Car Insurance

Over the last 30 years there has been a mass migration to the suburbs and with the latest housing boom even more homes were built. Now that everyone has moved to the suburbs and brought their bad driving habits with them, the traffic in the suburbs is just as bad, if not worse, as it was never designed for this level of traffic. In some suburb cities that were once quiet bedroom towns, no matter what time of day that you drive the traffic is insane. Yes that is a huge issue and let’s take a few examples;

1.) Houston, semi suburb in the Westheimer Corridor, traffic is a disaster.

2.) Santa Monica, Huntington Beach, New Port Beach, Pasadena, San Diego, Palo Alto CA, traffic is outrageous.

3.) Atlanta Suburbs all bad.

4.) North Boston Suburbs “free parking”

5.) DC Adjacent; “mixing bowl” and suburbs, bad anytime of day.

6.) Dallas-Ft Worth suburbs, are a disaster.

Having been to every city in the Nation over 10,000 people I already see it. Give me my Net-Centric Flying Car! Help. Even in Missoula Montana, they have a place the locals call “Dysfunction Junction” and it is a 15 minute wait in traffic (one intersection) in Montana? Nuts I tell you!

Many suburban areas were set up due to urban flight and they are “Bedroom Communities” then the bosses got tired of driving into town and so they brought their companies to the suburbs. Now the change is another paradigm shift “albeit” it started slow and is now in full-bloom everywhere.

I watched this trend in Southern CA, before the Silicon Valley Changes when small service businesses started getting called to residences for those who worked out of their homes. Lots of people, and nobody really ever did the stats on that other than Home Business Licenses at city hall, but most people never bothered to get one.

The average city with 100,000 people has about 1000-2000 members in the chamber of commerce and that is usually 10-20% of the businesses that have business licenses. About 10% or 10,000 per 100,000 are self employed with business licenses, but that number in reality is higher.

As things change, “Knowledge Workers” ie… “Business at the Speed of Thought” workers working out of their homes will continue to grow just as you showed in your study. 20-35% is not hard to imagine at all.

We have discovered that good cold, dense air increased the volumetric efficiency of the combustion chamber in an engine. Turbo kits, air intakes, superchargers, bigger injectors, and nitrous oxide are all ways of sweetening the air fuel mixture in the combustion chambers, but there is another form of boost that is often overlooked.

Ram Air Kits can get you cooler, high velocity air into the intake increasing horsepower. These kits usually use a hood scoop to channel air into an air “funnel” that tunnels the air into a 2-3 inch pipe connected to the intake. These ram air kits essentially give you increasing amounts of “boost” as the vehicle speed increases. They do not give any additional boost at idle, because ram air kits use the force of the outside air to push air into the intake, but at highway speeds, they can perform very well with 70mph of wind velocity reaching the intake!

These ram air kits are fairly easy to install, and for the money can be a good upgrade. There are some ram air kits available that can attach to a cold air intake, giving you the added gains of the cold air intake coupled with the gains of the added boost at higher speeds. To install one of these, you would need to install an aftermarket hood with a scoop already in place. These are sometimes called induction style hoods, and are available in fiberglass and carbon fiber. Or you can fabricate your own by purchasing a hood scoop and cutting the hole in your existing hood, but I would recommend an induction hood designed for this type of application.

There is a small difference in the outcome of a body kit installed for street use and a body kit installed for show use (less than 1/4 inch difference). In a previous article, “Body Kits - Installing Them Right Scores Major Style Points,” we gave instructions on installing your body kit. Those instructions will give you a good, factory looking finished product. If you are interested in a show quality, perfect finish, these are the instructions for you!

We will assume that the body kit has already been sanded and prepped for paint. Now, we are going to custom fit our aftermarket body kit to the vehicle using a technique called “bedding.” To do this, we will apply body filler to the pieces we are installing and use the body filler to fill in the seams. Start by placing some masking tape over the area where the body kit meets the car. Now sand or grind the edge of the body kit to get a rough surface. Apply a good layer of body filler to the body kit using a quick setting body filler mixture. This is simply a mixture of body filler with a higher catalyst to filler ratio, and depending on the color of catalyst (usually blue or red) it will be a dark red or dark blue color. You want it to set in a matter of a few minutes, so once the body filler is added to the body kit, get it in place quickly and accurately. Place the body kit in its final position and hold securely for a few minutes. It may be wise to have some help with this. Once the filler is set and hardened, remove it from the car. Now check to see if the gap is completely filled in. If not, repeat the process until you are satisfied with the outcome. Then sand the body kit smooth by blending the body filler into the body kit. Once sanded, test the fit again. You may find you want to touch up some area, and if so, add a small layer of body filler and repeat the process again. Resand and retest.

Now that it is prefect, remove the masking tape from the car. Drill your pilot holes for your rivets (they tend to not come loose and we recommend them over screws) and secure it in place with rivets. Once secured, the car is ready to be painted, and you will have a perfect fitting, show quality aftermarket body kit installation.

Be warned. This is a time consuming endeavor, and should only be done by a competent installer. We still highly recommend a body shop install these body kits, but if you have the time and patience to do it right, go for it!

Auto Maintenance can get you down, but the solution is simple. Let me share three super simple ways that I use every day to keep track of auto maintenance on my own vehicles.

The most obvious method you can use is a simple trip record book that you keep in your glove box, write down the mileage on your vehicle when you get out of it every evening, along with any expenses you’ve had during the day. These can include gasoline, tire repair, service work, or cleaning. But those little books get lost, dirty, and loose pages, so at the end of the year, you’re wondering what you’ve done.

1. Keep a record in your calendar.

I keep a general record in a calendar in my office, including mileage, expenses, and details of service. This includes oil changes, hose and belt replacement, tire repair, and other nitty gritty details of upkeep and maintenance. I tuck any receipts inside the calendar and write them off at the end of the year on my taxes. Owning my own business means all those costs are deductible, since I have another vehicle for our personal use. Because the calendar stays with each vehicle, I prefer to keep a separate calendar for each vehicle. Keep the calendars in a file after you’re done for the year and you’ll have a record of all maintenance when you are ready to sell your vehicle.

2. Keep a record on your computer.

While this record needs to be printed and kept in a folder for security (computers are not as reliable as your Ford Truck), the computer makes an ideal method of keeping records current. Open a spreadsheet and give it weekly break points, each week, insert your totals in each category of costs. If you keep your checkbook in Quick Books, you can also add the information to your check memo and keep a good running record there - with printable reports.

3. Purchase a good manual with record sheets.

Purchase a good manual with record sheets for keeping regular information about your vehicle maintenance. Not only will you have legible spaces to record information, but you’ll have detailed suggestions as to necessary care and maintenance of your vehicle. A Maintenance Manual will help you keep up with daily details, provide information, and keep you abreast of necessary improvements you’ll need to make to keep your vehicle running in tip top condition.

Is the world really getting more and more concerned about our environment? Are we really getting more conscious about what we do so that we actually do not add to the destruction of nature?

Well, it looks like such for the market is constantly bombarded with consumers who are looking for clean and fuel efficient vehicles. Most consumers are no longer looking for really sporty and performance driven types of vehicles. Right now, their main concern is the environment and their pocket.

One very clear example of such is the recent order of electric vehicles. The well known manufacturer of electric vehicles, ZAP, just received its largest order in its entire existence in the industry. After all, the total amount of the order has crept up to US $79 million.

Such a huge order came about from The Electric Vehicle Company, or more commonly referred to as the EVC, which is a company based in Chicago. This group is one of those businesses who are making sure that they do send out word to all ordinary consumers about electric transportation that do not help pollute the environment but also is quite light on the pocket.

According to ZAP’s chief head honcho, Steve Schneider, the whole order of US$79 million is actually not just for electric cars. The order also does include a variety of electric vehicles like trucks. He also did further mention that would the orders be filled out in 12 months, EVC would be receiving a discount of 8% from the total deal.

Schneider also does continue to disclose, “We believe this order, which constitutes thousands of vehicles, is the largest order for consumer electric vehicles in history.” And with that statement it seems like he does have a point. In fact, not even huge companies like Active Brakes Direct or Ford have yet to experience such a huge order for their products.

“Many municipalities have been talking recently about mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, so we are grateful to be involved in this historic effort,” Schneider also does continue to express. This is after Schneider did mention that last March, quite a huge amount of concerned individuals, groups and organizations have voiced out their concerns in Congress calling for the lawmakers to give limits when it comes to carbon dioxide and other harmful gases emissions.