Seeking the World’s Coolest Cars

Companies that sell Toyota Parts know that Toyota Camry Parts sell a lot better than Toyota Corolla Parts in Canada. They know that the reverse is true in America. And what we can all extrapolate from that information is that the Corolla is a more popular car in Canada than in America. But why is that so? It’s because the people in Canada are buying different cars altogether compared to the cars bought in America.

Research indicates that Canadian car drivers actually care about entirely different auto features than the features which are desired by American car drivers. Canadians are more likely to look for compact and subcompact cars. They want cars that are roomy inside but still small whereas Americans still like to get bigger cars if they can afford to do so.

The main reason for this is probably because the cost of owning a car in Canada is higher than the cost of owning a car in America. Canadians typically enjoy less disposable income than Americans and they have to stretch it further since the price of gasoline is a lot higher there. Americans, on the other hand, may have tight budgets but they can get a car that they really want if they try.

One of the things that I thought I should do when I setup shop in town was go above and beyond my competitors.  You see, I wasn’t the only parts shop in town, so I knew the competition would be fierce and yet I wasn’t worried.  I had a trick up my sleeve.

We opened our doors with much fanfare and became the first shop in town to offer Ford racing parts.  The community welcomed our new offerings as there was a bit of underground racing happening in town.

There was also favorable response to use offering genuine OEM Ford parts at a price that no one else could touch.  Truth be told we still made a good markup, and certainly had a good volume of sales.

But where we were really able to shine was the parts delivery service that we offered.  Strangely, no one in town delivered Ford parts (the other brands had good coverage for that), so we filled a void.  The dealers in town loved our prompt service that we started getting requests for other parts as well.  Let’s just say that business was good.

Now, just two short years later, we have three shops in town servicing the many dealerships and garages.  Based on our success, we are looking to expand to other towns in the state and maybe even franchise our company.  It has been a great business success.

Are you one of those people that is crazy about keeping their vehicle clean? While studies have shown that most vehicles resale value is enhanced if the cars are clean at time of sale, one has to wonder just how much it is worth for all the effort and energy associated with washing and vacuuming your car every weekend!

The statistics will indicate that all things being equal except the cleanliness factor of a vehicle, the dirtier car will only have a price depreciation of about 7%. That’s seven percent less than the sparkling clean car.

If we break this down to dollars, let’s see what we get. On a vehicle that resells for $20,000, seven percent is right at $1400. If you owned that car for 3 years and only washed it once a month (the really clean folks wash it every week!) and you paid for the cheapest wash, say $10 how much did you spend? Approximately, $360.

So far so good. But you are most likely one of those folks that go beyond the cheap rate, so once every 3 months or so, you get the $30 super detail package. That’s $120 a year, times 3 years, so another $360.

We’re up to $720 now. And we’ll stop there; round it down to having spent $700. Subtract that from the $1400 and for all that work, you made $700 more than the slob who washed his car once a year, whether it needed it or not!

Many entrepreneurs have considered getting into the automotive industry. When analyzing the opportunities they often find that used car dealerships offer some of the biggest potential returns on investment for new business owners. While it’s not cheap to get into a dealership, the investment required for used car dealers is far less than many other types of businesses.

Take for instance the cost of a McDonald’s franchise. They require you to put down up to $1,000,000 in cash, and require you to run the outlet you buy into for a minimum of one year. Granted the brand name behind them is huge, but who has that kind of money lying around just to start a business.

Used cars in Georgia seem to be one of the largest growing markets for previously owned vehicles in the American Southeast. The influx of used vehicles into the marketplace has created a lucrative opportunity for entrepreneurs that want to get themselves a used car dealership.

While starting a used car lot isn’t exactly free, you can be assured that it will cost you much, much less than a million bucks. With good, innovative marketing, and just a little bit of luck, starting a car dealership might just set you on the trail of successful business ventures.

Having been a horse owner for about three years now, I am finally starting to realize how valuable it would be to have my own horse trailer — and a truck with which to tow it.  It’s expensive and difficult to find someone trustworthy to trailer your horse for you, and if you need to move your horse often or on short notice, you can save yourself a lot of grief by having a truck and trailer.

One of the most important things though is having a truck that can safely pull a loaded horse trailer.  A full size truck is a requirement — I just can’t imagine a small truck hauling a horse trailer with two full-grown horses in it!  I personally don’t like American cars all that much, so I’d probably go for something like the Tundra, Toyota’s version of a full size truck.

It’s also important to make sure the truck is updated to handle the extra weight, if it didn’t come with a tow package.  This involves more than just mounting a hitch on the back of the truck.  A trailer and two horses add a lot of weight, which will put more pressure on your brakes, too.  For that reason, you’ll need special brakes that are designed for towing — something to keep in mind when shopping for Toyota Tundra parts for your truck.

You’ll also need to be sure that you keep your truck and trailer in good working order.  It’s best to always check everything out before towing a load, particularly if you haven’t used the trailer in a while.  Whether you are towing your horses or something else, it’s probably not something you want to risk losing in a trailer accident!

In about thirty days we will be taking our family overseas to London to visit some relatives.  Well, truth be told, it will be more of a vacation for us than just some family visit as we have never been over there.  All of us are excited and have been doing research on places to visit on our two week trip over there.

When we purchased the travel package, we were told that the trip was all-inclusive and that we didn’t need to do anything before the trip.  But after the phone call that I received from our travel agent tonight, I am not feeling so confident about the whole thing.

As it turns out, she phoned to let us know that their contract with the company that supplied their London rental cars had expired and therefore we didn’t have a car rental booked anywhere.  I guess I should have been happy that she had the courtesy to call, but that meant that now I need to find our own car.

So, I have been searching online for as many London car rentals outfits as possible, contacting them via email and hopefully one of them will have something that we can rent while we are there.  I just hope that this is the only difficulty that we face regarding this trip as we will be far away from home.

Have you ever bought a used car? If so, you know just how harrowing an experience it can be. I recently went shopping for used cars in Weatherford, Tx, my home town. And I have to say, compared to the four other times I’ve purchased a used vehicle, this time it was a sheer pleasure.

photo credit: TheTruthAbout

First, the car lots there were clean, spacious, and held an amazing inventory that would please even the most picky car buyer. Next, when it came to actually getting out of my car and walking the lot, like all the times past, I just knew I was going to be pounced on by the salesman up to bat.

Well, not this time. In fact, I was checking out cars for a good 25 minutes before I even got wind there were any sales people working that day. This was the perfect way to treat some one that came on the lot with their defenses up.

Perhaps I had that look on my face, but when I knew a few of the cars that interested me, from out of nowhere, a very friendly faced sales person was there inviting me into the air conditioned show room to chat about my needs.

It was truly refreshing to be treated like a valued potential customer and not just an easy mark.

My brother has decided that he’s going to spend the next six months living with me. The problem is that I live in a place where having a car is really inconvenient. This is a problem because my brother loves his car. He’s trying to figure out where he can store the car so that it will still be in good condition when he gets back home at the end of the year.

He has looked at a variety of different options. My sister and I always just left our cars in our parents’ driveway whenever we would leave town. He considered that but he doesn’t want his car sitting out in the rain and other weather while he’s gone. That rules out leaving it with pretty much everyone else we know too.

It looks like what he’s decided is to rent out a self storage place. There are some self storage lockers that will allow you to park a car inside of your storage unit. He can select one that has climate control options so that the car won’t be in excessive heat while he’s gone. I happen to think that it’s a bit extreme to go to all of this trouble to protect a car but I guess that’s why I live in a city where I don’t need to use one!

I’ve never been one to follow trends, but ever since I purchased my new pick up truck, I’ve just had to get it outfitted with a ton of groovy truck accessories. I realize that I don’t really “need” most of the stuff I buy, however, when it comes to the feeling of having a tricked out ride, nothing beats having the right stuff.

This month I’ve decided that I need to chrome out my truck, and I’ve started doing some research on the best looking grill guards. Not every truck looks great with bars on the front, so you really have to do a lot of searching to find the absolute perfect look for the front of your vehicle.

As soon as I’ve decided upon the way the front of the truck will look, I am going to pick out a really hot truck bed rail that not only matches the front guard, but really makes the new bed liner pop as well.

And when I’m done installing all of the new chrome I am thinking that some fog lights might just be the final touch that really sets my rig apart from the rest. Of course, I’ll be sure to find some really nice chromed light housings that will fit in with the rest of the truck.

People always talk about how the Internet brings the world to our fingertips, and all that sort of thing.  I’m not about to deny that, because it’s certainly true, but I’d like to point out that much overlooked facet of the economy of online shopping.  The wealthy have always had the ability to track down and buy whatever they want.  The Internet doesn’t make that possible, it just makes it affordable.  Say you need something for your car.  You can always find a shop that will sell you Toyota parts. 

The old way even allowed you access to obscure and outdated supplies.  The shop owner could order what you’d need; you’d just have to wait for his next shipment to get in.  But of course that shop keep would be another middleman to your Toyota accessories, and they’d cost that much more.  Now you can get genuine Toyota parts directly from the Toyota factory-or whatever else you might ever want to buy.   Instead of a supply chain, where the cost increases significantly at each link (since the person in that link needs to make a living), there’s a web that connects each potential buyer and seller directly.  And that makes it relatively inexpensive to order obscure things.