Rich Levys Personal WWeb Site
I have just purchased my 6th new car in 25 years. This counts the Mitsubishi Galant which was totaled after 2-3 months, so my true average is a new car every 5 years.
Numbers 2 and 5 were Chevys. After dealing with GM and finding out about hidden recalls and other "we know theres a problem but we're not telling unless you make a fuss", I almost gave up on American car manufacturers.
I am taking a leap of faith with Ford, but I am a) covering myself with an extended warranty for the 'dead zone' between 36 months and 5 years where I have had to replace catalytic converters, radiators, etc. b) creating a web site documenting my entire experience (see link above).
My wife was able to personally vouch for the service department of the local Ford dealer, so I decided to go for it.
While I will save on gas by giving up my Chevy Blazer SUV, I will be punished by my insurance company for picking the compact American car with no side airbags instead of the Hyundai Sonata mid-size. Having been rear-ended by a full size Blazer when my Mitsubishi Galant was totaled, I can sort of understand the thinking on this but I believe that a compact wagon should be much better than a compact coupe than the difference in premiums suggests.
Going from a 1996 Blazer to a non-ABS equipped 2002 Sonata with side airbags would have cost me $75 extra for 6 months from AllState. An ABS equipped 2003 Focus coupe would be $181 extra for 6 months and the ABS equipped Focus wagon I picked will be $207 extra for 6 months. I'm not sure how much the model year, car class, and airbags affected the rates. I will be shopping around for a new insurance company real soon.
Anyway, check out my site. It turns out Comcast does not handle Frontpage extensions so I am still trying to figure out how to get a Guest Book/Feedback form up. I might end up taking my site to Geocities.
Why did I put the money details out? I want everything out on the table. If I'm unhappy in 4 years, I want everyone to know what I put into this.
BTW, if I weighed 75 pounds less and was an inch shorter, I would have seriously considered the Toyota Prius. If you believe in being truly patriotic, which to me means opting for energy conservation instead of trying to seize parts pf the worlds oil supply, then a hybrid or a fuel cell is the way to go. Of the hybrids, the Prius is really the least polluting and most fuel efficient. I even heard that it counts for a tax incentive.
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Of course, if the new depreciation rules go into/have gone into effect, than anyone who uses a vehicle for business (including doctors, lawyers, and accountants) may be lining up for SUV's since they may have better depreciation rules under new/proposed tax changes. If this administration becomes any more pro-oil and anti-conservation, we may have to take over the entire planet. I was never a big conspiracy theorist, but considering the adminstrations efforts to shut down the GAO inquiries into the energy policy pow-wows with various energy executives (including ex-Enron), who wants to guess that one of the "strategies" discussed was the invasion of Iraq to a) stabilize the region or b) blatantly acquire the oil. That would explain the administrations fierce and successful attempts to shut down any inquiries.
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