Author Nick: Wally Koster
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Exporting vehicles to international ports around the world has never been easier. Because the United States has the worlds largest supply of used vehicles, wholesalers and dealers who buy used cars at auction have a significant opportunity to grow their sales and profits by exporting late-model cars and trucks to emerging, auto-hungry markets around the [...]
If your image of a freight train is a rusty, dilapidated string of freight, coal and flat cars being pulled over a rickety patchwork of rails by a steam-powered, smoke-belching and soot-spewing iron horse, you’re in for a rude awakening. Operating on a network of more than 140,000 miles of rail spanning from coast to [...]
Few industry outsiders realize the size, scope and strategic importance the wholesale motor vehicle auction industry plays in fueling the U.S. auto industry and ultimately the national economy. In 2009 alone, National Auto Auction Association (NAAA) North American member auctions moved almost 14.7 million vehicles through their lanes at a sales rate of 61%. Over [...]
Auctions are one of the oldest forms of conducting business. They date back to ancient Babylon and Greece where art, land animals and crops were sold via public market. In fact, the Roman Empire itself was auctioned in 193 A.D. Automobiles were first offered for sale to the public around the turn of the 20th [...]
Auto manufacturers have known about it for over 100 years. Henry Ford, in fact, purchased his own railroad to quickly and economically rush early Model T’s to eager buyers all across the country. Today, as more used car dealers keep one eye on online auto auctions as a source for late-model inventory they need and [...]
In 2010, several factors are driving up wholesale prices for used cars, with low supply being one of the most significant issues. First, with the interruption of leasing programs in 2008 and 2009 by some OEM captive finance companies, according to Manheim Consulting, the volume of new car leases offered in 2009 hit the lowest [...]
Not too long ago, anyone shopping for a new or used car or truck would spend hours scouring the newspaper or waste precious time and money driving from dealership to dealership to compare models, trim levels and prices. Today’s smart, Internet-savvy customers do it all with just a few clicks on their computer keyboard and [...]
During the early years of the automobile industry your choice of a vehicle largely depended on where you lived. The earliest ones were hand-built in limited quantities and distributed locally. Charles and Frank Duryea built their horseless carriages in Springfield, Massachusetts. Alexander Winton manufactured gas-power vehicles in Cleveland and Albert Pope produced Waverly electrics in [...]
About 11.4 million cars, trucks and SUV were sold in the United States last year. That’s down from 16.6 million just a few years ago. A number of popular mainstream and niche nameplates are also quickly disappearing. GM, for example, recently eliminated their Pontiac, HUMMER, Saab and Saturn brands. As they push to become more [...]
Airplanes, railway locomotives and even space shuttles have them. The earliest ones designed for automobiles where hand-cranked, then later vacuum-powered. Today they can be heated, set to operate at a variety of fixed speeds or only intermittently. Some even use optical sensors that activate them automatically and regulate their speed based on the amount of [...]
Seeing a cloud of steam from your engine compartment, a temperature gauge suddenly reading higher than normal or a puddle of coolant under your car is a sure sign that you’ve neglected your vehicle’s coolant system. Don’t let it happen! A quick visit to your local service center or tire store will help ensure your [...]
It’s easy to notice if your tires have uneven or excessive tread wear, spot a tell-tale coolant leak under your car or hear that grinding sound that tells you your brake pads need replacement. Shocks and struts are different. Like other important vehicle systems, they do wear out over time, but often so gradually you [...]
Winter driving in Michigan and Ohio can often mask important feedback your car’s brake system can give you. Heater, defroster or wiper noise may muffle tell-tale squealing or grinding sounds. The crunch of new-fallen show may disguise clicking sounds from worn out drums or rotors. You might think a gradual pull to the left or [...]
Michigan and Ohio drivers experience five different seasons: summer, fall, winter, spring and pothole season. Sometimes called kettles or chuckholes, potholes appear after water freezes in cracks or crevices of the road surface. Periodic freezing and thawing causes them to widen and surrounding surface area to flake away. The hole then further expands as vehicles [...]
Taking a close look at your tire’s sidewall can provide you with just about everything you really need to know about your tires. But, before diving into the language of tires, let’s consider what type of tires you have. Automobile tires generally fall into the following major categories: P-Metric – P-metric sized tires are the [...]
