We think about repairing cars as hard or heavy work, but is worthwhile taking time out to think if the engineers and mechanics who work on heavy machinery or plant as they are sometine known. in some ways the technology is the same as our cars, in others simpler and in other harder to work on.
The technology does seem to enjoy replacement parts more than the domestic car. Take an excavator undercarriage for example (the whole rubber tracked assembly of an excavator), this can be repaired or even replaced if need be, but on a domestic car, often parts like this are just too expensive new to justify the replacement. Even small parts such as clip on rubber pads, that attach to rubber tracks. these parts are readily available and because it often costs the business more money in down time that the parts themselves, these are easily and quickly replaced , often on site.
So the relaity is that these machine are often heavier and dirtier, but can often be repaired easier than a car, because of the bolt on process of these vehicles. It would great is cars were more like this, but in reality, they could cost more and just not look as good as they do today.
If you watch any kind of comercial TV in the UK you can’t have missed the intensive advertising campaign from organisations wanting to change peoples lives by training them to be a driving instructor. The message is that you can earn up to £30k a year with fully maintained car working the hours you want to suit your lifestyle.
This is all happening at a time when most people feel their current job is insecure and redundancies seem to be an everyday occurance. Rather than selling the process of becoming a driving instructor the adverts are very much aimed at selling the dream, of a good wage, modern car and flexible working hours, in fact it all seems too easy.
Nothing is mentioned about the prior research to who are the competition in the area, how much will it cost to market the new business and the reality of much they will really earn? With competition bringing driving lessons down to £10 a lesson in certain areas for block bookings, you can’t understand how any driving instructor can make his £30K and still have the flexibility of working their own hours. Anyway driving instructor training looks like it will be very popular and if the amount of drivers increase, then it may be the best decision for some.
Well we hinted last month that the figures suggesting car manufacture was down, did not really tell the whole story and this month the same news channels are telling us that new car sales are up 7% compared to the same month lasy year. Of course September is new registration time and when car dealers are going to get the majority of their sales. but all the negative news seems to have been premature just for the sake fo headlines.
The scrappage scheme is at last been demeed a succes and being part responsable not only for the currebt rise in mew car sales, but also the rise in used car sales. In fact it has been said that for the first time in history, used cars have increased in value, just by being parked on the drive. Even specialist sources such as CAP price books are confirming this.
In fact confidence seems to be growing right through the country with mosts news channels suggesting the resssion is ove, but will grow slowly back to normal levels. Then as used car prices go up and new car prices pretty much as cheap as they are ever going to go, it doesn’t take a detective to figure out that new car sales will grow and grow over the next 6 months or so.
Even finance is being made more available for those back loans and contract hire options. Not much private car lease has been around for some time, so maybe moew will return together with business contract hire options for more small businesses.
The figures for July august saw another 27% drop in production of cars compared to the same time last year. The news reports that is still 2% better last month suggesting that the scrappage scheme is working, but many others have their doubts.
After all the high street saw rises is sakes during July and there was a huge increase in Mortgage acceptance, so many believe this sight 2% damage limitation figure is just more people are a bit more confident in the economy.
The figure relating to UK cars being manufactured however does not tell the whole picture as sales could be up much more if it is found that the consumer is choosing to buy cars built outside the UK, for example in Korea. We also have to take into account that there are airfields full of new cars up and down the UK, so at this time figures for manufacturing may have little reference to cars being sold, until the stock pile of cars fall in numbers.
It is also worth noting that 50% of new cars tend to be leased and as the scrappage scheme does include lease cars within its conditions you again have to wonder what impact the scrappage scheme is really having. As no official figures seem to be released with a yes it is working or no it is no, we will keep having to guess.
For some buying car is the only option, you hand over your money and you have full ownership of your chosen vehicle in return. However for others, especially business owners owning something that has terrible depreciation and using money to buy a car that can be used for better purposes that can create money, leasing a car is a great option.
As far as leasing is concerned, contract hire is probably the easiest option to understand. In short you pay a set monthly premium and as long as you drive within the mileage agreed, you should be able just to hand the car back at the end of the contract hire agreement term. You do not get the option to buy the car and the premiums are based on the initial price of the car and the resalable value at the end of the contract hire term.
Of course there are other things to consider, like maintenance and ensuring you never go over the agreed mileage you say you will do, or you could be charged excessively for this accident, but generally contract hire for cars is like leasing a house for a period of time.
Pay your money and hand it back. This can make it easy to calculate your monthly outgoings, for some businesses that can claim VAT back on some of the value and all of the VAT of any maintenance associated with the car. Your contract hire premium is also based on the difference between buying and selling so it is possible to have a better low depreciation car than a high depreciating vehicle at a cheaper price.
If you want some honesty about how the USA are doing then watching a news channel like Al Jazeera can often tell you how it is. Here is a surprisingly balanced view of how the USA car industry looks at the moment. Obama has recently set the scene in the motor industry with the message “build fuel efficient cars”. The message is that everyone benefits, the consumer benefits form less fuel costs, the country benefits from less money going overseas to buy fuel.
However this still will add an average of $1300 to the purchase price of a new car at a time where currently new car sales are at there lowest for generations. Manufacturers like Dodge are filling for bankruptcy that is affecting the local dealer that has to try and shift vehicles no one wants to buy from a closed car manufacturer.
For those who can hold on there has to be a silver lining. There is only a certain period that the USA can regurgitate used cars and at some point new cars have to be added to the system. As usual this will probably happen in an aggressive style, but when this upturn will occur nobody knows. Europe has stated scrappage scheme where they reward the consumer for scrapping an old car and buying a new one, by up to £2000. There is no word that the USA is considering the same, with a decline in USA model sales anyway prior to the recession as Japanese and German manufacturers lead the way in fuel economy development.