AUTO INSURANCE ARTICLE

Is it Time to Get a Minicar?

By: coppeneur

You see a minicar driving past you in the highway. And there are only two things people see about minicars. Either they’re totally blown away and wants to place a purchase pronto on the current model, or they simply find the car a more sophisticated toy, but still a toy. If you happen to be undecided yet on how the minicar fares with you, but considers getting one, we have compiled some information that you may need to know.

For a few years now, many people have eagerly welcomed the shift toward smaller vehicles – the minicars to be precise. Minicars get brownie points from motorists for their better fuel efficiency and the less space they occupy in a bumper to bumper parking lot. Hypothetically, if you drive 15,000 miles per year, the minicar uses 500 gallons annually at its average of 30 mpg. At the same miles per year, a regular car, in computations made by Skip Thomsen in the Dollar Stretcher site, is said to chug an average of 17 mpg of fuel.

For some of us who struggle with parallel parking in cramped downtown spaces, parking a minicar is a saving experience. Since minicars are generally about 10 feet, squeezing two of those in the same space you’d park a regular car is possible (at least in theory, because the width remain the same whether minicars or regular ones).

Not all quarters seem to have all high praises with the minicar. Caution is suggested for example by a newly-released study of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). According to their study, findings show that Toyota Yaris, Honda Fit and Smart ForTwo showed poor performance in frontal crash tests with mid-sized vehicles. After a strong frontal collision, the said three cars all collapsed into the space around the driver dummy. At 40 mph collision tests, dummy drivers in all the three vehicles suffered high risk of head and leg injuries, even after airbags were inflated.

But Smart USA, in a statement released shortly, refutes the empirical soundness of the findings, saying that the 40-mph test and the frontal-crash position are “unlikely to occur in real-world crashes". Besides that the leading minicar brand Smart have had a good safety record since it was introduced. And this is supported by the same IIHS study, that on typical crash tests, all three minicars had performed well as compared to their bigger brothers.

As with anything, it is but proper to have a healthy pessimism with new car technologies. But one thing is for sure, this new generation of mini cars and what they promise to deliver – easing overcrowded parking lots, gridlocked highways and the dreaded blind spots; fuel economy; and greener driving – are a force to beckon with. And motorists and consumers stand the best chance of getting the most from innovations on safety and car quality that the auto industry has to offer.

So, is it time to get a minicar? Speak with your dealer and your auto insurance company about your concerns, and doubts. In the end, it is you, who will ultimately make the decision yourself.