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With gas prices being so high, alternative fuel vehicles have become a popular topic. Two of the types of vehicles that tend to get a lot of press are the hydrogen fuel cell powered vehicles and electric powered vehicles. Both are lauded as the way of the future

But which of these two options are really has the better chance of being the car your children drive.

Lets look at hydrogen fuel cells first. When burned in an engine, the only emissions giving off is water, so a hydrogen powered vehicle is a zero emission vehicle. Hydrogen is also a better fuel than gasoline, it actually has the highest energy content per unit of weight of any known fuel.

Hydrogen is also a very abundant element. While current methods for making hydrogen are done by using fossil fuels, such as natural gas, coal, and oil, American wouldnt be dependent on foreign oil anymore. Also, hydrogen can be extracted from water, and we all know theres a lot of water on this planet.

However, hydrogen is not without its share of drawbacks. Probably the biggest problem right now is that it would require an entire new infrastructure. While gas stations could be outfitted with hydrogen fueling stations that would take years. Also, the technology to store hydrogen efficiently is still not ready for prime time.

Then theres the electric car. Electric cars can also be considered zero emission vehicles since they give off no emission when running. However, electric cars do require power from the electric grid, which does give off emissions. As the electric grid gets cleaner, though, so do electric cars, and electric powered cars are substantially less polluting than gasoline powered cars due to the fact that power plants are far cleaner and more efficient than an internal combustion engine in a vehicle.

The technology for mainstream electric cars is also not quite ready for all the major manufacturers to stop making gasoline powered cars, but its much closer than hydrogen currently is. The challenge with electric cars right now is the batteries. The batteries are both expensive and current models, like the Tesla Roadster, have a range of only 250 miles great for commuting, but not so good for road trips. The other problem is the length of time these vehicles take to charge. Its not simply a matter stopping at your local power station and plugging in for five minutes and leaving. A typical charging cycle for current prototypes is 4-5 hours again, fine if youre commuting, but impossible for a road trip. While technology is being developed to make charging your vehicle as quick as quick as filling up with gas, it has a ways to go before its ready, just like hydrogen fuel cells.

Fleets of electric cars will certainly be hitting the roads sooner hydrogen fuel cell cars, but which one ultimately ends up being the vehicle of choice for American drivers remains to be seen as both have plenty of challenges to overcome before people will readily give up their cheap gas powered cars in favor of these alternatives.

Gary Ruplinger provides free gas saving advice at http://www.fuelsavingzone.com/ and offers a free report called 61 ways to save money on gas on his site. Also, for more info like this, check out the blog at http://www.fuelsavingzone.com/blog/

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Cheap European or American Luxury Cars From Japanese Car Auctions

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Japanese auto makers such as Toyota, Nissan, Honda and Subaru are known world wide for producing high quality, efficient and durable cars. Car auctions in Japan give you the chance to buy and export a used Japanese brand car to your country, usually with big savings on similar priced cars you can find in your local dealership.

But Japanese drivers also love foreign brands such as Audi, Bentley, Land Rover, BMW, Mercedez Benz, Porsche, Volvo and Volkswagon. It's possible to find these luxury cars very cheaply at Japanese car auctions and you can certainly make a very good saving on buying and exporting from Japan.

Japanese drivers take care of their vehicles and because of rigorous safety inspections, taxes and other fees it is more cost effective for a Japanese driver to change their car to a newer model regularly. This means a large pool of well maintained used cars for sale and export.

The auction and export process

Your first step to finding a cheap luxury car is to find a reputable dealer. Second hand car dealers don't have the most solid of reputations to begin with and there are cases of foreign buyers being ripped off by dodgey dealers, but these are definately in the minority.

First, check out the dealers website and see if they have full contact and bank information and are members of the JUMVEA which is the Japanese government sanctioned trade body for foreign car exporters. Membership means that members have to abide by a code of best practice.

Also, make sure that the company is registered with the local government - they should display a government trade license number.

Second, test communication with the dealer by either sending an email or calling (many dealers have Skype or similar so you can do it for free). In your initial emails look out for quality of English, timely response and level of details in the answer. Unanswered or evasive answers and poor quality English may lead to misunderstandings later on.

Once you have contacted several dealers and filtered some out you can start to browse seriously for a car. You can use this free car search tool (http://www.used-car-japan.com/japanese-used-car-search.php) to contact several dealers at once to save you the hassle of filling out loads of forms on different websites.

Auction and exporting process

Generally you can either buy directly from the dealers stock of cars (which they make have from spotting a bargin at auction and bought for later resale) or request they look for something for you at auctions.

You can have a very specific or very general request and the dealer will try to find something and send you deatils of the cars. All the major car auctions are online and dealers have access to national daily auctions giving a choice of upto 40,000 cars a day!

Once you get the car details you can decide to bid or not, send a maximum price you want to bid and sit back and wait for the result!

The dealer will try to get the lowest price for you so you don't pay more than you have to.

Once you have won a car then you also have to consider paying for paperwork fees, transportation, shipping, insurance and customs import taxes when the car arrives in your country.

Local auto regulation compliance

You also have to make sure the car complies with all local auto regulations. Some dealers may help you with this especially if they are in your own country, but others will probably not give much help. Therefore before you buy make sure you know what you will have to do to make the car legal in your own country.

If you're buying a European brand then these are less likely to be an issue as cars made for Europe and re-imported from Japan are the same models so it's likely that the manufacturer already has approval for that car in your country.

Summary

Japanese used car auctions are a great source of both Japanese and European/America brand quality used cars. You can get a great deal for a little research and shopping around, and although it's not the quickest or easiest way to buy a new car, it's certainly a lot of fun and can be much cheaper than buying in your own country.

Keith Taynton has been involved in the Japanese used car industry and runs a website with a complete guide to buying and exporting used cars from Japan.

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