Insurance Guide

Mark Six Lottery fever is in full effect in Hong Kong and every week hundreds of thousands of ticket holders are already planning how to spend their winnings, as soon as they correctly match all six balls. And with the highest single payout at more than HK$86 million, there are plenty of popular and expensive items to consider buying. Anyone interested in flashy cars will find just the ride they're looking for at show rooms all around Hong Kong. So even if the next big winner is not a car guy or girl, a new set of wheels should definitely be in order because mega-millionaires don’t ride the Metro, and a boring Mercedes-Benz, Bentley or Rolls-Royce simply won’t do. Here is a short list of the priciest auto options; for most of us simply a wish list, but for the next Mark Six winner, some very applicable advice.

Hong Kong is easy to travel around and has fantastic public transport connections, so in this city, a car is not a necessity. While locales around the world work tirelessly to push the electric car and other environmentally friendly public transport options, Hong Kong seems to stay in its own bubble, continuing to celebrate the more luxurious, high maintenance car models. Just take a drive along Gloucester Road and Queen’s Road Central in Wanchai to get an idea of what people in Hong Kong want to buy. From Lamborghini and Ferrari dealerships to Porsche and Rolls-Royce showrooms, all the big names are waiting to be taken for a spin - often by drivers of equally impressive stardom. And as if the big engines and flashy alloys weren't enough, there is also a huge demand for private number plates to accompany the cars. Very often these number plates are added to quite standard BMW cars because their owners want to add a bit of individuality to their vehicles by giving them a name like 'GIGGLES' or ‘DREAMY,’ or the more arrogant drivers use their plate to make a certain kind of statement, with ‘U WISH’ and ‘ARRIVED’ displayed on the front and back of two Hong Kong sports cars. The most common vanity plates in Hong Kong include the lucky number 8 - or they use the owners’ initials to turn the car into even more of a status symbol. This is the case for Bank of East Asia’s CEO David Li, whose car has the number plate DL 1, and China Club’s David Tang who has at least two licence plates beginning with the letters DT. Hong Kong tycoon and ‘King of Gambling’ Stanley Ho is also known to be a fan of this style of number plate and has been rumoured to own a yellow and silver Rolls-Royce Ghost with the number plate SH and another silver Rolls-Royce Phantom with the well-known HK1 plate.

Anyone who loves cars knows that buying a new car isn't just exciting; it’s like starting a romance. Make, model, color, horsepower, seating options, fuel mileage, power-equipment packages, warranty, GPS, Bluetooth connectivity, iPod docks - all of these are critical considerations, right? And don't forget about getting a great purchase price and the potential resale value when it comes time to replace ol' Betsy in a few years. But what about safety features? After all, just like love, there are some practical aspects that have to be considered when buying a new car; not every decision can be made with your heart. Some still have to be made with your head. It’s easy to assume that all the safety stuff has been sorted out by the auto industry and that all new cars are pretty much the same, but the reality is that there are still some very big differences in safety features between new cars today, even amongst different models from the same automaker. A lot of time has passed since the steel coffins of the 1950's and 60's plied the motorways, and since that time some great (and occasionally not-so-great) ideas have been developed to make our automobiles both safer and more efficient, but it's up to you to make sure you take advantage of these improvements in your next purchase.