Save Real Money on Gas by Taking Tips from Hypermilers
Hypermiling isn't just for the hybrid crowd. You can use the techniques to slash fuel consumption on your gas-engine car too.
When gas is cheap, few of us sweat getting maximum MPG. But that quickly changes when prices soar. While some people react by shopping for a more fuel efficient car (that takes many years to pay for with fuel savings), a more rational approach is to steal a few pages from the hypermiler's playbook.
These are the techniques that hardcore fuel economy seekers have used for years to approach triple digit MPG. Some of their techniques are either risky or mostly relevant to hybrids, but the ones I summarize below are sound and can be used the next time you get into the gas-engine car you already drive.
Read the article at Roadshow
Curves Pose a Bump in the Road for Driving Automation
Curves in the road are posing a challenge to advanced driver assistance features like adaptive cruise control (ACC) and more sophisticated partial automation systems, limiting their potential safety benefits, a new study from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found.
ACC and more advanced partial automation that combines ACC with lane centering are often disabled on some of the sharper curves present on limited-access roadways, either because drivers switch the features off or they deactivate automatically.
Analyzing the data, the researchers found that ACC or Pilot Assist were less likely to be active as curves became sharper. In the Evoque vehicles, drivers were 72 percent less likely to use ACC on the sharpest category of curves (those with a radius smaller than 2,292 feet) than they were to use those features on straight road segments. In the S90 vehicles, drivers were 75 percent less likely to use Pilot Assist and 66 percent less likely to use ACC on the sharpest curves.
Read the article at IIHS.
If You Bought a Car Last Year, it Could Now be Worth More Than You Paid For it
Typically, a new car is considered a bad investment because it loses a big chunk of its value the minute you drive it off the dealer lot. That's unless you bought that new car during the pandemic. In that case, you likely made an amazing investment because you could now possibly sell your one-year-old car at a profit or, at least, get back nearly what you paid for it.
Normally, a dealer selling a one-year-old used car will get about 80% to 85% of its original price, according to Edmunds.com. But, according to the site's most recent figures, car dealers can now sell one-year-old used cars for about 95% of the original price.
This weird situation is not likely to end soon. Even if car companies are able to refill their supplies of computer chips, the level of production will take a long time to catch up with all the demand.
Read the article at CNN Business.
Experience Connection through AFLA Membership
By Laura Jozwiak, Senior Vice President of Sales & Client Relations, Wheels, Inc.
President, Automotive Fleet and Leasing Association (AFLA)
Has anyone ever said to you, “Tell me a bit about AFLA”? What was your response?
"The Automotive Fleet & Leasing Association (AFLA) is the advanced forum dedicated to improving communication between sellers, buyers, fleet managers, lending institutions, fleet management companies, used vehicle marketers, and allied automotive service companies.” – do you just spout off the mission?
Being an AFLA member is so much more than a mission statement – it is a connection that once experienced, can be challenging to put into words.
How Wheels is Helping Customers Reemerge
Wheels is helping customers reemerge, with a steady focus on driving change.
