Author: blaine

Photo Credit: Harper Law Co

Oddly enough, residents of Kentucky are not commonly familiar with diminished value claims on their wrecked automobiles. Due to this lack of knowledge they’re leaving a lot of money on the table after their vehicles have been repaired by their insurance carriers.

Face it. After your vehicle has been wrecked then repaired, the value when it comes to reselling it has been dramatically reduced. A vehicle owner can be compensated for this “diminution in value” by their insurance carrier. They just have to know how to Continue reading Diminished Value Claims in Kentucky

For the sake of clarity. From this point on we will refer to “Buy Here Pay Here” as BHPH. Used car shoppers here in Louisville are pretty much like the rest of the general public when it comes to the questions about buy here pay here cars.

Technically any used car or truck can be bought with BHPH financing, if the dealer that owns it does BHPH loans at their dealership.

On the other hand Continue reading What Makes a Buy Here Pay Here Car?

Are you looking into purchasing a used car? If you are, then you have made a great decision. Buying a used car will not just help you save but you have also extended the life of a vehicle which in turn helps the environment. There are so many used but impressive cars; you just have to know how to look. According to a latest survey, here are the most popular used cars in the market so far:

Sedans

When it comes to compact cars, the Hyundai Elantra proves to be one of the best used cars. Even the Elantra 2007 model is a great deal since you can get a used one for just $8,000. And there is good news for second hand owners; used car owners are covered by Hyundai’s 5 –year 60,000 mile warranty. Be sure to ask for this coverage if you plan to purchase a used Hyundai Elantra. Continue reading What are the Most Popular Used Cars in the Market Today?

Now that the new car market is finally picking up, the question becomes.. How long till the price of used cars starts to drop to the point where consumers will see better deals?

All said new vehicle sales is up across the board with US Automakers reporting a 15% rise for the month of July as compared to last years numbers.

This is great news for the US Auto industry, and is a reflection of some more than obvious factors. The first being pent up demand that’s finally relieving itself.

Simply put, consumers have been putting off the purchase of new automobiles because of the American economy being in the tank for so long. What with the average price of a new car running around $30.000.00 dollars it’s easy to see how your average American is pretty close to being priced out of the market. This has resulted in putting off trading in on a new car every few years to stretching it to maybe Continue reading Will The Price of Used Cars Ever Come Down?

The other day we got to spend about an hour on the phone interviewing Joe Mallon of WolfDNA.com and we came away with new tactics and a clearer vision of what it takes to market online. What we learned from Joe’s latest efforts is that YouTube is big! His WolfDNA Youtube channel is loaded with readily usable information for any internet marketing agency looking to expand their horizons and truly realize the lead machine that the internet can be.

Joe’s theory on marketing cars is that the internet is an ocean, and if you Continue reading Internet Marketing For Used Cars

I walked out of the house today to join the daily commute into the office the same way I do every day. And am confronted by a fine sleet coming down that had everything covered in about a 16th of an inch of roughly textured ice. Oh joy! I glanced over at the thermometer on the porch and it showed a chilly 20 degrees F and I knew that it wouldn’t go above freezing until afternoon.

After firing up my 2000 model Ford F150 I got down to scraping the ice off my windows and mirrors and it got me to thinking about an observation that I’d shared with my brother from driving in a few big snows. Continue reading When a SUV is just another car

Used Car Finance Managers

Arguably the role of “Finance Manager” is the most important job to the success of a used car dealer.

A good marketing manager can get all the customers in the world to visit the dealership, and a good sales manager can get all of the customers committed to buying  vehicles. But if the deal can’t be financed for one reason or another then nobody wins, not the customer, not the sales person, and not the dealership. Continue reading Used Car Finance Managers

We read the consumer articles that give us detailed instructions on the most revealing questions to ask used car sales reps when we’re at the car lot searching for a car. Then, there are the questions that consumers are actually asking. And surprisingly the two are far from being identical.

This post will list the top ten questions that are really being asked along with the corresponding answers they’re likely to solicit.

In the spirit of drinking from the well, we’ll have veteran General Manager Ronnie Smith of Louisville KY providing the inside scoop. Starting as a teenager in a dealers detail shop Ronnie slugged his way to the top of the industry and has served as a General Manger for used car dealers like Shively Auto Sales, JD Byrider, The Car Store, Cars Direct, 44 Automart, and Autosmart.

 

According to what Ronnie hears from his sales reps, the #1 question from the customer is… Continue reading Car Buyers Top Ten Questions And Answers

For the most part, buy here pay here car dealers are seen as the less than reputable step children of the used car industry. Like all situations there are some earned truths and some unearned fallacy’s associated with this particular view.

Good things about buy here pay here car lots

Yes! Surprisingly there are good things associated with buy here pay here car purchasing, and it boils down to the perspective of the buyer, and the reputation of the dealership.

The actual reasons a car becomes a buy here pay here car is simple. In a bankers eyes, Continue reading Buy Here Pay Here The Good The Bad And The Ugly

Like all items manufactured, cars have obsolescence engineered into them from the factory. But most cars invariably suffer an earlier than necessary death date, due to premature wear and tear from a simple lack of proper maintenance.

Once in a great while everyone meets the person with 300,000 miles on their 1999 Ford Taurus and thinks they somehow bought a good one. When the reality is there are no good or bad ones, only properly and improperly maintained ones.

If you purchase a used car with high mileage that’s in good shape, most times there is no real way to know the maintenance history of the car. In this situation your best bet is to create your own maintenance history right out the gate. Continue reading Caring For Cars With High Mileage