Choosing a Dealership to Buy From Can Be Easier Than Deciding What’s For Dinner

Many people feel that the hardest part of choosing a place to buy a car is knowing who can be trusted, and who will truly give you a good deal on the car you actually want.

In interviewing the owners of ATOP Auto Sales, a dealership I greatly trust, I’ve learned a couple valuable lessons:

1. Advertising- big car places often have big advertising. Whether it’s tv or radio ads, or those fake car keys you get in the mail, these dealerships are pouring money into trying to bring you in. Your money. Who pays for those ads, really? You the customer do, by paying for their extra marketing costs with your car purchase. So save yourself some money by choosing a small used car lot– chances are they don’t advertise, which means that they also haven’t included that extra advertising expense into your sticker price.

2. Opulent buildings- Does the dealership have a fancy building with studded leather furniture for you to wait in while they run your credit history? Again, money for that big building and furniture is coming from somewhere, and if you’re about to buy there, you already know where that “somewhere” is. Save yourself from paying off their exorbitant mortgage for them buy choosing a less impressive car lot. After all, no one ever said car shopping is all about “the experience”- the only thing you want to take with you is the car you love.

Take-away: Unless you plan on the favorite memory of your car being the buying experience itself, you could very well save yourself hundreds, even thousands of dollars on markup by giving the little guys a chance. As an added bonus, you’ll also likely receive more personalized and sincere service from a family-owned business than from a cookie cutter chain.

Shop smart, and good luck out there!

*Special thanks to ATOP Auto Sales in Orem, UT. They’ve been kind enough to share insider knowledge and insights from a business owner’s perspective, and to allow me to publish based on their information. I am not receiving compensation in any form from them, but have chosen to endorse them because of the great experience my wife and I had when we bought our car from them. I can easily recommend them to all!

A Day at the Auction: The Dealer’s Story

In the past I’ve promised you more insights into what car dealers encounter as they shop at auctions for their inventory, and I’ve come to deliver.

Car auctions are basically a new adventure every time a car dealer sends personnel to replenish their inventory. Cars are generally lined up in a big lot where buyers can walk among them, seeing what makes and models are available, as well as checking up on each vehicle’s health.

Dealers have tools you and I don’t- they have a machine they can plug into the computer of a vehicle, which will return a report on the car’s status, including problems and warning signs that a diagnostic system is used to picking up. Note that some problems are best diagnosed by a technician/repairman, but at least this way we know the major stuff. Buyers also have the ability to test drive the vehicles, though usually they’re limited to the premises, which means they’re usually not going faster than 20 mph, so if there are transmission problems going from 3rd to 4th gear, they won’t find out until the drive home (more on this shortly).

Bidding is done in a very short time frame. Often, a vehicle will be given one minute for bidding, so buyers need to already know what cars they’re interested in, and keep tabs on which car the auctioneer is presently selling.

There are two ways cars are sold: 1) As is- if you have the winning bid, the car is yours, no questions or take-backs. 2) “Green light” style- if you’re the winning bidder, you have until 5 pm that day to undo your purchase. This is where I wanted to come back to that whole ‘transmission issue’. Here, buyers can drive the car back to their lot and test it both in-city and on the highway, in all the gears and at a wide range of speeds. If they notice something wrong they weren’t counting on, they take the car back before 5 pm and the deal is broken. Some dealers bid on car online instead of going to the auction- you should be wary of these, since the dealer hasn’t actually seen the car, nor driven it.

Here are the key take-aways from what we’ve learned so far: 1) The dealer should be able to show you the error report given by their machine when they hook it up to the car’s computer. 2) If you have a dealership looking for the car that’s just right for you, it may take a few auctions- either the auction doesn’t have your car, or someone outbid you this time around. 3) Dealers can find all kinds of info about the vehicle before they purchase it at the auction (including Carfax or AutoCheck), so make sure they share with you!

I hope this helps, and good luck buying!

Next week: Understanding how to pick a dealer who will offer you the best price.

The History of a Used Vehicle: Lemon or Lime?

Okay, so maybe ‘lime’ isn’t the official term for a good vehicle, but to me it sounded like the opposite of ‘lemon’. The important thing is, buying a used car poses a lot of risk, and the best thing you can usually do, is minimize that risk by understanding the condition of the car you’re about to pay the big bucks for.

Any car dealer should offer you the Carfax on a vehicle. They word here is offer. If you need to ask for it, and especially if they can’t (or won’t) produce one, or some reliable equivalent, you need to look elsewhere. A Carfax will guide you in answering some basic questions about the vehicle you’re about to purchase. Don’t skip over this analysis!

Find Out:

• What is the accident history of this vehicle? What were the reported damages? Depending on how picky you are, cosmetic damages are a very minor thing. But if work was needed on the car frame itself, the engine, or even the bumper, you’re increasing your risk of safety and reliability.
• How many owners has this car had? Maybe this is a personal taste thing, but I’m more likely to buy a car that’s had one prior owner instead of five, since signs of being a ‘hot potato’ may indicate a lemon, or a car that’s not worth holding onto.
• Can you find out what type of driving was done by the prior owner(s)? Usually this is impossible, but occasionally a used car salesman that knows his stuff will remember or have written down information about the person they bought the car from. What you’re looking for is city miles vs. highway miles. Two cars can have the exact same mileage, but if one was exclusively driven in town it will definitely have more wear and tear than a comparable car used by someone with a long freeway commute every day.
• Check for warning signs that may not be readily apparent. is the ceiling just starting to sag in that corner? Is there a faint smell of smoke, spilled milk, or who knows what else? (usually this only gets worse when the weather heats up). Are the hinges loose on the glove box, rear retractable cup holder, etc.? Take time to look over the vehicle. Detailing a car is the easiest money for a dealer to spend, since it often pays for itself. If they haven’t taken this trouble, there’s no telling what else they accepted from the old buyer.

Getting to know your future vehicle before you buy can save you hundreds or thousands of dollars in the long run, and can also give you confidence and peace of mind during the purchase and your ownership of the car. Stay alert, and happy shopping!

Buying Used Cars- The Special Order

This week I wanted to address a little known fact about many smaller auto dealers. People shopping for cars often drive by a car lot looking for the types of vehicles they already have in mind. If they don’t see something, they drive on. But what many people don’t realize, is that if a used car lot doesn’t have the type of vehicle you’re looking for, they can usually fulfill a custom request in just a week or two.

The used cars on their lots have to come from somewhere, right? The vast majority of the time, these vehicles are being purchased at car auctions that you and I don’t have access to. Often, dealers will simply buy auction cars that are the most popular, or that offer great value. But when a person takes the time to chat with a salesman of a car lot who isn’t currently carrying the vehicle you’re looking for, they are usually willing to look for your particular vehicle over their next couple of visits to the auction. In fact, by interviewing one of the owners at ATOP Auto Sales in Orem, UT, I discovered that about 20% of their business comes from special requests.

Here are some questions you will need to be prepared to answer for them:

What Make and Model car are you looking for? Mid-size? Compact? Sedan?

Hatchback or traditional trunk?

What mileage would you find acceptable?

Do you mind cars that have been in an accident before, or will you only consider ones with a clean Carfax?

Is there any color you don’t want?

Keep in mind that since they’re shopping at an auction, dealers can usually only match some of your preferences. What you’re getting in return for a red car when you preferred blue, is a significant discount off of what larger or more established car lots or chains will charge you, not to mention a more personal buying experience with a professional who is with you from start to finish.

I believe that customer loyalty speaks for itself, and ATOP has seen a lot of repeat business for exactly this personalized service they offer- Couples buy a car for themselves, and even years later return for a “custom order” car for one or more of their children. And in this age of extreme customization, who doesn’t want a great deal on a car ordered just for you?

Going Beyond the Car Lot to Buy a Used Vehicle

I want to take my blog in a different direction for a while, and talk about the pains of shopping for a used car. You and I have both been there, and odds are, your experience was just like that of millions of other people out there- the salesmen were pushy or bothered you long after you left their lot, you wondered how much markup was on the cars and whether you’d be getting a good deal, and you worried over the vehicle’s history and whether you were about to buy someone else’s lemon.

This post is to serve as an introduction for a series of upcoming writings about an alternative not many car buyers know about. That alternative is this:

Did you know that some dealers specialize not in selling you cars off their lot, but in taking custom requests and searching out just the right match for you, using connections only they have? It’s true. My wife and I recently purchased a car from a local business in Orem, Utah called ATOP Auto, and that experience opened me to a whole world of simplicity I never knew about.

Stay tuned, and I’ll answer questions like: How do they find me just the right car? How come they can find/buy these great deals and I can’t? What is the sales process like for this non=traditional transaction? What assurances do I have that I’m making a quality purchase with a reputable dealer? How can I save the most money while still getting a car that meets my needs?

See you next week!

Button-sized Wearable Processors Will Revolutionize the Future

An article titled “Whither Enterprise Wearables?” recently posted some interesting information.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/maribellopez/2015/02/25/whither-enterprise-wearables/?utm_campaign=ForbesTech&utm_source=TWITTER&utm_medium=social&utm_channel=Technology&linkId=12558971

It highlights the fact that Google, Apple, and many major car manufacturers have jumped on board with the idea of wearable tech. Google Glass already lets us see through augmented reality, This article pairs the idea of glasses that can view/perceive data with the news that button-size microprocessors are becoming increasingly more common. Their argument? Camera glasses paired with software open a world of corporate possibilities, including on-the-fly bar code reading and indoor navigation.

I see a great deal of value on the corporate side, but what most excites me are the consumer implications. Could I wear my Google Glasses to the store, and pick up a brand new product I don’t recognize, and through the object recognition software in the glasses, I can immediately view a video explaining the product? Or what if some friends and I decide to go paint balling, and I download the blueprints for the paintball facility we’re playing in, so I can keep a real time mini map on my HUD, along with the positions of my teammates who are also linked via their Google Glass? Perhaps my glasses would even highlight who is engaging the enemy, helping to lift the fog of war for my side?

The implications become increasingly complicated (and intriguing) from there. Does my date like me? My glasses show an elevated heart rate and quicker breathing than the baseline it took of her at the beginning of our date, so it seems I may have a chance. Or maybe it would give me an edge in a high-stakes game of poker, as I monitor the stress each of my opponents is currently feeling via biometric scanning. Would this be illegal? I’m sure we’re soon to face a whole world of splitting hairs.

Whatever the outcome, there is one thing for certain. I want to be part of the wave of wearable tech that crashes down on the outdated, dusty shores of leather jackets and parachute pants that denote the less-connected lifestyle we once embraced.

Taxes, Tyranny, and Triumph

This posting will be a conglomeration of my recent past experience and emotions, a hybrid of many trains of thought rolled into one.

My wife and I just finished our taxes last yesterday, which is by far the earliest I’ve ever had them completed. They weren’t terribly difficult this year, but having completed them still gives me this great sense of accomplishment and freedom from a looming and oppressive burden that most of us take with us until April 15th (or later).

But freedom is a funny, or perhaps ironic, word to use when considering taxes. I’ve been reading this book on justice and ethics for the ethics course I’m currently taking in my MBA program, and it does a great job at presenting and defending both sides of many ethics arguments. One of the points it debates is that of possession and entitlement. There are two camps, where this is concerned. One says that we are entitled to the fruits of our labors, and it is unjust for others, even a majority, to take from us what we haven’t directly consented to give (ie. Taxes). The second camp defends the viewpoint that each person is a victim of circumstance, and that mother nature has attributed to us severally what blessings and curses she will, such that no person deserves whatever gain they may get in life. Because of this, this faction believes that we owe it to each other to share any wealth or advantage we have equally, such that, theoretically at least, all are benefited equally.

The problem is, if we further this logic, there will ALWAYS be inequality in life, even inequalities that man cannot ‘correct’ by redistribution of wealth or job assignments. True, much of the material inequality we see today could be remedied in a communist-like society, or a ‘parental state’ (given that everyone still worked as hard, which is extremely unlikely). But I’m speaking to the innate inequalities born within each of us. Some are tall and some are skinny, some bodies tend toward leanness and others rotundity, some people seize complex ideas or math equations more quickly than others. There is an extent, then, to which man can no longer balance the ‘injustice’ of life. We all have been given our lots, whether we like them or not.

Now that we’ve established that striving for fairness in all things, especially when placed above over values, is a slippery slope, let’s consider the first argument. I personally believe that some people work harder than others in order to reap increased rewards. If one worker does the same quality work as his peer, but puts in 20 more hours a week, logic dictates that he is of greater value to his employer, or at least deserves pay or other recompense to match his increased effort. Indeed, we have all been given the same number of minutes in a day. If I use more of mine for productivity, rather than squander them on television, I expect and indeed deserve more reward than the next person. This reward is earned.

My final argument is that yes, there are certain things that need to be regulated and supported by organized groups, laws, or government entities. An example I faced recently was that of home repairs. Years ago a standard was set for diameter of pipes to use in residential homes, wiring voltages, and all kinds of things that must be ‘up to code’. This enabled the repair man I hired to be already proficient at the tasks I needed him to complete, even though he’s never been in my home before. My point is that we, as a society, have taken these laws and regulations to far in many cases. We are increasingly at a point where largely unnecessary programs and subsidies are supported by the American tax payer. Keeping the roads paved in my city is worthy of my money, but paying (through taxes) for someone to buy Doritos at the grocery store when they could have bought vegetables, is not. I believe it is everyone’s duty who is able, to support those in need. As a Christian, I have always been a proponent of helping my neighbor, and I do so with every pay check I receive. I simply don’t like being forced to subsidize things I don’t support, and believe that, were my taxes lower, I could use that extra money towards a more noble cause in helping my fellow man. And I would do so.

It’s Time For Drones To Start Delivering The Future

We’ve heard about drones for years now. Millions have speculated on possible applications and uses for our hovering friends, from military applications to emergency response communications networks to adventuring via your drone and camera from the comfort of your back yard or vehicle.

But now we’re starting to see the first real pushes toward using drones in package delivery. It’s common knowledge that Amazon has been toying with this idea for a couple of years, but now Alibaba, who is responsible for delivering a significantly large percentage of the 25 million parcels that arrive at Chinese doorsteps every day, is also putting wings on their delivery. Online shopping is experiencing a growth curve like never before, and supply chains like Alibaba’s and Amazon’s are being stretched to deliver like never before. Drones, they think, are the answer.

Alibaba is playing it cautiously, however. They just launched a 3 day only test program where customers of Taobao ginger tea can have the product delivered to their door in under an hour. Alibaba seems hesitant to commit to anything large scale yet, however. but if Chinese parcel delivery reaches 200 million a day in 10 more years, then they and companies like them will almost be forced to this level of automation in order to keep up.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ywang/2015/02/03/alibaba-starts-drone-delivery-test-in-three-day-program/?utm_campaign=ForbesTech&utm_source=TWITTER&utm_medium=social&utm_channel=Technology&linkId=12146747

3D Printing Will Revolutionize Nearly Every Industry

I was able to travel to the 2015 CES show in Las Vegas recently, and got to see a lot of really cool things. There was virtually a whole floor dedicated to 3D printers, and while most were unextraordinary, using technology, materials, and methods that have already existed for years, a few companies like Airwolf still managed to catch my eye.

In the link I’ve pasted here, Airwolf displays the dress, accessories, etc. that they 3D printed for one of their models to wear- quite impressive in and of itself. But more impressive, in my opinion, are the 22+ materials they are capable of printing with. This is the future of 3D printing. I believe that the longer we have to develop this technology, the more materials we’ll start to see in use. And we won’t simply be printing dresses and mock ups of physical models for manufacturing and the like. We’ll likely see more high-tech applications: custom circuit boards, processors, graphics cards, human tissue and organ printing refinements; the list is almost limitless.

If a 3D printer can print me a new kidney or knee replacement or esophagus when I need it, you can bet that I’m going to throw my full support into it in any way that I can.

http://www.cnet.com/news/airwolf-3d-prints-an-entire-outfit-at-ces-to-show-off-its-latest-printers/?ftag=YHRbd38a98

MICROSOFT WANTS YOU TO BELIEVE IN HOLOGRAMS

I though this article was fascinating. In a way, I’m surprised it’s taken us this long to get to this point. Cameras have long been able to capture and even interpret images, so the next logical connection would be to have digital input rendered visually for a user, who can then interact via a camera and special software.

The implications are far-reaching, to say the least. Architects and motorcycle designers and landscapers and sculptors could all use this interactive 3d hologram specific to their field, creating a ‘finished’ product before any physical iterations have even been attempted, all while creating with the easy of human gesture, something that should require little or no experience or training. This could even facilitate creation or modification by the elderly or those less inclined to use complex software.

I’m excited to see the forms this technology takes going forward; at the rate inventions are springing up on a monthly basis, it shouldn’t be long until we’re all waving our arms like madmen to accomplish objectives only we can see.

http://pops.ci/P5bE0k