Cash for Cars Selling Tips

Hybrid Cars

Underdogs in a Hybrid Vehicle World

Call them the underdogs of the hybrid vehicle movement, not many people know about them, but everyone should.

Some people who drive flex-fuel cars know they are saving gas but they don’t always know that they are in a FFV.

Luckily, their production and use is slowly picking up in the United States.

What is A FFV?

A low emissions car illustrationThe official name is flexible-fuel vehicles, or dual-fuel vehicles, for obvious reasons. They are alternative fuel cars using multi-fuel engines burning on gas and a second fuel source, most often ethanol. Read more

Solar-Powering the Automobile?

A recent leak from Toyota Motor Corp revealed the Japanese company’s plans to put solar panels on some Prius hybrid vehicles during its next remodeling, expected in 2009.

Solar power in cars? Sure, it’s only to power a portion of the air-conditioning on fully loaded Prius versions, but an interesting concept nonetheless.

Certainly it’s food for thought today when record high gas prices and a burgeoning desire for more “green” cars has many car lovers looking for the next big thing.

Is Solar Power Realistic?

2 hair-dryers2 hair-dryersIt’s very doubtful that solar power is the next big thing for cars. Solar panels are expensive, and storing the energy is not easy. Read more

How to Get the Low-Down on Fuel Efficiency

Fuel efficiency is one of the hottest topics these days.

Consumers are feeling the financial pinch at the pump, and for a totally different reason, environmentalists want less gas burned.

Regardless of the reason, people need to buy more fuel-efficient vehicles.

A pretty blond woman shrugging her shouldersOdds are good that you are in the same boat. Where can you learn more about your vehicle, or a car you want to buy?

Who Can You Trust?

The Internet can be a blessing – or a curse. 

Which information should you trust? 

Is what you’re reading coming from some huge company and the imagination of their spin doctors? Read more

Selling Cars Today – the Green Trend

Watching the automotive industry try to “catch up” on its environmental public image is like monitoring the progress of land developers for the past 25 years.

With a product intrinsically unfriendly to the environment, carmakers are trying hard to convince consumers that their vehicles are indeed “green.”

Green Business is Here To Stay

girl holding green globeOver the past few years the automotive industry seems to have made a full commitment to the green movement, pushed – not merely nudged – by factors such as consumer demand, the widespread global warming debate and gas costs. Read more

Long Live the SUV?

The sport utility vehicle must feel like rock n’ roll, it has been proclaimed dead too often to count.

Yet scarcely a week goes by without headlines about a hybrid SUV winning a “green car” award, or even an “extreme hybrid” that soon may get more than 150 miles per gallon.

The SUV has increased hipness in recent years in terms of exterior looks, and safety ratings, and even gas mileage is improving.

So why all the exaggerations about its demise?

People Are Still Talking About SUVs

Traffic“The SUV craze was a bubble and now it is bursting,” automotive economist George Hoffer told The Boston Globe recently. “It’s an irrational vehicle. It’ll never come back.” Read more

Chrylser is going green with a hybrid division

Can Chrysler up their game by adding a hybrid division

Everyone is doing their part to preserve the environment, even the auto industry. Although they are dragging their feet for the cause, it seems like they are slowly realizing that they are going to have to take strides to clean up the planet and offer consumers alternative options to the gas burning engine.

Known for their larger cars and trucks Chrysler has some work to do, however if they can perfect the hybrid truck or SUV they will have a corner of the market as yet unconquered.

Chrysler hybrid logo

The Envi Division

Not only is Chrysler taking steps to give consumers more choices, they are straying from the heard and attempting to build alternative fuel vehicles from the ground up. Read more

How to choose a hybrid vehicle

With the current trend towards hybrid technology and the push to find cleaner fuel, todays hybrid vehicles are just the beginning.

There are already quite a few options to choose from and enough of them have been produced for them to have emerged onto the used market as well.

Prius

You’d be surprised to find out just how many different types of hybrid vehicles there are on the market today.

Compact & Sedan Hybrids

Honda leads the way in this category with three existing models offered as a hybrid

The Civic The Accord A little funky looking hybrid called Insight, which Honda stopped making at the end of 2006

The Civic and Accord are popular in the American market anyway and the favorably reviewed hybrid options have been well received. Read more

Sport a hybrid sticker and ride alone in the carpool lane

You see them frequently, people in hybrid cars flying solo in the carpool lane.

Those who purchase environmentally friendly cars get more than just tax breaks, they get a break during rush hour traffic as well.

Clean air sticker

The DMV issues these hybrid stickers for vehicles that meet their specified emissions standards.

They are not issued to the driver, but the vehicle itself, hybrid stickers are non-transferrable and stay with the car for it’s life.

The sticker plan

Couple infront of their car
It seems that part of the reason the DMV decided to allow hybrid vehicles into the HOV (high occupancy vehicle) lanes is because studies were showing the lanes operating at two thirds of projected capacity. Read more

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