Car Insurance, Loan, Purchase, Lease Decisions

Some Observations about Cars in China

About a year ago, The Times Online published an article on Chinese Clones (Car Clones)

Invasion of the Chinese clones
I wonder how many of you (readers in China) have seen these cars on the streets of Beijing or Guangzhou….
I personally have seen the Cherry QQ - lots of them in Beijing… They even come in two engine sizes 0.8L and 1.1L — “monster” engines you would say. But for sure they are very cheap.

I have not seen the Red Flag (Hong Qiao) — but it certainly looks like a Roll Royce copy. At any rate, I found the article interesting and since I have had first hand experience with some of the pictured cars, thought to write a post about it.

On the other hand, China is now doing some advanced work too — the first (as far as I know) Chinese electric car — the Xi’an, Shaanxi-based BYD Automobile made F3e

Here is a photo of the car:

cn.autoblog.com has more on this…

New Cars / Concepts Focused on Environmentally Friendly Engines

This month’s North America Auto Show brought the news that electric cars are coming back — these are not hybrids or hydrogen powered fuel cell cars but rechargeable battery powered cars. Here is the run down of these new cars:

* GM is introducing the Chevrolet VOLT - a “battery-powered electric car that has a range of 40 city miles after a six-hour charge from a household electrical outlet” per the GM announcement at the show. Here is a picture of the car (based on image from www.naias.com):

Apparently the car has also a gas powered engine that does not drive the car’s wheels but generates electric power for the car’s electric motor. The range with the gasoline generated electricity is 640 miles. So this is a pretty innovative and useful and interesting concept — Now if we can see what the price of this vehicle will be so we can run the calculations / cost-benefit analysis…. Will do that as soon as possible.

Toyota at the same time announced a new hybrid vehicle — this time focused on the sports car market segment. The company announced the FT-HS concept car (here is an image of the vehicle also from www.naias.com):

A V6, 3.5L-engine is supposed to generate ~400 hp, and provide for acceleration in the range of 4 seconds for the 0-to-60 run. So this is a serious sports car and is a hybrid too… No information yet on its fuel economy though. Will let you know as soon as possible.

Overall these concept vehicles are pointing to the fact that these new eco-friendly engines are coming and will become a strong influence in the auto market.

New roadster / sports car from GM’s subsidiary Opel

Several posts ago I briefly touched on a new roadster from Saturn…as an example of comparing one tier of sports cars to another (link back to the post).  Now I wanted to highlight how GM actually is creating a global set of platforms.  Here is an image of the new Opel Speedster which was first introduced at the 2000 Geneva autoshow as a concept car and is now available as a vehicle Here is an image of the Ecotec engine which interestingly enough is used apparently on a bunch of other GM vehicles (Chervrolet, Pontiac, Saturn…..).   The Opel Speedster is also the Vaxhaul VX2200 (I believe sold in the UK).  So this is an interesting example of how even the more exclusive roadsters are becoming sold in multiple geographies as different brands but sharing hardware platforms.  This is a good way to make exciting new cars a lot more affordable across the board….

This week’s Auto Loan Rates

A friend of mine is in the process of buying a car.  So I decided to scan quickly the current Auto Loan rates from my favorite sources — the various Credit Unions.  A quick check through some of the credit unions with larger membership shows the following:

• USA Federal Credit Union (www.usafedcu.org) lowest rate for cars is currently 6.24%
• SECU in Maryland  (www.secumd.org) has their lowest rate for up to 60 month loans at 5.75%
• Service Credit Union  (www.servicecu.org) has their Auto loan rate at 5.74%
• Educational Systems Federal Credit Union (www.esfcu.org) has the new Car loan rate at 6% and Used at 6.25%
• NIH Federal Credit union  (nihfcu.org) has currently (for new cars) a rate of 5.5% (for 48 month loan)
• Market USA Federal Credit Union (www.marketusafcu.com) has a 48 month loan for new cars set at 5.25%

This is a fairly encompassing presentation of current loan rates.  5.25% appears to be the lowest one currently - of course not considering the manufacturers and dealers sponsored 0% loan financing for selected models (usually vehicles in oversupply).

Some things that impact your car insurance

When you are ready to lease a new or buy a new or used vehicle you need to consder some things that will impact your insurance rate (besides your driving record):

* Are you buying a sports car or a family sedan or a SUV or a truck?  If you consider one and the same BMW 3 series vehicle you will find out that buying a station wagon 325 might come at a considerable lower rate than lets say a sedan or coupe 325;

* The safety features that are part of the vehicle are also important - ABS brakes, Dynamic Stability Control or similar system, multiple airbags…all lead to rate reductions.

* Head injury protection systems — whether airbags, air-curtains, or head rests on the seats — all these add to potential rate reductions.

So shop for your next car with knowledge

Two very different sport cars

If you are in the market for a new fancy sports car, you may want to read this. So which is the best sports car to buy? Well it depends… To give you an idea of why it is so difficult to decide what to buy. Continue reading Two very different sport cars…

Wagons - Excellent vehicles with Many Good Features

As the owner of not one, but two wagons — a BMW 325ti and a Subaru Outback I can whole heartedly agree that wagons are excellent and versatile vehicles for many people.  Recently, Business Week magazine published an article that pretty much focused on the same line of thought.

Link to Business Week article!

Based on this article as well as my personal experiences, I do believe that wagons are an excellent choice for a vehicle with good handling, good fuel efficiency, and lots of room.

I always joked about the BMW wagon I own - that it is a sports car with a cloaking device - the wagon shape.  Any time I speed down the highway I would be invisible why? Because wagons are for family people, people with kids, people that drive slowly etc.  Right ?

Car Buying in China - How about a bulletproof car

Just a few days ago, in its June 29th, 2006 edition China Daily (the leading English language newspaper in China), there was a report on a new fad in China - purchases of bulletproof cars.
Here is a link to the article: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2006-06/29/content_629142.htm

It is interesting to know why would you need a bulletproof vehicle in China.  After all China is actually relatively safe place to live and work - I have been here with my family for a rather long time, and also know a number of people who have spent significantly longer time here
Well the answer to this question is actually more related to prestige than safety.  At any rate, please drop me a line or a comment on this site if you would like to learn more about cars and car ownership in China

Car Buying and New Features in Cars

If you have not looked into new cars lately you can read some of the special reports like the ones published by Business Week on-line.  New cars are becoming full of gizmos and features that we need to be aware when making assessment as to what to look for.  In this article,

Business Week on 21st Century Autos!

we can see some of the new capabilities of even relatively not so new features in cars.  Transmission systems are upgraded to increase fuel economy, navigation systems are becoming even smarter, etc.

So now when we are deciding between a new and used car we have to think more about how much weight to put on new / advanced features entering the new car market.

Car Buying: Why Should We Think Rationally When Making Decisions

“Somewhere along the line of development we discover what we really are, and then we make our real decision for which we are responsible. Make that decision primarily for yourself because you can never really live anyone else’s life.”
Quote from a saying from Eleanor Roosevelt

We started a discussion about decision making and what is important about it.  In the previous posting we briefly touched on the article in the Boston Globe from February of this year, and we stressed the notion of how important is to make decisions for ourselves and by ourselves and for sure not just by “putting trust in our gut feeling”

So, do you believe that making decisions on your own accord is important?  Would you just buy a car for example purely on the recomendation of a test drive experience posted by someone on Automotive web sites?  I rather not.  As the quote from Eleanor Roosevelt states above ” we should make decisions we can live with”. So if that resonates with you then you need to take into account multiple criteria when making the decison on a given car for example.

So, you will take into account make criteria and put some weight on each one of them.  What are those criteria?  Well they could be many and probably they will be slightly different for each one of us.  For some the fuel efficiency of a car would be important as well as the safety features.  Others will jump in a car and love it for the way it drives and feels.  Yet another set of people would look into the sticker price, and financing options as well as rebates.  And the story goes.

Wouldn’t it be good to be able to take into account may be even all of the above factors and make the decision by weighing all of them?  I would say.  But then how do we analyze such a multi-criteria problem?

We have some ideas and will provide those soon.  What do you think?  Do you have recommendations?  We can incorporate those recommendations in the tools we are preparing.  Would love to hear from you.