The average cost of a new car has gone up in the last couple of years and that trend doesn’t look to be decreasing anytime soon, especially with future fuel economy standards. At the same time, lending standards have gotten tighter, thus credit availability to the average new car buyer is tougher to get, and […]
The renting public has been really gouged by state, county and local municipalities over the last ten years, as they’ve been specifically targeted for rental-car-specific taxes, etc. – and oftentimes the tax money went to support things that had NOTHING to do with the traveling public. Well, our auto manufacturers have taken a wise stand […]
What lessons can we all learn, as taxpayers, from the GM bankruptcy, which was one year ago today? What parallels can one draw from the GM fiasco vs. what’s happening with units of government in the U.S., from your local township to Washington, D.C.? Read on for a pretty interesting take: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704113504575264641145227612.html?mod=WSJ_auto_LeadStoryCollection Let’s hope we […]
Now the Federal Government wants to legislate how dealers get retail buyers financed. Lord help us all, they have such attention to detail on other things like Fannie, Freddie, etc. http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100524/RETAIL03/305249954/1137 It’ll be funny (or shameful…) to see where we are as an industry 12, 24 and 36 months from now.
…when they say Chrysler’s new CEO is a “miracle worker”… Read on… http://money.cnn.com/2010/04/21/autos/chrysler_marchionne_profit.fortune/index.htm
Good article here about the 1500 or so “orphaned” dealers who will try to reassert their rights to their privately held dealerships and businesses – some that go back generations… http://money.cnn.com/2010/01/26/smallbusiness/auto_dealers_gm_chrysler_appeals/index.htm All of us in the car business know how seemingly arbitrary and haphazard the ‘axing’ of the dealer body was…particuarly in the case of Chrysler. […]
A very old man lay dying in his bed. In death’s doorway, he suddenly smelled the aroma of his favorite chocolate chip cookie wafting up the stairs. He gathered his remaining strength and lifted himself from the bed. Leaning against the wall, he slowly made his way out of the bedroom, and with even […]
Huh…leave it to a Libertarian to dig deep into history to find some root causes of troubles in the auto business. Then, to extrapolate current “solutions” into yet deeper problems going forward. Read on: http://libertyunbound.com/article.php?id=445
Paying loans back early! Or at least starting to think about it. This is good news. http://money.cnn.com/2009/12/15/news/companies/gm_repayment/index.htm Let’s just hope they’re not depending on selling lots of $40,000 Volts to pay the rest back. How about selling a few hundred thousand Malibu and Cobalt instead?
Each of us here at VRCG have had close friends, or business acquaintances, lose their dealerships to shortsighted “planning” on the part of the domestic manufacturers. Although any “fix” is too late for many, it looks like there could be a bit of groundswell to get some justice for some remaining dealers. Read on: http://money.cnn.com/2009/12/11/smallbusiness/small_business_auto_dealers/index.htm […]
