If the freedom to pull over wherever you like, travel on the road as you wish and the idea of owning some space on wheels are enticing, the compulsion of commuting to work, dropping children at school and visiting the markets for shopping and hundreds of other places has made cars a necessity of modern life. It’s unimaginable to go on in life without a car. Sooner or later you need to have one.
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You are legally required to have car insurance, but you are not required to pay astronomical prices for it. If you are looking for some ways in which you can save on then look no further.

Save on Your Car Insurance by Manipulating Parts of Your Insurance Policy

When you first took out your car insurance policy you might have decided to go for low deductibles. That might have seemed like a good idea to you at the time, but you might not have known that by choosing higher deductibles you can actually save money on your car insurance premiums. Change your deductible to the highest you can possibly afford and your insurance premiums will go down.

Make sure that you keep an amount of money saved that is equal to or higher than your deductible so that you will be assured the money is available if you ever need it. If you own an older car that isn’t worth very much then you can save money by dropping your collision and comprehensive coverages.

Save on Your Car Insurance by Taking Advantage of Discounts

Many insurance companies offer discounts for various things. Low mileage discounts are one example. If you put fewer than a specific amount of mileage you your car each year then your insurance company may offer you a discount, as long as you can prove the amount of mileage put on the car each year. You can also usually get discounts for having safety features such as anti-lock brakes, airbags, and alarms.

Some other discounts that may be available to you include having more than one car insured with the same insurance company, having more than one type of policy with the same insurance company (such as your car and your home), not having been in an accident for the past three years, not having gotten any tickets, being 50 or more years of age, and taking driver training and/or driver safety classes.

Be it the clutch, the brake, the spark plug, the boost gauge, the voltmeter, the fog light, the exhaust, the oil gauge, the air filter or the shock absorbers, it’s imperative to keep a check on the functioning of your auto parts. Regular use would obviously result in wear and tear and it thus becomes important to repair, change or upgrade the performance auto parts from time to time.

Performance parts play an important role in the functioning of your vehicle. Any good machine would give optimum performance only when its machinery is in top condition. With upgrades hitting the market everyday, one has a wide variety of auto parts to choose from.

When you believe that your car is the best, it is only fair to give it the best. Besides the basic kits, you can choose from a wide variety of performance parts and accessories that’ll enhance the working of your vehicle, giving you a stellar street performance. Be well informed when purchasing performance auto parts and you’ll breathe easy and so will your car. If you aren’t sure about which part would be the best for your car or whether what you intend buying is as good as it sounds, head for a dealer whom you know. If you don’t have a known dealer, ask your friends and try to find someone reliable.

You might be blinded by the sales promos and gimmicks used by manufacturers, but it is a good idea to compare products and prices before spending your hard- earned money. Check out for loopholes and don’t be embarrassed about asking questions. When in doubt, ask. It is better to come across as “auto parts challenged” than getting conned into buying something that’s not worth splurging on.

Read more in Auto parts and accessories

Having an effective exhaust system also plays a major role in the efficiency of your vehicle. Unless you’re a die-hard Harley Davidson fan and want your car to sound the same, you wouldn’t want to strut around without a muffler for your exhaust system. With backpressures and other kinds of mufflers, it becomes easy to reduce noise as much as possible. Catalytic converters in newer engines have made it possible to reduce pollution by refining the exhaust before it leaves your car. Laws passed by the federal government have made it mandatory for engine manufacturers to conform to certain rules and regulation in order to reduce emissions.

Ask the average American consumer if they ever heard of Skoda and more than ninety percent are likely to give you a “no” answer. Conversely, if you asked these same consumers if they ever heard of Volkswagen, the name recognition would be virtually one hundred percent. Such is the popularity of the car company that brought the Beetle and Rabbit to the American market.

Skoda is much less known globally, although they have been producing vehicles for more than one century. Indeed, the once Czech government run car company had a small following, mostly in the communist states of eastern Europe. During the early 1990s, the Czech government decided to sell its interest in Skoda and Volkswagen became the happy owner. Today, Skoda cars are made in five countries and sold in 21. New plants in Russia and China are being developed to join plants already operating in eastern Europe and India.

So, why would VW turn to Skoda in order to remain competitive in North America? For two reasons:

Even if VW sends their lowest price car to the American market, the Polo, it will still be priced at around $12,000 which will be several thousand dollars more expensive than the cars to be imported from Chinese automakers.

Already the Skoda is one of the best priced brands in the world. Instead of pouring millions of dollars into a new VW model and tapping a factory that produces more expensive vehicles, a base Skoda model will likely anchor the Volkswagen line up within the next five years. Perhaps the Roomster, Skoda’s tiny four passenger automobile will be the car that helps VW stay strong in the US. Powered by a tiny 3 cylinder 1.2L engine, the Roomster is uniquely designed and easier to tell apart from other cars in its class and the Roomster is likely to be popular in China once production begins late next year.

And what is the biggest advantage of the Skoda Roomster? It will retail for less than ten thousand dollars once imported versions of this car arrive from Chinese factories to American soil. Now for the remaining dilemma: will the car be rebadged as a VW or will America finally learn what Skoda is all about? Stay tuned!

What could make a bad car deal worse? A wreck that leaves you owing thousands on a car you don’t own anymore.

If you did everything wrong while acquiring your last vehicle, you may still be able to do at least one thing right. And that’s buying so-called “gap insurance.”

Gap insurance kicks in when the amount your insurer would pay for your totaled or stolen car falls short of what you still owe on the loan or lease.

Chances are good you need gap insurance if:

You purchased a new car and didn’t have a down payment of at least 20%.
You’re leasing a car.
You’re financing for more than four years.
You rolled debt from your last car into your current auto loan.
I outlined why these car-buying practices are usually bad ideas in “The real reason you’re broke.” They are, unfortunately, fairly common scenarios that typically leave people “upside down,” or owing more on their cars than the vehicles are worth.

Yet gap insurance remains a relatively unknown product, said Patrick Olsen, managing editor of Cars.com.

“As soon as you drive off the lot, depreciation kicks in,” Olsen said. “I don’t think people are aware of the danger they could be in.”

If you don’t make a 20% down payment, for example, you’ll be upside-down on the car from the minute you drive off the lot, and you’ll typically stay that way for two to three years, depending on the length of your loan. If you get in an accident or the car is stolen during that time, you may be in trouble.

Video: Should you buy or lease?
“The insurance company will pay you what the vehicle is (currently) worth, and that’s not necessary the same as what you owe,” said Mike Meredith, financial editor for MSN Autos. “It could be a lot less.”

You could be pushed over the edge
Here’s an example. You buy or lease a car for around $25,000. Several months down the road, it’s totaled, but your insurance check covers only the car’s current value, which is about $20,000. Not only do you have to find new wheels, but you’re on the hook to the finance or lease company for that $5,000 gap. It’s not uncommon for cars to lose two-thirds of their value in just three years. (See MSN Autos’ list of vehicles that hold their value best.)

If you rolled debt from your old loan into your new one, that amount you owe could be even larger. One out of four vehicles that are financed includes debt rolled over from a previous vehicle, according to vehicle research site Edmunds.com, and the average amount of so-called “negative equity” is more than $4,000.

If your finances are already shaky, the gap between what you owe and what you’re paid could be enough to push you right over the edge.

“It could be the difference between staying afloat and having to declare bankruptcy,” said Phil Reed, consumer advice editor for Edmunds.com and co-author of the book “Strategies for Smart Car Buyers.” At a minimum, you could be saddled with expensive and unwelcome debt.

If you’re not sure where you stand, you can use the Kelley Blue Book tool on MSN Autos to see how much your car is really worth and compare that to what you owe. Insurers typically pay an amount somewhere between the car’s trade-in value and what you’d get in a private sale.

Not to worry
Now, there are two scenarios where underwater drivers don’t have to worry about gap insurance:

If it’s already included in your lease. In some states, including New York, leases by law must include gap coverage, Olsen said.
If your auto policy is written to cover the gap. This isn’t the norm, but some auto policies promise to pay off a loan regardless of what the car’s worth. You can try reading your policy to see if you’re covered for any gaps, or simply call your insurer and ask.
If you don’t have coverage already, the solution fortunately doesn’t have to be that expensive. A premium of a few hundred dollars should cover you for the life of the loan or lease. You typically can buy the coverage:

From the dealershipor auto finance company. It’s probably the most expensive choice, especially if you roll the cost into your monthly note. You’ll be paying interest on it, plus paying for coverage even after you’re no longer upside-down on your loan.
From your current auto insurer. It’s usually the best choice, if your insurer offers the coverage. Farmers Insurance, for example, offers gap coverage at a flat rate of $25 every six months to Washington drivers. You can drop it once you’re sure you’re in the black.
From another insurance carrier. You can look for gap insurance providers; make sure they have top marks from one of the rating services such as A.M. Best, Standard & Poor’s or TheStreet.com Ratings (formerly Weiss Ratings).
The best time to shop for coverage is before you even set foot on the dealer’s lot, Reed said. He advises calling your insurer to get a quote for coverage as soon as you decide what car you’re going to buy. But all isn’t lost if you fail to plan that far ahead.

“It’ll be cheaper through your agent than through a dealership,” Reed said, “but you can always buy it (at the dealership) and cancel it later” once you’ve got coverage with your insurer.

Video: Should you buy or lease?
If you’re a savvy enough negotiator, you may be able to get the dealership to lower its premium, Meredith said, particularly if you already know what coverage would cost through your insurer.Some dealerships and insurers require you to get the coverage when you buy the car, but others let you add it later. If you don’t have gap coverage and need it, it’s worth the effort to search for a company that will sell it to you.

Like most insurance, it’s something you may never need, Meredith said, but “it’s a really good thing to have if you need it.

Tag: auto insurance, car insurance, aa, aarp, admiral, american, antique car, arizona, home insurance, gap, agency

The new Porsche 911 Turbo features a revolutionary 480-horsepower, twin-turbocharged, 3.6-liter boxer engine with the world’s first gasoline-engine application of variable turbine geometry (VTG), a redesigned all-wheel-drive system, and evolutionary styling.

The new 911 Turbo’s engine produces 480 hp at 6,000 rpm, 60 bhp more than its predecessor, raising specific output of the 3.6-liter boxer-Six to an all-time high of 133 bhp per liter. More notable is the engine’s torque curve, which has been bolstered and broadened by the variable turbine geometry system. Peak torque rises to 457 lb-ft (previously 415 lb-ft), but that peak now spans an extended rpm range from 1,950 to 5,000 rpm, compared to 2,700–4,600 rpm in the previous 911 Turbo. Additionally, a function in the optional Sport Chrono Package allows a 10-second, mid-rpm-range ‘overboost’, temporarily increasing turbo boost under full throttle by 2.9 psi, and swelling peak torque to 502 lb-ft.

A 911 Turbo equipped with the optional 5-speed Tiptronic S automatic transmission requires only 3.4 seconds to sprint from 0 to 60 mph. Equipped with the standard six-speed manual transmission, the new 911 Turbo reaches the same 60 mph mark in 3.7 seconds. With either gearbox, the top track speed of the new 911 Turbo is 193 mph.

Much of the 911 Turbo’s improved performance can be attributed to the variable turbine geometry system, the first such system available on a turbocharged gasoline engine. The heart of the technology is adjustable guide blades, which can vary in angle to most effectively guide engine exhaust flow onto the turbocharger’s impeller wheel. The result is a system that provides the advantages of both a small and large turbocharger, improving flexibility and acceleration, particularly at low engine speeds.

To transfer this power to the road, the new 911 Turbo features a redesigned all-wheel-drive system, with an electronically controlled multi-disc clutch replacing the previous model’s viscous clutch. Porsche Traction Management (PTM) allows variable power distribution fore and aft, and depending on conditions, the system’s electronics constantly determine optimal torque distribution to ensure ideal traction. In use, PTM provides exceptional agility on winding roads, outstanding traction in inclement conditions, and impressive active safety even at higher speeds. Though powerful, the 911 Turbo’s PTM setup is one of the lightest all-wheel-drive systems on the market.

The new 911 Turbo’s accelerative performance is duly tempered by its brake system, which is comprised of six-piston monobloc calipers up front, and four-piston monobloc calipers at the rear. Brake disc diameter at all four corners has been increased 20 mm, to 350 mm (13.78 in.). Optional is Porsche’s Ceramic Composite Brake system (PCCB). In addition to the exotic pad and rotor material, the PCCB option provides an increased front disc diameter (380 mm /14.96 in.), absolute corrosion resistance, improved fade stability, and a 37-pound unsprung-weight savings versus the standard brake system.

Styling changes made to the new 911 Turbo are evolutionary. The modified front end features tautly drawn cooling air inlets, widely spaced and deep-set fog lights, and new LED indicators situated in the lateral air inlets. From the rear, the Turbo takes on a more powerful stance thanks to a tail 22 mm (0.9-in.) wider than that of the previous model. The redesigned wing spoiler has been aligned to the wider profile, and slopes downward slightly at each end to nestle the rear fender’s contours. The lateral air inlets behind the doors have also been redrawn, and together with the new air ducts, afford a more efficient supply of cooling air to the intercoolers.

The 2007 911 Turbo goes on sale this summer in North America.

Tag: porsche, porsche los angeles, porsche 911, carrera gt, porsche dealer, boxster, part, 944, 356, 914, 928, carrera, turbo, 911 by design perfection porsche, racing, wheels

My search for the ultimate car involves the quest for Formula One handling and the budget of a low end, second hand karting unit. So the Audi and BMers went out the window pretty fast. Didn’t even visit the dealer lots.

So it was time to look at the germans. For information about the Volkswagen Passat the article on the Volkswagen forum helped me find out about the new 2007 wagon. While the car seems to fit the bill its that price tag that is still killing my purchase plan. No matter what financing deal they throw my way it does not work out. I might as well have been looking for my Paris Dakar ready for action Touareg model. Its was working out to the same price but I was trying to get a lower price just because the Touareg is so ugly. Plus you can barely pronounce the name.

It does not matter whats under the hood in all situations, sometimes you have to look at the outside when you’re buying a car and the Volkswagen Touareg really needs some more work in that department. But than again I’m not some german Volks/Porsche car designer living the good life in the Black Forest. Yes I think its time to find an old Volks Fox wagen, that might fit in the budget. 

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