Healthy Eating Habits

I read a lot about the

topics of health and especially diets. I have been experimenting with

diets since 1990 and keep journals about my

observations. Over time I tried several very different diets - ranging

from the politically correct ones to highly controversial, along with diets

of my own design. My general observation is that a healthy diet plays an essential

role in the overall scheme of well being.

Why eat healthy?

Eating the natural foods humans are well adapted at utilizing, enhances

ones ability to cope with the reality of every day life. This in essence

improves the probability of living a longer, healthier life. Quality food consumption becomes

especially important in the present world of high stress and pollution -

making a healthy diet an essential aspect of modern self health care.

(Although food is not the only aspect contributing to health or disease, it

is significant enough to consider it's effects seriously.)

I think anybody who seriously tried living healthier through a better diet,

proper physical activity, adequate rest, and by addressing mental and

spiritual factors have experienced a vast range of natural health benefits.

Common benefits are overall better health and a sense of well being, better sleep,

improved physical endurance and strength, sharper mental abilities and lower

sleep requirements. Further more, no or little time and money and energy is

spend on doctors, hospitals and health insurance bills.

What is a healthy diet?

Since this article deals with healthy eating, a question remains

to be answered: what constitutes a healthy diet? Unfortunately, there are

more opinions about this than there are health experts. To further complicate

the matter, dietary concepts change over time, leaving most people confused and uncertain

about what or whom to trust. One solution to this problem is to become sufficiently

knowledgeable about the relevant subjects and rely on common sense to draw basic

conclusions. Along with personal experimentation, such an approach will

enable one to establish healthy eating habits. This takes time and energy, but considering

the long lasting benefits a healthy diet can provide, the effort is more then well worth it.

In order to determine the minimal basic requirements of a healthy diet, I

concluded that it is safe to start with the following two objectives:

examine human diet over time - the foods humans consumed since the arrival of our species.
examine diets of ethnical groups known for their good health.

Looking at the type of diets humans lived on through out pre-history, provides good

insights into the kind of foods human body should be well adapted at utilizing and dealing with.

Further, the diets of certain ethnical groups that are well known for good health -

the people of Okinawa(Japan), traditional cultures in the Mediterranean region and many hunter-gatherer

societies - suggest certain health promoting dietary habits. Upon closer examination, two main

denominators emerged:

diets are based on natural, whole or minimally processed foods in accordance to heritage.
diets are lower in calories compared to a typical western diet.

In the context of present time, one can therefore make two general assumptions in regard to

the question of what constitutes a healthy diet: 1) generally, the less a food is processed the better.

2) eat less - eat what is adequate, do not over eat.

Generally, the less a food is processed the better

The reason for this is simple. For 99.9% of human existence, our species

lived on foods that were either raw or minimally processed. The technology

needed to increase food processing did not exist until very recently.

It is therefore reasonable to assume that our bodies are best adapted at

utilizing and dealing with the raw or minimally processed foods which sustained

us for hundreds of thousands of years: fruits, vegetables, meats, nuts and seeds.

Often, the more recent the food is, the more likely it is to be less beneficial

or even directly harmful - possibly due to lack of full adaptation to such foods.

For example, it is estimated that food cooking started about

500 000 - 250 000 years ago (depending on the source, the range may vary). During

this time frame, it is likely that human species have at least adapted in some way to cooked

animal and vegetable foods. On the other hand, the beginnings of grain consumption

are much more recent. Evidence of earliest known, systematical collecting of grains

for food goes back to about 23 000 years ago - giving less time for

adaptation to grain based foods.

Now, let's fast forward to recent times and consider all the new, human invented,

highly processed foods so common today: fast foods, pizza, sweets, chips, convenience

foods, canned foods, etc. along with the dramatic rise in heart attacks, high blood pressure,

stroke, cancers, diabetes, kidney problems (and all the complications that arose from these

conditions) during the past 100 years or so.

Considering the declining health of most western

nations as opposed to good health of the ethnical groups described above, it seems reasonable

that the most recent food inventions are directly harmful to human health.

Further, it has been repeatedly observed that as ethnical groups around the

world adopt the modern western diet, their health dramatically declines and they develop

the same diseases that are so common to westerners. Not to mention the fact that

the above mentioned diseases were far less common among westerners

themselves barely 100 years ago.

The more a food is processed - through excessive cooking, pasteurization,

homogenization, high heat, mechanical processing, etc, - the less natural and nutritious it becomes to a point

of becoming a harmful burden to the body, rather then a useful and health promoting food. Some

industrial processing practices deprive food of their nutrients to such a high degree that the food

has to be "enriched" by artificially adding some nutrients back into the food. This is especially

true of flours where vitamins are added back in after the processing is done.

A good diet is based on natural, whole or minimally processed foods. A large portion

of it should consist of foods that can be eaten raw, such as fruits and vegetables.

Fermented or cultured, unpasteurized foods such as kefir, yogurt, cheeses, miso, sauerkraut and pickles

are considered highly beneficial. Cooking should be minimal and only applied to foods that

must be cooked in order to be edible. Ancestral heritage also plays an important role

as certain foods may need to be excluded or emphasized.

Eat less - eat what is adequate, do not over eat

During the past several decades, food in the western and westernized nations became

increasingly affordable and more readily available then ever before in

human history. This very fact combined with the enjoyment food consumption brings,

results in all too frequent over eating. Which again leads to the above mentioned health

problems.

In the past, as in the traditional way of living among the ethnical groups mentioned

earlier, food consumption has always been significantly lower. Food quality, on the other

hand, has always been higher. Resulting in a lower food intake, but of nutrient dense foods.

Finally, as an interesting note, it has been repeatedly confirmed through laboratory experiments on animals,

including monkeys, that cutting down calories considerably lowers their susceptibility

to diseases and prolongs their life up to 50%. It is believed by many,

that life long caloric restriction can have similar effects on humans.

Health promoting eating habits

Over time, through reading and experimenting, I gradually arrived at several

basic health promoting habits that in my experience are the most important:


Avoid or minimize:


Avoid all junk, sweets, canned and convenience foods - including
all foods with added sugar: most commercial yogurts, kefirs and juices, fruit and soft drinks.


Avoid all refined or overly heated fats: margarine, any oil that is not cold
pressed, leftover fat from cooking, all foods that contain hydrogenated or
partially hydrogenated fats and trans fatty acids (read the labels). Such
fats are considered to be among the most health damaging foods.


Avoid consumption of fish and water animals unless certain they came from unpolluted waters.
Especially predators should be avoided as the toxins accumulate in them in
far greater quantities.


Keep the intake of foods high in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) low - mainly
nuts and seeds and any products made from them (mostly oils). PUFAs are unstable,
they oxidize readily resulting in harmful free radicals. High PUFA intake have
been repeatedly linked with cancer, heart and inflammatory diseases.


Do not cook meat or fat at high temperatures while exposed to air. Such practice
will avoid fat and cholesterol oxidation - believed to be responsible for build up
of arterial plaque and injury to arterial cells. Grilling and frying is especially
harmful. Boiling is probably the safest way of cooking meat.


Minimize or eliminate consumption of foods frequently contaminated with mycotoxins: alcoholic beverages,
wheat, rye, barley, corn and peanuts. Mycotoxins are poisonous substances produced
by certain molds and fungi which cause a wide range of health problems including cancer,
asthma, multiple sclerosis and diabetes.


Emphasize and do:

The more natural and less processed the food the better. Emphasize whole, fresh foods.
Replace white rice with brown rice; white bread with whole grain bread; sugar with
small amounts of raw honey or dry fruit; pasta with millet or whole grain pasta; canned
foods with fresh; candy and other sweets with dry or sweet fruit;
etc. Organic foods are best as they are higher in nutrients and do not contain
harmful pesticides, hormones or antibiotics found in conventional foods.
Always choose fresh over frozen, dried or canned foods. Fresh foods taste better,
have more nutrients in them, have no added salt, sugar or unhealthy additives.


Enjoy simple meals. Generally, the
simpler the food preparation the more nutrients are preserved and the easier it is to
digest. Simple meals are easy and quick to prepare and use fewer
resources like electricity and water - thus are more environmentally friendly and less costly.


Only cook foods that need to be cooked in order to be edible (beans, grains and some vegetables).
Foods that are edible in a raw state (fruits, most vegetables, sprouts, nuts and seeds)
should be consumed on a daily basis and preferably with every meal. Raw foods are higher in nutrients,
which to some degree get lost during cooking, and are easier to digest. At least 50% of
the diet, by volume, should consist of raw foods.


Steam vegetables that need to be cooked - steaming preserves more nutrients which
when boiled leech into the water. Do not overcook. Cooked vegetables should be crunchy
when you eat them, not soft.


Chew food well (simply chew it longer) and eat at a comfortable pace. This improves
digestion which already starts in the mouth while saliva gets mixed with the food.



Variety in diet is very important - to prevent allergies, malnutrition and to lower
exposure to natural and man-made toxins found in many natural foods.


Always properly wash fruits and vegetables before consumption. This lowers the
exposure to agricultural chemicals (used to cultivate conventional plants) and harmful microorganisms.
Peel the skin if washing is not sufficient.



Nuts and seeds should be soaked before consumption - to lower or eliminate natural
anti nutrients like enzyme inhibitors. Soaking makes them much easier to digest.
Do not eat more then a few handfuls a week as they are high in PUFAs and difficult
to digest.


Grains (except amaranth, millet and rice) and beans must be soaked before
consumption. This lowers or eliminates anti nutrients like phytic acid which inhibits
mineral absorption that can lead to mineral deficiency.


Fruits are best eaten alone as a snack between meals. To improve digestion only eat
one type of fruit at a time.


Regularly consume unpasteurized fermented/cultured foods like sauerkraut, miso,
pickles, kefir, yogurt, etc. These are pre-digested foods that are high in
probiotics (friendly bacteria) and enzymes which provide numerous health benefits.
Start with what your ancestors consumed and later experiment with other foods
as well.


Regularly consume enzyme rich foods: sprouts, raw honey, grapes, figs, avocados,
bananas, papayas, pineapple, kiwi, mango and fermented/cultured
foods (see above). Enzymes obtained from raw foods ease the digestion by reducing
the body's need to produce digestive enzymes.


Consider the diet your ancestors ate for thousands of years - you will most likely
do very well on such a diet due to the long period of adaptation to it.
For example, the traditional Chinese diet is high in carbohydrates and low in fat and protein;
Europeans, on the other hand, have been eating less carbs and more protein and fat;
North American Indians did not eat grains.


Drink adequate amounts of liquid through out the day. Water is best. Under normal conditions,
most people need 2-3 liters of liquid/day.


Unless very hungry, do not eat for 3-4 hours before bedtime. That way the nightly fast
can be prolonged considerably. This gives the body more/adequate time and energy to perform the
countless nightly tasks that are so essential to good health. (Rather then digesting the
just eaten meal)


Eat only when hungry and do not overeat regardless of food. I found this to be among the
most important of all health promoting habits.


Good sources of protein:

any meat that comes from organic, free range animals that are fed their natural diet (hard to find)
when not organic: lean poultry meat (high fat cuts are high in polyunsaturated fatty acids which oxidize readily during cooking and in the body; toxins accumulate in the fat)
beans
fresh, soaked or sprouted nuts and seeds
raw fermented milk products: sour milk, kefir, cheeses, etc (hard to find)
wild game
eggs

Most commercial meats including pork and beef, unless organic and not fed corn/grains/beans,

contain antibiotics, hormones and too many polyunsaturated fats - thus should be avoided.

Good sources of carbohydrates:

vegetables
fruits
whole or minimally processed fresh and mold free grains: rice, oat, amaranth, millet, barley, wheat, etc.
beans
potatoes

Good sources of fats:

avocados
butter
fresh, soaked or sprouted nuts and seeds (mostly source of omega 6)
coconuts or coconut oil
full fat raw milk products (cheese, milk, cream, etc) from pasture fed cattle
olives or first cold pressed (extra virgin) olive oil

Shopping

I always try to find organic foods to avoid harmful substances like hormones, antibiotics, pesticides, etc.

The most contaminated fruits are: raisins, cherries, peaches, strawberries, mexican

(winter) cantaloupe, apples, apricots, Chilean (winter) grapes. And the most

contaminated vegetables are: spinach, celery, green beans, bell peppers, cucumbers,

cultivated button mushrooms, potatoes and wheat. Lean poultry is probably the safest meat

to eat if not organic.

Meal examples

What follows are weekly meals that closely resemble my diet at the time of this

writing. When planning meals, the key idea is to have variety in diet and to rely on

food combinations that agree with ones digestion.

TBS = table spoon

tsp = tea spoon

/ = or

any fruit eaten alone
0.5L sour milk, 300g potatoes, fennel
0.5L kefir, 50-100g oatmeal, 25g raisins
0.5L plain yogurt, 300g grapes/2-3 bananas
50-100g oatmeal, 1-2TBS honey, cinammon
½ salad head, 1-2 tomatoes/pepper fruit, ½ cucumber/squash, 1-2TBS olive oil
medium avocado, 1-2 bananas, cinammon
50-100g brown rice, 1-2 hardboiled eggs, 2-4 radishes, 25-50g leeks, 1-2TBS ground flax seeds, 50g sprouts
50-100g amaranth, 1-2 steamed parsnips, 1 steamed onion, 1-2 steamed carrots, celery stick, 1tsp freshly grated raw ginger, parsley, 1TBS olive oil
200g mung bean sprouts, 1-2 carrots, 25-50g leeks, 25g soaked pumpkin seeds/almonds/sesame seeds
½ steamed broccoli/cauliflower, 1-2 tomatoes/pepper fruit, ½ squash/cucumber, 150g turkey/chicken breast, 2-3 cloves of minced garlic, 1TBS olive oil
100g buckwheat sprouts, 2 carrots, florence fennel stick, 25g sprouted sunflower seeds, 25g raisins
50-100g amaranth, steamed onion, steamed asparagus, florence fennel stick, 1tsp freshly grated raw ginger, parsley, 1TBS coconut oil
50-100g millet, celery stick, 2-4 radishes, 25-50g leeks, 25g pumpkin seeds

I plan meals loosely, 1-2 days ahead. The meal preparation is very simple: meat and

eggs are boiled in water, vegetables that need cooking are steamed. Since certain food vitamins

become more bioavailable once exposed to low heat cooking, it is a good idea to alternate

between cooked and raw vegetables. For example,

Bio-carotene found in carrots becomes more absorbable after light steaming.

I adjust the quantity of food according to how physically active I am during the day.

In addition to the above foods I also take vitamin and mineral supplements and

drink bottled water. I use spices and salt. Kefir and sour milk are made at home

from organic full-fat, unhomogenised pasteurized milk. Sprouts are home grown as well

for maximum freshness. Both are very easy to make and require only few minutes of

daily attention.

Final thoughts

Although a healthy diet can enormously improve ones health, it is only one essential part

of healthy living. The other parts are proper and adeqaute physical activity,

mental and spiritual well being, and adequate rest. All need to be addressed in order to

achieve better health.

An important thing I learned while experimenting with diets and other health

related approaches is to always pay attention to the signals from the body. It is essential to

do this - in order to maintain good health - and adjust accordingly. As one gets

better at reading the body, it becomes natural to self diagnose a lot of minor problems (which can

become major if not paid attention to) and remedy them by simply adjusting the diet or other aspects of life.

Finally, we are all different - what works for one person may not work for another - thus it's

important to experiment with ones diet to find out what works and what doesn't.

Disclaimer: This article represents personal views and should

be treated as such. Implementation of any ideas contained

herein can only be done at own risk.

(If you found this article helpful, you may return the favor by buying a poster of one of my images at www.art.eonworks.com/gallery/gallery.html.)

Copyright © 2005 Dawid Michalczyk. All Rights Reserved. This content

may be copied in full, with copyright, contact, creation, information and links intact, without specific permission, when used only in a not-for-profit

format. Author's email: dm@eonworks.com

Dawid Michalczyk is a freelance illustrator and an artist. He enjoys learning about health, anthropology and computers. He loves to ride a bicycle and does it almost every day. To see examples of his work and other writings visit his website at http://www.art.eonworks.com. He can be reached at dm@eonworks.com

Taking Care Of Your Older Vehicle

Introduction

More people are keeping their cars longer than ever before. The days of trading in a vehicle after two years seem to be over for a growing part of the US populace who have decided to keep their cars and drive them until they drop. In today's economy many owners hang onto their older cars because they can't afford a new one.

Older cars do offer advantages over newer models. Financially, all of the initial depreciation has already happened, so you don't lose the value initially that you would when you drive the new car off the lot. You can buy a five year old Porsche for the same price as a brand new Honda Accord. Figures from CNW Marketing Research also show that a car purchased new in 2008 would cost around $25,500, with the same car now being worth $13,000. If you were to purchase it now, you'd have saved about $12,000 over a five year period.

In addition to being cheaper, older cars generally have lower insurance costs and cost less to register. The difference in registration can be as much as $1,000 depending on the state and whether the car is less than three years old. Older cars cost less to insure because they're cheaper to replace if stolen or wrecked.

Some times we may refer to older vehicles and some times we use the term 'high mileage'. High mileage can be understood to mean high miles per year, such as over 15,000 miles per year. For our purposes here, we're thinking of older vehicles that have accumulated high total miles. How many miles? If you are driving a car or truck with 75,000 or more miles on the odometer, investing the time and money to properly maintain your older vehicle may turn out to be the right move.

With that in mind, we bring you The Guide to Maintaining Your Older Vehicle. In this resource we will cover the important priorities you should consider in maintaining your older vehicle, important maintenance points for when you acquire a new-to-you older car, and when you should consider finally replacing your older vehicle for a newer one.

The Important Priorities

Keeping an older car running well can be a daunting task when you're unfamiliar with what to do. What should you do first? Last? What things can you ignore and what things do you ignore at your (and your car's) peril? There's a lot of think about.

To simplify things, break it down into manageable bits. When owning and maintaining an older car, there are three types of priority areas that need to be addressed.

Priority #1:Items that may cause unsafe operating conditions when driving your vehicle. This includes your car's braking system, tires, steering system, and what we call "the driver vision system" which is ensuring the clarity of all glass and keeping the windows and windshields' free of cracks or anything else that would obstruct vision.

Priority #2: Proper maintenance on potential things that could leave you stranded or cause other components such as the engine to fail. This includes radiator hoses, fuel lines, constant velocity (CV) joints, clutch fan and timing belts.

Priority #3: Normal maintenance like changing the engine oil, transmission fluid and engine coolant. This type of maintenance doesn't prevent catastrophic breakdown but is essential to keeping your older vehicle running its best for the longest possible time.

Recommended Maintenance Procedures

Being proactive in the maintenance of your older vehicle will extend its life and save you money. Consider the following areas to target.

Oil Changes - The Life Blood of the Vehicle

Oil changes conducted at the recommended intervals are the single most important step you can take to keep your vehicle healthy. An oil change is cheap insurance because it removes grit and combustion by-products that end up in the crank case and can cause premature wear.

What to do?

Change the oil every 5,000 to 7,000 miles, which is fine for most vehicles. If you drive under severe service conditions (dusty environments, lots of short trips in cold weather), you should change it a little more often. Exactly how often is best dictated by whatever the vehicle owner's manual says.

Some oil change places push high mileage oils for older cars. These high mileage oils are supposed to be formulated with higher doses of additives to prevent oil burn-off and deposits. It certainly doesn't hurt to use a high mileage oil like this or even to use synthetic oil. But the frequency and regularity with which you change the oil is the most important factor.

Brakes - Driving's Not Fun If You Can't Stop

Brakes are one of your vehicle's most important safety features and you should replace brake pads and shoes when they wear out. How often you need to do this depends on your driving habits and where you drive. Lots of city driving with stops and starts will wear the brake pads faster. So will towing trailers and carrying loads. On average, pads may last 30,000 to 40,000 miles. Some more expensive pads can last twice as long.

You can tell that your pads are worn thin if you hear a squealing noise when the brakes are engaged. When the pads are getting thin, the brakes will start to squeal. This is due to built-in wear indicators that are in contact with the rotors, producing that sound. Squealing is kind of a warning sound to you that you need to check your brakes. If you continue on without servicing the brakes, the squealing will turn into grinding. Grinding is the sound that the brakes have ground past the wear indicators and into the rotors themselves, which means the rotors are being damaged when the brakes are engaged. What was a cheap job of replacing pads just became more expensive when you have to re-surface or replace the rotors as well.

Rotors and Drums

It is wise also to pay attention to the other parts of your brake system - rotors, drums and calipers. All of these parts have to work together for the system to function properly and effectively. Over time, brake rotors or drums can be worn down. Excessively worn pads, as noted above, can lead to scoring of the rotor's surface. If you feel pulsating when stopping, you know it's time to have the rotors looked at.

Proper care of the rotors involving "turning" or resurfacing at the mechanic's shop, giving you a fresh surface for the brake pads to grip onto. Resurfacing them saves money you by keeping you from having to replacing them completely. Of course, rotors and drums can only be turned so many times, so it is possible with an older vehicle that you will have to replace these parts.

Machinist turning rotors

Brake System Troubleshooting

There's more to assessing brakes than simply listening for strange sounds. You can get some solid clues on the health of the vehicle braking system (and what you're going to have to do to get it healthy again) by noting any of these unusual symptoms.

Pulling or Grabbing to One Side:This can happen for many reasons, none of them good. The brakes can be misadjusted, there can be leakage of grease, oil or brake fluid, or the brake cables may be frozen.

Loss of Brake Pedal:This happens when you've lost brake fluid to a leak. Leaks can be a result of brake line leaks or faults or even a bad master cylinder. Any good mechanic can diagnose the problem pretty easily.

Vibration of the Brake Pedal:This results from warping of the brake system surfaces. Excessive heat coupled with excessive wear warps the surface of the rotor or drum and results in the signature vibration. Unfortunately when the wear is up to this point, you're probably going to have to replace the brake parts instead of being able to resurface them.

Clicking Noises During Braking:Clicking is simply a result of worn or broken devices on the brake pad that are supposed to stop movement of the brake pad. If they break, the pad will be loose and rattle during braking.

Excessive Drag During Acceleration:If you don't use your emergency break very often, the cable can become rusty and may freeze.

What About Lost Brake Performance?

Catastrophic brake failure is something you want to avoid. But it doesn't just happen overnight; some of the following factors can contribute:

1. Crystallized brake pads and/or shoes: Brakes function when the pad material is able to grab and hold the surface of the rotor or drum. Heat is generated as the brake functions in this way. When brakes becomes overused from stopping too fast too many times or from riding the brakes, the surface of the ad material crystallizes and becomes hard. This makes the brake pad surface unable to grab the rotor surface and unable to stop the car effectively.

Hot brakes under stress

2. Oil or grease soaked brakes. An important reason you should fix broken boots (the rubber sleeve that fits onto the end of the axle) and trans-axles. If they're broken in some fashion, oil and grease can leak onto the brakes and reduce the stopping effectiveness.

3. "Hot Spots" on the brake drums or rotors can develop from excessive overheating in the same fashion as brake pad crystallization. These hot spots are really hardened areas that have been "cooked" by excessive heat. The brake pads can't grip the surface of these areas effectively and this reduces stopping ability.

What To Do?

Don't let the brakes in your older vehicle get to this point. If you can't check the brake pads or rotors yourself for wear and tear, have them looked at by a mechanic every six months or so, as part of a vehicle checkup such as when you have the oil changed. It will save you money and headaches in the long run.

Belts and Hoses

The battery, air conditioning and cooling systems of the car all use belts and hoses to perform their essential functions. You have the timing belt, which keeps the crankshaft and camshaft synchronized to maintain engine timing, and transmits power from the front of the engine to power-hungry systems like AC and the fan. Cooling hoses distribute coolant to needed parts of the engine to prevent overheating. These belts and hoses, made out of rubber, will wear out over time. If one breaks, it can leave you stranded.

The remedy? Replacing them before they have a chance to fail. But how often to do this?

There are serpentine belts and there are v-belts. V-belts last about 3 years or 36,000 miles. The three year cutoff is important to note because research shows that the failure rate for this belts skyrockets when you get into year four.

Serpentine belts last longer at about five years or 50,000 miles. But they cost more to replace so there is a tradeoff there. It's true for both types that you don't want to be around when they break, so pay attention to their life span and plan accordingly.

For rubber hoses like in the cooling system, these develop tiny cracks that turn into big cracks, splits and leaks. This process is accelerated by oil contamination, atmospheric ozone exposure (urban driving), and extra engine vibration which may causes the hose to rub against something it wasn't intended to.

What to do?

You can do visual inspections of the hoses, pinching them and inspecting them for signs of cracks and brittleness. But this only goes so far because coolant hoses especially wear from the inside due to the conductivity of the coolant flowing inside of it.

So the only real way to be sure is to bite the bullet and replace the hoses within the recommended lifetime guidelines.

Automotive Fluids: Coolant

Coolant is the primary fluid most people think of in a vehicle. Coolant has a defined lifespan and requires changes every so often. How often depends on what the owner's manual says. Some vehicles have long-life coolant that's supposed to last 100,000 miles. If you have an older vehicle, this may not be the case.

You need to change the coolant because it breaks down over time. Like oil, coolant has certain kinds of additives contained, including corrosion/rust inhibitors. When the coolant gets old, these get used up and the cooling system rusts from the inside out. The engine block itself will contribute a lot of rust to the situation. The coolant also turns acidic over time due to chemical reactions with the metal in the coolant system. This accelerates the corrosive process. If you let this go too long, the rust clogs passages in the radiator, which causes it to fail over time and your engine to overheat. Now you're talking a big money expense.

Coolant corrosion

For some reason, drivers in hot weather states like Florida ignore their cooling systems more than you would expect. Talk to mechanics in Florida and many will tell you that overheating is the #1 repair they have to deal with. Overheating the car even one time can destroy an engine by warping engine parts like head gaskets and rings. This happens especially if the engine has aluminum parts, which are more sensitive to high heat fluctuations than the old cast iron models. Since we are talking about older cars in this resource guide, it's not certain if your engine would have aluminum in it or not.

What to do for coolant?

Obviously you should keep your coolant levels topped up at the recommended levels. But you will need to flush your coolant system periodically. There are coolant flushes available formulated to neutralize acid buildup in the system, so it may be a good idea to use one of those.

Automotive Fluids: Transmission Fluid

Cars with automatic transmissions use ATF fluids to lubricate the transmission parts, act as a coolant, and help transmit power from the engine to the transmission. Manual transmissions aren't as complex as automatic one but still require some type of oil to accomplish these features. Both of these fluids need to be changed within recommended guidelines (owner's manual). ATF fluid breaks down over time due to the heat exposure. Manual transmission oil gradually gets a buildup of metal particles in it (ATF fluid does as well). Without being cleaned out and changed, these will shorten your transmission life. You don't want to lubricate your transmission with metal shavings. If you've kept your older vehicle as long as you have, it would be shame for it to die due to a transmission issue.

What to do for transmission fluids?

Check the owner's manual for specifics, as usual. Recommendations for changing the fluid can vary, so it is most important to follow the manual recommendations.

Generally speaking, manual transmission fluid gets changed every 30,000 to 60,000 miles. Automatic transmission fluids require changing from every 30,000 to 100,000 miles (60-100k is more common). In between changing, you should always check your fluid levels. Automatic transmissions have dipsticks (like the oil crankcase dipstick) to allow you to check the level. Manual transmissions rarely have dipsticks anymore, but since you have an older car, it's possible. If it does not, you can ask your mechanic to check the oil level when they're looking at other things.

Whether or not to change automatic transmission fluid can be a tricky question, however. If you put new ATF into an old transmission that contains "gunk" and particulate, the detergent action of the new fluid can dislodge things that you don't want dislodged, and it can cause more harm to your transmission than good. If you're unsure whether or not to do it, you could default to smelling the fluid. Automatic transmission fluid that has "going bad" will have a burnt smell to it. Check your fluid dipstick and smell the fluid. If you notice that kind of burnt smell, it's a good indication that you need to not just have the fluid serviced but the actual transmission looked at. Burnt transmission fluid is a sign that the parts inside are breaking down, so to speak.

One more thing... you should always check transmission fluid levels if you notice a leak. Transmission fluid is different from motor oil in that it doesn't burn. So if you check the fluid level and it's low, you've got a leak, no doubt about it. Which you need to get fixed.

Steering and Power Steering Fluid

If you can't steer, you can't get where you're going (unless it's in a straight line). Steering components like ball joints and tie rod ends wear out over time and can cause failure. If you start hearing noises when going over bumps and when turning the steering wheel, this is an indication some of these parts might be wearing and you should look into it. Unless you have a lot of tools, you'll want to take this to a professional.

Power steering fluid is the hydraulic fluid that transmits the power in "power steering". It functions in the steering system through being pushed by a pump to pistons on either side of the steering rack, which enabled you to turn the wheels. Like all fluids, it does not last forever. As the vehicles ages, the steering components like o-rings will wear out and break apart, contaminating the fluid. This causes the power steering pump to work harder and wears it out faster. Replacing power steering fluid is cheaper than replacing a power steering pump. Both of these are cheaper than replacing a damaged power steering rack, which is the words of NPR's Car Talk guys, will require you to take out a small home-equity loan to replace. If you have an older car (and since you're reading this, you probably do), this will likely total your vehicle.

What to do for steering?

Have the steering looked at by a professional when you start hearing funny noises. If you hear whining or moaning when turning the steering wheel, this is a sign your pump could be ready to go. Have your steering fluid changed according to manufacturer guidelines. And check your fluid level, since running out of fluid will destroy your pump pretty quick.

All Aboard The Power Train

The power train encompasses the parts of the car that translate the action and energy of the engine and transmission into vehicle movement.

The part of the power train that older car owners need to concern themselves with the most are the CV joints or drive axle boots. If you look under vehicle near the wheels, you'll see a rubber cover by the axle; this is the CV "boot", and it protects the CV joint which has a compaction of grease lubricating bearings and moving parts that encompass the connection between the drive shaft and the wheel axles. CV stands for "constant velocity", an important component for transferring power from the engine to the wheels.

CV boots often wear out on older front-wheel and all-wheel drive cars. It is crucial that you replace them before they fail because they connect the drive shaft to the wheel axles. There are warning signs you can pick up on if you pay attention. Most common is a popping sound you can hear when you turn the steering wheel. If you look up under your car every so often, you can visually see the condition of the rubber boot and spot if there are cracks in the boot. If so, it's an easy and cheap repair. But if you let it go, the grease can leak out through the cracks and the CV joint can fail. Now you're looking at hundreds of dollars instead of a few.

What to do for CV Joints?

Just check the CV boots every so often, such as when you have your oil changed. Once cracks are noticed, have the boot replaced.

Vehicle Suspension

The suspension interacts with the steering system to provide you with vehicle control. The suspension absorbs energy from bumps in the road to keep the vehicle stable and under control. Shocks, struts, and springs compress and release hundreds of thousands of times over the years of the vehicle's life. This causes them to weaken. These parts are essential for road handling, cornering and cushioning you from bumps, jolts, and vibration. So the suspension isn't as essential as the brakes, but it does play a major part in having a good driving experience. But don't mistake this for a conclusion that the suspension doesn't play an important part in safety. Worn or broken suspension system components can cause accidents or even vehicle roll over in the right driving conditions.

Symptoms of a worn out suspension are obvious but can include things like uneven tire wear and vibration or noise while cornering in the vehicle. Driving habits and operating conditions play a part on how often suspension components wear out and require replacement. So too is the frequency of regular maintenance like chassis lubrication and even wheel alignment.

What to do for suspensions?

Priority should be given to replacing any needed parts to keep the vehicle operating properly. Maintenance steps should include making sure the chassis is lubricated properly.

Wheel Alignment

Tire alignment is essential to the life of your tires. If the alignment is not perfect, excessive tire wear and premature tire failure can result. A new set of tires can run $600 or more, so you want to everything you can to make them last longer.

Periodic alignment checks and adjustment when necessary can save you hundreds of dollars over the life of your vehicle. It's easy to know when your vehicle is out of alignment as it will pull to one side or the other while driving.

Tires: The 2nd Most Important Safety Item

Tires are the contact points between your vehicle and the road. As noted, they can be expensive and thus the incentive is created to keep them in good condition. It's worthwhile to make sure your tire pressure is within the recommended range. Tires are second only to brakes as a safety device on the vehicle. Having tire pressure too high or low affects handling and even braking.

Keep your tires inflated to the correct pressure for safety, even tire wear, and maximum tire life. Proper tire inflation can also improve your gas mileage by as much as 3 percent according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

What to do?

Check the tire pressure monthly with one of those cheap gauges you can pick up anywhere. Do the check when the tires are near room temperature, not after driving for an hour. And check all four tires. Compare it to the pressure guidelines in the owner's manual or on the door post or even under the center console cover. Over-inflated tires will compromise your handling and your stopping ability. Underinflated tires create a drag on the road, wear the tires out quickly and cause them to overheat with the potential for a blowout.

Rotating your tires every 5,000 miles or whatever your owner's manual says will increase their life because they will wear more evenly. But don't pay more than $20 or so to have it done. And don't always have the tire rebalanced after rotation; only if you feel vibration while driving.

Fuel Systems and Ethanol Fuel

Older vehicles made before 2004 do not have fuel system components that can stand up to the highly corrosive effects of ethanol-blended gasoline. As ethanol has infiltrated the nation's fuel supply, more and more people are witnessing firsthand how ethanol dissolves rubber and plastic parts over time and draws water into the fuel. Beyond this, ethanol reduces gas mileage (it has less energy than gasoline does). Depending on what state you're in, it may actually be illegal to buy ethanol-free gas at the filling station.

What to do?

The common answer is to additize the fuel so the gas mileage improves and the engine/fuel system parts are protected. There are lots of ethanol additives on the market, some better than others. You want to choose a fuel treatment that does not contain alcohol and you want to make sure the claims of the treatment are reasonable. A bottle that guarantees it will raise your mileage by 40% is probably overstating its claims by just a little.

What To Do When You Buy An Older Car?

Buying an older car is the best value since you're not taking the depreciation that new cars have. The tradeoff is that you're not the only person to have driven the car and you have no idea how previous owners treated it. If you're lucky enough to get some kind of vehicle history report, that can give you a good clue. But let's say you have no information at all about what's been done? What should you worry most about?

The most important items you should consider are those that most directly affect vehicle safety. Remember Priority #1 earlier. Beyond those, you should consider the following:

Oil change
Air filter
Check condition of hoses and belts

The other areas of the car are ones (like the health of the suspension) you can assess as you are driving and operating the vehicle. If the tires are out of balance or the suspension is worn, you can figure that out pretty quickly and plan accordingly.

The DIY Guide for Vehicle Repairs

If your car is getting older, maybe you're at the point where you decide you want to take more action in keeping the car in good working order. Fixing a car can range from the simple shade tree job to the extremely complex. You need to distinguish between what's worthwhile to attempt and what you should leave to the professionals at the risk of causing more damage to the vehicle than good.

For the novice mechanic, here are the simple things you should be able to try, in order of increasing difficulty:

Change wiper blades
Replace the air filter
Replace a headlight
Replace the battery
Replace spark plugs
Change the oil
Replace belts

Car repairs you attempt in house should be judged on scales of safety, car damage and complexity. Safety means "how easy would it be for me to hurt myself doing this?". Car damage means "how likely is it for me to damage my car attempting to fix it and how badly could I damage it?". Complexity means "how hard is it and do I have to have special tools?"

The Car Talk guys on NPR, Tom and Ray Tappet, have published an excellent matrix that grades various repairs on these scales. You can visit the Car Talk web site and it's easy to find there. We would recommend checking it out.

When Should You Replace Your Older Car

The decision to replace an old faithful car is a personal one dictated by the unique circumstances of your life. There is no easy answer to the question of when to get rid of your older car. Factors like reliability, vehicle use and personal finances all enter into these decisions.

A big influence on replacing an existing car is whether it would cost more to repair the vehicle than the vehicle is worth. If you blow the power steering rack on a 1995 Ford Escort, it's highly likely that rack is going to cost more than it would cost to buy another 1995 Ford Escort. At that point it would make good financial sense to bite the bullet and replace the car.

The June 2010 issue of Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine contained an excellent article on "Should You Keep Your Old Car?" They recommend keeping a car and taking care of it until it drops, saving you money all around (even if you have to spend some money on maintenance and repairs, you still come out way ahead). Of course there does come a 'tipping point' where the cost of maintaining the old car finally outweighs the cost of acquiring the new one. Where that tipping point is is dependent upon you. It's helpful to layout the costs of both kinds of vehicle and compare where the numbers come out.

Comparison Items
Upcoming cost of repairs (the biggest line items for keeping any older vehicle)
Insurance costs
Registration cost of new car
New monthly car payment
Depreciation of the new car (a real expense if you're planning to trade it in)

Conclusion

With everyone looking to cut costs and eliminate personal debt, older cars are staying on the road longer. Following some of the guidelines in this Resource Guide should help you keep your older vehicle around longer.

The author Erik Bjornstad is the Technical Information Director for Bell Performance, the inventors of the first fuel additive in 1909.

Bell Performance manufactures quality fuel treatments for ethanol (Mix-I-Go and Ethanol Defense), gas, diesel and the power generation industry.

The web sites of Bell Performance ( www.BellPerformance.com and http://www.WeFixFuel.com ) have helpful and reliable resources and information for consumers that is free to access. Bell Performance believes the best consumer is an educated consumer. If you've found this article helpful, feel free to check out more information.

Seven Easy Steps to Planning Your Dream Holiday

There is so much to do in planning a dream holiday; it sometimes feels very overwhelming, especially if you have been thinking about choosing a completely new destination. And now with the internet, so much information is available to us, how can we sift through the overload? Here are seven easy steps that will make planning your next dream holiday much easier. Follow these, and you'll be enjoying that first celebratory drink on arrival before you know it.

1. We start the countdown at twelve weeks before departure with initial research. You have holidays coming up in December and you want celebrate a hard year's work with something special; the latest you should start dreaming about what to do is September. There are several resources to look at to choose a destination:

Government travel advisories - these are usually found from your government's foreign affairs department website.

Research specific activities you may want to do and where those are offered. For example, if you are interested in engaging with communities or volunteering, you might check out local NGOs who are looking for assistance or tour operators that facilitate community visits.

Set your own personal goals for the holiday. What's your dream? Do you want to photograph wildlife? Do you want to learn about a specific culture? Do you simply want to relax and reconnect with your family after a stressful work year?

2. This research will narrow down your options so that around ten weeks before departure, you are ready to make specific enquiries and request information. Who do you ask?

Contact tour operators for itinerary suggestions
Determine your preferred travel style - basic, mid-range or luxury
Travel forums are an excellent source of information. Try Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree, Fodors, and Trip Advisor to start with, there are plenty more though!

3. Eight weeks before departure is recognised as the optimal time to book flights. There's a few ways to do this:

Online flight search engines give you a selection of airlines and prices. My suggestion is to use the search engine to find the most suitable flight (according to your preferences for price, less transfers, etc) and then book directly through the airline's website. Examples are Kayak, Expedia, SkyScanner, Wotif, etc.

Go to your travel agent to book flights. You could take the fares you found on the search engines and ask the agent to match it or beat it.

Your passport should have six months validity from the end of your holiday and at least one blank page for every country you will visit. Your government passport office can offer assistance in applying for or renewing your passport.

4. Six weeks before departure is when you should be ensuring your traveldocuments are in order.

Fully comprehensive travel insurance should be taken out, covering emergency medical treatment and repatriation as well as lost luggage and cancellation fees. iSelect in Australia compares insurance policies to help you decide what is best for you

Check specific visa requirements for the countries you will visit and your nationality. Do not rely on a travel agent or tour operator, check with the embassy yourself to ensure you have the correct information for the nationality of passport you hold. Some visas need to be obtained before travel and you should allow sufficient processing time for this.

Visit the travel health clinic to find out what vaccinations you need for your destination.

5. Four weeks before departure, your dream itinerary should be finalised.

Complete booking or client information forms as required by your tour operator
Pay deposit and/or final balance as required by your tour operator
Start to learn a bit of the local language

6. Two weeks before departure and we are getting excited now! It's time to pack.

Check climate information through guide books and weather bureau websites
Arrange pet care
There's an online tool called the Universal Packing List, which allows you to enter your trip information and it will produce a tailored packing list.

7. The final countdown! Just a few last minute checks before getting on that flight.

Pack some small gifts or souvenirs from your homeland to give to people you meet in your travels.

Check your luggage allowance for your airline and ensure your luggage is not overweight. If it is under weight, consider topping it up with some clothing or stationery supplies to donate to a community project.

Finalise transport arrangements, both to get to the airport in plenty of time for checking in and passport control, and also the arrangements for a pick up when you arrive at your destination.

Now you are set to go. By following these seven easy steps your holiday should be well-organised and fulfill your travel dreams. Bon Voyage! Safari Njema!

Tracey is the owner of Overland Travel Adventures, a philanthropic tour company based in Nairobi, Kenya. She has travelled to over 50 countries and led tours in most of those. Overland Travel Adventures is running a 20 day safari from Nairobi, Kenya to Kigali, Rwanda through Uganda in November. It includes game viewing in Amboseli and Masai Mara Parks in Kenya, trekking the mountain gorillas in Uganda and some time Kigali to soak up the Rwandan vibe. Check the website http://www.ota-responsibletravel.com for more information, or email tracey@ota-responsibletravel.com

The Benefits of a College Education at MIT

Students who seek to explore new research and technology will reap the many benefits of an education at MIT.

MIT seeks to educate students on science and technology. They seek to produce individuals who will be able to make a difference in the world and in the 21st century. MIT is dedicated to their students and they strive to combine academics with discovery. Students who attend MIT will gain an insight to the problems of today's world and society and learn exciting new technologies to truly help make the world a better place.

Students at MIT have a variety of major options to choose from. MIT has five schools focusing on the areas of architecture and planning, engineering, humanities, arts and social sciences, management, science and health sciences. MIT also offers a MIT-WHOI Joint program in oceanography and applied ocean science and engineering. These unique degree programs will insure that students are well versed in all aspects of their education and they are able to learn from highly accredited faculty. MIT's faculty members belong to many accredited associations including the National Academy of Engineering, National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. MIT boasts a staff of Nobel Prize winners and National Medal of Science winners. Other awards amongst the staff include the National Medal of Technology, the Japan Prize, Guggenheim Fellows, Fullbright Scholars, MacArthur Fellows and Institute Professors. This award winning staff provide students not only a high-quality education but will teach them excellent research and hands-on skills. Students will be inspired by their professors and will strive for academic excellence because of this award-winning faculty.

Undergraduate students will complete a core curriculum that will emphasize scientific, technical and humanistic knowledge. Students must complete a science/mathematics requirement, a humanities/social sciences/art requirement, and a four-subject communication requirement. These different requirements will help students achieve the creativity and problem solving solutions that MIT seeks to emphasize. Undergraduate students are also given the opportunity to work on research opportunities and to collaborate with the award-winning faculty. This is a rare opportunity for many college students as most colleges only allow graduate students to work on research projects. Students will also enjoy the four-week Independent Activities Period in January. Students are allowed to pursue their personal interests through a variety of seminars, field trips and other activities.

Students who are interested in pursuing their careers in the armed services will also benefit at MIT. MIT features military leadership training through ROTC programs in all three branches of the military. Students who are able to complete the ROTC program receive commissions after they graduate. These programs also offer graduate degrees to students who wish to pursue them before fulfilling their military obligations.

MIT also employs several educational partnerships that students may take advantage of. Students are allowed to cross-register with other colleges including Harvard and Wellesley without paying additional tuition. Study Abroad and Domestic Study Away programs are available for students to explore other educational opportunities.

There are a variety of opportunities and benefits available to students who choose to study at MIT. MIT offers exceptional opportunities to both their undergraduate and graduate students. Students will have the opportunity to explore areas of their education that are not possible in other undergraduate programs anywhere else in the country.

© GradResumes.com ? specializes in writing graduate resumes and college admission documents. With dozens of professional resume writers and education specialists, and some of the finest editing staff in the industry, GradResumes.com has effectively helped thousands of clients launch their post-graduate careers and successfully gain admission to their schools of choice. Any reproduction or reprint of this article must include this information.

Homeopathic Remedies for ADHD Vs ADHD Prescription Drugs - Determining The Best Treatment Option

Okay, so little Johnny or precious, but seemingly always energized little Sara, have been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) with the next step being to select the treatment option that will manage their symptoms safely and effectively without breaking the bank. The advice parents likely will receive typically varies greatly depending on what type of specialist is treating the condition.

For example if your child's primary care physician is a general practitioner he/she is likely to suggested one of a number of stimulant medications (Ritalin, Adderall, etc..), if your child's specialist is a psychiatrist or psychologist behavior modification therapy will likely be the favored course of action, and if they are a holistic practitioner your child will likely be provided a comprehensive natural threatment plan referred to as a full spectrum approach including herbal or homeopathic remedies.

So that brings us to our topic of homeopathic remedies for ADHD vs ADHD prescription drugs. We will leave out behavioral therapy or behavior modification since all parties agree it works and would be a good addition to either homeopathic ADHD remedies or ADHD prescription drugs.

At this point you can stop hyperventilating, take a couple of deep breaths, and get ready to begin your investigative journey to find answers.

Which treatment will deliver the best result?

This is tricky one as there is a case to be made for both ADHD prescription drugs and homeopathic remedies for ADHD.

Volumes of well documented research tell us that prescription drugs for attention deficit disorder will produce good results in the short-term about 75 percent of the time. The caveat is the longer they are used the less effective they tend to be (NIMH study).

Stimulant medications solely treat the symptoms and in no way heal the underlying cause. In other words they are nothing more than a symptom management tool that requires almost perfect daily dosage amounts to provide optimal results.

Homeopathic remedies for ADHD seem to be slightly less effective overall showing to be effective in approximately seven out of ten cases. Millions of natural herbal or homeopathic remedies for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder have been sold with parents of ADHD children generally giving this form of treatment very high marks.

One notable advantage for these types of medications is that they may provide long-term benefits. According to one British study examining the benefits of homeopathic remedies when taken by ADHD children the long-term benefits were in the 50 percent range.

What about safety?

Stimulant medications have a long list of possible side effects including stunted growth (though normally temporary), loss of appetite, nervousness, insomnia, changes in personality, skin rashes, headaches, facial tics, and one study published by the National Institute of Health even correlated their use with heart failure and blood pressure issues.

Can you imagine any parent saying "My little Johnny is a foot shorter than his classmates, can't sleep, gets really nervous, and might keel over any day but boy has his grades improved."?

Homeopathy which is the science of natural dilutions is one of the safest forms of medicine known to man. Currently there are no documented cases of side effects when used for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in either children or adults.

Affordability

You can expect to pay around $30 a month for most homeopathic remedies for ADHD. As far a prescription medications go if your insurance is picking up the tab on a co-pay the cost is likely to be about a wash. If your insurance covers the cost of the medications then stimulants will be the more affordable option. On the other hand, if you are without insurance or your insurance plan will not pick up the cost for alternative treatments then homeopathic remedies will likely be far less expensive.

Choosing the right natural remedy

This is a complicated issue with most well established natural health companies providing a well trained support team to talk to parents about exactly these types of concerns. I would advise you to take advantage of this type of free resource in order to make the most informed decision possible.

From my perspective as an independent researcher much will depend on the number of symptoms and whether or not a co-existing condition such as ODD, OCD, depression, or bi-polar disorder are present, and to what degree. Many of the newer homeopathic remedies for treating child ADHD have over 20 ingredients to cover a broader spectrum of symptoms.

On the other hand one of the best selling homeopathic remedies for ADHD children of all time contains only four ingredients. They are hyoscyamus, arsen iod, verta alb, and tuberculinum.

In conclusion, as you might guess being a natural health guy I lean toward natural remedies primarily due to safety and long-term unknowns. That said, parents should consult with their doctor, mental health professional, or natural health specialist to find the right treatment solution as ADHD symptoms can vary greatly from child to child.

Robert D. Hawkins is an enthusiastic consumer advocate for natural health and natural living with over 10 years experience in the field. To discover more about ADHD along with information about safe and effective all natural herbal and homeopathic ADHD remedies Click Here

Walgreens, CVS, and Rite Aid - What RE Investors Should Know

There are 3 major drugstore chains in the US: Walgreens, CVS, and Rite Aid. Below are some key statistics about the 3 major drugstore chains as of 2012:

1. Walgreens ranks first with market cap of $28.51 Billion, $72.2 Billion in 2011 total revenue ($45.1B from prescription revenues), and an S&P rating of A. According to Walgreens, 75% of the US population lives within 3 miles from its stores. In April 2010, it acquired 258 Duane Reade drug stores in New York Metropolitan area which brings a total of 7841 drug stores Walgreens operates as of February 2012, including 137 hospital on-site pharmacies.

2. CVS ranks second with market cap of $56.56 Billion, $107.1 Billion in revenue ($40.5 Billion from CVS prescription revenues and $16.1B from its Caremark prescription mail order revenue), and an S&P rating of BBB+. As of December 31, 2011, CVS operates 7404 drug stores.

3. Rite Aid ranks third (fourth, behind Walmart in terms of prescription revenues) with market cap of $1.49 Billion, $26.1 Billion in revenue ($17.1B from prescription revenues), operates 4714 drug stores as of February 2011 and has an S&P rating of B-.

Investors purchase properties occupied by these drugstore chains for the following reasons:

1. The drugstore business is very recession-insensitive. People need medicine when they are sick, regardless of the state of the economy. Both rich and poor people in the US have access to medicine. Some even argue that low-income people use more medicine due to free or low-cost drugs offered by government-assisted programs. So the tenants should do well during tough time and have money to pay rent to landlords.

2. The drugstore business has a good prospect in the US:

· People are living longer and need more medicine to sustain longevity, e.g. Actonel for osteoporosis, Aricept for Alzheimer's symptoms. Older people tend to use more medicine than younger ones as they often have more medical problems. As the 78 million baby boomers are getting closer to retiring age starting from 2008, the drugstore chains anticipate the demand for medicine to increase in next 20 years.

· The drug market continues to expand as the US population continues to grow. More and more Americans suffer from various diseases. The number of Americans suffers from seasonal allergies doubled in the last 15 years to 37 million people per Fortune magazine. They spent $5.4 Billion in 2009 for allergy drugs. As their waist lines balloon (75% of Americans are forecasted to be either overweight or obese by 2020), more Americans are diagnosed with diabetes, along with high cholesterol at younger and younger ages. In addition, doctors also recommend treating various diseases sooner than later due to better understanding about the diseases. For example, doctors now prescribe antiretroviral drugs for patients soon after infected with HIV virus instead of waiting for the infection to become AIDS. More doctors combine insulin with oral medicines to treat type-2 Diabetes instead of just oral medicines alone. All these factors increase the size of the drug market.

· Advance in genetic engineering has introduced various new genetic DNA testing kits which allow the genetic diagnosis of vulnerabilities to inherited diseases and disorders. Genetic testing is currently the highest growth segment in the diagnostics industry. Some of these genetic tests will probably transform into direct-to-consumer testing kits available in drug stores in the near future.Upon FDA approval, these new products will potentially bring in additional revenue for drug stores.

· Using a new method of tailoring molecules called structure-based design; drug companies come up with new medicines that they might not have discovered otherwise, e.g. Xalkori by Pfizer to treat lung cancer.

· The passage of Health Care Reform Bill on March 23, 2010 provides insurance coverage to an estimated 33 million more American. This is a great present to the drugstore industry.

· There are new drugs to treat previously untreatable illnesses, and new diseases, e.g. Viagra for men's unhappiness, Avastin for colon cancer, Herceptin for breast cancer,. The new medicines are very expensive, e.g. a year's supply of Avastin costs about $55,000. Eli Lilly has sold about $4.8 billion of Zyprexa in 2007 for schizophrenia and yet most people have never heard of this medicine.

· There are existing drugs now approved to treat new illnesses and thus increase their sales revenue. For example, Lyrica was originally intended to treat pain caused by nerve damagein people with diabetes. It is now approved by FDA to treat Fibromyalgia which affects 5.8 million Americans per WebMD.

· Big advances in genetics, biology and stem cells research are expected to produce a new class of drugs to treat diabetes, Parkinson's and various rare genetic disorders. For example the new drug Ilaris from Novartis targets genetic causes of an inherited disorder that there are only 7000 known cases worldwide. However, Novartis hopes to gradually broaden its drugs to a blockbuster drug to more common disorders caused by similar genetics.

· Technology and modern life introduce and require new products, e.g. pregnancy test kits, Lamisil for stronger clearer toe nails, Latisse for longer & thicker eyelashes, Propecia for male hair loss, Premarin for menopausal symptoms, diabetic monitors, electronic toothbrushes, contact lenses, lenses cleaners, diet pills, vitamins, birth-control pills, IUDs, nutrition supplements and Cholesterol-lowering pills (Americans spent nearly $26B in 2006 on Cholesterol medications alone per IMS Health, a Connecticut-based consulting company that monitors pharmaceutical sales.)

· Before the customers can get to the medicine aisles or pharmacy counters, they have to pass by chocolates, sodas, digital cameras, watches, toys, dolls, beers and wines, cosmetics, video games, flowers, fragrances, and greeting cards. Drug stores hope you use the one-hour photos services there. The stores also carry seasonal items, e.g. Halloween costumes, and "As Seen on TV" merchandise, e.g. Shamwow. As a result, customers buy more than their prescriptions and medicine in these drugstores. CVS reported that non-pharmacy sales represented 30% of the company's total sales in January of 2007. The figure for Walgreens is 34% and 37% for Rite Aid. Many pharmacy locations are in effect convenience stores especially ones that are in residential or rural areas. And so Walgreens hopes that customers also pick up WD-40, and screwdrivers at its stores instead of at Home Depot; Thai Jasmine rice, and fish sauce to avoid a trip to Safeway or Kroger Supermarkets. During the recession, sales of these non-drug items are down as customers buy what they need and not what they want. Walgreens tries to reduce the number of items by 4000. It also introduces its own private label which has higher profit margins.

· There are more and more generic medications on the market as a number of enormously popular brand-name blockbusters lose their 20-year long patents, e.g. Lipitor (best selling drug in the world to lower cholesterol) in 2010, Viagra (you know what it's for) in 2012. Drugstores prefer to sell generic drugs to customers due to higher profit margins than the brand-name medications.

· Many people are addicted to pain killers, e.g. Hydrocodone/Oxycodone. Per the DEA in 2012, there are 1.5 million American addicted to cocaine but 7 million addicted to prescription drugs.

· This author estimates that at least 10% of the dispensed prescription drugs are not used at all and sit idle in the medicine cabinets. They are eventually expired and thrown away.

3. These companies sign very long-term NNN leases, guaranteed by their corporate assets. This makes the investment in the underlying property fairly low risk, especially for Walgreens with a S&P "A" rating. In fact, these properties are sometimes referred to as investment-grade properties. Once the drugstore chains sign the lease, they pay the rent promptly and timely. This author is not aware of any properties leased by one of these drugstore chains in which the tenants failed to pay rents. Even when the stores are closed due to weak sales (Walgreens closed 119 stores in 2007), these companies may sublease the properties to other companies, e.g. Advance Auto Parts and continue to pay rents on the master leases.

· A typical Walgreens lease consists of 20-25 year primary term plus 8-10 five-year options. During primary term and options, there will be no rent increases in most of the leases. This is the main disadvantage of investing in Walgreens drugstores.

· A typical CVS lease consists of 20-25 year primary term plus 4-5 five-year options. The rent is normally flat during the primary term and then there is a 2.5%-10% rent increase in each 5-year option.

· A typical Rite Aid lease consists of 20-25 year primary term plus 4-8 five-year options. The lease often has a rent increase every 5-10 years.

Investment Risks

Although the pharmacy business in general is recession-insensitive, there are risks involved in your investment:

1) The main downside about investing in pharmacies is there is little or no rent bump for a long time, e.g. 20-50 years, especially for Walgreens. So the rent is effectively reduced after inflation is factored in. This is one of the main reasons these properties do not appeal to younger investors, especially when the cap rate is low.

2) The 3 drugstore chains now have a new formidable competitor, Walmart. Walmart sells prescription drugs in more than 4000 Walmart, Sam's Club and Neighborhood Market stores in 49 states. As of 2012, Walmart is the third largest drug retailer with $17.4B in prescription sales, just ahead of Rite Aid with $17.1B in prescription sales. The retail giant is known for launching in 2006 a highly-publicized $4 generic prescription drug program which now sells 350 generic medications for a 30-day supply. The actual number of medications is less as the medications with different strengths are counted as different medications. For example, Metformin 500 mg, 850 mg, and 1000 mg are counted as 3 medications. Walmart probably makes very little profits on these medications if any. However, the marketing campaign--created by Bill Simon, the President and CEO of Walmart US, generates a lot of publicity for Walmart. Walmart hopes to draw customers to its stores with other prescriptions where it has higher profit margins. In an unscientific survey with just one brand-name prescription of Lyrica, this author finds the lowest price at Costco, the highest price at Walgreens and Walmart at the middle. Other drug chains try to counter Walmart in different ways. Target now offers the same 350 generic medications for $4 for a 30-day supply. Walgreens has a Prescription drugs club with membership fee which offers 1400 generic medications for as little as $1/week. CVS says it will match any offers from its competitors.

3) Chief Business Correspondent Rick Newman from US World & News Report predicted that Rite Aid might not survive in 2009. Rite Aid is still around in 2012. The prediction seems to go away in 2012 as Rite Aid as it was able to refinance the long terms debts and sales revenue has increased.

4) Drugs are also sold in thousands of supermarkets, Target stores, and Costco warehouses. However, there are no drive-through windows at these stores or Walmart to conveniently drop off the prescriptions and pick up medicines. Customers will not be able to pick up their prescriptions during lunch hour or after 7PM at Target stores or supermarkets. They need to have membership to buy medicines at Costco. Others may not fill their prescriptions at Walmart because they don't want to mingle with typical Walmart customers who are in lower income brackets. And some baby boomers don't want their prescriptions filled at Target or Walmart because there are no comfortable chairs for them to sit down and wait for their medicines.

5) Drugs retail business to some degree is controlled by the Pharmacy Benefits Managers (PBMs). Customers normally get prescription coverage from their health insurance companies, e.g. Blue Cross. These PBM manage prescription benefits on behalf of the insurance companies. In 2012 Walgreens lost a contract valued at over $5 Billion with Express Scripts, a major PBM. Walgreen revenue was immediately fallen in the first quarter of 2012 as Express Scripts customers cannot fill their prescriptions at Walgreens. The PBMs are also in the drugs retail business via mail orders which do not require leasing expensive retail spaces. The prescription mail orders currently capture over 20% market share of the total prescription revenue. Should customers change their prescription purchase habits to mail orders (there is no such evidence in 2012), it could have negative impact to the business of drugstore chains.

6) Many leases in areas with hurricanes and tornadoes are NNN leases with the exception of roof and structure. So if the roof is damaged, you will have to pay for the expenses.

7) The tenant may move to a new location down the road or across the street when the lease expires. This risk is high when the property is located in small town where there is low barrier for entry, i.e. lots of vacant & developable land.

8) The tenant may ask for rent concession to improve its bottom line during tough times. The possibility is higher if the tenant is Rite Aid and if the store has low sales revenue and/or higher than market rent.

9) More Americans are walking away from their prescriptions, especially the most expensive brand-name medicines. This may have negative impact on the sales revenue and profits of drug stores and consequently may cause drug store closures. According to Wolters Kluwer Pharma Solution, a health-care data company, nearly 1 in 10 new prescriptions for brand-name drugs were abandoned by people with commercial health plans in 2010. This is up 88% compared to 4 years ago just before the recession began. This trend is driven in part by higher and higher co-pays for brand name drugs as employers are shifting more insurance costs to their employees.

Among 3 drugstore chains, Walgreens and CVS pharmacies in general have the best locations-at major intersections while Rite Aid has less than premium locations. Walgreens tends to hire only the top graduates from pharmacy schools while Rite Aid settles with bottom graduates to save costs. When possible, all drugstore chains try to fill the prescriptions with generic medications which have higher profit margins.

1) Walgreens: the company was founded in 1901 by Charles Walgreen, Sr. in Chicago. While the company has existed for more than 100 years, most stores are only 5-10 years old. This is the best managed company among the three drugstore chains and also among the most admired public companies in the US. The company has been run by executives with proven track records and hires the top graduates from universities. Due to its superior financial strength--S&P A rating-- and premium irreplaceable locations, properties with leases from Walgreens get the highest price per square foot and/or the lowest cap rate among the 3 drugstore chains. In addition, Walgreens gets flat rent or very low rent increases for 20 to 60 years. The cap rate is often in the low 5% to 6.5% range in 2012. Investors who buy Walgreens tend to be more mature, i.e. closer to retirement age. They are looking for a safe investment where it's more important to get the rent check than to get appreciation. They often compare the returns on their Walgreens investment with the lower returns from US treasury bonds or Certificate of Deposits from banks. Walgreens opened many new stores in 2008 and 2009 and thus you see many new Walgreens stores for sale. It will slow down this expansion in 2010 and beyond and focus on renovation of existing stores instead.

2) CVS Pharmacy: CVS Corporation was founded in 1963 in Lowell, MA by Stanley Goldstein, Sidney Goldstein, and Ralph Hoagland. The name CVS stands for "Consumer Value Stores". As of 2009, CVS has about 6300 stores in the US, mostly through acquisitions. In 2004, CVS bought 1,200 Eckerd Drugstores mostly in Texas and Florida. In 2006, CVS bought 700 Savon and Osco drugstores mostly in Southern California. And in 2008 CVS acquired 521 Longs Drugs stores in California, Hawaii, Nevada and Arizona for $2.9B dollars. The acquisition of Long Drugs appears to be a good one as it CVS did not have any stores in Northern CA and Arizona. Besides, the price also included real estate. It is also bought Caremark, one of the largest PBMs and changed the corporation name to CVS Caremark. When CVS bought 1,200 Eckerd stores, it formed a single-entity LLC (Limited Liability Company) to own each Eckerd store. Each LLC signs the lease with the property owner. In the event of a default, the owner can only legally go after the assets of the LLC and not from any other CVS-owned assets. Although the owner loses the guaranty security from CVS corporate assets, this author is not aware of any incident where CVS closes a store and does not pay rent.

3) Rite-Aid: Rite Aid was founded by Alex Grass (he just passed away on Aug 27, 2009 at the age of 82) and opened its first store in 1962 as "Thrif D Discount Center" in Scranton, Pennsylvania. It officially incorporated as Rite Aid Corporation and went public in 1968. By the time Alex Grassstepped down as the company's chairman and chief executive officer in 1995, Rite Aid was the nation's largest drugstore chain in terms of total stores and No. 2 in terms of revenue. His son, Martin Grass, took over but was ousted in 1999 for overstatement of Rite Aid's earnings in the late 1990s. Rite Aid is now the weakest financially among the 3 drugstore chains. In 2007, Rite-Aid acquired about 1,850 Brooks and Eckerd drugstores, mostly along the East coast to catch up with Walgreens and CVS. In the process, it added a huge long term debt and is the most leveraged drugstore chain based on its market value. The integration of Brooks and Eckerd did not seem to go well. Revenue from some of these stores went down as much as 20% after they change the sign to Rite Aid. In 2009, Rite-Aid had over 4900 stores and over $26 Billion in revenues. The figures went down in 2010 to 4780 stores and $25.53 billion in revenue. On January 21, 2009 Moody's Investor Services downgraded Rite Aid from "Caa1" to "Caa2", eight notches below investment grade. Both ratings are "junk" which indicate very high credit risk. Rite Aid contacted a number of its landlords in 2009 trying to get rent concession to improve the bottom line. In June 2009, Rite Aid successfully completed refinancing $1.9 Billion of its debts. In 2012, Rite Aid benefits from Walgreens contract problem with Express Scripts. Same store sales increased 2.2%, 3.2%, and 3.6% for January, February and March of 2012, respectively. Rite Aid is still losing money in fiscal year 2012 which ended in March 3, 2012. However, it is losing less, $0.43 per share in 2012 versus $0.64 per share in fiscal year 2011. The company expects better outlook in fiscal year 2013.

Things to consider when invested in a pharmacy

If you are interested in investing in a property leased by drugstore chains, here are a few things to consider:

1. If you want a low risk investment, go with Walgreens. In stable or growing areas, the degree of safety is the same whether the property is in California where you get a 5.5% cap or Texas where you may get a 6.5% cap. So, there is no significant advantage to invest in properties in California as the property value is based primarily on the cap rate. In 2012, the offered cap rate for Walgreens seems to come down from 7.5%-8.4% in 2009 to 5.5%-6.5% for new stores.

2. If you are willing to take more risk, then go with Rite-Aid. Some properties outside of California may offer up to 9% cap rate in 2012. However, among the 3 drug chains, Rite Aid has 10.5% chance of going under in 2010. Should it declare bankruptcy, Rite Aid has the option to pick and choose which locations to keep open and which locations to terminate the lease. To minimize the risk that the store is shuttered, choose a location with strong sales and low rent to revenue ratio.

3. Financing should be an important consideration. While the cap rate is lower for Walgreens than Rite Aid, you will be able to get the best rates and terms for Walgreens.

4. If you are not a conservative investor or risk taker, you may want to consider a CVS pharmacy. It has BBB+ S&P credit rating. Its cap rate is higher than Walgreens but lower than Rite Aid. Some leases may offer better rent bumps. On the other hand, some CVS leases, especially for properties in hurricane areas, e.g. Florida are not truly NNN leases where landlords are responsible for the roof and structure. So make sure you adjust the cap rate down accordingly. Some of the CVS locations have onsite Minuteclinic staffed by registered nurses. Since this clinic idea was introduced recently, it's not clear having a clinic inside CVS is a plus or minus to the bottom line of the store.

5. All 3 drugstore chains have similar requirements. They all want highly visible, standalone, rectangular property around 10,000 - 14,500 SF on a 1.5 - 2 acre lot, preferably at a corner with about 75 - 80 parking spaces in a growing and high traffic location. They all require the property to have a drive-through. Hence, you should avoid purchasing an inline property, i.e. not standalone and property with no drive-through windows. There is a chance that these drugstores may not want to renew the lease unless the property is located in a densely-populated area with no vacant land nearby. In addition, if you acquire a property that does not meet the new requirements, for example a drive-through, you may have a problem getting financing as lenders are aware of these requirements.

6. If the pharmacy is opened 24 hours a day, it is in a better location. Drugstore chains do not open the store 24 hours day unless the location draws customers.

7. Many properties may have a percentage lease, i.e. the landlord can get additional rent when the store's annual revenue exceeds a certain figure, e.g. $5M. However, the revenue used to compute percentage rent often excludes a page-long list of items, e.g. wine and sodas, tobacco products, items sold after 10 PM, drugs paid by governmental programs. The excluded sales revenue could account for as much as 70% of store's gross revenue. As a result, this author has seen only 2 stores in which the landlord is able to collect additional percentage rent. The store with a percentage rent is required to report its annual sales to the landlord. As an investors, you want to invest in a store with strong gross sales, e.g. over $500 per square foot a year. In addition, you also want to check the rent to revenue ratio. If the figure is in the 2-4% range, the store is likely to be very profitable so the chance the store is shut down is low.

8. It does not matter how good the tenants are, avoid investing in declining, e.g. Detroit and/or low-income areas or small towns with less than 30,000 residents within 5 miles ring. In a small town, it may be the only drug store in town and captures most of the market share. However, if a competitor opens a new location in the area, revenue may be severely affected. In addition, the tenant can always moves to a new location down the road when the lease expires since there is low barrier to entry in a small town. These properties are easy to buy now and hard to sell later. When the credit market is tight, you may have problems finding a lender to finance these properties.

9. Many properties have an existing loan that the buyer must assume. If you have a 1031 exchange, think twice about buying this property. You should clearly understand loan assumption requirements of the lenders before moving forward. Should you fail to assume the existing loan (assuming an existing loan is a lot more difficult than getting a new loan), you may run out of time for a 1031 exchange and may be liable to pay capital gain.

10. With few exceptions, drugstore chains do not own the stores they occupy for several reasons. Here are just a couple of them:

- They know the pharmacy business but don't know real estate. Stock investors also don't want Walgreens to become a real estate investment company.

- Owning the real estate will require them to carry lots of long term debts which is not a brilliant idea for a publicly-traded company.

11. About 10% of the drugstore properties for sale and typically CVS pharmacies require very small amount of equity to acquire, e.g. 10% of the purchase price. However, you are required to assume an existing fully-amortized loan with zero cash flow. That is, all of the rent paid by the tenant must be used to pay down the loan. The cap rate may be in the 7-9% range, and the interest rate on the loan could be attractive in the 5.5% to 6% range. Hence, the investor pays off the loan in 10 to 20 years. However, you have no positive cash flow. This requires you to come up with outside cash to pay income tax on the rental profits (the difference between the rent and mortgage interest). The longer you own the property, the more outside cash you will need to pay income taxes as the mortgage interest will get less and less toward the end. So who would buy this kind of property?

- The investors who have substantial losses from other investment properties. By acquiring this zero cash flow property, they may offset the income from the drugstore tenant against the losses from other investment properties. For example, a property has $105,000 of rental profits a year, and the investor also has losses of $100,000 from other properties. As a result, the combined taxable profits are only $5,000.

- The uninformed investors who fail to consider that they have to raise additional cash to pay income taxes.

Out of the Box Thinking

If you put too much weight on the S&P rating of the tenants, you may end up either taking a lot of risks or passing up good opportunities.

A Good location should be the key in your decision on which drug store to invest in. It's often said a lousy business should do well at a great location while the best tenant will fail at a lousy location. A Walgreens store that is closed down later on (yes, Walgreens closed 119 stores in 2007) is still a bad investment even though Walgreens continues paying rent on time. So you don't want to blindly invest in a drug store simply because it has a Walgreens sign on the building.

No company is crazy enough to close a profitable location. It does not take rocket science to understand that a financially-weak company like Rite Aid will make every effort to keep a profitable location open. On the other hand, a financially-strong Walgreens will need justifications to keep an unprofitable location open. So how do you determine if a drug store location is profitable or not if the tenant is not required to disclose its profit & loss statement? The answer is you cannot. However, you can make an educated guess based on the store's annual gross revenue which is often reported to the landlord as required by the percentage clause in the lease. With the gross revenue, you can determine the rent to income ratio. The lower the ratio, the more likely the store is profitable. For example, if the annual base rent is $250,000 while the store's gross revenue is $5M then the rent to income ratio is 5%. As a rule of thumb, it's hard to make a profit if this ratio is more than 8%. So if you see a Rite Aid with 3% rent to income ratio then you know it's likely a very profitable location. In the event Rite Aid declares bankruptcy, it will keep this location open and continue paying rent. If you see a Rite Aid drug store with 3% rent to income ratio offering 10% cap, chances are it's a low risk investment with good returns and the tenant will most likely to renew the lease. The weakness of corporate guaranty from Rite Aid is probably not as critical and the risk of having Rite Aid as a tenant is not really that significant.

Drug stores with new 25 years leases tend to sell at lower cap, e.g. 6-7% cap on new stores versus 8.0-8.5% cap on established locations with 5-10 years remaining on the lease. This is because investors are afraid that the tenants may not renew the leases. Unfortunately, lenders also have the same fear! As a result, many lenders will not finance drug stores with 2-3 years left on the leases. The fact that drugstores with new leases have a premium on the price means they have potential of 20% depreciation (buying new at 6% cap and selling at 7.5% cap when the leases have 8 year left). Some investors will not consider investing in drug stores with 5-10 years left on the lease. They might simply ignore the fact that the established stores may be at irreplaceable locations with very strong sales. Tenants simply have no other choices other than renewing the lease.

David V. Tran is the President and Chief Investment Advisor at Transmercial, a commercial real estate & loan brokerage company in San Jose, CA. His website is www.transmercial.com. He may be contacted at (408) 288-5500. Transmercial does business in all 50 states. David currently offers 2 FREE real estate investment seminars/webinars: How to invest in commercial real estate. How to maximize cash flow with 1031 tax-deferred exchange.

David's blog features a daily list of 10 Best Commercial Properties in 50 states.

You are welcome to share this report, unedited and in its entirety, with anyone you like. You may not remove this text. © 2007-2012 Transmercial.

Is A Hybrid Car For You

You may have seen one zipping past you in the high occupancy lane, a lone driver at the wheel. It's a gasoline-electric hybrid car and driving in the HOV lane is just one of the benefits of ownership in many states. But what is a hybrid? How does it work? Is it the right car for you and your family?

A hybrid car has a both a gasoline engine and a battery. The battery is recharged by energy from the gasoline engine that would normally be lost during braking or decelerating. The car uses either the battery or the gasoline engine depending on several factors including how fast the car is traveling. Sometimes, both will work together to provide an extra boost of power without using too much extra fuel.

The result of this technology is cars that get significantly better gas mileage and produce less carbon dioxide emissions that traditional gasoline powered cars. For example, according to Honda, the 2006 Civic Hybrid gets 50 miles to the gallon on the highway, 14 miles to the gallon better than the 2003 regular Civic. When driven the national average of 12,000 miles, that represents a savings of 69 gallons of gas and 258 pounds of carbon dioxide per year.

In the early days of hybrid cars, there were few models to choose from. People desiring to purchase a hybrid car were stuck in tiny cars with little cargo space. Today, however, manufacturers produce hybrid cars and light trucks in nearly every category including family-sized sedans, sport utility vehicles and minivans. The smallest cars still get the best gas mileage, but larger hybrids consistently outperform their regular siblings in gas mileage and carbon dioxide emissions.

Unfortunately, hybrid cars cost more than regular models. In the case of the 2006 Honda Civic, the hybrid model costs almost $7,000 more than the regular model. Congress passed a law providing tax credits for hybrid car owners that took effect on January 1, 2006 that would save the buyer of a 2006 Civic Hybrid $2,100. It would take several years to break even on the purchase of a hybrid counting gasoline savings alone. However, many hybrid owners are as dedicated to the environmental benefits of driving a hybrid as they are to the money they save.

One of the fears when hybrid cars first became available was that maintenance and insurance costs would be prohibitive. Research has shown that regular maintenance costs for hybrid vehicles are no higher than for regular vehicles. Additionally, hybrid car owners are less likely to be involved in accidents and some insurance companies have begun offering discounts to hybrid car owners.

Kadence Buchanan writes articles on many topics including Automotive [http://iautomotiveworld.com/], Outdoors [http://livingtheoutdoorslife.com/], and Recreation.