Autos Car Blog

Practicing the following fuel efficient driving techniques can improve fuel economy more than 10%:

• Observing the Speed Limit
  
  In highway driving, over 50% of the energy required to move your car down the road goes to overcoming aerodynamic drag (pushing air out of the way). As you drive faster, aerodynamic drag and rolling resistance increase. As a result, at speeds above 55 miles per hour, fuel economy decreases rapidly.

  By driving 55 miles per hour instead of 65, you’ll save gas. Of course it will take you longer to get to your destination, but for each extra hour you spend driving you’ll save $5.00. Owners of larger trucks and sport utility vehicles may save as much as $10.00 for each extra hour spent driving.

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It’s a hot topic right now, the topic of buying a car in United States instead of Canada. Many Canadian’s in the market for a new car see the differences in MSRP (manufacturer’s suggested retail price) between a car in Canada and the same car in the United States. That difference in many cases makes the case of buying a car in the United States instead of Canada that much stronger and many are making the hop over the border or researching online to check things out.

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All car dealers charge some kind of processing fee, title fee, notary fee and or registration fee. These fees are generally refereed to as “doc fees.” All of these fees are legitimate. The car dealers are tasked with transferring titles, assigning liens, dealing with registrations, plates, etc. Unfortunately, there are some car dealers who take advantage of this and use it as a means to grab extra profit. Some states, not all, set a maximum amount a car dealer can charge for various fees, but each state is different. Some car dealers will charge the maximum allowed on each deal whether or not all the fees apply to that individual deal.

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I’ve had many people tell me they had to give the car sales person a deposit on a car even before they negotiated a price, then they had to fight like crazy to get their deposit back if they didn’t buy the vehicle!

Most car dealers insist that their sales people get a deposit from a potential customer as early in the sales process as possible. This puts enormous pressure on both the customer and the sales person.

Let’s face it, how awkward is it for a sales person to have to get a deposit from a customer before they even agree to buy the car? It doesn’t exactly foster a feeling of trust does it?

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If you’ve ever purchased a car from a car dealership you probably have experienced the car sales person making numerous trips back and forth to the Sales Manager’s office during the course of the deal. While somewhat amusing for the customer to watch, it leaves him or her scratching their head wondering what the heck is going on!

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Years ago I took a Defensive Driving Course and many of the techniques stuck with me. Indeed, some of them probably kept me out of serious accidents. Here are a few of the common sense tips I learned:

1. When traveling on a 4 lane or wider highway always stay in the right hand lane (at least in the good old USA) unless you are passing someone.

If an oncoming car loses control, and swerves across the median, the chances are that he will hit a vehicle in the left lane before hitting one in the right lane. So the right lane is the safest place to be. Always play the odds in your favor.

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One of the many products the car dealership Finance Manager may try to sell you is Gap insurance. Gap insurance covers the difference between the value of your car and what you owe on it in case the car is declared a “total loss” by your insurance company due to a wreck, it being stolen or some other catastrophe such as fire, flood or storm damage.

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Determining a Trade-In Value

There are a number of reliable sources you can use when trying to determine a fair trade-in value, and luckily many of these resources are now available online. One of the best known is the Kelley Blue Book. Kelley Blue Books is an appraisal resource that provides market prices for almost all makes and models in varying conditions. It also provides the retail value, trade-in value and private party value to help you determine what to expect when either selling your automobile or buying a new or used car. You can conveniently access Kelley Blue Book values online through sites.

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The Finance Office in a car dealership is one of the most lucrative profit centers in a car dealership.

Certainly car dealers are entitled to make a legitimate profit like any other business, but when they’re making a piece of the action from arranging a car loan for a customer, that money they earn which is called “dealer reserve,” is indirectly coming out of the customer’s pocket in the form of a higher interest rate.

I worked as a Finance Manager in several large new car dealerships, and I can tell you that quite often I made — for the car dealer — $1,500 to $2,000 “dealer reserve” on arranging any given car loans.

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