Archive for the ‘Dealerships’ Category
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
In an effort to get its sales moving again, Ford has brought forward a plan to make the ownership experience better for its customers. The best way to see what the Detroit firm has in mind is to consider the press release on the matter:
Posted in Advertising, Buying Tips, Dealerships, Financing, Incentives, Marketing, Pricing, Product News, Save Money | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
In an effort to get ahead of the pack on the customer service front (and get its sales moving again), GM has announced an impressive set of non-price incentives for new car buyers. The best way to see what the US firm is offering is to consider the original statement ...
Posted in Advertising, Buying Tips, Dealerships, Incentives, Marketing, Product News, Sales, Save Money | No Comments »
Friday, March 20th, 2009
GM's struggles to survive have put its most female-friendly division at risk, but the operators of the Saturn brand and dealerships are doing their best to keep customers interested. The lineup of products and no-haggle, no-hassle sales atmosphere should still be attractive to a lot of women.
Posted in Advertising, Advice, Buying Tips, Dealerships, Financing, Green, Incentives, Is There A Lesson Here?, Marketing | No Comments »
Thursday, March 19th, 2009
One of Germany's biggest supermarket chains is going into the business of selling small, low-cost cars directly to consumers the same way it sells canned goods or anything else, with a fixed price so there's no haggling and a warranty from the manufacturer. Lots of people in North America might ...
Posted in Buying Tips, Dealerships, Is There A Lesson Here?, Program For Change | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 17th, 2009
Deals keep getting better on new cars, as auto companies struggle to find the right level of incentives to get buyers back onto their lots. The customers who decide to buy should get a better deal than ever.
Posted in Advice, Buying Tips, Dealerships, Financing, Incentives, Marketing, Product News | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 17th, 2009
The cars that so many experts were telling the car companies to make more of are now sitting around on new car lots everywhere, mostly because they make less fiscal sense than ever with gasoline prices so low. Even with various discounts currently on offer, it's very hard to recover ...
Posted in Advertising, Buying Tips, Dealerships, Gas Issues, Green, Incentives, Is There A Lesson Here?, Pricing, Product News, Technology | No Comments »
Tuesday, February 24th, 2009
The key tip to this story is to avoid buying auto warranty extensions if someone calls you and tells you that you need to extend your coverage.
Posted in Advice, Buying Tips, Dealerships, Is There A Lesson Here?, Law Enforcement, Sad stories, Save Money, Warnings | No Comments »
Sunday, February 22nd, 2009
It's not really a bad idea to buy a Sky from Saturn or a Solstice from Pontiac if you're looking for a sporty two-seat roadster, since GM will supply parts and honor the warranty no matter what.
Posted in Advice, Buying Tips, Dealerships, Driving Matters, Is There A Lesson Here?, Product News | No Comments »
Friday, February 20th, 2009
Either because fewer people can afford them, or because more people no longer want to appear too ostentatious, or maybe even because more people realize they're really not worth the extra money, "premium" cars are not selling the way they used to. The boss of Audi of America says: "This ...
Posted in Buying Tips, Dealerships, Is There A Lesson Here?, Pricing, Product News | No Comments »
Friday, February 20th, 2009
All those folks out there who like to brag about being "goal-oriented" either in work or their personal life ought to read this story, and so should the people around them.
Posted in Advice, Dealerships, Is There A Lesson Here?, Program For Change, Warnings | No Comments »
Saturday, February 7th, 2009
The third version of the popular RL crossover model will go on sale soon, with a Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price of $36,800 for the front-drive model and $38,200 for the all-wheel-drive. There's also a handling fee of $825, which you do not have to pay, though the company and the ...
Posted in Buying Tips, Dealerships, Design, Marketing, Pricing, Product News | No Comments »
Thursday, January 29th, 2009
Several methods of getting consumers back into the new car market are being considered in Washington, which should be good news for people who decide to take the plunge.
Posted in Buying Tips, Dealerships, Driving Matters, Pricing, Product News | No Comments »
Thursday, January 29th, 2009
Bearing in the mind the fact that the people who did the survey will directly benefit from an upsurge in the replacement of parts and extra vehicle serive, it's possible that a grain of salt, or maybe even two, needs to be applied here. But it's probably true that a ...
Posted in Accidents, Advice, Dealerships, Driving Matters, Is There A Lesson Here?, Parts, Repairs, Warnings | No Comments »
Monday, January 26th, 2009
The Italian company's recent allegiance with Detroit's Chrysler could mean as many as seven new vehicles, mostly of the small, fuel-efficient kind, three bearing the Fiat or Alfa-Romeo logos and four with the Chrysler badge. It will take a while before they're all on sale.
Posted in Dealerships, Marketing, Product News | No Comments »
Sunday, January 25th, 2009
To sell more cars, it seems that various dealers are quite willing to encourage customers to lie about their personal financial situation to qualify for credit. As this story makes plain, it might sound like a good idea for the woman looking for transportation, but it can turn bad quite ...
Posted in Advice, Buying Tips, Dealerships, Financing, Is There A Lesson Here?, Sad stories, Sales, Warnings | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 20th, 2009
In an effort to extend its incredible success with marketing a fuel-saving car that doesn't save its owners any money, Toyota has announced a program to push slow-moving second-hand Prius hybrids off of dealer lots. The candy is an examination of some battery-related equipment that is supposed to make you ...
Posted in Advice, Buying Tips, Dealerships, Is There A Lesson Here?, Our View, Pricing, Technology, Warnings | No Comments »
Monday, January 19th, 2009
If anything comes of the discussions that Chrysler and Italy's Fiat are supposedly having right now, it might mean that Fiat would at long last find the production and distribution resources in North America that it needs to bring its cars back to Canada and the U.S. That is for ...
Posted in Dealerships, Green, Product News, Program For Change | No Comments »
Thursday, January 15th, 2009
By Alex Law
Many people are talking about the need to "buy American" the next time they shop for a new car, and my informed opinion (25 years of covering the auto industry) is that purchasing a vehicle from Ford or GM is a sound economic decision for the consumer as ...
Posted in Advice, Buying Tips, Dealerships, Driving Matters, Employment, Is There A Lesson Here?, Our View, Product News, Sales, Warnings | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 13th, 2009
It's beginning to look like the possibility of Americans buying inexpensive little cars from China (including an EV model that runs on batteries and comes with an engine to recharge those batteries to extend the range) is going to turn into one of those things that's always two or three ...
Posted in Dealerships, Driving Matters, Green, Marketing, Product News, Program For Change, Save Money | No Comments »
Sunday, January 11th, 2009
To make buyers think a vehicle has gone fewer miles than it actually has, used car sellers have historically rolled back (literally) the numbers in the odometer. Efforts have been made to stop this, but apparently they haven't been completely successful. So the tips in this story are pretty good, ...
Posted in Advice, Buying Tips, Dealerships, Is There A Lesson Here?, Product News, Warnings | No Comments »
Saturday, January 10th, 2009
While every new vehicle does come with a guarantee that the costs of repairs will be paid by the car company, there's considerable difference between what the car companies will pay for. That is to say, a certain item may be covered by one company, and not another. So one ...
Posted in Advice, Buying Tips, Dealerships, Marketing, Parts, Pricing, Product News, Save Money, Technology, Warnings | No Comments »
Saturday, January 3rd, 2009
Those ubiquitous stickers you see on all new cars actually have a name -- the Monroney, for the US senator from Oklahoma who created them, and they have done a considerable amount of good for consumers over the last 50 years. They still do.
Posted in Cute stories, Dealerships, Program For Change, Sales, Save Money | No Comments »
Thursday, January 1st, 2009
A man who wanted to help another person after a car crash was hurt when a third car crashed into him and now a Texas court has ruled against insurance coverage for his medical bills.
Posted in Accidents, Dealerships, Insurance, Is There A Lesson Here?, Law Enforcement, Sad stories, Safety, Warnings | No Comments »
Thursday, January 1st, 2009
Supply with little demand has a pretty obvious result, and that's what's happening on lots all over the continent as dealers get creative to get people to buy a new vehicle. According to one observer, this is maybe the best sales climate in a decade for consumers.
Posted in Advertising, Advice, Buying Tips, Dealerships, Financing, Incentives, Pricing, Product News, Save Money | 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
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 »
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 »
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 4th, 2008
The most consumer-friendly dealership in the country and a perennial favorite with female buyers, Saturn looks like it may get cut loose by GM as it struggles to stay afloat. This is bad news.
Posted in Dealerships, Product News, Sad stories | No Comments »
Monday, December 1st, 2008
It's likely that there will be cutbacks to government services and projects are coming, due to the reduction in taxes from new car sales across the country. Car-crazy California is going to feel it in particular.
Posted in Dealerships, Employment, Financing | No Comments »
Thursday, November 20th, 2008
Various changes in the world cause one couple to consider and reject the big vehicle they had planned to buy, and now they're reconsidering their entire way of life.
Posted in Buying Tips, Children, Dealerships, Gas Issues, Is There A Lesson Here?, Program For Change, Save Money | No Comments »
Wednesday, November 19th, 2008
As evidence that economic troubles are not restricted to the three US-based car companies, consider the ever-growing sea of unwanted cars from Honda, Mercedes, Nissan and others in the Long Beach port of southern California.
Posted in Dealerships, Marketing, Product News, Warnings | No Comments »
Wednesday, November 19th, 2008
This is an excellent example of how disposed various car dealerships are to doing business these days, but the consumer still has to be sure to do her math and not get something she doesn't really need.
Posted in Advertising, Advice, Dealerships, Incentives, Warnings | No Comments »
Saturday, November 15th, 2008
A few months ago it was just big vehicles that came with car company rebates, but now the car dealerships are also offering deals on their smaller models to help ease the crush of products on their lots. So excellent deals are the order of the day.
Posted in Advice, Buying Tips, Dealerships, Incentives, Marketing, Pricing, Save Money | No Comments »
Tuesday, November 11th, 2008
Don't even think about reading this story unless you're deeply concerned about the intricacies of how the service industry will look after your vehicle and how it might affect its reliability and your costs.
Posted in Dealerships, Parts, Pricing, Repairs, Technology, Warnings | No Comments »
