emails from a couple printing websites. You will be notified of special promotions and sales, which makes a big difference in cost. I will use these cards up and then ordered from another website.

I would like to hear comments and suggestions from people. What do you think of my business cards? Do you like or dislike the design?