1. Pay to give your car a professional valeting, including the engine. Purchase new floor mats and freshen the interior by spraying ‘new car perfume’ All these actions will ensure that your prospective purchaser gains the most positive impression that you have taken really good care of your vehicle.

 2. Ensure that you price your vehicle correctly. Do your homework, Check local classified websites to compare other cars of the same make and specification being sold privately in your area. Place in the middle price range.

3. Place your car on a popular classifieds website. Include as many details as possible about your vehicle. Think about the types of things you would like to read if you were the buyer. Take photographs from different angles. Try to park in a picturesque spot to take photos.

4. Emphasise the car’s best features. How reliable is it or how economical on petrol/diesel is it. If you’re struggling, try to think what attracted you to the car in the first place. If it hasn’t done much mileage make sure you say so.

5. Produce a professional looking ‘For Sale’ sign detailing price and your telephone number on your computer if you can, or ask a friend to do this for you. When parking, always try and place your car in a prominent position for maximum exposure.

6. When someone calls to arrange viewing, arrange to meet them half way from their address. Meet at a safe spot with people around i.e. a supermarket car park. This will make it easier for them to agree to meet you to look over your car and more opportunities to ultimately sell it.

7. Don’t forget, just because you have a pet name for your Golf or Peugeot and think it’s the greatest thing in the world it doesn’t mean potential buyers will. Ask the going rate and don’t get emotional or take it personally if you have to take a little bit less for your treasured “Betsey” it’s just business.

8. Be prepared to negotiate over the price. People like to feel they are getting a good deal. If you can afford to be a little flexible you will have more chance of selling your car.

9. Once you’ve agreed on a price with the buyer, discuss the best method of payment. Cash transactions will require both buyer and seller to sign a cash receipt. However we would recommend a bankers draft or cashier’s cheque drawn from the buyer’s local bank.

10. Final piece of advice – Smile, be polite and state the facts.

Congratulations! After taking note of all these tips you will be well on your way to selling your old car. When you’ve finally banked that cheque it’s time to hunt down that new stylish car you’ve always wanted.

There may come a time when all that is needed to run your vehicle is water, but that may not become possible till our heads grey.

The need for alternative fuels Plans for getting other viable fuels that are practical and pollute less are on the anvil, as automobile manufacturers are considering a shift to electric, hybrid and flex-fuel engines, while some new carmakers are considering coming out with a new car altogether –a green one. Adapting either of these may take time and money –but the effort is worth it, simply because we and our future generations can breathe easy, in more than one sense.

Bio-fuels of the future
Among the frontrunners of tomorrow’s fuel is ethanol, which is poised to take an early lead. But Butanol may catch up with it fast, since it is renewable, and can be made of corn, sugarcane, or beets. It pollutes lesser than gasoline, and causes less corrosion, and is evaporable.

Another advantage it enjoys over ethanol is that it can be transported through existing refinery pipelines, while ethanol has to be trucked from refineries to fuel stations. Because of its higher content of energy, it can be refueled on fewer occasions. Big companies like British Petroleum and Dupont are putting money into this resource.

Fuel-cells
Another good alternative being considered is Fuel cell vehicles (FCV), which can use burnt hydrogen or fuels rich in hydrogen, as fuel. This is plentifully available in nature, but is a little expensive to produce for use on such a scale. Manufacturers such as General Motors, BMW and Honda have already introduced FCV prototypes.

Fate of the electric car
Do all these developments sound the death knell of the electric car? The amazing thing is, just when people were writing its obituary, it is making a resurrection in a new form altogether. As Aptera has shown with its totally redesigned model, the electric car can be both powerful and phenomenally economical, with fuel efficiency of the equivalent of 300 mpg on the hybrid model!

So, the choice you will have to make is whether to opt for Butanol, hydrogen or electricity for your vehicles and bid the gas station good bye!

Everyone has heard of the hybrid cars. You’ve been told they are very beneficial to the environment but do you even know why that is? Here is a list of the top four reasons hybrid cars can benefit our environment:

1. Hybrids do not use a lot of gas: Hybrid cars are powered by two different types of energy. One type is by using gas and the other is from electricity. With the fact that hybrid cars only use gasoline part of the time they in turn use less gas. This causes them to have less emission gases (discusses next) which will help save the environment and also helps reserve some of the worlds natural oil resources.

2. Hybrids have less emission gases: Global warming has become a huge concern for our world. Global warming is caused by the amount of gases such as carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons that are released into our atmosphere on a daily basis. Hydrocarbons are the gases that come from internal combustion engines that burn fuel to power conventional consumer and commercial vehicles. Hybrids burn and use less fuel so this reduces the amount of emissions a hybrid vehicle gives off. This is helping to protect our ozone.

3. Hybrids use electricity: Hybrids depend partially on electricity to run. Not only that but many hybrids have the ability to create their own electricity during times such as when costing or braking. Electricity does not harm the environment and because they can produce their own electricity there is no need to uses up anymore of out natural resources to build charging stations for the hybrids.

4. Hybrids offer a reduction of other pollutants and toxic wastes: While hybrids do help with the fact that they do not give off as much of the problem gases that are creating the greenhouse effect and causing global warming they also do much more. Hybrids also help with other pollution issues such as smog and waste in the air. Smog can cause some serious health issues and effect the welfare of the population, especially in larger cities. Hybrids do not release as much smoke as a conventional car or near as many pollutants as a conventional car releases into the air. This helps to reduce the amount of smog. Hybrids also do not need to have oil changes as often as conventional cars. Conventional cars require an oil change every 3,000 miles to whereas hybrids only need an oil change every 5,000-6,000 miles. This will reduce the amount of toxic waste that either needs to be recycled or disposed of.

Although hybrid cars do offer a lot of great things as far as out environment is concerned they are still only a temporary fix to the issues we as people are facing due to the global warming and greenhouse gases. Hybrids do use an internal combustion engine for part of their power source which means they are still emitting poisons into the ozone

 

Companies are offering car owners the chance to earn money by letting them advertise their company, product or service on their car. What’s more, if you don’t have a car and are still interested then these advertising companies will give you an already logo-ed car to drive around. You are essentially getting paid to drive your car. There are certain limitations, however, where you live, how often you drive and where you drive are all factors that are considered; just like placing an advert in a magazine, advertisers must ensure that the right market or demographics will be exposed to the ad.

Using a car advertisement can guarantee great exposure for a company, having a whacky image or logo emblazoned across a car driving through the city centre can guarantee attention; if you want to target a specific demographic then take the car to that area of town. Where a civilian having an advertised car becomes an advantage is the continual exposure the brand will have to possible consumers; take for instance the luxury wristwatch makers Rolex, if they were to wrap the Jaguar of a head CEO in a highly successful oil firm then the exposure to their target market is optimum. A more realistic situation may be a student driving a car wrapped with a popular alcoholic brand or gossip magazine, by commuting to University his car is the ideal transit advertisement vehicle.

The advertisements are applied to the car using a special wrapping technique. An auto vehicle wrapper will digitally print the advertisement onto highly conformable films which is then applied to the car. These films can be removed from the car at any time and will leave the paintwork undamaged.

However, getting paid to wrap your car in an advertisement is not as easy as you may think; firstly you are required to be 18 and to hold a clean license, some companies have even been known to do a credit check. Many companies enforce that the advertisement must be assessed every month and if you damage the advertisement then you will be liable to replace it, a cost that will not be covered by your car insurance. To gain the full benefits of the advertisements it is required for the driver of the car to keep it in a prominent place, so no garages, and wash it at least once every fortnight which can be challenging for the majority of car drivers.

Along with all of this is also the impact driving a car emblazoned with an advertisement can have on your social life; single, hot date, picking her up? Do you really want to do it in a car advertising the local pizzeria? Not likely. Having logos and images on the side of your car can certainly do some damage to any street credibility, of course when the mockers find out that you in fact get paid up to £1000 for it then no doubt they will be laughing on the other side of their face.