Hey Cool Car Fans,

I wanted to take a moment and wish all of my visitors to CoolCarGuy.com a very Happy New Year for 2015!  If you need assistance in buying, trading, leasing, refinancing, selling or figuring out a better solution for your vehicle situation give me a call or send me an email.  I can usually find a solution that other dealers and auto brokers or automotive consultants do not know how to do because of my years of expertise.  I’ve seen and handled just about every type of transaction imaginable and I thought I would take a minute and share a few things to watch out for online.

THE COOL CAR GUY NETWORK: By the way, I also just launched a new Internet property called The Cool Car Guy Network that you can read about why you should join at the following link: http://coolcarguynetwork.com/the-cool-car-guy-system/ You can join the Network for as little as $9.99 for 30 days to list your vehicle or $99 for the entire year and take full advantage of this unique website.  It’s a cool way to take advantage of what I’ve been doing for years as The Cool Car Guy and a great way to showcase your vehicle online, sell your vehicle, write articles as part of The Cool Car Guy Network and even promote your business.  Check it out and feel free to send me feedback since it’s a brand new property.

A Few Online Automobile Scams To Watch Out For

The first one is when you see a late model Mini-Cooper or other popular vehicles being offered for $5,000 or way below market value on Craigslist or Ebay because the people just got transferred overseas or they have some other whacky story.  The reality is that they could go to any local dealer and get the amount of money that they are offering it to you for, if it was a real offer.  It’s not and they will figure out a way to take you for a ride because that is what they do.

I have had people contact me after the fact for advice and you wouldn’t believe some of the stories I have heard.  One included a guy who contacted me and explained how he had showed up in a local parking lot to get his Ebay vehicle at night and when the truck turned out to be “trashed” he declined.   Two guys in another pickup truck pulled out tire irons and were ready to beat him up and take his money and told him that he was going to take the truck or it was going to end badly for him.  He was carrying a gun and that was the only thing that saved him from being left for dead.

There are plenty of con-artists online, who often times do not even own the vehicle they are offering for sale.  Many times they will pull photos off the Internet and use them in their ad or even be so bold as to take photos of a vehicle parked in someone’s driveway and claim it is theirs.  It’s buyer beware!  If it sounds too good to be true it probably is, so just remember that the next time you see the crazy online offers.

Another one to watch out for is the “Take Over My Lease Payments” or “We Will Take Over Your Lease Payments”.  Both of these are a very bad idea.  In order to really take over someone’s lease payments legally, you have to qualify with the manufacturer or leasing company and what you will usually find is the person may be in a really bad lease.  You could end up qualifying for a lease that isn’t all that you thought it was cracked up to be and assuming someone else’s nightmare.

Which leads me to the second option of having someone take over your lease payments.  This is a terrible idea and people do it all the time.  If the person doesn’t qualify with your leasing company and assume the lease with you being off it completely and you just “sub-lease” it to them, first of all you are in violation of your lease agreement and the vehicle can be repossessed.  Secondly, if they trash the vehicle, you are still responsible for the damage or the excess miles, regardless of what the sub-lease company outfit tells you.  And third, if they stop making payments and move out of the State with your vehicle, you could be completely screwed.  The bottom line is DON’T DO IT!

Contact me and I can give you a much better way to get out of your lease than having someone with bad credit that you don’t know try to solve your problem.  Even if you’re thinking of having a relative or friend take over your lease payments it isn’t a good idea. I have seen many people get burned on what seems like a great idea at the time to solve a cash flow problem.  It’s not the same as assuming the payments on a house, like the slick salespeople will tell you at the company charging you their fee because a house is not going to drive across State lines.

Finally, the “Straw Purchase”, is often done by shady dealers and salespeople.  A Straw purchase in the automotive industry is a purchase where a purchaser is knowingly acquiring a loan on a vehicle for someone else. The person purchasing on behalf of the other when the other person is unable to purchase the vehicle themselves.  If a loan is involved it can be considered fraudulent based on signing a credit application and applying for a loan by providing false information.  If you do not disclose to the lender that the vehicle is for someone else, it’s a straw purchase.  The vehicle can be repossessed and your credit can tank.

These are just a few things to be aware of when vehicle shopping in 2015.  Have a great year!

Hey Cool Car Fans,

Here at CoolCarGuy.com I try to put cool links for visitors to use when they are cruising through my site, which you can find on the right side of the page under cool links.  One such link is Repair Pal and once you are there you can search on some different content to find out if the vehicle you’re looking to purchase or maybe you are driving is a good value or not based on potential repairs.

For example, I currently drive a 2011 BMW 335xi with a manual transmission that has been a very good vehicle for me for a while now.  Previous to this vehicle I put 92,000 miles on a 2010 Mercedes Benz C300 that I leased new and then bought out the lease.  I never had one issue with that vehicle for 92,000 miles.  All I had to do was change the oil, the tires, the brakes and do the regular transmission service at about 30,000 to 40,000 miles, so that was a great vehicle for the money.

I sold it and went with this 2011 BMW that has also been pretty “bullet proof” so far with a twin-turbo 6 cylinder motor.  I plan on keeping this vehicle for a while as I really enjoy driving it and I have recommended it to quite a few people.  Repair Pal has a great article – BMW 335i Repair and Maintenance – A guide to problems, costs, maintenance and repair for your BMW 335i on this vehicle that discusses potential repairs that I could encounter as an owner and what they should cost.  This can work well for someone who is considering purchasing a vehicle like what I’m driving to see if they want to roll the dice on the cost of potential repairs.  You have to do a little more research though to see if they are talking about the year of vehicle that you’re driving for the potential repairs because they could be referring to an older year than what you’re driving.

The other thing that you need to consider is where you’re are getting the repair work done and in what part of the country you are living in for the work that is being quoted.  Most people never think about this as an issue, but this site comes in as a great tool for keeping your mechanic or repair shop honest.  For example, when I went to their Repair Cost Estimator tool and I put in the year, make and model of my vehicle and then put in valve cover gasket replacement based on a zip code in Littleton, CO of 80124 the estimate came back at $740 to $1066 and it was primarily labor.  I then changed the zip code to Fort Walton Beach, FL using 32548 and the price changed for this repair to $576 to $857 for the exact same repair.  That’s a substantial difference in price for one repair!

I then punched in a 2010 Subaru Legacy with the 2.5l motor that is notorious for having the head gaskets go at about 80,000 miles.  I’ve seen dealers charge $2,500 to $3,000 for this repair!  Again, I put in the different zip codes and the repair shops in Littleton, CO should be $1117 to $1544 for this repair.  On the Gulf Coast of Florida it was $935 to $1312, but if you didn’t know any better and went to the dealer you could be getting ripped off big time.  If you have this data though you should be able to negotiate with your mechanic and they can still earn a fair profit based on knowing ahead of time what you should be paying for the repair.  If you’re savvy at working with a repair shop, you can budget $1,066 and get two repairs done or replace a component that you know will be needed in the future for the same price as what someone else is paying for one repair.

This is a very useful tool to ballpark a repair that I use myself for getting work done on vehicles, along with some other resources that I have available.  I have certain repair shops and body shops that I use for specific things, but this information is useful to make sure that I am not overpaying for a particular repair.  Don’t be afraid to ask if your shop can match the price on a repair, after you have done your homework and go for the lower amount.

I don’ t list all of the benefits of working with The Cool Car Guy to get your vehicle because I don’t like to let other “auto brokers” know my secrets.  Needless to say, I have saved my clients thousands of dollars in the total ownership of their vehicles because they know me.

Hey Cool Car Fans,

The Audi S4 is one of the more popular performance sedans.  It is often compared with the Lexus IS350, the BMW 335xi or even the BMW M3, along with the Mercedes Benz C63 AMG.  The latter two vehicles usually have more horses than a standard Audi S4, which is why some S4 enthusiasts will modify their vehicles to get more power out of the 3.0 liter, 6 cylinder engine.

This is one of those modified 2012 Audi S4’s that I decided to feature here to showcase as a cool car.  Here’s what has been done to this Audi S4 to make it a super fast and really unique ride.

Stasis Challenge Edition Supercharged 2012 Audi S4 Prestige Package
Monsoon Gray w Black Leather
3.0 Liter Supercharged V6
7 Speed paddle Shift Transmission
Approximately 30,000 Miles
19” Alloy Wheels/New Bridgestone Potenza All Season Tires
Extended Manufacturer Warrantee (Fully Transferable)

Car is a showroom condition, meticulously (professionally) maintained, Garaged, Summer-Only Driver.  One owner

Upgrades:

• Stasis Engineering ECU Tune- (Horsepower increase 100+, Torque 90 lb ft +) $2500
• Stasis Engineering 2” Stainless Steel Full Exhaust (Headers Back) $2500
• Huper Optik Carbon Ceramic Window Tint (Windshield Included) $2000
• Clear Mask (fully wrapped , including mirrors, A-Pillars $1500
• Clifford Alarm with Integrated Smart Start GPS Locator/Engine Kill $1500
• Passport 9500 Ci Integrated Radar/Laser Warning/Diffuser System $2000
• JL Audio 12” Subwoofer (Integrated into Audi MMI System) $500
• JL Audio 500 Watt Amplifier (Integrated into the Audi MMI System) $1000
  • Note: These last three components are being removed if the offer is not high enough for the vehicle.

Includes:

• Audi Drive Select Package – $3,950.  Driver selectable responsive suspension features: electronic-control; Vehicle speed-proportional power steering; Sport suspension; Rear active differential; Dynamic engine/transmission settings; Driver modes includes engine mapping, steering and suspension; Requires: [WPT] Prestige; Excludes: [PDU] Sports Rear Differential Package

• Sports Rear Differential Package – $1,100.  Rear active differential; Audi drive select controls; Excludes: [PDR] Audi Drive Select Package

• Audi MMI Navigation Plus – $2,000.  Internal HD navigation system with 3D and voice; Compass; Voice and display traffic Information; Multi-function display screen; Color driver information system; Rear cam&radar parking distance sensors; Parking assistance: guidance display for rear parking; Voice activating system for phone and navigation system; Audio system , digital radio

• Prestige – $6,700.  Headlight control and active headlights; Audi Adaptive Light; Audi Side Assist overtaking sensor; Nappa leather door armrests & pulls; Includes: [PND] Audi MMI Navigation Plus And [7X7] Rear Acoustic Parking Sensors And [4I3] Audi Advanced Key And [9VK] Bang & Olufsen Premium Sound System And [PQ6] 19″ 5 Segment Spoke Wheels

• Audi Advanced Key – $550.  Audi Advanced Key smart card/smart key; includes central locking ; includes ignition starter and memory seat; Card key power locks; Vehicle start button; Requires: [WPT] Prestige

• Carbon Atlas Decorative Inlays – $500.  Luxury trim: carbon fiber-look and carbon fiber on dashboard; Excludes: [5MZ] Stainless Steel Texture Decorative Inlays And [5TZ] Gray Birch Wood Decorative Inlays

• Rear Acoustic Parking Sensors – $550.  Rear radar parking distance sensors; Requires: [PND] Audi MMI Navigation Plus

• Bang & Olufsen Premium Sound System – $850.  Bang & Olufsen audio system; Fourteen Bang & Olufsen speakers; Amplifier; Requires: [WPT] Prestige

• 19″ 5 Segment Spoke Wheels – $800.  Front and rear alloy wheels: 19″x 8.5″; 5-spoke alloy wheels; Front and rear summer tires

If you’re a fan of the Audi S4 and you have some money to spend on one that has already been modified to over 400 plus horsepower than you should take a look at this vehicle.  Give me a call or send me an email, if you are interested in finding out more about this 2012 Audi S4 Prestige with all of these fantastic upgrades and to find out what it’s priced at – provided that it’s still available for sale.

Hey Cool Car Fans,

As The Cool Car Guy, I get to see some really cool rides on a regular basis and this truck that is owned by a guy who contacted me to let me know he was selling it I thought was too cool to not feature here at CoolCarGuy.com.

Especially, when he told me what he had done to the vehicle and how much he was looking to get for it.  I told him that I would showcase it on my site and write an article about it to see if any of my visitors had an interest in it, since he’s trying to get into a home and needs to find a new home for this classic ride.

Here’s what he shared with me about his truck…

“Hi John,

Here are some photos of my really nice 1964 Ford F-100.  It is the former show truck for Rockford Fosgate and has over 25k invested in it. It’s the perfect turn-key Sunday driver with less than 6k mi on everything. In fact, I drove it only 20 miles or less every weekend to cruise nights or go to dinner on nice evenings.

The motor is a fresh rebuilt 302, with a brand new automatic transmission in 2012 that cost over $3,000 and now it chirps 2nd at 6,200ft elevation where I live. It includes, new headers, custom 2 chamber side exhaust, (SOUNDS AMAZING! but not too loud), a new suspension, a custom radiator, custom gages, custom flip face Pioneer CD stereo with 8″ subs and direct iPod attachment with in dash controls, with low profile tires and custom wheels.  

It has a new battery, really cool looking blue LED volt meter, and professionally rolled and shaved body work with an awesome Charcoal Metallic paint highlighted with a very faint ghost flame on the lower front fenders.  The truck really does run and drive great and is absolutely perfect for a night out cruising just as it is.  

Like any older truck that has been rebuilt, there are a few small items that can be done to it down the road for the new owner.  The gauges light up and are powered, but they are not hooked up and the shaved outer door handles are not hooked up yet either.  It used to have powered auto opening doors but they removed all that gear when I bought the truck 8years ago and I never bothered to reconnect it, so that is an option.

The body is perfectly straight with some small road chips, a couple small door dings and light scratches since the paint is nine years old and it still looks amazing as you can see from the photos.  The drip rail above the front window has small bubbles, (this is very common unless you shave off the drip rail), there is some pitting and water marks on the rims, but nothing major and the tires still have plenty of tread left.

The only reason why I’m selling this vehicle is to buy a new house so my loss is your gain.  I’m going to miss this truck because it is awesome and I have never found another one like it!  It runs and drives excellent and always has people checking it out or giving me a thumbs up.  You really have to see it to appreciate it and thanks for putting it on CoolCarGuy.com to help me find a buyer.  

I think that with the small items addressed it could be worth $25,000, but I don’t have time to work on it before we close on the house.  Let me know if you have a buyer for it and thanks again.”

If you’re looking for a cool vehicle to cruise around in or add to your collection just let me know and I’ll get you more information about it.  He may sell it on his own fairly quickly, but he asked me if I could assist him by featuring it here on CoolCarGuy.com.  I wanted to showcase his ride and have him share some of the information about it, since it’s a classic and very hard to find truck that is currently available for under $16,500.

Drop me an email if you want more information about it.  If you’re looking for a sweet classic truck from the 1960’s era this is worth investigating further.

Hey Cool Car Fans,

Like many automobile enthusiasts, I have been watching Telsa Motors for years and the enormous fascination and love of the electric automobile maker by the public and the media.  This past Friday the stock was trading at $259.32 a share with a Market Cap of $32.32B, which is the most ridiculous and overpriced stock I can remember based on their annual car sales and product line.  Seriously, look at the number of car sales for Tesla Motors compared to Autonation, which is not an Automobile Manufacturer.

International Business Times reported that Tesla will sell 35,000 vehicles in 2014.  Autonation, which is a franchise automobile dealer and also a public company reported in a Press Release that retail new vehicle unit sales in the second quarter of 2014 alone were 81,394.  That’s not even close!  The stock price of Autonation though was only $51.44 a share and it has a Market Cap of only $6.1B compared to Tesla’s $32.32B Market Cap.  What about other competing specialty car companies like Mercedes Benz, Audi, BMW or others?  BMW stock price closed at $88.99 Euro a share and Mercedes Benz closed at just $63.70 Euro and they both have an electric vehicle that CarandDriver.com did a review about, but they are not getting the unprecedented and completely ridiculous media coverage that Tesla Motors has received.  Audi is releasing their A3 e-tron hybrid vehicle in 2015 as well, but it’s not a fully electric vehicle. They claim they will have one in about three years according to Audi and Edmunds.com.  And BMW reported the following on their website about their revenues and sales compared to Tesla Motors…

“The BMW Group continued to perform well throughout the period under report, recording its best-ever sales volume figures – both for a quarter and for a six-month period. The previous year’s second-quarter sales figure was topped once again, with 533,187 units delivered to customers (+5.3%). Six-month sales were also up solidly (1,020,211 units;6.9%), surpassing the one-million threshold for the first time in the first half of a year.”

My point in all of this is not to give stock advice, but simply to point out a fact that one company has an incredible amount of “hype” around their company based on their annual revenues and projected sales compared to other automobile manufacturers and even automobile retailers.  It’s a joke that Wall Street and the media power elite are helping Tesla Motors to be valued with a $32B Market Cap compared to Ford Motor Company for example that has a $64B Market Cap and sold 222,064 vehicles in the month of June 2014 alone.  Anyone with half a brain should see that the Telsa Motors is more hype than substance and the same holds true with their vehicles.  And even Fiat that owns Chrysler generates about $116 billion in U.S. annual revenues based on EUR $85 billion in sales.  Yet, I never hear a media outlet give Tesla any negative press compared to much larger and more successful car companies.  It’s crazy.

Sure, the Tesla Model S is a cool car, but they have limitations.  Such as only being able to drive about 300 miles before needing to be hooked up for almost five hours to fully recharge again.  Why is this not a big deal?  That would drive me crazy with the amount of miles that I drive each year.  I can get in a Model T and still put gasoline in that vehicle and drive it down the road.  Will you be able to do the same with the Tesla Model S and have it drive you anywhere you want to go even 20 years from now?  Probably not because it will be like your iPad and outdated technology.

There are finally a few articles that are showing up that are actually talking about some of the challenges of owning a Tesla Model S.   Like this article at Motor Authority written by a guy who talked about the claim that you can get a Tesla for only $500 a month, which is not reality.  The way the media and car enthusiasts promote this car you would think that it is the greatest invention since the wheel.   Personally, I think most of this media coverage is being purchased, but that’s my own personal opinion.  When I worked for a company selling Windsurfers back in the 1980’s, the company I was with frequently wrote the positive reviews for the magazine on some of their products because they spent so much with them on advertising.  If a bad review came out they called the Editor and told him they were pulling their ads and surprisingly the reviews became much better.  The exact same thing happened with a mail order computer company that I was with in the early 90’s.  Which is why I’m a bit skeptical of some of the things I read in many car magazines, on websites and through other media outlets about vehicles.

The other reason I’m skeptical is because as reported in the article “In Summary, The Tesla Model S Is A Dirty Car” the Government is giving Tesla Motors a great deal of help compared to other companies…

“The Government Subsidy Insanity – The Model S is pretty clearly not a ‘green’ car. Despite this, Tesla enjoys massive financial support from the Federal government, as well as various state and local governments: The Department of Energy (DOE) provided Tesla with $465 mln of low-interest loans under its Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program, buyers of the Tesla Model S luxury sedan gain $7,500 of Federal tax credits (at an annual cost to taxpayers of $150 mln at ‘full output’ of 20,000 Model S sedans per year) and state and local government incentives include a $2,500 rebate for Model S buyers in California, sales tax waivers, free parking, free charging and authorized travel in car pool lanes. Electric vehicle charging stations have also been subsidized, with Federal tax credits ranging from 30% of the cost of a home charger, up to a $1,000 tax credit, to $30,000 for the installation of commercial chargers. In addition, government environmental credit schemes forced other automakers to pay Tesla roughly $108 mln in over the past six months to “offset” the CO2 produced by their gasoline engine-equipped vehicles with credits generated by Model S sales. All of these incentives are designed to help promote Electric Vehicles (EVs) and reduce CO2 emissions, saving the planet from the devastating effects of Global Climate Change.” – SeekingAlpha.com

All of this hype with this vehicle and what appears to be a total scam on the American taxpayer, even though the internal combustion engine is still one of the greatest inventions of all time has me scratching my head.  Gasoline actually sits in your vehicle in hot or cold weather and doesn’t drain the power efficiency out of your vehicle like a lithium / ion battery that changes based on the weather.  The reality is the price of gasoline, government subsidies, media hype and the iPhone type “cool factor” is really what makes Tesla a viable company.  If gasoline was selling for $.47 a gallon in America like it is in Iran or $.88 a gallon like in Kuwait the electric car company would hardly be relevant.

Now I will wait for the negative comments from Tesla Model S fans.  Before you do though, let’s race from Denver to Los Angeles and I’ll drive my BMW 3 Series and you can drive your amazing Tesla Model S  and we will see who gets there first?  It’s about 1,017 miles from Denver to Los Angeles and about a 15 hour to 17 hour drive in a gasoline vehicle according to Google Maps with places for me to fill up all along the way.  So while you’re sitting around after 300 miles waiting four or five hours for your vehicle to recharge, so you can drive another 300 miles, so you can wait another five more hours and then drive another 300 miles and wait another five hours to go a whopping 900 miles total and then wait another five hours, so you can drive another five hours and finish your trip – I will already be there lying on the beach.  At which point I will ask you what your time is worth?  And after a few days of that nonsense to simply drive from Denver to Los Angeles, you will be ready to get out your high-tech iPhone, hop on Expedia and take an airplane home!