Car Rental Services Useful For a Budget Vacation
Car Rental Services Useful For a Budget Vacation
The main objective of a car rental company is to get you to pay them money in return for using their cars. Simple enough, but when other companies are out there with the same objective, a customer base cannot be grown and thus profits cannot be increased without differentiating oneself from the competition. Different people have different needs and one company will not be able to meet all of them simultaneously. Some companies will try to differentiate themselves somewhat. But it must be said that altogether, car companies have two separate customer types: the frequent user and the casual user. The frequent user is the one who looks for differences. The casual user looks for price.
The future of car rentals
Most industries will change as companies and their competitors grow to meet ever changing demands in their respective markets. Strengths of a particular company at a particular time may very well turn to weaknesses if the leaders of a company do not change with the times. The business of car rentals is no different. Once a market dominated by just a couple of companies has grown to include many more competitors that offer a variety of new services. Those who will survive and prosper will look at the future, correctly predict developing demands of consumers, and adjust accordingly.
Reliability of the new car smell
Rental agencies realize that discerning customers have choices and these choices are only going to continue to grow. If your competition is going to offer more reliable, newer cars with more options in the future so must your company.
Going Green
The market for environmentally friendly products is getting stronger every day. Many people are looking for ways to reduce their carbon foot print and seek to decrease greenhouse gases any way they can. Look for more car rentals to be hybrids in the years to come. Look also for electric car technology to make its way to rental agencies.
Gadgets
We have already seen the advent of the GPS in most if not all rental vehicles. Many cars are also currently equipped with iPod ports and DVD players. Look for the business of car rentals to position itself in the future as a method of introduction for vehicle technology. This is not just to keep pace with rivals but perhaps to open new markets aimed at individuals who wish to try a new technology out (via renting a car equipped with it) before they purchase it as an option on their own new car.
Easy in easy out
Rental agencies are going to continue serving their biggest base of customers: people who need a car while at the airport. Technology for renting, locating and paying for the car will continue to improve.
Charge this
Smaller rental agencies have created a niche market for people who want to rent a vehicle for less than a day. Many of these companies charge customers by the hour. In the future look for the bigger companies to offer car rentals in more flexible rental formats, specifically a broadening of the hourly rate along with a bigger focus on metropolitan customers.
Howdy Partner
An old tactic to thwart competition in many a market place is to partner up with companies that offer services or products which can interact or be integrated with the product or service your company offers. Rental companies may use this tactic to align themselves with certain gas stations or certain restaurants or hotels in exchange for their customers receiving a discount at these locations. Again, this is not a new technique but it may play well in future of rising gas and lodging prices. All in all the future of the automobile rental agencies looks bright and exciting.
Electric Cars Are the Future of Personal Transport
10 years ago electric and hybrid cars would make people giggle at their very mention. Yet these prototypes were nothing short of the human brilliance paving the way for what is soon to become the future of road transport. Electric vehicles are not a fashion trend, they represent the next revolution in automobile technology. It’s not so hard to see why there is such a hype about electric cars. Here are some of the points:
Electric motors by design are much more efficient than Internal Combustion Engines (ICE). They achieve efficiencies of well over 90% compared to an average of 20% for ICE. This translates into greater economical incentive since electric motors average 6Km/Kwh (Kilometer per Kilowatt-hour of energy) compared to 2.5Km/Kwh for ICE running on petrol. Efficiency with ICE is a big problem as there is not much scope for improvement. You see, in physics the laws of thermodynamics come into play theoretically limiting the efficiency of these designs to about 40%.
Next is the fact that electric motors are able to deliver full torque at start up, that is at zero Revolutions Per Minute (RPM) which means you get much more power from the beginning itself. ICE however are different because they can only achieve their full torque within a certain range of RPM, which is why you have to shift gears when you’ve reached that optimal RPM range. Thus the Tesla roadster, a fully electric sports car can achieve 0-60mph in well under 4 seconds, and that’s with only about 250 horsepower (hp). For a similar performance with ICE cars, you would be looking at 500hp cars or more.
However the reason why you don’t see electric cars everywhere yet is because there are areas which have to be improved. Perhaps the greatest shortcoming of electric cars is its power source. Conventional ICE burn petrol which itself is very energy dense, meaning it contains a lot of energy, so to speak. As such the energy density of petrol is about 13Kwh/Kg (Kilowatt-hour per kilogram) or 8.9Kwh/L(Kilowatt-hour/Litre). Electric cars currently rely on lithium ion batteries with an energy density of 0.2Kwh/Kg with some of them even attaining 0.4Kwh/Kg. Still, however that is quite low.
All this translates into having to carry a heavy load of batteries so that these electric cars can have a reasonable range. The Tesla roadster for example recently managed to complete the 500km landmark on a single charge. With a 53Kwh battery pack which weighs almost a thousand pounds, that’s an efficiency of 9.5Km/Kwh!
The second problem with the battery technology is its charging time. On a home power outlet, a typical connection of 240 volts at 13 ampere (amp) would take over 17 hours to charge a 53Kwh battery pack. With its high power connector kit of 70amp though, this can fall down to 3 hours. Future models are expected to have a 45 minutes quick charge. A third problem is the life cycle of the batteries which have a limited charging cycle.
However you can expect these shortcomings to vanish in the future with investments in technologies such as lithium-air batteries with capacities of up to 5Kwh/Kg. Big companies such as IBM, Bosch and Panasonic are at the edge of the future battery technologies.
Convenience is another advantage when it comes to electric cars. In our society today, electricity is the universal form of energy. You can charge your car from so many outlets, at home, at charging stations, at work or even at the neighbors’ if you dare. No need to queue at petrol stations. The bonus is that electricity costs only 12 cents/Kwh so essentially you’re looking at a full charge for under $7. Compare that to filling up your fuel tank at about $40 or more.
Electric cars have zero emissions. They have no air intake or exhaust. It is true that the electricity used most likely comes from coal fired power plants but the problem is the way of generating electricity in general, which has other alternatives. So not only electric cars do not pollute the air, they also reduce noise pollution. They are so silent that some authorities are thinking of solutions to warn the visually impaired people who rely heavily on their hearing to move around.
A couple of weeks ago, I was watching a top gear episode where the presenters had taken their cars to the Andes and at that altitude engine performance dropped significantly since there was less oxygen in the air. I know it wouldn’t be fair if I mention such a situation as an advantage of the electric car, since realistically such situations rarely occur. But that surely points out that ICE need adequate levels of oxygen to function, electric cars don’t.
The technology of electric vehicles keeps on improving. For example, Michelin’s Active Wheel System, basically in wheel motors, are smaller electric motors found inside the wheels and each of them are able to generate power independently. This is true 4 x 4 power. They are relatively light about 42 Kg each eliminating the need for a heavy front engine, an empty space which can be use to improve safety for frontal impacts. The reduction in weight further increases safety in terms of braking distance.
Lastly with only a few moving parts with electric motors, maintenance is less of a problem since there is less wear and tear, not to mention clogs and fuel deposits that occur with typical ICE. Forget about those dreaded frequent oil changes. Forget about those black particles deposits under the bonnet.
There is a buzzing enthusiasm for electric vehicles not only from the consumer market but also from the manufacturers. The most successful car manufacturers know where the future lies, hence why Toyota’s best selling hybrid- Prius (over 2 million of them around) is making the headlines while General Motors have scheduled production of the Chevrolet Volt within a year from now. Nissan and Renault are expected to follow suit.
Analysts on the other hand estimate that by 2020 10% of all new sales will be electric doubling by 2030. However other experts such as Professor Kevin Morley, former Managing Director of Rover are more optimistic putting the market share of electric cars between 30-40% by 2020. I personally share his optimism, although to some people this figure might seem unrealistically high. So next time you see an electric car, just remember what you are actually looking at is simply a great piece of engineering and you can expect to see a lot of them in the near future.
3 Little Known Facts AboutCar Concept Car Insurance Coverage
There are several aspects of car insurance that you may be unaware of. Some of these things can cost you money, some can save you money, and some can actually make you money. Because the recent influx of new car insurance companies currently operating, the competition among all of them to attract you as a client has increased tremendously. Being aware of these factors can help you leverage yourself and your business to the auto insurance company that best suits your needs, and get the lowest rates possible from them. Below are the three most important.
1) Sales tax and registration fees are should most likely be covered. If you have to make a claim on a vehicle that has been totally destroyed, you are most likely owed the taxes and registration fees that you paid for that vehicle. Be aware though, that the taxes will be payed on the valued of the vehicle at the time of the accident, not at the time that it was purchased.
2) Your personal effects will not be covered. If you get into an accident and anything that was in your car at the time of the accident gets destroyed or broken, your car insurance policy will most likely not cover it. While your homeowners insurance policy may, the coverage limits will be minimal. If you are frequently driving with expensive things in your car, (like computers or work equipment), you should look for coverage options to purchase along with your standard auto policy.
3) One small claim can increase your rates tremendously. Think twice before making a claim. Even very small claims can greatly impact your future car insurance rates. Find out what the policy is from the specific car insurance company you are considering, before you sign up.