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Showing posts with label a. Show all posts
Showing posts with label a. Show all posts
Get set for a year of great motoring events in 2013
Fans of classic cars and bikes will be spoilt for choice when a host of events get underway, with draws including the Ormskirk MotorFest - now in its third year - on August 25, the Lydiate Classic Car Show on July 7, and the Bank Hall show in Bretherton on July 28 among others.
Its also hoped that the Woodvale Rally, a longstanding favourite with car and bike fans, will return to its traditional home at RAF Woodvale for 2013, after concerns about asbestos at the site prompted a change of venue to Victoria Park last year. The shows organisers are still awaiting confirmation, but the event is provisionally set for the weekend of August 3 and 4 so keep an eye on their website at www.woodvalerally.com for any further announcements.
A little further afield theres the return of the North West Indoor Classic Car Show, after the inaugural event proved to be one of last years surprise hits. This years show takes place at EventCity in Manchester - a stones throw from The Trafford Centre - so make sure youve got the weekend of April 6 and 7 in your diary.
A couple of other big draws to make a note of are the Classic Car Spectacular, due to take place over the first weekend of June at Tatton Park in Cheshire, the Classic, Vintage and Sports Car Show at the same venue on August 17 and 18, the Cholmondeley Pageant of Power between June 14 and 16, the Gold Cup at the Oulton Park race circuit over the August Bank Holiday. Theres also word that CarFest - a motoring event organised by Radio 2 DJ and Ferrari nut Chris Evans - will get the green light for a 2013 event, so while theres no official dates yet dont bet against it being hosted at some point in August or September.
Theres also - if youre prepared to hop in the car and venture even further - all manner of national events being held at Goodwood, the NEC, Beaulieu, Silverstone and Santa Pod to name just a few, but even if you cant it looks set to be a vintage year for automotive outings.
If youre organising a motoring event or show why not share it with Life On Cars? Get in touch with David Simister, our motoring correspondent, by sending an email to david.simister@hotmail.co.uk or leave a comment below.
Confessions of a Recovering Car Dealer
I’m excited and proud to announce the publication of my first book, Confessions of a Recovering Car Dealer! If you’ve been reading my blog or my Hometown News column for the last 7 years, I know you will really enjoy this book. Some subjects may be familiar, but I also have added tons of new information as well as lots of historically interesting pictures, dating from 1937 to the present.
Before you get mad at me for using this column to sell books, be aware that 100% of the selling price of my book is going to charity. Not only am I not making a nickel off this book, but I’m also including my cost of publishing in the amount I’m donating to charity. My purpose in writing this book is the same as my purpose in my Hometown News columnand blog, to help you through the hazardous process of buying, leasing, and servicing your car. You can buy this book at my dealership, Earl Stewart Toyota of North Palm Beach, or you can buy it online by going to www.EarlsBook.com. You can charge it to your Visa, MasterCard, American, Express, Discover card, or use PayPal.
If you’re curious about my title, it goes to the fact that I wasn’t always a consumer advocate for car buyers. I’ve been a car dealer since 1968 and I used to be a lot like the very car dealers that I criticize today. Frankly, my advertising and my sales practices back in the day are things that I’m ashamed of now. I refer to myself as “recovering” in the sense that a drug addict or alcoholic is recovering. This column, my blog, and my radio show are like parts of the “Twelve Steps” of a recovery program. People ask me all of the time “What made you change?” but I can’t give them a simple answer. It wasn’t an epiphany or an instant revelation, but more of an evolution. It might have begun when I sensed how much smarter and more sophisticated and demanding my customers were becoming. I know that my sons coming into the business had a major effect as did my second marriage. My oldest son told me that he chose to come into the business with me because he could tell his children, my grandchildren, how proud he was to work at Earl Stewart Toyota. Fighting a successful battle against colon cancer several years ago also was a factor. There’s nothing like the realization of one’s mortality that puts the important and unimportant things in life in perspective. Lastly, I would chalk it up maturity. I’m one of those that believe we truly get wiser as we age. Notice I said “wiser” not smarter. There are a lot of young, very smart people but, in my opinion, they lack the wisdom of their elders.
My book is divided into six sections. The first is “Research” which explains how you should go about deciding what type and make of car you should buy and how to select the right dealer from whom to buy it. Section two gets into the actual buying process. One chapter is entitled “Emotion is Your Enemy When Buying a car” and another is “Holdback is Holdup for Consumers”. Section three is “F & I (Finance and Insurance). Two of the best chapters are “Buying a Car When You Have a Credit problem” and “Should You Buy an Extended Warranty?” Section 4 is “About Used Cars”. If you read the chapter “Ten Tips for Buying a Used Car”, you’ll be forearmed and forewarned against making a huge mistake. Section Four is “Leasing”. More people get taken advantage of when they lease a car than when they buy. Read this section very, very carefully. Section six is “Service”. This is the longest section of my book because you spend a lot more time buying service and repairs for your cars than you spend buying the car itself. This section also addresses the body shop which you hopefully use very seldom but which can be very hazardous if you don’t understand your rights.
If you have a friend or relative who you would like to do a favor, why not consider making a gift of Confessions of a Recovering Car Dealer? It would make a great present for a son, daughter or grandchild. Most of the complaints on car dealers that I hear from callers on my radio show or read on my blog could have been avoided if the victim had been better educated on the car buying and servicing.
car guy humor how to sell a high mileage Jeep
from the back page of Car and Driver... I think. It may be Road and Track... I didnt take notes
The Jaguar XK150 is a wonderful passport to 1950s Britain
This weeks automotive adventure was supposed to be all about driving an E-Type for the first time, but it isnt because it was actually its older brother which left a far greater impression. The setting is the stunning scenery of the New Forest, where as part of an assignment for Classic Car Weekly weve unleashed three big cats - an E-Type, an XK150 Roadster and a Daimler Double Six, which are all going under the hammer at the Barons Jaguar Heritage Auction this weekend - for a feature.
It is, on the face of it, a windswept moor on a ruddy cold April afternoon, but as soon as I thumbed the XKs starter button, heard that wonderful straight six burst into life and set off I was no longer in a hugely expensive, left hand drive car that isnt mine.
I was in the late 1950s, driving one of the worlds fastest and most beautiful sports cars through a bit of Britain unspoilt by speed cameras and people in Nissan Micras. A time when you could legally nail the XKs throttle and turn the countryside into a green blur as you darted along winding lanes between quaint villages full of smiling bobbies on bicycles. A time when people appreciated the XKs finely sculpted lines and the bark of its exhaust note. What the pictures from my first assignment of being a classic car scribe is just unbelievably cold the New Forest was, or that in the absence of Gatso cameras I had some 1950s-style hazards to contend with instead - whenever a cow or a pony decided to wander into the road I was glad it’s these particular Jags which popularized disc brakes!
But I didn’t care, because even with an E-Type and a V12-engined drawing room on wheels competing for my automotive affections it was the XK150 I fell just a little bit in love with. The view down the Jags bonnet as its curves flowed out into the countryside ahead is something Ill never forget.
In reality its 2013 of course, and we live in a very different Britain where the Golf BlueMotion we used as the camera car outdid the XK at just about everything. No prizes for guessing which one Im saving up for, though.
Read the full feature about the Jaguars and more from David Simister in the latest edition of Classic Car Weekly. If you have a motoring story for him call 01733 468847.
Motoring groups give 2013 Budget a mixed reaction
Chancellor George Osborne revealed a number of measures which will affect the cost of owning and running a car, including a proposed freeze in fuel duty rises later this year, which have met with a mixed reaction from motoring organisations.
The fuel duty freeze got a particularly warm welcome, with Professor Stephen Glaister, the director of the RAC Foundation, saying: “This news provides breathing space for families being smothered by the soaring costs of motoring, especially the 800,000 households spending more than a quarter of their income on operating a vehicle.
"Through this move, the chancellor will lose about £1bn a year in duty and VAT income, but tens of thousands of people will be saved from being forced to give up their cars against a backdrop of generally rising running costs.
"Freezing fuel duty does nothing to help the millions who rely on public transport. Bus services are seeing year-on-year cuts and government is still committed to above-inflation rail fares rises."
The chancellor, George Osborne, said: "We inherited a fuel duty escalator that would have seen above inflation increases in every year of this Parliament. We abolished the escalator and now we’ve now frozen fuel duty for two years. This has not been easy. The Government has foregone £6billion in revenues to date."
However, AA president Edmund King described the move as "relief, rather than joy" for drivers, while other transport groups were less supportive of the measures.
Stephen Joseph, chief executive of the Campaign for Better Transport, said: "Freezing fuel duty does nothing to help the millions who rely on public transport.
"Bus services are seeing year-on-year cuts and government is still committed to above-inflation rail fares rises."
Nissan, meanwhile, publicly expressed delight that Benefit in Kind (BIK) tax levels - such as its LEAF model - will now be set at 5%, rather than 13% as previously.
A spokesperson for the firm said: "The Budget announcement means that by keeping BIK rates for company EV drivers at the lowest rate, more will look to choose an EV like the LEAF as their next company car.
"This should increase EV sales, at the same time as helping bring down emission levels which is a priority both for companies meeting their corporate CSR objectives and for cities such as London to meet future EU emission targets."
Do you think the 2013 Budget has helped or hindered motorists? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment below...
A motoring idea youll warm to in this winter weather
Twas a cold and frosty morning when the thought struck me. Faced with needing to take a car rather than the bus into work, I unlocked the garage and started up a stone cold Mazda MX-5 which immediately fogged up the moment I dared to exhale breath while sat inside. I was one of the lucky ones; elsewhere, the good people of Southport were scraping the ice of their windscreens.
Heres the rub. Almost every car Ive driven on a cold morning, even shiny brand new ones, still require the efforts of some cheap de-icer before you can set off, and then a good few minutes before the icy chill of winter leaves the interior. Nor can you do the old trick of warming the car up while you sit indoors with a cuppa - not only is it illegal, but you might as well stick a sign on your pride ‘n joy with “STEAL ME” writ large all over it.
With the exception of a wonderful January weekend in Wales, when I donned gloves and a woolly hat so I could enjoy the crisp mountain air in the MX-5 with the roof down, driving first thing in the morning at this time of year is no fun. Unless of course, you run a recently-made Range Rover. A car which comes with a little gas heater and a time-adjustable thermostat, just like your house does.
In the same way Ive always wondered why houses arent fitted with electric windows, it perplexes me why proper thermostats which you can preset to come on when you want - which have been around for ages - dont come as standard on more cars. If you know youre going to setting off at eight every morning, wouldnt it be great to preset a proper heating system to come on fifteen minutes earlier, so your pride and joy is all toasty once you step inside and the engine isnt having to cough into life at minus four?
Dont get me wrong - theres all sorts of aftermarket preheating systems you can fit to your motor - but Im just amazed the car industry at large didnt cotton onto the whole winter-is-cold thing years ago.
Its one motoring gadget you wouldnt give a frosty reception.
What to Say and What Not to Say to Your Mechanic When Bringing Your Car for a Repair
Are you prone to automotive rip-offs? The fact is, auto repair shops and mechanics who have the habit of ripping their customers off choose their victims. They don’t actually prey on every customer that comes in. They only prey on people who show that they’re easy to deceive. And, they sometimes get their clue from the things that the customer says.
So, what are the things that you should say and should not say to your mechanic if you want to avoid an automotive rip-off?
What to tell your mechanic: A description of the symptoms you are experiencing in your vehicle.
If you’re having a problem in your drive, you should tell your mechanic in detail exactly what you are experiencing. Describe any noise that is evident, any vibration originating from somewhere in your car, etc. This will help the mechanic in the diagnosis.
What not to tell your mechanic: Your own assumption about what the problem might be.
Auto repair shops and mechanics on the lookout for a customer that they can rip off can use your assumption to tell you of a problem that does not actually exist and charge you for a repair that they don’t actually do. So, keep your assumptions to yourself and let the mechanic do his work.
What to tell your mechanic: A description of previous repairs done on the vehicle and past problems encountered, if any.
Information about any repair done or problem encountered in the past months will give your mechanic the whole picture and may just make the diagnosis faster and easier.
What not to tell your mechanic: That you’re not familiar with the part that is problematic.
This can raise the red flag among mechanics looking for a chance to trick their customers. They know that a clueless customer is easier to deceive, so telling them that you don’t have knowledge about your vehicle will greatly increase your likelihood to be ripped off.
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