Fredintexas

Wise consumers use the same criteria for choosing a body shop that they use for other types of auto repair: a good reputation, highly skilled technicians, proper equipment, and emphasis on quality repairs. Don’t choose a shop based on its advertising.
To check on a shop’s reputation, ask people in the area what kind of experiences they’ve had with the shop. Ask your mechanic which body shops do the best work, then call the local Better Business Bureau to see if they have a satisfactory rating. And don’t be afraid to ask a shop to show you their credentials; look for diplomas or certificates that verify training in the types of repairs they perform. Visit the shop to see some of the cars they’ve just repaired and inspect them closely
To find well-trained technicians, look for shops that employ mechanics and well trained. If they’re also certifled by ASE in damage repair and structural analysis, that’s also a plus.

An article in Automotive News told how Ford had been offering cash bonuses to its salespeople for writing Red Carpet Leases. Typical bonus amounts were $75 to $100 per lease, but the bonus was increased if the new lease was a renewal. Some bonuses were as high as $500 per vehicle, and this was in addition to their normal salary and/or commission. The bonus program was started in 1989 and was supposedly discontinued in 1995.
So Ford’s salespeople were presenting themselves to customers as “trusted advisers” and telling them that leasing was the smart thing to do, while they were being paid generous bonuses for convincing people to lease. (And they still got bonuses, and bigger commission checks, if they overcharged customers on leases.) Of course, their customers weren’t told about the bonuses, or the fact that so many of them had been overcharged.

The training seminars also taught salespeople to focus customers on monthly payments and avoid discussing or disclosing the cap costs of vehicles. Numerous strategies and tricks were taught that were designed to conceal the actual prices that customers were paying.
For example, page 3-30 of the 1989 manual says, “Customer Response: What are you charging me for the car?” It then explains how to deceive the customer into thinking the deal has a big discount: “Salesperson: Mr. Customer, are asking me what kind of a discount you are getting?” Salespeople were then taught a deceptive strategy to add up the monthly payments (and any down payment) on the lease, comparing the total with the MSRP to trick customers into thinking that the price was a lot lower than suggested retail.
No mention was made of revealing the actual price (or cap cost). And that was important, since dealers and salespeople were also taught how to cheat customers on discounts and secretly increase the prices of cars.

Ford’s lease training included instruction on how to misquote monthly payments to cheat customers out of negotiated discounts. If a customer said that he would not OK a deal unless they gave him a price discount on a car, they were taught how to trick him into believing that a smaller payment reduction was legitimate.
A number of documents in the training manuals told salespeople that the proper monthly payment change for each $1,000 in gross [price] was $50. Page 2-30 in the 1993 manual says, “Rule! $1,000 in Gross = $50 in Payment. We can simplify by using a ‘rule of thumb’ Factor of 2.” And page 2-34 in the same manual says, “We know that $60 in payments is equal to $1,200 in Gross.” It also mentioned the “Factor of 2.”
However, on a page titled, “What Kind of Discount Are You Giving Me?” (3-9 in the 1993 manual), salespeople were told to use a different factor to figure payment reductions for discounts. The manual tells how to do this in front of the customer “Write down the discount amount, then using a “3” factor, convert that to a lower payment amount:—$ 1,500 discount equals $45 per month.”
Since the monthly payment reduction they were quoting (for 2 years) was about the same as the real one on a 3-year loan, most people would not have known that they were being cheated out of 40% of their discount.

Ford’s method of calculating and quoting interest rates on leases allowed its dealers to deceive their customers into thinking that they were getting lower rates. And since the company did not provide written disclosure of the actual rates, dealers were free to quote any rate that sounded good, without fear of getting caught.
In many cases, the actual interest rates on Ford leases were about 1.5 to 2.0 points higher than those charged by other lenders. Quoting lower rates obviously helped dealers to convince people that their leases were “good deals,” even though the rates may have been deceptive. (Recent quotes obtained from a number of Ford dealers understated the actual interest rates by about $30 a month on one particular vehicle.)
Ford’s “rate discrepancy” is due to a hidden administrative fee that the company adds to its monthly finance charges, but only the “base rate” is used when quoting rates to customers. The undisclosed part of the finance charges causes the real APR to be a lot higher, so if a dealer tells you the “rate” on a lease is 9.0%, it’s probably closer to 10.75%.
The company’s RCL dealer handbook explained this hidden fee in a question-and-answer section: “Q: Is a lease factor like 10.50 the same as a 10.50% APR? A:
No. The lease monthly payment may include local fees, where applicable, and an administrative fee of 1/9 of 1% of the acquisition cost. The implicit rate to the customer is approximately 1.75% point higher than the stated factor.” [emphasis mine]

Some new-car dealers only re-sell the used-car stock near their retail prices. These non-aggressive dealers owner’s don’t require huge profits-margins from their sales managers. In other words, the dealer’s owner is very patient with their sales department and manager. Unfortunately, these new-car dealerships usually don’t discount their used cars enough to interest savvy-buyers. Sales managers who work for non- aggressive dealer would prefer to “safeguard” their in-stack inventory and salesmen’s selling-time, then to sell used-car “cream puffs” at huge discounts to a bunch of bargain hunters! -

By the mid-90’s new-car buying had slowed down, mainly because few families could pre-qualify for their new-car no cash-down and/or extended-loan automobile purchases. Meanwhile, new cars were getting very expensive to buy, outright! Even, new-car trade-ins yielded little or no cash to their previous owners when returned to the dealers.
Since, fewer new-car buyers were capable of buying “entire cars” with their current credit ratings, leasing become their only alternative to “drive” new cars, again. To make leasing attractive, though, auto manufacturers and new-car dealers had to spend millions of advertising-dollars to convince the public leasing was really okay. But for many, leasing wasn’t okay, nor was it any “cure” to their new-car-buying woes. By the time the 90’s arrived, the average financing terms on new-car loans, extended to six and seven years.
With such extended-loan terms, many new-car buyers discovered, too late, that many “make and model” cars don’t last that long on the road. In fact, many consumers are still making their monthly-payments on cars no-longer running. Since, auto manufacturers must sell their new-car products, somehow, leasing became their only alternative to “push” expensive new automobiles back into the marketplace.

Never buy from Used-Car lots! Avoid used-car lots, entirely. The main reason is used-car dealers pay too much for their cars. This is especially true, if they buy from new car dealers, and/or at local auto-auctions. To buy a quality car — near its Loan-value, would be impossible from used- car dealers. Also, it’s too dangerous to buy cars at used-car lots, because you may be buying a “lemon” in disguise or even a “clipped” car — two cars [their better halves] welded together. Don’t waste your valuable searching or buying- time, and don’t even “practice” on their salesmen! Just stay away.

Leasing automobiles to the public is big business for new- car dealerships. Consumers who couldn’t get financed on their new-car purchases, can easily lease even more new-car product for about the same monthly payments, as in the past. Leasing became too “easy” for many consumers. They continue leasing their cars, over the years, not realizing their economical loss — of not owning any car’s equity. Soon after, leasing became more complicated as “aggressive” sales managers realized their profit potential — getting more up- front cash form customer yielded them additional dealership profits. Thousands of excited leasing-customers paid their up-front “new-car-delivery” fees with their credit cards. With even fewer consumers having available credit-card cash on them, car dealers continue to “recycle” their “old” new-car leases with expensive brand new cars. Evidently, this is the “latest” means by manufacturers to “push” more product on previous new-car customers

It’s smart to buy used-cars of quality, especially if the cars have lots of TLC in them. Typically, quality used-cars experience fewer repairs, and “age” much better then “throw-away” cars. Savvy-buyers try to locate and buy only the “best” quality-used cars in their area. They focus on “above” average three years old Q-cars, that still look and drive like brand new cars. Typically, these cars have less than 30,000 miles on them. “Borrowing” cars with much TLC in them, give savvy-buyer’s means of cheap transportation. When savvy-buyers buy and resell cars [cream puffs] over the years they are able to maintain their original used-car investments. This is especially true if buyers get their Q-cars for well below dealer-wholesale.