Automobile Retailers

On Wednesday, I discussed an article written by a person who thought the drinking and driving laws were unconstitutional. As controversial as that is, I found another article by the same person saying that the group Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) is actually angry at the wrong group of people.

The basis of his argument is that the group “distorts” figures and statistics to make their cause sound better. For instance, an alcohol-related incident includes even incidents where a drunken pedestrian was struck by a sober person driving a car. In fact, he says, the National Highway Traffic Safety Association has found that about 12 percent of all alcohol-related incidents involve drunken pedestrians and bicyclists instead of a drunken person behind the wheel of a car.

Another one of his major points is that sober drivers cause far more accidents than drunken drivers. If that’s true, he says, why aren’t sober drivers breaking the law just as much as drunken drivers?

Being a safe driver isn’t about playing word games and manipulating statistics. It’s simply not safe to drink and get behind the wheel of a car. Your local Buick dealer cares about your safety. When you visit their lot, you’ll see all kinds of safety features on the new and certified pre-owned vehicles in the inventory. But as the driver, you still have a responsibility to be conscientious and courteous so we can all stay safe on the roadways. Regardless of how somebody tries to convince you otherwise, do everybody a favor and don’t get behind the wheel if you’ve been drinking. It’s simply not worth it.

When you go to Burger King, you can “Have It Your Way.” When you get your haircut, you tell the stylist or barber exactly how you want it cut. But when it comes to spending thousands of dollars on a car, most people are willing to settle for something that’s not exactly what they want. Why is that? It’s perfectly normal to order a customized car from your dealer if you’re willing to wait for it. If that sounds like something you want to do with your next purchase at your local Mercedes-Benz dealer, here are some ways to get it done.

Know what you want. If you want to order a customized car, know exactly what you’re looking for before sitting down with the dealer. Make a list of the things that are most important to you. Your list should include the interior and exterior colors and any additions you want included.

Know what you can afford. Unless you’re very wealthy, you probably can’t afford every option available. Prioritize your list and only include the things you know you can afford. Also, consider its resale value in a few years. If you simply want the car that you want and you aren’t concerned about its value, get the options you want.

Know your options. Some options aren’t available with other options. You might not be able to get a black interior with a black exterior with some manufacturers. Study the manufacturer’s brochure and know what you can and can’t have together in one car.

Know the time constraints. When you custom order a vehicle, it could take two to three months before it’s available for delivery. If you’re currently in a lease, this could pose a problem if you wait until the last minute. Make sure you plan ahead of time so you don’t end up in a quandary.

Know the dealer. Create a good relationship with the dealer you’re ordering through and they’ll keep you updated on the progress of your customized vehicle. You might even get a break on the price because your car won’t be taking up lot space. Make sure the dealer is willing to work with your wishes so you can get exactly what you want.

While I was waiting for my oil change at the service station of my local Buick dealer, I was surfing the web on their free wireless network. I stumbled across an article that perplexed me. The person who wrote the article defends the point that drunk driving laws are unconstitutional because they take away a person’s freedom. Here are some of the points that he makes.

Until the mid-1980s, police officers weren’t strict on drunk drivers. If you were pulled over for driving under the influence, the officer would either escort you home or take you home in the police car. According to the article writer, their goal was to “prevent you from hurting yourself or others, not to ruin your life while adding money to substance abuse counseling and legal communities.”

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) is to blame for the stricter laws. Although it started out as a good idea, the organization became too powerful and lobbies for legislation that is “often ridiculous” and “counter-productive” through spreading half-truths and manipulating statistical information.
Together, MADD and the government have “created a legislature that is overly concerned with satisfying angry mothers” while ignoring individual rights.

The drunk driving laws hardly focus on other impairments, including prescription drugs or marijuana.

The article writer cites the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution to argue his point. He says drunk drivers aren’t afforded “equal protection of the laws” because they are getting unfair treatment.

You can read the entire article here. It is eight pages long so I don’t have enough room to touch on all his points. But what do you think about his argument? Does he have a point or is he just “under the influence” of something? Let us know what you think.

The Internet has been a great tool for many things. Unfortunately, with any great innovation, there’s somebody out there to exploit it and take advantage of it.

That’s what has happened to many people who have been scammed by buying used cars online. People are selling them on reputable sites like Craigstlist.org and Autotrader.com, but they’re often not up to the quality that the people portray. In addition to that, the people posting the cars are also giving a good sob story to entice people to buy them. Many of them say they are single mothers who need the money so they are selling their late-model, low mileage car to get a cheaper one. Others are saying they are in the military and getting ready to go to war and need to get rid of their car fast.

That’s nothing new. But where the scam comes in is when the seller asks the buyer to wire the money into a Paypal/escrow account. These accounts are bogus, though, and the seller loses their money. Following is a list of things to look out for so you can make a better decision and not get scammed:

The seller is in a hurry to sell the vehicle
The seller is offering an extremely low price
The seller asks you to wire the money
The seller does not list a phone number in the ad

Instead of worrying about this, why not visit your local Mercedes-Benz dealer and get a great price on a certified Benz? With the rigorous regulations and standards of these used vehicles, you can be sure you’re getting a great vehicle without getting scammed.

You don’t have to look far to read the complaints of old school marketing departments — people are just loyal as loyal to a particular brand as in the past. Gone are the days where every camera was a Nikon, every truck was a Ford, and every TV was a Sony. Customers are jumping ship, and marketers are scrambling around and wondering what happened.

According to a recent study by Acxiom Corporation, luxury car dealerships including Mercedes Benz dealers have found that even die hard buyers are being seduced away from their lavish leather interiors and escaping to the eco-friendly world of hybrid vehicles. Even if they would never normally buy the standard model of the car, the hybrid factor is making them sit up, take notice, and pull out their wallets. While car buyers today are all less loyal to their particular brand, they’ve traditionally stayed within their vehicle class. Hybrids are changing the game.

This certainly isn’t a new phenomenon. Consider the once humble Macintosh computer. Apple had a laughably low share in the home and business computer market, and then the iPod came out. Loving their new sleek and simple music players, hard core PC users started to wonder if there wasn’t something to switching to the other team when it came to their computers as well. When the iPod was followed up with the unbelievable popularity of the iPhone, even the most loyal Bill Gates fans started leaving in droves.

While this is bad news for the big guys, it’s great news for the intelligent businesses who can see the opportunity to turn the favor in their direction. Called “conquesting”, these smart and savvy marketers are turning these customers’ wandering eyes into the chance to convert customers who were previously way out of their reach.

If you have a dealership that sells hybrid vehicles, this is the time to make a grab for this new class of car customer. Whole groups of people — and specifically ones with a lot of money to spend on a new car — are suddenly becoming accessible. Customers who are interested in hybrid vehicles are among the most tech savvy and forward thinking around — an effective online brand marketing strategy can help get the right people through your door.

I’m curious — what are your experiences with conquesting and brand switching? Have you switched your loyalty when it comes to purchasing decisions? Are you noticing that your customers are doing the same?

Have you ever taken your car to a local mechanic for something that seems like a small problem only to end up having it cost hundreds of dollars? If you’re like me, you feel ripped off when that happens. In fact, I’m almost afraid to go to the service station because I don’t know what they’re going to charge me.

But there is one website that just launched that strives to help you, the consumer, pay more realistic prices for car repairs. At HonestAutoEstimates.com, you can get a basic figure of how much repairs SHOULD cost if the mechanic is being honest.

Here’s how it works. Take your car to the mechanic. Let them look at what’s wrong and give you a written estimate complete with the parts needed to do the job. Go home and log on to the Honest Auto Estimates website. For a small fee (around $6.00 right now), the experts at that site will tell you if the mechanic is trying to overcharge you for the parts and labor. They base their estimate on “nationally recognized labor times that are multiplied by the average hourly rate in your area.” They also search for parts in your area to get an accurate estimate for the price of the entire repair service.

In addition to that, they have a list of “verified shops” all over the nation. These shops go through a rigorous process to get verified by Honest Auto Estimates and they agree to fix your car for the price the website quoted to you. Isn’t it nice to know that somebody’s working on your side?

Of course, if it costs too much to repair your vehicle or if it’s just time for a new one, you can forget about repairs and visit your local Buick dealer. With the new and certified pre-owned vehicles in their inventory, you’re sure to find something you like. Visit one today!

Imagine the following scenario: You’ve just left your local Mercedes-Benz dealer with the car of your dreams. You’re driving down the road and somebody thinks you’re driving too slow. Instead of simply going around you, they get mad and they want to confront you. This type of behavior is called road rage.

As the cooler head, how do you diffuse the situation before getting a dent in your Mercedes or, worse yet, getting hurt or injured? Here are some things you can do to diffuse the situation before anybody gets hurt.

Stay out of the person’s way. Chances are that they will try to get your agitated enough to reciprocate the rage. But if you just try to stay out of the way, they often just get angry and drive away while giving you an unmistakable hand gesture.

Don’t keep driving your normal route. If the person is angry and following you, don’t keep driving toward your destination. You never know what type of person they are and they might just show up one your doorstep or at your workplace ready for a brawl.

Stay calm. When people get angry behind the wheel, they typically want to draw you in and make you act the same way. But staying calm and civil is the best way to diffuse any road rage situation.

Don’t pull over and get out of your car. Pulling into a parking lot or on the side of the road is only asking for trouble. The other person might think you’re looking for a fight. Keep driving but try to stay as far away as possible.

Call 911. Pull out your cell phone and call 911 if you feel threatened. Know where you are so they can send a police car to the area. Many times, the sight of a black-and-white is enough to make the person settle down.

Let’s face it. Gas prices are going up and there’s nothing we can do to stop them. Sure, many of us have changed our driving habits to adapt to the situation, but isn’t there more we can do? Sure there is! Have you ever thought about some creative ways to save even more gas and increase your fuel economy? If not, here are four methods you may not have heard of yet.

Take out the seats. You need to have at least one seat in your vehicle – the driver’s seat. You should probably keep the passenger seat, too. But if you drive a large truck, car or SUV, the rest of those seats could be dead weight. You decrease your fuel economy by two percent with every extra 100 pounds you carrying around.

Lose some weight. Following along from the first tip, losing weight can increase your fuel economy, too. For every 100 pounds you lose, you increase your fuel economy by two percent. You might even increase it more than that because you’ll feel like getting out and walking or biking your usual routes instead of driving them.

Turn down the noise. Unless you’re listening to Hootie and the Blowfish or Johnny Cash on your radio, it’s just noise. Have you ever been rockin’ out to your favorite song and look down to see that you’re going way above the speed limit? Turn the radio down and you won’t get so excited that you can’t pay attention to your speed.

Get a new car. The sales representatives at your local Mercedes-Benz dealer are happy to help you find a fuel-efficient Benz to get you through this new gas crisis. Check out their inventory today and start saving gas tonight.

Want more creative gas-saving tips? Click here.

Have you ever heard of the method of writing everything down that you eat if you want to lose weight? You can apply the same concept to saving gas!

By keeping a gas mileage log, you can determine how many miles you are getting for every tank of gas. It’s so simple, too. Just keep a pad of paper in your glove box and write down how many gallons you purchase and the mileage at the time. Then you can use some second grade math skills to figure out how many miles per gallon your car got since the last fill up.

But keeping a gas mileage log has many more benefits than that. If there’s a large decrease in your gas mileage between fill ups, there could be something wrong with your car. By knowing how many miles you’re supposed to get, you will notice something wrong right away. Some common problems that decrease your fuel economy include a dirty air filter, a misfiring spark plug, a dirty fuel injector or even improperly inflated tires.

Also, when you write down how many miles you drive from place to place, you can actually see how much you’re driving. You might even notice a huge number of unnecessary miles. It’s like dieters who write down everything they eat. After a few days, they’ve eaten much more than they thought they did so they know where they need to cut back.

Keep this tip in mind when you get a car from your local Buick dealer. It’s a simple and inexpensive way to keep your car in check while monitoring your miles at the same time.

On Monday, we posted a blog about a study that showed using a GPS device can help you save gas. But did you know that same study also said it can help you remain unstressed while on the road?

According to the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, 72 percent of drivers felt less stressed when they were using a GPS device while driving. In addition, the study also showed that nearly 60 percent of the drivers tested said they could focus on the road better when they used a GPS device.

One of the ways it helps you focus more is by telling you where roads are and when to turn. How many times have you almost hit another car because you were looking for street signs that were too small to read? A GPS device eliminates that because it tells you exactly how far away the street is. Even though you may need to glance at the device once in a while, you can still focus on the road and look at the device only when it’s safe to do so.

How many of you have a GPS device? Has it made your driving experiences more relaxed and enjoyable? If you don’t have one, why not visit your local Mercedes-Benz dealer and get a new or certified pre-owned vehicle that has one installed? It’s a great addition to any vehicle regardless of how much you drive around.