Showing posts with label the. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the. Show all posts
Tyrone Malone and the AMT Super Boss 1976 1982 era
Thursday, January 8, 2015
After Jerry Malone had the truck ultra-customized, he also changed his name to Tyrone Malone, “Mister D.D.D,” which referred to Daredevil Diesel Driver.
photos from various Ebay listings, forums like http://www.hcvc.com.au/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1249643586 and http://forum.themeparkstudio.com/index.php?topic=481.0 and http://truquetructruk.tumblr.com
the B25 that needs a vote every day from you to win a Fed Ex small business grant
Friday, January 2, 2015
http://smallbusinessgrant.fedex.com/Gallery/Detail/4856588f-6330-4359-9abb-49cc1797b05f/ to vote once a day. Just a click, no registering or other nonsense.
SHOULD I BUY MY CAR AT THE END OF THE LEASE
Thursday, January 1, 2015
The best thing about making this decision is that you are holding the best hand in the card game between you, the leasing company, and the dealer. That is because you know your car better then they do. You probably have been driving it for close to three years, you know how well you have maintained it, how worn the tires are, whether or not its been wrecked and repaired, and how many dings, dents, or upholstery blemishes there are. You know if it was garaged and how you carefully you drove it. You also know, better than anybody, how well it runs. All of these things determine the value of your car.
Unless you buy a new car, you can not have as much confidence in any other used car that you may buy than your own used lease car. The only assurance that you have when you buy somebody else’s used car is their word or the dealer’s word about how it was driven and maintained. That mean that if you did take very good care of your lease car, drove it carefully, kept it in a garage, waxed and washed faithfully, and maintained it carefully it is worth more to you than anybody else because you are the only one who knows that. And you can never be sure about that for any other used car you might buy.
Given that you like your lease car and want to keep it, the next step is determine its wholesale market value. The leasing company usually is not in the business of selling cars, just leasing them. Getting rid of off-lease cars is expensive and time consuming for them. You have an advantage here too and you should be able to negotiate a good price. Remember, you know your car much better than they do. They will usually give you a price you can buy the car for without even looking at it. Oftentimes they will call you first about buying your lease car before the lease is up. Be careful when this happens because this can mean that they are facing a loss if they have to wholesale your car at the auction. They are calling you to sell you your car for more money than they can get for it at the auction.
That is why you need to establish the current wholesale market value for your car. Car dealers call this ACV, for actual cash value. Check the Internet for information on the value of your car. www.kbb.com, the Web site for Kelly Blue Book is one of the best sources. Consumer Reports can also give you this information. The best check on the wholesale value is to actually drive your car to 3 or 4 car dealerships that are franchised for your make. If you drive a Ford, visit as many Ford dealerships as you can and tell them you want to sell your car. You aren’t misleading them because it’s a lease car. You could exercise your option to buy it from the leasing company and them resell it to the dealer, if the dealer’s offer was higher. If you live near a CarMax store, the largest retailer of used cars anywhere, they buy a lot of used cars over the curb and their prices are usually very competitive.
Now that you are armed with the true market value for your car, you can negotiate the best price with the leasing company. Even if they won’t sell you the car for the ACV, wholesale value, paying as much as $2,000 over wholesale for a car you have absolute confidence in is a good deal. If you can buy it for wholesale or below, you should celebrate!
Another thing to be on the lookout for with the leasing company is when they offer to extend your lease for the same monthly payment you are currently making. That is not a good deal. They are doing this because they will lose money if they sell this car at the auction at the present time. They want you to keep making payments on the car so that their depreciation rate catches up with the residual value. The residual value is the price they guessed your car would be worth in 3 years. If you had leased the car for longer at the onset of your lease, the payments would be lower than they are now. Why should you pay the leasing company the same as they charged you for a shorter lease?
Ive seen a lot of images of the Shelby Cobra haulers before but never this one
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
Whats The Delay
Monday, December 29, 2014
That means US i3 customers will have to wait a bit longer than expected. Although BMW has never made an official announcement on when US sales would begin, about four months ago BMWs North American president Ludwig Willisch told the Automotive News that the first batch of i3s arriving in the US would have the range extender option and would arrive in the US late this year, but that significant numbers of them wouldnt be delivered until early 2014.
So somehow late 2013 to early 2014 has been moved to 2nd quarter of 2014. Its only a delay of a few months but it has people wondering what was the cause of the delay. To add to the mystery is the fact that the European launch seems to remain on schedule and is still set for November of this year.
There are a couple possible reasons that I can imagine:
1) BMW is having some last minute manufacturing issues so they will need longer than expected to ramp up to the volume theyll need for the US launch. Everything about the production process for the i3 is different than a conventional car so it wouldnt be surprising to find that they are discovering some manufacturing snafus that will need a little extra time to iron out. This happens with conventional cars so one would imagine BMW will certainly experience issues refining the assembly line for the i3.
2) The range extender isnt ready. BMW expects that as much as 80% of the US i3 orders will have the range extender option. What if its not ready yet, and will take a few months longer? Its conceivable that they begin sales in Europe without the range extender option available and add it a few months later, right before the car launches in the US. A long shot, but possible. If the range extender is available for order at the European launch then this theory is proven wrong.
3) BMW has experienced a higher than expected interest in reservations in Europe, and wont be able to have an adequate supply for the European launch and still begin US deliveries only two months later. Perhaps they will need a couple of months to get the Leipzig plant up to full capacity and satisfy the initial European demand.
4) There really is no delay. Since BMW really never announced an official release date and the only reference ever made was from the Automotive News story where they interviewed Willisch. If you read the article (link above) you see the part where they talk about when the cars will start arriving in the US they arent quoting Willisch, so it is possible they just used bad information and Willisch actually didnt tell them the car would launch then. Perhaps Willisch was referring to when i3s with range extenders would arrive in the US to be used for training and marketing purposes and the plan all along was to start selling them a couple of months later.
If I had to put money on it, Id probably go with dealing with manufacturing issues combined with heavier than planned demand in Europe. Perhaps well get some clarity on this at the i3 formal introduction on Monday.
Ill have the press conference streaming live here on this site, so tune in at 8:00am this Monday, July 29th.
Florida CAR DEALERS �WIN� THE TRIPLE CROWN Least Respected Most Complaints Highest Dealer Fees
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
In recent surveys, car dealers have accomplished the perfect storm of fear, distrust, and vilification by the public. The most recent Gallup poll for the �Most and Least Respected Professions� listed car sales people tied for dead last with Congressmen and Lobbyists. In a recent poll by the American Consumer�s Federation, car sales and service received more complaints than any other business. And
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Who topped the list of most profit per car sold Not the luxury brands
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Toyota earned per vehicle sold more than any other mass manufacturerThe core business often becomes financial services and other sectors. How profitable the actual automobile business is, expert Ferdinand Dudenh�ffer focused on the balance sheet indicators in purely operational core business. Other areas such as financial services, real estate, supply activities or special effects, depreciation
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The i3 Concept Coupe Stars in Geneva
Saturday, February 22, 2014
Dr. Norbert Reithofer, Chairman of the Board of Management, BMW AG, addresses the media in front of the i3 concept coupeThere has been a lot of prognosticating on the interwebs lately in regards to what BMW will have to say about the upcoming i3 at the Geneva Motor Show. Some have speculated they will unveil the actual production i3 while others have guessed BMW will simply offer a little more
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the FTC took Nissan to court for the follwing dune buggy commercial Slapped their hand said no more nonsense its misleading
Thursday, February 20, 2014
found on http://www.autoblog.com/2014/01/24/nissan-settles-ftc-over-misleading-dune-buggy-ad-video/#continuedbut didnt take them to task for the airliner commercial
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Live From The LA Auto Show
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
I just arrived in LA for the 2013 Los Angeles Auto Show. In addition to their usual area inside the show floor, BMW has an additional pavilion set up outside, across the street from the Convention Center in one of the parking lots of the Staples Center. This has been set up to allow people to test drive the i3.The i3s are starting to arrive todayEven though there will be about seventy i3s there
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Knowing The Signs of Transmission Problems
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Transmission problem is not a common issue. It would take years after the purchase before these problems manifest and knowing the symptoms must be considered to avoid further damage. Having a regular scheduled check up will help you anticipate possible transmission issues to occur, thus, you are able to prevent it from happening. Remember that transmission replacement or repair is a gruelling
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Toyota Building the Corolla in Mississippi not the Prius
Monday, January 27, 2014
Toyota has restarted their plant construction in Blue Springs, Mississippi, in another indication the recent recall hasnt ruined their business. If theyre willing to expand production, they must be planning on selling those extra cars.Which is good news for the 2,000 people Toyota plans on hiring in Mississippi. But, unfortunately for those of us who are interested in hybrids, Toyota will be
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FIA WEC Both Audis sandwiched in the third and final Fuji practice session
Friday, January 24, 2014
By Johan LaubscherSaturday�s proceedings at Fuji kicked off bright and early with the third free practice session. The Audi squad topped both sessions on Friday and they continued their good pace this morning. The third and final practice session started at 09:30 local time. It was a case of very close times at the top of the time sheets. Toyota set the fastest time during the third session. It
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TUSC Three day Roar Before the Rolex 24 concluded successfully for the Audi teams at Daytona
Thursday, January 23, 2014
By Johan LaubscherThe annual Roar Before the Rolex 24 was held this weekend. The three-day test took place three weeks before the big race later in January. The Audi Sport customer racing squad were well represented in the GT Daytona (GTD) class. Five Audi R8 LMS cars took part, fielded by four different teams. GMG Racing, Fall-Line Motorsports and Paul Miller Racing each entered one Audi R8 LMS.
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FIA WEC Audi in front for the third time in WEC qualifying
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Audi Press Release F�ssler/Lotterer/Tr�luyer on pole at S�o Paulo Duval/Kristensen/McNish complete front row Third consecutive best time in qualifying after Spa and Le MansIngolstadt/S�o Paulo, August 31, 2013 � Audi has created an ideal starting base for round four of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC). The two Audi R18 e-tron quattro cars of Audi Sport Team
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Porsche Cayenne S Hybrid at the NYIAS
Porsche CayennePorsche is bringing their new Cayenne Hybrid to the New York International Automobile Show. The Cayenne S Hybrid will go on sale in the fall. The parallel system works to maximize each of the engines strengths. At low speeds, the high torque produced by the electric motor does the heavy lifting, while the gas engine can kick in, with an assist from the electric motor to give it
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Photo shoot of the Malbec Black Q50
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
It was an overcast weekend weekend so I decided to take some quick shots of the Q50 between running errands. Not too many words for this post. It was definitely more compliant than taking pictures of a 2 & 5 year old.Enjoy the pictures! You can click on any picture to see the high resolution version.Hello (Wink!)Power StanceWhy do I keep expecting it to blink?3/4 Rear ShotBlue "S" for HybridFun
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