The next day, Xiao Yifei drove a Tesla and Lei Shidong to play golf again. On the way there, after turning from the busy 405 to the 110 highway, Xiao Yifei experienced the acceleration and high-speed performance of the Roadster, and suddenly surpassed Lei Shidong's Rolls-Royce Phantom.

When he arrived at the stadium, Lei Shidong's electric car was also very curious, and he heard that he turned twice.

This car is actually equivalent to an electric version of the Lotus car, and due to the increase in the battery and other reasons, the weight of the car has increased compared with the original Lotus, which leads to a decrease in performance such as cornering, but the straight-line acceleration performance is not to say.

Since the Roadster is Tesla's first model, in order to be safe, they have not carried out a lot of electronicization in this car, and the entire dashboard, center console, etc. are basically retained. It's not comparable to the simple dashboard of the S-type behind the Tesla, which feels like everything else can be omitted except for the big electronic screen and steering wheel.

However, the difference between this Roadster and the Model S is that its battery pack is placed behind the seats, unlike the S as a large board that sits underneath the car. The chassis of a car is so complicated that if you put the battery pack on the chassis, it can be hit by uneven road surfaces, and other items such as a carrier that has been crushed by tires can also hit it. In order to protect the battery, Tesla has added a ballistic protective shield on the outside, which may be made of aluminum alloy and carbon fiber. After three fires caused by various reasons, Tesla replaced this protective cover with titanium alloy and aluminum alloy.

If the lithium battery is located at the bottom of the car, once the battery pack burns, its location makes it basically impossible for ordinary users to use the on-board fire extinguishing equipment to extinguish the fire.

Fortunately, Lei Shidong loves to show his body very much. Didn't ask for a lap, just looked and walked to the pitch.

While playing, a burst of music sounded, and the eyes of the caddie and other court personnel next to him and Lei Shidong's landing consultant all looked at Xiao Yifei. In the United States, there are many golf clubs that often enforce the rule that you are not allowed to use your cell phone even when you are playing at the club. If the rules are violated, the membership points will be deducted. Xiao Yifei is not a member now, and if he wants to deduct it, he will naturally be a thunderbolt.

"I'm sorry, I just forgot to turn it off, I'll turn it off right away."

Xiao Yifei hurriedly took out his mobile phone from his golf bag, and was just about to hang up, when Lei Shidong spoke:

"Take it, it's fine."

Xiao Yifei glanced at Lei Shidong with an inquiring look, and he nodded. Signal that he is telling the truth. Xiao Yifei thought about it, too, at the level of Lei Shidong, even the top club that pretends to be forced can't really say that he will be deducted zero points and then driven out of the ranks of members.

However, Xiao Yifei was still very conscious, and ended the call in three or two sentences. He explained as he turned it off:

"It's a Rolls-Royce call saying that the Gust I ordered has arrived."

"That's right, you can have it at the CBS cocktail party in a few days."

Here in Los Angeles, there are a lot of drinking parties on weekdays, until the end of the year. It was a one-scale drinking party. Xiao Yifei, who has not yet integrated into the social circle, has received many invitations, although the others have postponed the drinking party. Can CBS wine he will he must attend. Because Lei Shidong has clearly told him that he will introduce him to characters who can help him become naturalized at the CBS cocktail party.

After lunch, Xiao Yifei didn't go back with Lei Shidong, just now the Rolls-Royce California agent said that the car had arrived at the nearest dealer to him, which happened to be on his way home, just south of Wilcher Avenue in Beverly Hills.

Come to the address in the phone. Xiao Yifei found that the Rolls-Royce store was an ordinary two-story building, with a dentist clinic on the left and another car shop on the right. Xiao Yifei took a closer look. It was found that the two stores should be the same because the store names have the same prefix. The latter three brands are all owned by Volkswagen, and Rolls-Royce is owned by BMW, and they are represented by one company, which is interesting.

Xiao Yifei waited at the door of the store for a while, and Wang Nan and Shirley drove a Ferrari to meet Xiao Yifei.

Through glass vitrines and glass doors, cars are placed in the store. Wang Nan is particularly interested in this one:

"Wow, the local tyrant wants to buy a car again? What car to buy? Could it be the Bugatti Veyron? ”

Xiao Yifei ignored her, directly opened the glass door of the Rolls-Royce store and walked in. When the receptionist saw him walk in, she greeted him with a smile:

"Good afternoon, sir, what can serve you?"

"I'll order a car to deliver to your store."

"May I ask your surname, sir, what is the model of the car?"

Xiao Yifei glanced at it, but did not find that the Gust placed in the store was not the color he wanted.

"My surname is Xiao, and it's a Rolls-Royce Gust, right?"

Xiao Yifei was worried that he was in the wrong place.

"Mr. Xiao, please wait a moment, I'll check."

The receptionist returned to the computer and tapped on the keyboard:

"Found it, Mr. Xiao's car has indeed been delivered."

"Why didn't you see it?"

"I can't put it in the store, it's parked in the parking lot at the back, Mr. Xiao, please come with me."

When he came to the backyard, Xiao Yifei determined that the two stores were actually one. In this small backyard, more than 30 luxury cars of several brands are crowded. Between a few Bentleys and Lamborghini, there were three Gusts, and Xiao Yifei recognized his black and gold non-convertible Gusts at a glance.

Checking the order, Xiao Yifei and the shopping guide checked various equipment and accessories, and signed the receipt.

"Mr. Xiao, please come to the store for a cup of coffee and wait a while, we will get to the driver and your car will drive to the door."

Xiao Yifei looked at the parking lot, several brands of luxury cars were messed up here, and there were a few BMW motorcycles in the only gap. Xiao Yifei is self-aware of his own skills, he knows that he will definitely not be able to drive the car, maybe he will have to touch other luxury cars, or honestly wait for their driver to move the car.

Shirley and Wang Nan saw so many luxury cars placed here, and hurriedly took out their cameras:

"Excuse me, can we take a picture with the car?"

The shopping guide hesitated. Said:

"The cars here are all ordered by customers, and if you want to take pictures, you can go to the store and take pictures."

Xiao Yifei asked:

"The shop next to it is also yours, can we also go and take pictures?"

"I'm sorry, I'll ask the manager."

Back in the store, a chubby white manager was already waiting for Xiao Yifei. In his opinion, people who can afford to buy Rolls-Royce must have no problem buying other brands, and maybe they can sell one after patting.

Leaving Xiao Yifei to face a pile of documents, the two girls followed the shopping guide to the store next to him to take pictures.

After the documents were processed, the manager accompanied Xiao Yifei to the side, and the two girls were happily photographing when they saw Xiao Yifei coming. waved for Xiao Yifei to take pictures as well.

"Mr. Xiao, your car is already parked at the door."

Xiao Yifei sat in the cab and carried out the final step of acceptance. A professional test driver sat in the passenger seat, and Shirley and Shirley had to squeeze into the back seat.

The glossy chrome parts, natural intricate wood grain, soft and delicate leather, and the luxurious interior of the car make people love it at a glance. Starting the car, I only felt that the body shook slightly, and there was a slight engine noise in my ears, and it seemed that the sound insulation measures were well done. More than 500 horsepower engine. It doesn't feel like it's a 2.5-ton car at all. Xiao Yifei walked around the Zhouwei District twice, and was driven by a professional test driver. I experienced what it was like to sit in the back seat.

"It's a really good car." Xiao Yifei exclaimed.

"yes, it's so comfortable to sit on." Wang Nan nodded busily in agreement.

Shirley is a local:

"Yes, comfort is definitely comfortable, but the price is not small."

Wang Nan looked at her suspiciously.

"The price of car ownership."

Wang Nan asked weakly:

"You mean insurance?"

In the United States, car maintenance is not an expense and is not cheap, according to statistics. In California, the average annual cost of maintaining a car is more than $2,000, of which the average insurance premium is more than $900 and the cost of gas is also more than $900.

In California, auto insurance is often divided into half and full risk. Semi-insurance is not insurance to protect yourself. Instead, they only protect each other, and as the name suggests, all risks are of course protected by themselves and the other party.

In fact, these two concepts do not exist in insurance, and everyone often says that semi-risk, that is, only liability insurance. In the event of an accident, this type of insurance can only be used to pay for the loss of the other party, so some people call this type of insurance that does not compensate for their own losses as semi-insurance. This insurance must be bought, otherwise the penalty amount will be more than 4 digits after the vehicle is found by the police on the road, which is much more expensive than insurance.

California has a minimum limit for this insurance, which is that the sum insured must be 15,000 for a single person and more than 30,000 for a single accident. Anyone who goes on the road below this limit will also be fined by the police. In addition, if the premium amount is insufficient, the other party may continue to sue the individual to obtain compensation for your personal property after receiving the insurance amount compensation. Therefore, when purchasing insurance, the amount will be appropriately increased to avoid greater losses in the future.

In addition, there are medical insurance, collision insurance, etc., which are self-insurance, which is the so-called full insurance. California only stipulates that you must buy half insurance, and full insurance is not mandatory, but those who have spare money will still buy one for themselves in case of emergency.

In addition, there is another kind of insurance, which basically everyone will buy, that is, umuninsuredmotorist, that is, the other party is uninsured or underinsured. This insurance is especially important in California, because there are a large number of illegal immigrants in California, and they also have to drive, and these people are likely not to buy insurance because of their status. Once an accident occurs and you don't buy this insurance, you won't find anyone to pay for the loss of your vehicle, medical bills and other losses.

In addition to these 4 types of insurance, there are also roadside assistance insurance, inconvenience insurance, etc., which everyone will buy according to their own situation when they buy.

Taken together, the average middle class spends more than $1,000 a year on car insurance.

Shirley Troll:

"It's not just insurance, it's a lot of money in car taxes every year."

The car tax that Shirley is talking about, also known as the license fee, is called vehiclelicefee, or VLF for short. This license fee is not only paid once, but must be paid every year. And the tax rate is not low, reaching 0.65%, so that this more than 400,000 Gust will cost more than 2,000 US dollars a year in license fees. It is precisely because it has to be paid every year and can also be deducted from income tax that everyone simply calls it a car tax.

When it comes to this license fee, there is one person to be thankful for, and that is the current governor Schwarzenegger.

In 2003, when California's finances were in trouble, Governor Davis, who was about to leave office, had the courage to raise the auto tax by a factor of two, from 0.65 percent to 2 percent, in order to solve the fiscal deficit. In other words, if Xiao Yifei's Gust follows this rate, he will have to pay a license fee of 9,000. It also means that the average annual car tax per car in California has increased from $76 to $234, an increase of $158.

Naturally, this move provoked popular opposition, and one of Schwarzenegger's campaign promises was that when he came to power, he would reduce car taxes to the original level.

When Schwarzenegger really came to power, he encountered a very, very serious Southern California fire, in which 20 people died, 50,000 people were forced to evacuate, more than 34,000 residents and more than 300,000 hectares of forest were burned, and the damage caused was more than $2 billion.

The car tax is a local tax, although it is levied by the state, but after it is collected, the state government will allocate the full amount of this tax to the following county and town governments for public expenditure, mainly for police and fire protection. When Davis proposed an increase in the auto tax, he won the support of the counties and municipalities below so that they could have the financial resources to continue to maintain public services.

After the governor came to power, he was faced with a dilemma, if the car tax was reduced, then the counties and cities below would cry poor, and now they are facing fires, it is the time when firefighters are needed, cut the car tax, and the number of police officers and firefighters must be cut below. But if he doesn't lower his car tax, he won't be able to deliver on his campaign promises. He doesn't want to be governor for one term like Davis, and he wants to be re-elected. As an immigrant, even if he has the support of the Kennedy family on his wife's side, the governor should be the highest executive position he can hold, and he should not expect the position of president. Therefore, he must hope that he will be able to serve two terms as governor.

After much thought, he made good on his promise to voters by reducing the car tax to 0.64 percent before and now. This has reduced the annual car tax from 4 billion to more than 1 billion.

In this way, Xiao Yifei spends more than 6,000 yuan on this Gust every year.

"More than 6,000 yuan a year?"

Xiao Yifei nodded:

"That's about the same amount."

Wang Nan's eyes rolled:

"That's not expensive, the rent for the 40th is not even a day."

Xiao Yifei could only be speechless.

ps: Because Xiao is on summer vacation, he needs to be sent to his grandparents, because there is no Internet in the countryside, so he took a weekend off. I thought I would be able to come back early on Sunday morning, but the old man didn't let me go, and it was already evening when I got home, and there was no update yesterday, sorry.

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