My Dummy Car

Archive for the ‘Car Rental’ Category

The paint on your car is not only the thing that makes it shiny and pretty, it is also what protects the structure of the car from damage like the weather, scratches and dings, and dirt and bird poo. Different types of paint have different qualities. Here is your guide to the different types of paint you can have on your car.

Acrylic Lacquer

This type of paint has many benefits. It is easy to apply, which means that a novice can conceivably paint a car without it looking like a child did it. It also makes the car nice and glossy, which is a desirable quality in car paint. There are some bad things about it, however. UV rays, chemicals, and chips weaken it easily, so a car painted with acrylic lacquer would need to be repainted often. Which brings us to the worst thing about it – it would be bad to have to use it often, because it is very bad for the environment. In fact, it has been banned in many states.

Acrylic Enamel

Acrylic enamel is much harder than lacquer, so it stands up to the elements better. Car manufacturers and professional car painters bake on the enamel. Acrylic enamel also come in spray cans, but because the paint is not as easy to apply. If you try to do it yourself, you might end up with a drippy, streaky car. Also, many enamels require a topcoat, so that’s a lot to do on your own.

Acrylic Urethane

Acrylic urethane combines the best of both the acrylic lacquer and acrylic enamel worlds. It is easier to apply like lacquer, yet tougher and more durable like enamel. It is also a bit more complicated. It comes in three different, separate products. First is the color, then the reducer that makes the color the right consistency, or viscosity, and finally a product that makes the drying time faster. Once you mix all three components together, you have to use it quickly, and throw away any paint that is left over. The paint is pretty toxic, so if you work with it you’ll need gloves, a respirator, and eye protection to make sure you don’t get it on or in you.

The car rental industry is a multi-billion dollar sector of the US economy. The US segment of the industry averages about $18.5 billion in revenue a year. Today, there are approximately 1.9 million rental vehicles that service the US segment of the market. In addition, there are many rental agencies besides the industry leaders that subdivide the total revenue, namely Dollar Thrifty, Budget and Vanguard. Unlike other mature service industries, the rental car industry is highly consolidated which naturally puts potential new comers at a cost-disadvantage since they face high input costs with reduced possibility of economies of scale. Moreover, most of the profit is generated by a few firms including Enterprise, Hertz and Avis. For the fiscal year of 2004, Enterprise generated $7.4 billion in total revenue. Hertz came in second position with about $5.2 billion and Avis with $2.97 in revenue.

Level of Integration

The rental car industry faces a completely different environment than it did five years ago. According to Business Travel News, vehicles are being rented until they have accumulated 20,000 to 30,000 miles until they are relegated to the used car industry whereas the turn-around mileage was 12,000 to 15,000 miles five years ago. Because of slow industry growth and narrow profit margin, there is no imminent threat to backward integration within the industry. In fact, among the industry players only Hertz is vertically integrated through Ford.

Scope of Competition

There are many factors that shape the competitive landscape of the car rental industry. Competition comes from two main sources throughout the chain. On the vacation consumer’s end of the spectrum, competition is fierce not only because the market is saturated and well guarded by industry leader Enterprise, but competitors operate at a cost disadvantage along with smaller market shares since Enterprise

If you have a car, then you would need car insurance. The best car insurance can protect your car from any inconvenience should a likely car accident occur. But you should also be careful of what kind of car insurance you have. There are a lot of them available out there but not all can give you that coverage that you might be looking for.

As most other types of insurance available to choose from, the same thing goes with insuring your own car. There are different types that you can choose from, depending on what your needs are. There are liability car insurance policies that cover for accidental bodily injury as well as property damage to others. There are also policies that cover only damages caused by collisions with other vehicles or objects. There are also comprehensive car insurance policies that cover for loss or damage to the insured vehicle caused by circumstances other than car accidents. This may include car damage or loss due to fire, hail, vandalism, or theft.

Another type of car insurance policy available for you covers for medical expenses for injuries caused by a car accident regardless of fault. There is also a type of car insurance policy called Personal Injury Protection (PIP) that covers an insured driver for injuries acquired from a car accident, regardless of fault. There are also car insurance policies that can cover a motorist from car damages in a car accident with a driver who doesn’t have liability insurance.

In the world of collecting one of the most important factors in the valuation of an item is originality. Just because a ventriloquist dummy has a head, body, hands and legs does not always mean you are buying a complete figure. As with any other collectible if parts have been changed or replaced with parts from something else devaluation occurs. If you have a Frank Marshall dummy and then the head is placed into a Finis Robinson body automatically you have a devaluation which occurs. Yes it is a complete ventriloquist dummy but not correct.

If you purchase a Jaguar automobile but replace the Jaguar engine with a Chevrolet engine, yes the car may run much better, but it will never be worth what it was prior to the engine swap. Now in the automotive world when a car gets reupholstered, new paint, new chrome, and engine rebuild etc., you certainly bring back the value and sometime, more often than not, the vehicle will become more valuable than the actual value of the antique car. With ventriloquist dummies just the opposite occurs. When you take an original dummy’s paint and redo it you will lose value automatically. Originality is the key to greatest value. A ventriloquist dummy with original paint, wig, body, hands even clothing will command the highest prices in return.