Toyota to Make Largest Auto Recall

According to a recent article published in Reuters, Toyota Motor Crop will be recalling just under 700,000 Camry vehicles as well as other sedans made at two of its China ventures.  This will be the largest recall in the country.  All of the the hubub is in order to fix a faulty electric switch in the window.
They need a recall for that?!
Analysts speculate that the recall will not have any longstanding impact on the Japanese auto maker’s growth prospect in China due to the fact that the defect is relatively minor (I mean, c’mon- it’s a window!).  The article goes Read the Rest…

Does the Smart Car Pass the Safety Test in Your Book?

Do you feel better or worse after watching the Smart Car go through the following series of crash tests? Take a look:

Thinking About Getting a New Car? Better Think About Your Credit First!

Whether you’re planning on purchasing a brand new car or a used car, one thing will remain equally important in both situations: your credit score.  According to Wikipedia, a credit score is defined as follows:
A credit score is a numerical expression based on a statistical analysis of a person’s credit files, to represent the creditworthiness of that person. A credit score is primarily based on credit report information, typically sourced from credit bureaus.
Lenders, such as banks and credit card companies, use credit scores to evaluate the potential risk posed by lending money to consumers and to mitigate losses due to Read the Rest…

Top 15 Cheapest Vehicles to Own

According to a recent article published on AOL News, the following are the top 15 cheapest vehicles around:

Nissan Versa-  MSRP: $9990|EPA fuel economy (City/Hwy): 26/31 mpg|Five-year cost of ownership: $23,540
Toyota Yaris-MSRP: $12,205|EPA fuel economy (City/Hwy): 29/36 mpg|Five-year cost of ownership: $24,915
Hyundai Accent-MSRP: $9970|EPA fuel economy (City/Hwy): 27/33 mpg|Five-year cost of ownership: $26,237
Kia Rio-MSRP: $11,495|EPA fuel economy (City/Hwy): 27/33 mpg|Five-year cost of ownership: $26,258
Chevy Aveo-MSRP: $11,495 ($11,965)|EPA fuel economy (City/Hwy): 27/34 mpg|Five-year cost of ownership: $26,732
Ford Focus-MSRP: $14,995 ($15,520)|EPA fuel economy (City/Hwy): 24/35 mpg|Five-year cost of ownership: $26,894
Honda Fit-MSRP: $14,750|EPA fuel economy (City/Hwy): 27/33 Read the Rest…

Funniest Car Mishaps

Please- be careful when you get behind the wheel of a vehicle.

Top 3 Leasing Questions Answered by Edmunds.com

According to Edmunds.com, the following are the top 3 questions that they receive about leasing, which are asked and answered below.  To see the full article, click here.
Top 3 Leasing Questions:

How do I get out of my lease before the contract has expired?
How do I buy my car at the end of the lease?
How do I avoid extra charges at the end of the lease?

To address these questions, Edmunds.com spoke to Tarry Shebesta, president of Automobile Consumer Services Corp (ACS).  According to Shebesta, if you are trying to break your lease before it has expired, you have several options.  Read the Rest…

Transportation Tax Hike Approved for VA?

According to a recent article published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, R. Creigh Deeds of Virginia recently informed the taxpayers that if the General Assembly passes a bipartisan tax bill to include tax increases in order to fund Virginia’s transportation needs, he’s going to be one of the first people to sign it.  Now comes the outrage.
One question I would like to know is, “Where is all of this money coming from?”  Doesn’t this democratic gubernatorial candidate know that there is an economic crisis going on in the United States at the moment?  What about inflation?  According to the article, when Read the Rest…

Is C4C Really Worth It?

The cash for clunkers program has been such a hot topic in the news lately that, with all the talk, what is the real value of the program? As we recently noted the top selling cars under cash for clunkers have been mostly small compacts and hybrids. What you may have overlooked in that article was the manufacturers of those top sellers. Ford made the list, but so did Honda and Toyota. In fact, it is being reported that four out of five participants in cash for clunkers are trading in there old cars for new Read the Rest…

Breathing New Life Into C4C

Cash for clunkers received some new life blood Wednesday, August 5th. An extension plan reached by the Senate will inject two-billion dollars ($2,000,000,000) into the project, whose fate had recently been up in the air given the program’s cost. According to  Ken Thomas and Laurie Kellman of the Associated Press, the Senate has decided to vote on a bill that should keep cash flowing into the hands of potential new car buyers:
Following lengthy negotiations, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Democrats and Republicans had
agreed to vote on the plan Thursday, along with a series of potential changes to the bill, Read the Rest…

Cash For Clunkers: A Bunch of Junk?

Whatever your opinion on the government “cash for clunkers” program, it does seem to be having an effect on the vehicles hitting the roads. The top trade-ins under cash for clunkers have been mostly SUVs, while new reports from the government state that compacts and hybrids are the top sellers under the program. According to Peter Valdes-Dapena, writing for CNNmoney.com, the best selling cars vary by manufacturer but are mostly smaller vehicles:
The top-selling car was the Ford Focus, and the top three — including the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla — were compacts. The list also includes three vehicles that Read the Rest…