Posted on July 9th, 2009 by Warranty Direct
At first glance, it seems easy to answer this question with a resounding, “Yes!”
After all, those fuel costs are edging up every day, and the idea of being able to stretch gas dollars is very intriguing.
Well, perhaps you need to consider a few more factors than just the price you pay at the gas pump when you fill a tank. There is more to owning a hybrid car than just having the coolest looking ride and higher gas mileage. Read more...
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Filed under: Buying a Car, Hybrid Cars
Posted on June 27th, 2009 by Warranty Direct
Used to be, buying a convertible meant that you were buying a second car that could only be used for driving on days where it wasn’t going to rain; most of the time, the convertible would be sitting in the garage, because it might have to sit out in a parking lot.
Convertibles still have security issues – parking them with the top down is an invitation to have problems in a lot of urban areas. But advances in engineering have made them much more practical all weather cars than they used to be in the past. Read more...
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Filed under: Best - Worst Cars, Buying a Car
Posted on June 22nd, 2009 by Warranty Direct
Keeping Up With Payments in A Down Economy
Every three to four years, the big automakers have to come up with something to drag consumers into the showrooms to buy the biggest and best cars out there; their bottom lines are built on the average tenure of car ownership being about four to five years. This is why they give five year, 50,000 mile warranties and more. It also explains cash rebates, 0% interest sales and more.
With the current down economy, the newest wrinkle on this is the Payment Protection Program. In a nutshell, if you meet all the terms and conditions, if you lose your job, the company will take over paying your car payment for a specified period of time. From their perspective, missing X number of months of car payments if you lose your job is roughly the same as giving you a discount…and if you keep your job, the discount doesn’t even come up at all. Read more...
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Filed under: Buying a Car
Posted on June 18th, 2009 by Warranty Direct
Henry Ford famously said that a customer could have a Model T in any color they wanted, so long as it was black.
That idea went overboard quickly as competition came in, and painting cars and getting cars in specific colors has been part of the American automotive experience since the 1910s.
Every decade or so, the preferences for colors in cars shifts, as a new generation of 20-somethings buy their first cars and want something that doesn’t look like a parental hand-me-down. Plus, paint manufacturers are working hard on sprucing up the old tried and true color combinations.
There are, of course, the usual pieces of advice: Lighter colors are more comfortable in sunnier climates, and visibility is important. However, here’s the latest wash of new colors in cars: Read more...
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Filed under: Buying a Car
