cars

Which Car Should I Buy?

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As a resident ‘car guy’, I get this question a lot. It’s a difficult question for me to answer for someone else. Your tastes are different than mine. It varies greatly depending on many factors. I have noticed a lot of people do buy cars based solely on asthetics. I don’t think this is this right approach as it can lead to a poor driving experience. Here are a few things to think about when you’re car hunting:

1. Set your budget.
The budget is the most important thing to set. It puts a cap on how much you want to spend and keeps it (hopefully) in that range. Don’t set it to something you can’t afford for obvious reasons. Make sure you factor in any additional costs to the price of the car such as interest rates if you’re getting a loan and taxes. If you’re looking at something used, you’ll also need to factor in inspection and post purchase maintenance costs.

2. Figure out what you will use it for.
Whether you’re buying a daily driver or a weekend fun car, you’ll need to set a requirement of what you really want out of it. Maybe all you’ll need is something that gets you to work or school? Or you need to be able to haul friends and family around. Every car can have a different use, or be very multi use.

3. How long are you going to keep it?
This can be important. Maybe you’re an expat and just need a car for a few years. You’re probably not going to need to get vintage MGB or a Ferrari 308. If you’re looking for something that lasts for years, do the research and find the brands that have great reliability ratings and focus on those.

4. Go test drive a variety of options.
Once you’ve narrowed down to a few options, go out and test drive them, as well as comparable ones. It’s good to get a feel for each as you may find that your first choice might not be the best choice.

In summary, it’s a very personal preference, high dollar item to buy. You’ll want to make it an investment to purchase the right car for your needs. Good luck!

Great Customer Service… a Dying Act?

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It’s been a whirlwind the last few months.  New job, new hobbies, less time. I figure I write something about a good experience I recently had. I was in the market for a new pair of gloves for go kart racing.  A comfortable pair is very important to me.  Any pair of any type of gloves just won’t cut it.  Sorry, no garden gloves for me. Having something comfortable that fits my needs and purpose made lessens the distractions while on the track.  Few key things that I look for in its comfort is are:

  • Does it fit well?
  • Do the finger tips dig into your finger nails?
  • Are they too tight? Too loose?
  • Easy to put on and remove?
  • Provide good grip on all steering wheel materials?

After digging through several different brands and styles, I chose a pair of Alpinestars Tech 1-K Race Gloves.  They easily met all my needs and the price point was right. Immediately used them at the next event I was able to attend and couldn’t be happier. Fast forward a few months later, the gloves had only around 40 minutes of total use.  I got a call from some friends to do a indoor go kart race at a local indoor track.  A 3 hour endurance race in teams of 3.  Couldn’t turn it down so I committed and participated.  After a rigorous drive and a good finish, I noticed something dangling on from my gloves.  The tacky material on the palms of my rather new gloves had come off.  I couldn’t believe it since they were still quite new.

I call up Alpinestars customer service the next day.  My expectation was that I would get your typical run around and investigation needed into how I used my gloves before they could do anything about it.  Not so.  4 minutes into the call, I was speaking with a rep and an RMA number + shipping instructions was immediately given to me.  The following day, they were in a bag on its way to Southern California.  Once again, I expected this to take several weeks to process before I hear anything back.  I was wrong.

Three days later, a kind gentleman rang my phone, notifying me that they have received my damaged gloves.  To make the story short, they did not have any Tech 1-K gloves in stock and apologized for the inconvenience.  To make things right, they decided to send me a brand new pair of a Tech 1-ZX Gloves as a replacement instead so that I do not have to wait for the same model to come in stock.  I couldn’t be happier.  Within 10 days, I had a new pair of gloves sent back to me, minimal questions asked.

So the answer is simply, no.  Good customer service is definitely not going away. We always hear the horror stories from your friends and family about how they were on hold for 30 minutes, got the run around, and nothing was actually solved.  There are companies out there that provide this great service, and it does show that these companies do care about their customers.  Alpinestars gave me that service level I didn’t expect, and only hoped for.  No doubt that this will make me a repeat customer.

Gamification of Fuel Saving

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Sort of.  I came across this site via a friend who owns a Chevy Volt.  https://www.voltstats.net/ .  It’s an interesting way for Volt owners to track their electricity and fuel consumption usage vs other Volt owners.  According to the owner of the site from the FAQ: “The site interfaces with the web service used by Onstar’s mobile applications.” .  Neat.

All your typical data is available to measure your performance appears to be available, such as username, state, EV miles, total miles, MPGe etc…  Throw them all together, and you get a nice graph.  (randomly selected user below)

copyright voltstats.netThen you have your achievements which obviously do not have any monetary value.  This appears to be a great way to ‘compete’ against your friends and the rest of the community in the name of being more green.  Use more electricity, 1-up to the next level. The stats given are also an excellent way to see how efficient your driving is.  Maybe your lead foot for your 60 mile commute uses too much electricity and you started to burn fuel.  Ease off and increase your MPGe’s.  Let’s just hope that you don’t see every Volt on the road hypermiling for achieving the next level, while holding up traffic.