Your teenage daughter will be heading to college this fall and the thought of her being away from home has you concerned, even worried how safe she will be hundreds of miles away from her parents.

To get back and forth between school and home, you’ve considered giving her your 2002 Sonata, but with more than 120,000 miles on the odometer, you worry that the car could break down, leaving her stranded, and vulnerable to whoever might come to her aid. A quality, late model used car with low miles sounds appealing, but there just isn’t much available for under $7500 let alone $10,000.

Well, college students who are in need of a vehicle are getting some help in the form of a cheaply priced new car. No, I’m not talking about the ultra-tiny two seat Smart ForTwo nor am I going to mention the Hyundai Elantra, rather the car with the lowest price on the market is now the 2009 Nissan Versa.

Yes, with a sticker price of $9990, the Nissan Versa 1.6 is the champion of low priced new cars, a model that Nissan says will go on sale later this month. With a 1.6L I4 engine producing 107 h.p. (paired with a five speed manual transmission), the bare bones Versa gets 34 mpg on the highway, just the kind of fuel economy traveling college students want.

It’ll be a bare bones model too with no air conditioning and few of the other creature comforts people want in their cars, but the price can certainly be right for the family who wants new, reliable transportation, wheels which can transports their sons and daughters to college and back without worry that the car will suddenly and mysteriously break down.

Nissan hasn’t said how many of these models will be made available from November 18^th forward and there is the matter of a destination/handling charge of $695. But, Nissan is also offering zero percent financing to qualified buyers, making the Versa one car that college families may want to consider, perfect or not.

(Source: Nissan USA)

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Tags: car lease, college commuting, new cars, Nissan Versa, used cars

We all know that car theft remains a persistent problem, an issue that overwhelms some police departments particularly in urban areas. For college students who must rely on personal transportation, having a car on hand is convenient, but is fraught with risks. Finding parking can be a challenge, paying for gas and upkeep gets expensive, and securing your ride from thieves can be daunting.

That old 1994 Nissan Sentra your mother handed down to you when she bought herself a new car may not seem like something that thieves would want, but a survey by the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NCIB) reveals that a ‘94 Sentra is a favorite for thieves. The reason? Not for its value as a complete car, rather for the worth of its individual parts.

For the past two years the most stolen vehicles in the nation were:

  2007 Ranking                   2006 Ranking

1. 1995 Honda Civic                    1. 1995 Honda Civic

2. 1991 Honda Accord                   2. 1991 Honda Accord

3. 1989 Toyota Camry                   3. 1989 Toyota Camry

4. 1997 Ford F-150 Series Pickup       4. 1997 Ford F-150 Series Pickup

5. 1994 Chevrolet C/K 1500 Pickup      5. 2005 Dodge Ram Pickup

6. 1994 Acura Integra                  6. 1994 Chevrolet C/K 1500 Pickup

7. 2004 Dodge Ram Pickup               7. 1994 Nissan Sentra

8. 1994 Nissan Sentra                  8. 1994 Dodge Caravan

9. 1988 Toyota Pickup                  9. 1994 Saturn SL

10. 2007 Toyota Corolla                10. 1990 Acura Integra

The NICB study (HotWheels 2008) confirms that theft of older model vehicles has remained constant for the past several years. Thieves continue to target these vehicles because they provide the best market for stolen vehicle parts.

But the news isn’t completely grim when it comes to car theft. The FBI’s preliminary Uniform Crime Report (UCR) data shows that motor vehicle theft is headed for an 8.9% decrease in 2007; that data will be finalized later this year.

The NICB advises that all motorists consider employing several methods to combat car theft from the commonsensical (lock your car doors and take the keys with you) to the more aggressive which includes installing warning and tracking devices, even an immobilizing device which would prevent someone from starting it.

Students who live on campus should contact their school’s security force to find out which lots on campus are the most vulnerable for car theft. For students living off campus, a call to the local police department should reveal which neighborhoods are particularly at risk.

(Source: http://www.nicb.org)

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Adv. — Do you need a car for the upcoming school year? Research which automobile best meets your needs and explore how to maintain your ride to give you many years of fun driving.

Tags: automotive financing, Campus Cars, car protection, car theft, used cars