Zipcar, the nation’s largest urban car-sharing company, defines a “zipster” on its Web site as “someone who rejects the established car-owning culture” or “one who is exceptionally aware of the latest trends and tastes.” Over the past several years, Zipcar has increased the number of trendy “zipsters” on College Hill and at over 40 colleges across the country, allowing students to fulfill car-related needs from grocery shopping to road-tripping on a pay-by-the-hour basis. Brown has used Zipcar since Oct. 2005, and the University is now in negotiations with Zipcar to lower the University’s membership age to 18 and add two more cars to those currently on campus.

Founded in 1999, Zipcar allows its members to reserve a car online for a designated amount of time, drive the car wherever they desire and return the car without paying for gas, tolls or insurance. Zipcar charges a one-time $25 application fee, $50 annual fee and an additional $8 for every hour of driving or $60 a day. Zipcar also includes parking for the University’s three Zipcars - a Honda Civic, a Toyota Matrix and a Mazda 3. Read more

If you read my 2007 9-3 review, you’ll know this title has been tenuous at best over the past couple years as Saab has been undergoing the GMification process. For 2008, however, with the complete redesign of the 9-3, the car and the entire Saab brand went up a couple notches.

Thank goodness. I’d hate to see a title five years and running go down the drain. Read more

The Waiting for the Echo Boomers, Toyota Yaris?

Toyota’s Yaris subcompact is aimed at younger buyers. Toyota’s Yaris subcompact is aimed at younger buyers. Read more

There is David Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research, likes the honesty and said Ford couldn’t call the existing Taurus a success.

Belittling your product probably isn’t a great marketing tool, but two top Ford Motor Co. executives recently criticized the looks of the new Taurus sedan, with one comparing it to doofus cartoon character Homer Simpson.

While speaking in Detroit this month, CEO Alan Mulally and Derrick Kuzak, head of global product development, took shots at the current Taurus, with Kuzak likening its looks to the portly, balding, doughnut-devouring Simpson.

During a speech to industry insiders, Mulally hinted that a new, nicer-looking Taurus is coming in the next year or so, adding a crack about the current car. Read more

By Anna Fifield in Tehran

Merhnaz thought her expensive, private university degree in economics would be her ticket to a solid job. Instead, like hundreds of thousands of other young Iranians, she finds herself unemployed and unhappy.

“I’ve been looking for a job since graduation,” says the 25-year-old, who finished university two years ago. “I took tests to enter government banks but I didn’t succeed and I applied at the Tehran city council but they weren’t hiring.”

Merhnaz, who says most of her university friends are unemployed, is waiting to find out if she was successful in her application to be a teacher at a private English language institute.

“I want to have a job - I’d really like to work - so naturally it’s not very pleasant not to be able to find one,” she says. Read more

Supercars are growing more civil, which is disorienting. Dodge’s new Viper SRT10 American Club Racer wears the street-thug look it should, and its muscle is rock-real, but its manner is as smooth as a British butler’s. It starts up quietly, clutch and shifter are amiable, and when you fly into a racetrack turn at a pace you’re sure would make even Viper racer Tommy Archer’s eyes go wide, the ACR simply murmurs encouragement: “Okay, that’s fairly good, but next time, let’s carry some speed.” Read more

The Waves offers a new generation of professional and high earning car valeting services across the UK and Ireland, operating from supermarkets, shopping centres, petrol stations and many other sites.

Waves was founded in 2006 by an experienced management team. Joanna Graham, Director, says: “I created Waves to offer a professional revenue generating service to our clients, a premium value valeting service to our customers and a high earning business opportunity to our franchisees. We already have contracts with Tesco, shopping centres, petrol stations, retail parks and other independent landowners. We have grown quickly and are looking to build on our early successes by finding high calibre franchisees across the UK.”

Getting the detail right is what sets Waves apart: from professional and specialist set-ups (including Environment Agency compliant systems), to branded work area, signage and uniforms to high quality performance valeting, Waves works hard to deliver the best level of service to everybody. Read more

This a report from Nevadaappeal aks insurance fraud and auto theft in Nevada.

Gov. Jim Gibbons said today he’s forming a task force that will focus on organized insurance fraud and auto theft in Nevada.

The panel will try to determine the statewide scope of such problems and their affect on consumers, and review potential solutions.

Gibbons made the announcement following a tour of the southern Nevada-based Vehicle Investigations Project for Enforcement and Recovery, or VIPER, “bait” car program. Read more

Do you feel like you’re drowning in debt? Many times there are ways to cut costs that you might not think of. All this week, 3 On Your Side’s Jim Donovan has great advice on managing your money. Today he tackles home and auto insurance.

When was the last time you took a look at your insurance policies? Or better yet, shopped around? By doing so, you can save money.

They say they’re on your side, that you’re in good hands and that like a good neighbor they’ll always be there.

But when your insurance company sends you their bill, those happy thoughts often disappear. “It’s astronomical,” said one woman. I think that all of it combined is almost not worth driving,” said another woman.
Read more

Indiana is on track to regain a small claim to fame it has not held since the era of the Stutz and the Duesenberg.

It is fast becoming a leading producer of automobiles.
If current trends continue, Indiana will become the No. 3 auto-producing state in three years, up from a distant sixth place today, reports the think tank Center for Automotive Research.
While the South has gotten tons of publicity for its new auto industry, especially in Kentucky and Alabama, Indiana is on pace to surpass both those states in vehicle output.
But don’t expect a sudden factory hiring binge.

Three Japanese companies powered Indiana’s surge: Toyota at Princeton; Subaru at Lafayette; and Honda’s new Greensburg plant, set to open this summer. Those plants already have hired the bulk of their labor force. And their auto parts suppliers are largely in place, usually within 450 miles of the assembly plants. Read more