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If
you're not polluting the air you're breathing, someone else is.
Have you urged your auto maker (or the auto industry) to make
cost-
effectively safer, more fuel efficient and cleaner-air vehicles?
Recently?
Autobuyological
Arts & Sciences... go!
If there is anything
worse than having to buy an automobile, it's paying
too much for one - 1st law of thermo-economical-dynamics.
It is always
best to check (Google or Yahoo or other) vehicle recall sites
for current recalls before purchasing a new or use vehicle. There
are always several underway, ofter for serious defects like steering
malfunctions that not only endanger the driver and occupans to
the defective vehicles, but others on the road as well. Toyota
historically has claimed better than average quality. But Toyota's
race to best General Motors in the most units sold, may have
compromised quality. And Toyoto and Honda have historically not
negociated on price, rather defaulting to seasonal or annual
sales, which may be the best you can do pricewise, if a Toyota
or Honda must you have.
May 2010 -
Congress is considering, image that? regulating auto dealers
who have historically deceived consumers on yo-yo car deal financing
deals, where the dealer quotes a low-ball financing rate, only
to find out after the customer has driven off the lot, a few
days later, that the financing rate is considerably higher and
the customer merely signed a contingency car deal form, requiring
the vehicle be returned unless the customer mustangs-up the additional
costs, often in the few thousands of dollars more than the consumer
exptected at the original deal time. This has become an issue
recently because dealers are scamming military personnel using
these chickenshit sales tactics. This is but another among many
good reasons to go carless: to go car free, to buy smaller, to
drive less, to use and support alternative transportation, to
not use dealer assisted financing schemes, and to demand that
auto makers make cleaner-air vehicles... or leave a big tip,
it's on you. If this happens to you, consider returning the vehicle,
if possible, and going carfree, or buying somewhere else more
ruthful.
"When
it takes you three or four decades to tear down a car company's
image, it takes more than 39 days to bring it back." (Karl
Brauer, editor of Auto Web Site Edmunds.com. Saying it's impressive
that GM is emerging from bankuptcy so quickly but that it has
a long way to go to restore its image. As quoted in the Sunday
July 12, 2009 Press Democrat).
We'd say GM
has more then it's image to restore. By the way, where was Edmunds.com
for the past three or four decades? Fighting tooth and claw to
convince GM, Ford & Chrysler to make more fuel efficient
vehicles? Nah, unlikely. Puffing up dealer inflated used car
prices? More likely.
Getting
pumped at the pump? Don't forget to urge your auto makers to make
more fuel-efficient vehicles! Most new vehicles are at least
25% less efficient than long-existing cost-effective technologies
would provide if engineered more comprehensively into automotive
product lines. Let your auto makers (and the auto industry) know
how you feel about being short-changed on auto fuel-efficiency
and greenhouse gas emission costs. If you cannot avoid buying
a vehicle, buy smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles, and negotiate
a fuel inefficiency deduction from your final offer to the dealer
(as much or more than 25% off the real (most gas/mileage estimates
are inflated) fuel costs of the vehicle -- below the negoiated
dealer mark-up price) to make sure that you are not subsidizing
the auto industry's failure to live up to its customer service
marketing rhetoric and failing to incorporate long-proven energy
efficienty technologies into its vehicles... Just stop buying
it! References: Union of Concerned Scientists, American Academy
of Sciences, Sierra Club, Global Exchange, Rainforest Action
Network, Green Peace, et al. Oh yeah, and make sure to encourage
others to do the same... "Have you urged the auto industry
(or your auto makers to make cleaner air vehicles? Recently?
are questions in the era of peak oil (Roilty) that we all should
be asking each other more often. What are you doing to conserve
energy?
Beware of
unadvertised and undisclosed Katrina and Rita (Hurricane) car
deal specials. Yup,
you can bet your good money that the auto industry is odor-proofing
waterlogged new and used vehicles from the Gulf region as you're
reading this, to sell in other parts of the country, probably
farther from the Gulf than one might expect...
Auto Consumer
Tip: Avoid
financing vehicle purchases through the auto dealer. If you must
finance through the dealer find out the lenders finance rate
and the dealer's reserve rate or percentage which is often added
onto the lenders fee, often with no disclosure by the dealer
of this practice. Negotiate the dealer's reserve as well as the
vehicle price or lease. No negotiation? No Deal! (Reference CBS
60 Minutes April 4, 2004.)
CAUTION: The
"YOU PAY WHAT WE PAY" sales gimmick of recent
vintage may not be the best deal you can get. Negotiating the
dealers mark-up or take is also a good standard buyers option
(see Dealing With The Dealer and Consumer Driven Deals for more
info and references - links), and while your at it, why not negotiate
the manufacturers profit too? Go for it! And keep in mind that
fuel costs are not about to go down much, if any. More likely,
you'll be stuck with the fuel inefficiency of any vehicle you
buy regardless of how good of a deal you get. Ditto X2 for SUVs.
Not all vehicle models apply for the "You Pay What We Pay"
scheme. Deal carefully.
How many
cars will you own over a lifetime: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 or
more? (8 - 10 ?) At what cost? Personally? Socially? Environmentally?
The average auto ownership and operation costs (direct, not including
external or indirect costs) is over $500,000 -- more than twice
the cost for median priced American homes -- do your own math!
Use AAA's recent (March 2005) annual calculation of $8,410 to
calculate your lifetime costs for average direct automobile ownership
and operation costs. To see what your commute driving is costing
you check out:
Commute Solution's Commute Costs Calculator at http://www.commutesolutions.org/calc.htm. Put that in your private social security
account and compound it!
Stop
The CAR! Flyer
Help fight
terrorism: Curb the car! Drive less!
Practice
random acts of carlessnesshood!
Curb
your car! Curb the car!
Drive
less.
Go
carless.
Trip-link.
Car
share.
Base
mode choice on trip distance.
Buy
down (smaller), and rent up (larger) as needed.
Devalue
and pay less for automobiles. Negotiate mfr's take.
Negotiate
a fuel inefficiency deductioin for less than cost-optimally efficient
vehicles. (Conventional new vehicles are as much or more than
25% less efficient than they can be cost-effectively made to
be with technologies that have been available for five to ten
years or more. Negotiate this cost of inefficiency into your
car deal on top of a negotiated dealer and manufacturer profit
price, if you cannot or will not go carfree, consider going carless.
Be charitable with your savings.)
Support
auto alternatives for others, to help reduce gridlock.
Drive
down the environmental, public health, and ownership and operation
costs of the automobile-ification of America (now conservatively
estimated at over $450,000 over a lifetime for merely average
automobile ownership and operation -- much more for "luxury"
pollution unit models).
Let
your automobile manufacturer know how you feel about high fossil
fuel emission vehicles polluting the air you and your family
breathe.
Let
Ford Motors Company, et al., one of the most successful high-end
SUV pollution unit sellers know how you feel about it's efforts
to dilute government regulations of fuel emission standards.
You may want to ask how it is that manufacturers can rake in
tens of thousands of dollars per unit in profits and straight-facedly
work to weaken clean air standards, claiming excessive costs
to be passed along to the consumer.
Write: President/CEO, Ford Motors, The American Road, Dearborn,
MI 48126
What Would Jesus Drive?
Stop! Wait! Don't do it! Don't buy that puny, unsafe SUV.
Wait for the all new and improved "Ford Ego, Super-Ego, and Carcinoma
SUV Value Combo." It pollutes
more, but is easier to park. Do you really want a less pollutable,
harder to park vehicular behemoth?
Auto
Consumer Book List flyer
Thank
You For Teaching flyer
AutoBuyology
flyer
US
Senate Approved Soccer Mom SUV
flyer
Paying
too much for automobiles (Pollution Units) is anti-environment!
AutoBuyology©
"The "D'oh!" (dough) of auto buying..."
The Free Online Auto Consumer Mistake Avoidance
& Auto Buyer Educational, Survival, and Sanity Resource
"Neurosurgeons
and Astronauts - 0; Car Dealers -10... Go Figure"
Gasoline and auto related prices are uncompetitively and exorbitantly
high and excessive because we have not invested in clean fuel
and auto alternatives for personal and public transport and power
generation, and because of
suburban sprawl -- land abuse development... we can fix this
and
save money for families, communities, schools and the environment.
AutoBuyology
It's
ugly.
It's all over the car deal road.
It Kicks Car Deal Tailpipe for Family and Village Values.
-
- >|
Pop
The Hood On This Rattle Trap |<
- You
don't have to drive to work for Detroit, we all do, 24/7/365s
- Latest
news report - Annual cost in Michigan for auto ownership and
operation is about $8,700/year.
It is the job
of each generation to teach the one behind it life's important
lessons...
Before leaving... Link, Bookmark, Copy & Share, Squabble
and Toss, or Use for Scratch Paper
REduce, REcycle, REuse, REstore and REcreate
free
CarDealology flyer
The back side
of many sheets of paper are wasted or unused.
- Consider
using unused resources for scratch or draft copies.
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You Can Help
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Car Not A VW | Legislative
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Mini Van
Junkyard | Activist Flyers True
Costs of Driving |
Car
Deal Illiteracy
15 Sec. Car
Deal Lecture | Parallel
Parking | Test-I-Moanials
Updated:
June 19, 2013
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AutoBuyology©
CARveat
Emptor - CAR BUYER BEWARE©
Tricks of the Great American Car Deal©
© Copyright 1995-2013, R. Rand Knox. All Rights Reserved.
e-mail: AutoBuyologist
Not for use, reuse, sale, resale, or fee , in whole or part,
without written release, license, or permit from R. Rand Knox.
Safe-Car-Deal-Sex © Copyright June 1996-2004, R. Rand Knox,
© CARveat Emptor, All Rights Reserved.
Happy wheeling and dealing,
-- virtually and really...
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What's In You?
What's
In Your
Cells?
 GOT ASTHMA? Yet?
GOT WAR FOR OIL?
GOT TOXIC LOADING?
GOT GLOBAL WARMING?
GOT EXPENSIVE FOSSIL FUELS?
Have you told your auto maker, or the auto
industry to make more efficient and cleaner-air vehicles? Recently? (Flyer to copy and post). Have you
asked others if they have? It wouldn't kill you to do so! It
may even help prevent or reduce asthma and global warming. Maybe
even your's or a loved one's.
New Fuel
Gauge -
Find
out the more accurate estimates of fuel mileage estates for 1985
through 2007 automobiles (on average 10% less than previously
advertised), and ratings for 2008 models.
For Healthier
Air, Planet, & People: To Save Y'our Breath, Lives, Money
& Planet...
Tell Car Makers To Make
Cleaner-Air Vehicles
1
Jump Start Ford For A Cleaner-air Future
2 Jump Start Ford
Tell
NHTSA to Improve Fuel Efficiency of SUVs
Tell
Car Makers To Get Their Gas In Gear Flyer 2-up
Save Your Breath, Life, Money
& Planet Flyer 1-up
Don't
Be A Fossil Fool - Fossil Fools Day
Help
Save Your Breath, Life, Money & Planet (The breath, life,
money and planet you save may be your own.)
Car Deal
Literacy & Self-help - Auto Consumer Resources List:
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Support - Up-armored Car Deals
Real Conservatives Conserve (The money you save
may be your own.)
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