How Is The Car-Buying Process Changing?

A Nouvelle Peugeot

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How will you buy your next vehicle?Will you click on an online buying service, gather some information and then fill out a computer form to make your purchase? Or will you make the more traditional trek from dealership to dealership parrying with car salespeople before making your purchase? Or will your experience be some combination of these two extremes?

One thing is certain: the business of selling vehicles is changing minute-by-minute, but just what the process will morph into no one, not even the purported experts, Read more . . .

Dealer Invoice Pricing–Tricky

One of the unique aspects of the auto industry is that you can find out, virtually to the penny, what the retailer paid for the product he or she is about to sell you. Just try to find out what Sears paid for the Frigidaire refrigerator you’re about to buy. Or make an attempt to discover what Circuit City paid for the high-definition Sony TV you’re looking at so longingly. You will find the going tough, if not impossible.

But when it comes to the auto industry, if you have access to the Web, and one presumes you must since you’re reading this, then you have almost instant access to sources of so-called “dealer invoice pricing.” The dealer invoice is, of course, the price the dealer pays Read more . . .

Should I Buy Or Lease?

There is no simple correct answer to the lease/buy question, just as there is no simple answer to the question: should I wear a white sweater while eating Spaghetti Bolognese? Making the right decision for yourself is a matter of your personal desires, values, current financial status, and your ability to avoid making a mess of things.

Cars lined up

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Auto leasing has been around for decades and once upon a time offered small business owners significant tax advantages. Those days are long gone, but leasing has caught fire in the last few years, spurred by manufacturers who use special lease deals to promote their vehicles. Industry experts estimate that next year leasing will represent as much as 35% of the new-car market. Among the luxury brands it’s often as high as 80%.

Certainly with this kind of acceptance Read more . . .

Pssst: Wanna (Not) Buy A Stolen Car?

Would you buy a used car–with cash–from someone you just met in the bar, and who walked you down a dark alley to show you the car? Not likely. How about from a well-dressed, friendly, middle-aged man or woman, who placed a classified ad in your local newspaper, and who meets you midday at a restaurant of your choice?

Red car with cartoon character

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Oops! You may be more likely to be cheated by seller number two. That’s the story of Jennifer Warwa, who bought a minivan and had her mechanic examine it. The mechanic later said how shocked he was that Jennifer had been scammed:

“Because I met the gentleman who was selling the vehicle. Very clean cut. In his fifties.  Very soft spoken…. And Read more . . .

Take Your Car On Vacation

Some people use their car only as an appliance. It is strictly a conveyance to get them from A to B, and they don’t get any more emotionally attached to their cars than they would to their vacuum cleaner, blender or garbage disposal. But then there are those of us who do get emotionally attached to our cars. We bond with our vehicles, and they, for all intents and purposes, become members of our families. They serve us faithfully and go with us to important functions. They are with us when memories are being made–occasions like family vacations, for example. Read more . . .