The cost of owning vehicle goes beyond its purchase price. Therefore in order to minimize that long-term cost various constraints have been imposed on the problem.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24260452/
The problem have been defined in the following way:
"All are 2008 base models. The manufacturer suggested retail price (MSRP) and ownership costs shown with each model apply only to the most basic version of the vehicle. That usually means it has a five-speed manual transmission. If you add equipment or move up trim levels, ownership costs typically increase accordingly.
Cost estimates are based on prices from March 2008. Interest expenses assume a five-year loan at current rates, with a 15 percent down payment. Opportunity costs consider what owners would have earned if car expenses were placed into certificates of deposit instead. Insurance costs are for a typical driver under age 65 with a clean record. Depreciation assumes the vehicle is disposed of in a private party transaction. To compute fuel costs, Vincentric used a five-month weighted pump-price average. Each model's five-year cost of fuel is calculated by using EPA fuel-economy ratings as published in the agency's 2008 Fuel Economy Guide."
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This is another great example of application of scoring methods at work. Estimating the utlity curve having the highest weight for cost and evaluating each of the alternatives with respect to cost has made it easier to segment the audience to people who have similar utility curves. Thus the scoring methodology used should be carefully examined whether it gives results which are biased and likeable only to specific group of readers.
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