Autos - Automobiles - Cars

Here are my notes on cars (automobiles).

Car door shut
"OK, man, start it up." by Cheech Marin
Car starting & idling
Ambient traffic road noise
VW & truck horn
Car squealing around corner
Zoom Away Race cars
Car peeling rubber
Car screeching to a stop

Topics this page:

Things Not to Say to a Cop

What Would Jesus Drive?

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A new car looses its value the minute it becomes "pre-owned". So price a one-year old used car and calculate the cost of driving off the new car lot.

That new car smell is toxic, anyway.

It's cheaper to have others install dealer options like tinted glass and stereo equipment.

If you drive about 12,000 miles a year (the US average of 1,000 miles per month or 50 miles during each of 20 work days), the difference between driving a car that's 20 MPG vs. a 40 MPG car is:

12,000 / 20 = 600 gallons of gasoline per year.

* $3 per gallon = $1,800 per year ($9,000 over 5 years)

Is this worth the additional cost of a more complex hybrid car?

Other sources of advice:

• California State Department of Consumer Affairs on Consumer's Guide to Buying a Used Car
• Cybermall
• Microsoft's Car Point

The shortest distance between two points is under construction.

MPG (Miles Per Gallon) Ratings from the EPA Fuel Efficiency site

Gas Price Watch.com details gasoline and marine prices by zip code or address.
US Dept of Energy Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Update

Crashtest.com reports how crashtest dummies enjoyed their ride in every vehicle.

CNW Marketing Research tracks a similar figure, computing the ratio between buyer's income and the transaction price. The ratio hit a high of 3.31 in January 1992. In April, that figure was down to 2.97, compared with 2.84 for April 2002.

Auto Insurance

Note: This is not an affliate ad. I get no commissions for referring people. I am simply a grateful customer. I am a raving fan of AIG and their adjuster Erica because:
• Glass coverage - For an extra $25 a year, AIG will repair or replace my windshield without a deductible. My previous insurance company, Travelers, had a $100 deductible, and counted it as an accident even though they said they won't.

• Rental Car - AIG has an arrangement with Enterprise Rent-a-car where I didn't have to pay any money out of pocket. Travelers simply giving me $25 per day, which wasn't enough? Not only that, after my car was stolen, the insurance company made me wait a whole month to see if my car would show up. In that time I spent nearly $750 on car rentals that wasn't covered.

• Replacement Parts - After I had an accident, I asked the bodyshop which is the best insurance company. Almost all of the said "AIG". Unlike Farmers (which charges more for their policies), AIG does not require shops to buy scrap parts or parts from Mexico/Taiwan to put in your car.

• Towing - AAA memberships are great for discounts and free maps, plus a large network of towing companies. But I am glad that I got towing with the insurance policy even though I have a AAA membership, because after an accident, the company took care of everything.

  When I was with Farmers, I once waited 20 minutes just to speak with a towing dispatcher. Then the dispatcher can't find any record of me having a policy even though I was with them for almost 10 years.

• Add-ons - After an accident I had, I got an initial estimate. But after the bodyshop started work, they realized more parts were needed. AIG paid them without having to involve me. Some other companies would have made me pay anything not on the initial estimate.

• Price of Policy - The amazing thing about my policy with AIG is that they were the cheapest when compared against GEICO, 21st Century, Mercury, Progressive, Costco ( Travelers) and other supposed lower-cost companies.

Explanations on Insurance Forms

"The pedestrian had no idea what direction to go, so I ran over him."

"To avoid hitting the bumper of the car in front, I struck the pedestrian."

"The guy was all over the road. I had to swerve a number of times before I hit him."

"I thought the window was down but found it up when I put my head through it."

"I was thrown from my car as I left the road. I was later found in a ditch by some stray cows."

"I was unable to stop in time and my car crashed into the other vehicle. The driver and passengers then left immediately for a vacation with injuries."

Auto Acronyms Explained!

I'm sorry, but I've lost the source for this.

AUDI	Always Unsafe Designs Implemented Accelerates Under Demonic Influence
BMW	Big Money Works Bought My Wife Brutal Money Waster Bimbette Motor Weapon Break My Window Bad Motor Works
BUICK	Big Ugly Indestructible Car Killer
CHEVROLET	Can Hear Every Valve Rap On Long Extended Trips Cheap, Hardly Efficient, Virtually Runs On Luck Every Time
DODGE	D*mn Old Dirty Gas Eater Drips Oil, Drops Grease Everywhere
FIAT	Failure in Italian Automotive Technology Fix It All the Time Fix it again, Tony! Feeble Italian Attempt at Transportation
FORD	First On Recall Day First On Rust and Deterioration Fix Or Repair Daily Found On Road, Dead Fault Of R&D Fast Only Rolling Downhill Features O.J. and Ron's DNA Found On Russian Dump backward: Driver Returns On Foot
FORD LTD	Found On Road Disabled, Left To Die
GM	General Maintenance Great Mistake
GMC	Garage Man's Companion Got A Mechanic Coming?
HONDA	Had One Never Did Again
HYUNDAI	Hope You Understand Nothing's Driveable And Inexpensive...
MAZDA	Most Always Zipping Dangerously Along
MITSUBISHI	Made In Taiwan, Subassembled Under British Influence, Shipped Here Incomplete
OLDSMOBILE	Old Ladies Driving Slowly Make Others Behind Infuriatingly Late Everywhere Overpriced, Leisurely Driven Sedan Made Of Buick's Irregular Leftover Equipment
SAAB	Send Another Automobile Back Swedish Automobiles Always Breakdown.
TOYOTA	Too Often Yankees Overprice This Auto
VOLVO	Very Odd Looking Vehicular Object
VW	Virtually Worthless

Things NOT to say to a cop

From 6th-sense@xc.org:

1. I can't reach my license unless you hold my beer. (OK in Texas)

2. Sorry, Officer, I didn't realize my radar detector wasn't plugged
in.

3. Aren't you the guy from the Village People?

4. Hey, you must've been doin' about 125 mph to keep up with me!
Good job!

5. Excuse me. Is “stick up” hyphenated?

9. You're not gonna check the trunk, are you?

13. I pay your salary!

14. So, uh, you on the take, or what?

15. Gee, Officer! That's terrific. The last officer only gave me a
warning, too!

16. Do you know why you pulled me over? Okay, just so one of us does.

17. I was trying to keep up with traffic. Yes, I know there is no
other car around-that's how far ahead of me they are.

18. What do you mean, “Have I been drinking?” You're the trained
specialist.

19. Well, when I reached down to pick up my bag of crack, my gun
fell off my lap and got lodged between the brake pedal and the gas
pedal, forcing me to speed out of control.

20. Hey, is that a 9 mm? That's nothing compared to this .44 magnum.
(Also OK in Texas).

What Would Jesus Drive?

Source unknown

Most people assume WWJD is for "What would Jesus do?" But the initials really have been changed to stand for "What would Jesus drive?"

One theory is that Jesus would tool around in Dad's old Plymouth because the Bible says, "God drove Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden in a Fury."

But in Psalm 83, the Almighty clearly owns a Pontiac and a Geo. The passage urges the Lord to "pursue your enemies with your Tempest and terrify them with your Storm."

Perhaps God favors Dodge pickup trucks, because Moses' followers are warned not to go up a mountain "until the Ram's horn sounds a long blast."

Meanwhile, Moses rode an old British motorcycle, as evidenced by a Bible passage declaring that "the roar of Moses' Triumph is heard in the hills."

Joshua drove a Triumph sports car with a hole in its muffler: "Joshua's Triumph was heard throughout the land".

Some scholars insist that Jesus drove a Honda but didn't like to talk about it. As proof, they cite a verse in St. John's gospel where Christ tells the crowd, "For I did not speak of my own Accord..."

And, following Jesus' lead, the Apostles car pooled in a Honda..."The Apostles were in one Accord."

.

Use Case Diagram For Buying A Car

This was prepared as the midterm for my Regis MSCIT OOAD class:


Download the Visio 2000 .vsd file containing this Use Case Diagram.

The Visio 2000 software used to create this diagram does not support the UML v2.0 <<include>> and <<extend>> stereotypes. Visio 2000 supports the UML v1.1 stereotype <<uses>> to refer to functionality to be constructed alongside its main scenario. <<extends>> refer to exception scenarios that are "nice to have" or optional functionality.

Visio 2000 also has an annoying habit of breaking off (dangling?) individual characters from words and rearranging lines to make the diagram more difficult to follow.

Use Case Scenarios For Buying A Car

This use case diagram is composed of three main scenarios listed below.
1. Make Purchase Decision is my generalization. Conduct Test Drive is an optional part of it, even though to me is the most fun part of buying a car. I suppose there are people who buy a car without ever sitting in it (such as people buying over eBay or other website).

2. Determine Financing optionally involves Evaluate Trade-in (which only the finance guy does). Obtain credit report is mandatory because no sane dealer would want to have someone drive off without one.

   There is a link back to Make Purchase Decision because financing is often a consideration in the the decision to buy a new car.

3. Exchange Ownership I decomposed into mandatory "uses" scenarios Prepare Papers and Sign Papers because they are done by different parties and can occur at different times or even at different places.

Designing Flexible Object-Oriented Systems with UML (15 September, 1999) by Charles Richter