Eighty percent of car buyers are using the Internet to research cars and used car prices. For vehicle research, the Internet’s great! For vehicle prices, the Internet sucks! It sucks because the prices do not reflect reality for the buyer or the seller. Web sites that place values on vehicles have created more confusion than ever.

“My car’s worth $25,800.” “I looked up used car prices on the web and my vehicle’s worth twenty grand.” I hear quotes like these everyday. I wish, for the customer’s sake, that the values are real. By “real” I mean a viable number according to market value.

As hard as it is to accept, even for me as a dealer, what we think a car is worth, and what it’s actually worth according to “market value” is often drastically different.

To find a vehicle’s value the context must first be discussed. What’s context?

Context includes, but is not limited to:

1) Vehicle condition: mileage, maintenance, 1-owner…etc 2) Desirability: new model, special editions, just plain cool… 3) Seasonality: plow trucks, convertibles, 4-wheel drive…etc 4) The Economy: factory incentives, gas prices, hybrids, SUVs 5) Location: Beverly Hills versus the Bronx

Now, each of the above context variables could easily have several sub categories. For example…

Vehicle condition is extremely relative. One person may think there vehicle is perfect, someone else states it needs $1000 worth of work.

Desirability is also relative. A bunch of very cool bells and whistles may not add any value, or it may add $1000’s.

Seasonality is relative. A convertible in the summer has more value than one during a Chicago winter. A plow truck in June will have significantly less value than in November in the northeast.

Economic recessions, exorbitant gas prices, combined with manufacturer incentives can shift new and used car prices all over the map.

Location has a major effect on used car prices. A convertible in California is worth more than one located in Canada.

To summarize, context funnels down to market value. Web sites such as Edmunds, NADA, and Kelley have drastically missed this mark, creating a host misinformation. To be fair, these are great research sites, but they can not be the final say on price.

Stating that a vehicle is worth a certain amount of money based on a web site’s data does not take the above factors into account. It’s a value based on misinformation.

These web sites have created an aura of trust when in actuality, the values are mythical. The market is the real indicator of vehicle worth—for better or worse.

What should one do? Buyers and sellers would be wise to follow the market. Check out autotrader.com, cars.com, and/or *ebaymotors.com and watch what vehicles are being advertised and sold for. While these sites are not the final word either, they’re much more accurate than web sites leaning heavily on opinion and averages.

Note: eBay used car pricing is generally wholesale. In other words, it would not be accurate to compare a wholesale-priced eBay car (which may need a significant amount of reconditioning) to a retail-priced vehicle in showroom and/or perfect working condition.

In the end, and this come straight from industry expert, Barry Roth, “Take the highest price and the lowest price you find on the Internet and throw them out. The remaining numbers in the middle is where one should wade. But don’t forget value. Price is one thing—value is the real key to a great car”

For more on used car values visit www.medwayimports.com/

Have you ever considered making biodiesel? Well now is the time to start considering it. Anyone who reads the papers knows that fossil fuels are hurting our environment. Increased emissions of greenhouse gases are polluting the atmosphere and creating the effect of global warming. The effects are already seen in rising temperatures, poor air quality, acid rain, and failing health.

An additional dilemma with fossil fuels is that the resources are becoming fast depleted. Although technically renewable, nature fills fossil fuel reserves at a very slow rate, and companies tap them very quickly. With the combined effect of fossil fuels being required, they are also bad for the environment and soon to be gone as the world is finding itself in an awful dilemma. Yet this dilemma may be solvable by making biodiesel fuel as an affordable and clean alternative.

In the past, we have attempted to solve the fossil fuel problem using a combination of two methods. The first method has been to encourage people to use less fuel through education. This is ineffective and unnecessary. Although some people may be excessive in their fuel consumption, our society’s dependence upon technology has created a system in which that consumption is necessary.

A second solution has been to increase the cost. Although rising prices are a side effect of increased demand and decreased supply, they also serve to limit the amount of fuel people can afford to consume. Unfortunately, this means the wealthy can still use just as much, while everyone else cannot. If everyone was making biodiesel, there would be no limit, allowing people to drive their vehicles to work and heat their homes in the winter easily.

It is bad enough that fossil fuels and the oil companies that peddle them should be polluting the water, air, and land. Now that those resources are almost gone, should society stand by paying exorbitant prices, waging wars to secure more resources, and denying people much needed comforts? Instead of limiting pollution and saving fossil fuel reserves at the expense of ethics and quality of life, people can have it all by making biodiesel fuel.

Although it may sound complicated, the production of this alternative fuel source is actually quite simple. All it takes is a desire to make the change, a little dedication, and the right information. Unfortunately, as with every new and alternative technology, there is plenty of false information and companies wanting to exploit consumers.

Anyone interested in saving themselves money while saving the environment should seek online information that is fact based and backed by a reputable website. When conducting your own research, start with http://www.ultimate-biodiesel-guide.com. This site not only offers a comprehensive manual, but also a complete site with additional resources, newsletter subscription, and a lot of free bonuses. In addition, the brilliant minds behind the site are always available to answer any questions or concerns about biodiesel fuel. They can be reached directly using the site’s interactive contact page.

The advice is all the same for auto repair scam prevention. You’ll be told to find an ASE certified shop. Ask around. Check out several different repair facilities first. Are they clean and neat? Do they provide written estimates? Check with the BBB. Is it AAA certified? Some will even advise to “ask for the parts back.”

Traditional tips and suggestions merely put a band-aid over an infected, gaping sore. Strong antibiotics are required to address the root source of the problems in the repair industry. To provide repair customers with the above advice is like sending a soldier into combat dressed in a pink tutu. We have to stop scratching at the surface.

There has not been any “new” advice in decades. More importantly, no one has answered why car repair scams have reached an estimated 40 billion dollars per year. Moreover, why is there still no solution to stop car repair scams?

The first hurdle to conquer is the perception of the frequency of auto repair scams. Many folks just don’t believe that car repair fraud is all that bad. Some even argue that the vast majority of repair shops do an honest day’s work, and that a few bad apples are making the rest look like crooks.

This is an interesting argument, and raises a number of questions.

1) If it is only a few “bad apples,” where are they hiding the 40 billion? 2) If most repair shops are honest, why does every state warn against car repair scams? 3) Why are auto repair shops at the top of consumer complaint lists every single year, in every state?

This is even expanding across the continents. For example, just last week Australia listed car repair scams at number 4 on their top 10 consumer complaint list.

The perception of frequency gets distorted because there are a number of levels to repair scams. There are the blatant rip-offs covered in the news. For a great video visit “Repair Scams Caught on Video” @ www.repairtrust.com. Then there are the common scams such as exorbitant prices and estimates, and aggressive scare tactics to get service customers to perform services. These occur every day.

The repair scams uncovered by RepairTrust not only found the tactics listed above and more, but a powerful undercurrent of scamming at the foundation of the automotive service industry.

In reality, most car repair scams go unnoticed by the service consumer. Service customers just have no idea that they were ripped-off. This under-the-radar scamming occurs in dealerships, local shops, and franchises. Affiliation with ASE, AAA, BBB, NADA makes no difference.

An ASE patch on a technician’s arm, or an AAA or BBB sticker on the door of a service center means absolutely nothing in terms of a scam-free facility. Word of mouth recommendations can be just as devastating, as even shops that “seem” honest aren’t.

Check out “Car Repair Prices: There Are No Honest Mechanics” @ Isnare or RepairTrust for further discussion on this. Also, for NEW and FREE scam prevention tips visit the Car Repair Scam Articles @ RepairTrust.

Traditional tips are ineffective in today’s service industry. Service facilities have found new and ingenious ways of ripping people off. In truth, many of the old tips and suggestions have actually become weapons allowing service centers to indulge in car repair scams more than ever.

The car repair playing field must be leveled. Service customers need solid answers, and they need to be equipped with information, understanding, tools, and an insider’s view of the who, what, when, where, why, and how of price-gouging.

Navigating the dim underworld of today’s service centers with outdated information will cost a fortune.

There are a few things that you should always look for if you are buying a used car. Here are the tips that you will need not to get a lemon.

1. Warranty Facts

You can sometimes get a car that is still under warranty. If this is the case, check with the warranty (perhaps call the number in the warranty book) to ask if there is anything that you need to do to keep the warranty when you buy the car. This often just involves sending out a letter with the purchase information to the dealership.

If you buy from a car dealership, you can often get warranties on used cars. If you want peace of mind when purchasing, consider this option for sure.

2. Warning Signs

If the odometer reading doesn’t match the wear and tear of the car, then you should definitely ask for some records.

If there is any vagueness about getting the service records for the car, you might want to walk away.

3. Getting a Good Price

Because the cost of new cars is going up, there is more of a demand for used cars. This means that some dealerships believe that they can take more money than the car is worth. There are a few things that you need to do to get a good price.

Do your research; check online and in used car guides (often available at the local library) to find out what the prices of cars listed online to sell are. If you are uncertain about buying a car online, then don’t. Often purchasing a car online means that it will come from a long distance, and as such, you will have to pay exorbitant shipping or delivery costs, which will not be worth the money that you are saving off the sticker price.

4. Making the Payments

Instead of getting a car loan from the dealership and paying the dealer or the seller monthly payments, consider taking out a loan from the bank. You will often get better interest (or financing, as it is called with cars) rates. Go to a bank or credit union before you go shopping for your car. Salespeople will try to talk you into going with the dealership’s rates; you will be better off if you already have your financing set up. Credit unions can sometimes offer even better rates than banks on loans and are an often-overlooked choice.

5. The Information to Get

In Ontario, and in some states, you can ask to get the used vehicle information package. This will have the details of the previous maintenance and ownership history of the car.

Always do a complete visual inspection of a car. Even if you are buying a car from the internet, buy one from your province or state so that you can go and check it out first. Alternatively, agree with the seller that you have the right to return the car for a full refund (including shipping) if it does not meet your standards.

6. What not to Trust

Don’t judge the use of a car by it’s brakes; a dealer can buy new brake pads for less than $10, which is often an easy fix for a car.

If a car has rear-door-hinges that are very worn, it might have been used as a taxi, and you should probably find another one. Check the roof of the car to see if there have been any holes filled in; this could have been a sign for a delivery vehicle. They also often have been used a lot.

Be careful if a car looks like it has been freshly painted. This could mean that it has been in an accident that is trying to be covered up.

7. And finally…

Buying a used car can be a great deal for you. You can save money on the car itself, and you can get a safe means to travel. Remember, the condition of the car is more important than if it has had multiple owners, or even the odometer reading. Good luck shopping!