Tesco Car Insurance Policy Benefiting the Drivers

If you are a car owner or a driver, the part that you must hate most is car insurance. I have seen many people grudging over it. Well, we need insurance and there is no way you can avoid it. So, Tesco is trying to make car insurance more palatable.

MoneyHighStreet.com reported:

All named drivers who own a Tesco Car Insurance policy will be rewarded with at least one year's claim-free driving plus a discount of up to 50 per cent when they take out a policy with Tesco on their own vehicle.

All claim-free years of motorists on a Tesco policy will be recognised and offered as a discount on their initial premium should they take out their own policy.

No doubt that this will attract some car owners. Tesco officials have acted smartly here. Now, we have to wait and see that how many persons they can attract.

Living in a R-reg Ford Mondeo Car for Nine Months

Living in a R-reg Ford Mondeo Car for Nine Months

Really, sometimes I feel sympathy for the western people. We in Asia suffer every kind of hardship. Many people live in the street in Asia and it has become a part of everyday life. You go to street in any major city in Asia and you can find hundreds of people living in the street in miserable condition. However, here is a true story of a family in the UK who are living in a car because they have no house.

Image Link: Living in a Car

I found the story in Leeds Today with the title:

Homeless family forced to live in a car

A Leeds family are living in a car after losing their home nine months ago.

The heading is perhaps enough to tell the story. Well, you may wonder that the people are either drug addicted or lazy. No, they are just normal people like you and me. The report stated:

Club singer Daniella Prestwich, daughter Hayley, 12, and partner Duncan Haigh, 29, were made homeless in May and are sleeping out in their R-reg Ford Mondeo. Ms Prestwich, 28, said: "We always find a safe place to park up, cover the windows and have lots of quilts to keep warm. I am 6ft tall, but luckily the car is quite long, so I can just about fit in it."

They stay in public car parks or on quiet residential streets near the homes of friends. She added: "When it is freezing, we put the car heater on which eats up petrol, but we have to keep warm. It can be quite cosy, we have lots of covers, wear thermals and layers and can even make a cuppa with a water heater through the cigarette lighter."

The family have been taken off the priority list for Leeds City Council housing after they refused to accept a run-down property, which they say was not fit for human habitation.

It is a case in which the UK government has failed to deliver its basic duty of protecting its citizens. UK is not a poor country and its government can surely afford to ensure a small but decent house or apartment for this family. The family is suffering all kinds of problems. Because of not having a fixed address, they cannot find steady jobs and they have to go to the houses of different relatives and friends for washing, taking bath or even brushing teeth.

I urge each and every one of you who are reading this post to spread this message over the Internet so that UK officials become more active and help this poor family. Nine months is too much for anyone to stay in a car.

Used Shelby 1966 Cobra Sold for $5.5 Million

Who cares for used cars? It seems that some people do care for used cars and they care even to the extent of $5.5 million. No, I am not joking.

Freep.com reported:

The 800-horsepower, 1966 Shelby Super Snake Cobra, once the personal car of racing icon Carroll Shelby, 84, sold for $5.5 million at auction Saturday.

The packed house rose to its feet and cheered at the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction in Scottsdale, Ariz., after a pair of bidders drove the price to a record. Shelby, who created the Cobra in the 1960s using Ford engines and a British sport car chassis, said he built the Super Snake -- with twin superchargers on a 427-cubic inch V8 -- and drove it for years.

Now, the million dollar question is: Will you buy it? As for me, no way. I do not have the money and even if I have it, I would never buy. What about you?

VE Commodore: Wheels Car of the Year for 2006

I have to admit that I am not an expert on Australian car sector. Even I do not know much about VE Commodore but I can only tell you that this car has been elected as Wheels Car of the Year for 2006. This is a prestigious award.

NineMSN reported:

The long wait is over. Australia’s premier new car award – Wheels magazine’s 2006 Car Of The Year – has gone to … Holden’s VE Commodore.

Wheels editor, Ged Bulmer announced this year’s winner live on TV’s A Current Affair tonight.

In one of the most closely-fought, three-way showdowns in the award’s 44-year history, the VE – together with its HSV E-Series spin-offs – has triumphed over finalists Toyota’s Aurion and BMW’s 3 Series Coupe at the last hurdle.

In all, the VE beat 20 other new car models to the title at the end of a solid week of the most demanding testing imaginable, under both controlled conditions and on public roads.

Good for the car. Australia is an important car market. It has a market size of nearly 1 million cars a year and that is a good market considering the fact that Australian people have good purchasing power.

Indonesia 2007: A Flourishing Market for Toyota

Indonesia is not the rich Asian economic giant anymore as it was even 11 years ago. However, the country is not doing badly in the world stage and the auto market is having a healthy growth in Indonesia. Toyota wants to remain as the market leader in Indonesian auto market.

Reuters reported:

Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T: Quote, Profile, Research) expects Indonesia's domestic vehicle sales to grow by 10-20 percent this year and aims to hold more than 34 percent of the domestic market, its local unit said.

An increase at the top end of that range would give sales of around 380,000 units, still well below a historical high of 533,910 in 2005.

PT Toyota Astra Motor, the distributor for Toyota vehicles in the world's fourth most populous nation, accounted for 38.8 percent of new vehicles sales in 2006, up from 34.2 percent in 2005, as domestic sales shrank by 40 percent.

"Toyota Astra Motor predicts that the total market will increase by 10-20 percent compared to 2006 sales achievement. Toyota aims to maintain market leader position with more than 34 percent in 2007," the firm said in a presentation to the media late on Monday.

Toyota is the number 2 auto maker in the world. If it wants to be the number one then it should focus more on Asia. After all, Asia is the place where the growth is.

Ultra-low-cost car from Toyota Soon

Car is not cheap and most people in the world still do not own a car. There was a time when mobile phone was expensive and most people did not own a mobile phone set. Then the mobile phone makers and operators realized that the best way to increase business was to make this technology affordable for the mass people. Now, we are seeing a same trend in cars. Toyota has stated that it would come up with a low cost car by 2010. Yes, within 3 years you will find a cheap car from Toyota.

The Australian reported:

TOYOTA is working on an ultra-low-cost car to compete with makers in emerging markets such as Brazil, Russia, India and China.

Toyota president Katsuaki Watanabe said in an interview with the Financial Times the focus for the model was "low-cost technology".

"Everything from design to production methods will be radically changed and we are thinking of a really ultra-low-cost way of designing, using ultra-low-cost materials, even developing new materials if necessary," Mr Watanabe said.

At the other end of the market, Alfa Romeo has cut $7000 off its gorgeous Brera coupe this month after rivals undercut it on price, reducing the Italian brand's flagship by 10per cent after only a few months on sale.

So, good news for millions of people who cannot afford an expensive car at this moment. They just need to wait for another 3-4 years to own a car.

Two Blogs I liked

As a professional blogger, every day, I browse a lot in the blogosphere. Most of the time, I get bored by see that there are more spammers than bloggers. In fact, most of the links covered by Technorati are nothing but spam. So, when I see a nice blog, I get happy.
I found two blogs today. Recipe Source Online and Bad Credit Advice and then I discovered from the profile of the blogger that Add A Little Zing is nice blog too. In Recipe Source Online, you can find recipes of some interesting food items. What I like about this blog is not the recipes (I mean in Internet you can find thousands of places that contain many recipes) but the way they have been written. The writer writes in a humorous way. Bad Credit Advice is useful for those who are suffering from this problem and for those who are not suffering. Add A Little Zing contains valuable tips for those people like me who are trying to be successful in the net.
So, pay a visit to them.