Posted on 01/05/2009 10:35:30 AM PST by traumer
The dealers definitely overcharge...I haven't had a car fixed in a dealership in 20 years.
Good time to be an auto mechanic.
OTOH, public debt more than doubled to $9+ trillion and personal debt also increased during the Bush Administration.
That meant that we were, as a country, spending $1+ trillion per year above our means.
IMHO, we would have (and should have) had a recession much sooner than we now have and it would have been less severe and we wouldn't have the massive debt we now do.
I give the outgoing Administration no credit for the "good economy" economy we thought we had. We were spending our grandkids money.. Now we're gonna do more of the same.
Remember Detroit was having issues long before this recent down turn. It just came to a head with the recent overall economic picture, but they’ve been having declining sales for a while.
IMHO
If you have free cash and want to make a very long term play, (5-10 years) buy F folks. The upside of this company is enormous, and its been grossly undervalued for a very long time.
Ford is poised to kick major arse, and has been for quite a while, just no one was bothering to look. The current downturn doesn’t help, but the company has been moving solidly on the right track ever since it got rid of that joke of a CEO Ford. He’d stuck around too much longer the blue oval likely would have died, fortunately he’s gone and Ford of North America is finally doing what Ford Global has been doing for a long long time.
Well, sort of. Given that Congress appropriates all money, the debt rose under the Republican controlled Congress from 2001 - 2006 by $5,674 trillion to about $7,933 trillion. In Jan 2007 the Democrats took control of Congress and the public debt rose from $7,933 trillion to $10 trillion by fiscal 2008.
I bought a F-150 in 1999 and it has 147,000 miles. I am looking for a replacement but not that hard.
The local Ford dealer is a turd. GM ruined itself with me over re-calls on my dad’s Caprice. So I look elsewhere.
The best cars we have owned are a Ford and a Toyota.
“I got a great deal on my new truck in late 2006. I’m really hoping I won’t need another one until 2016!”
You may have touched on a reality that others besides old goats like us are starting to realize.
Many of the foriegn vehicles and American vehicles can last a lot longer than 3-4 years with proper maintenance and reasonable care.
The chain oil/lube/tuneup service outlets seem to be hiring a better quality of employee. Many are coming from vehicle dealers, who are closing or laying off employees. Vehicle owners are turning to these services to save money and to extend the life of their vehicles versus long expensive waits at the dealer for normal service or avoiding service due to high costs at the dealers.
“The best cars we have owned are a Ford and a Toyota.”
Ford’s partnership with Mazda has paid off. (I hear they’re ending the relationship?)
That’s exactly what we own, my wife bought a new 2008 Escape, (Mazda Tribute). Very nice car, a little underpowered in the 4 cylinder model, but nice. She likes it a lot.
I had an 02 Bonneville that would break in the driveway. It was crap, and the dealer didn’t care. Traded it away and got a used 05 Camry with 26k miles. I’m quite happy.
Screw GM.
We just bought a 2009 Subaru Forester (Motor Trend SUV of the year). Subaru was the only manufacturer to show a sales increase in the US last year.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7812485.stm
It's not their voterbase that spends money (they live off government handouts).
Conservatives and traditional God-fearing Americans are the ones who keep the real economic engine fueled, and they know their earnings are at risk right now to the "handout/bailout" juggernaut, and are holding their money close.
No amount of handouts of their money will loosen their over-taxed purse strings. When they go to the well once too often (if not already), America will wake up to the fact that without income earners, there are NO handouts!
I went shopping last week for a good used one, and instead got a new '08 leftover. The deals are amazing right now if you need a new pickup.
This one I’m told has a curve to it which makes that not possible. Another fellow gave me an EBay site where I found the glass for $30 and have ordered it.
I currently own a Ford and a Toyota.
What a coincidence.
Yes, absolutely true. They’ve been seeing this coming for years.
I’m talking about the recent furor where GM comes hat in hand to DC, saying they can’t make it to the end of the year - and earlier in 2008, there was no such dire pronouncement.
Sales of many types of domestic autos were falling off as gas went higher and higher, but then so were Japanese sales too.
The foreign car companies just have a more sound cost structure in both domestic and foreign plants.
With an oversupply of automobiles, this is the perfect time to subsidize car companies and auto production.
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