The New York Times DealBlog liveblogged the GM conference call. We’re glad they did, because just reading their recap is depressing enough for us.
cars
Auto Warranty Robocallers Call Indiana Attorney General At Home
By 5.7.09
Protip for telemarkers: If you’re going to engage in random robodialing to unlisted cell phones, pray very very hard that you do not dial the attorney general of a state in which you plan to continue doing business.
Ford Factory Dumping SUVs For Small "Green" Cars
By 5.6.09
Demand for bigass SUVs just isn’t what it used to be. Ford says it is spending “550 million to convert a plant, which previously produced trucks and SUVs, into a “green” manufacturing complex building small fuel-efficient and electric cars,” says CNN.
By 5.6.09
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Chrysler is offering up to $4,000 in cash rebates for new car purchasers. The world says, “meh.” [CNN]
Jiffy Lube Tries To Scam Yet Another Customer
By 5.4.09
Seriously, Jiffy Lube? You haven’t received enough bad coverage about ripping off your customers? Fine, here’s another one: Daniel says they tried to add about $170 in extra “needed” repairs and replacements recently when his girlfriend dropped off her car to get the oil changed. Even after she turned them down, they still slapped an extra $6 “Peak Global Life Time 100%” charge on the bill. We don’t know what that means, but those are all good words, and anything that’s 100 percent has got to be quality. Apparently Jiffy Lube doesn’t know what it means either.
Engine Massacre After 10,000 Miles No Oil Change
By 5.4.09
It doesn’t take 30,000 without an oil change to wreck an engine, here’s pictures of reader Eugene’s sister’s blown engine and turbo after just 10,000 miles without so much a dipstick getting exposed to the outside air. See how it’s covered in what looks like piles of dried BBQ sauce? That’s not a good look for an engine. Oily is good, black-oily is bad. “One big week long project, ” writes Eugene. More grisly photos, inside… UPDATE: Commenters suggest the bigger culprit may have been using non-synthetic oil in a turbo car. Looks like a VW 1.8 turbo- notorious engine for sludge buildup. A turbo engine, that one in particular, requires frequent oil changes and synthetic oil,” says anAdmetus.
Don't Change Oil For 30,000 Miles? Here's Your Engine Carnage
By 5.1.09
This sludge-filled massacre is what happens to your engine if you don’t change the oil for 30,000 miles. The six photos depict abject carnage, a crime scene for cars. Good job, Enterprise-Rent-A-Car. Don’t let this happen to you. Checking and changing your oil is a good weekend project, here’s how to do it. [via Jalopnik]
Car Warranty Racket Exposed On Today Show
By 4.30.09
The Today show recently aired a terrifically entertaining exposé of US Fidelis, one of the biggest companies behind the auto warranty racket that you’ve probably encountered via junk mail, telemarketing, or even on TV. They start by looking at an individual who spent $3,180 on one of their auto warranties only to be left stranded when her car overheated and they refused to pay.
GM To Eliminate Pontiac, Give Government 50% Stake
By 4.27.09
GM released a new plan to avoid bankruptcy today, and the cuts are deep. The U.S. Treasury would own at least 50% of the company and the failing Pontiac brand would be completely eliminated.
General Motors' Greatest Innovation? Not Cars, Credit
By 4.20.09
Sorry to disappoint all of you who think that the two-person Segway is the most innovative thing GM has produced in its long history — it seems that the company’s most important new idea was consumer credit. More specifically, convincing a nation of thrifty debt-averse tightwads that taking on debt was socially acceptable. Yes, it’s true. We weren’t always a bunch of debt junkies.
PUMA: So That's What GM Did With Our Bailout Money!
By 4.15.09
How would you like to ride down Second Avenue in this? And where would you park it once you got to work? The P.U.M.A. (Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility Project), recently unveiled by General Motors and Segway, can go 35 miles on one battery charge, seats two, and reaches speeds of 35mph. Whee!
Help, Audi Fixed My Car And Now The Trunk Fills With Water Whenever It Rains
By 4.12.09
Andrew brought his car to Audi of Downtown L.A. for routine warranty work, but left with a trunk that overflows whenever it rains. When Andrew complained to the dealership’s staff, he was told to take his business elsewhere.
Monster Cable Awakens From Slumber, Sues Another Company
By 4.9.09
Well, that didn’t last long. Back in January, we were hopeful that Monster Cable had seen the error of its stupid ways and stopped suing everyone but the dictionary for using the word “monster” in their title. They were just hibernating, it seems, and now they’re back and bullying another company—this time a family-owned transmission manufacturer in Florida named Monster Transmission.
People Haven't Returned Hyundais b/c They Weren't Yet Eligible
By 4.1.09
Rather than some secret barometer of the economy’s resilience, the real reason why no one has returned a car yet under the Hyundai Assurance Program is that you have to make at least two payments before you can return a car. Also, you must first miss three payments, so the earliest you would start to see returns is Mayish. Yeah, that makes a lot more sense than the armchair social economics crap I was coming up with. (Thanks to readers kman and Dennis!) (Photo: popofatticus)
The New Car Deals Are Piling Up — But Do You Care?
By 4.1.09
BusinessWeek did a little math and discovered that if you lined up all the new financing deals, tax incentives and discounts — a new car might actually be cheaper than a late model used one. But do you care?
