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Since it's International Women's Day today, we thought we'd share with you the story of one of the most important women in automotive history. She took the first long-distance car trip in the world. She was the unstoppable Bertha Benz.

Before Bertha Benz ever married her husband, Karl Benz, she acted as his investor.

She was from a wealthy family, and he was raised in poverty by a single mother. Despite his financial disadvantage, Karl was brilliant, well-educated, and an idealist. She fell in love with him, and used her own dowry money to support his failing…

Many Vermonters avoid the dreaded manual transmission altogether. "Who has time to learn?" we hear people say. More importantly, who will sacrifice their car to teach you?

There are hazards to teaching someone to drive any car, like the chance they will confuse reverse for drive and back into your garage door before lesson one. When newbies forget to press the clutch before shifting in a manual, however, that really grinds our gears.

A few innocent mistakes, like forgetting to shift, or forgetting the clutch, and you'll be looking for auto repairs near Burlington, or a new car altogether…

As a proud purveyor of affordable, environmentally responsible used vehicles, many of our customers are local college students. Well, this week we found a new auto detailing video that had us wringing our brains to remember long-forgotten chemistry lessons.

Our professors would not be proud. We had to Google it.

Without further ado, here is how to get persistent salt-stains out of your vehicle's carpet... and more importantly, why it works!

Here's a breakdown of the science:

Road salt is mostly NaCl, the same stuff you put on French fries. Even in land-locked Vermont, you'll know salt…

Nobody knows winter like us Vermonters. Yet sometimes before the season starts, we may be at a loss for how to adequately prepare our cars.

Eric the Car Guy runs a YouTube channel filled with helpful repair videos from a professional mechanic. Here are some tips he has for winterizing your car that we found useful.

First, inspect your tires. You've likely already put on your snows or all seasons. If not-- hurry up! The snow has been holding off so far, but this lull won't last long.

Check your tread depth and make sure it is at…

There's a good chance you're heading home for the holidays, or have family coming to visit you in Burlington. No matter which of the plethora of festivities you'll be celebrating, a lot of traveling is in your future.

Give yourself the gift of gas money in your pocket by making your drive as efficient as possible.

1. Reduce wind resistance. By reducing your drag coefficient by 0.01, you'll make a 0.2mpg gain in fuel economy, so take off those antenna toppers, and any unused roof-racks. Truck drivers, keep your tailgates up or beds covered.
2. Reduce…

Vermonters are an interesting bunch. We love trucks, because many of us are farmers. We have wood to haul for our stoves, kids to move to college, and muddy class 4 roads to traverse.

We need trucks.

But we also care about the environment, and not wasting fuel. So how do we maximize fuel economy on the highway in a pre-owned pickup?

Some have suggested putting the tailgate down makes a truck more streamlined at highway speeds, but it turns out this is simply not the case.

To maximize fuel economy in your truck, be sure to always keep the…

Ford Owner Magazine wants to know if you are an extreme driver.

Fit one of these extreme driver profiles? If so, you might want to change your oil more often. http://t.co/yB03TPqzMV pic.twitter.com/rkufuLc0fp

— Ford Motor Company (@Ford) July 22, 2015

Your typical modern car should have its oil changed about every 7,500 miles, though this number will change depending on car model, age, and type of oil you're using.

Another factor determining how often you should change your oil is your driving style.