Trust Me, I'm a Used Car Salesman

Why Auto Repairs Are Expensive

2009-11-18T18:04:00.003-07:00

A Cadillac I was driving had a warning light on the dash that said check water level. The water reservoir was full. We ran a computer scan and found out that the sensor in the bottom of the water reservoir was bad. The problem is that you cannot buy the sensor as a separate part, it comes with the reservoir. I have purchased similar sensors for $10-$20, the cost of the reservoir was almost $100.

It seems the manufacturers take a relatively inexpensive part that will fail often and combine it with a part that is expensive but rarely fails. This way they can sell more of the expensive parts.

Sales Tax on Private Party Car Sales

2009-10-27T12:09:00.002-07:00

This idea is being promoted as a way to help catch and help put unlicensed used car dealers or "curbstoners" out of business. The cars they sell are usually titled in the name of someone else other than the seller and have been signed off and the buyers name left blank so it can be filled in later. If asked who the car belonged to they will say it belonged to a relative who wasn't able to sell it on their own.
These people survive because they do not collect sales tax. The sales tax at a dealership is 8.3% in Phoenix. If you don't have to pay the tax that saves you $830 on a $10,000 car. The worst thing about these private party transactions is that ther is absolutely no recourse if something goes wrong with the car or title. In some cases I have seen, once the transaction is done, you can't get hold of this seller again, if there is a mechanical problem, you are out of luck.

A dealer stands behind the product he sells and will help if these problems occur. Right now Arizona has a huge sales tax shortfall. It has been estimated that the dollar amount of private party sales of automobiles is about the same as the dollar volume of new car sales every year.

If the "curbstoners" are put out of business, mor people will patronize legitimate car dealerships. These people would then have the security of knowing exactly who sold them the car and where to go if a problem does occur. Most people keep a car 2, 3 or more years so the tax isn't that great a burden.

There are many arguments about exemptions and ways to collect the tax. Many states use this method and I fullly support enacting this sales tax.

Referral Winners

2009-05-07T12:40:00.002-07:00

We also were having a contest to see who could send the most referral customers in during April. The prize was to be 50, 25 and 10 Powerball tickets. Quite a few customers sent customers who purchased a car, nobody referred more than 1 customer. We drew names out of a hat. 1^st prize of 50 powerball tickets goes to Evelyn Brown. She referred LaNique Watley. Robert Baquero gets 2^nd priz, 25 Powerball tickets. He referred Jessie Baquero, and Humberto Rivera is the 3^rd place winner of 10 powerball tickets. He referred Adrian Bravo. Congratulations to our winners. Winners can pick up their tickets Monday May 4^th.

We appreciate all 15 people who referred customers last month.

Don't forget about the customer appreciation day on May 23rd. I would like to display some older cars, cars that we could have been selling 50 years ago. If you have a classic car and would like to show it off, let me know. We have room to show them.

Lenders, they see black and white, no shades of gray!

2009-04-23T18:13:00.002-07:00

I have seen several customers this week who had paid on a car loan for 2 or 3 years without a problem, maybe one late payment in that time. Now they are in my store looking for a car and they made a payment on this car in February. I ask what happened to the car they had been paying on.

The answer is something happened that caused a financial strain, an accident or illness. The company wanted $1000 today, the customer had $800 and would have the other $200 in 3 days. They kept the car and the customer would have to pay it off if he wanted to keep it. Black and white says the company is right, gray says the customer has paid at least 24 payments of $400 per month, if he gets past this rough patch, he will most likely make the next 24 or 30 payments on time. Which is better?

I can't believe they would charge that much

2009-04-18T16:09:00.002-07:00

One of my customers called me yesterday and was almost in tears. She had taken her to a shop to repair a non start problem. She was told the ignition switch had to be replaced, new keys and labor. Total cost $430. Mind you this is a 97 Chevy Lumina sedan with 160,000 miles. The car would only start every 10 to 15 tries. Other times nothing happened. I told her tow the car here and she did. The locksmith I deal with came by, replaced a broken wire and was paid $40 for the work. GM ignition systems of this vintage use an electronic security system to allow the car to start. The key in the switch can turn without starting the car if the security system isn't working right. Broken wires are a problem. I would hate to think how many people have been charged $400 for what really amounts to about 30-45 minutes labor if you repair the problem. 2-3 hours if you replace all the parts to new car standards, plus the cost of parts.

Which would you rather have done to your car. Our customer was ecstatic. The $400 extra was money she didn't have to spend.

Darn Good Deals

2009-04-17T12:06:00.002-07:00

Several weeks ago I went to a meeting of Local First Arizona . This is a group of locally owned and operated businesses that are working to promote local businesses over the big box stores. Do you like a restaurant that is the same in Phoenix as in 100 other cities across the USA? Would you rather dine at a restaurant that has good food, a unique menu and an chef/owner who cares if you like the food or not. I like to find that unusual place and rarely go to a big chain restaurant.

At this meeting I met Lee who has created a business called Darn Good Deals . She looks for unique businesses that offer good value and service and promotes them through her web site and other types of advertising.

She said that there were no car dealerships on her site. Several dealerships had wanted to be represented there, but did not live up to the standards she sets for her advertisers. The first thing she checks when looking at a business is the Better Business Bureau record. If there are too many complaints she just doesn't list the business. She was impressed when she found that we have no complaints in the last 36 months.

If you are looking for a new business to deal with, take a look at these web sites.

Contest - most referrals in April

2009-04-10T17:12:00.003-07:00

A lot of our customers are either repeat customers or are referred by a friend or relative. Last week I spoke with a customer who has dealt with us for over 30 years. The customers doing the referring are satisfied with the product and service we have given them. In some cases they say their experience with us has been 180 degrees with the things that have happened to them at other dealerships. I have heard stories of problems that customers have had with cars purchased other places that make my hair stand on end.

The contest I spoke of is the number of referrals during the month of April. The customer who refers the most new customers will receive 50 powerball tickets. 2nd place will receive 25 tickets, 3rd place will receive 10 tickets.

One customer who had referred 3 new customers in the month of March was surprised and he now wished that he had waited for this month to send them in. I hope a deserving person wins the top prize and I also hope one of the winners does win a really big prize.

Van Buren, is it really a bad area?

2009-04-10T13:30:00.003-07:00

When our business was founded,Van Buren was that main highway through town. It was lit up brighter than Camelback or Bell roads are today. With the hotels, motels, restaurants and their flashing neon signs it was a great place to be. The new car dealers were centered around Central and Van Buren, so we were really in the new and used car row back then.

The neighorhood is nicer than it was a few years ago. We very rarely have any problems with vandalism or theft.

I was talking with another car dealer down the street from me. He told that potential customers would call about a car, ask some questions and sound very positive about coming to look at it. When he gave the customer the address, the customer made a remark about not wanting to come to Van Buren for a car.

I have had a few calls like that, but most of my ads list our address and many people are aware of who we are and what we do. The fact that we have had no complaints to the Better Business Bureau in their three year reporting period speaks volumes about us. The cars we sell are mostly middle of the road cars that are affordable, with a payment under $300 per month and a loan term of 24-30 months. In todays economy most people don't want to enter a contract for 6 or 7 years for a car.

Come in and take a look. I am sure you will find something that you like.

Customer Appreciation Day

2009-04-09T11:43:00.002-07:00

We are preparing for our customer appreciation day which will be May 23rd this year. This is when we like to see all our friends and customers. We have food, drink, music and prizes. We also give a scholarship to a graduating high school senior who is going on to college. This student will be a relative of one of our customers. Could be son or daughter, niece or nephew or grandchild. The customer could have purchased a car to 0r more years ago and still be eligible. We have the application available at our website. Download it, fill it out and mail it or fax it to us. The deadline is April 30.

We will be giving a $100 prizt to the person who purchased a car furthest back. Several years ago we spoke with someone who bought a car in the mid 40's. The scary part was that he still was using his original drivers license that was issued back then. On the license was written good until revoked. So it didn't have an expiration date. We will look forward to seeing all of our old customers on that Saturday.

We are also working on getting a car show of sorts together. We would like to be able to display some of the cars that would have been sold here when my father started. If you drive by, you will see my 40 Studebaker President out on the front line. I have always enjoyed the older cars and feel that younger people should know a little about how cars have evolved through the years.

compliment

2009-04-09T10:39:00.002-07:00

I was at auto auction earlier this week. If you have never been to one of these it is an experience that you will not believe. You are in a large barn like structure. There are lanes for the cars to go through in front of auction blocks where the auctioneer and clerks work. There is a car that is being sold in front of the auction block and up to 10 cars in line behind that car. Average time to sell a car is about 60-90 seconds.

There are from 4 to 16 lanes depending on the auction you attend. At a large auction the consignment on a given day can be 3,000 or more cars. I have gotten bidder numbers over 1800 at times. This is how many people who are there trying to buy cars. Some cars can have a huge crowd, others might only have one or two bidders.

I always talk to my friends and associates to try to gain knowledge about what is going on in their business, if it is good or bad, up or down etc. I was talking about inventory and how difficult it is to buy the nicer cars, because that is what everybody wants. This individual made an interesting comment. He said we both buy and a sell a lot of cars. You tend to buy a little bit nicer car than I do. You look a little closer at them and try to be more careful about what you buy than we do.

I thanked him for giving me a compliment. I know that when the car comes to the dealership, the fewer problems we have to correct before sale the better off we are. I would rather spend a few more dollars and buy a nicer car, rather than buy one that needs a lot of reconditioning. Sometimes when you really look at a car, once you have started fixing it, it is hard to find a place where you can say everything is fixed and the car is in good running order.

Radio Show

2009-04-09T10:35:00.003-07:00

My radio show has been off the air for several weeks. "Frank Auto Advice" is no more. The station that aired it had financial difficulties and had to go off the air. I do get calls form people who had listened to the show. They would say that they appreciated the information I gave and enjoyed listing.

Many of them have said, I am not in the market for a car right now, but when I am, I will come see you. The show was there to give information, to help the consumer and if possible help me sell a few more cars. I think it did all of those things. I will try to use this space to carry on and still give good information and try to help you the consumer.

Our Inventory

2009-04-09T10:10:00.003-07:00

I was at the Auto Auction earlier this week trying to buy cars for our lot. I am befuddled by the prices the cars are bringing. It is a combination of a lot of things in the economy. New cars aren't selling well, therefore there are fewer used cars being traded in. The new car dealers are selling as many or more used cars than new cars meaning that fewer of those go to wholesalers and auctions to get to the used car dealerships.

I was talking from an out of state dealer. He was trying to buy a truckload of cars to take home with him. That's 8-10 cars that are leaving our area going somewhere else with one dealer. There are also a lot of Mexican dealers there who buy cars for export.

One of the laws of economics is supply and demand. If demand is high and supply is low, the prices increase. Right now there is a lot of competition to buy the nicer lower mileage cars that I try to stock, so I am forced to pay a higher price to have them available for sale. We will continue to give the best value possible for our customers.

Real Fuel Savings

2008-10-24T09:37:00.004-07:00

I recently heard an article on KJZZ radio in Phoenix about Eco Driving . It is a very interesting concept. Almost like going through drivers ed all over again. The reporter on KJZZ drove the same course 3 times and improved her MPG by about 20%. The other interesting thing is that when they drove the route, it added about 10% to the time for the trip. If your trip normally takes 20 minutes, it will now take 22 minutes. I would believe that your trip done with normal driving habits could sometimes take the same 22 minutes if you had raced up to stoplights and had to spend extra time waiting for the light to change.

Over the course of a year that 20% can add up to real savings in money and gasoline. This organization claims that anyone driving any car can with some training and driving tips can achieve almost the same rate of improvement.
I also read about a venture between Microsoft and Fiat. They have created a Blue and Me computer system that is offered on some cars built by Fiat and Ford. You then download software for your home computer that works with data that can be downloaded from the car. This then analyzes your driving habits and offers advice as to how you can improve your MPG. This sounds like a good idea. I have always preached that the easiest and most cost effective adjustment to improve fuel economy is to the driver of the car.

Auto Finance Debacle

2008-10-23T22:46:00.001-07:00

I have been in the automobile business all my life. The used car dealership I run has been selling and financing cars for over 50 years. I understand that the term of the loan has to be long enough for the payment to be affordable, yet short enough so the customer can attain an equity position when he wants to trade and before the car completely depreciates.

I watched in disgust as the mortgage bailout bill was passed. This bill was proposed by most of the same people who had helped create the mortgage mess. I had wondered when the automobile and credit card lenders would try to arrange their own bailout. The automobile lenders knew they were cutting their own throat. Most people want to get a new car every 2-3 years. A car will typically lose around half of its value in 3 years. Most car loans are 5-6 years and are usually made with a small down payment. When the typical new car buyer drives his car off the showroom floor he owes $4,000-$5000 more than it is worth. This means that when the customer wants to trade up, he owes more than the car is worth. When he wants to trade, the difference between what the car is worth and what is owed is added into his next car loan starting a vicious cycle.

The captive auto lenders have gone along with this in order to help sell the product, even though the know a lot of these loans will blow up in their faces. The borrower knows that credit is easy to get. He will dump the present car on the lender and get one through another bank or finance company.

Typically the lender uses the stream of payments from current customers to fund new loans. If enough of the current loans default, the stream of money coming in isn’t enough to fund new loans. I would believe this is the root of the auto lenders problem, a problem that they foresaw, helped create and did nothing about. Why do they deserve the governments help and support?

Industry auto lending practices

2008-10-16T15:01:00.002-07:00

4 or 5 years ago, in an effort to bolster sales, the auto industry made it easier for a customer to qualify for a car loan. The standards were relaxed. If you looked at the customers budget, you could understand that this car was costing too large a percentage of his paycheck, but he was allowed to buy it anyway. 2 years later, food, gasoline, rent and everything has gone upin price. The customer isn't keeping up with expenses. He can't afford the $500 plus he is paying per month for the car and insurance payments. He gives the car back to the finance company, and buys a car that he is paying $300 per month on. His credit isn't quite as good as it was, but at least he can pay his rent and still get back and forth to work.

As an auto lender, I look very carefully at every customer who comes to our dealership. I would like to sell a car to every person who walks in, but I know that isn't possible. And besides, I don't want to pushe someone over the edge and cause him to lose everything.

Its been a long time

2008-10-16T14:03:00.002-07:00

I almost forgot I had started this blog. Things have been busy and writing gets put off. I finally remembered and decided it was time. A lot of things have happened in the car business in the last 3 months. The Van Tuyl organization is playing monopoly on east Camelback road. The only new car stores they do not own between 12th st and 16th st are Courtesy Chevrolet and Coulter Cadillac. They bou7tght the old Mel Clayton property and put the Fordfranchise with the Lincoln Mercury dealership at 13th st and Camelback. I am not sure what will happen on the corner of 16th st.

At least 5 new car dealerships in teh Phoenix area have closed, several more have closed the satellite lots and shrunk back to the original dealership. 15 used car dealerships have closed up that I know of. There is an opinion that 35-40% of the dealerships that were in business in 2007 will not be here in 2009.

The flooring companies that lend money to dealerships for inventory are tightening up. If you are in default, they are not cutting anyone any slack. They come in and take the inventory, and thedealership is virtually out of business.

The automobile lenders have become overly protective of their money, in order to get a car financed, you almost have to be able to pay cash for it. If you don't have a 700 isaac score and a large down payment you are not going to be qualified to finance a car.

I just got an issue of a magazine called Auto Finance Executive. I don't remeber seeing it before but on the cover was an article titled "Zero Sum Game" or "How 0% Financing Undermined The Auto Finance Industry" The article speaks of how in the summer of 2001 auto sales were slowing down. After Sept 11,2001 sales went down 23% the first week. GM came out with its "Keep America Rolling Plan" or)% financing on cars. It worked cars sold like hotcakes. Forfd and Chrysler soon followed suit. This pushed buyers to get new cars before they normally would have. Terms were pushed out to 60 and 72 months. After a couple of years of this even Hyundai gave in to the 0% deal.

One of the reasons GMAC is in trouble is because over 35% of the car loans they made 06-08 are.9% interest or less. this means that they are losing money on every one of those loans. The magic of 0% has worn off for the manufacturers, but the consumer has been conditioned that this si the way he wants to buy a car. The consumer now hesitates when he is told he has to pay a down payment and interest when he buys that new car. Sales of new cars in 08 are expected to be about 2 million less than in 07.

But the industry will most likely not learn, when this recession bottoms out, the 0% deals will be back again.

Mileage to the Max!

2008-08-07T22:38:00.002-07:00

I saw an article in the Arizona Republic on Wednesday August 5th, that I couldn't believe. It seems that there are 19 Prius owners who work for the Arizona Republic. They organized an unofficial mileageathon. The course was 19 miles long. As an occasional Prius driver, my wife has one< yu tend to get an attitude about driving. A little slow on the takeoff, gradually slowing down so you can roll up to the traffic signal so you don't stop completely. Just doing everything to maximize the number on your real time mileage per gallon computer. The winner of this race, the one with the highest MPG got 70.6 MPG. The 2nd place got 61.7 I know someone who regularly gets around 50MPG on his commute from Mesa to Phoenix with 4 people in the car. My wife and I don't get that many miles per gallon, but she is using about half the fuel she used in her previous SUV.

The course that we have to follow is to get the best mileage possible out of hte cars we drive and to find another way to fuel these cars. When we think of the billions of gallons of oil we use in this country, an interesting fact to consider is that less than 50 % of the oil we use actually goes into cars. The rest is used in plastics and other industrial uses.

Very soon there will be a movement of people using electricity, hydrogen and other fuels to power the cars. I even hears of one that runs on compressed air. What the mind can concieve, it can usually achieve.

Mileage to the Max!

2008-08-07T22:38:00.000-07:00

By Jove, I think it works!

2008-08-07T22:24:00.002-07:00

I mixed the fuel additive in the gas tank of the Durango last Saturday August 2nd. Since that time I have driven 230 miles. Most of is was normal driving about half freeway and the rest surface streets. I was driving back from auto auction when I made a bad decision and turned north on 7th st from Buckeye road. Traffic was moving normally until I got to the bridge next to Chase Field. Little did I know that there had been an early baseball game that day. It took 4 signal lights to get past the traffic light and onto the bridge because there were so many baseball fans heading north on 7th st. Normally from that point it should take about 5 to 7 minutes to get to our sales lot. That afternoon it took almost 30 minutes because there were so many cars on the road. I am sure this had a bad effect on the fuel mileage.

Lo and behold. The two mileage readings I took with the HHO generator attached to the car were just under 12
MPG. When I filled up the tank this evening it took 17.43 gallons and I covered 230 miles.
The MPG had risen to 13.19 I am sure it would have been a trifle better if I hadn't gotten stuck in traffic.

We will be trying this magic potion in several other vehicles next week. From wht I have heard, I believe that there will be an improvement in mileage on these vehicles too.

Car Buyer Beware New Scam

2008-08-05T17:48:00.002-07:00

I have heard some reports of a new scam that is being used in Phoenix and the surrounding area. If you are answering an ad through the newspaper, Green sheet or craigslist and the price seems too good to be true, it probably is. A person buys a car. Gets the car titled and registered in his name. A few days later he goes to MVD and says he has lost the title. He now gets a duplicate title, but has the original also. Now he has two titles to the same car. He uses the duplicate title to get a title loan on the car. The amount usually is around 50% of the cars wholesale value. He gives the title loan store the duplicate title, because the title loan store will check to see if they are lending money on the most recent title. The individual now has a loan on the car and he also has a clear title on the car. He sells the car to an unsuspecting buyer, when this person tries to transfer the title, he finds out he doesn't have a good title. There is not a lot he can do outside of going to MVD and filing a complaint on the seller. If he has a good address and phone number for the seller he can contact him, and file charges. If the person doesn't transfer the title right away, he will find out about the other title later on when the title loan store has filed a stolen car report on the car after the loan wasn't paid.

I have friends at a 2nd party title company. They tell me that they have had car dealerships take these cars in trade with titles that are not the most current title and have liens on them. If you are looking at a car from an individual take down the sellers name, address and phone number and the ID number, and the title number they have for the vehicle in question. The ID number is on the dash board on the drivers side of the car. Make sure the ID # on the car matches the one on the title. It will cost $8.00 at MVD and a little more at a 2nd party title company to do a search to find out if there is a more recent title issued on the car. If it comes back that there has been another title issued after the one you had looked at, It is the cheapest insurance you ever bought. In that case you can walk away from the deal and be happy that you saved a lot of money and trouble.

If you are public spirited and want to do the right thing, call the police dept in the city you are in, tell them what is happening and they will probably go over undercover to try to buy the car, if they buy it, they will then arrest the seller for fraud and possible other charges.

The Experiment: Success or Failure

2008-08-04T21:44:00.002-07:00

The Durango was driven 424 miles to establish a baseine MPG wich was 14.24MPG. This included city and highway driving by several drivers. The test I did with the HHO generator was 19.3 miles using 1.61 gallons of fuel or 11.98 MPG. We did another short test and drove 54 miles and used 4.9 gallons of fuel or 11.7 MPG. It seems with the generator in use the mileage goes down.

The reason I stopped using the generator was twofold. I wanted to refill the device with distilled water, but the filling cap didn't want to open and turned when I tried to open it. The top of the device is a flexible rubber lid with holes drilled in it, with the various fittings glued in place. It is rather a crude device, it functioned as advertised, but didn't seem to live up to the claims. Part of this is due to the computer controls. The computer in the car tells the injectors how much fuel to put into the cylinder for optimum combustion. With the HHO generator running, you are injecting a rich fuel mixture in to the cylinder, because the computer isn't aware of the HHO gas that is being used. We will need to figure out how to fuel the oxygen sensors into thinking the fuel mixture is richer than it actually is, therefore sending less gasoline into the cylinder . This must be possible, it is just determining how it is done.

The good news is that since I have a baseline mileage on this vehicle, I started another experiment with it. I had asked a friend of mine to provide a product called ee-oil. This is a fuel additive that has been very thoroughly tested and is supposed to get 5-10% better fuel economy. That might not sound like a lot, but if you go from 20 to 22 MPG, if you have a 20 gallon tank, that is 40 miles farther per tank. I you use 1 tank of fuel per week, in a year you will actually be able to drive almost 2,100 miles further on the same amount of fuel. At 22 MPG you would save almost $380 in fuel costs. I believe that my math is being conservative because i have heard some users claim a lot higher fuel savings. I have driven the Durango about 100 miles since I refilled the tank and added the fuel treatment. I will be reporting the results this weekend.

I hope the results are better than I expect.

The Great Experiment Fuel from Water

2008-07-17T21:05:00.003-07:00

We did it. The test has begun. Our test vehicle is a 98 Durango which is not famous for getting great mileage. The car was driven a total of 424.3 miles over a 10 day period. Some city and some freeway driving, and several different drivers. This took a total of 29.798 gallons of fuel. I filled up the tank again this morning and the mechanics installed my water to fuel device. After the device was installed I realized that I needed distilled water for this device. I started looking and went to several convenience stores and one grocery store in what turned out to be a vain attempt to purchase the distilled water. On the way home this evening I finally got lucky by stopping into a drug store. By this time I had driven another 19.3 miles. I topped off the tank and found that I had used another 1.911 gallons of gas or 11.98 MPG, only about 2 miles of this was freeway driving, the rest was city streets.

When I bought the water I stopped in the parking lot and filled up the device and added the necessary baking soda. The device has a threaded plug for the filler opening. I am not sure why, but it seems like the threads were stripped. The plug just didn't want to go back in, but I got it in far enough to seal the opening. There is another opening in the top that allows you to adjust the amount of air being drawn through this device. After starting the car, I looked at it and could see bubbles forming and coming up, it almost looked like the water was boiling. I adjusted the valve, but it seemed like the draw was trying to collapse the top, so I opened it up a little further. I haven't noticed any difference in the performance yet, but I have only driven it a few miles so far.If the literature is correct, I should achieve a 25% increase in MPG or about 17.8 MPG.

My thinking has gotten involved in this though. There is a tube out of the device that connects to the vacuum port on the manifold. This is how the Brown's Gas ( a combination of Hydrogen and Oxygen gets into the combustion chambers. Acthally this is a controlled vacuum leak, you are getting more air into the fuel mixture than is called for, so the engine is running a little leanre, therfore better gas mileage. The other question I have is when you add this additional fuel to the mixture, how does the computer in the car know this and lean the gasoline mixture?

I will be impressed if this does give the mpg boost as claimed. More next week.

I'm Back

2008-07-11T17:44:00.002-07:00

It has been too long since I posted anything. I have been busy with the dealership, the radio show, family and friends. Someone told me that life is what happens while you are planning what you want to do. I am doing research and testing on running a car on water. This involves splitting the water to hydrogen and oxygen and injecting the resulting gas into the air intake of your car. Supposedly this will increase your miles per gallon 20-30 percent. If you have been getting 16 MPG you should achieve 20MPG or more. I am currently driving a vehicle to determine the current MPG it is getting. Next week I will install the device and see if there is really an increase in the distance I can go on a tank of gas. I am looking forward to finding out.

Car Buyer Beware

2008-07-11T17:00:00.002-07:00

It sounds too good to be true. A decent looking car, it doesn't really have a whole lot of miles, and even though it does have a few flaws it sounds cheap. You looked on Craigslist.com and found cars that seemed like a bargain, and priced mostly under $3,000 they were affordable. This was a car dealer that I know of. He sold lots of cars, for reasonable prices. When things were going good, people would stream onto his lot to look at and purchase cars. Most buyers came with cash or cashiers checks, bought the car and left. The problem came up when the people running the dealership didn't see eye to eye about business practices. All of a sudden the lot was vacant, and phone numbers are disconnected.

Since our lot is located very close to this other dealership, we have talked to several of their customers who are having problems getting titles and license plates. Others say they were promised repairs, but they weren't completed.

A couple of the people said they had filed complaints on this dealership hopefully they will be able to make things right.

The moral to this story is " caveat emptor" or buyer beware. Do your homework, call the better business bureau and get the statistics on the dealership. Check out the Arizona Independent Automobile Dealers Association (AIADA) for some very good tips. Find out if there have been complaints and if they have been properly handled. Look around at the place of business, what does it look like. There are many car sellers who advertise on craigslist,com who are what we refer to as curbstoners. These could be individuals who buy and sell cars without benefit of a dealers license. If you buy from one of these you have little or no protection if something goes wrong. It could be a licensed wholesale dealer who is retailing cars, which is not permitted under his license. It could be a retail dealer who doesn't do the title work properly or pay sales tax on the transaction. You could be buying a car that was wrecked and rebuilt.

In Phoenix, everyone needs a car but be careful how you buy it.

Scholarship Winner

2008-05-31T08:41:00.002-07:00

Daniel Chandler of Glendale in the winner of the $500 scholarship we are awarding this afternoon at our Customer Appreciation Day celebration. Daniel graduated Raymond S. Kellis High School last December . His Junior and senior year he was an "A" student. I spoke with his counselor there and she had nothing but good things to say about him. His pastor and another teacher at the school also had a good opinion of him He is applying to ASU and Southern University and plans to major in business.

Daniel is the son of Audrey Hudson and is one of 10 children in the family. In speaking with him I immediately was impressed with his attitude and style. I am proud to be honoring him with this scholarship.