Car Buyers

Imagine showing off your new car to friends and family only to get a call from the dealer — sometimes weeks later — saying your financing has fallen through. You're given the option of returning the car or signing a new sales agreement with terms that are likely less favorable. If you're like many buyers, consumer lawyers say, you will be too embarrassed to send the car back and opt to pay more instead. Consumer lawyers call this yo-yo financing, when dealers let buyers leave with a car and then reel them in again to say the agreement has changed.

Imagine showing off your new car to friends and family only to get a call from the dealer — sometimes weeks later — saying your financing has fallen through. You're given the option of returning the car or signing a new sales agreement with terms that are likely less favorable. If you're like many buyers, consumer lawyers say, you will be too embarrassed to send the car back and opt to pay more instead. Consumer lawyers call this yo-yo financing, when dealers let buyers leave with a car and then reel them in again to say the agreement has changed.

Detroit--Dickering over a new car is a daunting task for most Americans.Unless you know how much the dealer paid for the car, it's difficult to know where to begin or end the negotiations. And outwitting a car dealer is a tall order even for an experienced negotiator."As a cultural group, Americans don't like to haggle, and most of them are completely unprepared to haggle because they don't do their research," said Peter Levy, publisher of IntelliChoice Inc., an automotive information service in San Jose, Calif.

Gain a set of wheels, not a financial headache. If you're ready to buy a car for the first time, you don't want to be taken for a ride on this significant purchase. To make sure you don't overextend your budget and come to regret your decision, avoid these new-buyer mistakes: Focusing on the monthly payment. When you're just getting started, you may not have a lot of room in your budget for auto expenses after rent, utilities and food. So nabbing a low monthly car payment seems critical.

The Justice Department reportedly is looking into the increasingly popular practice of no-haggle selling by car dealers, including whether some may be engaging in price-fixing by the manufacturers and dealers, or perhaps even among dealers themselves.4 Is no-haggle pricing of cars good for consumers?Peter BrownEditor, Automotive NewsThe answer is yes for the great majority of consumers. There is a strong correlation in the car business between people who pay the listed price and know they are paying the same as everybody else and satisfaction.

It may be a buyer's market, but the Maryland attorney general's office has a warning for consumers: Pay less attention to that shiny new car and concentrate more on the purchase order fees included in your drive-home price.Some dealers in recent years have charged add-on fees that can boost the cost of a new car and complicate the whole purchasing process, the AG's office says.Such fees range from $10 to as much as an extra $1,295, according to records compiled by the AG's office. The average charge was about $100.

Americans will find it a lot easier to tell an imported car from a domestic model, under proposed legislation outlined today by Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski.The bill, which she said she plans to introduce when Congress reconvenes next week, would require every new car sold in this country to carry a sticker on the window revealing the percentage of American parts and labor in the vehicle."American car buyers have a right to know when they buy their Toyota or their Chevy what portion of that car comes from the United States of America," she said, announcing the measure at the United Auto Workers Local 239 union hall in southeast Baltimore.

Gain a set of wheels, not a financial headache. If you're ready to buy a car for the first time, you don't want to be taken for a ride on this significant purchase. To make sure you don't overextend your budget and come to regret your decision, avoid these new-buyer mistakes: Focusing on the monthly payment. When you're just getting started, you may not have a lot of room in your budget for auto expenses after rent, utilities and food. So nabbing a low monthly car payment seems critical.

FORT WORTH, Texas - Dottie Love does her homework before buying a car. Last year, Love began researching the Toyota Prius, a gas-electric hybrid, in hopes it would save her money on her 100-mile-a-day commute. She was soon faced with conflicting data. Consumer Reports said the car would get an average of 50 miles per gallon. But the Environmental Protection Agency said the car would get closer to 60 mpg. Conversations with Prius owners online indicated she should expect to get the lower figure.

The American love affair with the automobile is as strong as ever, but satisfying our transportation needs is becoming increasingly complicated. "There are so many choices today for young people," said George E. Hoffer, an auto analyst and professor of economics at Virginia Commonwealth University. "To buy or to lease? A new car or a used car? It's not a one-size-fits-all situation. Each person's needs are different." As if that weren't enough to think about, Hoffer advises auto shoppers to pay as much attention to the details of financing a car as to the vehicle's options, color or style.

CHICAGO -- The quality of modern cars would astonish a time traveler arriving from 1966 or even 1986. Today, we take it for granted that cars are not supposed to break down. Once upon a time, we took it for granted they were destined to spend much of their lives in the shop. The change is a tribute to the transformative power of capitalism and global commerce. A few decades ago, American automakers were the titans of American industry, bestriding the economy like a colossus. But in recent years, they have been relentlessly out-competed by foreign automakers that have forced them to strive for ever-rising standards.

DETROIT -- The next big thing in cars is, well, small. General Motors Corp., Nissan Motor Co., Toyota Motor Co. and Honda Motor Corp. are among major automakers planning on launching new subcompact cars next year that deliver high fuel economy and some unexpected features at an affordable price of about $10,000 to $12,000. With gas prices over $2 a gallon, many drivers are willing to give up space and comfort for economy. For the first time since 1981, cars are outselling the combined results of pickups, sport utility vehicles and minivans.

The weekly visit to the gas pump is starting to bite, and bite hard. The fill-up that drivers shrugged off at $25 is suddenly putting a real dent in family budgets at $50 or more. So, is the pain of $2.70 a gallon enough to end America's love affair with gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles? Not quite yet, industry analysts say. Buyers are beginning to put fuel efficiency higher among their priorities for their next car - but there's no SUV divorce in sight. "It's not accurate to say SUVs are no longer popular, or are not being sold because of their fuel economy," said Brian Chee, an analyst with Autobytel, one of the most popular Web sites for new car buyers.

FORT WORTH, Texas - Dottie Love does her homework before buying a car. Last year, Love began researching the Toyota Prius, a gas-electric hybrid, in hopes it would save her money on her 100-mile-a-day commute. She was soon faced with conflicting data. Consumer Reports said the car would get an average of 50 miles per gallon. But the Environmental Protection Agency said the car would get closer to 60 mpg. Conversations with Prius owners online indicated she should expect to get the lower figure.

Bargain-conscious shoppers snubbed their noses at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. when it tried to back away from its low-price promise and raised the prices on toys over the holiday season. Department stores also had to rethink their strategy when sales lagged as consumers waited for better deals. Now, the car industry is feeling the pains of a consumer public that has gotten so used to discount shopping that it often won't buy at regular price. Car dealers have raked in record sales in recent years by luring customers with tantalizing incentives such as zero-percent interest and rebates worth several thousand dollars.

Marylanders say they're very concerned about the high price of gasoline. So concerned, in fact, that in a new statewide poll for The Sun, 62 percent of those surveyed said they will think twice about the size and gas mileage of the next car they buy. But the same poll shows that when it comes to taking simple gas-saving steps like using public transportation, cutting down on shopping trips or vacationing closer to home, an even larger percentage are...

Used-car megadealers such as Carmax will soon face a competitor with 150 times the inventory -- in cyberspace of course. AutoConnect.com and Auto Trader Online, two of the largest used-car buying sites on the Internet, said yesterday that they will join forces in one of the fastest-growing segments of electronic commerce. The merger, which is planned for the fall, would provide consumers one stop on the Internet to find nearly 1.5 million used-car and truck listings from dealers and individuals nationwide.

In an attempt to crack down on car dealers who advertise and sell "new" cars that have been previously sold or driven, state officials are drafting regulations that would, for the first time, clearly define just what a "new" auto is.State Motor Vehicle Administration officials say that within a few weeks they expect to publish proposed regulations that will set time and mileage limits for "new" cars, potentially forcing autos that have, for example, been...

All the new car come-ons promoting fancy gizmos, exterior styling or roomy cabins might be missing the point these days for some car buyers - easing the pain at the pump. With gasoline prices at record highs, fuel efficiency is increasingly at the top of the list. "The magic threshold is $1.75 [per gallon]. That's when people get concerned," said Paul Ritchie, a Hagerstown Honda dealer who is vice chairman of the Maryland New Car Dealers Association. "Back when gas was really low, we seldom heard anybody mention miles per gallon when they came in to talk about a car."

WHEN Mike Schmidt bought a new car recently, he didn't bother to trade in his old one. "Over the years, I've lost my taste for car dealers and haggling," said Schmidt of Dundalk. Instead, for the third time in a half-dozen years, Schmidt donated a car to charity. He turned over the title of his 1993 Toyota Camry to the National Kidney Foundation of Maryland and waited for the car to be towed away. When he files his tax return, he expects to claim a $2,000 charitable deduction for the donation.