January Sales

You hear these ideas that dealers need to sell their cars - everything MUST go - need money - and yes I agree exactly with your point - The dealers won't budge. Its the same ol same ol with them for the most part. It seems that they would rather hold on their cars, sell very very few at regular prices and let the rest rot in their parking lots. My mom bought a 2009 Camry and they pulled all kinds of sneaky sh*t on the sale including charging the poor woman $3500 for aftermarket wheels and a navigation system. I'll drive by in the next 3 months and see if the dealer is still there ...

 

Doesn't this thread belong in Business or P&R section?

Best, Peter

 

The Iron Range in Northern Minnesota was sold to the Chinese. Ames True Temper products, originally the oldest American company est., in 1774, are now made exclusively in China. Young kids flipping burgers or pushing a lawn mower think they are worth $30 hour. A guy putting a Ford together thinks he's worth $72 hour. A women spills hot coffee on herself at a drive through and wins $7 million. A guy runs his 45 year old 1961 Cessna out of gas, and kills himself, and his family sues Cessna for $20 million. And wins! A retiree weighs 400 pounds from overeating and can no longer walk, and instead of a health club membership and a diet program, the government hands her a free electric scooter with a handicap card, and a big fat check to go buy more food.

I read a lot of stuff everyone writes here, and I often have to turn away because I get so angry. The last 8 years? What a cop out. How about the last 40 years since the drug induced draft dodging hippies crawled out of the gutter with the ashes of their burned draft card in thier unwashed hands looking to get everything for free, man? Where are they now?

We have school districts with staff to teacher ratios of 1:1, and the staff have higher salaries. Government offices that exist behind locked doors, making rule after rediculous rule to keep "the people" blind to their folly. Public works and various other local govt., depts., raping communities with excessive budgets. Union workers becoming vigilaties, trying to strong arm companies, communities and government officials, or using out right corruption, to get themselves cushy union contracts. Minicipalities running liquor stores, internet, phone and cable services. And what is everyone of these peoples answer when the money isnt coming fast enough to feed their ever increasing habit? Tax the wealthy. Thats where all the old Hippies are. Their hands are bit cleaner, but they are still holding them out.

I dont like bailing out the big three any more than anyone else, but if they go over the edge they will take a lot more than themselves with them. Once they go over, all the companies that are already hurting will begin to fail, and they will start slipping over the edge into oblivion. Appliance manufactures, lumber companies, window and door companies. We may not build very much in America anymore, but what we do build is all thats left holding up everything else. Doctors and Lawyers, Walmart employees, school staff people, government employees, they produce nothing. They suck off the rest of us like a parasite and give nothing back in return. Some may want to see the big three go away, but they are blind to what it will do to the country. Who ya gonna tax when no body is producing anything?

I was rather angry when the whole private jet thing came up. More so because the executives let it go without nary a comment, and instead drove back in a car and sat there begging like puppies. The only reason America led the world in industry, manufacturing and capitalism, was because we figured out how to innovate and speed things up. The whole reasoning and idea behind business aircraft, since their inception in the 1920's and 30's, was to make people in business more efficient and productive. If those executives cant figure out anything more important to do than sit in a car all day driving to washington, they need to be replaced. Either that or grow some balls and tell those congressmen to stick it. I would think a top executive of a major manufacturing company would be pretty busy, and could use a small jet to buzz around keeping the machinery oiled. I would most certainly think that exec could use that jet a whole heck of lot more than some has been Vice President who cant remember how to turn off his lights while he tells us how to do it.

But regardless, if we dont figure this out soon, it will turn out a lot worse than 1929.

 

Rationally we can argue whether the jets were reasonable given the circumstances, but you have to agree that from a PR standpoint it was a disaster. Flying a corporate jet to beg for money for your bankrupt company doesn't sit well with the commoners.

If just one of them had the foresight to fly commercial, he would have looked much better than the others. Driving in hybrids also looked fairly stupid from a time management standpoint as you stated.

They all knew when and where they were going to be that day, why not flypool in one corporate jet? That would have blown Congress' mind if they had done that, and makes your argument for their use much stronger.

BTW, I think in the end Chrysler will be allowed to die. One of them will go, that is almost certain IMO. May as well let the smallest one go if it increases the chances of the other two.

 

+1. I think the Jeep brand can be sold and the rest of Chrysler euthanized. It would have the immediate effect of boosting GM and Ford.

Dave

 

A friend of mine went to the local dealer in CO to buy a new Dodge 2500 RAM.. they were giving any car/truck on the lot away for 50% of sticker.. that is the lowest pricing I have heard to date..

 

150 days? Frankly I would have thought it to be worse, more like 250 or so. Just tell your floorplan bank to stop stroking checks and your back down to the right inventory level pretty quickly, especially as we move into the busier selling months. I don't really get the point in discounting a new car 50% without assistance from the manufacturer. Especially if they're just going to send you another one of the same cars you need to take a haircut on to sell. At that rate, it's probably cheaper to pay the floorplan interest. And when you can't do that anymore, BK and STFD. Let the 250 supply become the problem of the bank that lent you the money to buy cars. I can see launching a used car here and there to put some cash back on the books account so you can buy something newer and cheaper to make money on, but if the manufacturer is just going to send you more of the same crappy cars that you can't make money on, there's no point.

 

As a doctor, I don't feel that I am a parasite simply because I don't physically build something. I would dare say I probably contribute more to society than you will ever hope to. I might suggest you think before you type, you most certainly will need one of us "parasites" some day.

 

Here Here! I will be needing one of you parasites someday............hopefully, some years away! Until then, I will continue with my job of producing visual pollution for Wal-Mart, Discount Tire, Domino's Pizza, etc.

 

well instead of giving the auto makers 15B, buy 15B of cars from them then sell those cars at 1/3 sticker to anyone over a certain threshold of income...that's right over because the reward should be to those who work not those who don't. I'll take a new g6 for 1/3 sticker....and give it to my mother.

 

I worded that wrong, and I appologise. But the point I was making is that more and more people are consumers that do not produce any kind of commodity. As a doctor your a consumer, not a producer. You pay taxes of course, but only because your paid for doing a service, and I meant no disrespect but that is a fact. When I was growing up Doctors worked in private practise and were paid directly by patients, today nearly everyone is on insurance, most of state funded. More and more people are being supported by government funding, and less and less people are funding it. And those who are funding it keep having to pay a larger and larger share. Seriously, your taxes are coming out of pay you recieve directly from tax payers, not from you making or building anything. Thats the only point I was trying to make.

 

Most physicians contribute to quality of life and enhance productivity. A century ago, chances are you wouldn't live to see 60. Today most people continue to work productively past that age, and expect to live to 80 or so. I did say most because there certainly are the quacks and hucksters out there, pushing uneeded procedures to pad their own pocket with negligible benefit to the patient. But these are the minority, IMO.

There are parasites in our society however. The able-bodied men who refuse to work should be allowed to starve. Even some employed people are parasites. Telemarketers and certain "investment professionals", who take zero and make one package worth +1 and one package worth -1, selling those contribute nothing in my estimation. And don't even get me started on attorneys, although their flourishing is just a symptom of a society unwilling to take personal responsibility. We could do without about 75% of the lawyers if most people would just be honest and accountable.

This is a bit off topic, but one thing I have thought for some time is that anyone wanting (NOT forced, too German Socialist Party-ish for my tastes), anyone requesting a vasectomy or tubal ligation could have it performed for free on the government's dime. I know a woman who has five kids, and is 24. She has three in the first grade (a set of twins and another one 10 months older)! The Baby Daddy is in jail currently, was supposed to get out around Christmas, but stole some of the product they were making behind bars and got a few more months. Does anyone care to take me on a wager that kid #6 won't be along soon after his release?

 

+1 for Doctors. Not too sure about lawyers, but they may soon be replaced by bankers.

 

You might just want to stop digging the hole, that was a ridiculous comment, period. Doctors, folks who pack goods, ship goods, work in shops to sell goods, folks who ensure our laws are enforced fairly on both sides (I carefully worded that to exclude ambulance chasers) etc. etc. are NOT parasites by any definition of the word.

 

Interesting to see growth in Hyundai, Kia, and Subaru... do these companies spend the most on TV advertising?

 

No, they make cars that someone on minimum wage can easily afford.

 

Now I see your point. I guess I was feeling a little sensitive and took it too personally.

 

Classic comment from someone who doesn't have all the facts. If you'd take a little time to do some research, you've figure out why the jury awarded what it did (absolutely the right number, and you might even agree if you had the facts, rather than someone's biased press release). The problem with a lot of what you say is that the devil is in the details. Without them, you sound good, but wrong.

Brief summary of the case: 1. McDonalds had at least 29 other claims for spilt coffee causing 3rd degree burns prior to this case, 2. The coffee served was much hotter than the industry average (which if spilled would cause 1st or 2nd degree burns, a lot less serious than a 3rd degree burn). 3. The McDonald's coffee, when spilled, caused 3rd degree burns (the woman had over 300k in medical bills to correct that damage). 4. McDonalds refused, prior to the award, to adjust the temperature of their drive in window coffee. Guess what the number was that they claimed it would take to fix the coffee temperature. Guess what the jury awarded her. If your guess as to those two numbers was the same, you got at least part of that right. Guess how long it took McDonalds to fix the temperature problem once the award was made by that jury?

Who says jurys don't get things right?

Art

 

Not the most money but both Subaru and Hyundai are savvy marketers. Hyundai launched their new buy back program with a Super Bowl ad and Subaru has been good at working the niches well for years (long time best selling import in Maine and aggressively marketing to the gay community).

 

Many of the cars stuck at port are the cars CA wants everyone to buy-Hybrids and high mpg cars.
Koreans are doing OK, product has gotten much better at a far lower price. Drive one, they're like Hondas now.
Dealers may do OK since most of the $ are made on the backside of a store, so keeping cars longer, complex repairs/replacement not easily done by independents will help.

Off topic-Doctors produce health/limit lost productivity. Asthma accounts for one-quarter of all emergency room visits in the United States each year with 2 million emergency room visits in 2001. Asthma accounts for approximately 24.5 million missed work days for adults annually. $8-10billion in lost productivity. That's only one disease (20 million Americans have it). At least Costco and Sam's workers aren't parasites. All those Walmart workers should quit and go on welfare/Medicaid/Medicare. Makes perfect sense.

 

I don't buy that she got 3rd degree burns from coffee.

I've had 3rd degree burns and you don't get that from coffee, no matter how hot it is.

 

I have heard all the facts, read the all facts, in fact several times in fact, and I disagree with the facts. Just because the plaintiffs attorney found a corrupt judge and a bunch of loonies to put on a jury, and presented a case filled with smoke and mirrors, doesnt make it honest. The only fact is that McDonalds paid out about 99% more than they should have. People have seriously lost all manner of common sense to believe this malarky. And even more to make someone pay that kind of a settlement.

There is also the possibility the women went home and poured something hotter onto herself to aggrevate the accident, and really did herself up. Regardless, the accident wasnt worth 1/100th that amount. Which is still $70K by the way.

 

It was, and I appologised.