With the world at our fingertips now courtesy of the internet it really is quite easy to educate yourself about just about anything. But, just as reading every opinion on real estate can make you quite educated about neighborhoods’ square footage and school districts, signing a deal on the perfect house at the right price is not so easy. In fact, it can be extremely intimidating whether you have done it before or not.

In the online world of cars it is easy to trip over experts on everything from tuning to collecting, from buying to selling and from torque to trunk space but what seems to bind them all together besides their love of things with wheels and engines is an unabashed insistence that they can bring a salesman to his knees, begging for mercy when negotiating for cars. What all of these people often forget, myself included, is that buying a car is a very personal process and asking for help getting the best price on a car is not so simple. Sometimes folks like to pick their own car and figure out how to deal with negotiations on their own.

A recent third party study for Carsala has revealed that in reality, car geeks aside, 73% of used car buyers dislike the negotiating process and a majority of them rate themselves as being poor negotiators. What is shocking is that almost 20% indicated that they had not attempted to negotiate the price of the car that they most recently purchased.

That last sentence just makes me shudder but friends and family are constantly buying cars around me and never ask for my help despite knowing what I do in the car world. At first I would take it personally but then I realized that they were taking their investment in a car personally and wanted to do it themselves. I can tell someone over dinner or the phone which car I think they want because maybe they really do like the Malibu or an X5 and I would try to get them to consider something else comparable or better. They might listen. But what about when they really want help with the act of buying the car and the dreaded negotiation game at the dealership? Unless I have a good several months to help them search the car lots and an entire day to spend at the dealership while the sales guys play their game, I have my own house to clean and job to do so they don’t want to bother me. Fair enough!

Now if only real estate agents representing you actually were like Carsala, we would be moving in the right direction!

How do you feel about the car buying process?

I love innovative and creative minds and car enthusiasts are increasingly being treated to a bevy of really fun, incredibly geeky and wildly imaginative products that reflect their car loving lifestyles. Here are 3 picks that I just love:

1. 

   2 Stroke Party Blender

   The 2 Stroke Party Blender with Motorcycle Style Handles Fueled by a Gas Powered, 2 Stroke, 43cc, Variable Speed Engine that revvs up like your favorite Harley, this little muscle beast will make over a half of a gallon of your favorite frozen beverage (think: Margaritaville) in about …2 strokes. Its a novelty but a definite must have to keep yourself cool if you find yourself outside in the heat deep frying a turkey or doing a crawfish boil.

2. 

   Wireless Car Mouse

   The Optical Wireless Computer Car Mouse These little muscle cars really are fully functional wireless mouses that are so realistic they come with operating headlights, bumper to bumper warranty and a VIN, Title and Registration. They are fully licensed products and represent everything from the Charger SRT-8, Camaro, Corvette and Mustang plus some police cars if you like your muscle in black and white.

3. 

   Vintage Car Fabric Bags

   Kim White’s Vintage Automotive Fabric Handbags A must have for every gearhead girl and every girl who loves a gearhead that doesn’t know how to shop for his girl, Kim White unearthed a warehouse of unused, dead stock vintage automotive fabric from the days when car upholstery wasn’t plain and boring and has designed a whole series of purses. As Michael Banovsky of Vlane writes, “A great story, and even better is that each handbag is tagged with the year and make of the fabric, so you can tell your friends your bag’s fabric could have been a Camaro, Mustang…or Gremlin. Well, maybe you wouldn’t tell them it was supposed to be the seats in a Gremlin.”

No More Saturday Hours at the DMV

The California DMV has been going through a wee bit of a transition. Fortunately they decided to improve their website just in time as the California state economy took a dramatic downturn. The new site provides more of the services that used to be only available at the DMV Field Offices. All of the DMV Offices now have reduced hours and services but so much can be done on the website, that doing the dreaded wait time in a DMV lobby is almost completely unnecessary.

One feature that the DMV has added is a monthly column, Ask George by George Valverde, director of the California Department of Motor Vehicles. I thought I would feature a few excerpts from the last few months to give a taste.

Q: What is a safe distance between me and my airbag in case it inflates due to an accident?

A: You can take important steps to eliminate or reduce risk of injury without turning off your vehicles’ air bags. The biggest risk of injury is being too close to the air bag. An air bag needs about 10 inches of space to inflate. Ride at least 10 inches (measured from the center of the steering wheel to your breastbone) from the air bag cover if you can do this while maintaining full control of the vehicle. If you cannot safely sit 10 inches away from the air bag, contact your vehicle dealer or manufacturer for advice about additional ways of moving back from your air bag. For more information on air bags, please read the air bag section of the California Driver handbook located online at http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/hdbk/pgs46thru47.htm#airbags.

Q: My grandparents just bought me a classic car for my graduation. Out of curiosity, how do I check the car’s smog test history?

A: This can easily be done by visiting
http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/brochures/fast_facts/ffvr33.htm and clicking on Check the Smog Test History of a Vehicle. Here, you can either enter the car’s license plate number or the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) to get the cars complete smog test history.

Q: Can you offer me any tips on how to save money on gasoline?

A: Of course! The DMV offers an entire page on its Web site devoted to helping you reduce fuel costs. Some of the helpful tips include information on how to purchase fuel wisely, how to drive more efficiently, even how to improve the efficiency of the vehicle you drive! To start saving money on fuel today, visit http://www.dmv.ca.gov/about/save_fuel.htm.

Q: I’m in the U.S. Armed Forces and am out-of-state on active duty. Is my driver license still valid?

A: If you are out-of-state on active military service in the U.S. Armed Forces and have a valid California driver license, your license will be valid for the full time you are absent from the state and for 30 days from your discharge date, or when you return to California. Carry both your driver license and discharge papers during those 30 days. Call 1-800-777-0133 and ask for a card (DL 236) which extends your license. Military dependents do not qualify for this extension. For more information, visit www.dmv.ca.gov.

This is a little quiz because Someone asked me (challenged me) what they should do about the side mirror on their 2005 Mustang that had a passenger side window that got knocked off (I am not asking how) but they are thinking of selling this car to get another car.

As a buyer AND as seller- this question made sense to me. Does anyone really care of the car is getting them to their destination? Or, as this car owner tends to want to believe, can you just Instant Double Epoxy the broken mirror back on because no one really cares.

Need to save some money?  Thinking about buying a motorcycle to save money and gas?  According to my research, buying a motorcycle may be good for your weekly gas bill, but it could also sets you up for an extended trip to the hospital - or worse.

There are some enticing reasons to buy a motorcycle. Consider this:

• Mid-size motorcycles get 40-50 mpg
• Used mid-size bike costs $3,000-$6,000

What’s not in this short list are the safety concerns associated with driving a motorcycles.  The National Highway Traffic Safety Commission did a study and put together a laundry list of conclusions.  If I assume all the conclusions are causal, then it translates into this list of “lessons learned”:

• Wear a helmet
• Stay of rural roads
• Don’t drink and drive
• Be really careful going around turns
• Stay off undivided roads
• Don’t speed
• Don’t drive a night
• Stay away from fixed objects
• Learn to brake and steer in emergencies
• Don’t age (my favorite)
• Get a license

With a list like this, it feels like you should keep your motorcycle in the driveway.  The report also says that when looking at accidents from 1990 through 1999, if you are in an accident on a motorcycle, there was a 3.6% chance that you would die in that accident!  Put differently, that’s almost a 1 in 25 chance.

Another study showed how knowing how to drive a motorcycle and being formally trained is really important.  In this study, 92% of motorcycle drivers were self-trained or trained by friend and family.  Furthermore, more than half of all the accidents were from drivers that had less than 5 months of driving experience on the accident motorcycle and less than 3 years of total riding experience.  For anyone who’s thinking about buying their first motorcycle, you are in this demographic.

I don’t want to be too much of a cynic, because motorcycles are a lot of fun and there are many great motorcycle drivers who will never get in an accident.  I used to drive a motorcycle and so did my dad.  Lots of my friends have driven motorcycles too.  I stopped driving my motorcycle after a bid accident and at least one of my friends stopped driving after his dad was killed on his motorcycle.  It’s grim, but that’s my personal story and it’s consistent with the studies I quoted above.

If I’ve convinced you that driving a motorcycle may not be right for you, then consider putting that $5,000 towards a different car that you will be happier driving.  It could be nicer to drive, get better gas mileage, or both.  Happy driving - whatever you might choose to drive!

Miscellaneous used car facts are rarely of any practical use, but are a lot of fun when you start to ponder the implications of what each factoid means.  Best of all, your friends will be impressed when you know these facts and have already given them some thought!  Consider this for example:

• Automatic transmissions outnumber manual 10 to 1 in the market for used vehicles

If this number was measured 25 years ago, I am sure the number would have been much different - probably leaning towards more manual (stick shift) transmissions than automatic transmissions.  Does this means manual transmissions will soon be one of those, “I remember when…,” things?  Sports cars, and I mean really fast ones, are even starting to use automatic transmission because some automatic transmissions are faster than their manual counterparts.  I think the writing is on the wall for manual transmissions.

Here is a collection of other random and fun facts for you to ponder by yourself or with your friends:

1.       Three out of four automotive transactions in the U.S. involve previously owned vehicles.

2.       The average vehicle will likely have three owners in its lifetime.

3.       Industry experts believe one of every 25 air bags that have been deployed have not been properly replaced. They’re also the most stolen item from a vehicle (having surpassed radios). AOL Autos: Best resale value cars

4.       About half the cars that are flood damaged end up back on the road. As far as Hurricane Katrina is concerned, estimates are that about 200,000 vehicles were dried out and resold.

5.       The most frequently searched price range for a used vehicle is under $5,000.

6.       Consumers lose as much as $4 billion a year due to odometer fraud, with the average rollback being 15,000 miles.

7.       There are more used Silverado pickup trucks for sale than any other model (nearly 120,000 throughout the U.S.)

8.       Texas has more used vehicles than any other state (more than 220,000); Houston alone has more than 32,000 on the market at any given time.

9.       Chevrolet tops the list of most-available brands in the U.S. (with about 450,000 available), followed by Ford (425,000). There are “only” about 280,000 Toyotas on the market at any given time.

10.   Silver is the most available color in the used vehicle market — more than 447,000 vehicles, followed by black (429,000), white (409,000), and red (321,000). Blue (309,000) and gray (277,000) are also aplenty. The color you’re least likely to find? Pink.

11.   Age does appear to matter, at least when it comes to a used vehicle. Nearly half those listed at any one time (about 1.5 million) are model years 2007-2008.

12.   Six cylinder vehicles are the most popular on the used car market, accounting for nearly a third of the total available (and roughly the combined total of both four cylinder and eight cylinder powered vehicles).

13.   The least likely number of engine cylinders? The 23 vehicles that were listed as being equipped with a 16-cylinder motor, among them a 2006 Bentley Continental Flying Spur (just $122,000) and a 1938 Cadillac ($195,000).

14.   Nearly half the used vehicles on the market come with air conditioning.

This list was originally published here (http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/09/19/aa.used.car.fun.facts/index.html).  Share some of your own random and fun used (or new) car auto facts.

In January 2005, the national average price for regular gas was $1.78. Only three and a half years later in July 2008, the same average was $4.11; a 130% increase in price. Politicians talk about national oil independence and more fuel efficient cars because they know that most Americans get a nervous feeling in their stomach every time they spend more than $50 at the corner gas station. However, are the politicians really living a life they advocate or are they not really paying attention to our national oil problems and gas prices in their personal lives? Is there a difference between Republicans and Democrats?

A lot of politicians are fickle about sharing information from their personal lives – even what kind of car they drive. Other politicians try to pretend they are “green” because they don’t personally drive a lot. In reality, they may be the worst offenders since the US government is notorious for driving politicians around in big black Chevrolet Suburbans that get 9 mpg in the city and 20 mpg on the highway. As an estimate for Republicans and Democrats in general, I looked at the 2008 presidential candidates because, after all, they represent the two parties and the media spotlight has been on them recently.

Democrat Presidential Candidate Fuel Efficiency

Note that some republicans have more than one car. The “All Cars Average” is the CAFE average for all the cars a single candidate owns.

Republican Presidential Candidate Fuel Efficiency

Unfortunately, politicians are not as gas price conscious as we might wish. Democrats beat republicans by a whopping 20% margin due to a republican fleet of cars that on average gets less than 20 mpg! Democrats also seem to be having a love affair with the Ford/Mercury small hybrid SUV which greatly helps their average gas mileage. On average, republicans also own 1.7 cars per person compared to 1.0 cars per person for the democrats. The partisan differences can also be seen in McCain’s and Obama’s stance on fuel efficiency. McCain supports “enforcing existing standards” while Obama is more progressive and supports an “increase in fuel economy standards.” Despite the political rhetoric, it remains a little discouraging that politicians as a group don’t drive cars that meet the federal standard on fuel efficiency that Congress enforces and is called CAFE.

For those unfamiliar with CAFE, it stands for Corporate Average Fuel Economy. It is the stick that congress created and uses to get car manufacturers to make more fuel friendly vehicles. In 2008, the standard requires car manufacturers to have an entire fleet of vehicles that gets 24.8 mpg. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in March 2008 the average for all new cars and trucks was 26.8.

CAFE averages are also not normal averages, they are what is called a harmonic average. Imagine this… pretend you have a gas guzzler that gets 10 mpg and a hybrid that gets 90 mpg. The mathematical average is 50 mpg. However, if I want to actually get 50 mpg, I need to drive my hybrid 90 miles for every 10 miles I drive my gas guzzler. Chances are nobody does that. It is more realistic is that I put equal mileage on both my cars. If I do that, I actually get an average of 18 mpg, and that is how CAFE calculates their averages (go here for how to actually calculate the averages).

So are there any bright spots in this seemingly contradictory world that politicians live in? Yes! The great news is that even though fuel efficiency standards have been very slow to increase, politicians of both parties are actively supporting alternative technologies that will either directly or peripherally result in better choices for us in the future. Some of those technologies are:

• Zero emission cars
• Biofuels
• Clean coal technologies
• Improved battery technologies
• Hybrid cars

Personally, I can’t wait until I can drive an advanced battery and biofuel powered hybrid that gets 150 mpg. Until that time, I’ll keep wishing gas prices were lower since my own CAFE average is 21.7 mpg. I guess I need to work on my personal fuel efficiency too. Calculate your CAFE average by starting at www.fueleconomy.gov and let me know how well you are doing!