Buy Here Pay Here

Well, 2008 was an interesting year. In a time when the economy seems its worst in decades, we had our best year ever. Don't get me wrong, starting in September we slowed down just like the rest. However, I'm very thankful and fortunate.

The outcome is that I'm pondering an expansion into the Buy Here Pay Here, or a "Note Lot" world of providing vehicles to those customers that are really credit challenged. In these times, many are having tough times. However, there are many people that could be in a serious situation where they need another car, or a better car despite their circumstances.

So I'll let you know if this comes to fruition.


Tags:automotive car dealer cardealer dealer dealership dfwcarfinder

Corn Ethanol Revisited

The family has a grain farm in the Midwest. It's a business, and there was considerable discussion last year about, well, should be perhaps be getting involved in the production of corn ethanol. I was against it.

Now, I'm hearing that corn prices are through the roof. This is good for the family farm. Selling corn means more money in the bank.

Why is corn high? Because all...well, a lot of the corn is going to ethanol, to be used for fuel. And fuel costs are going up because corn is going up.

And, eggs are going up, because it costs more to haul the eggs to market and to feed corn to the chickens. Corn tortilla's are going up because corn meal costs more to buy because there's less corn around and the corn costs more.

And beef is going DOWN because farmers aren't giving corn to the cows to fatten them as much. They just want to sell them to market early because they can't afford to pay for the corn to fatten them up as much. BUT, eventually, the cows available will run in short supply as they are sold off early, so the cost of beef will skyrocket higher than it is now. I give credit to this market supply issue to Glenn Beck. I suspect it will be even worse than he says, though, because corn will be in even shorter supply, so the price will go even higher.

Today, there is about 10% ethanol in gas. You should know, ethanol is not fuel efficient, so we are actually getting less mileage out of a tank of gas when we have ethanol, than if we have all gasoline in our gas tank, if this makes sense.

Now, combine all this with the fact that the government is currently considering going to 20% ethanol in fuel, because everyone thinks that 10% ethanol is just going so peachy in the US. Heh heh.

Now, as oil is over $110 a barrel, gas pumps are averaging $3.27 a gallon nationally, grocery prices are rising, unemployment is up, bankruptcies are up, national unrest is up, I ponder...Is corn ethanol a good fuel solution???

Tags:ethanol auto news auto-news automotive car dealer cardealer dealer dealership dfwcarfinder trends

Porsche Tops JD Power Survey

Just in... Porsche wins JD Power Reliability Survey. Hmmm, maybe that's why I own two of them. :-)))

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Porsche Panamera Sighted Today

Here's a spy photo of the Porsche Panamera sighted in South Africa testing.

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Lemonaide Anyone???

There's been an increase in discussion surrounding lemons. Not the fruit, but lemon cars. People have them...people are afraid of getting them...lemons at the auto auction...I hear of other dealers selling them and not disclosing it.

Frankly, I honestly don't recall personally knowing someone with a true lemon car, but I'm sure there are plenty out there. Many will argue that 1-3 cars out of 100 will have enough problems to be a lemon. The same also applies to air conditioners.

I've also heard that you don't want to buy a car built on Monday (employees hungover) or Friday (employees want to get a hangover). :-)

Nevertheless, one online resource you can be found at lemonjustice. I'm sure they can help you determine if you have a lemon car case. You can start with their lemon meter.

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Zeroshift Transmissions

UK based Zeroshift has developed an automatic manual transmission that shifts in 30 milliseconds. It's known to increase your 0-60 times. Can you say FASTER!

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Thieves Steal Elements

Well, sort of... One of the new bad trends in Fort Worth is for thieves to crawl under Honda Elements and use a hacksaw to remove the vehicle's catalytic converter. If any of you can do so, now's the time to park your Element in the garage when not in use to avoid theft of the catalytic converter element. A new converter is $800.

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Scented Tires

Now, here's something I didn't see coming....

KUMHO Introduces World's First "Aroma Tire" For Select Passenger
Vehicles
U.S. market will carry limited lavender tires, and later, orange and
jasmine scents
KUMHO Tire USA...December 21, 2006...announces the introduction of the
world's first fragrance automotive tire, the ECSTA DX. The project is
the "fruition" of more than a year's worth of research and development
to deliver an alluring aroma tire that replaces the normal "black
rubber" smell with heat-resistant oils in the scent of lavender, and in
later versions, neroli (orange) or jasmine.
ESCTA DX
Lavender Scent
According to Rick Brennan, Brand Director for KUMHO, the company is
selling the DX aroma tire to help build brand awareness and highlight
KUMHO's tire technology. The tire is targeted at female consumers who
drive such sedans as the Honda Accord, Toyota Camry, Subaru Outback,
Chrysler Sebring and Ford Taurus.
In addition to a unique aroma, the ECSTA DX is engineered to deliver low
noise levels and ride characteristics on par with the leading tire
brands. Ride comfort is maintained throughout the life of the tire
through the use of tread elements designed to provide uniform linear
stiffness. Optimized pitch sequence and variable pitch lengths help
minimize noise, while a straight center rib provides high-speed
stability.
The DX features four wide grooves that help evacuate water, while a
silica compound improves all-weather performance and wet traction. High
tensile steel belts and a jointless nylon cap ply also help improve
noise, ride comfort and durability, while an undertread reduces unwanted
heat buildup for consistent performance.
The ECSTA DX Aroma tire will be sold through Discount Tire stores and
TireRack.com starting in the first quarter of 2007 in three sizes.


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Twin Turbo VW Bus

Here's a 62 VW Bus with a 520 HP twin-turbo Porsche engine propelling it around the track....


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Hot Rod...Best Car Movies

Hot Rod Magazine is compiling a list of the best car movies. Click here to see more.



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Auction Cars Don't Deserve the Bad Rap

I don't get asked too often, but some people ask where we get our cars. I'm sure some other shy ones wonder about it. Frankly, we get most of them from one of the Dallas Auto Auctions.

Dallas has the third largest group of Auctions in the country. About 10k cars go through the city's auctions in any given week.

I buy most of my cars coming off factory lease from Porsche Finance, BMW Finance, Toyota finance (for Lexus), etc. The cars have been well maintained under the leasing agreements between the buyer and the manufacturer's funding arm.

Would you rather buy an unknown car from Joe Schmoe, or a vehicle from dfwCARFINDER coming direct from a previous owner's factory lease?



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Super Coupes

Who says money can't buy a little happiness. :-) Forbes has the list of the best super coupes. Porsche Cayman (pictured) was included.



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Customize Your Porsche

Now, you can customize the name on the back of your Porsche. See here.


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Engine Assembly...Interesting

How an engine is assembled. Well, not the air cooled Porsche and Subaru WRX engines... This should help most women (and many men) who profess to not understand much about cars; and for those of you who claim a car is only "transportation". :-)

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Porsche 928...Modified

Well, here's one person's concept of what to do with an old Porsche 928. El Camino convertible???


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Son Crashes Mustang

Uh oh. None of my kids can really drive a stick.


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Is it a Lemon!?!?!?

I'm sure some customers wonder whether I'm trying to sell a "Lemon Law" car, a car that a manufacturer bought back from a consumer because of repetitive issues. To be sure, those cars exist out there. In Texas, I must abide by Texas Code that says that if I buy a known "lemon", I must disclose same. If I don't and I get caught, I will be paying HUGE fines to the state of Texas, and risking my dealer license.

Yup, I'm sure that there are dealers out there that don't disclose, but they're taking a big risk. How does a consumer protect himself??? I can offer two pieces of advice: 1) Buy from a dealer that you feel you can trust, and 2) Get a Carfax, as their record gathering should uncover a "Lemon Law" car and advize you of that fact.


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Best Car Values

If you follow what Forbes says, it isn't the cost of gas or repairs, it's the depreciation of a vehicle that annually costs an owner the most. Depreciation will usually cost an owner $thousands$ of dollars annually. If you follow that logic (and I do), here is a list of the 9 best car values.

• BMW 330i Convertible
• Honda CR-V
• Lexus GX
• Lexus RX
• Mini Cooper
  
• Porsche 911 Carrera (pictured)
  
• Toyota 4Runner
• Toyota Sequoia
• Volvo XC-90
  

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Ferrari Garage

This is not a great sight to see when coming home from work.


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Toyota & Car Searches for Sep

Here's a snapshot of what's hot, and what's not so hot in new car searches on cars.com for Sep 06....

Top New-Car Search Increases

1. Hyundai Santa Fe 17.28%
2. Chevrolet Avalanche 16.68%
3. Jeep Wrangler 12.88%
4. Cadillac CTS 11.94%
5. Audi A3 9.52%

Top New-Car Search Decreases

1. Toyota Yaris 37.85%
2. Toyota Prius 33.85%
3. Volkswagen Jetta 32.14%
4. Hyundai Sonata 26.02%
5. Toyota Corolla 25.64%

Now, compare that to the news that Toyota products (including Lexus and Scion) were UP 25% in Sep 06 vs. Sep 05. The car market was only up 1.9% overall in Sep. Huh??? Maybe Cars doesn't track well with actual trends....

In more detail, the Toyota models that were up in Sep:

RAV4 up 101%
Sequoia up 43% (gas prices must not be an issue)
Highlander up 21%
Prius up 28%
Scion tC up 24%
Corolla up 18%

In general, it appears gas prices are driving some of Toyota's growth...

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Dodge Charger Super Bee

This car can be found at the State Fair of Texas. The Dodge Charger Super Bee, based upon the Dodge SRT-8 platform with 425 HP.


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Nieman Marcus Holiday Car

The Neiman-Marcus holiday car for 2006 will be a BMW Individual M6 Convertible, priced at $139k. It comes with European delivery and some extra's in Germany. 50 cars will be offered.

Individual is an elite and special arm of BMW that customizes the cars for purchasers and is available to all purchasers who can afford the extra ticket price. 


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Bo Blogs the First Time

Why does everybody keep using KBB.com (Kelly Blue Book) in Dallas???? We just had someone yesterday look at a Toyota Echo. He offered a price commensurate with KBB, arguing that our NADA based price was too high.

Please, folks, the Dallas auto dealer market (and the southwest, in general) *clearly* uses the NADA guide. So does dfwCARFINDER.com. Thanks for your understanding.

KBB specializes in cars from the Northeast US, but they extrapolate their prices to try to fit the entire US, and that just doesn't work.

If we're wrong, please let us know. Thanks.


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Ford Debut's Super-Duty at Texas State Fair

The 2008 Ford Super Duty (mostly F250 and F350) trucks will debut at the Texas State Fair. Not a surprise, as Texas is Ford's largest truck market share and almost the only place where a truck can be used as a family vehicle. Ford owns half of the 3/4 and 1 ton truck market.


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BMW M5 E60

A big long at 8 minutes, but the Fifth Gear review of the new BMW M5 is worth it. I believe they start arriving in Dallas in early 2007.


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Stretch Mini

I haven't seen this about town, yet..... 


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Porsche Ambulance

  


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Damaged Vehicle Information Act

Just what it says, ladies and gents. The government is about to enact a new law that will forever tag a vehicle that has been declared a total wreck or a flooded vehicle. That way all the Katrina cars won't be lurking about causing all you good customers to fret about the liklihood of a vehicle having a tainted past.


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Top Gear Star Injured

Richard Hammond, star of Top Gear, was injured this week in a jet powered car attempting to surpass the UK land speed record of 300 mph.


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BMW Hydrogen 7

The Dallas Morning News last weekend reported that BMW is finally making their Hydrogen 7 model (similar to the other BMW 7-series cars you see running around Dallas) available in 2007. It will be sold to 'selected users'. Its engine is capable of running on either gasoline or hydrogen.

Has anyone seen a hydrogen pumping station around DFW???


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Gas Prices to Continue Down

Well, I was obviously good at reporting the trend of gas prices going down as we're all seeing price relief. I'm now reading that the prices will continue down below the $2.35 I mentioned to near $2.10 a gallon for regular here in Texas by the 1st of October.


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GM Hy Wire

The Car of the Future...


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Car Buying Experience

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Cheap Cars

I get a lot of requests for cheap cars, and I see lots of people searching for 'cheap cars' when they come to my website. What is a cheap car??? I confess, I dunno for sure.

My girlfriend's daughter's ex-boyfriend (gotta think about it, don't ya?....) bought a cheap car. He paid about $2k and half the electrical didn't work at time of purchase. Now, I hear that the alternator is shot and obviously none of the electrical works. Was it cheap? Yeah. Was it a good buy; not on your life! Was it reliable...heck no.

According to some stats I read earlier this year, the average used car sold in 2006 for just under $10k. That's a stretch for the 16 to 20-somethings who are just out of school. I sell cars for a little under or over $5k, but I have to look HARD to find them, I have to look for weeks, and, quite often, they have over 100k miles on the clock which turns people off. My real average sale is $20k, twice the national average. At half that price, you can get a great used BMW or Porsche, btw....

Would I rather have a mediocre car for well under $5k, but the car is unreliable, or would I rather have a reliable car, like a Toyota, with 100k plus miles.??? Me, I'll take the Toyota every time.

My experience is that cars will run reasonably reliably until somewhere around 150k miles, then larger problems start creeping up. Now, a diesel will keep running past 200k miles. There are still quite a few old Mercedes diesels running around, right? But a 2000+ Toyota with 100k miles is going to cost over $5k.

My advice, take a bus or rideshare until you have the $5k minimum to get a more reliabile car.




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Porsche 911 Tops at Consumer Reports

The Porsche 911 topped the Consumer Reports list of best performance cars. It was the first time the magazine reviewed ultra-performance cars.



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Gov't: More Alternative Fuels in '07

The federal government today signed a bill to increase alternative fuel minimums from 2.78% in '06 to 3.71% in '07. From a different perspective, 4.5 billion gallons of renewable fuel (ethanol and biodiesel) will be consumed in '06. The bill dictates that 7.5 billion gallons will be consumed per year by 2012.

I guess it's a start....


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Gas Prices Should Further Drop

Economic indicators suggest that the price of regular gas should drop to $2.35 by Oct 1. Maybe I should dust off some of the SUVs.....

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E85 Ethanol Fuel Reduces Mileage

I've been blogging about how 10% ethanol reduces mileage. Now I learn that flex-fuel vehicles like the Chevy Tahoe that can run on E85 fuel also get 30% less fuel economy. If you can find an E85 pump. In other words, if you normally get 300 miles out of a tankful, you now will get only about 200 miles.

I don't believe this is the solution for me...


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Larger, More Fuel-Efficient Vehicles

Business Week has compiled a list of the larger, more fuel efficient vehicles. This is for those of you who just can't squeeze into a Toyota Echo.

The top ten vehicles are:

1. Luxury Sedan-Overall Fuel Economy - Lexus GS300
2. Luxury Sedan-Most Space - Lincoln Town Car
3. SUV-Overall Fuel Economy - Chevrolet Trailblazer
4. SUV-Most Space - Toyota Land Cruiser
5. Minivan-Overall Fuel Economy - Honda Odyssey
6. Minivan-Most Space - Toyota Sienna
7. Large Sedan-Overall Fuel Economy - Ford Five Hundred
8. Large Sedan-Most Space - Ford Crown Victoria
9. Pickup Truck-Overall Fuel Economy - Toyota Tundra
10. Pickup Truck-Payload - Chevrolet Silverado


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Running on Empty...

No surprise, folks... A new Consumer Reports funded survey indicates that gas mileage is now the top factor (27%) people are seeking in the purchase of a new car. This is followed by reliability (25%), purchase price (14%) and safety features (12%). That's why I'm selling more Toyota Echo's and Tacoma's, for all the above reasons, though you'll pay a little more than you pay for a Ford.



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BMW Engine Honors

The 500 hp BMW V10 engine that powers the new M5/M6 vehicles took top engine honors (again) by a jury of 61 automotive journalists. BMW defeated engines from the Ferrari F430, Mercedes-Benz AMG SL65, Volkswagen Touareg, Chevrolet Corvette Z06, and Ferrari 612 Scaglietti. Hmmm, Porsche didn't have a submission.


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BMW Spartanburg Paint Shop is Green

BMWs manufacturing plant in Spartanburg, SC will soon acquire half of its required energy needs from recycled methane gas at a nearby landfill. It's reported this move will save BMW over $1 million in energy costs, and obviously help the environment. Paint shops are the largest user of electricity in an auto manufacturing plant.


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Biodiesel BMW

Here is the story of a guy who converted an old BMW 318i to a BMW 24td engine running on Biodiesel. Took the guy 20 months. The car gets over 50 mpg, but he has more work to do.


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Vehicle Black Boxes

George Orwell's 1984 and Big Brother are lurking around your car and you don't know it. I knew some cars had black boxes, but I didn't know that 60% of cars manufactured today have them. I wonder if it started with the mysterious Audi 5000 that did, but didn't accelerate of its own free will....

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is requiring car manufacturers to disclose that they have a black box in a specific car by 2011. That's still 5 years from now.

What is a black box??? The device collects vehicle data related mostly to...crashes and incidents. Was the seat belt attached...did the airbag deploy...how fast was the driver going...was the accelerator pedal depressed...was the brake pedal depressed...

In the future, this data *could* be used in court. Speeding, sobriety, manufacturer liability, accident at-fault, etc. Be safe and be careful....privacy issues at work!

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Porsche Sales Slump?!?!?!

Is Porsche in a sales slump???

They will not be building a 2007 Cayenne; the Cayenne has been in a 2 year slide. They'll keep building the 2006 model as necessary and will produce a new 2008 version.

The Boxster is an old design, coming out in 1997. It was freshened in 2003 and 2005. Porsche saw a slight rise in Boxster sales for 2005 due to the freshing, but sales are again down for the year.

The 911 has been around since 1965. A new, much better and freshened model came out in 2005. It brought sales up last year, but sales for this year are down already.

The Cayman is up, of course, but the model was just released last year. I suspect the Cayman is really carrying the Porsche name right now, IMHO. But, I don't hear much buzz about the Cayman, either.

Production of the Carrera GT has stopped; nothing to sell there.

The Panamera isn't out yet, and I don't hear a lot of buzz, but release time isn't close. Are all those Porsche resources working on the Panamera, or something else???

Porsche sold their engineering division in Detroit earlier this year.

Gas prices are high, but do owners of a Porsche really care much about gas prices?

Sales are down, what's Porsche really up to???

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RUF Studio Torino RK Coupe

Based on the Porsche Cayman, Studio Torino of Italy and RUF Automobile of Germany have teamed together to produce this RK Coupe. A limited edition vehicle of only 49 units, the RK Coupe will have 440 hp and a top speed of 186 mph. You'll notice the roof and bodywork differ from the Cayman. The design is based upon the old Porsche 904 (wish I had one of those) and the Dino 246 GT. Nice, ehhh?

The car will be in Dallas on Aug 26 from 10-2. A spider version is also available.


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