There was a company in my state that I thought was a newer dealership but hadn’t noticed that they had a lot of different brands, so it was actually an upscale pre-owned vehicle reseller with about a half dozen lots of trucks and sports cars in my area and lots in 4 other regions statewide. They even had a local sports star as their spokesperson.
They suddenly shut down last month and all the lots are empty. No idea where all the vehicles went, or the lots had gradually been emptying out. The website says they closed after evaluating “today’s pre-owned vehicle market conditions”. It may have been the higher prices of used cards during the pandemic and taking a while to get interest rates back down did them in.
Their videos are still up on YouTube. They’re kind of like spotlight mini-commercials for each one and have a little bit of a Top Gear feel to them. They could be interesting just to look at, see some action shots in the mountains or whatever. One made me aware of a campground that I’ve never been to before. I’ve wanted to get in some camping trips with my current car before I start looking at a new one.
Kind of reminds me of Eastern Motors which I thought had shut down, but I think they just reorganized and may be less sleazy now.
Eastern had catchy ads with local celebs (a lot of sports stars) and was known for branding some locations as “toy stores” featuring sports cars, heavily customized trucks, and similar.
I think it came out that they were pretty willing to sell to anybody: their ads feature the lyric “your job’s your credit” and I think they were one of the dealerships that basically realized they could just keep selling the same car multiple times by selling it, repossessing it, wash, rinse, repeat.
I think the Dave Smith dealership in Boise, ID bought up the Northwest Motorsports inventory because that’s where the old website sends you if you try it.
Consumer tip time: If your auto insurance suddenly goes up, look into whether that was because they based it on your driving habits like hard acceleration and sudden stops.
Insurance companies have policies like this, but they’re ones you agree to and participate in by plugging a data recorder into your car.
It’s also happening without people knowing about it with the performance data that’s collected in the background while you drive. Some auto makers will share or sell the data they get from your car to data analysis companies, which in turn sell it to insurance companies. This can happen even if you’re not actively subscribed to the service like OnStar or the equivalent under those brands.
Which is why I refuse every time my agent offers it to me.
Some auto makers will share or sell the data they get from your car to data analysis companies, which in turn sell it to insurance companies. This can happen even if you’re not actively subscribed to the service like OnStar or the equivalent under those brands.
Not only am I not subscribed, I went cheap when I ordered the truck so it doesn’t even have that hardware
Some updates. The data is going from the manufacturers to data brokers like LexisNexis. LexisNexis has a risk assessment division. That division tracks car accidents and tickets, but added in the data when it went from this division to insurance companies, and that’s when the rate hikes can come up.
Among the people that got the surprise from their insurance company was a Corvette owner who was doing performance testing at a track.
Another person got turned down by seven insurance companies before of the usage report and had to pay double to get coverage. He’s suing GM because he used an app from Cadillac, but not OnStar or the OnStar Smart Driver, and hadn’t agreed for his data to be used that way. GM is no longer sharing data from the OnStar Smart Driver app with LexisNexis or Verisk.
It all comes down to the EULA that most everyone does a blanket agreement on so they can use the service or product. Things like this are buried in there and that’s what makes it legal.
It’s not practical to not click “I agree” because the alternative is trying to negotiate a separate license from the company that will have the terms and conditions you approve of. That’s extra time and cost for both sides, and while that’s being hammered out, you can’t use said item.
Another tip for buying a car or truck, but more likely for an older model since I think the newer models don’t have these arranged like this any more.
If you can see the individual LEDs in the tail lights, turn on the running lights or the full lights and then have someone activate the turn signals and brake lights. Some of the ones I’ve seen recently haven’t had a lot of difference in brightness during the daytime. Makes it harder to see if the person is stepping on the brakes or signaling for a lane change.
I have ended up doing the opposite. I’m looking to the sides and I forget to check the camera to see if there’s anything directly behind me.
The moving object detection isn’t quite as good as it should be because there’s only one speaker for the alert. It’s mounted somewhere to my right, so I look that way first. A second speaker on my left would be better.
I’m doing the initial research now for the next car. My job’s reimbursement plan goes by the MSRP for both new or used instead of what is paid, so whatever I get for the trade-in doesn’t cut into that. I’m going to take a big hit for the mileage, which was to be expected.
Starting off with a new version of the same car I have now, they have four trim levels. You don’t get a car alarm until you go to level 3, which is $5200 more than level 2. An aftermarket alarm with a bypass/door lock module and installation is roughly $500. It does mean carrying two key fobs instead of one and I’d have to remember every time to disable the alarm before I try to open the door. To be honest, I’d probably forget, and the neighbors might not appreciate it if I’m heading out at 2 a.m. for an after hours service call.
There’s two different combos of instrument cluster and navigational display. Level 2 has a 7" cluster and 8" nav display. Level 3 has 12.3" for both and the cluster functions can be customized. I had to do a search for pictures to confirm the level 2 cluster is also electronic instead of mechanical because the brand website only has pictures of the upscale goodies. From what I can see, the plastic bezel around it is larger, so who knows. It may be the same physical display screen for both levels.
About the only other features that are important to me right now are the active noise cancellation, 360° camera, cabin camera, dash cam and parking cameras. Cabin camera is part of the dash cam option and is probably also used for the “make sure the driver isn’t distracted” system. Level 3 adds the front camera for parking.
Well, that’s cute. The manufacturer shows towing capacity has increased quite a bit in the last seven years but they don’t offer a towing package or even tell you’ll have to buy the hitch and wiring kit from someone else.
There’s also the issue that on my car, an electronic control unit had to be replaced when the hitch was installed. It’s part of the kick sensor that opens the rear hatch after you poke your foot under the bumper. If I get the power rear hatch again, will the ECU have to be replaced again or did they account for that this time and positioned the ECU so it works even if a hitch is installed?
Part of my research is on the data that’s now stored in all cars. The one I have now is rated as a “hard drive on wheels”, meaning that it only has local storage of the data it collects. It isn’t broadcast anywhere. You have to have physical access to read it.
There’s a whole bunch of info that everyone needs to know about it. Should I start a separate topic or just add it to this one?
Is there a car / 4WD out there (at a reasonable price-point) that is both a manual and an automatic transmission?
I can’t stand driving an auto - it’s like driving a freaking go-kart to me. I’ve always driven manual and it’s second-nature to me now. IceQueen has never driven manual.
So finding a car we can both drive in our preferred styles would be awesome.
I think most cars have a “fake” manual capability now. No clutch, but you put the gear shift lever into “manual” or something similar and you can shift gears using the gear shift lever. Both our cars (12-ish year old Chevy Malibu and Hyundai Elantra) have this feature.
Both CVT-equipped Subarus we’ve had did this. Full automatic, but a “manual” mode that let you “shift gears” with paddles on the wheel. Setting aside the fact that there aren’t discrete gears in a CVT…
The fake gears suck and I don’t bother with them. In the first car (2010 Outback), I’d use them when merging onto the highway because the car couldn’t get out of its own way if I let the transmission do its own thing. On the 2019 Ascent, I haven’t had that issue and I chalk it up to the turbo plus a more aggressive mapping for the transmission.
But even with the turbo, the Ascent doesn’t have the kick in the ass my (much, much heavier) Ram does when I put the hammer down.
God, my 1500 hemi pins my ass in the seat, hauling a trailer. But my wife’s 2020 4 cyl Mustang in S+ mode can scare me. And then there is the flappy paddles, I don’t like them. Sure, it’s now a 6 speed manual, except really not, and shifting in corners sucks, and I am old and I don’t like it.
Toyota, Mazda, Yamaha, Honda and Suzuki, you’re our next contestants on “Who’s Been Submitting Incorrect or Manipulated Safety Test Data”. But don’t worry. You don’t have to come on down. We’ll come to you!
Toyota’s HQ was visited by Japan Ministry of Transport officials Tuesday for the first of several days of inspections. The first three companies were ordered to suspend shipments of some models. All have to review their safety certification processes.
All are going to have a hard time with the inspections because those standards were created in 1951 and haven’t been updated.
Toyota is also recalling 100,000 Tundra pickups and ~3500 Lexus LX 600 SUVs due to engine power problems caused by “debris from the manufacturing process” being left in the engine. Owners will get a letter announcing the recall. After Toyota figures out the fix, owners will be updated.
