Automobile, cars, new cars and used cars

Archive for November, 2011

The batteries — available in 160-, 230-, and 300-mile variants — will continue to use Tesla’s refined 18560 cell. Tesla says it’s making around 8-percent gains in energy density every year, and the Model S battery density will surpass that of the Roadster. Much of the progress stems from simple fundamental improvements: revising the anodes/cathodes and thinning the separators. Tesla admits it’s a slow process to increase driving range, but states the 18560 cell is still more automotive grade than the laptop form from which it spawned. At its current limit, the 300-mile battery will have 7000 cells; the 160- and 230-mile units will contain fewer.

Tesla never stops working on the battery and drive technology. During our visit, we took a closer look at the rear subframe assembly, where a set of critical EV components are compacted together. To save space and improve efficiency, the three-phase A/C motor is synced directly to the power electronics module (cables linked the two on the Roadster). Thanks in part to liquid cooling, the assembly is expected to last a very long time while supporting the motor’s output. The electric drive motor is capable of belting out 300 kilowatts and 400 newton-meters. That equates to roughly 402 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque in our customary units of measurement. And because of its specific mounting location, more of the car’s weight is kept close to the ground.The batteries — available in 160-, 230-, and 300-mile variants — will continue to use Tesla’s refined 18560 cell. Tesla says it’s making around 8-percent gains in energy density every year, and the Model S battery density will surpass that of the Roadster. Much of the progress stems from simple fundamental improvements: revising the anodes/cathodes and thinning the separators. Tesla admits it’s a slow process to increase driving range, but states the 18560 cell is still more automotive grade than the laptop form from which it spawned. At its current limit, the 300-mile battery will have 7000 cells; the 160- and 230-mile units will contain fewer.

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Insurance policies are always tricky to understand given the hundreds of hidden clauses appended to the policy coverage. More often than not, policy holders sign up for their insurance without reading all the clauses, and it affects them in the event of claiming the money. Understanding what the policy can cover and how to deal with insurance disputes help the policy holders file claims faster and get the money faster.

Collision insurance:

Collision insurance is the most common coverage that people opt for, along with liability insurance. Liability insurance is the insurance that all motorists must carry in USA, in order to protect other drivers and automobiles on road in the event of an accident. Third party liability only covers the other party in the event of an accident and leaves the policy holder high and dry. If the motorist involved in an accident is at fault and does not have collision insurance, then the costs of damage may not be fulfilled by the motorist and the party involved in the accident suffers financial loss for no fault of theirs. Opting for an insurance policy that covers all expenses related to the accident, irrespective of third party liability insurance is essential to avoid complications. Collision insurance policy covers all expenses related to automobile in the event of collision with other automobiles, trees, parked vehicles, compound walls or any other kind of collision. Buying a collision insurance ensures that the automobile will be returned to normal operation, irrespective of the damage caused in an accident. Collision insurance covers the automobile damages irrespective of the fault of driver. Even if the policy holder is at fault, collision insurance pays most of the amount in reviving the automobile.

What should be understood?

Collision insurance covers the damages resulting in a collision, but whether the car must be replaced by a new one or not is determined only by the insurance company. The extent of the damage done in a collision is determined by the insurance company, and the way in which the damaged vehicle can be revived is decided by the company and not the policy holder. The insurance company may decide to replace the car if the repairing costs may exceed the car value. The auto parts which can be repaired will be repaired and not replaced. The auto parts which should be replaced may or may not be from the original manufacturers. Policy holders must take care that the auto parts which are being replaced are of high quality and not substandard ones.

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You are driving down the road and a specific car catches your eye.

You almost have an accident “rubber necking” to get a better look.

Perhaps you owned one in high school or it is one seen in pictures of your grandfather smiling proudly while standing next to it.

Whatever drew your attention, it is probably considered a classic or vintage automobile.

Growing up in the sixties and seventies, it is hard to imagine cars now considered classic were our standard mode of transportation.

Some of my fondest memories include piling into my friend’s 1965 Buick Wildcat convertible and heading for Galveston, while nights were spent riding around Houston in my boyfriend’s 1968 Chevy Camaro, blasting ZZ Top and every stop light offered a possible race behind the Armour Plant off Aldine Westfield.

Unless you are lucky enough to have kept one of these cars, most have been painstakingly restored in some way or the other. While thousands of dollars can be invested in this process, collector cars actually appreciate in value and to protect that you will want to obtain coverage for this type of vehicle called “collector automobile coverage” and is normally provided in a separate policy from the cars you drive on a daily basis.

When considering vehicles that fall into a collector category, there are normally three periods that label what type it fits in.

While most car enthusiasts relate to a “Veteran” or “Antique” car as being manufactured prior to 1903; “Vintage” cars usually fall between 1903 and 1933.

Classic” cars, on the other hand, offer a different opinion when it comes to the production year; although most agree if the car is at least 35 years old it is probably a classic.

Regardless of the year manufactured, obtaining a special auto policy have specifications that must be met in order to be insured under an Antique/Classic policy.

Most insurance companies require the vehicle be in good or restored condition, be kept in a fully enclosed and locked facility, be at least 19 years old and be primarily used in exhibitions, club activities, etc. Although occasional driving is acceptable, the car may not be used as primary transportation.

While collector auto insurance is relatively inexpensive, the coverage offered is very specific to the car.

As each state and company determine what is offered, some options available under this policy are collision (damage arising from collision with another object), “garaging location” (coverage while the vehicle is stored), spare parts (replacement costs for specific parts), comprehensive (loss to the vehicle) and value coverage (amount of the vehicle’s value).

One thing to understand about this type of policy, is most companies limit the amount of miles that can be added between 1000 and 5000 per year.

Considering the time and expense that usually accompany a collector car, the policy itself is just as important as any other aspect involved. Since insurance coverage for these cars require a special policy, it is always a good idea to obtain insurance from a company that has familiarity with the vehicles themselves.

If paperwork for the policy is not completed properly, any claims file could end up being a nightmare, or worst, denied.

Next time you decide to take your classic car for a drive on a beautiful day, be sure you crank up the classics (or oldies as they are now called) on the radio, smile as you catch the looks and enjoy the ride because, rest assured, with collector automobile insurance your investment is protected.

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Lover's Lane: Hagerty TV commercial

Understanding technical service bulletins when buying a vehicle that was previously a rental can save a lot of heartache and frustration. Arming yourself with the information provided by the TSB will help keep you safe, and insure that you are buying a car that is worth the investment.

Typically, a car rental agency will make sure that all technical service bulletins or recalls are appropriately addressed. The consumer can then count on a car that has been properly serviced and is free of defects or safety hazards. Because car rentals are constantly monitored for technical service bulletins, they usually meet or exceed all safety expectations.

Technical service bulletins apply to all vehicles and the recalls can be for a seemingly small matter such as a seatbelt or airbag, or as big as a recall for the entire car. Technical service bulletins are released for every car, whenever a safety issues arises that requires modifications to the current structure or accessories within the vehicle. Individual owners do not always comply with the technical service bulletins, but because there are insurance and liability issues involved in car rentals, agencies are usually quick to comply with recalls.

If you are buying what used to be a rental car, you should check into any technical service bulletins or recalls for that particular make and model. You can usually ask the car rental agency whether or not there have been any recalls and whether the car has been modified in any way as a result. Rental agencies are usually good about keeping documentation of service bulletins and recalls so you can have specific information related to the recalls should you have any issues after you purchase the vehicle.

If you are looking at a specific model of a rental car, you can find technical service bulletins or recalls without asking the rental agency about it. There are many websites available online that will help you find all the information you need to make a good, safe, and informed purchase.

If you buy a rental car and later learn that a technical service bulletin has been issued, you needn’t worry too much about it. Most recalls do not cost any money, only the time necessary to make the recommended modifications. Think of this time as an investment in your health and safety as well as that of your passengers.

Whether it’s a rental car, or any car, technical service bulletins and recalls are for the safety of the driver. While they may cost you a bit of time and headache, they are absolutely worth it.

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People are mobile beings. Indeed we tend to move a lot and   so among our primary needs nowadays is transportation. The need for a means to travel is one of the major pushing factors why people purchase vehicles. Even students nowadays start driving their own ride once they have entered the legal age the state law requires. It is also a mandate by the law that all drivers and car owners must have at least the minimum requirement of car insurance policy before they can hit the road. Across states this minimum requirement differs but the fact that you need one so long as you have a driver’s license remains the same anywhere in the United States. 

So for students who are driving, auto insurance policy is a must -have. The sad thing about this scenario is the reality that car insurance for young people like students would cost much that older people pays. Indeed there are several factors that could influence  students’ auto insurance policy rate and make them harder to  bear nonetheless there are also a lot of ways on how to reduce  the price students are to pay, literally.

Car insurance providers abound nowadays thus shopping  around to get the most friendly rate out of the many insurers  is always possible moreover helpful especially for people who  are serious in finding the type of coverage they prefer without  paying too much. 

Taking advantage of car insurance providers’ marketing strategies like bonuses will also help you land in paying lesser in time. Most companies offer “no claim” bonus and as soon as you have your car insurance you should start building this up. Couple this with responsible driving and if you are successful in filing no claims for a specific period of time your rate can be discounted up to 70%. This big slash from your expensive rate will really help you a lot.

Another factor that could help you is the model of your vehicle. Given that students automatically get high premium rates, driving luxurious cars, sports cars and other thief-inviting car models will send your high rates higher and you do not want this to happen. If you really wanted to lower the expenses your car insurance would cost you drive older model of cars. Moreover having safety features installed on your vehicle will help you have reduced auto insurance rate. In addition to this it is best to eye for companies who offer discounts for students like good driver discount, organization discount and good student discount.

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Are you a car-loving billionaire looking for a bit of light reading for your holiday jaunt? No? Perhaps the world’s most expensive book won’t interest you then.

The official Ferrari Opus book will come in various editions, the priciest being a diamond-encrusted number that will set you back f170,000.

The Diamante version, as it is called, has a prancing horse on the cover covered in 30-carat diamonds and is limited to one copy per country.

For those on a budget, the entry-level version is a snip at f2,000 and comes signed by F1 drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa.

The Enzo version sells for f20,000 (not available in all good bookstores), is limited to 400 copies and is signed by all living Ferrari world champions.

The book is 852 pages long and contains 2,000 photos and a thorough history of all of Ferrari’s road and race cars.

It won’t be the easiest book to sit and read by the fire either, weighing in at 32kg.

Click below to watch a short video of the wallet-busting tome.

Source: http://uk.autoblog.com/2011/04/06/most-expensive-book-in-the-world/

CHEAP FLIGHTS

I knew it wasn’t going to be a state fair when I noticed one of the ticket takers was naked. And shaved. Wearing a little desert-fox cap with side flaps and nothing else but dirty hiking boots, covered in alkali dust, looking like a big piece of raw chicken dusted in corn meal.

The photographer, a.k.a. Mr. Botts, and I were inching along in an RV with other vehicles trying to get past the gates of Burning Man before dark and before a spooky-looking dust cloud to the east turned into something we’d need to hide from.

It was day three of Burning Man, now in its 21st year, eight days of psychic groping in costume, a big debauch played out under a relentless sun 100 miles north of Reno on a moonscape of desert lake bed-in fact, right about where Andy Green set the world land speed record of 763 mph in 1997. But there were no fast cars here now, just hundreds of golf carts in drag-exactly 512 wheeled things designated "art cars," entitling them to roam free, night and day, across the vast adult playground while all other vehicles were grounded.

The ticket taker for our lane wasn’t naked.He was a breathlessly enthusiastic 30-something. Think John Ritter, dressed in a leather training bra and shorts, poking his head into your cab and exclaiming ecstatically,"Any VIRGINS in here?!"

"None," I said, oddly self-conscious already.

No, no, he said. Had we been to Burning Man before? Told this was our first, he asked us to get out, step across a line he’d drawn on the ground to symbolize leaving our old selves behind. Then he handed us a big mallet and said whack this bell-gong thing and yell as loud as we could, "I’M NOT A VIRGIN ANYMORE!"

Shit, I was ready to leave. How lame was this?

Burning Man didn’t used to be lame. In its early years, there was a "drive-by shooting range" out here. In his amusing book, This Is Burning Man, Brian Doherty writes about a guy in 1992 driving a rental car while drinking wine from the bottle,"flying on mushrooms," having sex with his girlfriend who was also drinking, and shooting guns out the windows-and through the windows-at teddy-bear targets, all at the same time. Two people have been killed in full party-mode accidents: a guy on a motorcycle almost decapitated by the rearview mirror of a pickup he was drunkenly buzzing,and a 21-year-old female after she fell off a party vehicle and was run over. Two planes trying to get here crashed. People sleeping in tents have been run over by cars.This used to be the party that was considered successful if you lived to tell.

Burning Man began innocently enough on a public beach in San Francisco 20 years ago when Larry Harvey, a guy who apparently views regular work as dehumanizing (onetime cab driver, hot-dog vendor, gardener), and a carpenter friend, Jerry James, decided to celebrate the arrival of summer in an imaginative way. So they nailed together a crude wooden man, eight feet high, hauled it down to Baker Beach,and with a sinking sun and the Golden Gate Bridge as dramatic backdrops, set it on fire.

("Hey, do I smell pot?")

One imagines the 20 spectators gasping, "Far out." And Burning Man was born. To this day, Harvey remains the head man.

By 1990, the cool crowd at Baker Beach had swelled to 800. The wooden man had grown, too, to 40 feet. And that was all it took to set off the highly sensitive alarms of the authorities, in this case the Golden Gate Park Police, who shut down the event.

So the "burners" moved that Labor Day weekend to a place where no one would complain-330 miles to the east, to the Nevada desert. And there they set up a kind of freaky Bedouin village of camps, "in the tradition of modern Dadaistic nomadic gypsies," to explore the possibilities of 400square miles of nothingness. That first burn involved trips to hot springs, a "semiformal evening cocktail party with music," and "other activities as we make them up." And, go ahead, turn up the volume just as loud as you please.

The message seemed to be: "Whatever."It was Mad Max meets the Summer of Love, but it came with a fierce intolerance for any commercialism-no money was to exchange hands (okay, except for ice and coffee). No T-shirts, no hot dogs, no "commodification." Burners hauled in what they needed: food, water, power, olives for the martinis, bongs, the chicken costumes. Burners dress up, especially at night, like Village People or bunny rabbits or Julius Caesar or Csar Chvez. Whatever. Express yourself. Many women are emboldened by the no-hassle Utopian atmosphere to go topless or in daring outfits.

A couple of media blowbys described it as a gathering of cyber-pagans, presided over by legions of repressed, cooped-up Internet drones from Silicon Valley who, as everyone knows, never get laid.

Article source: http://www.caranddriver.com/features/07q1/the_cosmic_campers-feature