Ford and Kia: the worst residual values consists of autos that have the lowest possible ratings for predicted depreciation

The biggest cost of car ownership isn’t gas, repairs or even adding that amazing sound system. Nope, it’s depreciation, or the car’s decrease in value over time. So which autos depreciate too fast? Are they the most are frequently high-volume, older vehicles. Nope. The winners? Those that are well-designed, well-engineered and are usually in limited supply and high demand, according to Kelley Blue Book, an authority on residual value.Consider three Ford Motor models: the Ford E-Series van and the Ford Crown Victoria and Mercury Grand Marquis sedans — three of the eight new-model cars with the worst predicted depreciation. Take note that these Ford models are also primarily bought in large fleets, by such outfits as police departments and taxi cab companies. The businesses that buy these cars, he said, “tend to have severe duty cycles — high annual mileage, long years in service. So the resale values … don’t really factor into the purchase equation for most.

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The 8 Mistakes Car Buyers Make
1.) Being pressured to act. It’s OK to move at your own pace — don’t let yourself get bullied into buying before you’re ready. When you do put down a deposit, use a credit card instead of writing a check. You’ll have more protection if there is something fishy with the dealer.
2.) Taking dealers at their word. Are you offered free oil changes or other perks? Get them in writing. Don’t settle on just a verbal agreement — have it written into the contract.
3.) Financing for longer than 48 months. If you settle for a long-term loan, you’re likely going to pay a higher interest rate. And if the car is stolen, wrecked or you just want to trade it in early, you’ll probably owe more than it’s worth.
4.) Buying unnecessary extras. You’ll be offered all sorts of “important” extras such as VIN glass etching, fabric protection or extended service. They can get expensive and you probably won’t even need or use them.
5.) Opting for dealer financing without shopping around. Don’t just go for the dealer’s rate. Do some research on the current loan rates and look for good offers from banks, online sources or credit unions.
6.) Not negotiating a lease price. You can bargain for a lease price just as you would if you were buying the car.
7.) Leasing because you can’t afford to buy. It’s true that you’ll have a lower monthly payment, but you’ll probably pay a much higher finance charge. At the end of the lease period, you won’t even own the car. If you are strapped for cash, consider buying a used car instead.
8.) Talking about trade-ins early in the process. Wait to mention your old car trade-in until after you’ve completed your negotiations on the new one.

Let’s face it, life is a sales game.

Companies and people make money by touting their product as being better than the competition’s, whether or not it’s actually true. So why do car salesmen have such bad reputations? Probably because for most people, a car is their biggest single purchase other than a home. Combined with negotiable prices and lots of options to sort through, customers take trickery very seriously. It’s this group that tends to bring down the industry’s reputation, spoiling the broth for the honest salespeople. They’re not necessarily any more prevalent at auto dealerships than at a Wall Street brokerage firms or anywhere else. But again, car buyers making that once-in-five-years big purchase tend to notice them more. And there’s no SEC or Nasdaq looking over their shoulder. Why do dealership owners keep them on? They typically sit atop the sales charts — that’s why.

Where They Get You Among the most egregious is an old scam called “price packing,” in which a salesman agrees with a customer on a price for a car, then “packs” hundreds of dollars extra onto the final bill by claiming finance charges add up to a few more dollars per month than they actually do. Another bill-padder is excessive labor fees for pre-delivery work like audio system upgrades or larger wheels, also easy to disguise by adding just a handful of dollars a month to the final finance charge. To create a sense of urgency, tell the customer he won’t get the same price after the first of the month (that’s sometimes true, but more often it’s not). To lure prospective buyers to the showroom, put deceptive ads in the local paper that headline big price reductions which suddenly become false upon arrival.

So why can’t buying a car be more straight forward and haggle-free, where the price on the sticker is final? Because we, as a society, don’t want that. General Motors’ Saturn unit tried that approach a decade or so ago, and it flopped. The public has shown it likes to do battle with the car salesmen figuring they have a chance of winning. Although, there is a car priced search engine, due to launch within a few months, with figures allowing consumers to arm themselves before confronting car salesmen.

GM’s First Environmentally Friendly Car
One vehicle that’s already drawing oohs and aahs at the International Auto Show after being previewed by the media is a concept car from General Motors (GM) called the Volt. It’s generating a fair amount of excitement among industry insiders too, in large part because it’s an electric car made by a company not known for its environmentally friendly products. Here’s how it works: The Volt relies on batteries and electric motors for nearly all of its propulsion. You plug it into an outlet in your house like you would a toaster and charge the battery overnight while you’re sleeping. Then drive to work, to the grocery store, drop the kids off at soccer practice. You may never need to visit the gas station. (That is, unless you drive more than 40 miles a day, in which case a back-up gasoline engine will kick in once the battery pack is exhausted.)

The problem with this concept car is that Volt won’t be available in showrooms until at least 2010, primarily because the battery technology needed to get cars like it into production and on the road is some years off. GM’s plan is an ambitious one, and generally viewed as an effort by the company to enhance its not-so-environmentally-sensitive image.

US Manufacturers Do Something Right

One of the Ford Motor Company’s showcase concept cars is the imposing Interceptor sedan, with its big wheels and a burly front end that suggests an armor-plated battering ram.
Lest anybody miss the point, it becomes clear as the car rotates on its turntable for a rear view. There, in brushed aluminum block letters, the license plate reads: MUSCLE, with the “U” and the “S” in red and blue. It is a license plate that could easily appear on other cars here, most from Detroit but some from its foreign competitors. As Detroit automakers try to find a winning game plan to reverse their sliding market share, it is clear from the cars on display at the North American International Auto Show here that they are trying to play up a distinct advantage over their Asian and European competitors — nobody, after all, can design the look of the American muscle car quite like American car companies.

“Even middle-aged Chinese remember seeing secret photographs of Buick Rivieras and Camaros and Mustangs, and they thought, ‘Whoa, communism is good, but this looks even better,’ ” he said. But demographics and car buyers’ changing tastes may work against Detroit’s efforts, say Japanese executives. These cars resonate best with buyers who can remember them — an aging group — and they cannot be Detroit’s only response, these executives say, if it hopes to end a market share decline under way for a decade. There is a good chance that some of these cars will be on American roads in a few years. G.M. has already announced plans to build the Camaro hardtop, while Chrysler plans to build the Dodge Challenger, which it showed as a concept car last year.

Ford’s Mustang, meanwhile, has been a rare bright note for the company, which is facing one of the deepest financial crises in its history. Mustang, reincarnated in 2004, rose to 166,530 sales last year, up 3.5%. The Mustang provides the underpinnings for the Interceptor, whose gutsy, low-riding stance immediately says gangster — a look reinforced inside with its brushed aluminum and black interior.

Toyota reported its best year ever for 2006, with sales up 12.9% for the year at more than 2,542,524 vehicles.

Ford held off Toyota as the No. 2 U.S. vehicle seller in December despite a nearly 13% sales drop compared with a year ago. Industry leader General Motors reported a 13% December sales decline. Ford Motor Co. sold a total of 231,900 light vehicles in December, with Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp. coming in just below the Dearborn-based automaker at 228,322, the companies reported Wednesday. But Toyota’s sales for the month rose more than 12% versus a year ago. Toyota beat Ford in July and November, and some analysts have predicted that it will overtake Ford as the No. 2 seller of automobiles in the U.S. in 2007.

Chrysler’s promotion is the latest example of the lengths auto makers are going to in the U.S. to find customers amid a slowdown in overall demand.

You know you’ve gone too far when…you begin offering one-day test drives at churches in major cities like Chicago, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles. No, wait it can get worse. How about offering free tickets to a Patti LaBelle concert if you take one of these test drives at the church? Chrysler (DCX) is targeting mega churches in an attempt to get into the communities and the lifestyles of customers … “taking [their] products to people rather than asking people to come to us.” Chrysler isn’t the only auto maker pitching its cars in unconventional settings. In July, Ford Motor’s Japanese affiliate, Mazda Motor, participated in a two-day comic-book convention in San Diego to celebrate the debut of a comic-book series featuring Mazda cars and to give attendees the chance to win a new Mazda model. There seems to be a growing trend among the automakers. An idea that they can not just rely on the dealers to push their product. That they need to physically get out and be in the community.

The bottom line question, however that it leaves us to ponder is that if the automaker is going directly to the customer, doesn’t the dealer just become a middle man? True, state franchise laws protect dealers and so automakers can not go directly to the customer. But take a look at the block exemption laws that passed in Europe and you can see how almost over night changes in the regulatory environment can be complete game changers.

Specially tricked-out vehicles give police departments around the world the edge they need for catching the bad guys

If you have a complaint about your bank, thrift or credit union, it’s always best to first try to resolve it with the institution itself.

Here are some tips for complaining when the bank makes an error with your account.Before you complain, write a note to yourself describing the nature of the problem and what you want the bank to do about it. This will help you discuss the matter briefly and clearly — and you’re offering a possible solution, not just presenting a problem.Complain as soon as possible. This is especially important when you’re dealing with financial institutions, because you have a limited time to complain after you receive notice of a problem, such as a bank statement.

Indiana, Here Comes Honda

The Indiana Comeback is Under Way

A $550 million Honda Motor Co. assembly plant will help the Japanese automaker meet a growing North American hunger for its cars and help invigorate a state hit hard by manufacturing job losses, officials and analysts said. The southeastern Indiana plant — part of a $1.18 billion global expansion — eventually will produce 200,000 vehicles annually, increasing Honda’s North American production to 1.6 million a year.

In 2005, American Honda sold 1.5 million Honda and Acura cars and light trucks, and the continent accounts for about half Honda’s annual global sales, the company said. Honda officials expect its sixth North American plant will help meet that growing demand. Indiana, which has lost 98,000 industrial jobs since 2000, persuaded the company to build on 1,700 acres west of Greensburg, midway between Indianapolis and Cincinnati.

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Car Buying Tips for Women

What Women Need To Know Before Entering The Car Salesmen Pit

According to a recent CarMax Inc. poll that surveyed more than 16,000 women, buying a car still remains a hassle for women. “Like most women, I am extremely busy juggling my career and family and I need things done quickly, without any hassles,” says Donna Wassel, regional vice president for CarMax, in news release.

Wassel offers these tips for women car buyers:

•Do your homework: Use the Internet to research vehicle types, makes, models, options, features and prices. If you plan on buying a car, bring the title and registration for your current vehicle, driver’s license and insurance card. If you have been pre-approved for a car loan, bring the sight draft (a check) or approval letter with you.

•The retailer connection: Ask your family and friends for referrals for a company they’ve enjoyed doing business with. Look for a retailer that offers low, no-haggle prices and a la carte pricing on each part of the car-buying transaction - the vehicle price, the warranty, the trade-in and the financing.

•Vehicle appraisal: Get an appraisal to assess a fair price on your trade-in.

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