When I read this latest Bankrate article on the best car to buy for students, I was a little surprised at the very first criteria – less than $20,000. I’m twenty nine, nearly six years after graduation, and have yet to own a car that is even close to $20,000! My current car is a used Toyota Celica I bought off eBay for $16,000, 20% less than the $20,000.

Anyway, so what’s my point? Most students don’t need and won’t appreciate a new car whiel they’re in college. They certainly won’t appreciate a car that they didn’t pay for. While I appreciate Bankrate’s efforts in publishing a list of cars that are sub-$20k, fuel efficient (> 21 mpg), safe and comfortable (has A/C)… I think a student needs to drive a beater. A clunker. A piece of junk they can beat the crap out of, hence the term beater. As my dad used to say, if you start life with all the nice stuff, you never learn to appreciate it.

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A few nights ago, on our drive home, I remarked about the dirtiness of my wife’s windshield. That’s when she told me she’d been driving without windshield wiper fluid for a few weeks! At first I was a little surprised, then I realized it was the summer. Not having windshield wiper fluid in the winter is very dangerous, in the summer it’s only a mere inconvenience.

That’s when we started trying to guess what was actually in windshield wiper fluid. You can pick up a gallon of the blue/orange/green stuff at Wal-Mart for around $2, so we figured it couldn’t be anything too expensive. When we got home, I started research online whether it’s possible for us to make windshield wiper fluid and wasn’t surprised to find out that we could.

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I had the great pleasure of going to traffic court this morning. Yay!

I was there to contest a ticket I received for making an improper left turn through a red light. The ticket was for $90 and I’m unsure how many points it would’ve been, but an improper turn costs 1 point and failure to stop at a red is 2 points. Do I get both? Or just the worse of the two? I wasn’t sure but I knew points usually meant my insurance would go up and I wanted to avoid that at all costs.

Have you seen all the Toyota Prius commercials lately? The ones with the people dressed up as foliage and climbing on top of one another? It was to highlight how “green” the vehicles are and announce that Prius was launching another generation of the hugely popular hybrid-electric. At first, my wife didn’t even realize they were people and I, to this day, think it’s just a little bit creepy.

However, despite the creepiness of the ads and the whole slew of new hybrid-electric cars, I still would love to have a Prius (or a Tesla!). The only problem I have is that it’s not a financially sound decision. It’s an emotional one (which is fine too!).

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Update: The bill has passed both chambers of Congress, getting through the Senate on Thursday, and President Obama is expected to sign it into law soon.

The Cash for Clunkers program would provide a voucher worth $3,500 to $4,500 to consumers trading their vehicles in. The vehicles have to be in running condition and get less than 18 miles a gallon in fuel efficiency. The value of the voucher is determined by this schedule:
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The Chrysler bankruptcy, and the poor (and insulting) way in which the corporate office notified dealerships that were to be shuttered, has put many Chrysler dealerships in a pinch. In a few short days, those dealerships will no longer be able to sell any cars. It will, in fact, be illegal for them to sell any cars. To make matters worse, Chrysler won’t take back any unsold vehicles! That means those dealerships are just dumping cars out into the marketplace because they simply can’t keep them.

But should you buy a car from a dealership about to close its doors? Or a manufacturer that’s in bankruptcy? Yes… if they’re reliable vehicles.

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I never had a car in college and I never really wanted one because our student IDs doubled as free bus passes (the cost was rolled into our student fees). In fact, there were only a handful of occasions where I really wanted a car and those were cases where the bus ride would take an hour and a half (from CMU to Monroeville, which is really just a 20 minute care ride away!). I was fortunate to live in a city where public transportation was pretty good, but what about colleges where the public transportation isn’t as good or where you need a car just to get to class? You need a reliable used car.

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If you’ve done any reading on how to negotiate with dealers when buying a car, you’ll probably recognize all the steps mention in this tutorial by Rob Gruhl at Ignite Seattle. The problem with negotiating at a dealership isn’t that we don’t know the steps, it’s sticking to them when we have our defense worn down after one BS line after another. The best bit of advice in the video is that you need to bring a friend when you go to the dealership.

The video is only five minutes long but here’s an even briefer recap his tips:

• Plan on two full weekends – Time is your friend, not theirs.
• Get financing from your bank – You are unlikely to get a good deal from the dealer, this way you go into it knowing your amount, rate, and other terms.
• Don’t sell your used car to them – There is no reason they should give you a good deal, Gruhl says they are looking to make $1200-$1800 off your car. Sell on craigslist, donate, or sell on ebay.
• Pick at least three different cars – That way you have options and aren’t married to a single model
• Test drive them – So you know how they handle, but don’t buy it after test drive.
• Invoice is useless – Dealers know this, it’s a distraction, and competitive bidding is the real discriminator. Call 8-10 dealerships and bid them against one another. They will say they don’t do it but tell them that you will buy from them if they give you the best price today (they will bid, they always will).
• Get the “drive it off the lot” price – That’s the real number, with all the fees, taxes, etc. added in.
• Confirm availability – Make sure they have it, VIN number, and walk through the options
• The first visit – You will probably leave because something bad will happen (car is gone or some other BS); Tell them “Sorry we had a deal, see ya.”
• The second visit – Bring patience and a friend, they will try to tire you out, stick to your guns.
• Don’t sign until it’s all set up
• The Back Room – ignore those add ons, high margin stuff you can buy elsewhere, “Just say no”

Yes, all those tips were jam packed into five minutes. If you’re going to buy a car, or even thinking about buying a car, watch the video and you won’t be disappointed.

A few years ago, I was driving from one office building to another when a Dodge Durango ran a red light and totaled my car. I was fine, as the Durango hit me at a forty-five degree angle, but my car was destroyed. The passenger door was dented in, the front quarter-panel was crushed, the frame was bent, and the wheel was crooked on the axle. If that wasn’t enough, both airbags deployed – my Acura Integra was kaput. I was fortunate in that accident because I wasn’t at fault, the other driver was calm, a witness stopped, and the police handled the situation expeditiously. The end result was that I got a check and needed a new car, but the process as quick as could be expected.

There was one good thing about that experience, it taught me how to properly respond in the event of an accident. Accidents are very scary and it’s very easy to lose your calm. They are exactly like those “controversial” Volkswagon “Safe Happens” commercials (I embedded two at the end of this article, they are very shocking). One minute you’re minding your own business, the next you’re being violently interrupted.

Here’s what I do immediately following an accident, I’ve written little notes down to myself on a piece of paper in my wallet to remind me. (In fact, I got the idea from Geico, which writes a sub-set of these instructions on what you should do immediately following an accident)

Never Admit Fault

No matter what happens, don’t ever admit you were at fault in the accident. This isn’t so that you can get away with something that you did but it’s to protect you in the event your memory of events or your understanding of who is at fault is wrong. When my car was totaled after the other driver ran a red light, I was a little dazed and unsure what had happened. I was turning and had a dedicated turn arrow but at the time I wondered if I only had a regular green and should’ve yielded. The police and the insurance companies can sort that stuff out and they know all the laws.

Don’t Get Out

If your car is smoking or on fire, get out immediately. If everything seems to be fine, just sit for a minute and collect your thoughts. You may have gotten a concussion or hurt something in your body, you don’t want to be moving around too much unless it’s absolutely necessary. Take this time to collect your thoughts, try to figure out what happened, and look at the other driver. If the other person looks furious, unbalanced, whatever… lock your doors, call the police immediately. It’s not uncommon for someone to be upset and have that anger turn into blows.

Call The Police

If it’s more than a little bump and superficial scratches, call the police. If you need emergency assistance, such as a tow, call the police before you call a tow. If the accident is severe, you’ll want the police to write a record and issue a ticket. The ticket is an indication of who the police find at fault, having one of those makes it much easier to deal with insurance companies. Police can also diffuse hot tempers. If the other person looks like they’re going to do something, you’ll want the police there.

Get Driver’s License & Insurance Info

When you collect the other driver’s information, copy down everything from his or her driver’s license. You’ll want everything from the state it’s issued to their address to the ID number. There is no such thing as having too much information. Also remember to get their phone number as well, confirm if you must (call them). Get all of their insurance information as well, essentially carbon copying the data on their card (ask for a card, not just for them to recite it). Also get the make, model, and license plate of their car. If you have any problems, call the police if they aren’t there already.

Call Your Insurance Company

If you have comprehensive and collision insurance, which is insurance for your own vehicle in an accident, call your insurance company and let them know what happened. They are responsible for paying for the repairs on your car if the other driver is found to be not at fault, which means they will work hard at proving the other driver is at fault (if they are). This ultimately means less work for you, so take advantage of it (you are paying them for this anyway!).

Don’t File A False Claim

Whenever insurance is involved, there’s always the opportunity for fraud. You may be tempted to file a damage claim for something that happened a few months ago, please don’t. Fraud is a serious crime, don’t throw your future away for a few dollars in repairs in the present.

Volkswagon Commercials

The two commercials I promised are after the jump.

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If your car calls for 87 octane gas, you only need to put in 87 octane. You won’t get any benefit by putting in a higher octane and it will only cost you more. If your car calls for premium gas, put in premium gas. You can do damage to your car if you put in a lower octane and you’ll understand why in a moment.

Most cars have a four-stroke gasoline engine where the strokes refer to the cylinders moving up and down. One of the strokes is what’s known as the compression stroke. The piston compresses a mixture of air and gasoline before it is ignited by a spark plug. Octane rating of gasoline refers to how much that gas and air can be compressed before it spontaneously ignites, the lower the octane the less it can be compressed before igniting. Premium gas can be compressed far more than regular gas.

Why you should only buy what your car needs. If your car calls for 87 octane gas, that means it’s going to compress that air/fuel mix to a point where 87 won’t ignite on its own. If you pay more and add in 89, you get no benefit because it’ll only compress that mix to the 87 level. You get no added benefit because your engine can’t take advantage of the higher compression ratio.

Why you shouldn’t skimp and buy a lower octane than required. Your engine operates most efficiently when that air/fuel mix explodes when it’s supposed to explode. The whole timing of the engine is fouled up when it explodes early and that’s what happens if you put regular gas into an engine designed with premium in mind. When 87 gas is compressed to 91 levels, it’ll explode prematurely and foul up the timing of the engine (this is known as “knocking”).

Why people think higher octane is better. Because it is better! If all other specs are kept equal, an engine with a higher compression ratio will have greater horsepower. However, you need an engine that is operating with the higher compression ratio. If you have an engine compressing for an 87 octane fuel and you put in 91, nothing changes except you’re a little bit poorer.

Gas prices have come down the last few months (whew!) but you aren’t doing yourself any favors by getting fuel your car isn’t designed to use.

(Photo: riza)