With any vehicle, maintenance is important and drivers need to have comfort too, especially if they drive long distances. There is a large market in car and truck accessories. Some of these items address questions of security. There is a wide range of goods available and many people send accessories as gifts.

Some motorists have a weekly regime of washing and waxing the car. Proud owners buy polish and turtle wax to get that perfect finish. Rust, the enemy of all car owners, can be a problem but there are rust proofing kits to combat it. The application of the product gives the vehicle a weatherproof skin.

Every motorist should be prepared for emergencies and a tool kit is an essential parts accessories. Tire depth gauges, foot pumps, and tire valve repair tools can be bought individually or as part of a set. Utility lights and halogen spotlights are also on sale.

Getting around on the roads is more difficult during winter conditions. Any purchase of car and truck accessories should include the necessary products when snow and ice comes. An ice scraper and sponge may be needed on early mornings. Other winter parts  accessories for trucks and cars include de-icers, winter screen wash and windscreen cover and car cover.

Sometimes, the vehicle just won’t start and booster cables for jump-starting are needed. There are also jumpstart amps that will start petrol or diesel vehicles. A battery charger is another must to prevent a battery going flat. If things really go wrong, a car towrope will come in useful. A vehicle fire extinguisher is another precaution for safety. Car and truck accessories must prepare for the worst situations and a flashing beacon will give a warning if the vehicle breaks down. The beacon is magnetic and will stick onto the vehicle roof, plugging into the cigarette lighter. Vehicle theft is an unfortunate problem and many drivers invest in locking wheel nuts, steering wheel locks and locking fuel caps.

Truckers carry their home with them for long periods of time. A 24v electric coffee maker will make up to six cups of coffee on the road. Other truck accessories include a 24v electric mini cooker and a 24v cooler / heater box for keeping food and drinks cool or hot, as required. No self-respecting trucker would be without his or her air horn or CB Radio speaker. Windscreen banners are also popular and can be personalized with the driver’s name. They can also bear the name of a favorite sports team. Customized grilles also lend a personal touch to the truck. Other car and truck accessories a trucker may want to buy include sidelights, wheel covers and heavy-duty air dusters. A portable ventilation fan will keep the cabin cool in hot weather.

Car and truck drivers may also want to buy something to keep the air in the vehicle, nice and fresh. One of the most popular parts accessories of recent years is the air freshener, with scents such as leather, coconut and apple.

As the economy has collapsed, various industries have taken it on the chin one after another.  The latest, and most spectacular collapse, has been General Motors.  Once the greatest corporation on earth, it was said in the 1930s that “What’s good for GM is good for America,” it’s now entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy in a last-gasp effort to save the hundreds of thousands of jobs that are reliant on it.

Those hundreds-of-thousands of jobs aren’t only the GM workers themselves, but folks who work in related industries like automotive parts stores.  GM may be located primarily in the midwest, but their cars are sold throughout the world, and the world’s biggest market is the USA.  GM cars are everywhere in this country, and cars – all cars – break down.  Hence you need to replace certain parts, and there is a whole industry based upon that need.

This industry is now suffering as people buy fewer and fewer cars.  Up until 2008, Americans purchased about 15 million cars per year.  In 2008 they purchased nine million.  That’s a 40% drop – an indescribable, unimaginable abyss that has decimated GM and Chrysler, crippled Ford, and even taken a good chunk out of Toyota and Honda.

The losses are staggering – GM has lost sixty BILLION dollars over the past two decades – that’s more than their entire profit from the eight decades preceding it.  Since the drop-off in the amount of cars has been so precipitous, the drop-off in the need for replacement parts has mirrored it.  Auto part stores are suffering now, just as auto makers are.  It’s hard to imagine any industry thriving when demand tumbles that much.

The good news is that automotive parts stores like Napa, Advance Auto Parts and AutoZone all seem to have had better business models than the auto-makers they in part relied upon.  Part of that is that, while folks are buying fewer cars than before, that doesn’t mean they’re driving less.  So they’re holding onto their old cars, which will of course need repairs at a higher rate than newer cars would, which means auto part stores can actually find and somewhat exploit a new market.

The other side of that coin is that people are less willing to spend, so bargain hunting is the new American past time.  Prices have dropped as the various chains are competing for a smaller, more thrifty customer base.  If you’re part of that customer base – and chances are , you are – you should do some shopping and negotiating before you make any purchase, no matter how large or how small.