Avoid the Ripoff: Know Your Credit Score Before Buying A Car

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
Dennis Singletary (right) appearing in a Honda commercial (YouTube).

Dennis Singletary, a commercial actor who has also appeared on sit-coms The Cosby Show, Martin, The King Of Queens, and Hannah Montana, got a dose of personal drama during his April experience at Power Honda in Valencia, CA.

As TMZ originally reported, Singletary went to buy a four-door Honda Civic under the "The Really Big Thing" promotion he himself pitched on national TV commercials for Honda. The deal provides 0% down, low finance rates and monthly payments of $190.

The commercial is below:

Singletary had his Experian credit rate confirmed at 709, "prime credit," at the original dealership he visited, but there were no more Civics on the dealer's lot.

When he went to Power Honda in Valencia, CA, though, the dealer refused to give him "The Really Big Thing," because he clocked Singletary's credit score at a far less stellar "near-prime" 663, either an underestimate, or the result of taking the lowest of the low, medium, and high credit score options. The dealer stubbornly stuck to his guns, even when Singletary got the original dealer on the phone and had him confirm his higher credit score.

The irony of the situation -- that the pitch man couldn't get the deal he had been paid to tout on TV -- was not lost on Singletary.

Instead of the $190 a month he would pay with "The Really Big Thing," he was told he'd have to put $2,000 down and pay $272 a month. Though he does well for himself as an actor, he said the $80 differential was too substantial to take lying down.

"That's two tanks of gas a week," he said, "or $2,400 over a three-year lease that they're trying to rob me of. It's fraud. It's blatant fraud."

It wasn't actual legal fraud, of course. But it does represent one of the practices car dealers will use to get a customer to pay more for a vehicle and vehicle financing even though lower cost options are available. Remember -- a dealership's goal is not to give you the best deal, but rather maximize its own profit from the transaction.

Originally, Singletary was deciding between a Hyundai Elantra and the Civic. He and his wife already have two cars, but with his constant commute from his home in Valencia to gigs in L.A., he thought having a thriftier alternative would be prudent.

In the end, the actor bought a two-door Civic from a third dealer at the "Big Thing" promised rate, but not without making a fuss.

Though he made repeated calls to Honda's customer service department and wrote a letter of complaint to corporate, he didn't hear a response from Honda management until TMZ published its item.

"I got a call on Monday morning from Honda," Singletary told AOL Autos. "They said they can call and get the other dealership's side of the story. We've been playing phone tag ever since."

"I still haven't heard from a manager in corporate," he added.

He was told by the Better Business Bureau, to which he complained, that the agency would investigate the case.

Honda seems neither concerned nor embarrassed.

"I'm not aware of any direct outreach," said Chris Martin, a spokesman from American Honda, about efforts for Honda executives to reach Singletary. "It was kind of an unusual story to say the least. From the coverage we read, he was able to get into a car and get the deal that he wanted, so it was a happy ending."

Martin also made clear that Singletary's association with the commercial wouldn't earn him preferential treatment from the company.

As for the discrepancies in credit score, Martin said approval of credit checks goes through Honda Finance for quality and control. Each dealership, though, can choose to use whatever credit report they want. Why would the dealership not want to give Singletary the deal? One obvious reason might be a shortage of Civics because the deal was so successful, making the more costly (to the dealer and Honda) "Really Big Thing" offer not as necessary to move excess cars on the lot as it was when the deal was first advertised. Remember -- the first dealership was out of Civics.

Power Honda did not respond to repeated requests to explain its side of the story.

It remains to be seen if Singeltary is asked to do more Honda commercials after his public complaints, but he is determined to spread the word about what he feels is an unfair practice. "It's about educating America to the different scams that are going on," said Singeltary.

Though he's pretty miffed about the situation, he does view it all with a sense of humor.

"It's comical in the way that it happened, and it was comical in the way that they acted," he says. "He [the sales associate at Power Honda] was being very arrogant and saying, 'Do as you like, Mr. Singletary.' And I did."

The Bottom Line: How To Avoid The Rip Off

The Early Bird Gets The Financing Worm

If you plan on getting financing for a new car, get your own credit report and score two months in advance of buying or leasing. This will allow you time to correct errors on file that might be lowering your score. Errors are common, and it's important to be proactive and leave yourself enough lag time to beautify your credit and nix any blemishes.

Don't Go In Without Ammo

Don't show up to lease or buy a car without having your own credit report in your hand. Any dealer can drum up a deficient credit score for you by taking the lowest of the three reported scores. When making a big decision on a car, you might be swayed or more vulnerable under the pressure. Defend yourself! Go to www.annualcreditreport.com for a free credit report, or to Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, and get one you may have to pay for.
If It's Broke, Fix It

Should you come across any errors in your credit, send a certified letter to TransUnion, Experian and Equifax, the three credit bureaus, and ask for the mistakes to be excised from your file immediately. The law requires that all errors be stricken within 30 days, so the two- month advance cushion is a safe bet. Be sure to send a certified letter and not regular ol' snail mail, because this alerts the credit reporting agencies that you are aware of the legal parameters that allow you to sue should they not fix the errors within the 30-day period.

Home, Architecture and Furniture

Travel Info

Read More

Buying a used car? Taken not receive you for a ride

There are special risks to buy a car online. According to FBI data, between 2008 and 2010 at least $44 was lost millions online auto fraud, which include a fraudulent site or wrong cars for sale. ConsumerMan is staying up to date with the latest consumer news on Facebook

Now this cyber car crooks use the good name of Kelly Blue book, confirm the potential victims to believe they are legitimate. A fraud, the company has just a fraud alert on, which used a fake Kelly Blue Book Web site and provides a non-existent KBB guaranteed buyer protection program.

The scam the cars often starts with a wrong display on a legitimate site, sold. The offer price is usually below market value. Those who respond to the ad will receive an e-Mail that explain the low price. The seller will tell that they need to quickly a divorce or military deployment to liquidate the car. And for this reason, not the transaction in person can be done.

If you seem interested in trying the bad guys, move you you have created from this legitimate site for them.

"The fake website looks like KBB.com,", said Kelly Blue book Robyn Eagles. "they have a lot of our graphics, our logo and a variety of information directly from our Web site your fake website create stolen."

I saw a look alike sites this week. And I can tell you it looks completely legitimate. There are links from the bona-fide Web sites real KBB Web site and exact copies of map. I can see how people are fooled. The only red flag, I discovered the Australian URL. Kelly Blue book is based in the United States and its URL ends with "." "com."

The site offers, what sounds like a "No.-risk"-Möglichkeit, to buy a car over the Internet without ever seeing. You make a deposit by wire (preferred the way of payment imposter) and have sent the car to you. If you don't like it or don't want it, can buyer protection program, allegedly by KBB, supports it for free to return.

"We do not have this type of program offer," warned Eagles. "If you run across this type of site or this kind of offer, it's a scam."

Has wild Wall St volatility you nervous? Follow this can give you a little comic relief. US says Reebok toning shoes not really can life on $9 per hour? Games you play kill who say dollar bill, some legislators

I reported fraud in online car buying them (scammers use Web rip off car buyers) and since then the bad guys have become more demanding. The scammers have now toll free numbers and offer live chat even, say the folks at Kelly Blue book. It is all designed to appear so to appease possible and legitimate fears, which could have a potential victim, about buying a car.

A recent FBI warning (a car online purchase?) Read this first) lists some of the warning signs for a online auto fraud:

Cars are prices too-good to-be it advertised.Seller would like to move transactions from the original site to another site. Sellers claim that a buyer protection program offered by a large Internet company includes an automatic transaction outside the company's site. Refuse seller personally or can the car ahead of time to check potential buyers. Seller who say they want to sell the car, because in the US military about provided, are moving, the car belonged to, who recently died, or similar. Seller, the means that Wired ahead of time are request.

If you run across an offer like this, please report it the Internet Crime Complaint Center.

© 2011 msnbc.com.  Reprints

View the original article here

Peliculas Online

Read More

Consumers Are Buying Bigger, More Expensive Vehicles

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
Cadillac Grille (Autoblog)

Consumers are spending again, at least on cars. At dealerships across the country, big SUVs, luxury vehicles, and fully loaded smaller cars are flying off the lots. The trend toward expensive vehicles and models laden with pricey technology has been gathering steam, even in an otherwise weak economy.

Between June 2009 and September 2010, the average price paid per vehicle -- the so-called average transaction price -- has risen from about $23,500 to $27,229, according to CNW Marketing Research of Bandon, Oregon. In October, higher-end vehicles generally trounced their cheaper rivals in their percentages of year-over-year growth.

What’s Really Happening?

According to CNW figures, the average transaction price for vehicles has been climbing every month between January and September, ending up $1,400 higher than it was even at the start of the year. In another sign of our potential headlong flight into excess, sales of luxury cars, pickups and SUVs were up sharply in October. The improved pickups sales are also a sign that small businesses are venturing back into the market for work trucks, say analysts.

Cadillac sales rose 15 percent nationwide in October compared to a year earlier, the company said, and General Motors has had to ramp up production to meet demand. "Our biggest problem is that we can't get enough of them," said Otto Belovich, owner of Cherry Capital Subaru and Cadillac in Traverse City, Michigan.

Nationwide, Acura sales were up 24 percent in October, compared to the year-earlier figure. Porsche was up 28 percent and Lexus 46 percent, according to figures from AutoData Corp. and the AIADA. Audi, a perennial underperformer in the US market, was up 22 percent.

Affluent customers have headed back into the new car market before the middle class, says Paul Taylor, chief economist for the National Automobile Dealers Association. In doing so, they have skewed sales toward more expensive cars, trucks and SUVs.

Their return is an encouraging sign for the industry, said Cody Lusk, president of the American International Automobile Dealers Association (AIADA), a trade group representing dealers selling non-US brands. “We finally do have people with money getting off the sidelines and getting back into the market,” he said.

The luxury market’s re-awakening may be due to a change in the mentality of better-off car buyers and their improved financial situation. “For a while, the people with disposable income decided that, for whatever reason, they were just going to sit this out," Lusk said. “There was no reason to make a purchase. But now they are saying, ‘Enough of this. I am going to finally get the car that I’ve been wanting all along.’”

Other factors are playing a role in the luxury segment’s revival. Lusk credits the incentives that some luxury brands have been offering. “In other cases, it's a new product that they have rolled out at the right sweet spot."

A Truck Comeback?

Taken together, pickups and SUVs left passenger cars in the dust last month, accounting for 54 percent of the market and increasing a long-standing lead, according to J.D Power and Associates. Conventional luxury SUVs were up 15.3 percent, Taylor said. In a replay of an old game plan, General Motors scored big with its sales of SUVs and crossovers – which rose 36 percent in October, according to the Associated Press.

Low gas prices have certainly given SUVs a lift, offering long-standing fans of the vehicles an extra incentive to buy one. Some consumers may even worry that their favorite model may one day disappear from an automaker's lineup. "Consumers may be concerned that there may be less choice in the SUV market in coming years," Taylor said.

One sign of the concern: The average price for SUVs one to five years old has soared at dealer auctions since early 2009, climbing from about $13,000 to $22,000, according to AuctionNet, a data service for car dealerships.

Technology Trumps All

Consumers in all segments are showing a greater interest in expensive new technological features such as navigation, parking aids, and high-end audio, too. The options can easily boost the price of a new vehicle a few thousand dollars or more. "We are a gadget-embracing consumer society,” Lusk said. "You're also seeing that at the lowest levels of the market.”

Even his ever-practical Subaru customers are shopping for high-tech features these days, Belovich said. So are used-car buyers. In fact, it’s often easier to sell two-year-old, fully loaded vehicle than a base version of the new model. Used Cadillac SRXs with navigation don't linger on his used car lot for very long, he said.

What Happened To Cutting Back?

Meanwhile, sales for Smart and Mini, arguably two pioneers of the downsizing movement, were both down last month. While the Mini was down less than 2 percent, sales of the Smart Fortwo fell 60 percent, according to AutoData Corp. and the AIADA.

And the green car movement? Sales of the Prius, the standard-bearer of the green car movement, were down 13 percent compared to a year ago.

But Where Are The Middle Class?

Economist Taylor said the interest in more expensive vehicles correlates closely with a rising stock market. When relatively well-off customers see their net worth rise, they are more likely to buy a vehicle. “Stocks owned outside of retirement programs are important to luxury car buyers," he said.

Middle-class customers don't react to a rising market in the same way, he said. Most of their net worth is tied up in their homes, and housing prices have shown little or no appreciation after steep declines. As a result, many potential car buyers have stayed away from the market.

The U.S. auto market isn’t out of the woods yet. And despite the boom in sales of expensive vehicles, the numbers don’t necessarily suggest that consumers are going back to their old gas-guzzling ways, according to Lusk. The trend will be clearer when middle-class customers stop sitting on the sidelines and re-enter the market.

View the original article here

Peliculas Online

Read More