Car Audio

Posts Tagged ‘car contract hire’

The Audi logo with the circles always reminds me of that trick magicians do, you know the one where they link separate solid metal rings together into a chain. As a child I could never work out how they did it, and now I find myself wondering the same thing about Audi and their equally baffling methods of staying afloat in the recession.

At a time when the bulk of the car industry is on its knees, I’m sure I’m seeing more Audi TT’s on the roads than ever before. I’m sure it’s not my imagination – suddenly it seems everyone is driving these swanky upmarket cars, despite the obvious widespread financial issues.

I suppose it could just be that the type of people who buy Audi cars probably had more money in the first place, and are less likely to have been hit by the credit crunch. Maybe it’s just that those who still have spare cash to spend on fancy cars want to flaunt it, but I doubt that can really be it. Well, not the only reason anyway!

A far more likely explanation is the fact that, while most people just can’t afford to think about investing in new cars at the moment, their old ones are still wearing out and needing to be replaced. And if you need a new car but can’t afford to buy brand new, the logical solution is to look at car contract hire instead.

And the best thing about contract hire or leasing is that the cost of the car is split into simple manageable instalments. You’re not restricted to only considering cheaper cars, or ones that you would have been able to afford to buy outright. In fact, the better car you choose the better deal you can usually get. So if you always wanted an Audi but couldn’t quite justify buying one, then Audi contract hire could let you get your dream car despite the credit crunch.

Judging from the increasing number of posh cars around at the moment, it would seem people are beginning to wise up to this cunning method of tricking the recession! (Oh and in case you were wondering – the other trick, the one with the rings, is usually done either with concealed gaps in the rings or simply slight of hand as the magician conceals the fact they were connected all along. And yes, my childhood self was gutted when I finally found it out!)

When you see the graphics of the new Grand Turismo you can't argue with how realistic they look. When playing these types of games i could really go for one of the top of the range cars that I am racing with. When playing a game like this you always want the car that you play with the most, is that really a possibilty?

With car contract hire they can most certainly become available with as little as £214 a month. When pl;aying some of the new games out there like Grand Turismo it is easy, even for me, to see why people spend so much money on cars when they look this great, and with car leasing you really dont have to spend much at all on a fantastic looking car. The graphics of these kind of games are usually the best out there but do they really beat the old games with much better playabillty. In ten years the games industry has been growing and with this growth comes the new graphics technology that you see when playing games such as this. it's hard to believe how far the graphics have come, when playing F1 nine years ago I thought back then that they were never going to beat it.

It is truly amazing to see how far the power of the graphics have come after loading up the new Grand Turismo. Of course it is arguable that you can’t steer away from the playability of the N64 as it is a truly amazing console, purely because it was the main one I played constantly when I was a schoolboy. However it was not until I started to play the games that actually showed the cars for how they look in reality that I realised I might actually consider buying one of these cars.

Are these brilliant graphics put into the game for playabilty or just so you can really see how good these cars are? To a certain extent, yes! Using the game you cna pick from hundereds of models of cars as well as the colour that suites your need. In these types of games the graphics are so good you could really choose your next car as well it's colour without having to leave the house. Fantastic!

As well as this, with hires like Audi contract hire for ridiculously small amounts of money a month, the cars you see in games can truly become your own.

The car gadget industry is growing on how many are released every year. The most popular can be fitted and unfitted easily which is especially important when you’ve got a car contract hire. The gadgets listed are the ones I think are the best.

Time to show some messages at the back of the car.
A great way to tell people what you really think about them, even better write out how's my driving, I dont really care. A great way to have a laugh in the car.

Econav
Doesn't compete with the main rival tom-tom but it's great for everyone who loves to be environmentally friendly as ot chooses the most fuel-efficient route to take.

The in-car safe.
Good if you need to keep any other gadgets locked away. Many of these safe's can be attached to the car without any mess however, what happens if your whole car gets stolen?

The alcohol breath tester.
Brilliant for either a laugh or to see if you really have gone over the limit. Not sure that having it in the car is the best message to put out, but there you go.

More money gone to Dad
There is no way I can afford lessons but still my dad moans for having to take me everywhere I go, simple answer is buy me lessons! The money I do have will be gone with this gadget as it records how much you need to pay for every lift you get, hence the name. Brilliant for dad’s not so brilliant for everyone else.

The fan for the car.
A great idea for all those cars that don't have air conditioning. Keeps you cool for as little as £4, you cant argue with that.99 you can’t really go wrong.

The speed camera moniter.
These are perfect for the motorist, (most of them) who loves to speed in their cars. Goes off whenever you are near one which is perfect as you have time to slow down. However it cant tell you where the police are so watch out!

The Tom-Tom gadget
Really has got to be no other competition. Stops all arguments about being lost and you can have numerous voices installed onto it as well.

Most of these gadgets are removable which is brilliant if you are always changing cars. Car contract hire is a brilliant idea and you can carry the gadgets from perhaps a Punto all the way to as top of the range Audi with a Audi contract hire.

How far has car industry technology come in recent years? From being a luxury way back in the 1930’s to the cheap affordable way you can buy them now using car contract hire it is amazing just how far they have come.

The knowledge of the games industry is the best way I can talk about the change in technology. With this I am going way back to the days of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. I could cover the first ever racing game but seeing as I was only really around from the realease of the SNES it is best that I only cover the time after this. One of the first driving games I ever played was F1 pole position which was released way back in 1993, which, for it's time was brilliant.

In the short space of four years see's the release of F1 pole position 64 on the Nintendo 64. The jump between the two games is simply astonishing. The cars have gone from being 2-D to 3-D which for it’s time was a giant leap in technology. The next jump skips the next generation of consoles and forms itself onto the PS3 and Xbox 360 as some of the graphics on the driving games on these consoles are so realstic it is truly unreal.V.

Of course the transition did not just happen to the gaming industry, there have been many advancements in the technology of the car over the same period of time. The biggest and best in my opinion isn’t the amazing new Ferrari’s you see being released it is in fact the Hybrid car. They save on a lot of energy which is going to be useful when all the oil runs out in the not too distant future and in all honesty some of them look pretty awesome. The newer models of the Hyrbid enable you to put more charge into the battery when you brake the car.

Of course not to be forgotten is the brilliant to shut the kids up, T.V in the car as well as heated seats to calm the Mrs down during a heated 'you've got us lost' argument.

The Hyrbid car is only going to increase in sales (after the recession that is) and will certainly be the car of the future, but for nowl, you need a car that is both decent and afforable. Leased cars can work out a lot cheaper? The Audi contract hire looks pretty good as well as being as little as £214 a month.

Over the last few of weeks the UK has been hit with some of the most extreme weather we’ve had in a long time. The first week of February brought the heaviest snowfall we’ve seen for 18 years, causing schools to close and leaving over 6 million people unable to get to work. Most public transport was cancelled and many roads were deemed unsafe due to the icy conditions.

The continuing bad weather is a real worry for drivers everywhere, with an increased risk of accidents on the icy roads as well as all sorts of further problems caused by the extreme conditions. There have been a number of incidents of sudden heavy snowfall trapping drivers in their cars and causing them to have to be dug out, while in other parts of the country the melting snow has been replaced with heavy rains and severe flood warnings have been issued.

All this is bad news for car owners, not only because of the heightened personal risk of driving on the roads, but also because a damaged car can be a costly business. With the recession affecting us all, most people just couldn’t afford to splash out on a new car if something happened to theirs. And this is the real problem with owning a car. It’s brilliant until something goes wrong, but then it can just become really expensive. You might think it won’t apply to you, that you’re a safe driver who won’t get into that sort of situation. But as the last few weeks have proved, you can never predict what will happen on the roads, and there’s nothing you can do to prevent it.

The problem is that once you have paid for a car it becomes entirely your responsibility. Then the car is more likely to go wrong the older it gets, especially in extreme weather conditions, and the more it will cost you when it does. And even when you get it fixed, it still won’t be worth half what you paid for it in the first place as a car only ever decreases in value over time.

The people who manage to avoid these worries are those who opt for a car contract hire deal instead of buying a car outright. It doesn’t mean the car’s not yours, it just means that you pay for it in regular monthly instalments and you often get extra benefits thrown in like road tax and servicing costs. So if something did happen, you wouldn’t have to cover the whole bill yourself. And the best thing is that when the contract hire expires after a couple of years you can trade the car in for a new one, meaning you’ve always got the latest updated model. And as you’ll always be driving a new car, it’s less likely to break down in the first place as it won’t have had time to wear out!

The French government have recently announced a €6.5bn loan to support the country’s sinking car industry. It is the latest in an long line of similar measures taken around the world to protect jobs and the economy through the recession. A huge worldwide slump in sales has left even the most established car manufacturers struggling, and millions of workers in danger of losing their jobs.

In the UK there have already been a number of job losses despite the industry receiving large amounts of money in an attempt to keep business afloat. A number of factories have had to close temporarily and the Japanese carmaker Nissan has just become the latest to announce that it will be making job cuts of almost 10% of its global workforce, including 1200 positions in its UK factories.

In these times of recession, it’s difficult to see how the car industry is going to recover. With things the way they are, many people are feeling the strain and having to keep a close eye on their finances. It’s safe to say that buying a car is the last thing on most people’s minds, and until the economy starts improving the motoring industry can’t do much more than bide its time.

But getting direct sales is not always the only option for car dealers. If the problem is that people don’t have enough money to buy cars upfront, the answer could be to offer more car contract hire deals where customers lease their car on a monthly basis until the cost has been paid off. The availability of these deals means that buyers have a far greater choice when it comes to cars – they have the option of choosing a more expensive car that may normally be out of their price range, which means more money for the car manufacturers in the long run.

Contract hire is a great deal for the consumer too, not only does it mean you get a wider choice of more desirable cars but the payment is in manageable instalments and there are often loads of other benefits thrown in. The contract will often include extras like servicing costs and road tax in the monthly price, so there’s less for customers to worry about. Basically, everyone wins!

So you want to look for a new car but just can’t seem to make your finances stretch far enough? Or maybe you’ve already found the car of your dreams, but know you’ll never be able to afford it. You’re not alone – the car industry has been hit hardest of all by the credit crunch and sales have reached an all time low. It seems no one can afford to think about investing in a new car right now.

But don’t let that get you down – there is still another option. There is a way you could still get the car of your choice, without even having to pay upfront for it. Car contract hire or leasing agreements are a great way to choose the exact car you want and you only have to pay one manageable monthly fee.  

I know what you’re thinking, there has got to be a catch, right? Well, in fact, no there really isn’t. Sure you have to sign a contract but you get to choose from whichever car you want, even those that would normally be out of your price range. In fact, the more popular and desirable the car is, the better deals you can get. It’s not like buying a new car where the value decreases with time, most contract hire agreements are based on your projected usage so they take wear and tear into account and when the contract ends you can trade it in for a newer model.

Choosing contract hire will usually also help with the running cost of having a car – often the road tax and servicing costs are thrown in to the monthly instalments so you won’t find yourself suddenly landed with huge repair bills. And it’s less likely to break down as you can trade it in every couple of years, so you’ll always have the latest new model.

Basically, it’s a really beneficial and financially viable way of getting a new car without any of the worries of buying outright – it really makes sense, especially now when times are hard. And who knows, you might end up with that dream car after all!