"Consumers are more protected when they get a haircut then when they buy, lease or service an automobile..." - R. Rand Knox
"It is a peculiarity of our social, educational and economic systems that citizens graduate from high schools, colleges, and graduate schools without any instruction in how to purchase or service an automobile without getting taken for a ride every time. The automobile is the most expensive product people will buy, own, and operate over a lifetime, yet we take little if any time or effort in educating ourselves, our loved ones, and others in protecting our economy, consumers, and the auto industry from the many costly tricks of the Great American Car Deal." - R. Rand Knox
Even rocket scientists know Jack Squat Diddly about buying, leasing or servicing an automobile... - R. Rand Knox
"The secret to acting is honesty, if you can fake that you've got it made..." - George Burns
"If you want to control people, promise them freedom..." - L. Ron Hubbard
Americanism means the virtues of courage, honor, justice, truth, sincerity, and hardihood-the virtues that made America. The things that will destroy America are prosperity-at-any-price, peace-at-any-price, safety-first instead of duty-first, the love of soft living and the get-rich-quick theory of life. - Theodore Roosevelt
I never would believe that Providence had sent a few men into the world, ready booted and spurred to ride, and millions ready saddled and bridled to be ridden. - Richard Rumbold
"Hey, if there's no problem, what's the problem; with a little regulation and professionalism in the auto sales and service "profession"?
Every other credible profession (doctors, real estate agents and brokers, lawyers, plumbers) is governed by a state professional regulatory agency; even hair dressers.
In America we are more protected when we get a haircut then when we buy, lease or service automobiles...
Why not train, test, license and monitor auto dealers and mechanics... similar to the way we regulate every other reputable trade and profession? Hint: ($$$,$$$,$$$.$$) What's the problem with repairing the costly anti-social and anti-consumer dings in the Great American Car deal? None, but if it's not done right, with proper oversight and enforcement, it could merely bolster consumer confidence to their peril and detriment and to the undeserved benefit of the auto industry. Lets just do it right!
We knew we were on the right road, headed in the right direction in highlighting the shortcomings of the automobile industry when someone left a message on the answering machine, suggesting we were responsible for the economic and social problems in America for merely seeking fairness in car sales and service practices. (Some dealers have e-mailed that we are maligning their good names, although references and general information point to the industry itself as causal for its low public repute). Hum, well that makes perfect sense, improving the automobile marketplace for consumers, for manufacturers and for dealers would certainly be a dragster peeling out on the economy and society, now wouldn't it? (:-). Comments, excuses and apologies from industry apologists and satisfied and tricked consumers are welcomed. Inside dirt and favorite dealer or auto manufacturer tricks welcomed too.
The absence of any credible visible industry or government programs or policies (please send us a copy if you find any, er, one) to police up the auto industry of its unfair, manipulative and fraudulent car sales and service practices that costs our friends and families (family values?) billions in unearned and ill-gotten profits, requires an affirmative consumer response! Don't wait for Speaker Gingrich and his party of Newtzis or even the Demublicans to help out, for they appear to believe that you and your friends and families are or will be better able to fight private corporate government (Corporate Hall vs. City Hall?) [Corporacrats] on your own without the assistance of fair consumer protection laws. Such laws properly enforced would help the automobile industry increase unit sales by improving consumer confidence, as much as it would help consumers avoid expensive and inflationary value-subtracted costs caused by the many Tricks of the Great American Car Deal. Even baseball has rules and umpires, and its only a game which costs far less to get into! A lifetime of new car purchases, maintenance, and loan interest costs equals or exceeds the average American home costs. We regulate the real estate industry. So why is the automobile industry so special not to be regulated similarly? Because consumers have not demanded that this industry be regulated, and because consumers have paid for the auto industry lobbyists who buy industry favorable legislation at Uncle Sam's factory outlet store. How long before American auto consumers wake up and demand their fair share of Uncle Sam's goodies. How much of the price of your last car deal or lease paid for industry efforts to prevent consumer and environmental protection and safety regulations for the automobile industry? How much paid for industry attorney fees to fight consumers? How much paid for excessive executive salaries? How much paid for emotionally charged "industry serving" advertising? Etc.? If you are not thinking about these sorts of questions, you may be part of the car deal problem...read-on...you don't have to repeat past car deal mistakes every time you buy or lease a new car! Paying more does not guarantee that your next new car or new car deal or lease will not become an expensive and frustrating lemon, or that you will not be dinged by the dealer on hidden or undisclosed damages, defects or repairs. (Bad or unscrupulous dealers are not in the habit of admitting to unfair or manipulative or fraudulent sales or service practices, and before the fact, good and bad dealers resemble each other in outward appearances, regardless of representations and appearances.). So, why pay more and reward this industry for its traditions of sham? Ding back, first!
By conservative estimates, fraudulent sales and service practices in the automobile industry alone last year cost America's friends and families $22,000,000,000.00 (22 billion dollars). Odometer fraud costs consumers $10,000,000,000 (10 billion dollars) every year in America ('...the home of the free (markets) and the land of the brave (consumers)...'?) Add up all the cost of auto sales and service fraud and the total costs to us approaches $75 to $100 Billion or more, and this does not include the costs of legal but unfair and manipulative auto sales and service practices which costs us tens of billions more in inflated profits for the auto industry. Our friends and families are robbed of hundreds of millions, perhaps billions more in inflated costs and profits by unfair and manipulative automobile sales and service practices every year. These practices unfortunately are often condoned by consumers, government and the industry. Over half a million (500,000) consumer complaints were formally filed by consumers last year with consumer protection agencies. The majority of these involved car purchase and service issues. Only 4% of aggrieved consumers even bother to complain about their mistreatment, and the few who do complain, do so ineffectively. Your (supposedly) government has not heard your voice about the Great American Car Deal Sham, and the costs of the free auto deal and service "market" to our friends and families. Speak up!
We're reminded of the following ditty in this regard: Car Sales Ode (?):
So, you say you know Jack... about the tricks of the Great American Car Deal?
"Hi there, I'm Jack:"
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Good CARma ... Your help in maintaining this "Free" consumer awareness / activist page is needed, welcomed, and sincerely appreciated. Non-tax deductible donation(s) or gifts of any amount from good deal tips, or $0.01 to an "Infinity", or merely a small percentage of the big bucks you save from your next car sales, lease or service deal, are gratefully received by: Rand Knox
Its the great American way, but try not to freeload - its bad CARma! Save that for your next car deal-er. Avoid getting MadagasCAR. Hey, you likely paid hundreds, perhaps thousands more than your last car purchase or lease was worth, and you now have some additional guerrilla car consumer ammunition for repairing the dings in the Great American Car Deal to save you from excessive pricing and other spendy tricks on your next car deal, lease or service. So what's five, ten, fifteen, twenty, or twenty-five dollars or more to keep CARveat Emptor tuned up and running down the virtual highway... so we don't have to take a low-ball industry offer to buy us down off the net? (:- ). If not to CARveator, consider a donation to one or another of the several reputable consumer non-profits working to make the marketplace more consumer responsive. And the next time you get dinged on a car deal or lease, ask yourself what you've done lately to do anything substantive about it, like SIMPLY writing a letter or letting your local, state and national government representatives know how you feel about the institutionalized sham factor traditions in the Great American Car Deal, aided and abetted by government's ignorance and indifference. Thanks for helping keep this jalopy running. Are you towing your fair share of the dingy car deal repair load...?
Support compassionate use -- and decriminalize the use of drugs -- educate and treat addicts -- Take the profit motive, crime, and violence out of the illicit drug industrial complex. (Decriminalization of drugs is supported by William F. Buckley, George Schultz, and other episodically rational conservatives.) Incentivize quality job creation and education opportunities for all Americans. Stop wasteful corporate welfare. Don't drink or smoke and drive or drive while under the influence of drugs. Designate a driver and take the keys. A taxi fare is less than the cost of a DUI or accident.