Word to the Wise From Consumers Auto Warehouse

Match Your Tax Refund

2012-01-23T12:13:00.005-05:00

Consumers Auto Warehouse will match your tax refund up to $1000 when you use part of your tax refund to buy a vehicle this tax season. We can even efile your tax return here and have you driving the same day.

If credit is a problem for you, don't worry! We are the CREDIT EXPERTS and can find a lender willing to work with you. Establish new, positive credit while driving a great vehicle. Ask about our courtesy credit review!

Apply today at www.cawcawcaw.com. You can see our entire inventory, view Carfax reports and and chat live with any questions or concerns!

Check us out on dealerrater.com to see what your friends and neighbors are saying about us!

Do The Right Thing

2011-11-09T11:29:00.004-05:00

In the news the last few days, we have heard the graphic and disgusting details of the sex scandal at Penn State University in State College, PA. For anyone living under a rock, Jerry Sandusky, a former defensive coordinator for Penn State was arrested for multiple acts of deviant sexual behavior on young boys. Also caught up in the scandal were coaches and administrators from Penn State, with two officials being charged with perjury for testimony they provided to a grand jury.

Without going into the nasty details of the alleged offenses, I doubt any reasonable person could look at the situation without a high level of disgust toward Sandusky. Here's a guy who created a charity for at-risk boys, then used the charity and his connections to Penn State to take sexual advantage of young boys. I think there is a special place in hell for people like him.

But perhaps more offensive to me are the people surrounding this horrible person and how they have ducked and covered since this incident came to light. Let's start with the graduate assistant who witnessed Sandusky raping a young boy in the Penn State showers. This guy failed in the most basic way to STOP THE RAPE! I mean, come on! The graduate assistant was 28 years old and a former football player. He had the means and ability to bust in there and save the boy -- but instead ran to his office and called his daddy. It's just sickening. Then the venerable Joe Paterno is notified (the next damn day by the way) and waits another day to tell his boss. That's it. No follow up. No call to the cops. Nothing.

Paterno's boss (and his boss and the university president) then proceeded to handle the whole thing administratively. Sandusky was asked to stop bringing his victims on campus. That's it. He wasn't banned from campus. He wasn't arrested. He wasn't kicked out of his office. He continued to hold football camps at Penn State satellite campuses. He kept an office in the football area. He still worked out in the locker room. Every day, Joe Pa and the graduate assistant (now a coach at PSU) saw him hanging around and bringing kids to athletic events and they said nothing. Hell, the university even invited Sandusky to give a commencement speech in 2007.

So why do I care? Why bother writing about this? It is about doing the right thing. I have three sons and want to teach these boys to be good people. And being a good person means doing the right thing regardless of the outcome. I have to assume the people involved in this scandal are relatively intelligent folks. We are talking about university employees, administrators and even presidents. They probably have letters after their names like PHD and the like. So they aren't dumb. But why didn't their moral compass point them in the right direction?

We live in society where doing the right thing is often not rewarded. Good Samaritans are often sued for "damage" they cause in their rescue efforts. Our political leaders behave in ways that you wouldn't want to explain to your children. Bad behaviour often leads to celebrity status even for average folks.

But those behaviors started somewhere -- maybe we need to look at ourselves. Have you ever asked your child to lie about his age to get the kid's price at a restaurant or theme park? Is it okay to fudge the numbers a little on your taxes? Have you ever been charged the wrong price for something (lower) and kept that little tidbit to yourself?

It may be cliche, but having integrity means doing the right thing when no one is looking -- not just when you think you might get caught or after you get caught. In business it means providing your customers with full disclosure even when you aren't required to do so. It means selling quality products and standing behind your service -- even if it costs more to do.

I want my boys to be GOOD people -- not just people who do the minimum required of them. We should expect more of ourselves.

The Mob, The Money and Your Business

2011-08-11T14:03:00.002-04:00

It is tough to run a business. I don't suspect many non-business owners are going to feel sorry for me, but if you've ever owned your own company, you will understand what I am saying.

First, there are the normal stresses of running a business: You need to sell a decent product or service, you have constant cash flow concerns, borrowing issues, customer service situations to deal with, etc. The actual process of being your own boss is not for the faint of heart.

Then you have the great joys associated with dealing with government regulations and requirements. Before I opened Consumers Auto Warehouse 12 years ago, I had to apply for a federal tax id number, a state tax id number, a state sales tax license, car dealer license, employee withholding license, tire tax license and on and on. Each month I am required to submit withholding tax every other week to both the state and federal government. I file a rental tax return each month and a sales tax return each month. Each quarter I submit a federal return, state return, federal unemployment return, state unemployment return, and tire tax return. Each year I must also reconcile all those returns and submit my local business license tax return, personal property tax return and my property tax return. I often wonder when I am supposed to have time to run my business!

Recently, however, my ire has been directed at three groups that might as well syndicate into the mafia -- the phone company, the credit card processing company, and the waste management company. I won't re-bore you with my dealings with Verizon, although I find it totally humorous that the recent news shows their employees on strike. You can't fix stupid I guess and I hope Verizon fires them all and starts with some new, less "entitled" employees.

Credit card processors have always been crooked. They change the terms of your contract, lock you into long term, auto renewing contracts and basically bait and switch you once you sign up. (One exception has been Farmers and Merchants Bank -- they have been perfect so far). I signed up with a company called Access Fleet last year because they offered my service department the opportunity to market to small businesses with a fleet card. It didn't work too well, but their processing was going ok so I did not worry. Then they sent me a notice that I was going to be charged $130 a year for PCI compliance. I won't bore you with what PCI compliance is, but it amounts to a 1 page survey about how you store credit card information. When I argued about the fee, I was told "read your contract". Well, I did and found that I could refuse the fee and cancel my contract. So I did.

Now they are still charging me, so I have to dispute that. And they are taking on a "non-compliant" PCI fee of $19.95 per month. They are worse than the mafia. How many small business owners out there, covered in government red tape, are actually reading their credit card statements each month? There are probably tens of thousands of businesses who continue to pay these junk fees without much notice each billing period!

Finally, the waste management companies -- what a ripoff these places are. They are notorious for long contracts and hidden fees as well. After getting stung by Allied Waste and an automatically renewing 3 year contract a while back, I refuse to sign up for a more than 12 months with any of these companies. My current company just tried to get me to pay a $12.00 monthly increase and told me my contract had automatically renewed again. Luckily, I keep all my paperwork, so I dug up my contract and faxed it in. Amazingly, I was offered a renewal contract at $20 LESS per month than I was currently paying. Wow!

So, if you are a small business owner, check your invoices every month. Look for hidden "regulatory" or "administrative" fees. It could be costing you thousands!

Is Gas Really That Expensive?

2011-04-22T19:09:00.002-04:00

If they air one more news story about how devastating the price of gas is, I think I might puke. Enough is enough already! Here's a few things to consider next time you start bellyaching about $4.00 gasoline:

Historical Prices
When I think back to when I was first driving in the 80s, gas was $1.00 to $1.50 per gallon. That was almost 30 years ago. So, its 3 to 4 times as expensive now and as a statistic that sounds horrible. But how much was a house in 1980? $50,000 -- now its $175,000 to $200,000. A loaf of bread as $.48 and now is $2.50 -- a stamp was $.15 and now its $.44. So gas is no more expensive now relative to other stuff than it was 30 years ago. And vehicles are more fuel efficient now, so your real cost of travel is actually lower.

What's The Real Damage?
Gas is about $1.00 more per gallon than it was a year ago. So how much is that going to hurt you? If you drive a vehicle that gets 20 mpg and you travel 300 miles per week -- that's 15 gallons of gas. About a tank in most cars. It will set you back $15.00 per week more than last year.

Oh my! $15.00. I better start canceling my summer vacation! Really? $15.00. If it hurts that bad, I can think of lots of ways to make up $15.00. Carpool one day. A few less lattes at Starbucks. Get rid of your home phone (who the hell uses a home phone anymore anyway?) Cancel cable and get Netflix. Save 15% on car insurance. Take a few less trips in the car.

But is the sky falling? No. It is $15.00 a week. Work an hour of overtime or skip McDonalds for dinner once this week.

Perspective Please?
My example assumed you drove a car that only got 20 mpg. You car might get 25 or 30. You might drive a little more or less than 300 miles per week (that's 40+ miles per day, everyday by the way). So it might only be costing you $5-10 per week. And unless you drive a race car and travel 100 miles per day, its not hurting you more than $20-$40. You can make that up somewhere else if you try.

Over 27,000 people died in Japan and millions are homeless. Lots of people are still out of work. The government is full of idiots There are plenty of things to be upset about, but $4.00 gas is not one of them. It is not a conspiracy or a plot by evil oil companies. Simple supply and demand and inflation folks. That is all.

Why Verizon Sucks

2011-04-04T21:37:00.002-04:00

Well, here's a rant that has little to do with the auto industry, but lots to do with running a business in general.

At Consumers Auto Warehouse, we have been nTelos customers for 11 years. They might still have been called CFW at the time. When we moved our dealership from Waynesboro to Staunton, we entered Verizon's territory, but opted to stay with nTelos.

Say what you will about nTelos -- they don't have the newest wireless stuff, their DSL is a little slow, and since I am in Verizon territory, they lease the lines from them and everything takes two visits to get right, but they have provided us with pretty good service for 11 years.

Verizon has been trying to get our business for years now. And every time they come calling, they can't offer us something good enough to make us switch. I didn't want the hassle and headaches. A few months ago, they got me though. About $70.00 per month cheaper with faster DSL, no install fee, blah blah blah. I figured I had to get a better deal -- I mean, nTelos isn't leasing my lines for free plus if I have service issues in the future, it would be better to call on the actual owner of the lines, right?

Well, no.

The only thing I stressed to the agent who signed me up was that my dealership could not operate without phone and dsl -- even for 1 minute. All our dealership software runs on the internet and our service department is connected to our dealership through DSL, so no DSL, no dealership.

I'll just give you the highlights: On March 15, Verizon showed up to switch me over. However, they failed to get my DSL order in, so I would not have any internet until they came back. Deal breaker! So they left without doing anything. Apparently, they failed to notify nTelos, who shut off ALL my service the next day. nTelos turned it back on after a few phone calls.

So, I recalled my rep at Verizon, told her what happened and got all kinds of assurances that it would not happen again. They scheduled my switch for April 15. On March 30, they shut off my phones and DSL again. After a quick phone call, they told us they could not come to check on things for 24 hours! nTelos was no longer in the loop, so we had NO PHONE SERVICE OR DSL FOR a day and half.

They finally arrived at noon on the 31st. They got some of my phones working, but no DSL, no fax lines, no credit card machines. So I am still out of business with no internet.

On the 1st, the come back and tell me that they screwed up the day before and fix the internet in one location. But, the "order" was not complete on the other DSL line, so I still have no way to connect service to sales. Today, they shut my DSL service off again.

Finally, after threatening to throw their modems onto route 250, a tech came by and "fixed" one of the DSLs. Amazingly, he admitted that their main office apparently UNDID the fixes from the previous day because someone didn't fill out the work order.

So, 5 days later, I still have no DSL in service.

I am in the process of switching back to nTelos. Verizon can kiss it. Their staff doesn't care and they have to be the most unorganized company I have ever worked with. It's no wonder people are shutting off their landlines. Verizon, you suck.

Even If Your Credit Sucks, Buying A Car Doesn't Have To

2011-01-05T21:20:00.005-05:00

So, Your Credit Sucks

If your credit does suck, that will mean that financing a vehicle might be a tricky and expensive proposition for you. Here are some common sense things you can do to help improve your chances of getting approved, getting a better interest rate, and smart ways to finance a vehicle.

Learn How Bad Your Credit Sucks
Credit suckiness is a relative term and lots of factors go into getting an approval. The first thing you should do is review your credit report. You can do this for free at www.annualcreditreport.com. Fix any mistakes and clean up your report before applying for a car loan.

Bonus: There is a new federal law that requires all lenders to provide you with some basic information, including your credit score, if they cannot offer you the best available rate. Make sure your car dealer provides that to you.

Save Up Your Money Most banks that will finance someone with credit issues require a down payment of 10 to 20%. But that is the minimum you should consider. Aim for 30-50% down. This has two great benefits for you. First, your chances of getting approved are greater with a big down payment. Banks love equity. Also, if you are approved, a lower loan-to-value ratio for the bank will generally mean a lower interest rate for you.

Beware: Make sure your car dealer doesn't just jack up the price and "capture" your down payment. Negotiate and shop around.

Buy The Cheapest Car That Works For You Most everyone wants a loaded, luxurious vehicle with low mileage and alloy rims. But when you are paying 18-24% interest, that stuff just costs you lots of money. Buy an older car and keep your amount financed lower.

Beware: Make sure you get your car checked by an independent mechanic, ask about a warranty, and get the Carfax report.

Go For The Higher Payment Well, no. Don't do that -- make sure its a payment you can afford so you don't make your credit worse. But yes, keep the term short and the interest you pay will be less. A slightly higher payment can save you thousands in interest.

Bonus: A shorter payback terms means you build equity faster and can trade sooner if your credit improves.

Make Sure It Is Reported Big problem here -- you get a car from a dealer where you make the payments at the dealership. You pay faithfully for 3 years and what do you have? An older, paid off car! But no credit. Do Not finance a car anywhere unless the credit will report to at least one of the national credit reporting agencies.

Beware: Have your dealer put it in writing. Just because he says he will report the credit doesn't mean he will

So, get informed, save up the cash, buy a less expensive car for the shortest possible term and you will be on the road to credit success! If you have any questions or want a free credit review, contact me at Consumers Auto Warehouse in Staunton, VA. You can call us at 540-213-0202, email me at ajwiley@cawcawcaw.com or apply online at www.cawcawcaw.com.

Tips For Avoiding A Vehicle Breakdown

2010-03-27T21:07:00.002-04:00

Here are some great hints about keeping yourself off the shoulder as the summer driving season starts.

1. Dead battery

This is often the culprit when your engine won't start. All batteries weaken over time. In addition, infrequent use, a lot of short trips, or multiple accessories being used when the headlights are on can leave the battery undercharged. If you forget to turn off a light or you listen to the radio with the engine off, the battery could be too weak to start the engine when you need it.

How to prevent it:

Although the effect of a drained battery often shows up on cold mornings, it's the high temperatures of summer that usually do the most damage. So a battery can go at any time. That's why you should have the battery and alternator tested as part of an annual safety inspection.

2. Flat tire or blowout

Flats and blowouts can be caused by a road hazard, a tire defect, or lack of care. At best they interrupt your trip and force you to change the tire or call for assistance; at worst they can cause you to lose control of the vehicle. If you experience either, take a firm grip on the wheel and gently guide the car off the road as soon as possible.

How to prevent it:

Many tire problems result from underinflated tires that overheat. Keep all tires, even the spare, properly inflated to the automaker's recommended pressure by checking them at least monthly. And pay attention to warnings from the car's tirepressure monitoring system, if there is one. Also inspect the tire sidewalls for bulges or cracks. If you see such warning signs, replace the tire immediately. Replacing all four tires at a time is best, and it's a must on all-wheeldrive vehicles.

3. Fluid leak

An undetected leak in a critical system can be devastating, possibly resulting in a blown engine or transmission or even brake failure.

How to prevent it:

Check the car's fluid levels regularly; refer to your owner's manual. Also look for leaks on the pavement where you park. Black drips are oil; green, orange, or yellow are coolant; and brown or reddish oily drips can be transmission or brake fluid. Any of those can spell trouble. Have a mechanic inspect the car if you spot any fresh leaks.

4. Worn-out wipers or no fluid

Many accidents are a result of poor visibility. Often you don't realize your wipers are shot or the washer tank is empty until your visibility is limited, such as in a heavy rain or snowstorm or in the glaring sun with a dirty windshield. And a torn wiper blade can allow the wiper arm to rub against the glass, possibly ruining the windshield.

How to prevent it:

In our tests, we've found that wipers usually degrade in performance after only six months. Get new ones at least twice a year; the Valeo 600 Series, RainX Latitude, Anco 32 Series, and Michelin RainForce top our Ratings. Keep the windshield-washer reservoir full. Pack spare wiper blades and a gallon of nonfreezing washer fluid in the trunk.

5. Blown fuse

When a fuse goes, it can disable a critical electrical system, such as the headlights, defroster, or antilock brake system, any of which could lead to an accident.

What to do:

You can't prevent an electrical problem, but a blown fuse should be the first thing you check if your car experiences one. Carry a selection of spare fuses and a fuse puller in the car; fuse kits (about $5 to $20) are available at auto parts stores. Check your owner's manual for the correct type and amp ratings, and for how to replace them. Never replace a fuse with one of a higher amp rating. If the same fuse blows repeatedly, have a mechanic inspect the system.

6. Broken drive belt

It can disable the car's water pump or alternator, leading to battery failure or engine overheating. And when it comes to maintenance, belts are easy to forget.

How to prevent it:

Periodically check the belts under the hood visually and by feeling them. If any one has cracks or the rubber is fraying or feels brittle, it should be replaced. If there's a lot of slack in the belt, the underside is shiny, or you hear squealing while driving, it should be adjusted or repaired. Most drive belts should be replaced after about 60,000 miles; see your owner's manual.

7. Locked out

We've all done this. At best, it's a minor annoyance; at worst, it's a serious problem when you're in an unsafe environment.

How to prevent it:

Keep a spare door key handy. Some carmakers provide a valet key or a plastic key for emergency use. If it won't fit in a purse or wallet, consider putting it in a magnetic box ($5 to $10) and hiding it beneath the car or behind the license plate. Often a dealer can cut a door key for much less than what a locksmith would charge if you provide the car's vehicle identification number and registration. Telematics services, such as GM's OnStar, can unlock a car remotely.

Almost all of these problems can be prevented by having your car serviced regularly. Consider Warehouse Auto Repair in Staunton, where we can provide every service for your car, truck, van or suv. If your check engine light is on, we can scan it for free!

We are located at 549 Richmond Avenue, Staunton, VA 24401. Call for an appointment at 540*213*1300.

Tips For Subprime Borrowers and How Edmunds Got It Wrong Again

2009-12-05T11:46:00.002-05:00

Edmunds.com is a great site to go to for basic information about vehicles with reviews from editors and real life customers. The site also shows you warranty information for vehicles and gives you a pricing guide.

But Edmunds also gives advice while painting all car dealerships with a broad, and unflattering, brush. They seem to think that all dealers are out to gouge their customers and screw their lenders. Its like saying that all golfers cheat on their wives! Anyway, here are some "hints" from Edmunds and the truth behind their faulty advice.

Edmunds Advice # 1 -- Check Your Credit Report
Edmunds.com advises you to regularly check your credit report. I cannot argue with them there. It is a good idea to keep a handle on your credit report and how things show up. Studies show that up to 4 of 5 credit reports contain errors.

Edmunds Advice # 2 -- Access Your Score
Here the only get it partly right. They recommend getting your credit score from each of the three credit reporting agencies -- Equifax, Experian and Transunion. But they don't tell you that:

You have to pay for the score
There are different scores for each report and some don't have anything to do with auto financing
Usually one credit reporting agency is dominant in your area. Getting your scores from the other companies is a waste of time and money.

Edmunds Advice # 3 - Don't Rely on the Dealer

Well, you can imagine I would have an issue with this one! Edmunds claims that "Dealers take a cut of all car financing deals they land," suggesting that we mean old car dealers make money every time we get a loan approved. This could not be farther from the truth. Most often, we have to "pay" to get your loan purchased (called a discount). Borrowers with little to no chance of getting financing on their own are afforded the chance to improve their credit because a car dealer was willing to pay a fee to get the loan bought.

These fees can range from a few hundred dollars to thousands of dollars. And even on the few loans wherein dealers are paid a commission based on the rate, the customers could not get financing approved under the same or better terms on their own. Local banks and finance companies are just not willing to do these kinds of loans on a face value basis.

Surely if you can get approved with your local credit union or bank, you should do that and compare rates. But if your are a "subprime" borrower, odds are you cannot and should go see a dealer. We would be happy to help you at www.cawcawcaw.com.

Edmunds Advice #4 - Shop Around

You should always explore your options, but remember, each time you apply for credit it is recorded on your credit report. And if you apply at different type places (i.e., a bank, a credit union, a finance company), it will lower your score, making it harder for you to get approved. If you apply through a dealers, most of the inquiries are lumped together as one and will NOT hurt your score. So there is another time a dealer can help when others cannot!

So, to wrap things up -- Edmunds is right that you should stay informed and that knowing your credit score is important. But their advice to steer clear of dealers and to shop around is for the birds. You should just pick a dealer you can trust who would like to do more than just sell you a car. A dealer like us - Consumers Auto Warehouse in Staunton, VA. Give us a call at 877-972-2769 or send us an email at ajwiley@cawcawcaw.com.

Warehouse Auto Repair to offer $19.95 oil changes to Crow Club Members

2009-11-26T13:44:00.002-05:00

More and more consumers are opting to keep their vehicles longer rather than trade them in. Newer model vehicles are built better and can last much longer than vehicles built in the past. But consumers wanting to keep their vehicles longer must pay attention to vehicle maintenance better than before.

Often consumers will jump from shop to shop looking for the cheapest oil change. While saving a few bucks every few months, these consumers are actually hurting their chances of keeping their vehicles in good working order. By using one shop consistently, odds are you will catch minor problems with your car before they become major problems.

Warehouse Auto Repair has decided to lower its every day oil change price to $19.95 for most vehicles (up to 5 quarts of synthetic blend oil). This offer is good only for members of the Crow Club, our exclusive rewards program. Signing up is free. Now consumers need not worry about getting the best price on an oil change and miss having their vehicle checked over consistently by the same trained technicians.

To schedule an oil change or to join the Crow Club, just call us at 540-213-1300 today. Warehouse Auto Repair is located in Staunton, VA on Route 250 (Richmond Road). We offer state inspections, oil changes, tires, brakes, free check engine light scanning, and major and minor engine work.

Consumers Auto Warehouse to Serve As Drop Off Location for Toys For Tots

2009-11-19T14:29:00.004-05:00

Consumers Auto Warehouse and Warehouse Auto Repair in Staunton, VA have volunteered to serve as drop off locations for this year's Toys For Tots Campaign. Anytime now through December 21, 2009, just drop off an unwrapped toy at either the sales office or the service department. Toys For Tots volunteers will come around and collect those toys before Christmas to make sure needy boys and girls in the local area have something to be happy about this Christmas.

"We are excited to help with this worthy cause once again this year," says Andrew Wiley, Owner of Consumers Auto Warehouse/Warehouse Auto Repair. "We love to help with charitable causes, but especially like this one because it helps out local kids."

As an added incentive, Warehouse Auto Repair will offer every customer who brings in an unwrapped toy a certificate for a $17.95 oil change. That is basically a half price oil change just for doing a good deed and giving a little boy or girl a chance at a Merry Christmas.

Warehouse Auto Repair is open from Monday - Friday 8 am to 5 pm. Consumers Auto Warehouse is open from Monday - Friday, 9 am to 6 pm and 9:30 to 4 on Saturdays.

Bet You Didn't Know That...

2009-10-30T14:46:00.003-04:00

I have been involved with the car business my entire adult life, having worked in positions inside car dealership and for finance companies associated with them. For the past 10 years I have owned Consumers Auto Warehouse in Staunton, VA and have sold vehicles to over 3,000 people in the Shenandoah Valley. You would think that I had encountered about every wrinkle in the laws associated with the car business. But I was proved wrong today.

Here is the quick and dirty for you: If you trade in a vehicle in Virginia, it is YOUR responsibility to notify DMV that you have done so. Doing otherwise may mean you are liable for things that happen with or to that vehicle after your trade it in.

Here is what happened. We had a cusotmer trade in a vehicle a while back. A couple weeks later, we sold it. The customer that bought it wrecked it a few days later. The towing company sued the original owner and WON.

Now, we took care of our customer (bet your dealer would not do that), but it stills blows me away. So watch yourself and notify DMV when you sell or trade your car, even if you do it with a car dealer.

Considering Buy Here Pay Here? -- Think Again

2009-10-26T16:06:00.005-04:00

With the way things are going in the auto finance market, many customers who used to be able to get reasonable financing on a new or used vehicle are now -- out of luck. There are just fewer lenders willing to extend credit to people with the slightest credit issues.

So, if there are few lenders out there willing to work with people with past credit problems, what choices remain? Either paying cash (which is always a good idea, but sometimes out of reach for many people), or perhaps "buy-here, pay-here."

Buy here pay here, or dealer financing, is where you don't make payments to a bank or finance company. You make payments to the dealer. It might seem like a good idea when all else fails, but you have to really look at the deal before proceeding.

You need to ask the dealer the following questions before considering a purchase at a buy-here pay-here store.

Does the vehicle come with a warranty? -- Any reputable dealer will stand behind his vehicle with a warranty. Don't let him give you a 30 day 50/50 warranty either. That kind of warranty only covers the most basic options and you still have to pay half.
Does the dealer have a service facility? -- If not, odds are slim that he will be willing to work with you in the future if your vehicle needs service.
Does the dealer report to the credit reporting agencies? -- If not, then all your good payment history will do NOTHING to help get you to the point where banks are willing to work with you. Let me repeat that -- if your dealer cannot report to your credit bureau, then your purchase will not help you build new credit.

So, if your dealer can answer YES to the above questions, then it may be a good deal for you. Expect to pay a higher interest rate and you probably won't get the best deal going on the vehicle. But at least you will be building up your credit report!

If you have questions about this or any other car or credit related issue, please email me at ajwiley@cawcawcaw.com or call me at 877-942-2769. Or you can come see us at Consumers Auto Warehouse in Staunton, VA on Richmond Road.

Getting a Free Copy of Your Credit Report

2009-10-08T16:43:00.004-04:00

Free is like a dirty word. People have to change it to FR33 or f*r*e*e just so spam filters won't block it. But sometimes free is free. And you can get a FREE copy of your credit report every year.

Don't be foolish and listen to the "freecreditreport" commercials. That is not free. That is a credit monitoring service that is free for one month, then like $15.00 a month after that. Honestly it is the biggest waste of money ever. If you are currently paying for this service, stop now! Even if you paid for a copy of your credit report each month, it would not run you $180.00 per year.

You can go to http://www.annualcreditreport.com/ and get a free copy of each of your credit reports (there are three) once per year. My recommendation is to pull just one report every 4 months. You could start with Equifax, then do Transunion, then finally Experian. When you do it this way, you are basically self-monitoring your credit and you are not paying anyone anything!

All you need is some basic account information on yourself to verify your identity, and you can see your report instantly. You can even save the report online and access it for 30 days. Better yet, you can even dispute inaccurate information. A recent study showed that over 80% of all credit reports contain some kind of erroneous information.

So, free is free. You should do this today if you have not received a copy of your credit report in the last 12 months. If you need help deciphering it or have other credit questions, email me, call 877-942-2769 of just stop by the lot at 537 Richmond Avenue, Staunton, VA 24401.

Big Brother Strikes Again

2009-09-28T23:41:00.005-04:00

Usually I reserve my comments to issues regarding credit scores, car financing or the car business in general, but I saw a news story today that really got me thinking -- and should get you thinking as well.

The headline was "Fed Considers New Rules About Overdraft Fees". Simple enough. I mean everyone hates overdraft fees, don't they. And it really sucks that those big banks will LET you continue to charge on a debit card even though you don't have the money in the account to cover the charge. I mean, really, the technology exists just to say "Declined -- Not enough money".

But when did we as consumers give up our basic responsibility to actually know how much money we have in our bank accounts? When did is become the bank's job or the government's job to babysit us? Why is this someone else's fault?

Ask yourself this -- do you know how much money is in your bank account right now? Do you know what payments are coming due and when? If you answered no, maybe you don't deserve the privileges that come with credit. Maybe you should close your account, go back to cash, and mail out money orders.

This is a slippery slope folks and we are sliding right down. We increasingly look to the federal government to protect us from the big mean banks, the nasty finance companies, the crooked car dealers, the insurance companies, and the list goes on. But what we are really saying is as a people we are not smart enough to read the fine print. We are not responsible enough to balance our checking account. We are not proficient enough to purchase a car without the help of Big Brother.

Last time I checked, the government's job was to provide for the common defense, to help maintain the infrastructure and to allow us to pursue life, liberty and happiness. It wasn't to balance our checking accounts. Start taking responsibility for your own life or before long, we will abdicate the very freedoms that made us who we are.

How Does Your Debt Load Impact Your Score?

2009-09-21T13:08:00.004-04:00

Common sense tells you that having too much credit will look bad to a lender. Obviously if you hold 6-8 credit cards with high balances, two or three car loans, a mortgage and some student loans, your budget is just aching to get busted!

And that is the rationale behind the credit reporting agencies’ scoring systems when it pertains to overall debt load. But as usual, a computer doesn’t read your bureau like a person, so you might be surprised by what a high debt load means.

To you and me, a high debt load means that you owe more than you can reasonably afford to pay. But credit reporting agencies can’t tell what you make, so they have no way to determine what your debt ratio really is. So they revert to some simpler math.
Their math just adds up your available credit (your credit limit) and compares that to how much credit you are utilizing (your balance). The thought here is that if you are using all your available credit, things must be bad for you.

That makes sense if you can’t afford the payments or you have lots of debt, but it can really hurt your score when your credit is limited as well.

Assume for a minute that you only have two credit cards and a car loan. All are relatively new (which hurts your score too, but that is a whole other article!) but small. If you have credit limits of $500 on the cards and a $5000 car loan, it is very likely you will be at or near your limit. So the credit agencies will lower your score!

The answer, of course, is to limit the number of accounts and the balances you have. An “ideal” balance is somewhere around 30% of your limit. So if you have a $1000 credit card, you need to keep you balance under $350.00.

A car loan won’t impact you in quite the same way and there is really nothing you can do about it except to consider getting the shortest term possible to make paying down the loan faster and easier.

And if you go OVER your limit, your score is in for a nose-dive. Going over you limit on a credit card will show that you are utilizing more debt than you have available and the credit agencies’ computers will really bang you score for that.

If you need our help, just give us a call at 877-942-2769 or send me an email personally at ajwiley@cawcawcaw.com. We are located at 537 Richmond Road in Staunton, VA just off I-81.

Does Applying for Credit Hurt My Score?

2009-09-16T17:20:00.003-04:00

It is a pretty common line you get fed when applying for credit with a car dealer: “Don’t go shopping around because too many inquiries will drop your credit score!” Like so many other things a car dealer will tell you, it is not entirely true!

There are many factors that go into making up your credit score. They include the length of history on the bureau, the makeup of the accounts on your credit, the balances you carry, and much, much more. Inquiries are just a small part of your credit score.

Also, all the national bureaus take into account that customers rate-shop. Rate shopping is when you check around with various lenders for the best deals. The credit reports “adjust” for rate shopping on home mortgages, auto loans and student loans. Credit cards are another issue altogether, but we will cover that later.

Basically, your credit score will lump all inquiries within a 14 to 30 day period together as just one inquiry when they are related to either a home loan, a car loan or a student loan. So you can check with your credit union or shop with a couple of dealers without worrying about your score.

But, inquiries in general will lower your score. You should carefully consider whether you need to apply for credit before doing so. It doesn’t take long to add up, when you take into account the gas card, the credit card offer, the store card, and then add in car loans, personal loans, and home loans.

And you might not even be aware you are having your credit run by other places as well. Often your insurance company, your landlord, and even your bank will check your credit when you open an account. Pretty soon, your inquiries run longer than your whole credit report.

The reason inquiries in general do impact your score is that potential lenders need to know you may have unreported credit. Many lenders do not report to the national bureaus, but will check your credit before offering you a loan. So a bunch of inquiries might mean a bunch of unreported debt that will impact your ability to pay future loans. And that is really all your credit score is supposed to measure anyway.

So limit your credit checks when you can, but don’t always listen to what your car dealer says!

Check out these pages for more information in the future that will help you manage your credit score.

If you need our help, just give us a call at 877-942-2769 or send me an email personally at ajwiley@cawcawcaw.com. We are located at 537 Richmond Road in Staunton, VA just off I-81.

Does Closing Accounts Help or Hurt Your Credit Score?

2009-09-15T12:47:00.004-04:00

Conventional wisdom is that if you are not using an account, you should close it. But this does not take into account how your credit score is calculated. Closing accounts can never help your score; it will often hurt it. Shutting down credit accounts will actually lower the total credit available to you and this is a third of your credit score.

If you have an account that charges annual fees and you don’t use it, then you should close that account for sure. Also, closing newly opened accounts (perhaps you signed up for that charge card at the department store?) is going to do more good than harm. But the old standby credit cards you have rarely used but have no annual fee – leave them be.

When your credit score is calculated, the bureaus add up all your available credit (your credit limit on all your credit cards), then they compare that do the amount of credit you are using (the total charged on them). You want to keep a ratio of about 30 to 50% of available credit outstanding. Below or above this and your score drops! So if you close a few old accounts, you could actually have your credit score drop without having done anything!

If you close old accounts, they may stop reporting, which can shorten the length of time your history shows in the bureau. This will also lower your score. You want to keep a LONG credit history on file to help bump up that credit score.

So, your rule of thumb should be this – if the account doesn’t cost you anything, leave it alone. If there is a fee involved, consider the overall health of your credit score and whether or not you are getting any use of the account. If you would like a free snapshot of your credit, we would be more than happy to give you a hand at Consumers Auto Warehouse.

If you need our help, just give us a call at 877-972-2769 or send me an email personally at ajwiley@cawcawcaw.com. We are located at 537 Richmond Road in Staunton, VA just off I-81.

Vehicle Maintenance - Expense or Investment?

2009-09-09T23:18:00.003-04:00

I have been working the last several weeks in our service department (Warehouse Auto Repair) and have noticed a disturbing trend with customer's decisions regarding what work to get done on their vehicles. Conventional wisdom would tell you that as people hold on to their vehicles longer and try to extend their buying cycle, they would spend a little more time giving their vehicle the TLC it deserves. But no, it seems that the minimum is the maximum people are willing to do these days.

There are lots of cliches that would fit perfectly in this discussion now. "Pay now or pay more later", "Penny-wise and pound foolish", "You only get out what you put in". See, told you there were lots of cliches. But they are all true. Here are some facts to consider:

Your vehicle is likely your largest purchase next to your home and a car is a complex piece of machinery. If you fail to maintain your vehicle BEFORE it breaks down, it will cost you more down the road. Simple maintenance like rotating your tires, having your brakes checked regularly, changing your oil often, and changing the fluids in your car on a routine basis will save you tire, brake, engine and transmission repairs down the road.

The most basic service should be an oil and filter change every 3-5,000 miles. You should rotate your tires every other oil change. Every 30,000 miles you should consider replacing your major fluids like your coolant and transmission fluid, your air filter and your cabin air filter. At 50-60,000 miles change your plugs and plug wires. Beyond that, check your owner's manual for the recommended services.

If you do this, you may spend a couple of extra hundred per year, but you could be saving yourself thousands in repairs down the road. Also, if you get this work done at one shop, it will enhance your vehicle's value and potentially make you more on resale.

Give us a call at 540*213*1300 to schedule your next appointment. And when the service adviser asks if you want to rotate your tires or change your coolant, think twice before just saying no.

Cash For Clunkers Foreign Aid?

2009-09-03T22:08:00.001-04:00

The results are out on the cash for clunkers program. It was the first month that new car sales were up year over year (August 2008 to August 2009) which is good news for the car market. But the program wasn’t quite the success it sounds like.

First, while Ford, Toyota, Honda, Nissan, VW and Hyundai saw big increases year over year, GM and Chrylser were actually both down from August 2008. Imagine how bad they would have been without the program. It makes you wonder whether either of these ex-bankrupt, current US asset companies would have sold any cars in August without the program.

And many analysts predict that people were pulled into the market early and sales will drop a lot in the last few months of the year. So we got a bunch of people to take $4500 of our tax money to trade in their old sleds for 30 days worth of “better than last year” selling from mostly import brands.

Good job Ford by the way.

This is all another good reason to buy a used car.

Cash For Clunkers -- A Waste For You and The Government

2009-07-11T23:21:00.003-04:00

Ok, so the government now owns a big chunk of the new GM and Chrysler. And wow, they come up with a program to jump start the auto industry. But ask yourself some questions about this program and you will find that it really doesn't help anyone and is just another waste of money. And if you think you are going to get a great deal with the program, think again!

So what is the Cash for Clunkers program? If you own (and have owned and insured) a car that is less than 25 years old and gets less than 18 miles to the gallon, you can trade it in on a better mileage NEW vehicle and get a credit of up to $4,500. Sounds good on the surface, until you start to think about the program.

First, that's a narrow band of cars out there still on the road, insured and worth less than $4,500. And honestly, if you are driving a $3,000 car are you the most likely new car buyer? The dealer has to agree to destroy your vehicle OR sell it for parts. Well, a car is worth more in parts than in one piece anyway, so your dealer gets the government's money (read-- your tax money), then gets some more money by selling off the parts to keep the very cars the government is trying to remove from the road running!

Let's not forget that buying a new car is almost always a losing proposition. Let's say you do get a deal and you get the credit. Not long after driving off the lot, your vehicle will have lost 10-20% of its value. On a $25,000 new car, that means your $4,500 savings is gone before you sign the paperwork. Most cars lose over half their value in the first few years. Why not get an honest trade in value on that car, buy the vehicle you WANT and enjoy a great pre-owned vehicle from Consumers Auto Warehouse!

Check us out at www.cawcawcaw.com!