proautobuying.com Blog

As The Heritage Foundation astutely points out, the rise in gas prices is mostly due to the conduct and policies of the current administration.

http://blog.heritage.org/2011/02/23/10-things-you-need-to-know-about-high-gas-prices-and-obama%E2%80%99s-oil-policy/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell

We know what to say to a car dealer when buying a car. We typically have questions like: what options are available?, what does the warranty cover?, what kind of mileage does it get?, etc.

But it’s just as important to know what NOT to say to the car dealer when buying a car.

The most important thing we don’t want to tell them is what kind of monthly payments we’re willing to pay? The standard answer to this question should be, “as little as possible”.

The real answer after that bit of sarcasm (giving it right back to the dealer is fun though, isn’t it?), should be, “I’m not basing the purchase on monthly payments; I just want the absolute best price on the car”.

Of course, you know how much you’re monthly payments should be. If you don’t, you need to.

You don’t want to tell the dealer though because they’ll always find a payment plan to fit whatever you tell them. They can play with the interest rate, the number of months financed, down payment, and other terms to make it work for you.

It’s actually still going to work for them because they’ll be selling the car to you most likely at an obscene profit so be careful.

The other important thing we don’t want to tell them is how much we LOVE the car!

You may be saying to yourself, “self, that doesn’t make sense”. “I have to tell them that I like the car if I’m going to buy it, right?” The answer is a yes and a no. If we show too much emotion, like a dog slobbering at the sight of a juicy steak bone, the dealer is going to think he’s got you right where he wants you.

If he knows that you love the car, he knows that he doesn’t necessarily have to give you a great deal because emotionally, you’ve already bought the car. At that point it’s just a matter of signing those annoying documents before you can slide into that new sled.

How about if no matter how much you like the vehicle though, you show that you’re impartial and in fact, buying any car is a necessary evil in that you’re paying lots of money for something that will just depreciate in value the longer you drive it.

Which method do you think will get you the best deal? Right! Tell them how much it hurts to have to fork over all of that money and don’t talk about how much it’s perfect for you.

So remember, If you want a better chance at saving money, don’t be a payment buyer and give them a monthly payment figure and don’t let them know how perfect the vehicle is for you.

Time to buy or lease your next car? Let an expert negotiate the deal for you and save you time, aggravation, and mostly MONEY!
Contact us at ProAutoBuying.com (401) 965-3822 and we’ll help you save.

21st Century Insurance Company

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Car manufacturers and dealers are no different than most other businesses when it comes to finding ways to sell more of their products. You’ll see and hear about sales events, discounts, more money for trade-in’s and much more.

While cash back is usually a good thing, before you leap at the chance to “save” money, look closely at the reasons the car maker is offering the incentive.

Most car makers offer some type of incentive on the cars that they sell and the most recognized is an offer of cash back. If you look at incentives on cars, trucks, or SUV’s that don’t sell well, they typically have the highest incentives in order to entice buyers to sell more of them.

Models that are being phased out or those that are being redesigned are also an indicator of possible high rebates or other incentives.

When a car manufacturer offers cash back; usually it’s in the form of a rebate. Of course, to me cash back sounds much better than a rebate. When I think of cash back, I think of money in hand. When I think of rebates as related to buying a car, I think of the car just costing a little less.

Actually, they’re one in the same. You can take a cash rebate or cash back as a discount off of the vehicle you’re buying.

Some customers ask me whether they should take the cash back or rebate as a check directly to them. When buying, it makes sense to have the rebate taken directly off of the price of the car. That way, you’ll be applying the rebate directly to the purchase of the car instead of spending it on something else that you may not need.  It’s all about discipline but, I like having the payments or purchase price lowered on the vehicle so that I know the money is being put to use constructively.

There are typically also low financing rates and leasing offers on some models as well as the rebate. Not all models of a car’s line have the same incentives. Usually the best selling models will have the most frequent incentives.

Car manufacturers also come out with incentives based on what their competition is doing. If Ford offers a cash rebate on its Taurus, chances are that Chevy will do the same with the Malibu.

Finally, most incentives go from month to month or sometimes a couple of months. Even the dealer doesn’t know what is going to happen the month following the current one so if you’re planning to wait to see if they change for the better, be careful because they may change but, get worse for the particular model you’re interested in.

The worst news would be if the incentive went away completely and you had missed out on it.
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21st Century Insurance Company

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There are many options available to you to service your car today. You can certainly have the vehicle serviced at the dealership you purchased from but, is that always the best idea? The answer depends a lot on you.

Let’s eliminate, in most cases, the first alternative. Unless you are a mechanic or just love to work on your vehicle, most of us will only check under the hood when something’s wrong.

Working on your vehicle today is a choice most of us stay away from when the car needs service. Cars today are much more complex pieces of machinery than they were in year’s past and just diagnosing the problem requires special instruments.

The most important point is to have your vehicle regularly serviced at a service center that you trust and that you know has a good reputation. This doesn’t have to be at a dealership. There are many extremely qualified auto mechanics that work at or own there own service centers.

Many people worry that if they don’t have there car serviced at the dealership where they bought it, that the manufacturers warranty will not be honored. That’s completely false. As long as you have the vehicle serviced regularly at the manufacturer’s specified interval by a qualified service center, the warranty will be honored.

Along with having the vehicle serviced by a qualified service center, the second most important point is to insure that you have good records on any and all service you have done to the vehicle. This includes regular oil changes and other routine service.

This is important if you need to use the warranty because of a problem that would be covered and it’s also important if you end up selling the vehicle at some point.

If there was another vehicle for sale exactly like yours and the sale price was the same but, one seller had all of the service records and the other seller had a few receipts from Jiffy Lube, which vehicle would you buy? Exactly.

While it’s convenient to have work done at franchise or chain operated shops such as Pep Boys and Firestone Service Centers, I’m not a big fan of these places. I’ve personally had an experience where I had an oil change done and the mechanic forgot to put the oil cap back on the engine block.

I didn’t realize this until the low oil warning light came on a couple of months later. When I opened the hood, not only was the cap not screwed on, there was also an oil sheen over a good part of the engine where the hot oil splashed out.

That’s not to say that they’re all bad but, just be cautious.

So, keep your vehicle running well by having regular service performed at the manufacturers’ specified intervals and make sure to use a qualified service center for repairs.
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If it’s time to buy a new or used vehicle, contact me at ProAutoBuying.com and I’ll help you save loads of money and make sure that you choose the right vehicle.

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I recently read something that made me cringe and if it doesn’t give you the same feeling, call me when you’re in the market for a car. Please!

“Chrysler Looks to Offer Fiat 500 Shoppers a No-Haggle Experience “ was the headline of the Bloomberg article.

It quotes the head of Fiat in the US as saying, “Chrysler Group LLC wants dealers to avoid haggling with shoppers over the price of the Fiat 500 when reintroducing its parent company’s brand to America, betting that will make young customers more comfortable in showrooms.

Sure, that’s exactly what every car dealer wants to do. They want to make you as comfortable as possible with free coffee, popcorn, and shiny new cars waiting for you to crawl inside and fall in love.

That doesn’t mean you have to feel that way when you walk into a dealership. Even if you do feel comfortable (soak your head in cold water if you do!), any time you’re on a car dealer’s lot, it’s a business trip for you and they’re going to take your money!

What does “no haggle pricing” mean to me? Let me translate: The car manufacturer, along with the dealer decides how much profit they’ll take on every vehicle they sell. In other words, they decide how much money they’ll take from you and you don’t have a choice.

Not only do they take as much money as they want; they also work much less harder to do so. You either buy the car at the price listed or not. No more offering a lower price and having them go back to the “manager” to see if they’ll accept the price.

The Fiat 500 is the car that Chrysler (owned by Fiat) is running this scam, I mean running this program with. The 500 is also a car targeted to be sold to the younger generation. Evidently, they feel that young people don’t care how much money they spend on automobiles

“The pricing is the pricing,” said Laura Soave, head of the Fiat brand in North America. “The younger generation doesn’t haggle. They don’t feel comfortable with it. They hate the experience.”

Well, isn’t that nice. Sparing the “Younger Generation” the pain of actually negotiating a fair price on a car because they hate the experience and don’t feel comfortable with it.

I think its Fiat/Chrysler who doesn’t feel comfortable with it and hates the experience, because they couldn’t otherwise charge what they’d like!

If you don’t mind being taken for an expensive ride, then buy one of these “no haggle” cars. If you’re like me though, do your homework on the actual cost of the car and negotiate until you get the deal you deserve!

If you’re in the market for a car and want an expert to haggle the price for you, contact me at ProAutoBuying.com or 401-965-3822, and I’ll get you the best deal possible.

Certified Pre-Owned, Good as New?

Not quite but, it could be the right alternative for you when a new car’s cost is just too much and you’re concerned about buying a used car with problems.

Certified Pre-Owned or CPO’s for short have actually been around since the late 1980’s and began as a way for luxury vehicles most often leased, to be sold again with a lot of miles to go.

CPO’s have moved into the mainstream now so you’ll see the Camry’s and Accord’s as well as the Lincoln’s and the Chevy’s being re-sold as CPO’s.

What is the difference between a CPO and a used vehicle?
The first thing to know is that they’re both used vehicles but, the biggest difference is that the CPO car typically has a factory or dealership warranty that guarantees the vehicle in case you have mechanical problems.

A CPO vehicle depending on the manufacturer, goes through an extensive check up when it comes back to the dealership. Some manufacturers advertise that they have 150 point checks for these vehicles.

The standards for the condition of parts such as brakes, belts, clutch, etc. are pretty high on CPO’s. The rationale is that the manufacturer would rather have something replaced when the car is at the dealership rather than having the car break down on the road.

Also, if the car were to break down on the road as a CPO, the driver may lose faith in the manufacturers’ products and when the time comes to replace the CPO with a new car, the driver may look elsewhere if they’ve had issues with the CPO.

Certified Pre-Owned vehicles are more money than an equivalent used car with similar mileage and in similar condition. The reason is that the warranty (insurance) costs the dealer and/or manufacturer money and since they’ve repaired the car and backed it up with a warranty, you end up paying for that.

CPO’s are usually no more than 2 to 3 years old and have low mileage. The dealership would have to pay more to insure (the warranty) the car and the chances are greater that there will be problems the older the vehicle is and the more miles it has on it.

So is it worth paying the extra price for a CPO? Like most other considerations, it depends on your current situation. If you want the peace of mind that comes with having a “like new” used vehicle that’s warranted and you can’t afford a new car, then yes it’s probably worth it.

If the car is for your college aged son who likes to tinker around with the engine and other parts of a car, it may not be worth paying the extra money, especially if the student is basically driving to and from class once per day.

If you decide that a Certified Pre-Owned car is right for you, do some research on the vehicle you want, go to some dealerships to see what they have available, and negotiate the price of the vehicle.

In the end, a used car is a used car but, with a CPO you’re getting a vehicle that’s been thoroughly checked and is backed by a warranty. So enjoy the ride!
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If you’re in the market for a new, used, or certified pre-owned car, contact us at ProAutoBuying.com and we’ll help get you a great deal!

After Christmas Gifts for the Car

So you’ve done all of your shopping for the holiday but, you forgot to buy a gift for someone who owns a car.

There are many gifts for car owners and practical gifts are just as appreciated as a special gift that may be a little out of the ordinary.

Think about it. Would you rather have the ugly sweater from your Aunt or a gift that’s practical and something you can really use? The same concept applies when buying gifts for car owners.

If it’s useful, they’ll love it. And it doesn’t always have to break the bank for them to appreciate it. Here are a few ideas for great gifts after Christmas or really any time throughout the year.

GPS – There aren’t many drivers today who don’t have some type of GPS system in their vehicles. Prices have come way down and you can even get a good, practical GPS unit for under $100. Tom Tom is one of the leading GPS manufacturers and they have a full line of GPS units for anyone on your list.

Tires – Everyone needs new tires at some point and today, buying tires is easier than ever. You can buy tires online and make a great choice. All you need to know is what type of vehicle the gift recipient has and all of the information is available for you to purchase this practical gift. Tires Easy.com is a favorite of ours. You can choose the tires, pay for them online, and have them shipped to your local garage.

PhotoBlocker – Know someone who’s gotten a ticket by a traffic camera for going through a traffic signal? There is a product on the market that you can simply spray on your license plate and it prevents these traffic cameras from taking a clear picture of your license plate. It’s 100% legal to use in most states and is inexpensive to use.

Auto Warranties – Know someone who just bought an older car or who bought a car new and it’s getting a little bit old? You can buy an extended warranty at any time to help lower the cost of repairs. It’s like an insurance policy for your car. We like a company called smartautowarranty.com as they have helped thousands of motorists save money on car repairs.

General Parts – For everything else automotive, go to Advance Auto Parts. They carry thousands of products for all different types of vehicles and one of the best parts is, you can shop online and have your purchase shipped to one of the many store locations around the country.

So whoever you’re shopping for whether it’s for Christmas, birthdays, or just when they need it; there are plenty of choices for car owners.

Below are some links to purchase some of the items listed above:

New School, New Roads, New TomTom. Save up to $100 Now, Plus Free Shipping!

Save on quality tires with these manufacturer’s promotions available from tires-easy.com

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Get a FREE, No Obligation, Extended Auto Warranty Quote in Less than a Minute!

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Need help buying a new or used car? Thinking about leasing? Contact me at ProAutoBuying.com and I can help save you money!

It’s almost winter and that means in areas of the world that experience the 4 seasons (Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter) we need to insure that the radiators in our vehicles are filled with the proper amount of water and that fluorescent green or orange gooey liquid, anti-freeze.

For those who don’t know, anti-freeze serves a few purposes in your car’s engine. In the winter its most important job is to act as:
anti-freeze. It ensures that the coolant in your engine does not freeze when temperatures drop below freezing and lower.

Even in the winter, your vehicle’s engine runs extremely hot and needs to be cooled so it’s important that the liquid doesn’t freeze. If it does, well, engines can crack as can many of the hoses, belts, and other internal engine parts.

The “anti-freeze” is actually quite important in the summer heat also. In the summer it acts as an “anti-boil”. It helps keep the coolant from becoming boiling hot and doing damage to the engine that way.

The magical liquid that when added to water acts as the anti-freeze and anti-boil is called ethylene glycol.
Ethylene glycol has a boiling point of 387°F (197°C) and when mixed with water at a 1:1 ratio, it has a freezing point of about -40°F(-40°C) which is ideal for the normal range of applications.
Besides keeping your engine running at the proper temperatures, today’s engine coolant also contains lubricants and anti-corrosive agents that lubricate the water pump bearings and help keep the radiator from rusting. Also, it helps maintain a regular ph balance in the cooling system.
If your vehicle loses engine coolant, you need to make sure that you check the level in the radiator often to insure that there’s enough fluid in it to protect the engine. You can’t just add water because you need the coolant to keep from boiling or freezing depending on the current season.
Also, just like you change the other fluids in your vehicle, anti-freeze or coolant should be changed. With the extreme swings in temperature that your car experiences every day, the radiator and associated hoses and pipes break down. These break downs lead to rust particles, rubber particles, and other particulates running through the system. A radiator flush will help remove these particles and keep your coolant system running well for a long time. Just follow the recommendations set forth in the owner’s manual of your vehicle.
If you do flush the system yourself, make sure you properly dispose of old antifreeze / coolant at a local facility that specializes in handling it. Engine coolant should never be poured down the drain or outside onto the ground given its harmful elements.
As with most chemicals, make sure you keep anti-freeze out of reach of children and pets.

Need car buying help? Contact me at ProAutoBuying.com and I’ll help you save time and money on the purchase or lease of your next vehicle.

TomTom ONE GPS

The TomTom ONE is a basic, entry level GPS navigation device. However once you dig down into the advanced routing features you really start to see where this GPS shines.

The TomTom ONE is a sleek unit which is the right size to put in your pocket or purse if you’re going mobile.

The standard display is 3.5 inches and can show 64,000 colors. The display is great because it shows vibrant colors even at wide angles and it’s bright enough to see even in direct sunlight.

Both night and day modes have their own brightness controls so you can set them to be very bright during the day and very dark at night. There are also ten different color schemes available if you don’t like the default colors.

The ONE has a typical windshield mount suction cup with a ball and socket joint to be able to rotate to any angle you wish.

I’m not a fan of using the GPS window mount though because to me it’s broadcasting to a potential thief that there’s a GPS unit inside the vehicle by looking at the mount or the rings left on the windshield when you remove it. Even if you were to take the unit with you when you’re not in the vehicle, how does a potential thief know that?

I much prefer the “sandbag” dashboard type mounts where you plop the mini-sand bag onto the dashboard and nestle the GPS unit onto it. Once you arrive at your destination, you can easily place the sand bag in the glove compartment or console compartment and you’d never know there was a GPS unit inside.

The maps come loaded on an SD card in a slot at the bottom and the maps are easily updated.

The portability of the TomTom ONE allows it to be used as a pedestrian GPS unit that also fits easily in your hand or pocket while walking, hiking, or jogging. You’ll only get about two hours with the battery though so keep that in mind if traveling by foot.

Routing is easy with the ONE. In the ‘Menu’ you select ‘Navigate to’, ‘Address’, ‘Street and House Number’. You can also navigate to a City Center, a zip code, or an intersection. After selecting the City, you enter in the street using the same search function.

One really nice feature of the TomTom ONE is that when you enter a street name, you don’t have to have spelled it entirely correct. The ONE’s database capabilities will give you the closest match to the proper spelling of a street name that was entered incorrectly. So instead of getting an error message saying “address not found”, you get the correct street name or city even if you spell it wrong.

Also, if you enter a street number that doesn’t exist, the TomTom ONE will find the closest match to that number and get you there.

Routing options presented are for the Fastest Route, shortest route, avoiding freeways, a walking route, a bicycle route, or a limited speed route. This should satisfy most every type of routing you might want on the road.

I also like the feature that tells you what time you need to leave to get somewhere on time. Important meeting to get to? Plug in the start and ending destinations and the ONE will let you know what time you need to leave to get there on time.

You can also choose an alternate route to a destination if you want to avoid the highway or you just want to enjoy the scenery of a back road drive.

You can avoid certain areas and have the ONE calculate around a construction area for example. There have been many times when I’ve taken trips on the road and wished I’d used this feature to avoid large tie ups on the highway.
There are other advanced routing features that are a bonus to have on a basic GPS which makes the TomTom ONE a great GPS!
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Here is a link to the TomTom site to purchase the ONE:

Questions to ask When Buying a Used Car

Need to buy a used car but, don’t know what questions to ask? There are certainly some important questions to ask when buying a used car and I’ve listed a bunch of them here for review.

The key is to get as much information about the car as possible. While you may hear that the used car you’re interested in was driven by a little old woman from home to church and back, just know that may not be the case.

Whether you’re buying from a dealer or private party, here are some important questions to ask:

1. What is the history of the car? You can ask the owner or dealer about who drove it before it went on sale and to give you as much information as possible about who drove it, where they drove it, how they drove it, etc. You’ll also want to run an AutoCheck history report on the car. An AutoCheck report will tell you who owned and when, where it was driven, if it was sold at auction, if it was ever reported stolen and much more. There is a link at the bottom of the article where you can have an AutoCheck report run. It should always be the first step in any used car purchase.

2. Ask to see the maintenance records. While many drivers don’t think of the time that they’ll be selling their car while they’re driving it, smart drivers do. Peace of mind is important when buying a used car and having maintenance records should help put you at ease.

3. Why is the car being sold? Did the owner trade up for a new car or was it involved in a terrible accident? Did a child go off to school and not need a car for a few years or did it always seem to be in the shop. Don’t be afraid to ask a lot of questions about the car and the details as to why it’s being sold.

4. What don’t you like about the car? Everyone selling a car will talk about the things that they like best about the car they’re selling such as, the great gas mileage, the comfortable ride, the extra room, etc. Throw them a curve by asking what they did not like about the car first and see if the owners answer is something that might bother you also. If so, look at another model.

5. Ask specific questions that are important to you. Instead of simply asking, “How does it run?”; ask “how does it ride in the snow” or “how does it run at high speeds as I tend to drive fast…”.

6. Can I see the engine? You don’t have to be a mechanic to see signs that a car was not properly maintained. Are the battery posts full of dissolved lead from the battery acid? Do the belts and hoses look worn, torn, or are they loose? Does the radiator fluid look like rusty water? Are the fluid levels (oil, power steering, transmission fluid) at the proper positions and the right color?

7. Can I take it to my mechanic to have a look at it? This should really be a condition that must be met for you to purchase as opposed to a question. Unless you’re a mechanic you should definitely take it to a trusted mechanic. If you’re buying from a dealership, that doesn’t mean you should take it to one of their mechanics for convenience. Take it to a mechanic and be willing to pay them for their advice and feedback as it will be priceless. Would you rather pay $50 to $70 for a good mechanic to tell you that the engine has a hairline crack that will expand or has a timing belt that needs immediate replacement or find out the hard way? You can even negotiate better based on the mechanic’s feedback where the seller may agree to discount the price further if the car needs repair or maintenance that wasn’t done.

8. Is the original manufacturers warranty valid once the car is sold? This assumes that there are years or miles that have not been exceeded by the warranty. If buying from a dealer, you should also ask if they have a 60 day warranty in case you have any problems. Most good dealers will offer that.

9. Has the car ever been in an accident? Even if it looks like new or the owner tells you just a slight fender bender, you should have it checked out as part of the inspection process at the mechanic. If the car pulls to one side or seems like it drives straight but, the car’s nose is off center, that may mean the frame is bent which is big trouble and difficult to fix properly. A mechanic can usually tell if there’s been damage repaired but, if you suspect it may have been severe, have an auto body shop take a quick look at it.

10. What’s the lowest you’ll take for the car? This is best asked after the above questions are asked and if you’ve found some things that need to be repaired, you’ll have more leverage when negotiating price. After this question is answered by the seller, make sure you tell them everything that’s wrong with the car (even if it’s normal wear or mileage) as you’re trying to pay as little as possible.

Buying a used car can take as much time and research as buying new and it’s worth every minute you spend as you want to be sure that the car will suit your needs.
So ask as many questions as you can but, make sure you include the 10 questions above as well.

Here is a link to AutoCheck where you can enter a car’s VIN and find out its history:

Don’t get taken for a drive. AutoCheck® that pre-owned vehicle before you buy.

Free Credit Score – See yours at CreditReport.com!
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Need help buying a used or new car? We can help. Contact us at ProAutoBuying.com.