Ownership Review of Beat Diesel LT

Completed 14000km's, Here is the feeling about car in those KM's clocked.

Passenger Space: The front Passengers will never complain. There is enough room in front that you can stretch your legs freely. Can't say the same for rear passengers - All I can say is it has enough space where 2 grown people can sit a bit comfortably, get in 3rd one and you have a space jam. The thigh support is not great, nor bad either.

Luggage Space: Well, 4 Normal sized bags go inside comfortably. So you can carry 2 peoples luggage for a week or 4 peoples luggage for a weekend. If you are a heavy packer, then the boot space will not be sufficient for you. This car has a most tiny boot in the Hatchback space?! The 60:40 Split seats have helped me a lot of times when returning from my home town filled with luggage.

Mileage: Hovers around and above 20kmpl for the Highway drives, Stays 17 -18 in normal City driving conditions, and worst ever I got was 15 when I was stuck in traffic for ~2 hours multiple times. For more detailed mileage specs you can see my earlier post with all the fuel up details http://lozil.blogspot.in/2012/11/chevrolet-beat-diesel-mileage.html

Power: tiny 3 pot diesel engine does what it is supposed to do. The torque makes up for the lack of power. For city driving the car is good as most of the time in crawling traffic you can manage in 2nd gear and rarely do need to shift to 1st. On highways I am quite happy as the 5th gear can pull from speeds of 45kmph, So minimal gear changes required.

Handling: The steering is like a joystick, You turn it as you are turning a gaming steering wheel. This means easy to drive in traffic.

Speed: 80kmph comes easily, 100-120kmph is a comfortable speed to drive on highways. Anything above does not seem very confidence inspiring. (Have reached the top speed 150 on a occasion just to realize not suitable for the car). Now usually drive speeds of 80 -120kmph on highways.

Suspension: Nothing to complain about, takes most of the small bumps comfortably.

Breaks: Adequate stopping power from speeds of 120kmph-0, No complaints.

Ground Clearance: Never faced the bottom scrapping issues in the Bangalore City speed breakers even when loaded with 5 people. But Shiradi ghats beat the car's ground Clearance.

Air Conditioning:(Front passenger perspective)
Option 1: Set the temperature, Turn the ACC on, Stop worrying. 1-2 mins and you are cooled of from the Mangalore heat.
Option 2 : Turn on AC, turn the temperature to low turn the fan for full, 1 min and you are in a refrigerator.
- There is lack of power when AC is turned on and you are in climbing a hill from standstill, No problems when in normal flat roads in city traffic.
- AC Does not make much of a fuss with power when you are driving on highways.

Noise: The Engine sounds like a small tractor when started, 1 min Idling and the noise settles down. While driving, anything above 3000rpm is audible inside.

Other Rattles: None, Most of the times the sound is from my keys in Cup holder, or a Bisleri bottle in the Door when car revs cross 2800rpm.

Music Player: Still with the Stock Player, Good enough for me, Plays from USB, CD, FM/AM.

That is my honest attempt to summarize my ownership in past 8 months, Please shoot any questions if you have in comments section

Provident Fund: Pension Scheme - Part 3

So you came here searching for the answer for 541 Rs or 8.33% of PF which go to the Pension Scheme?
Then you should try reading this: http://www.epfindia.com/Circulars/EPS95_update102008.pdf .

Sounds too complicated? Let us simplify some part of it.

A Part of PF contribution goes to Pension fund. The Aim is to give you some money when you get retired on monthly basis, or in other words to pay you Pension.

Questions:
1. When will I get Pension:
After you reach age of 58 years or 50 Years if you are willing to get a reduced amount.

2. How much pension I can get?
Well, If you work for 35 years and when you are 58 your basic pay is more than 6500 then you can get around 3250 Rs per month. Formula for calculation is as below
Pension = (Last pensionable salary*Years of  pensionable service)/70

3. Can I withdraw the amount?
Yes and No
Yes: If you withdraw your PF before 9 year 5 months of service.
No: If you withdraw your PF after 9 year 6 month of service.

4. How much amount I will get when I withdraw?
Yrs Factor
1    1.02
2    1.99
3    2.98
4    3.99
5    5.02
6    6.07
7    7.13
8    8.22
9    9.33
On the left are your number of years service, Multiply With the factor to your basic salary to calculate your pension. Eg your Basic was 6500 and your worked for 5 years and withdraw the pension the it will be 6500*5.02 Rs.

5. What happens after you complete 10 years of service?
You get a service certificate which you can use to get pension after you attain age of 50 or 58.

6. Why can't I see the Pension fund amount after I transferred my PF account to another company?
Because the amount never gets transferred, Only the service gets transferred..! Reason being the pension calculations are done on Your Last drawn salary for 12 months and Your total service.

So the moral of story is: Start investing in Some other pension schemes which can give you a better return than the EPS. This Pension Scheme is just a eyewash by government. Why? Lets do a simple calculation. You contribute 541 Rs for 35 years in a RD and lets assume a interest of 8%, you will get amount of 1233189. Keep it in FD at 7% Interest then also you will get more amount than what government is paying(Interest rates are subjected to change).

That is all the Gyaan I can give right now. Next I will try to explain the part how to transfer and withdraw your PF account.

Please ask your queries in the comments...!! Thanks for reading. Share it if you like it... :)

There are a Few More posts by me on Provident fund You can read them at below Links.

Provident Fund Explained: Part 1

Provident Fund Checking Balance: Part 2

Provident Fund: Checking Balance - Part 2

This is continuation from my previous Post Provident Fund Explained - Part 1 So if you have missed it, Please read through it.

Now let us come to the question, How to check my PF Balance?

Follow the below steps and it should be pretty easy.

1. Click on the Link http://epfindia.gov.in/
2. Now you should be able to see a link which read Know Your EPF Balance.
3. Click on the link, Which takes you to a page explaining lot of things.
4. Scroll down, See the Link CLICK HERE to know the Balance Yeah, that small thing you need to click.
5. Next- Select your State.
6. Click on the PF office your Company's comes under.
7. Now find your PF Number, Usually in Payslip in format
XX/XXX/XXXXX/(XXX)/XXX - Values (XXX) might not be present in your PF number.
8. The first 2 fields will be filled with your State code and PF office code automatically XX/XXX/XXXXX/(XXX)/XXX
9. Now enter the 3rd field with the establishment code XX/XXX/XXXXX/(XXX)/XXX
10.  4th field can be left blank if you don't have extension code XX/XXX/XXXX/(XXX)/XXX
11. Enter your PF number XX/XXX/XXXX/(XXX)/XXX
12. Enter your name as in Payslip and mobile number.
13. Check the "I Agree" box and Submit.

You must get your PF Balance in 5-30 mins on your cellphone as message.

Reading the Message:
The message will contain 2 things. EE amount and ER amount, Now if you read my earlier post then you should be able to make out why that ER is less.
*Your balance might seem low, The date will tell you till what date the data is updated, So don't panic.

Searching for Company Code: http://search.epfoservices.in/estt_search/est_search.php 
Click the above link and search for your company name in last field, you should get all the details about your company. 

So you know your PF Balance now, What next? I will try to explain the Damn complicated Pension Scheme document. Even I get nightmares when I see that 58 page Monster Confusing Document.

Provident Fund Explained - Part 1

It's a pain to look at people when they seem so confused about PF. The PF deductions look like rocket science until you understand them. This blog post is for all my friends who are either confused, or not bothered, or have given up trying to understand the "Employee Provident Fund" called shortly as PF.
Warning..!! - These calculations are just try to summarize the Rocket science of PF. You can't sue me if I have made a mistake.

Lets Start,
So you are working and your Company has a Provision for Provident Fund and all you know is 12% of your Basic Salary or Basic+DA will be deducted and will go somewhere you don't know. Here is a humble try to explain the heck of the process.

Provident Fund(PF) is made of 2 components
1. Employee Contribution (EE) or Your Contribution
(Yes this is the 12% which goes from your Salary.)
2. Employer Contribution (ER)
(This is usually included in CTC but sometimes this also is deducted from your salary if your employer has not defined employers contribution to PF in CTC)
   
Lets see both the contributions in Detail.

1. Employee Contribution: It's is easy to explain, It's 12% of your Basic Salary. So if your Basic Salary is 10000 Rs per month then 1200 Rs will go towards PF for EE contribution. or if your salary is 6500 then 780 Rs will go towards PF.

2. Employer Contribution: This contribution is a little tricky. There is a scheme called Pension Scheme where Employer has to contribute 8.33% of the contribution, So the simple math says as below.
Contribution to PF by Employer = 3.67%
Contribution to Pension Scheme by Employer = 8.33%

But there is a Catch, Pension Scheme contribution maximum amount is 541 Rs, So if your basic is above 6500 Rs then the 8.33% formula goes for a spin (Because government contributes 1.16% of your Basic Salary to your Pension Fund and have set the cap at 6500 Rs for salary) so the math becomes
Contribution to Pension Scheme by Employer = 541
Contribution to PF by Employer = Employer Contribution - 541

Eg 1:
If your Basic Salary is 5000 then then ER contribution is 600
Contribution to PF by Employer = 183.5
Contribution to Pension Scheme by Employer = 416.5

Eg 2:
So if your Basic Salary is 10000 Rs, then ER contribution is 1200
Contribution to PF by Employer = 659
Contribution to Pension Scheme by Employer = 541

#1 You can always Limit your contribution to 780 Rs which is 12% of the 6500.
#2 You can always increase Your Contribution using VPF i.e more than 12% and but your Employer will still contribute 12%.

So you have some more questions in mind now, Like
1. How the hell I check how much money I have in my PF
2. What the hell is Pension Scheme?
3. Why should I Invest in Provident fund, there are million other options available.

I will explain them in next posts.