Tips For Choosing the Right Automotive Shop
Posted by in Automotive tips on November 6, 2011
Your vehicle may be of your most important investments. Choosing the right automotive shop for repairs and maintenance is crucial to keeping your vehicle running at its peak performance. One shop may not be appropriate for every type of automobile. Foreign and luxury vehicles may require specialized services and parts that economical models do not.
Vehicle owners tend to prefer auto shops that offer competitive pricing and quality workmanship. Finding a shop that meets both criteria can be difficult. It is best to research your choices before you actually need car service so that you can fully explore all of your options.
Listed below are some tips you can follow to find the best automotive shop for you.
Ask Friends:
Listen to recommendations from friends, family, and co-workers. These people can provide firsthand details of their experiences with various shops. Be sure to ask friends who drive vehicles that are similar makes and models to your automobile.
Check Complaints:
Look on the Internet to see any negative comments that people have posted about local shops. Contact the Better Business Bureau and other consumer organizations to find out what kind of complaints, if any, have been submitted against the shop you are considering.
Call The Shop:
Simply asking a few questions can help you decide whether or not you should visit the shop. Inquire about the mechanics’ experience with your type of vehicle and find out if they specialize in certain kinds of repairs. Ask how long they have been in business and what kind of licensing they have.
Visit The Shop:
As you pull into the shop, check out the other vehicles in the parking lot and those being serviced. Take notice if the vehicles are of the same value as yours. Determine whether the equipment looks modern and well cared for. Check to see that the facility is clean and well maintained.
Remember That Bigger is Not Always Better:
A fancy building and a large staff may look impressive, but many times keeping such a large overhead results in higher prices. Many of these high-end establishments must charge more for their services in order to pay their staff and maintain their building. Don’t be fooled by the modest garages that you see around town. Many times, these establishments have some of the most highly trained mechanics and offer competitive prices. Read the rest of this entry »
Automobile Sales Managers – Stick To Your Knitting
Posted by in Automotive digest on November 6, 2011
One of Tom Peters rants is “Stick to the knitting.” For an automobile sales manager, my interpretation is stick to what you are paid to do – no deviation. In fact, this just might be one occasion when it really is okay to say “It’s not my job” if it isn’t related to selling automobiles.
I thought of this Peterism recently when a manager shared some thoughts about an upcoming project. He told me the project will be housed in his facility; but other than being landlord he has little to do with the proposal.
What happened is that the day after being informed his facility would be home for this project and given an overview of what the project is, he emailed the project leader a list of ideas he believed would be of interest.
Shortly after hitting SEND, the manager received a reply that essentially said “Thank you for the input but mind your own business.”
As he thought about this, he realized that although direct, the reply was spot-on.
Whether you are an automobile sales manager of a new car dealership or a used car store, if your next action is not focused on driving traffic to your automobile dealership, or following up on a prospect, or coaching the automobile salespeople then you are not sticking to your knitting. Sure, there are some administrative tasks you are accountable for. But I bet your bonus structure is not tied to them.
In an automobile dealership, it is so easy for a sales manager to get side tracked. Like the manager above, getting involved with stuff that isn’t even related to his position. I know he’s not alone in this regard.
There are all kinds of time stealers. One that is getting to be more prevalent is Socializing. Now before you get on your high and mighty rocker, some socializing is good. Automobile sales managers need to invest time just chatting with their car salespeople. Part of being an effective manager is knowing your people. The Socializing I am referring to is not so visible. Not so visible because if someone saw you, it wouldn’t be quite obvious that you are Socializing. In fact, at work you are often by yourself when participating in this type of Socializing.
You know the Socializing I am referring to, don’t you?
It is those quick little text messages between you and home, you and a friend, you and the bowling league, you and the world. Oh it is only thirty seconds here and a minute there and…
Recently I had a Business Manager take offense when I suggested she was spending a little too much time on her Blackberry texting and not doing what she ought to be doing. “Its only a few seconds, why be difficult about this?” is the Readers Digest version of her thoughts on my concern about her texting while at work. Read the rest of this entry »
What Are The Best Settings For FAP Turbo?
Posted by in Turbo on November 6, 2011
Since its successful market introduction, FAP Turbo created quite a stir in the industry with practically every enterprising Tom, Dick, and Harry trying to ‘dip a finger into the cookie jar.’ The tremendous market acceptance of FAP Turbo also gave birth to instant FAP Turbo ‘Gurus’ peddling downloadable eBooks on how to install the correct settings for FAP Turbo! As a result, affiliate networks were flooded by quite a number of ‘how to’ guides on making the correct settings for the system. Websites selling similar stuff sprouted like mushrooms all over the internet. If you happen to be one of the new FAP users, you’d probably easily fall prey to such marketing innuendos. But wait, many of these people are not even traders, while others have not even back tested the settings they are selling themselves. Before you buy any of those stuff read on first.
FAP Turbo comes with its default settings. The default settings, which come with your FAP Turbo software, have been exhaustively back tested by the developer. If there is a need to tweak some FAP Turbo settings, it is to suit your resources as well as your purpose and trading objectives. The ideal setting is one which suits you best. And, this is something you will only be able to find out after back testing the software yourself. Again do not be easily swayed by promises of optimal performance by others peddling such stuff!
The FAP Turbo developers are constantly updating the software. You as a proud owner of the system are entitled to these updates for free and for a lifetime, so why bother buy the guides? They are mostly hyped, over-rated settings anyway.
As a word of advice from one trader to another, although you bought the FAP Turbo system to make things easy for you, you still need to spend some time familiarizing yourself with the software. You need to back test it yourself, which includes learning how make adjustments and tweaks on some of the settings. You need to do a ‘hands on’ on the onset! As far as tweaks are concerned, the areas you may want to look at are, lot sizes, max spread, money management, and stealth mode. Experiment yourself. You have sixty days to evaluate the product. Make it to good use. Don’t believe much on what you see in the forums nor buy settings from other vendors. Ask yourself this: If they are really damn good settings that can do better profits than the settings set by the developers themselves, do you think they will really part with them? I bet they’d keep it close to their chests. Read the rest of this entry »
Looking For an Economical Car?
Posted by in Economical Petrol on November 3, 2011
Travelling 86 miles a day to work and back in my Peugeot 206 costs a lot of money, especially now petrol prices have soared, so I have been considering getting a new more economical car.
All the economical petrol cars my colleagues have suggested are just not my cup of tea though. The Toyota Aygo and Fiat 500 Twin Air have been a popular suggestions, and with the Aygo offering 64.1 mpg in the combined cycle and the 500 Twin Air doing 68.9 miles per gallon, fuel economy is obviously a big selling point for these cars. Not for me though, I am not a fan of the Aygo’s rear design and the Fiat 500 is just too ‘cute’ for me. Both of these are city cars too so neither have a powerful enough engine to be suitable for regular motorway driving.
So what’s the answer? Diesel cars certainly offer better fuel economy and lower CO2 emissions than their petrol counterparts. Take the Ford Focus for example, the 2.0i Duratec petrol engine with manual transmission does just 39.8 miles per gallon (combined cycle) and emits 169g/km of CO2, compared to the 2.0 TDCi Duratorq diesel engine which is capable of 51.3mpg and emits 144g/km of CO2. Historically diesel engines have been noisier than petrol, although modern diesels are now a lot quieter. Of course diesel costs marginally more than petrol but you do get more miles for your money.
I could always get a hybrid or electric model. Toyota’s popular hybrid -the Prius- utilises both petrol and electric power, offering a combined fuel economy of 72.43 mpg and CO2 emissions of just 89 g/km. The Toyota Prius charges itself as you drive storing the energy generated by braking and engine heat for EV mode. Sounds great but in reality in EV mode you can drive at speeds of up to 31mph for up to 1.2 miles, which is only suitable for pottering around town.
There is always the fully electric option, the Nissan LEAF for example is powered by a lithium ion battery so its biggest plus point is that it generates no emissions. The LEAF does 109 miles on a full 8 hour charge, which means I’d probably have to charge it every day though. It’s estimated to cost between £1 and £2 for a full charge, a lot less than the fuel for that distance would cost, but how viable will it be to charge every day and what if I forgot! Read the rest of this entry »