If Green Cars are only as Good as the Charging Options Available...

Electric cars happen to be the cleanest and greenest cars there are. As enthusiastic as people seem about them, they seem to not entirely be aware of how the transition to green cars won't come about just because manufacturers make cool new car models. Electric cars, to make any sense, need public charging stations - infrastructure that anyone can plug into for a quick charge while on a run. And there are all kinds of ideas in place that plan to bring this infrastructure about.

The Tennessee Valley Authority has a new kind of charging station prototype out in Knoxville - called the TVA Smart Station Initiative. The concept happens to be a pretty interesting one. You take your car to one of these charging stations and you see what looks like a huge carport - big enough to park several cars in. The top of the shade is actually a huge field of solar panels. Of course, since green cars need a considerable amount of power draw, a set of solar panels the size of six cars will never be able to actually charge six cars. They will only be able to supply a small fraction of the power needed.

The idea is that most cars that come by to get charged can get their power directly off the grid; but the solar panels, that will produce electricity whether or not there are cars charging at the station, will be feeding the grid for as long as there is sunlight. It happens to be a cute way in which to offset the kind of power that these cars draw. To make the power available at these charging stations extra cheap, there is a battery pack at each charging port that charges up on cheap power in the middle of the night when off-peak rates apply. Of course, each charging station costs hundreds of thousands of dollars; and cheap electricity is certainly not going to make enough of a profit for anyone. These are just experimental projects.

Now assuming that owners of green cars would be willing to actually plug their cars in and wait around for at least a half hour to be able to get a useful charge, there are other intriguing ideas out there as well. A new Silicon Valley startup with an iPhone app called PlugShare wonders if all this expense put into the building of charging stations could really be a bit unnecessary. Since every home has 117 V power, they wonder if they can get people to set up a little charging station in their driveways (which would amount to little more than a $1 power outlet) and sell power to anyone with an electric car who wishes to plug in. Owners of electric cars could just look up on their PlugShare app where they could find the nearest home with power outlets to share, and then drive over to plug in.

People who allow you to share their power outlets won't really be spending much - just about 15 cents an hour. If they want to charge a driver for it, they could do so.

If you're trying to go Green Cars that use Hybrid Technologies can be a Bad Idea

When the hybrid car revolution started out, people just took these cars on face value. If you wanted to go green, cars that used hybrid technology were obviously the way to go - they were specifically engineered to use gas more frugally. What was not to like about them? What could be better than the 40 mpg that the Prius was badged for? Well, in all kinds of ways, if you're trying to go green, cars that use hybrid technologies can be a bad idea.

We aren't really talking about inefficient hybrids like the Nissan Altima Hybrid or the Camry Hybrid either. The Prius, the granddaddy of them all, while it does actually deliver 40 mpg, only does that driving in a crowded city. On the highway, it's a completely different story.

Now this is the complete opposite of what it is with every other regular car. With any ordinary car, you get the best mpg ratings on the highway where the car can keep going smoothly without hindrance. In the city, as the engine in any regular car needs to keep working at a high basic RPM just to keep working, it needs to waste a lot of gas. On the Prius or any hybrid though, in stop-and-go traffic, the electric motor either takes over completely or it assists the gas engine all the time. In city traffic, the Prius and other hybrids like it are definitely very efficient.  On the highway on the other hand, they get no assistance from their puny electric motors and they have to depend entirely on their gasoline engines. And they become less efficient than your standard gas powered modern car. The Prius on the highway is far less efficient than a Corolla.

If you want to go green, cars that use hybrid technology are not a no-brainer. You have to think long and hard about what kind of use you'll put your car to. Now why on earth is spectacular technology like the hybrid system used on the Prius not good for the highway? Well, to begin with, a hybrid engine is only any use at very low speeds. At normal speeds, the electric motor just doesn't kick in. The electric motor and the big fat battery pack do sit in the car all the time though. And those highway speeds, all that is just so much dead weight that isn't good for anything. Your internal combustion engine has to work that much harder to lug all that dead weight around on the highway. Of course, it's going to be less efficient.

Hybrids make great sense for taxis and town buses that putter about town at low speeds stopping and starting all the time. They make no sense whatsoever for people who need to travel on freeways and highways regularly. Not to mention, if your reason for choosing a hybrid is that you wish to save the environment, hybrids really aren't the way to go. Those batteries are an environmental hazard. Their manufacture requires nickel that comes from a terrbly environmentally unfriendly mining process. And batteries are a nightmare to dispose of once you're done with them in eight years.

The Trend Future Cars will Take - Talking to one Another

People have certainly been talking about the flying car for long enough. There was a segment in Entertainment Tonight about 10 years ago about how the designers of the flying car were taking orders and Michael Jackson and Jay Leno had put their names down for one. People find it unreasonably entertaining to speculate on the kind of cars we might have in the future. The flying car isn't fantasy of course; that car is almost certainly going to be here soon. But what else are the designers of future cars doing? What other kinds of wondrous transportation solutions are we going to have over the next 10 years, short of a garbage-powered time-traveling DeLorean? If the cars of the future as speculated upon by Steven Spielberg in AI and by Paul Verhoeven in Total Recall didn't really float your boat, take a look at these models that follow. You'll find that real car makers really are more creative than movie prop car makers. And better still, these cars really are slated to hit showrooms sometime over the next 10 years.

A lot of the change that's coming over the next decade, as you might expect, will be evolutionary rather than revolutionary. One of the trends you're likely to see in future cars is that hybrids and electrics are going to go mainstream. Ferrari, Porsche and Rolls-Royce are developing their own hybrids and battery powered cars; manufacturers do consider hybrid technology to be rather awkward and inelegant - the weight of two separate propulsion systems and power sources on one car can be rather bothersome. But there is very little choice that they have. They need to comply with the government's strict new emission norms. But future cars aren't merely going to be about the greenness. They are also going to be about how their driven.

Google has already been in the news about how they've successfully test-driven over 100,000 miles in California, an automatic car driving system that can completely handle everyday roads and traffic. While this system won't be displacing drivers anytime soon, a lot of the abilities that they've demonstrated should spin off into some important advances in car safety. One thing cars will do soon is communicate with one another to help drivers avoid areas with poor traffic conditions. Future cars are not going to be isolated systems like they are today; they could be like smartphones - completely connected and always talking to one another to smoothe traffic situations.

Case in point, is a car from GM that kind of looks like a blown-up plastic toy. It's the GM Electric Networked Vehicle. This little futuristic pod car is armed to the teeth with sensors and a radars to help it park itself, be aware of other vehicles on the street, and so on. And oh, it's completely clean - it's battery-driven. Remember when Mercedes had a subcompact hatchback called the A-Class? Well, they're bringing it back in about two years; and this time, it's going to have a radars all over the place to keep you safe from accidents.

The exciting part of course is that these cars aren't just speculation.

How Hybrid Cars Work without being Plugged In

It can surprise people how a car technology can go from completely new and unfamiliar to hot stuff in a mere 10 years; but that's exactly what's happened with hybrid cars. This is a technology that's just taken over the car industry really quickly. In fact, it's been so quick that many people are still unfamiliar with how hybrid cars work really. They do get that there is a battery in there that drives the wheels at times. What they don't get is, how a hybrid can have batteries that are charged up enough to actually move the car when the car doesn't get plugged in at all. Add to this the advertising that's surrounded the new plug-in Prius that's planned for next year, and some people feel really lost in the whole hybrid jungle. Let's set the record straight now, over how hybrid cars work.

Right now, in 2011, there are almost no hybrid cars around that you would need to plug into an outlet. The reality may be a bit more complicated than that, but this should be the nice working assumption. A hybrid car, as you probably know, is basically a vehicle that primarily runs on your regular gasoline engine. What makes it more fuel-efficient than the other regular cars is the fact that it also has a large electric motor powered by a large battery pack.

Take a look at your regular car; you notice that that engine RPM meter is always running at about 1,000 RPM even if your car is at a complete standstill. Start moving ever so slowly - at about 10 miles an hour, and your engine is still plodding along at 1,000 RPM. Go at 25 mph, and your engine barely registers any difference - spinning at about 1,200 RPM. One thing’s pretty clear with a regular gasoline engine - when you're moving at low speeds, the speed at which the engine runs pretty much has nothing to do with the speed at which the wheels spin.

The thing is, all gasoline engines need to tick over at a minimum speed to keep from stalling and shutting down altogether. It would be nice if you could use an engine ticking over at 1,000 RPM for moving the vehicle along at the right speed. But when you're stuck in traffic or something, there's pretty much nothing you can do to use all that engine power.

Hybrid car engine designers know that with a regular gasoline engine, it's either "spin at 1,000 RPM or shut down altogether". There's no in-between. They chose to shut it down altogether when you wish to go at slow speeds. They felt that an electric motor would be far better suited to slow speeds. Electric motors don't have to spin at a minimum speed - they can spin as slowly as you want. So they decided to put an electric motor in their cars and install computers in there to judge how fast you want to go and then to let the motor or the gasoline engine take over smoothly from each other. This way, they have two kinds of propulsion systems in one car, each one uniquely suited to a different purpose and speed.

But you're reading this article to find out how hybrid cars work on batteries when you don't need to plug them in. Actually, this is a question that even some hybrid car dealers find a bit confusing. The answer is simple - those batteries get charged the same way the battery in a regular car gets charged - the car’s charging system does the job. When the engine runs, it spins the charger, generates current and charges the batteries.

Why Buy Certified Pre Owned Cars if they are more Expensive?

We certainly live in strange times today. Buying used in some cases today, you could end up paying more for your car than you would if you bought new. You can certainly understand how that might be true for a fuel-efficient car like the Prius that's in short supply in the new car market. But why would a massive SUV like the Audi Q5 or the Toyota Venza cost more on the used market than in new car dealerships? Apparently, the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. Higher demand for low priced used cars has sent prices up there. And lower demand in the new car market has resulted in lower prices there. Unfortunately, the two markets aren't speaking to each other that they would know anything about what the other was doing. And as for certified pre-owned cars there are some interesting things going on there as well.

There's a lot to recommend certified pre-owned cars. They go through each used car with a tooth comb and give you a great new car-like warranty. If peace of mind is what you are looking for a car purchase, you couldn't do any better.

The warranty does cost money though. Certified pre-owned cars usually end up costing about $2000 more than regular used cars. Add to that and the fact that used cars are more expensive to finance, and most of the time, there is practically no difference between that and buying a new car. If you wanted to buy a certified pre-owned 2009 Toyota Tundra, you would actually pay $3000 more for it than if you went and bought a new car. One reason this upside down situation exists is that the new car comes with a big cash incentive. But if it weren't for that, the used car would still be more expensive.

There are lots of terrible deals on certified pre-owned cars out there today. All of these cars are great value in reliability and quality. They're just not good value for money when you can get a new car for less.

Consider the Toyota Land Cruiser. These aren't in demand these days. However, since they haven’t been selling well for many years now, there aren't that many on the used car market. And that sends prices up -- even if it makes them even less desirable. What really does it for the used Land Cruiser market is that if you bought a new one, it would only cost you only $1000 more than a two-year-old model. Go figure.

You could say this for all kinds of cars. With the quirky Nissan Cube and the tiny Nissan Versa, if you buy this year’s models, they cost exactly the same as the 2009 models. Depending on market forces sometimes….

The myths about Achieving Better Gas Mileage that Hamstring You

Americans really care about the price of their fuel. When the price of gas begins to creep close to four dollars a gallon, the news outlets just can't stop talking about it. And yet, you wouldn't, to look at the way, Americans make use of their gas, think that they cared all that much to understand how gas mileage works and how you squeeze as much out of it as possible.

America is making the transition towards government-mandated 50 mpg automobile technology. If every car in America could boast of those kinds of numbers, we would save ourselves as much oil as we have in the Gulf of Mexico. That's how big a deal high gas mileage is. Let's look at a few areas of misunderstanding that unfortunately hold Americans back from achieving the kind of gas mileage they could have.

Let's start with an all-time favorite - letting the engine idle at a stop signal instead of turning it off. Some people will actually leave their engine running for 15 min. rather than turn it off because they believe that turning it off and starting it again will use up more gas. Unless you're stuck in a traffic jam that isn't about to start moving again, unless you need the air conditioner working, turning off the engine would make for a very smart move. An idling engine works at nearly half the speed it would if it were drive the car at a steady speed. Idling uses up a half gallon of fuel every hour. There is no way that stopping and starting an engine can use more than that.

People believe that as a car grows older, that its fuel economy becomes worse and worse. Once they believe this, they set themselves up to expect less of their car. And this makes them grow careless with their driving habits. A car that's maintained properly will easily maintain like-new gas mileage. And for this, you don't need to constantly keep replacing your air filter or warm your engine up every morning. A clean air filter does nothing for you in a modern car with fuel injection.

People believe that using premium fuel can improve your gas mileage. They also believe that on top of using premium fuel, that there are certain miracle additives on the market that can give them dramatically improved efficiency. Both assumptions are wrong. Using fuel that's better specified than what your car manual asks for is just money down the drain. And the same goes for additives. Consumer Reports and the FTC have completely checked every popular additive out there and determined that they do absolutely nothing for your fuel efficiency. In some cases, they do help your car engine run smoother. But that's about it.

A Crash Test can only be Complete once they do This

When you see advertisements by companies like Saab or Volvo that focus on how safe their cars are, they often show you elaborate videos of their crash test methods - to win your confidence. And those videos inevitably show you how they test those cars with crash test dummies. Is that how it is really done? If you have always suspected that there has to be more to these crash tests than merely the use of dummies, you could be onto something.

The thing is, as advanced as the understanding of the safety departments of the auto companies is of how they must interpret the things that happened to crash test dummies, their understanding isn't perfect. They can never know how exactly the safety features on their cars can translate into real world results until they use actual humans strapped to those seats. Every car company has to do this; the question is, how.

The answer is that they use cadavers. When generous-minded people leave their body to science, many of those bodies end up strapped to car seats in a crash test. And it's been this way for close to 80 years now. They use cadavers to test the safety of air bags, the safety of a steering column design, the safety of a laminated windshield and everything else. How about the 2011 Ford Explorer that has inflatable rear seatbelts? Ford keeps advertising this safety feature these days; it's a design that would not have been possible if it were not for how they tested with human cadavers. So what do the big car companies actually do? Do they order dead bodies, and then hand them over to their engineers? Not exactly. Those engineers really don't have the expertise needed to handle cadaver crash tests properly. Instead, they farm this work out to the universities that do have the required expertise.

Whatever test results come out of universities, all car manufacturers tap into them. For instance, with the inflatable seatbelts idea that Ford had, they really had no idea how it would work in real life to have seatbelts that could inflate in a flash. What would happen for instance, if there was a child with those seatbelts on? They needed to know exactly what it would do to the internal organs of a human to have seatbelts explode into a balloon all of a sudden. They had a cadaver crash test test done for them, and the results were encouraging enough that the device was offered on an actual car this year.

If you think about it, this isn't just some commercial thing that those cadavers are used for. Experts estimate that the advances made in the vehicle crash safety through testing with cadavers has saved about 10,000 lives so far. What could be better science?

What would you do for Affordable Auto Insurance -

for Instance, would you get Married for It?

If you've been looking at your car insurance quotes and swearing to yourself that you have no idea how these people get their figures, here's a clue - mostly, they get their figures working out what kind of driving history you have. When it comes to auto insurance, there's no part of your life or your personal driving history that they consider to be too personal. They look at every ticket, citation, fender bender, how much you drive every year, what kind of car you drive, where you live, anything they can get their hands on. To them, affordable auto insurance is nothing about being fair to you; it's everything about finding out if you drive a staid family car that you're not likely to drive fast; it's about their taking reassurance from how little you drive every year and then telling themselves that the less you are on the road, the smaller the risk you are; it's about being someone who is solidly dependable - you don't want any moving violations or accidents that tell them that you could be a risky bet. If you've had your license for only a year, they tell themselves that they don't know enough about you to be able to judge the kind of driver you are; it's like being 20 years old and having a thin dossier for the credit score people to able to judge you by.

One of first things you can do for affordable auto insurance is to make sure you have the longest possible driving history. A long driving history doesn't necessarily mean that you need to have been driving for long. It just means you need to get your license at the stroke of 12 midnight the day you turn 16. The longer you have a license, the deeper the auto insurance people can look into your past to see you have any violations on your record. If you don't drive at all despite the fact that you possess a license, that gives you a very long and clean driving record. That's a good thing.

There are certain things about you that you just can't control and that will go and affect the kind of rates you get quoted. For instance, if you are male, that makes you a high risk group. Males, whether they're teenaged boys or 30-year-old men, happen to get themselves into more trouble than girls or women do. You just can't do anything about this assumption that insurance companies have.

You don't have to do anything drastic with your life to save $100 or so off the $800 you spend on auto insurance every year (that's what the average American spends). But you do need to know that if you happen to get married, you're supposed to have your best action-packed years behind you and have mellowed. They'll lower your insurance rates. When you go house hunting, you probably don't get to see the charts the auto insurance companies have for your zip code. They look to see how many cars get stolen in your area, how many car-related accidents there are, how much it costs to get a procedure done at a local hospital, and how much repairing the car costs. Depending on how your particular area fares, you get better or worse rates. Do you need to change your zip code for this? That's entirely up to you. You get to save about $100 per year, moving to the best possible area.

Buying American Cars Supports Local Industry, Right? Now What is an American car?

Remember how back in the 90s, American auto manufacturers, a bit threatened by the success of the Japanese imports, began to push the virtues of buying American and supporting American industry? You even got a little sticker on your car that you purchase was built in America by Americans. The 1994 American Automobile Labeling Act has required for years that all cars selling in the US come with window stickers to mention where the car was assembled, how much local content the car has and where the engine and transmission came from. Let's say that you are someone who has really taken that message to heart and you really want to only buy American cars so that you can support American industry. You think you deserve a little bit of luxury and you choose the 2011 Lincoln MKZ. You tell your friend who is a member of the United Auto Workers union and hope for some well-deserved praise. All you get for your trouble though is a dirty look. It turns out, your car is manufactured south of the border in Mexico.

What do you do when an American company like Ford wants to sell cars in America to make elsewhere? True fans of the Buy American movement certainly don't like your European, Korean or Japanese brands. But they also completely disapprove of cars that the Big Three assemble in other countries. Even if it is only the assembly that takes place elsewhere. With the Lincoln MKZ, high-value parts like the engine and transmission actually get completely made in America. If it gets assembled elsewhere though, it usually isn't considered to be domestic. A car that's made in America has a VIN number (that you find on the base of your windshield on the driver's-side) that starts with the numeral 1. What should you do if you are really trying to keep jobs in America whatever purchase you make? How are American cars supposed to be defined?

According to that AALA's labeling practice, a Honda Accord would be almost completely American since it is almost completely built with domestic parts in America. And a Buick Regal, that is built in Germany out of internationally-sourced parts is almost completely foreign. To the common buyer though, buying Honda feels like buying Japanese while buying a Buick feels like buying American. And then of course, there is the whole debate on what to do with Canada. The AALA's labeling practice considers anything manufactured in Canada to be domestic to the US. Basically, all you get is a sticker that tells you how much of the car was made where. The government has backed out of actually telling you which the American cars are. There is no sign that says "This is an American car".

The decision on what constitutes an American car ultimately comes down to the consumer. It is up to you to decide.

Is affordable Car Insurance Cheap?

This is one of the main questions people ask when they seek quotes to insure their vehicles. Despite the fact that it is a legal requirement to get a cover for every vehicle on the road, looking for one that is within the income level of the driver is paramount. The company providing the cover should have premiums that the driver can meet without foregoing other monthly expenses like mortgage payments or basic needs. For that reason, yes, there is affordable car insurance. The main thing is to search for them in all the right places and to read the fine print in the policy to avoid hidden charges.

Such companies offer policies that meet the minimum requirement by law, and if a person wants to go slightly higher than that, he or she can do so at an extra cost. The main covers that are required by the law include the bodily injury liability cover per person, per accident and the property cover. For instance, since it is mandatory to get the bodily injury per person cover, these companies quote the minimum, which is mostly around $10 to $25 in different states such as in Illinois, Iowa, Hawaii, Washington and Texas. In Minnesota, a person has to pay $30,000 for this coverage. In addition, a person seeking affordable car insurance also needs the personal liability per accident cover, and if the law demands, he or she also needs to get the property cover. Using companies that offer the basic levels of coverage allows the individuals to work within their income, unlike where a cover starts at $50,000, which may not be affordable for most people.

The coverage may also be within reach for the driver if he or she takes advantage of the discounts. These are advertised all the time offline and online and they offer a big percentage off the amount a person needs to get the policies. This advertising stunt by insurers aims at increasing the number of clients and helps them fight competition. Since the number of vehicles per household is increasing daily, the number of companies offering the liability covers is substantially going up, hence the need for genuine means to survive in the industry. For instance, the discount may be offered to drivers who seek a cover for several vehicles, long term coverage or even one who seeks coverage for all vehicles, home and business, all under the same insurer’s roof.

More so, the cost of insuring vehicles comes down drastically due to the vehicle’s model. The company assesses the model because some of them have more expenses when it comes to repairs and spare parts in case of accidents or collisions. This causes the disparity in costs for drivers with different models. For instance, Peugeot 106 gets a cheaper cover than a Mercedes CL. For that reason, drivers ought to think about this aspect because it holds a lot of weight when they seek affordable car insurance.

The 1967 Ford Mustang GTA: The Legend That Would Never Die

Basically, the Ford Mustang is a vehicle made by the Ford Motor Company. The Ford Falcon compact stands as the original "base" for the Ford Mustang line of vehicles which has become definitive of the quality of vehicles produced by Ford.

Mach 9, 1964 stands as the "birthday" of the Ford Mustang, which rolled off the assembly line on this day. The 1967 Ford Mustang GTA stands as an improved version of the Ford Mustang line of vehicles. Until today, the Mustang is still in production, and is known as the most successful vehicle launches in the history of automobiles.

Within an eighteen month period, the Ford Mustang sold over a million vehicles, truly defining the quality and standard of Ford as an automobile manufacturer.

These days, the 1967 Ford Mustang GTA, along with other vintage Ford Mustangs, are quite the collectibles, considering the history of the vehicle. Handed down from generation to generation, or sold to car dealers for restoration, the 1967 Ford Mustang GTA ranks quite popular as a collectible vehicle for tastes particular with class and quality.

The 1967 Ford Mustang GTA saw many revisions from its original 1964 release, the most major of which would be the installation of V8 engines. Bottom line the 1967 Ford Mustang is fast, making it quite the automobile. Three Ford Motor Company plants, Milpitas in California, Dearborn in Michigan and Metuchen in New Jersey, all produced 1.5 million Ford Mustangs in a two year period. This success sales figure left Ford Motor's competition quite unprepared, with General Motors and the Chrysler Corporation feeling the pinch of the Mustang's success.

Chrysler's Plymouth Barracuda, though being known as one of the most revered muscle cars, didn't exactly compete well with Ford's Mustang. It was released a few weeks before the Mustang came out. General Motor's rear-engine Corvair Monza was deemed by General Motors as their "Mustang killer", but it didn't actually reach sales figures close to the Mustang's.

Today the 1967 Ford Mustang GTA stands tall in the hall of fame for automobiles. As a collectible, automobile enthusiasts would turn their heads to the direction of such a magnificent vehicle, whose classic design has endured the test of time, still living in the present, giving us a glimpse of the days way back then.

All in all the 1967 Ford Mustang GTA is a legend that would simply never die, just as what legends are.

My Father's 1971 Ford Mustang

As a young boy, I used to hang out with my father a lot, and one of the things I remember the most was that he always liked to work on cars. He had many cars over the years, but the one that always sticks out in my memory as being particularly special was his black 1971 Ford Mustang.

My father would always brag about its Cobra Jet engine, and I loved the front end spoilers. I distinctly remember asking my dad why the 1971 Ford Mustang only had two doors. He explained to me that not all cars had four doors and how that just would not work on the Mustang, and from that moment on, I wanted a two-door car when I grew up.

Even with all of the interesting features that it had, I think the reason the 1971 Ford Mustang was so special for me was because of all of the time I got to spend with my father working on it. He would be changing the oil or checking the transmission fluid, and I would be sitting in the front seat of the car asking him questions, some about the car and some about other things.

I remember the long rides we would take in the Mustang and how much fun it was for me to get to ride in the vehicle that meant so much to my dad. It made me feel proud to see all of the admiring glances that we would receive and I distinctly remember listening to oldies radio as we cruised down the road with the windows rolled down.

My dad made it a point to wash his 1971 Ford Mustang every Sunday afternoon and then meticulously wax it to bring it to a nice shine. I loved to stand and look at the car after it was washed and waxed, and I especially loved the look of accomplishment on my father's face once the job was complete. I would help him with everything that I could, and he would always tell me what a good job I had done. I felt so proud.

Times got pretty rough for us as a family when I got into my teenage years and my father had to sell his 1971 Ford Mustang. He acted like it was not that big of a deal, but I could see the pain in his eyes as he handed over the keys, and I felt gutted. He gave the money to my mother, who looked quite relieved but sad at the same time. She knew how much the car meant to him.

A few years ago, I thought about purchasing a 1971 Ford Mustang, but I just couldn't. That was my father's car, and while I loved it and always imagined owning one myself one day, I think that is a memory I want to associate with him more than anything.

Great Benefits of Auto Insurance Online

The internet has worked to make things quite easy for quite a number of industries and in this the auto insurance industry has not been left behind. There are many advantages that come about from having auto insurance online. One of these advantages that are such a delight for quite a number of vehicle owners is the fast manner through which it is possible to get access to various quotes from various companies at a click of a button. When one is looking for cheap insurance for their vehicle there are a number of aspects that have the ability to change their insurance quote. The basic knowledge of the considerations of an insurance company is going to make it simpler for a vehicle owner to spend cheaply on their insurance rates. One aspect that is easy to change as well is a person's driving habits. It is easy to find more people choosing to slow down instead of getting into traffic violations. The number of insurance claims that will be filed will also change when a person decides to get their auto insurance online. As long as their driving record is good, it is easier to get inexpensive insurance rates.

There are special services that a vehicle owner is entitled to and that can make life easier for them once they decide to buy auto insurance online.  This is usually made possible by companies that have realized the need to use technology to their advantage as well as the competitive nature of the auto insurance business. One such service is getting discounts and the equipment on the vehicle saving money for the owner. Such equipment includes driver/passenger air bags, automatic seat belts, and anti-lock brakes among others. Knowing exactly what a particular policy covers is very important and there is no better place for a person to carry out their research than on the internet and furthermore most companies place their services on the internet where they know clients will easily find them.

Owing to the busy schedules that most people have to contend with, the issue of convenience often takes permanent residence in their minds in whatever they do. Buying auto insurance online is very convenient since it can be done night or day and on any day of the week. Having the right documents is very important for a person who is out to buy car insurance. When one buys auto insurance on the internet they are able to print out their ID card as well as proof of their insurance card to avoid the nerves that comes with waiting for the card to get to the mailbox. In case of loss, it also becomes easy to print out another one to replace it.