kiss4cars

American Quality - Not An Oxymoron

2008-06-21T11:33:00.000-07:00

To many car buyers "American Quality" seems to be an oxymoron but to just about everyone I've met in the auto re-marketing business the quality of the American built car is regarded as the best kept secret in the car business. Strategic Vision has released their 2008 Total Quality Awards. Both Ford and Toyota were in a dead heat, each having won or tied in five different categories.

What makes this quality award interesting is that it is not a measure of absolute reliability, rather it measures overall owner satisfaction. Owners are asked to fill out a survey that questions them regarding reliability, vehicle characteristics, dealership experience, styling, interior and exterior design and their overall perception of initial quality. This is a much more subjective way to rate the ownership experience and it differs significantly with how organizations such as Consumer Reports measures quality, which is primarily based on measured mechanical issues. As a result, the rankings of these two very different surveys offer significant differences in vehicle rankings.

So what is a buyer to do when they see contradictory survey results? It clear that you have to focus in on the specific factors that are most important to you, as a buyer and owner. When mechanical reliability is very close (as it is for most foreign and domestics vehicles today, you must weigh price, style, technology and comfort features, safety and fuel economy. The thing to avoid is generalizations and unsubstantiated popular opinion.

I've placed a link to the 2008 Strategic Vision news release and the Consumer Reports Top Picks on this Blog for reference.

Our Video!

2008-06-07T10:30:00.001-07:00

Great news. We recieved our copy of the video for our new website and I've posted the video on YouTube and added a link above if you want to see it. This video above is a much poorer grade than what we'll have on our website but it still delivers the message. Take a look at it an let us know what you think.

Also, last Friday I scratched off "get on the Radio" from my bucket list. Friday night Niceville High School and Crestview High School had their year scrimmage game to give their fans a view of what they can expect next fall from their football teams. Since we're a new sponsor of The New FISH Radio's coverage of the Niceville High School football games, I was invited to talk to the announcer Arty Goodman about our little car business. Marlene listened in on our new portable radio and thought it came off really good. I was just happy I didn't stammer and stutter. I guess those two years of middle school drama club finally paid off! In the fall when the football season get's underway local listener can hear KISS half time segment at 1340 on the radio dial. For those outside the listening area you can catch the live streaming audio at www.thenewfishradio.com.

BTW: Life In Motion Film of Destin produce the video at a very reasonable rate. If you're in need of profession video service I highly recommend them.

The Urban Legend of the "Good $2,000 Car"

2008-05-02T09:57:00.000-07:00

Perhaps the question I get asked the most when someone finds out that I buy cars direct from dealer only auto auctions is, "Can you find me a good $2,000 car?"

I'm not quite sure how or when the urban legend of the "good $2,000 car" got started but the details of this car seems to have crossed every race, ethnic, cultural, political and religious boundary in the land. The mythical $2,000 car has a few scrapes and dings and a touch of sun faded paint and perhaps even a little bit of rust. Amazingly everything works although it might squeak a little and the shocks might be a little spongy but not too squeaky or spongy. The rubber on the tires would be worn but still have a good 30,000 miles left on them. It would probably be a little dirty on the inside but nothing that a little Windex and elbow grease couldn't clean.

Can I find a good $2,000 car at the auction? The short answer is no. It's not that I haven't tried. I look every time I go to an auction and every time I pull a run list. It's not that there's a lack of cars with posted MMRs of less than $2,000 at the auction; quite the opposite is true there are plenty of cars for less than $2,000 at every auction. Unfortunately none come close to meeting the criteria of "a good $2,000 used car." The fact of the matter is that cars today cost more because the dollar isn't worth what it used be worth.

Back in the 70's and maybe even the 80's it was possible to find a good used $2,000 car. Back then cars came with few options so new car prices were cheaper which directly affected the value of used cars and they were simply less things that could go wrong. If you lived in the North it wasn't unrealistic to find new cars at dealerships that didn't come equipped with air conditioning. Today that's just unheard of and nobody would be willing to by a good used $2,000 car if it didn't come equipped with a working A/C unit. Especially those of us who live in Florida!

But you don't have to take my word for that, just trust your eyes and ears and the free market. If used car dealers could find a good used $2,000 car they would be selling them like hotcakes and retiring to their million dollar condo by the thousands. The fact that I get asked this question so often is proof enough to me that a very real and substantial market exist for the mythical good $2,000 car. In any free market economy supply will meet demand if that demand can be met. But you don't see good $2,000 cars on used car lots because they simply don't exist.

That's why when I get asked if I can find a good $2,000 car at the auction, I answer with a simple, "No."

Mileage - It's Not What It Used To Be

2008-04-03T11:13:00.000-07:00

I was thinking about my Dad's 1971 Plymouth Satellite the other day. He bought it brand new and for a car of that generation it was a pretty good car. Green was my mom's favorite color so when he had to decide between the white model with the cool bucket seats, center console and gearshift on the floor, he opted instead for the green one with a bench and a PRNDL on column. He drove that car to Mexico from our home in Hammond, Indiana many times and within four years we had put 75,000 miles on it. Shortly after it hit 75,000 we had to have the transmission rebuilt and well before it hit 85,000 it started blowing blue smoke out of the exhaust pipe. It wasn't long after that we had the old car towed to the junk yard.

Today's cars fare much better, it's not unusual to find a car with well over 150,000 miles that run like new. My old 1995 Geo Tracker had 170,000 miles when I sold it in 2006 and it still started on the first crank and ran like a champ. I had replaced the battery, the brakes, timing belt and the rag top each one time as you would expect but otherwise it gave me no problems. Recently I purchased a 1999 Ford Lariat with over 180,000 miles for a customer who wanted a truck for his teenage son. The vehicle was in great condition and he saved quited a bit on the truck because of the high miles. He took the truck to his mechanic to inspect it and he called me the next day to say that it check out fine and that the mechanic had found the cylinder compression to be "like new!" Considering how much he saved he got a lot of truck for his money.

Cars today last so long that it's hard to believe that odometers used to have only five digits and that we use to junk them before they reached 100,000 miles but what I find even more shocking is that when it comes to deciding how many miles that new used car should have many people are still locked in the 70's. Many still look for cars that have low miles based on the standard's established in the 50's , 60's and 70's even though they will pay a premium for those low mileage cars. 12,000 miles/year was at one time considered the average back when one car per household was the norm and the average American lived, worked and shopped in the same community. Today it's not unusual to live 50 miles from where you work and shopping malls have replaced the neighborhood shops. People do put more miles on their cars but these are often highway miles which are easier on the motor and drive train. Purchasing a car with low miles makes sense if your primary concern is ensuring that you get a bumper to bumper warranty but otherwise I can't see how anyone can justify the premium paid for these cars when quality late model cars with higher mileage are selling for so much less.

My advise to anyone who's interested in buying a used car is to consider purchasing that next car with more miles and keep as much of their hard earned money in their pocket. Ask yourself if you want the low miles because of the warranty or because you want a car that's going to last for a while. If it's not the warranty that you're interested in then you need to ask yourself how many miles you plan to put on the vehicle before the urge to buy newer car wins out. Chances are you'll trade in that high mileage car rather than have it towed to junk yard and it won't leave a trail of blue smoke as your buyer drives away.

Greetings

2008-03-29T16:44:00.000-07:00

My wife and I have always enjoyed everything about cars. Everything that is except buying cars from used car lots. So as my first career as a civilian engineer and program manager with the Air Force begins to come to an end we have decided that selling cars would be something that we could truly enjoy. So in 2005 I became a licensed independent automobile dealer license in Florida.

The concept for our business is radically different than a traditional used car dealership, so we don't think of ourselves as a used car dealership even though we must abide by the same regulations. Florida regulations require that maintain a physical location; our "Lot" and the insurance industry requires that we give an approximation of our inventory.

We call ourselves Auction Brokers becasue that really what we do. Our customers typically know cars and most importantly know what they want and are smart enough to know that they are not going to find that car at a reasonable price at a traditional "used car lot." What we do is find that car for them at the major dealer only auctions and act as their middleman in the transactions. They save thousands of dollars and we make a little on each transaction.

Neither my wife or I are really sure where this will lead us, right now all we know is that we're having fun doing it and helping a lot of nice people buy wonderful cars at great prices and saving them the hassle of "dealing" with dealers.

I'll be writing more about our business and the effect that the internet is having on automobile remarketing but for now I needed something to start this Blog off.