Archive for December, 2008
Wednesday, December 31st, 2008
Hey, it's the last day of 2008 and we could all use a few laughs, even ones related to cars. So here are three variations on the same auto-destroying theme for some kind of snack food in some foreign country. Good luck in 2009.
Posted in Driving Matters | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 31st, 2008
A bad winter and smaller highway budgets can created potholes that will easily damage your car enough to require hundreds of dollars in repairs and replacements. So more than ever it pays to watch the road in front of you.
Posted in Accidents, Advice, Driving Matters, Is There A Lesson Here?, Repairs, Sad stories, Warnings | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 31st, 2008
Turns out the five young people who survived that drive off the Pacific Coast Highway and down the cliff to the edge of the water the other night might have used up their "lucky points" for the next couple of decades. The driver should be glad he survived to face ...
Posted in Accidents, Children, Is There A Lesson Here?, Law Enforcement, Safety | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 31st, 2008
Japan is one of those countries where operating a car makes very little sense because it's so densely populated, but until recently that did not bother the consumers who believed that owning a car was a status symbol. Increasingly, however, young people in Japan reject that notion and stick to ...
Posted in Children, Driving Matters, Is There A Lesson Here?, Program For Change | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 31st, 2008
Since virtually every car on the road today is controlled by a computer attached to its engine, it would be a relatively easy job to create a technology that monitored a vehicle's speed and brought it into line with the legal limit. This would have an immense effect on safety ...
Posted in Accidents, Driving Matters, Green, Law Enforcement, Program For Change, Safety, Technology | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 31st, 2008
This column explores some of the issues involved in producing cars that take on some of the responsibilities that are currently restricted to the driver. Not everyone is in favor of technologies that help drivers cope with the problems and challenges that come up on a regular basis.
Posted in Accidents, Gadgets, Is There A Lesson Here?, Program For Change, Technology | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 30th, 2008
Surveys keep telling us that there a lot of people (mostly young women) who still don't like to parallel park, so there's probably a market for a technology that helps the driver into a spot between two cars parked next to the curb. The driver still has to do a ...
Posted in Advice, Buying Tips, Marketing, Product News, Technology | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 30th, 2008
This letter to a newspaper in Arizona will strike a chord with anyone who's ever been put through the hell of buying a car from many (not all, surely?) car dealers. By the way, you do NOT have to pay the delivery or transportation charge they spring on you during ...
Posted in Cute stories, Dealerships, Financing, Program For Change | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 30th, 2008
With fresh money available for loans, General Motors has launched a short-term program of interest rates from 0 to 4.9 percent for most of the vehicles it sells through various brands (some big trucks go at 5.9 percent). As is the way of these things, you have to be a ...
Posted in Buying Tips, Financing, Marketing, Save Money | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 30th, 2008
This story is almost too good to be true, but it actually happened. If only it happened any time someone tried to steal someone else's stuff. Now that's a gadget we could get behind.
Posted in Cute stories, Gadgets, Law Enforcement, Technology | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 30th, 2008
Thanks to various financial maneuvers, the finance company that services most Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Pontiac, Saab and Saturn dealers will soon be more likely to provide a loan for people looking to buy a new car, truck, minivan or whatever.
Posted in Buying Tips, Dealerships, Financing, Marketing, Product News | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 30th, 2008
It's really best to let this guy speak for himself about "douchebaggy activity".
Posted in Accidents, Driving Matters, Insurance, Is There A Lesson Here?, Law Enforcement, Sad stories, Safety, Warnings | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 30th, 2008
This crash took place on the other side of the peninsula from the San Francisco airport at one of the most beautiful spots on the glorious Pacific Coast Highway. If you're there on a good day it's hard to believe anything bad can ever happen to you, and that the ...
Posted in Accidents, Driving Matters, Is There A Lesson Here?, Law Enforcement, Safety, Warnings | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 30th, 2008
As you can see from this story, most of the media tends to see the move to close thousands of auto dealers as a necessary step in the salvation of the Detroit car companies, and it may well be. But it's also bad news for the average consumer since that ...
Posted in Buying Tips, Is There A Lesson Here?, Pricing, Sad stories, Sales, Warnings | No Comments »
Monday, December 29th, 2008
A man who lives not far from Niagara Falls in Canada has given up his car to help the environment and has pledged to walk almost everywhere, and what that's like. It's great for the planet, but you can't ever rush to anything.
Posted in Children, Dealerships, Green, Is There A Lesson Here?, Save Money | No Comments »
Monday, December 29th, 2008
There may have been a time when "flushing" an engine was a worthwhile service practice, but those days are long gone. The only likely beneficiary is the service station that's going to charge you for this process and, in many cases, won't actually do anything for the money. So say ...
Posted in Advice, Is There A Lesson Here?, Repairs, Save Money, Warnings | No Comments »
Monday, December 29th, 2008
It's not exactly Attack of the Killer Floormats, but those rubber things that keep snow, ice and dirt from despoiling the carpet of your car can also cause considerable harm. There are lots of reports of them getting knocked out of position and jamming up against the gas pedal and ...
Posted in Accidents, Children, Is There A Lesson Here?, Law Enforcement, Sad stories, Safety, Warnings | No Comments »
Sunday, December 28th, 2008
For sure the car involved (or even the website itself) is not the kind of thing the average buyer would visit, but if you're thinking about buying a used car in an eBay auction it's hard to over-estimate how important the information in the comments is.
Posted in Advice, Buying Tips, Is There A Lesson Here?, Repairs, Sad stories, Warnings | No Comments »
Sunday, December 28th, 2008
It's the opinion of one man who regularly says some of the stupidest things in the world about the auto industry, but this NY Times columnist probably speaks for a lot of the people getting ready to take control of the US government.
Posted in Driving Matters, Gas Issues, Green, Is There A Lesson Here?, Program For Change | No Comments »
Sunday, December 28th, 2008
A nightmare story with a happy ending, and as a moral perhaps another warning to make sure you have a proper emergency kit -- food, water, candles, toilet paper, bedpan, etc. -- in the trunk of your car. If we can put in a plug, our book (see blue cover ...
Posted in Driving Matters, Is There A Lesson Here?, Law Enforcement, Safety, Warnings | No Comments »
Friday, December 26th, 2008
In general, it is the avowed aim of the auto companies in Europe and North America to create cars that talk to each other so they will eventually be able to provide us with a crash-free universe. Indeed, they are spending a fortune in giant industry-wide research programs to make ...
Posted in Accidents, Advice, Buying Tips, Driving Matters, Product News, Program For Change, Safety, Technology, Warnings | No Comments »
Friday, December 26th, 2008
Outside of North America it's a common thing for the car companies to drape their products with beautiful young women in short skirts, slit skirts, tight skirts, low-cut gowns, diaphanous dresses and whatever catches the hetero-male eye. There is nothing wrong with this, according to this guy, if it helps to keep ...
Posted in Gas Issues, Marketing, Program For Change | No Comments »
Friday, December 26th, 2008
The theory is that a program to encourage sales of cars created and built in North America by firms that pay their taxes in the U.S. will be of considerable use to the economy as well as a way to keep them solvent.
Posted in Buying Tips, Financing, Program For Change, Sales | No Comments »
Friday, December 26th, 2008
The German firm's thinking is that buyers will accept this decision because it will help the importer and its dealerships stay profitable and therefore be better able to serve their customers' needs. You may laugh, but it's possible the folks who actually pay a lot more to buy "premium" cars ...
Posted in Buying Tips, Dealerships, Is There A Lesson Here?, Marketing, Pricing | No Comments »
Thursday, December 25th, 2008
Sure these cars aren't any immediate danger to anyone in North America, but this giant recall in China can serve a useful purpose here by pointing out that the giant Japanese car company is not the infallible producer of perfect cars that many clueless people believe. According to two different ...
Posted in Buying Tips, Is There A Lesson Here?, Product News, Save Money, Warnings | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 24th, 2008
Starting with its biggest event of the year (the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in early January), the car industry will make every effort possible to promote the concept of cars with high fuel economy. So that will mean hybrids, the occasional electric vehicle, and more pedestrian technologies ...
Posted in Gas Issues, Green, Marketing, Product News, Sales, Save Money | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008
This story about what the Russian government is doing to protect a decision to put tariffs on imported cars to protect its national auto industry shows how important such a large manufacturing issue is for most countries. It stands in sharp contrast to the apparent willingness of most Americans to ...
Posted in Is There A Lesson Here?, Law Enforcement, Warnings | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008
This is a very impressive rating, if you're willing to drive the car slowly and carefully enough to give it a chance to earn that kind of mileage. Even that's still not likely to help you recover the extra cost of the hybrid, but it will make your loss a ...
Posted in Buying Tips, Gas Issues, Is There A Lesson Here?, Pricing, Product News, Program For Change, Technology, Warnings | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008
Except for perhaps "choose your friends wisely," there's no real moral to this story. But that doesn't make it any the less fascinating.
Posted in Accidents, Children, Driving Matters, Is There A Lesson Here?, Law Enforcement, Sad stories, Safety, Warnings | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008
After taking billions and billions of dollars in profit back to Japan and Korea from selling cars to North Americans but refusing to buy cars from us under almost any circumstances, the Asian car companies are now feeling the pinch of the economic depression they helped to create here with ...
Posted in Buying Tips, Employment, Is There A Lesson Here?, Sad stories, Warnings | No Comments »
Monday, December 22nd, 2008
GM will reveal three new vehicles at January's Detroit auto show, but the most important for most consumers is the 2010 Chevrolet Equinox, an eight-seat vehicle that should earn 30 mpg status on the highway.
Posted in Gas Issues, Product News, Save Money, Technology | No Comments »
Sunday, December 21st, 2008
But throwing a brick through a window is, so anyone concerned with having things taken from their car should be sure not to leave anything in sight. This is why cars have trunks.
Posted in Advice, Insurance, Law Enforcement, Safety, Warnings | No Comments »
Sunday, December 21st, 2008
As part of a separate financial agreement with the Detroit-based car companies, Canada wants to set up a program that will make it easier for consumers to find less expensive loans to buy cars.
Posted in Financing, Is There A Lesson Here?, Program For Change, Save Money | No Comments »
Sunday, December 21st, 2008
The basic rule about preventing theft from cars (rather than preventing theft of the whole car) is not to leave anything on view that would attract a thief. That rule is especially true at this time of year, when shoppers are jumping in and out of stores and cars and ...
Posted in Advice, Children, Is There A Lesson Here?, Law Enforcement, Save Money, Warnings | No Comments »
Sunday, December 21st, 2008
It may not be the best time for unionized auto workers, but their history in Detroit and what it means for everyone on the continent's future should not be ignored.
Posted in Children, Employment, Is There A Lesson Here?, Program For Change, Sad stories | No Comments »
