Archive for January, 2008

The finance office, what a hassle.  When purchasing a new car you go through all the trials and tribulations of negotiating a good price that fits your budget.  Just when you think this hellish experience is over you get planted in the seat of the finance manager.  His job is to sell you as many […]

When buying a certified used car in Minnesota the word “certified” now really means something. Earlier this month a new law took effect that will regulate what a car dealer can say is a certified vehicle. It is part of a new car owners’ bill of rights that lawmakers passed in early 2007.  It is […]

West Newbury Massachusetts officials have proclaimed that the town needs a new fire truck. The curent truck has numerous problems, most notably, the ladder on the Fire Department’s 28 year old Seagrave truck doesn’t always deploy, and when it does deply its weight limit isn’t even able to hold an average sized fireman wearing his […]

Does your auto warranty restrict where you can go for your repairs? Auto warranties come in many different shapes and sizes.  Some limit the locations where you can bring the vehicle for repairs under their coverage.  It’s safe to say that some consumers do not have a specific repair shop over a long period of […]

Lawmakers recently voted to strengthen the regulation of auto repair facilities after an investigation by a television news team from Nevada. Apparently the current laws in place are more or less a license to rip people off. The new laws help streamline the regulatory process and have the Department of Motor Vehicles named as the […]

Here is the situation presented to us… Q: One of our contract holders allowed a friend to take over his car payments for 6 months while he was out of the US. A notarized contract was signed by both people. A month later, after the car was put in the shop for repairs incurring a […]

Why are some older auto dealers so happy? Some dealers in the US that are in business for 10, 20, 30 or more years have been facing many new challenges in this ever changing industry.  The older dealers however, have much lower operating expenses and quite a few even own their own land which keeps them […]

All over America cars are a necessity for our everyday travel needs. Because we rely on our vehicles as our main source of transportation we sometimes need to bring the car or truck into the shop for repairs.  When we do we sometimes find out we have another problem we weren’t even there for.  It is at that moment that […]

Recently Saab debuted the worlds first completely hybrid car.  The vehicle Saab unveiled is the first fossil-fuel-free hybrid and it’s a convertible to boot. The car is called the BioPower Hybrid 9-3 convertible concept car. It is a giant leap in hybrid cars. This concept is based on using pure bioethonal instead of just a part […]

A somewhat new IBM technology helps auto manufacturers cut warranty expenses which are an over $14 billion cost to them annually. IBM’s plan goes beyond “keyword” searches and collects and analyzes data from many different information sources like repair records and blogs. Automotive companies worldwide face stiff competition as well as a difficult marketplace. To help stimulate growth […]