How to choose your car (instructions for women)

Firstly, I need to thank my brother and dad as they let me find the car by myself. The search lasted three and half months, and during the process I learned everything I never wanted to know about used cars. Special thanks to all the friends and buyers and sellers who have generously shared their knowledge and experience with me, because, as most of them commented, it was interesting that a woman alone was buying a car, so they actually all unselfishly tried to help me (protect me?). This text is dedicated to all women so their used car quest would not last three and a half months, and as a reminder to myself , because when you do not want to have some knowledge to begin with, it goes away faster.


CAR FOR CITY OR LONG-DISTANCE DRIVING

Consider whether you need a car primarily for city or long-distance driving:
- Cars with smaller engine displacement are more fuel efficient in city driving
- Cars with bigger engine displacement are more fuel efficient in long distance driving
- If you want a car for long-distance driving, buy cars 4m or longer, driving those is less tiring for the driver
- Cars with small engine displacement tend to be noisy when driven on the open road, make sure you double check this
- Pay attention to HP (horse power). If you are planning to use the car primarily for long-distance driving, HP needs to be higher so the car is more agile. Comparison of HPs is not enough to conclude whether a car is more sluggish than the other. The weight of the car affects it, as well. The heavier the car heavier, the more horsepower it requires.
- Lower cars are more stable for high speed driving

ENGINE

Fiat's 1.3 multijet engines are currently the best on the market. Some Suzuki cars have this engine built in even though Fiat name does not show anywhere on the engine as Suzuki does not want to advertise Fiat. If Suzuki was bought in Serbia, calling Suzuki representative office and giving them details of the car will give you reliable information as to whether it is multijet engine or not. Multijet engines are still diesel.

Citroen C3 1.4 HDi diesel engine is the second best.

When you like a car, check the website www.whatcar.com for the review and see which variants of the car are recommended and which variants you should be avoided. My advice is to avoid cars that have been rated below three. Here's an example of a review on this website: http://www.whatcar.com/car-reviews/used/ford/fiesta-hatchback/summary/23676-5.

If an engine has a chain instead of belt, the car does not require a major service that normally costs around 200 euros and ‚it should be done after 50.000 - 70.000 km, depending on the car and personal beliefs of interlocutors. This does not have to be crucial in making the decision on the car purchase, but if there is a variant of the engine with a chain, why not?

Unfortunately, it is widely known that mileage on cars can be easily manipulated with. The less mileage, the better, of course, but you can not be sure of that by looking at the mileage info. If the car was owned by a company, it is a sure sign of a big mileage on it, and I'd avoid purchase of such cars.

After the test drive, check immediately whether there are drops of water under the cap of the oil reservoir of the engine - which would be a sign that the engine is not in good shape. When you're already there, pull the oil meter up and if you see smoke coming from the pipe, it is also a sign of a bad engine.

Another sign that the engine is bad is when the black smoke comes out of the exhaust pipe while lightly pressing gas. If the white smoke comes out of the exhaust pipe, it is a sign that the nozzles on the engine are not good, and the nozzles are very expensive. Thus, there should not be any visible smoke coming out of the exhaust pipe.

If you notice that the steering wheel and gear shift are worn out, it is a sign that the car was driven aggressively.

If the car pulls to one side when steering, this may be a sign that it was in an accident or it bumped into a hole. Repair can costs only 50-60 EUR, but this also may be more serious problem, and I would think twice before even considering to buy such a car.

If you buy a car from the auto lot, expect that they will thoroughly wash the engine before they exhibit the car. However, if the engine has not been washed, and you see that there is no oil leakage, it's a sign of a good engine. While you are still there, take a look at the metal under the hood - if the car was hit, from this angle you can easily notice irregularities and evidence of the accident.

METAL

Metal on "garaged" cars is in much better shape, and if you buy a car relying mostly on you intuition and common sense ;), look only at the garaged ones.

Be sure to check what state is the metal around the spare wheel if you can not bend over and look at how the car looks from the underneath.

Toyota cars for some reason tend to be have a very endurable metal, even when they are not garaged.

Car must have all symmetrical lines and it is easier to determine that when viewing it from behind. Otherwise, it's a sign that he had been in an accident.

Pay attention to the wheel arches. If they have already started to corrode, it means that they have not been very well protected and this is impossible to fix.

PRICE, MAINTENANCE COSTS AND PAPERWORK

Usually the cars that are sold through car lots are more expensive. But still, you should call to check the prices. It happened to me that a seller from a car lot told me that the last price for which I could get a certain Suzuki is 500 EUR LOWER than the price listed on the website: www.polovniautomobili.com?!?!

Automatic car air for some reason is better than manual air, ie, those cars are more pricey.

Cars with "metallic" color are also more pricey, which is totally illogical to me.

There are not many adequate service shops for cars with "automatic" transmission in Serbia, because they are still quite rare and fixing them could be a challenge...

Matte cars are the most expensive. Cheaper and more common a variant of "matte" color is matte car wrap which is much cheaper than genuine matte color.

Owning a car with Euro 3 emission class engine has become very expensive in Germany because of amendments to the law in early 2015, so that the prices of the cars with these engines dropped significantly in Germany, and if you have an option to import such a car, I am certain it would be affordable.

Maintenance of Japanese cars is not so expensive as there is a prejudice that it is, and on an average they break more rarely, so you will not pay more for the maintenance of Japanese cars on an average. My personal opinion is that it is a very smart move for a woman to buy a Japanese car simply because it doesn't break almost ever, but the majority of men from this area will not agree with this statement.

Lamella on the clutch is cheaper than floating flywheel, therefore, maintenance of a clutch with lamella is cheaper.

Be sure to check the condition of the tires. Purchasing all four new tires after buying a car can be very expensive.

Be sure to ask when the last time was done minor, and when a major service on a car.

If the car has already been registered in Serbia, you as a customer, regardless of the fact that this is the legal obligation of the seller, pay sales tax for that car. This tax is 2.5% of the market price of a used car as determined by Tax Administration in the city where the car is originally registered.


If the car is registered in your city, then you pay a new registration card, and not the new plates.

If you are buying an unregistered car in another city, you have the option to pay the one day plates which cost from 2,500 - 4,000 din.

If you are buying unregistered just imported car, you pay for the registration and license plates.

And so on, so forth...

SOME RECOMMENDATIONS

Citroen C3
Go for ... 1.4i SX
Avoid ... 1.1 / Sensodrive

Toyota Yaris
Go for ... 1.3 VVTi GS 5dr
Avoid ... 1.0 S 3dr

Lancia Ypsilon (or Chrysler Ypsilon)
Go for ... 1.3 multijet

Mazda 2
Go for ... 1.25 S
Avoid ... 1.6 Sport or Capella

Mitsubishi Colt
Go for ... 1.1 Classic
Avoid ... 1.5 CZT

Ford Fiesta
Go for ... 1.25 Style 5dr Climate
Avoid ... 1.3 Finesse 3dr

Suzuki Swift
Go for ... 1.5 GLX
Avoid ... 1.3 diesel

Alea iacta est...

Should you visit Thailand?

Today I read this story written by a Serbian guy about Thailand in which he focused only on the negative aspects of his experience of it. I will not mention his name or a website that he writes for. Luckily, my FB account is currently deactivated, so I successfully fought the urge to comment on this negative article and thus be a part of boosting its rating on the Internet. Whereas others didn't. Anyways, I agree with the majority of the reactions to the story.

However, he inspired me to write about my general impressions of Thailand. And to question myself whether it is legitimate that I continue to motivate people to visit Thailand so much. Maybe Thailand really isn't for everyone I am recommending it to?

Going to Thailand isn't cheap. Not for people from the Balkans. In the best case you will pay your ticket 600 EUR, and it is much more realistic to pay it more than that. One-entry visa costs 45 EUR, and two-entry visa - 80 EUR (I included Gea tours agency' services fee, and using their services is still the fastest way to obtain Thai visa). You need to budget between 20 EUR and 30 EUR a day for accommodation and food if you are not very demanding traveler, and don't plan to eat in fancy restaurants, if you are really on a tight a budget, you can in some location live on 15 EUR, but not everywhere.

Photo: Railay Beach, cheap and safe fast food boat restaurant

If you expect luxury, budget minimum 50-70 EUR a day. What you pay for luxury here is still cheaper compared to visiting western countries. The prices also vary depending on the location in Thailand you visit. If you are traveling alone, that raises the price of accommodation and sometimes transportation. As anywhere else. If you are using ferries, buses, public  transportation, you will not be spending a lot of money on traveling from A to B, but if you prefer speedboats, taxis, tuk tuks, local flights that you do not pay in advance and miss the low prices, all that can cost you a lot. If you are a beer drinker, in caffes and restaurants you will be paying between 1.5 EUR and 3 EUR for your beer, and from the perspective of a beer snob, beer isn't that great either. So, make your own calculation.

Photo: cheap Bangkok ferry transportation

Thailand is a tourist machinery and everyone in it will try to get their piece of cake. And they will lie to you in the process and promise a lot of things. Tuk tuk drivers will often give you a offer that would sound unrealistically cheap, but be aware that there is always something else hiding behind. This, actually, applies to any tourist location in Southeast Asia. However, I have to admit that I have witnessed the least amounts of attempts to trick tourists in Malaysia and Singapore, but I do not have a lot of experience there to be able to really judge and confirm whether this is true.


Photo: tuk tuk in Bangkok

So, tuk tuk drivers take you everywhere but keep failing to arrive at a destination they promised and that you were looking forward to. On the way, you spend tons of money on some natural products that cost about fifth of the price they ask, they take you to sites where entrance fee is charged and the drivers get commission from all these visits. That is why you got the cheap price in the first place, because paying for transportation is certainly not going to be all the money you would be spending. As the matter of fact, with the money the driver gave you, he cannot cover the price of gas or tuk tuk rental (yes, it is very likely that the vehicle does not belong to him). However, after first experience like this, you learn your lesson. If you start a friendly conversation with a driver, he would reduce the number of redundant locations, he would be your guide, and if you give him a small gift from your country that doesn't even cost much, such as pack of cigarettes, small bottle of rakija, wet wipes (they do not have them at all in Sri Lanka, for instance), he will do all he can to return a good gesture with something characteristic for their culture. And in the end, give driver a tip, so he could actually earn some money and not barely cover the costs.

This guy describes how all islands in Thailand resemble Budva in Montenegro and that Serbian language is the dominant language there. Well... I heard Serbian once during my first visit to Thailand, and once during second. And, it is true that some islands resemble Budva. But Thailand offers so much diversity, and if you do not like the fair-like craziness and to listen to horrible electronic music that one can hear only at local fairs in the Balkans, just pick an island of your choice. And the choice is vast.

Photo: Koh Ngai

And - sex tourism. Yes, it's there. One needs to have the stomach for it when you happen to witness it. But, this is not something Thailand insists on, unless you want to investigate it yourself and notice it.

This guy made me laugh big time when he mentioned that he even got some fungus diseases on this feet because he had to take his shoes off when visiting Buddhist temples. How did he remember that :)?

When is the best time to visit Thailand, or, when is the best time to visit certain parts of Thailand? Whereas high season lasts six month on one coast, it is low season on the other coast, and vice versa. The best website for getting the necessary information and making the decision where and when to go in Southeast Asia is definitely SELECTIVE ASIA:

So, if you have an idea that Thailand should give you the feel of Maldivi almost free of charge (yes, I am referring to the text I read again), than you neither use Internet. nor common sense, and you have forgotten all geography and history lessons and you do not watch news. Thailand is densely populated tourist destination, a poor country with beautiful nature, wonderful people and it offers you opportunity to get to know an interesting Eastern culture that is hidden under the surface in tourist places, because local folks work even 16 hours a day, and they are simply too tired to even notice that you want to get to know them as people, and it reveals itself unselfishly the further from these touristy places you go. After all, just as any other tourist destination in the world.

Outer impulses

I am one of those people who are neither against Facebook, or technology, Internet or any progress as such. However, this is the third time in my life that I deactivated my FB account and I have to admit that once again I like it very much. Why?

Seven days ago I deactivated my Facebook account. Since then I managed to visit a friend in Vojvodina whom I haven't seen in a year, I started writing texts for this blog and managed successfully to have my neck locked, visited a doctor and at least started to deal with a problem that I have been having in a long time. 

Today's lives are abundant with the outside impulses that we, whether we want it or not, respond to. And such impulses are on the rise, especially the digital ones. And it is often that because of these impulses and our conscious or unconscious reactions to them we do not have time to ask ourselves what is exactly what we need and thus we become more and more alienated from our essence.

Photo: people socializing

Twitter? I have been there, too... A little over a year. And you can read many interesting things there, so many wonderful, smart, funny, creative and literate people to follow. However, these wonderful, smart, creative and funny people are constantly being attacked by the so-called haters, or, as one business contact used to call them "the moaners", because in the country of Serbia it is well known that everyone needs to have their own opinion about everything, and if this opinion is not negative, some wouldn't count it as an opinion at all, so the "moaners" have the urge to shed their negativity over these wonderful different thoughts that they have read about. And these wonderful, creative people are not immune to this, they respond back with negativity, or an unnecessary fight bursts, because of some misunderstandings. And then you witness how some people raise their rating in the Twitter world in some "dirty" ways. And, at one point, you realize that Twitter resembles all those social phenomena that you know exist, but try to avoid in order to preserve your own inner peace and sanity, so I made the decision to remove myself from this world, not by deactivating and later reactivating the account, but committing, as my good friend described, digital suicide.

And I cannot say I am against Twitter either, it can be very interesting. I still visit it from time to time, to have good laughs, to learn about a lot of new things, and when I feel the splash of negativity, I just leave.

And these mobile phones... How many times were you called in the middle of a creative flow and interrupted the inspiration that started making creations on its own, or in the middle of a good movie scene which gives you exultation, or while reading a phenomenal part of the book, or in the middle of a job that you urgently need to finish, or in the middle of an inspiring and a good quality conversation with a dear someone? Do you also feel the frustration when interrupted in the middle of wonderful, mind-blowing, inspirational feelings?

And TV... You stare at the screen and realize that you have spent several hours of your time in semi-hypnotized mode, and only 10% of that time (where did I get this percentage from?!) or less you have actually been learning something new, or, to be more precise - something good and useful for you. If you feel fulfilled after you turn the TV off, great, it has been good for you, but if you feel the emptiness, it is a sign you have wasted your time.

In simple words, human is a being of response, and modern age is full of these reaction inducers and on a daily basis we let ourselves be attacked by these inducers which didn't even exist in the history of mankind up until modern age, and of course frustration or dissatisfaction are incited and we do not even have time to think through and explain and define why, because we are being swamped by new impulses.

Why am I babbling about this? Well, currently, I am enjoying the benefits of the reduced digital presence and I have the need to spread this wisdom :). And as a reminder to myself when I "expose" myself again - to minimize those outer impulses to an optimal dosage and be more present in the real reality and be there more for both myself and people I love.

Choose your own outer impulses, whenever you can.

Booking a flight

Firstly, you need to check with your bank whether certain debit card can be used for online purchases. If you have a credit card, then you are good to go. 

For booking a flight always check several websites. You never know which website would at which point offer the best booking option, or which website has the best deal with a certain aircraft carrier. Sometimes travel websites have exclusive deals with an aircraft carrier or purchase certain number of tickets for a lower price, and later sell them after this tariff has been sold out on the aircraft carrier's website, hence at the given moment they could offer the best possible price. Sometimes you can find the best possible price through the website of the flight company. All this depends on the policy of an airline, whether or whether not an airline is advertised on a certain travel website, business policy of a certain travel websites, etc.

When there is a demand for a certain flight, the price for it rises, regardless of whether the tickets are selling fast or not. So, merely by entering your destination and preferred travel dates on the travel websites, you affect the price for that flight.  What you can do about this is: turn off cookies on your Internet browser. If you are using Google Chrome, use Chrome Incognito mode.

If the dates of your trip are not fixed, you can search which date combination is the cheapest by using this website:

www.skyscanner.net

When entering the dates in your search, you have the option to pick "Whole month" or "Whole Year" for departure and return, and Skyscanner gives you monthly, or yearly view of all the flights for a certain destination by dates, and you can see which dates combination is the cheapest.

This is an example who you can find the best combination for a flight Belgrade - Tokyo. The return ticket, all taxes included is about 408 EUR.

The following local websites give you the chart view if you use option Pretraga letova ( + / - 3 dana):

www.tripsta.rs

www.jeftineaviokarte.rs

Local website www.jeftineaviokarte.rs is good for options when you do not have credit or debit card that can be used for online purchases. The agency that owns this website allows ticket purchases within 24h of making flight reservation in local currency. There are ways to wire money to this agency even if you are not from Serbia. 

When you choose your dates, now check several other websites to see what prices they offer. Some of the websites that you could check are:

www.expedia.com (flights and hotels search)

www.hipmunk.com (flights and hotels search)

www.jeftineaviokarte.rs (flights and hotels search)

www.whichbudget.com (flights search)

www.edreams.com (flights and hotels search) NOTE: Edreams first gives you prices taxes excluded, so in most cases it just appears that it is the cheapest, whereas it is not!

www.airtickets24.com (flights search)

www.cheapoair.com/ (flights and hotels search)

When you check all the prices and flight details offered through travel websites or directly on flights companies websites (sometimes one offers better flight time combination that the other for the same amount of money), search coupons.

Often times it is cheaper to pay a bit more for shorter layovers than to choose flights with long layovers. Keep in mind that food and drinks at airports are very pricey, so it is cheaper to save time even though you pay more for the ticket.

IF you are spending several days at a certain place, and then you continue your journey, try to enter ALL flights for that journey, or, pick an option multiple destinations. You will be surprisedhow the prices fall when you connect several different flights, regardless of the time you are spending at a certain location. There is no cap on the time spending in a certain location and buying "connected tickets" other than how far in advance certain flight company allows ticket purchases.

Check the tickets prices in several different currencies. Asian websites tend to have better rates for USD than other currencies, but this does not apply to all Asian websites. Also, the exchange rate can change between the moment of online purchase and the moment that amount of money is actually taken from your bank account, so you can be (un)pleasantly surprised when you realize the price is by a few EUR higher or lower when you see your bank statement. Such oscillations occur when you purchase tickets in currencies that change exchange rate more than the others: in USD or Swiss franks, for instance, compared to EUR or local currencies because credit card debts in Europe are paid either in EUR or local currency. 

If you do not have frequent flyer number for a company that you are flying with, apply for their frequent flyer program online and you can immediately start using it. It can never hurt collecting miles. 

Low-cost kompanije are often not included in travel websites searches, so you have to go to those website directly. The list of low-cost flight companies can be found here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_low-cost_airlines

Some flight companies offer the best price for purchases through PayPal, so, it doesn't hurt to have account opened there, too.