When is it time to buy a new car? Is it when you need to start making repairs? Is it when you can afford a new automobile? This is a dilemma I am currently facing. Is it worth keeping your old cars knowing you will have problems with them but the chance of having a problem out ways the new monthly payment you will have to take on.
I have two cars a Dodge Durango and Chrysler Concorde both about ten years old. Both of my automobiles have over 140,000 miles on them and have needed to be fixed over the last three years. Is it time for me to bite the bullet and trade at least one in or should I hold off. If I had to part with one would be the Concorde it has about 20,000 less miles on it and already has major repairs done to it. A few years ago it needed a new engine, then more recently a new timing chain both pretty expensive fixes. The engine cost well over $2000 and the timing chain around $1200 but the vehicle has been paid off for 5 years. How I see it I made out, $3300 over 5 years breaks down to $660 per year or $55 per month. It’s a lot better than a $350 per month payment.
Our Durango is also paid off but has more miles on it The only real problems it has had has been around the air condition unit and a mishap by my children. My kids jammed money into the CD player causing the radio to short out. The total to fix both was $1300. Our reason to keep the Durango is because it is more useful to us.
So my dilemma again is, is it a good time to consider purchasing a new vehicle? My wife and I have been deliberating over it for a while now. I have a few reservations about getting a new vehicle. The first of course is taking on a hefty new payment. We would want another SUV if we purchase. We do a lot of outdoor activities, canoing, camping, snowboarding ect., so we need something to lug our gear, kids and clothes. With our Durango also older we know over the next few years we will also need to replace that vehicle. So to us it just makes sense to get the SUV first as a more reliable vehicle we can feel safe in on longer trips.
Reliability is our 2nd reason we are considering a new automobile. Since both of our cars are older there is a reliability fear that lingers over us on longer trips. This would be solved with a new car.
Another issue to look at would be our insurance rates. They would go up by at least $100 per month with a new automobile fully covered. Even if I applied all the discount auto insurance techniques I know.
It may not be time to purchase right now with the holidays coming up and our finances kind of low but this is something we will need to look at within the next year. The reliability and safety factors out way the new cost we will have to endure. After the holidays we will be on a vehicle hunt. Should we buy brand new or something with low miles a couple of years old. Hmme, This sounds like something to write about next.
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Lots of people would like to trade in their gas-guzzling cars and vans for something a little kinder to the environment, but are concerned that it will cost them more money than they are currently forking out. A leading financial website has revealed however that people switching to these greener automobiles will not be paying more for their insurance than they would if they stuck with their standard cars
Following their recent statement concerning ‘green office insurance’, online megasite Moneysavingexpert.com just put motorists minds at ease over the fears that environmentally-friendly cars cost more to run. Not only will battery powered or hybrid cars have similar insurance costs to standard cars, but they will also better the costs in a number of other areas. These include
• Lower cost of fuel as electrical cars are much cheaper to fill up than all-petrol or diesel cars
• Lower tax as the government is implementing tax breaks for environmentally friendly vehicles
• Lower excise duty, in some cases this is scrapped all together for green cars.
This is good news for the government who are in the middle of a real push to get older, more harmful cars off the road and better cars onto them. It is predicted that there would be a much smaller shift towards newer, greener cars if the end cost to the driver was a large amount more than if they stuck with what they had.
Following the government’s scrappage scheme which seems to be going well, there are even talks of bringing in an insurance subsidy plan if green cars or green business vans insurance prices do increase at all. This will help out not only individuals with their insurance costs but also vehicle-based companies who are being urged to go green but are wary about increases in their business insurance charges
What is collision coverage? Have you thought why you may need collision coverage? Well there are plenty of reasons you do and don’t. Lets explore both and then you can choose which option is the best for you.
First you need to understand what collision insurance covers. The NAIC (National Association of Insurance Commissioners) lists an abundance of auto insurance information and state, “Collision coverage pays for the physical damage to your car as a result of your auto colliding with an object, such as a tree or another car. This is relatively expensive coverage. Remember, this coverage is optional and not required by law.”
That being said we now know that collision pays for your car if you hit something. But it doesn’t cover everything you may hit. For example if you hit an animal such as a moose your comprehensive coverage takes care of that. The best answer to fully understand what your particular collision insurance covers, would be to dig into the declaration page of your actual policy.
So, now the question is why do you need collision coverage and can you get cheap auto insurance without it. Actually, you need collision coverage if you are automobile. You will discover that the contract in these two situations usually require that you maintain certain coverage as a stipulation to your lease or financing contract. Other than that it is a pure personal and financial decision to have Collision Coverage.
They rule of thumb is if you can’t afford to repair your automobile on your own and the automobile is worth more than $2,000 you should consider it. The one thing that comes into play as your vehicle is your deductible amount.
For example, if you own a Honda Accord that is ten years old and it’s blue book value is $2,000 and you carry a deductible of $500 for collision coverage is it worth it to you. If an accident occurs and damages are over $1,000 most insurance companies will list your car as a total loss. They will also give you the lowest amount possible for your per year for the coverage. You have to pay another $500 for your deductible and the insurance company only gives you $1,600 for your totaled automobile. You are left without a vehicle and $950 minus your expenses to put down on a new vehicle. This is why it becomes a personal financial decision if you should maintain collision coverage, at this point it’s a craps shoot.
If you are looking for discount auto insurance is it better to compare auto insurance quotes and apply all the discounts that are available, then to try to cut cover coverage just for the sake of lowering costs. By comparing quotes from different companies alone might save you enough to consider keeping all the coverage’s you currently have.
New GPS devices are giving vehicle fleet companies more power than ever before. Previously most GPS or Sat Nav devices could give a driver information about their speed, geographical location, direction etc. This is the kind of data that can now be read on a computer screen on the other side on the globe, making everyone’s job easier. A taxi company or Ford van leasing business for instance would benefit enormously. Lets examine exactly what these tools can tell companies
Speeding. Operators can now see the speeds of the vehicle as well as the person driving. Some devices can show if the driver is accelerating or breaking too aggressively. What this means is that good drivers can be rewarded and bad drivers given warnings
Petrol. Before GPS there was always a risk that drivers, especially in the van leasing business, would claim petrol money from their employers for miles that were covered whilst not on work hours. The tachometer could always be looked at but this only showed the miles traveled and doesn’t say when and where. However, as information such as mileage, time of travel, and exact route can be mapped, its very hard to get away with claiming more petrol money than needed. The latest traffic information can also be fed into them
Location. Knowing the location of each of your team on the road is invaluable for speeder responses. There is no longer a need to call each and every driver to find their location, you can just look at a computer map and send the nearest vehicle to the location.
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