I had a real treat yesterday, I drove a Chevy Volt. You know, the new electric car from the New General Motors. I hadn't yet seen one up close and personal yet but have been very interested and hoped to inspect one at a dealership sometime this spring. Geez! What a neat car. Nice styling similar to the Chevy Cruze, interior roomy enough to be comfortable, really cool instrumentation resembling the inside of a small airplane cockpit, quiet of course what with an electric motor and all, but the most pleasant surprise was the snappy acceleration. I've driven dozens of electric cars since back in the 1960's and my experience was they were all rather sluggish when it came to getting up to traffic speed. Not this time! In a matter of seconds I was cruising at 65MPH with power to spare. Actually faster than some of the so called economy cars I've driven and owned in the past. If a person goes electric they don't have to give up much in the way of performance with the Volt. Now that I have first hand experience I can see a future for the Volt or similar vehicles. I believe the price has to come down about 30% or 40% though and I'd really like to see the distance you can travel on a charge go way beyond the 40 mile limit it has now. Sure, it has a backup gasoline motor and well it should but the whole purpose is to use the electric motor right? Perhaps those two little ideas of mine are the reason they have stopped production for a month or so because buyers aren't rushing through the door to purchase a Volt. I'm not an engineer but to me, price and distance mean a lot. If you want a real driving experience stop by a dealership and take a Volt for a spin. You'll be glad you did. No, I am not selling cars now. Just reaching out to the future. I'm sure you saw the price of gas at the pump today: $4.19 a gallon and it's looking to go up. We have two viable options at the moment. Electric or natural gas. You might as well give them a try.
When it comes to my writing there never quite seems to be enough time to my stories published. If the truth be known it's not really the time. It's my basic fear that if a real editor gets their hands on my stories they will ruin the essence of them. Talk about arrogance huh? I am not a writer. I do spin some pretty good stories though. In the right hands those stories would become perhaps epic. Maybe not. But I'll never ever know if I don't start doing something soon. One of them dates back to 1969. I guess I don't like to rush things do I? Or, do I sense a bit of procrastination here?.............Spring is in the air. Let's see what happens this year.
Showing posts with label buying cars. Show all posts
Showing posts with label buying cars. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Scams, airline tickets, Joe Cramer, author
A national news program I was listening to had a program dealing with a subject I brought up on this blog: Internet coupon deals. It was interesting to hear my own words coming from someone else, word for word! Quite the compliment I think. I don't spend every waking hour promoting "Joe's Story: The Book of a Lifetime." Although that is very important to me I actually do have a life. Part of it is involving myself in gathering information concerning scams and price gouging techniques used to extract money from the most trusting and needy among us. The methods these operations use to circumvent the law are ingenious and we have to approach any good deal with pessimism or very likely face the loss of some of our hard earned cash.
Have you or do you know of anyone who purchased a car from one of those "Buy here, pay here" car lots? They serve a useful purpose to many high risk, otherwise un-financable folks who have gone through hard times, are honestly trying to make a better life for themselves and need transportation to get to a job. They also offer structured payment plans which help develop proper appreciation for maintaining credit. Then comes the dark side of some of those places. They buy a car for $500, sell it for $3000 and collect exorbitant interest rates, often making a profit of 6 to ten times their original cost. Something to think about.
I just received a letter informing me I "have become eligible to be awarded two first class airline tickets to anywhere in the continental United States." Boy! That's sure a mouthful of nothing tangible. Also, given there was no return address on the envelope or on the stationary and the name of the company on the letterhead was false, I'm guessin' this just may be some sort of scam.
I've always had a yearning for one of those tall, wooden, classic grandfather clocks. In my mailbox one day was and offer to purchase a grandfather clock for $60 plus shipping and handling. The picture was beautiful. It was priced so cheap because it was part of a shipment to a bankrupt company and it was cheaper to sell at below cost than to ship them back to the factory. I bit on that one! It wound up like this: $60 money order in advance, checks or credit cards not accepted, they took too long to process and these clocks need to be sold now. When the clock arrived it was shipped to a warehouse and I had to pick it up there, no home delivery. I had to pay the warehouse another $113 money order for shipping and handling. I got it home and assembly was required. This grand old, heirloom quality, grandfather clock with Swiss movement was made from some type of hardboard, similar to what the boxes my shoes come in. It was held together by cheap plastic clips. The genuine Swiss movement clock works had fake cotton draw strings and hollow, plastic, fake weights, a cheap plastic, fake pendulum and a battery operated plastic housing that I had to glue in place. The word "Swis" was stamped on the back, crooked and mispelled as it was. By the time I called the company the next morning the phone was disconnected and they were no where to be found and neither was any of my money. so yo know from where I speak, not from being so smart but from being dumb enough to be taken like that. I just wanted a grandfather clock so badly I forgot to think.
Now I'm going to turn on that national news program and listen to find out if I hear my own words again. I'd appreciate it this time if they'd us my name as part author. Yeah, that'd be kinda cool..........Joe
Have you or do you know of anyone who purchased a car from one of those "Buy here, pay here" car lots? They serve a useful purpose to many high risk, otherwise un-financable folks who have gone through hard times, are honestly trying to make a better life for themselves and need transportation to get to a job. They also offer structured payment plans which help develop proper appreciation for maintaining credit. Then comes the dark side of some of those places. They buy a car for $500, sell it for $3000 and collect exorbitant interest rates, often making a profit of 6 to ten times their original cost. Something to think about.
I just received a letter informing me I "have become eligible to be awarded two first class airline tickets to anywhere in the continental United States." Boy! That's sure a mouthful of nothing tangible. Also, given there was no return address on the envelope or on the stationary and the name of the company on the letterhead was false, I'm guessin' this just may be some sort of scam.
I've always had a yearning for one of those tall, wooden, classic grandfather clocks. In my mailbox one day was and offer to purchase a grandfather clock for $60 plus shipping and handling. The picture was beautiful. It was priced so cheap because it was part of a shipment to a bankrupt company and it was cheaper to sell at below cost than to ship them back to the factory. I bit on that one! It wound up like this: $60 money order in advance, checks or credit cards not accepted, they took too long to process and these clocks need to be sold now. When the clock arrived it was shipped to a warehouse and I had to pick it up there, no home delivery. I had to pay the warehouse another $113 money order for shipping and handling. I got it home and assembly was required. This grand old, heirloom quality, grandfather clock with Swiss movement was made from some type of hardboard, similar to what the boxes my shoes come in. It was held together by cheap plastic clips. The genuine Swiss movement clock works had fake cotton draw strings and hollow, plastic, fake weights, a cheap plastic, fake pendulum and a battery operated plastic housing that I had to glue in place. The word "Swis" was stamped on the back, crooked and mispelled as it was. By the time I called the company the next morning the phone was disconnected and they were no where to be found and neither was any of my money. so yo know from where I speak, not from being so smart but from being dumb enough to be taken like that. I just wanted a grandfather clock so badly I forgot to think.
Now I'm going to turn on that national news program and listen to find out if I hear my own words again. I'd appreciate it this time if they'd us my name as part author. Yeah, that'd be kinda cool..........Joe
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