How to Recondition a Car Battery

Written by one of our favorite blogs, this car battery reconditioning guide will show you how to fix your battery instead of replacing it, and is written by an experienced mechanic!

Car Battery Reconditioning Guide

Toyota's College Grad Rebate Program for Buying a New Car!

If you've graduated from college within the past two years (or will within the next 6 months), you can take advantage of Toyota's awesome College Grad Rebate program! 

Not only will you receive a $750 rebate, but you won't have to make a single monthly payment for the first 90 days!

To learn more, visit either our Davis Toyota or Hilltop Toyota rebate sites to learn more, and where you can fill out a form to contact us today!

Are Volkswagens expensive to repair?

Volkswagens are undoubtedly awesome vehicles. They give a luxurious and sporty look and performance that feels like a class above, without the price tag that you'd expect to come along with it. But if you start asking around, undoubtedly someone will discourage you from buying a Volkswagen "because they're expensive to fix." Is that true?

According to Rick Hayes, who's been selling Volkwagens for almost 24 years:

Although VWs may be a little more expensive to service, the service requirement is only every 10,000 miles or one year, compared to many others that require service every 6 months or 6,000 miles - that's less service visits." 




What about aftermarket parts?
Like any vehicle out there, many aftermarket items can be used on VWs. But why use VW parts? Rick Hayes says, "The advantage of using VW parts is that they are....VW parts. And when installed at delivery, come with the manufacturer's warranty."

We asked Gary Byrne, our Napa VW Service Manager, to help us learn a little more about VW parts. According to Gary:

I would not recommend aftermarket parts due to the fact that VW parts have a 12 month and/or 12,000 mile warranty from any authorized dealer in the country, and
aftermarket parts have no labor warranty & the parts are not as good. 




What does all this mean for you? It means your money isn't being wasted, because Volkswagen parts are made to last longer, and serve you better.

Check out our VW service pages, where you can personally ask a service tech a question about your vehicle, rent a car, learn more about VW maintenance, and view up-to-date pricing specials on both service and parts.

Visit our Napa VW Service Page
Visit our Hilltop VW Service Page 

Hanlees Subaru Supports Meals On Wheels of Solano County

Hanlees Napa Subaru is happy to support Meals On Wheels of Solano County. May no senior go hungry.

A statement from Executive Director Cathy Hall

"Meals On Wheels of Solano County's mission is to nourish and enrich the lives of seniors in Solano County with an emphasis on those ages 60 and older, by providing nutritious meals to active and home-bound people; thereby promoting their health, well being and independence. 

Meals on Wheels of Solano County has been delivering meals to home-bound seniors in Benicia, Dixon, Fairfield, Rio Vista, Suisun, Vacaville and Vallejo since 1977. Today over 600 meals are prepared fresh and packaged for home delivery or delivery to our congregate sites on a daily basis. 

The chief purpose of our organization is to serve senior clients, 60 years of age or older and who are frail or considered at-risk. Many of our clients rely on our program to provide their one healthy, substantial meal of the day. By providing a nutritious meal on a daily basis we are able to aid in the reduction of senior malnutrition, food insecurity and promote senior independence and socialization. 

We are partially funded through the Older Americans Act. We are required to maintain an accountable and highly monitored food program. We are proud to serve nourishing and good tasting food. We are not able to accept food donations."

Acceptable Donation Items:

• 48 qt. chest coolers
• Large insulated bags for transporting food
• Freeze Packs (hard plastic)
• Permanent Markers
• Duct Tape
• Stick notes
• Avery laser/inkjet white mailing labels- 5160/8160 or Staples laser/inkjet white mailing labels/18057
• Copy Paper

To find out more about donations and where to get them, please visit our website, where you can also make a cash donation to help purchase raw food and gasoline--the most important and costly part of the Meals on Wheels program. 


Meals on Wheels can be contacted at:
95 Marina Center

Suisun City, CA 94585

Phone: 707-425-0638

Email: info@mealsonwheelssolano.org

Hanlees is now solar powered!

Our commitment to being a company that cares about the environment goes far beyond selling electric vehicles: we just finished adding solar panels to every Hanlees building, including our corporate office. The project, an installation of 3,957 solar panels, will give us the capability to produce enough energy to completely power all of our buildings (an estimated annual annual energy production of 1,690,000kwh).

Installation began at Davis Toyota, where we're taking advantage of more than just the roof of our building: the first phase of our solar installation can be seen on our lot, with a car port that holds 48 solar panels. After that, we added 1,005 solar panels to the roof of our building--essentially covering every available flat surface in solar panels. Since then, we've added panels to every building in both Davis and Richmond.

But our buildings aren't the only thing that are solar powered at Hanlees--the 2015 Prius has an available solar roof that uses embedded solar panels on top of the car to power an electric fan that keeps the inside of the cabin cool when it is parked--not only making your entry back into the vehicle more comfortable, but saving the amount of energy required to cool off your car when you start it up.

Additionally, the Nissan LEAF SL has a photovoltaic solar-panel rear spoiler that converts sunlight into energy to help power vehicle accessories.





View more photos of our solar installation

Interested in learning more about our electric vehicles?
Davis Toyota Hybrid Inventory
Davis Nissan Leaf Inventory
Davis Chevrolet Volt / Spark EV Inventory
Hilltop Toyota Hybrid Inventory
Hilltop Nissan Leaf Inventory
 

Hanlees Davis Nissan's "Retire Your Attire" Annual Clothing Drive

Hanlees Davis Nissan is now collecting gently used professional attire for the annual Retire Your Attire Clothing Drive! The donated clothing will be used for WEAVE's Suited for Success program.

According to WEAVE: 

"A lack of professional clothing is often an obstacle for survivors of domestic violence seeking to reenter the workforce. Through WEAVE’s Suited for Success program, survivors are able to regain their confidence. This program provides women with professional clothing and accessories, interview advice, and job skills consultation. Those who graduate the program are empowered to go back to work and reenter society as financially independent individuals. Women who obtain employment are also eligible to receive clothing to expand their work wardrobe."

Hanlees Davis Nissan will be collecting gently used, professional clothing for both men and women. Stop by our location at 5009 Chiles Road in Davis, CA with your donation, and help someone reenter the workforce today! 

Hanlees Napa Virtual Test Drive: Rick Hayes Shows the 2015 Subaru Forester XT

Interested in buying a Subaru Forester at Hanlees?

View our Subaru Forester Inventory

E-Waste Recycling Event at Hanlees Napa Subaru and Volkswagen

Stop by Hanlees Napa before April 30th, 2015 to drop off your unused IT equipment!!

Items Acceptable for Collection
- LCD Monitors (Flat Panel TVs, Computers)
- Cell Phones (Smart Phones and iPhones)
- Laptops
- Tablets and iPads
- CRT's up to 40" (Tube TV or Monitors)
- Video Games/Consoles
- Fax Machines
- DVD/VCR Players
- Printers
- Computer Peripherals
- Switches/Routers
- Cords and Wires

Items Unacceptable for Collection:
- Alkaline Batteries
- Ballasts
- Kitchen Appliances
- Light Bulbs/Tubes

How does it work?
All donations will be collected, packaged, and transported to a secure facility for full reporting. You can rest assured that there is certified data destruction, and stringent global security standards for the processing of all donations. 
The donations will be sorted for recycling or reuse.

Share the Love: Hanlees Napa Subaru Raises $6,877 for Local Red Cross

Every year, Hanlees Napa partners with Subaru and the community to raise money for causes we care about, and this past holiday season we raised $6,877 for the local American Red Cross.

Did  you know that over the past 20 years, Subaru has donated more than 50 million dollars to important causes that help and support animals, the environment, education, the community, and health?

Learn more about Subaru's commitment to helping local communities:
http://www.subaru.com/love-promise.html

Hanlees in the News! Last RAV4 EV in Production Sold at Davis Toyota!

We recently had the privilege of selling the last new RAV4 EV at Hanlees Davis Toyota! Jay Chen explained why he chose the RAV4 EV to the Davis Enterprise:

After my last RAV4 was totaled two weeks ago in a freeway accident (and our family emerged unscathed) we tested the B Class, Soul, i3 and Model S. Reinforced our first conclusion that the RAV4 is the best EV on the market for a family with a baby.
Hope this one will last longer than the last.
Thanks to Shawn Howell for mentioning where the last one was, and to David at Hanlees for making the sale happen!

Over the past 3 years, 2,537 RAV4 EVs were produced. Anyone that has been behind the wheel of the RAV4 EV knows that this is a seriously fun car to drive, and that the RAV4 EVs impressive fuel efficiency (78 MPGe city) did not get in the way of it's quick acceleration and sporty handling.

Though Toyota hasn't released any information about a rerelease of the RAV4 EV, this wasn't the first time we've seen the vehicle. the first generation was available from 1997 to 2003, and Toyota has a long history of EV vehicle development, so there's plenty to look forward to when it comes to Toyota's future in electric vehicles. In addition to the RAV EV, Toyota has released the TownAce EV, Crown Majesta EV, Toyota e-com, a two passenger concept EV, along with an even longer list of Hybrid vehicles.


The brand's future in EV development is "just around the corner" – in fact, Toyota's next EV model is being released this year! According to Toyota:

We're focused on the future with advanced vehicles like our EPA-rated 95-MPGe7 Prius Plug-in Hybrid and zero emission Mirai fuel cell vehicle. While we've stopped producing RAV4 EV, our engineers remain hard at work developing the next generation of battery technology, so the future is bright.

Though the 2015 RAV4 EV is no longer available, Toyota still offers a wide selection of hybrid and hybrid plug-in models. Stop by Hanlees Toyota to view our great selection of hybrid vehicles!

Read more about our sale of the last RAV4 EV:
http://www.davisenterprise.com/media-post/the-last-of-its-kind/
http://insideevs.com/toyota-sells-last-rav4-ev/

See the history of Toyota's EV vehicles:
http://www.toyota.com/esq/vehicles/electric-vehicle/ev-history.html

Want to learn more about Toyota's Mirai? Visit:

http://www.toyota.com/fuelcell/fcv.html

Interested in purchasing a hybrid vehicle?
View our Complete Hybrid Vehicle Inventory