So I was thinking about a previous post.

I really believe that you, our customers, I mean, you did come to this site or our lot to look at a car to buy, are the greatest un-tapped knowledge base in the world. Your looking to buy a car, were in the business of solving that need. Who better to tell us what we are doing right, and what we may be doing wrong.

You folks have believed in us, trusted us, with not only your car purchases since 1969, but we have the great fortune of helping your kids and grand kids! Hey, no kidding, when you bring you 16 year old in to see us, we are walking on air! What a huge compliment and we can’t thank you enough! Talk about positive reinforcement. Our appreciation knows no bounds for you. We really are at a loss at how to say thank you for enabling us to continue to thrive and grow!

But we do have a sincere desire to express that gratitude, and a gas card just seems so impersonal. Our customers are like family. We remember each and every story and family. We rejoice in the folks that walk in our front door. I love it when I can ask about your kids who are grown now and on their own. I remember when you came in and they were toddlers tearing up the place! My own kids gave me a video game machine to put in the office for your kids to play with!

So once again I am offering this as an open forum. If you were the boss here at Village, what policy do you think you would implement to make the experience even better? I’m open to anything, bigger office, smaller office, more privacy, less privacy, you name it and we will seriously consider doing it.

So, write to me, I’m begging you to write to me. We want to be the very best, provide the very best, over the top experience for you. So, let’s hear it. Write it on this blog, call me or Eddie, come by to visit (we still have the best free coffee), or email us. We can’t wait to here from you and I will personally respond to each and every one of you! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!

Show the V for Village.

We thought that it would be so much fun to feature you, our loyal customers in our advertising in such a way that it would be even more fun for you than us. So, after many very late night brainstorming sessions, we came up with a plan.

We really wanted to find a way to showcase the many people (like you)that have trusted us since 1969.

So here is your challenge, if you are up to it. We will feature your entries in our TV commercials, on our website and in our print advertising.

Every one of you will be somewhere interesting in the next few months. Maybe the mountains or the sea. Maybe out west or down south. All we need from you is a picture.

Take a picture of you, you and your girlfriend, you and your husband, you and your grandma, you and your dog, or you and your kids. Really, whatever you can think of in some exotic, different, remote, or interesting spot, with your car, showing the V for Village Motors. Use your fingers (like the peace sign) or your arms, or your ski poles, whatever. Be creative.

Maybe in front of the Welcome to Florida sign, the Washington Monument, the Swinging Bridge, the Mexican Border, or the Grand Canyon.

Your picture must contain you, the V sign, and the car you bought at Village Motors, even if you bought it 35 years ago or yesterday. The rest is up to you! It might be helpful to include a description of your picture and the circumstances that brought it about.

The very best, or very worst, most creative pictures will not only be featured in the media mentioned above, but some we will frame to decorate our offices in Conover. The Valley Hills Mall and coming future locations.

We are very proud of you and want to show you off!

Here is one of me and Eddie, We’re sure you can do better.

Bring us the print or email it to VPIX@villagemotors.com.

We can’t wait to see yours!

Oh yeah, we’ll put together a qualified panel of well known judges from our community, and award a $200 gas card to the winner!

 So please include good contact information with your picture.  

Good luck and happy motoring.

PS – Point your friends and family to this contest, the better the response the better chance of another contest with even bigger prizes!

First Stimulas Checks Arrive Today!

 The government started depositing thousands of rebate checks in taxpayers’ bank accounts today, earlier than originally scheduled, with the Bush administration hoping the payments will give a jump-start to a weak economy.

The Internal Revenue Service started making the deposits at 8:30 a.m. EDT today with the goal of completing 800,000 direct deposits each day over the first three days of this week. No deposits will be made Thursday while the IRS prepares a big batch of 5 million direct deposits scheduled on Friday.

The government’s paper checks will start going out on May 9, a week earlier than previously announced. The rebates, which are expected to reach 130 million households, range up to $600 for individual and $1,200 for a couple. Families with children will get $300 per child.

The rebates were the centerpiece of the government’s $168 billion economic stimulus package enacted in February and are designed to bolster consumer spending and lift the economy out of the doldrums.

While many economists believe the country has fallen into a recession, President Bush last week disputed that contention, saying he believed it was a period of slower growth not an full-blown recession.

"It’s obvious our economy is in a slowdown. But fortunately we recognized the signs and took action," Bush said Friday in announcing that the rebates were going out a few days earlier than expected.

The rebate checks are coming as the IRS wraps up sending out the normal refund checks to taxpayers based on their 2007 tax returns which taxpayers had to file by April 15.

Thirty-five percent of those responding to an Associated Press-AOL Money & Finance Poll earlier this month said that they planned to ruse their refund checks this year to pay utility, credit card and other bills. That was up from 27 percent who said they planned to use their tax refunds to pay bills a year ago.

The IRS said all checks for those who filed tax returns on time are scheduled to be deposited or mailed by July 11. The direct deposits and the paper checks are being processed by the last two digits of a taxpayers’ Social Security number.

For people receiving direct deposits, those with a Social Security number ending in 00 to 20 will have their economic stimulus payment deposited to their bank account by May 2.

Those with Social Security numbers ending in 21 to 75 will get their direct deposits by May 9 and those with Social Security numbers ending in 76 to 99 getting their deposits by May 16.

I’ve been thinking a lot about what we could do at Village Motors to earn your business during this upcoming Economic Stimulus plan. Basically, how can we best help our customers to maximize the benefit from this second tax season? I have a few ideas which I will share with you soon. But, what I really need now is your thoughts.

What would help you and your family the most? If we doubled your tax return to get you to the down payment that would in turn get you to the monthly payment you need, or help to overcome negative equity? Or what if we offered a $600 match or a $600 gas card? Would the choice make it more attractive to you and your friends?

We have decided to basically discount everything $600 to try to help and service our customers the best we can during these difficult economic times. You folks have believed in us, and we want to do something in return. It’s like this, your going to have some unexpected cash, and we want to help to maximize that event for you and your family. Maybe we haven’t figured out the most effective way to make this happen for you and that is why I am posting this. Tell us what would be the best thing for you. We will pick from all the suggestions and maybe have the greatest sale ever.

I have really spent some time trying to figure out how to best enable you, my customer, to reap the largest reward from this opportunity. But, I feel that I have come up short on the idea list. And I don’t want to let you down, or disappoint . So who else would I go to but you folks who have made us the best choice for used cars in the Catawba Valley! It is because of you and your input and feed back that we have the 30 day warranty, the certified cars, the bank and finance company financing, extended service contracts, carfax certification for every car, gap insurance, as well as our in house financing opportunities that has the goal that everybody rides! All of these came directly from your suggestions, emails, and input!

You were the ones that told us that dealing with me or my brother-in-law Eddie (everybody’s best friend), and not a horde of hungry salesman,  managers, and  finance managers made your experience so much better. And we’ve stuck with that, for over 30 years, because we trust you to tell us when we screw up!

Now after decades of providing the very best service, opportunity, and quality that our family can fathom, it’s your turn. Tell me on this blog, email me, or call me on my cell phone.

What can we do to make the exceptional Village Motors Experience even better for you, your family, and your friends.

We have a referral program that pays $100 to both the  referer and the new customer, cash! Can I make this an any better deal? Really, what would it take for you to send your best friend, your sister, your Mom to see us, knowing that we are going to do everything possible to get them the very best transportation package that will really work for their family and budget? And stand behind our promises!

We’ve solved the financing dilemma, I mean, we have programs available for every body! So what, if you were the boss here, what would you put into place next. The winning idea we implement is worth $500 in warm and fuzzy cash, an appearance in our TV commercials and newspaper ads, as well as prominent exposure on our website.. So here is your chance to help us to be the very best. Because that is our goal. We want to so over deliver to you, our customers, that you can’t help but tell everybody about those guys at Village Motors!

I look forward to hearing from you, Bruce

We’ve put together a list of the common scams that take place in the automotive industry, some of these may not be specific to used cars, but the important thing is to be conscious of how easy it for dealers and sellers to take advantage of unsuspecting consumers.

Low Balling– Is one of the tricks most commonly done by dealers. They will try to convince the buyer that they can provide the lowest possible price for the car thereby prompting the buyer to start negotiations with the dealer. The salesman will probably tell you that you can get the car that you want for a lesser amount but when you are about to enter negotiations, it turns out that you were not promised a lower price after all. It is just an empty promise.

Best Price Matching–When you tell the dealer that you will try to look around and check other car dealerships, the salesman will ask you to return when you get the best possible price and he will offer to match it. By this time, you will probably be too tired and sick of looking around. Chances are that you will take their offer.

Yoyo Scam–You will be allowed by the dealer to bring the car home as soon as possible. The dealer will take care of the financing, a few days later he will contact you again and tell you that there was a problem with your financing plan. He will tell you to set up a new financing scheme through him which, of course, will be at a higher cost and this will also entail a very high profit on the dealer’s part.

Protective Coatings—Commonly called Paint Protect ant, Fabric Guard, Undercoating or even Rust Proofing—This one has been around a while, but it’s still prevalent at a lot of dealerships. They will usually “pack” this into the cost of the vehicle. During my years of experience I can’t recall one single event that this has helped a consumer. My Opinion—Forget it and don’t let the dealer persuade other wise.

Window Etching Trick–Window etching is a very common scam. What the dealer will do is to offer to etch the VIN number of your car onto the window of the car for a price. Basically, the price ranges from as low as $300 to as high as $1,000.

Some buyers think that they did a good job by being able to talk down the price to a few hundred dollars, but unfortunately for them, a few hundred dollars is still a good amount of money.

The best way to avoid this kind of scam is for you to buy an etching kit that you can do on your own. This is available in most auto shops and costs around $20. See how much they profit from you.

Tip—Some insurance companies will offer a small discount if you do etch the windows. The philosophy here is that if the windows are etched, it is less likely to be stolen, there by reducing the risk against the insurance company. Call your insurance company and ask if they offer the discount!!

Sign up for our Free Newsletter to receive more tips, scams, free reports, information and specials. Just click the link below!!

green gas earth day earthday

Tips to Save Gas…and save your extra dollars!!!

I came across some very useful advice today on theDailyGreen.com and thought I’d share with all of you. Given the ridiculous gas prices, everyone’s looking for a way to save a couple of cents, so I found this rather fitting. According to the Consumer Federation of America, if you follow these guidelines, you’ll save at least 20% on fuel costs. Along with each tip, I’ve included the amount you’re estimated to save according the CFA’s studies:

 1. Keep it CLEAN

Did you know that you can increase your gas mileage 10% if you have a clean air filter? AND almost 25% of all cars need a new one!

Savings: $0.28 a gallon

2. Straighten out

You all know that if your tires are poorly aligned, they’ll wear out faster (especially on rear-wheel drive cars). However, they also force your engine to work harder, using up more gas.

Savings: $0.28 a gallon

3. Tune Up your engine

Don’t ignore the “Check your engine” light. One- you’ll most likely save on gas, and two- you could prevent more costly damages.

Savings: $0.11 a gallon

4. Keep them filled

Over 25% of vehicles have somewhat deflated tires, which also results in fuel deficiency.  Soo…pump ‘em up! Savings: $0.08 a gallon.  

5. Screw it or replace it

If your gas cap is loose, broken, or missing, two things can result: 1- your gas mileage can decrease, and 2- for those of you “green” fanatics, you could be harming the environment.

Savings: $0.02 a gallon

6. Gimme a break

Slow down….did you know you can decrease increase fuel efficiency 7% if for every 5mph you slow down on the highway? (I’m gonna be perfectly honest…this is a tough one for me!)

Savings:  $0.19 a gallon, (reducing speed from 70 mph to 65 mph)

7. Smooth ridin’

Don’t slam on the breaks or floor the gas pedal (if you don’t have to). You could save up to 33% of your gas!Savings: $0.48 a gallon.

8. Get off it

One of my biggest pet peeves…. Don’t ride with your foot on the break! Not only do you wear out your breaks, but this is the number #1 way to waste your gas.

Savings: $0.96 per gallon

9. Lose some weight

Stick to your New Year’s resolution and lose those extra pounds! (just kidding) But seriously, get rid of the extra poundage in your car and yes, you’ll increase your fuel efficiency by 1-2% for every 100lbs you drop.

Savings: $0.04 a gallon, (based on 100lbs removed)

10. Stop putzing

Keeping your car running idle causes pollution and wastes gas. (So in other words, you really don’t need to warm up your car for an hour if it’s cold out…just throw on an extra jacket and you’ll save $$$)

Savings: $0.01 a gallon, (for every 2 min you keep it running idle)

Happy Motoring, Bruce