I just had to put the page break in there, somewhere.
I purchased a 2006 Honda Civic and loved the vehicle right up until I went over a speed bump now the car is NOT the same and I am so frustrated and heartbroken. I went over a speed bump this month and as soon as I went over it there was a horrible grinding noise that appeared to be coming from the sterring rack. Then to my horror, the car was NOT in Drive but somehow, having gone over the bump caused the vehicle to go into Neutral. When I tried to steer, the wheel did NOT have the tightness but rather was very loose! The steering would not go in the direction that I wanted it to. Immediately, I put the car in Park turned the ignition off and just sat in shock. My car is only 3 years old and it only has 18,400.00 klm on it. I thought to myself, how can this be happening? I haven’t had a problem before! The very next day, I took it in to the Honda dealership. They had it on the rack and also took it out for a test drive. The service person who took all my information looked into the computer and said I have the extended warranty for 5 years and this should be covered. It was a relieve to have the 5 years. However, the service guy told me that they can’t find anything wrong with my vehicle. I can’t believe that! I again was in shock! I know I am NOT loosing my mind! The car slipped into Neutral from Drive and a horrible loud griding noise from the sterring wheel could be heard OVER MY MUSIC! The steering wheel would not turn in the direction I wanted it too. I explained to the service guy what I had experienced from the car and that there is something terribly wrong and what I went through with this car is NOT NORMAL! The serviceman said there is nothing more that they can do for me! I asked what was done to the car. He said the mechanic looked at the brake line and all underneath the vehicle and that they went on a test drive with it and it appears to be FINE! At this point, I did’nt know what to do. In shock, frustrated and very upset, I drove home. The steering was way off! I had to oversteer just to do a basic right and left turn. Before the speed bump incident that was NOT THE CASE! I can differentiate between tight steering and a loose steering wheel. The steering wheel does not sit in center nor does it go back smoothing. Instead, it goes back in increments as if something is caught, broken, holding it. I have to bring the wheel back myself. Yet, I am NOT a MECHANIC and the mechanic and staff can’t see the problem. I can’t help but ask myself if I didn’t have the extended warranty would they be able to find the problem, fix it and how much $$$$ would I be out of pocket?
Last night, I watched a Flood Automotive Group TV ad touting “Cash for Clunkers.” The message was simple: Uncle Sam’s got $1 billion for clunkers. Come get $4500 for your clunker. Not a single word about which vehicles qualify for the money. It didn’t even refer viewers to a website for details—like this ad for C4C “designated” dealer Phil Fitts Ford. A quick ring ’round twenty dealers nationwide shows a definite “reluctance” to discuss the particulars of the CARS program over the phone. “I’m sure your vehicle will qualify,” a Chrysler dealer told me re: my theoretical 2005 Chrysler 300. “Bring it down and we’ll have a look.”
Today GM marketing announced another $1,000 rebate on old invoice units. To check eligibility the dealer enters the VIN into a website. A dealer who has properly managed his inventory will not have any units in stock that qualify, and is thereby less competitive and penalized. Dealer trades become difficult at best and the customer is confused when told that the car they want is more than the identical car sitting next to it that they don’t want.
America and Canada have spent tens of billions in taxpayer money “saving” Chrysler and GM. During this Year of Living Parasitically, Toyota hasn’t said boo to a proverbial goose. This despite the fact that a non-governmental ChryCo Old GM Chapter 11/7 would have eliminated most of the North American market’s production over-capacity, setting the stage for a more rapid recovery. Politics, doncha know. Anyway, yesterday, sitting in a Volt prototype at a Toronto GM Chevrolet dealership, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty made an announcement. After July 10, 2010, customers plunking for plug-in hybrid and battery electric vehicles would be eligible for a $10,000 rebate. The car most likely to be so blessed: the Chevy Volt. But that’s not what really got Toyota’s goat. As the Leader-Post reports, “Mr. McGuinty said he wants one out of every 20 vehicles in Ontario to be electrically powered by 2020.”
TTAC Commentator and sometime author Niky Tamayo gives us insight into New GM’s new Carmaro’s tranny probs, thanks to this technical bulletin (first published on Camaro5.com).
And here I was giving people crap for complaining about weak Camaro gearboxes suggesting, in all likelihood, hoonery was the cause of failure. But when GM itself cites the torque handling capabilities of the Camaro transmission as being a gnat’s hair higher than the engine’s peak torque. Then you can’t help but wonder how many more will blow before the uprate the transmission. While GM is in no way obligated to build indestructible transmissions for street cars that it has to warranty, you’d think they’d either allow themselves a little more leeway in transmission strength, given the fact that anyone buying a V8 Camaro isn’t likely to NOT hoon the hell out of it, or program the traction control or launch control to limit torque on hard launches . . . y’know . . . just in case.
TTAC commentator cc-rider needs some help with his sister’s choice of whips:
Two-and-a-half years ago, my sister bought a 2003 Certified Pre-Owned Volvo XC 70 wagon for $22K, with 55,000 miles on the clock. She now owns the car, out of warranty, knocking on the big rollover (100k). The XC’s dash lights in the gauges and half the instruments don’t work. After charging her $275 for a useless computer reflash, the stealership says it’s the DIM module: a $1200 dash off repair. Oh, and the car needs new lower control arm bushings and sway bar end links. Roughly $2000 all in. Last month, sis spent about $2600 on all new tires, replacing the steering rack and fixing some other front end parts. She has two kids and a large dog, and likes to separate the three (i.e. three rows). She figures she can get $7k for the XC and put another $7k towards her next ride. She’s close to pulling the trigger on a new Acadia out of sheer anger with this Volvo. Should she get in touch with her inner Lang (bring the XC to a local Volvo mechanic and sort it out), buy a New GM appliance or look for a Professional Grade upgrade?
The California Supreme Court has entered a ruling allowing motorists accused of driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) to question the reliability of the breathalyzer machinery used to secure convictions. The decision, however, leaves room for the conviction of drivers even when the machine is proved unreliable. The high court recognized that a breath testing machine does not directly measure the alcohol content in a person’s bloodstream. Rather, the device estimates from a sample of breath how much alcohol might be present in the blood using a conversion factor called the “partition ratio.” California’s breathalyzer machines assume that the amount of alcohol in 2100 milliliters of breath is equal to the amount of alcohol in 1 milliliter of blood.
I’ve never made any secret of the fact that I’m an auto industry analyst only in the most general sense of the term. In other words, I know what I know and I know some people who know what I don’t know. As they know, I need a good three or four renditions of the same financial information before I can even begin to get a grip on its scope, scale and importance. To wit: one of Our Best and Brightest sent me this little tidbit—Chrysler Financial’s Auto Securitization Trust 2009-A—with some explanatory notes. I’m still not sure what to make of it. You? [thanks to you know who you are]
The key takeway is on Page S-10 where they summarize that the raised $1.263 billion uses $1.641 billion of aggregate principal balance of vehicle purchase receivables owed to ChryslerFinancial (77,730 cars).
Page S-20 is the most interesting… basically it breaks down the $1.641 billion by the APR range and amount of the loans that fall in those APR categories. They smartly left off the average term length conditions, so you cannot calculate the present value of those dollar amounts; and instead just have to take the aggregate principal balance future value.
Back when TTAC was a voice in the wilderness on GM’s C11, I asked Bob Lutz if his pension was bankruptcy-proof. Maximum Bob scoffed and joked that he’d check with his accountant. Well, I guess he didn’t; the Car Czar recently revealed that hard times had forced him to sell one of his personal jets. After losing his shirt on GM stock options. The fact that MB’s working for New GM also indicates that he forgot to get while the getting was good. He should have had a word with his boss, Rick Wagoner. The ex-GM CEO, the man who wiped billions from the company’s worth and faceplanted the American automaker, made sure his financial future didn’t depend on anything as trivial as success.
“The recession has hit our industry hard,” said Thomas Goetz, owner of [Germany’s] Maison d’envie brothel.
“Obviously we hope that the discount will attract more people,” he added. “It’s good for business, it’s good for the environment – and it’s good for the girls.”
Customers who arrive on bicycle or who can prove they took public transportation get a 5-euro ($7) discount from the usual 70-euro ($100) fee for 45 minute sessions, Mr Goetz said. He said the environmentally friendly offer was working a charm.
“We have around 3-5 new customers coming in daily to take advantage of the discount,” he said, adding the green rebate has helped alleviate traffic and parking congestion in the neighbourhood. [hat tip to Justin Berkowitz]
As our previous story on New GM’s dealer oath indicated, New Chrysler and Government Motors are fighting a desperate battle to head-off H.R. 2743. The bill—which has cleared committee and continues to gather steam amongst the axed dealers’ political allies— would require the former bankrupts to take back thousands of terminated franchisees. “We’re open to a non-legislative solution,” Chrysler spinmeister John Bozzella told Automotive News [sub]. “We’re interested in a non-legislative solution,” GM spokesman Greg Martin echoed in an e-mail. Although the automakers’ media mates are happy to parrot the euphemism, let’s call this for what it is: a pay-off. Price tag? The two automakers sliced 2,789 dealerships. Even if you figure a paltry $1 million each, that’s a $2.789 billion fate-thee-well. Compared to the $70 billion to $100 billion-plus that Uncle Sam’s plowed into the zombie automakers, it’s a pittance. But the actual retail price of the showcase is likely to be . . . much more. Watch this space.
Glenn sent us a link to this list on oddee.com. And the winners are:
10. AMC Gremlin – Wikipedia: “Gremlin is an English folkloric creature, commonly depicted as mischievous and mechanically oriented, with a specific interest in aircraft. Although their origin is found in myths among airmen, claiming that the gremlins were responsible for sabotaging aircraft, John W. Hazen states that ‘some people’ derive the name from the Old English word gremian, ‘to vex’. Since World War II, different fantastical creatures have been referred to as gremlins, bearing varying degrees of resemblance to the originals.” Such as . . . Howie Mandel. The AMC Gremlin wasn’t known as much for mechanical malfunctions as its questionable styling. That said the name didn’t stop 671,475 American and Canadian customers from buying one. Well, I assume it was one.
The Ad Council and the NHTSA sent me a link to their campaign: “Buzzed Driving is Drunk Driving.” The ad and seat belt folks want Joe and Jane Q. Public to sign an e-pledge promising not to drive buzzed. Yes, well, what’s the definition of “buzzed”? At first, I thought it meant driving under the influence of non-alcoholic drugs: cannabis, crack, coke, Clonazepam, etc. (and those are just the “c”s). More poetically (though far less likely), I wondered if it had something to do with the after-effects of doing the horizontal mambo with Jill Wagner or [your choice of homosexual heartthrob here]. But no. The campaigners contend that “Buzzed driving is drunk driving.” So why not call it drunk driving? Theory: they’re trying to position the “technical” debate downwards, to the lowest possible Blood Alcohol Content level. Which ignores the simple, inescapable fact that the majority of drunk drivers are habitual offenders who are WAY over the legal limit. SUBMIT? Not without a little clarification, thanks. What say you?
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