Car 01 (May 08 - Dec 12)

[b0rderc0llie]

I used to drive a diesel driven van for 3.5 years. I had a business registered as a sole proprietor, so I could buy the van under the company's name. It does save a lot of money as diesel was very cheap then.

[ehchang]

oh no, if car is a toy, then no need to find excuses to buy liao.

i always think that car, hand phone, laptop are working gadgets. personally we should use mrt, line phone and desktop. that's why when i retired, car was sold, handphone terminated, laptop returned. ... maybe it's time to change .

[la papillion]

oh no, if car is a toy, then no need to find excuses to buy liao.

i always think that car, hand phone, laptop are working gadgets. personally we should use mrt, line phone and desktop. that's why when i retired, car was sold, handphone terminated, laptop returned. ... maybe it's time to change .

ehchang, haha, retired sold all your 'toys' already ah? not a bad lifestyle, free from interference

[kennynah]

nah....here's an idea on how to own a sports car...

[winston]

It's Good to Know: Where Is This Car's Fuel Tank Opening?
By Charlie Byrne

My high school pal Greg and I had picked up the rental car at JFK, driven three hours north toward Boston, and now the fuel gauge was almost on "E." I pulled off I-95 and into the service plaza, looked down at the gauge again, and headed for the gas pumps.

"Hang on. I think the gas cap is on the passenger side on this car," Greg said, as I drove toward a pump that would be on my left.

"No, it's on my side," I said confidently.

"How are you so sure?" Greg asked.

Turns out I was absolutely sure because of a little trick you might not be aware of. Many (maybe most) late model cars have a little arrow on the dashboard fuel gauge. It points to the side of the car with the gas tank "door."

"Wow, that's good to know!" Greg said.

[Musicwhiz]

Aug 18, 2008
Car owners not worse off
By Yeo Ghim Lay

CAR owners are not losing out despite paying higher Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) charges, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who backed this up with figures.

On balance, motorists in fact gain because a recent cut in vehicle road taxes outweighs the extra that they have to fork out in higher ERP charges.

As an example, he said an owner of a 1.6 litre Toyota Corolla would have paid $874 in road tax and $122 in ERP annually - before the changes in the ERP rates about six weeks ago, and the 15 per cent cut in road tax last month.

As a result, the motorist will now pay $744 in road tax and $198 in ERP charges.

While he pays more in ERP charges, the motorist will still have an overall savings of $54 every year, said Mr Lee in his National Day Rally speech on Sunday night.

Over the years, revenue from vehicle-related taxes has also gone down.

In 2000, the Government collected $6.1 billion in such taxes. This was halved to $3.4 billion this year.

So even though the Government is collecting $160 million now from ERP charges - compared to $80 million eight years ago - it is still collecting a lot less in tax revenue than previously.

The reduction was a result of a Government policy shift to enable more Singaporeans to buy cars.

Since 2000, ownership charges and taxes have been reduced progressively and more Certificates of Entitlements are handed out.

For the individual, a new 1.6 litre Toyota Corolla, for example, now costs $64,000 including ownership charges. This is down from $110,000 in 2000.

This is even though the open-market value is now $16,000, which is about the same as what it was eight years ago - $19,000.

Because of the tax reductions, more households now own cars - 430,000 compared to 320,000 eight years ago.

This is also evident from the fact that roads and carparks have become more crowded. Hence, the need to raise ERP charges to cut down on congestion, he explained.

'I know many people are upset by these ERP charges. But we have to see the bigger picture because, in fact, ERP charges are enabling us to benefit Singaporeans so as to reduce the burden on you and to enable more Singaporeans to own cars," said the PM.

'So when we had to make the adjustment this year, we considered it very carefully: how should we do this without increasing the burden on Singaporeans? We worked out an ERP package - not just raising the ERP or putting more gantries - but reducing road tax at the same time so as to offset it overall to bring down the cost.'

Apart from a reduction in road taxes, changes have also been made to the public transport system to benefit Singaporeans as a whole, he said.

More rail lines are being built, and about 800 extra train trips a week have been added. Bus services are also being improved.

'So we are doing many things. We can't in the end have every household in Singapore own a car, like in America. That's not possible. But what we can do is to have the roads free-flowing and a first-class public transport system for everybody,' said Mr Lee.

[helios]

yes, as MW wrote in his blog: cars are the application of Parkinson's Láw.

[winston]

It's Good to Know: Why You Don't Need Nitrogen in Your Tires

The next time you take your car in for a checkup, don't be surprised if your mechanic recommends putting nitrogen in your tires. He may claim that it will improve your fuel economy and extend the life of the tires - but don't spend the extra money.

We're not automotive experts, but we are skeptics - and at least one anecdote we read suggests the difference is minimal, if there is one at all. So view that upsell with a cautious eye. And remember... plain old air is mainly composed of nitrogen to begin with.

(Source: The New York Times)

[winston]

The values of used cars in Britain are collapsing at a faster rate than they did during the last recession in the early 1990s, according to a leading publication that tracks the market.

EurotaxGlass, publisher of Glass's Guide, on Thursday said the typical three-year-old car today retained only about 38 per cent of its list price.

The figure is 2 percentage points lower than in 1992, when bank base rates were running at 15 per cent and inflation was approaching 10 per cent.

The most popular three-year-old cars have been depreciating by about 5 per cent a month in the UK, according to Kevin Gaskell, EurotaxGlass's chief executive.

– Financial Times

[winston]

It's Good to Know: The Safest Route

Are the roads you travel every day safe... or prone to deadly accidents? Find out with Saferoadmaps.org. Type in your address to see where every local vehicle fatality has occurred. You'll also learn such details as whether the driver was speeding or intoxicated.

The purpose of the website, created by the Center for Excellence in Rural Safety (CERS), is to make people aware of dangerous roads and intersections. The hope is that they will take alternate routes - or, if that's not possible, will at least be more cautious when driving in high-fatality areas.

(Source: North Florida Daily News)