Category: Autos
Assumptions Kick Our Butt
A man with a flat tire gets stuck on a dangerous interstate overpass in the Texas summer heat with no water. Coming to his aid are a fire truck, an ambulance and two police cars. But aside from giving him water, they can’t help him. He assumed his spare Toyota tire would fit his car. But it didn’t. Oops.
Auto Dealer Tricks From NYT Ron Lieber
New York Times financial columnist Ron Lieber has some insight for us on how auto dealers try to take advantage of us. The top of his column: “Sometime next week, President Obama will finally sign a financial reform bill. Plenty of banks will have to deal with messy new rules, but one big winner in [...]
Some Toyota Acceleration Problem May Be Driver Fault
Early testing by the U.S. Department of Transportation indicates that many accidents involving alleged Toyota acceleration problems appear to be driver issues where the accelerator was floored accidentally instead of the brakes. The Wall Street Journal reported today that the tests do not exonerate the world’s largest car maker for sticky accelerator pedals or floor mats [...]
Sirius XM Complaints: Cheating Customers by Billing Improperly
Nancy Shapiro of Middletown is one of the hundreds of people whom Sirius XM tried to take advantage of by billing for a contract she did not need or want, and had not requested. When she purchased a new Buick LaCrosse, it came with a standard three-month trial subscription to Sirius XM Radio – a [...]
Buying New Car Internet Tool: TrueCar.com
Studies have shown that most of the time we are financially better off buying a one or two year old car, than purchasing a new one. But if you are purchasing or leasing a new vehicle you will need help in guiding you to pay a fair price. Besides Consumer Reports and shopping clubs like [...]
Buying A Car: Lesson 101 From A Former Used Car Salesman
Thanks to the Consumerist.com for helping former used car salesman Alan Slone spill his guts about a “classic dealership technique used to addle your mind and empty your wallet.” “It’s called “The Four Square” and the object of the game is to make you lose,” the Consumerist, owned by Consumer Reports, says. To get the [...]
Duncan Haimerl, Courant Auto Columnist, Dies While Recuperating From Surgery
Duncan Haimerl, a former Courant business news editor and its longtime automotive columnist, died Monday in Kent, where he was recuperating from surgery, The Courant reported. Haimerl, 72, of Warren, was a news editor and wrote weekly auto reviews and a wildly popular q and a column over the past 30 years. A native of Canada, [...]
Replacement Bumpers May Be Unsafe
PROSPECT– If your car’s bumper has been replaced following a crash, it may be unsafe, perhaps even affecting proper deployment of the airbag. (Press Release) The Auto Body Association of Connecticut has announced that it is offering assistance to consumers in determining if these recalled aftermarket parts were used in the repair of their car’s [...]
GM Recalling 1.3 Million Chevy and Pontiac Compacts To Fix Power Steering Motors
General Motors, in a major voluntary recall, will repaid 1.3 million compact Chevrolet and Pontiac cars sold in the here, Canada and in Mexico because of power steering motor failures. Those with 2005 to 2010 Chevrolet Cobalts, 2007 to 2010 Pontiac G5s, 2005 in the U.S. should return their cars to GM dealers for repair [...]
Totoya Recalls: From The Perch Of A PR Professional
Every business, organization and individual has a story to tell. Often the stories can be told a number of different ways. That has become obvious as Toyota Motor Sales USA and its Japanese parent struggle through the auto maker’s quality/safety crisis and related “public relations crisis” – one in which the company seems to tell a version of its story nearly every day while contradictory information keeps surfacing.
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