Autodecide

Auto Insurance

Resources and tools about finding automobile insurance deals, need to know information, and tools
State Resources for Auto Insurance
Many states conduct yearly surveys comparing car insurance premiums. These are not premium quotes, but you can use this to get an idea of the costs and which insurers may be the best. Below is a list of states with links to their comparisons. More states will be added in the future.

California auto insurance premium comparisons
Florida auto insurance premium comparisons
Kansas auto insurance premium comparisons
Maine auto insurance premium comparisons
Michigan auto insurance premium comparisons
Missouri auto insurance premium comparisons
Ohio auto insurance premium comparisons
Texas auto insurance premium comparisons
Virginia auto insurance premium comparisons

If you have a link to a state which I haven’t included, please leave a comment in this this post

About

This blog is created by a couple of guys interested in providing value for consumers on the lookout for best deals in automobile purchases, auto insurance, auto loans, and automotive related deals.

Tools and Calculators

The Loan Calculator Tool

Electric, Hybrid, Fuel Cell Cars

This page is intended as a resource for our readers. Here we will keep track of new and concept vehicles that use new, eco-friendly power train systems like Hybrid engines, Fuel Cell powered engines, and Electric powered engines. Here is the list (on-going):

Audi:
Audi has a hybrid too – the A2 – a hybrid that uses a lithium-ion battery to increase the battery life over the hybrid models. The battery is recharged overnight to increase the distance the hybrid could travel on electric power alone.

Audi 2 - Hybrid

Chevrolet Volt Equinox Sequel
Volt – electric concept vehicle. 40 miles range on a 6-hour charge from home electric outlet. Gas engine to generate electricity to drive the car power train and extend range to 640 miles.
Equinox – a Hydrogen fuel cell powered SUV
Sequel – a Fuel Cell vehicle with 300 miles range between fill-ups. Acceleration is expected at 10 seconds for 0-to-60 mph

HONDA:
– coming up –

NISSAN:
Altima, hybrid Altima hybrid – EPA fuel economy: 42 mpg city / 36 mpg highway; 198hp; claims faster 0-60 miles/hour acceleration than it gasoline 4-cylinder engine counterpart;

Toyota:

New Brands:
Alessandro Volta CS&S Fine-N
Alessandro Volta – A sports car concept powered by a 408-hp Hybrid Synergy Drive® (a 3.3-liter V6 with an electric motor for each axle); 435 miles on a 13.7-gallon tank, 0-to-60 mph in 4 sec.
CS&S – A sports car concept powered by Toyota’s Hybrid Synergy Drive® with electric motors driving front wheels, and both electric and gas engine powered rear wheels.
Fine-N — a hydrogen fuel cell powered concept vehicle with independent 4-wheel controls (sounds like an All Wheel Drive in todays’ vehicles)

Citroen
C4 hybrid C-Metisse
C4 Hybrid — this model is a diesel hybrid vehicle – Citroen believes it is more efficient
C-Metisse — this is also a diesel hybrid vehicle; 205hp; 6.2sec for 0-to-62mph;

VOLVO:

C-30(hatchback): a hybrid car with a electric and diesel engines; can travel approximately 45miles on batteries alone; can be charged at home (besides via the diesel engine)

VOLKSWAGEN:
The Tuareg SUV — will be the first hybrid for this car maker. Expect $2000-3000 premium for the hybrid version.
Jetta hybrid — expected in 2008;

The Cost of Owning a Hybrid Vehicle is Discussed

Recently there have been a bunch of articles dealing with the cost of owning and operating a hybrid vehicle. Here is summary analysis done by Intellichoice… You need to be careful though — the assessment done by Intellichoice still assumes that going forward the tax rebates given by the Fed. Gov’t will continue and that the price of gasoline will continue to rise. This is not necessarily the case.
Article published by Consumer Reports also shows that most hybrids also recover the initial premium buyers have to pay on purchase of the vehicles, but the overall cost benefit is not very pronounced.
At the end of the day, we all need to consider the hybrids. It is a good choice both from the standpoint of reducing carbon emissions, and from the standpoint of driving fun — hybrids do have fast acceleration thus making them interesting to drive. Plus the growing volume of hybrid purchased will continue to drive even their initial cost down.

Here is a link to the 2008 Intellichoice Survey

China Has Humvees Too (Sort of)

Well, in the past few postings I was focused on the decision making associated with buying a hybrid vehicle – tax incentives, HOV lanes, etc. Then as I was reading one of the China related sites over the weekend I came across a reference to an article on Tom.com
The article is about China’s new crazy vehicle — not to be left behind, China decided to invent its own big beast of a SUV — a copy of the Hummer. Here is an image:

Dong Feng HanMa — you can see for yourself — isn’t this a copy of a Hummer? The specs for the vehicle (according to Tom.com ) show a 8 cyl. AMG engine, 0-80 km/h acceleration of 17sec.; and the price tag is apparently 250K RMB (approx. US$35K). So, how about that? Ready to buy one… More images here

Incentives for Hybrid Vehicle Purchase (tax rebates, HOV lanes, etc)

Here is a list of incentives that are either in place or being considered in various States across the US:
Tax Incentives: (please make sure you consult your tax advisor – the information below is NOT a tax advice)

Federal Tax Credit: Per IRS, this tax credit is subtracted directly from the total amount of federal tax owed, and applies to vehicles purchased after January 1, 2006. The value of the tax credit varies by the type of vehicle purchased and ranges between $250 (for the not so efficient GMC trucks in 2007 model year) and $3000 for a Ford Escape 2WD 2008 model year for example. The popular Toyota Prius gets $1575 for the 2007 model year;

Colorado: Also offering tax credit in the range of $2000-$3000; Interestingly some of the less efficient hybrids (e.g. Chevy Silverado, Dodge Ram) do not appear to qualify for the tax credit. More detail here

Kansas: considering a $2500 for first 1000 people who apply for it. The state has already a $750 tax credit available but very few people have applied

Other states – like Arkansas for example – are considering removing the state sales tax on sale of hybrids that are at least twenty-five percent (25%) higher than the miles per gallon rating designated for a comparable model that does not have hybrid characteristics.

HOV Lanes — this is another benefit of owning a hybrid. In several states already, this incentive will give you faster transit times as you can use the usually less congested High Occupancy Vehicle lane on the local highways. States like Arizona, California, are either considering them or have them in place already.

BMW Series-1: Have you seen one of these?

Well folks, I ended up getting the news for a new Series-1 BMW actually from a Chinese Web site. NetEase at www.163.com, had the photos and a little blurb about the soon to be released Series-1 BMW. It looks like the 3-series one but smaller.
The vehicle photos that I saw were of a 120d model. Here are some images:

This car reminds me of the time when BMW tried to introduce hatchbacks in the US. The 318i (if I remember correctly) that lasted only one year…Now this seems to be the next push to extend market presence in the compact segment — I wonder how well they will compete with the Honda, Toyota, etc. compact cars. This car though could be very successful in the status sensitive China — the notion of being able to say “I drive a BMW” (no matter how small it is) is a selling point by itself.
What do you think?

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:

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).