Cars of Technology

or What’s My Car Actually  Worth? Appraisals are often triggered by some type of transaction you didn’t expect. You’re getting a divorce and her lawyers are disputing your claim that the car is only worth a few thousand dollars. Or, your insurance company is questioning the estimate for repairing your car. Remember when you donated your car to that museum? Now the IRS is asking for more documentation. All of these things will more than likely involve a lawyer and in many cases a judge. Will your appraisal hold up in an arbitration hearing or in court? You have to assume that  the value of the vehicle in your appraisal report will be disputed in an arbitration or a court room. The IRS will look at the competency of your appraiser to ensure that you’re not overstating the value of the donated property . The best way to minimize any problem is to hire a professional appraiser who follows the guidelines in IRS Publication 546 “Determining the Value of Donated Property.”  The ...

We all love driving events. We like them so much that we spend an inordinate amount of money trying to make our car go faster.  There is also a low budget approach to being faster. Let’s make the driver faster. Think about your fitness program.  Training outside the car will make you faster in the car. Think about how much time you spend working on your car. It may be time to think about working on you. Are you the same person who buys titanium bolts to save weight and then eats a whole pizza for lunch?  Your Fitness Program: You don't need strength to drive your autocross or track car. You need to be in peak physical condition for a relatively small amount of time. Brad Sikes works with NASCAR’s Kevin Harvick and he puts the emphasis on cardio training. He believes you should be doing short bursts of high intensity exercise where you reach your maximum heart rate. Once you reach your goal you should then back off to let your body recover. If you think of a roller coaster...