I drive a 1995 Ford Crown Victoria. It's prior owner was the Utah Highway Patrol. This car can move. It has some serious get-up-and-go.
But it also has a certain spirit about it. It still has the suped-up engine and even the extra hand light mounted outside the driver's side window. But there is something more.
My wife likes it because when you step on the gas, before you can even think about how fast you are going, you are half-way down the block.
But we both feel something - some sort of connection to the car's past.
Often when I am driving on the freeway or even down my street, I feel like I am on patrol. I drive slower and keep a watchful eye out for things I don't even know what to look for.
I feel more wary, intense, and observant just driving down my street. It's almost as if I am patrolling my own neighborhood. And the car, with it's shiny silver hand light, usually gets some extra attention.
I am more likely to smile and wave at my neighbors as if I was the friendly neighborhood patrol man. And I like to give the kids a firm scowl as if scolding them for playing in the street and then a brief smile to let them know I am just watching out for them.
It's almost like putting on a different set of clothing or a uniform and putting yourself into the role.
It's not all serious though. Driving it on the freeway can be very entertaining. Many people mistake it for an undercover patrol car. But as they approach closer, the two car seats and children's books in the rear window give it away.
The most fun comes when driving in the middle or right lane of the freeway. No one wants to pass me. I have slowed traffic down to 10 miles below the speed limit and still no one will pass or even pull ahead.
Until some brave person notices that I am not really an officer and this is not really a patrol car. They speed off in a huff and my cover is blown when I don't chase them down.
Then the magic ends and every one I was able to back up continues on their way. Some give me a nasty glare as if I tricked them, others just smile with amusement. But either way, my passengers and I have a good chuckle over the situation.
When someone realizes I am not a patrol car and dashes off in a huff or if I see someone dangerously change lanes or tailgate, I really do have the urge to chase them down, flash my brights and pull up right behind or to the side of them. My car is still patrolling the highway.
And I'll admit that every once in a while when getting on the freeway, I drop the hammer and let that car fly. We can get past freeway speed before we even leave the on ramp. That car sure likes to run.
And I'll also admit that once or twice I have tried playing the part. One incident in paticular that was very amusing happened a few days ago.
I was driving on the freeway and my exit was coming up in a couple of miles. I was in the left lane and watching my mirror so that I could move into the right lane to get off the freeway.
While watching my rear view mirror I saw a sports car rapidly approaching. The car was weaving in and out of all three lanes in a desperate attempt to navigate through a maze of traffic.
I decided I would have a little fun.
I pulled into the center lane in front of a large semi-truck where I was sure the speeding sports car would not see me. I slowed down a bit to match the trucks speed and waited. My trap was set.
The sports car came speeding up on my right. I was doing the speed limit at 65 and this sports car must have been doing close to 90 it was approaching so fast.
The right lane was clear behind and in front of the sports car for about ¼ mile. We were also approaching a freeway exit, the one before mine.
As the sports car sped past me, I quickly swerved into the lane right behind the sports car and rapidly sped up to come close to it's speed.
About a second later as I was approaching it doing about 75, the driver swerved onto the off ramp a split second before it was too late, probably hoping I would not be able to follow.
I grinned a mischievous grin and continued on my way to the next off ramp where I got off the freeway. I really don't know if that actually was that sports car's exit or if I just chased a dangerous driver off the freeway, but I like to think the latter, and grin.
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© Simple Joe, Inc.
David Berky is president of Simple Joe, Inc. a marketing company that sells simple software under the brand name of Simple Joe. One of Simple Joe's best selling products is Simple Joe's Money Tools - a collection of 14 personal finance and investment calculators. This article may be freely distributed so long as the copyright, author's information and an active link (where possible) are included.
Saturday, August 06, 2005
4 tips to save on your next car purchase
Many of us have been at the car dealership and have been drained by a salesperson during price negotiations for the purchase of a new car. Most people give in too easily or do not negotiate at all to avoid the dreadful act. This only means more money in the car dealers? pocket, while you are out of several thousand dollars! Yes, they make that much in profit per car.
This article unveils the dealer?s selling tactics and how you can get around them. But before we dive into the new car buying tips, we need to understand what makes up the dealer?s profits. In addition to the MSRP (manufacturer suggested retail price), which is the dealer?s cost for the car plus an additional 20-25% profit, a dealer also gets financial incentives from the manufacturer when a new car is sold. This is called Holdback.
Depending on the car, dealers can make hundreds on each car through holdbacks. Dealers also get additional incentives and bonuses on selling a car before the end of the month and/or quarter. A shrewd dealer can make several thousand on a new car even by selling it at invoice price. This is how new car buying can become tricky for the consumer.
Ready to learn how not to put a dent in your wallet on your next car purchase? Here are four tips to get you started. Each one is a dealer tactic to watch out for.
1. The Guilt Trip
As you may have noticed, every desk in a dealership has photos of the salesperson?s family, instead of photos of cars. Midway in the negotiation, the sales person will bring them up and make it look like his little commission check can hardly pay for his daughters college and little Bradley?s braces.
A seasoned salesperson will soon have you feeling guilty for driving the price down and hurting his commission. Watch out not to fall for this tactic, since you already know about holdbacks and incentive programs from manufacturers.
2. Wearing You Down
Come prepared to spend half a day at the dealership or pay whatever the dealer asks for. Car Dealers are trained to delay and tire you out to the point where you give in and accept their price just to get out of there.
After you make your offer, sales people typically claim they would have to run it by their manager. You may then have to re-start negotiating with the manager, who is also a seasoned salesperson. This dance goes on for a while until you give in. Remember, there are multiple dealerships in a city, so they need you more than you need them. Demand to speak to the manager after a certain time period or threaten to leave. Because you are devoting a lot of time to bargain with the dealer, they know you are a serious buyer, so they will not let you leave. The earlier you can speak with the manager, the faster you can leave.
3. The Test Drive
We all enjoy a good test drive and look forward to it. Although it is essential to test drive a car before you buy it, remember to not show your absolute love for the car to the salesperson. Their goal is to get you emotionally attached to the car, so it becomes a must have for you. I have learned it the hard way.
To hide your emotional tears from the salesperson, mention the features of a competing car in the same class, like the new shape, light, leg room, resale value etc. This will make the salesperson a little vulnerable.
4. Monthly Payments
This one is to confuse you. Dealers will start talking about monthly payments rather than the total price of the car. They will start by asking how much you are willing to pay per month and how much of a down payment you are willing to pay. Since people don?t want to look like they cannot afford a certain car, they will usually give a higher number. Big Mistake!
You have left little room for negotiation when this happens. Always steer the conversation to the total price of the car and do NOT mention any trade-ins at this point. Only after the total price of the vehicle is completely negotiated then talk about interest, monthly payment and trade-ins.
General Rule; As a general rule, remember to only focus and negotiate on the Total Price of the vehicle. Everything else is pretty much the car dealer?s trough.
If the above new car buying tips seem like a lot of hassle, yet you still want to get the best price in town, there are some websites that do this for you. http://www.AutoAuctionBids.com for example is a great website for this because you can collect price quotes from multiple local dealers for a particular car as well as its competing car models (like Honda Accord, Toyota Camry and Ford Taurus) and compare them. The website then allows you to send back the lowest quotes received for each car make to all participating dealers in your area through the website itself.
Dealers view this price and continue to submit new lower prices over a 3 day period. By putting local dealers in such a price competition allows you to avoid the dreadful face to face negotiation and yet gets you the lowest price in town for up to 3 competing car makes.
The best part about AutoAuctionBids.com is that it is absolutely free for you and there is no obligation to buy after the new car auction is over.
Prashant Desai, author of various buying tips articles and industry expert for AutoAuctionBids.com. Email him at p_desai@autoauctionbids.com to sign up for e-Newsletter and visit http://www.autoauctionbids.com for more information.
This article unveils the dealer?s selling tactics and how you can get around them. But before we dive into the new car buying tips, we need to understand what makes up the dealer?s profits. In addition to the MSRP (manufacturer suggested retail price), which is the dealer?s cost for the car plus an additional 20-25% profit, a dealer also gets financial incentives from the manufacturer when a new car is sold. This is called Holdback.
Depending on the car, dealers can make hundreds on each car through holdbacks. Dealers also get additional incentives and bonuses on selling a car before the end of the month and/or quarter. A shrewd dealer can make several thousand on a new car even by selling it at invoice price. This is how new car buying can become tricky for the consumer.
Ready to learn how not to put a dent in your wallet on your next car purchase? Here are four tips to get you started. Each one is a dealer tactic to watch out for.
1. The Guilt Trip
As you may have noticed, every desk in a dealership has photos of the salesperson?s family, instead of photos of cars. Midway in the negotiation, the sales person will bring them up and make it look like his little commission check can hardly pay for his daughters college and little Bradley?s braces.
A seasoned salesperson will soon have you feeling guilty for driving the price down and hurting his commission. Watch out not to fall for this tactic, since you already know about holdbacks and incentive programs from manufacturers.
2. Wearing You Down
Come prepared to spend half a day at the dealership or pay whatever the dealer asks for. Car Dealers are trained to delay and tire you out to the point where you give in and accept their price just to get out of there.
After you make your offer, sales people typically claim they would have to run it by their manager. You may then have to re-start negotiating with the manager, who is also a seasoned salesperson. This dance goes on for a while until you give in. Remember, there are multiple dealerships in a city, so they need you more than you need them. Demand to speak to the manager after a certain time period or threaten to leave. Because you are devoting a lot of time to bargain with the dealer, they know you are a serious buyer, so they will not let you leave. The earlier you can speak with the manager, the faster you can leave.
3. The Test Drive
We all enjoy a good test drive and look forward to it. Although it is essential to test drive a car before you buy it, remember to not show your absolute love for the car to the salesperson. Their goal is to get you emotionally attached to the car, so it becomes a must have for you. I have learned it the hard way.
To hide your emotional tears from the salesperson, mention the features of a competing car in the same class, like the new shape, light, leg room, resale value etc. This will make the salesperson a little vulnerable.
4. Monthly Payments
This one is to confuse you. Dealers will start talking about monthly payments rather than the total price of the car. They will start by asking how much you are willing to pay per month and how much of a down payment you are willing to pay. Since people don?t want to look like they cannot afford a certain car, they will usually give a higher number. Big Mistake!
You have left little room for negotiation when this happens. Always steer the conversation to the total price of the car and do NOT mention any trade-ins at this point. Only after the total price of the vehicle is completely negotiated then talk about interest, monthly payment and trade-ins.
General Rule; As a general rule, remember to only focus and negotiate on the Total Price of the vehicle. Everything else is pretty much the car dealer?s trough.
If the above new car buying tips seem like a lot of hassle, yet you still want to get the best price in town, there are some websites that do this for you. http://www.AutoAuctionBids.com for example is a great website for this because you can collect price quotes from multiple local dealers for a particular car as well as its competing car models (like Honda Accord, Toyota Camry and Ford Taurus) and compare them. The website then allows you to send back the lowest quotes received for each car make to all participating dealers in your area through the website itself.
Dealers view this price and continue to submit new lower prices over a 3 day period. By putting local dealers in such a price competition allows you to avoid the dreadful face to face negotiation and yet gets you the lowest price in town for up to 3 competing car makes.
The best part about AutoAuctionBids.com is that it is absolutely free for you and there is no obligation to buy after the new car auction is over.
Prashant Desai, author of various buying tips articles and industry expert for AutoAuctionBids.com. Email him at p_desai@autoauctionbids.com to sign up for e-Newsletter and visit http://www.autoauctionbids.com for more information.
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
Cracked exhaust valve
The job has been done, it started at 10:00am Sunday morning, and finished at 4:00am Monday morning, basically non-stop. I stopped for a few cups of coffee a few times, but other than that it was one of the biggest marathon efforts I have done on a car. After I tightened the final bolt, I had a shower and set off for work in my newly smooth-running Commodore.
The most tricky part I found was getting the exhaust manifolds clear of the heads to get them off, as the vehicle should ideally be jacked up to access the exhaust flange bolts on the underside. Not having chassis stands available, I unbolted it at the cat and slid both manifolds back as one piece. This has to be done as the manifolds restrict access to the head bolts.
I found the engine much simpler than the 4 cylinder over-head cam units I am used to working on, but the work is more heavy. I am very sore in the muscles still. The best thing about push-rod engines is the fact that the cam timing does not need to be reset when the head is replaced.
Upon removing the head, I was presented with the problem straight away. It was a cracked exhaust valve on #3 cylinder, with 2 cracks and the face warped so it wasn't sealing properly, although just enough to get ignition at wide open throttle.
The most tricky part I found was getting the exhaust manifolds clear of the heads to get them off, as the vehicle should ideally be jacked up to access the exhaust flange bolts on the underside. Not having chassis stands available, I unbolted it at the cat and slid both manifolds back as one piece. This has to be done as the manifolds restrict access to the head bolts.
I found the engine much simpler than the 4 cylinder over-head cam units I am used to working on, but the work is more heavy. I am very sore in the muscles still. The best thing about push-rod engines is the fact that the cam timing does not need to be reset when the head is replaced.
Upon removing the head, I was presented with the problem straight away. It was a cracked exhaust valve on #3 cylinder, with 2 cracks and the face warped so it wasn't sealing properly, although just enough to get ignition at wide open throttle.
The car fired up first time, and now idles much more smoothly, on all cylinders. I am going to build another of these engines over the next year with as many bolt-on goodies as I can get my hands on, but hopefully this one will last a year or so now. All other parts appeared to be in good condition. I'm not sure what caused the cracked valve, but it may have been due to the fact that when I got the car, the thermo fan was not activating so it may have been because of excessive heat.
It still idles a little rough, and takes a few seconds to start, and I feel it is fuel system related, so I will be performing a preassure test, and getting the injectors cleaned as I have heard that leaky injectors or a faulty fuel preassure regulator can cause this problem.
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