Gas Prices are Up – Learn to Drive Sensibly to Stretch Your Mileage

Owning a car is one of life’s little pleasures, a dream come true. But, for some it is turning into a nightmare thanks to the ever increasing price of fuel. People all over the world are having to pay as much as twice the amount that they used to pay three years ago for fuel. The increasing demand from countries like China seems to indicate that the prices are going to go even higher.

If prices wont come down, the next best thing that you can do is to learn how to stretch the MPG that you’re getting from your vehicle. Following some or all of the tips below should help you to save a significant amount of money down the line.

Enough small talk… here come the tips.

Tip 1 – Turn off the engine when idling in traffic for a long time. You’re wasting a lot of fuel just being in a gridlock, and your engine is also having to take wear and tear without doing any real moving. You might as well cut the engine and save your fuel and maintenance costs

Tip 2 – If your car has a manual transmission, take care to shift your gears at the right time. Work yourself up from the 1st and 2nd gears as fast as possible, as they burn the most fuel. If your car has an RPM meter, don’t let the rev count fall under 1000 as it means that your engine is laboring. 3000 – 3500 is ideal for shifting into a higher gear. If your car has an overdrive option, use it as much as possible as your car is going at lesser revs.

Tip 3 – Keep your tyres properly inflated. If your air pressure is too high the ride will be uncomfortable and bouncy, and a low air pressure will increase friction between the wheels and the road surface thereby burning more fuel.

Tip 4 – When getting your vehicle serviced, get the air filter element looked at as well. Having a clean air filter system can mean as much as several miles extra per gallon of fuel.

Tip 5 – Ease off on the gas pedal. Accelerating unnecessarily burns a lot of gas. Use gradual acceleration instead, and stick to the speed limits.

Tip 6 – Schedule your travel so that you hit the least amount of traffic, as this is one of the biggest fuel wasters you will face.

Donate Car To Charity

The first thing you would like to do is a pick a charity that you would like to receive your car donation. Call the charity yourself, make sure the charity benefits a mission you would like to donate to. Ask that charity what percentage of their proceeds go directly to fund their programs and what percent pays for administration costs.
You really do not want to donate to any organization that has administration costs of over 25%. Once you have decided that is your charity of choice, then you will want to ask if they will accept your car donation. You also want to ask what percent of the sale of your donated vehicle will actually benefit them.
Again never donate your car to one that does not give more that 75% of the sale of that car. There are lots of organizations that look like charities but are not. They are for profit companies, accepting your cars and giving five to ten percent of the proceeds to charity.
Make sure you call the charity you want to donate and make sure that car goes directly to the organization that you choose to donate to. They will probably give you a 1-800 number or a website. You want to get your title of ownership for your vehicle and then go to the website or call the number to submit your information.
They will ask you information like whose name goes on the tax receipt, what kind of car is it, year, make and model. They might ask you the VIN number for the vehicle, the condition of the vehicle and also contact information so they can go get the car. Once they have the information generally it is about two to four days to go out and pick up the vehicle.
They will want you to sign the title over to the charity. Never leave the title blank, sign to release your
ownership title of your car, date your signature and make sure that the buyer section of the new owner section of the title says the name of the not for profit entity you chose. Stay close to them and keep in contact until you have your receipt in hand for your tax deduction. If you itemize on your taxes you can use that as a charitable donation.

Understand the difference between prime and subprime car loans

If you have just received the shocking bad news, your recent credit application has been declined due to your credit rating. You are probably new to the world of subprime financing. Your recent visit to the bank or the car dealership may have opened your eyes to a brand new term you are not familiar with called “subprime”. Just like the name suggest subprime loans are less than prime, it is the category “B” or the B class lenders. It means you are now no longer qualifies for A class loans from the local banks or other lenders. There are few subtle differences between the class A loans versus the class B, and in this article we will go through them one at a time.
First of all your interest rate for the class B loan will be much higher compare to A, this is because you are now deemed to be high risk for defaulting on your loan. This calculation is based on several factors, things like your income to debt ratio, credit score, your payment history are all part of this equation. Let’s take a closer look at your typical class A loans. The prime loan market will usually offer an interest rate from 8-9% from your local bank, if you think this percentage is already high, you are probably thinking of the 0% financing on brand new cars that is not really 0%. Some of the vehicle manufactures will buy down their interest rate from their creditor just to show you a lower amount, but in reality they are paying for an interest rate of 6-7% behind the scene for you. So in real life there is no 0% interest loan on anything, it is just a marketing gimmick. Class B or subprime loans will carry an interest from 12 – 29% in Canada; this is considerably higher compare to the prime loans. But if you are in need of a vehicle and there is no other way out, you have to stick to these high interest loans just to get approved.
The subprime car loans are not all that bad; it is your chance to recover your credit rating. Think about this if you are in school and been sent to detention for few days is very much like the subprime loan practice. It is your chance to show the banks you are financially responsible for your loans, and you are now paying it back on time and in the near future you may qualify once again for the prime loans. These bad credit car loans are “transitional” loans where you can use this opportunity to prove yourself to the banks. So the next time you need a vehicle and can’t get approve from anywhere, take on a bad credit car loan just to rebuild your credit over time.
Thank you for reading this article it is brought to you by Bad Credit Car Loans Toronto, the latest online credit processing center for city of Toronto. Visit us online for more information at http://www.badcreditcarloanstoronto.ca

Buying Used Cars—What Exactly You Need To Know?

In the current economic conditions, it is a good choice if you buy yourself a used car rather than buy a new one. It’s not about the economy or you are out of your budget, but in fact most of these cars are better than new ones.

Searching for the right car, you have to get to first think about your needs, after all, you need to buy a vehicle which will support you in your daily life. The first step you must take in buying a car is preparation on what kind of car to buy. People typically already have an idea of what they want in their car to be real.

You have to focus on how you want the car to be and think of different cars that would fit your description i.e. general size, the people it can hold, even the color if you want. Then you look up on the kinds of cars that fit well with your general descriptions.

From the broad viewpoint, you can then go deeper into precise details like engine, horsepower, hybrid, etc. Before you make your mind, it’s suggested that you study the chosen car’s history again. It’s always better to check for the repairs and enhancement made on the used car. Take a test drive and find out how well that car proves to be your best friend.

After testing and taking into consideration its history and the cost, you can go with the negotiations and finally close the deal. If you don’t have sufficient time to look into and you are not feeling safe about its warranty then move on. You can either search car dealers for buying cars, or you can buy from online auctions through biding. Car dealers arrange online auctions for such cars. You can buy a really good condition used car from these online auctions. Using online research you may find several different options to choose from and can save a lot of time.

You may not have the newest car on the block. But buying a used car gives you the knowledge that you’ve somehow made a great deal and have efficiently saved some money.