Cars

For most people, buying a car is the second-largest expense they’ll ever undertake—after you consider the cost of housing. The topic of car buying is also one that results in some of the most painful calls on my show.

I hate hearing about people who get taken when they’re shopping for a vehicle—be it new or used. So in this chapter, we’ll cover everything from researching a sensible ride to arranging financing to actually making the purchase. Plus, I have special pointers on the dangers of leasing, extended auto warranties, and much more.

DOING YOUR RESEARCH BEFORE A PURCHASE

CLARK’S GREATEST HITS
Buy a used vehicle instead of a new one
When you’re considering a new car versus a used car, I want you to think about the bigger picture of car ownership costs. It’s more than just the sticker price and the expense of gas. AAA reports that the true annual cost of owning and operating a new car is $9,369.
Ouch! That painful figure takes into account hidden costs such as depreciation, insurance, maintenance, and interest on a car loan.
With a used car, however, somebody else has already taken a hit on the depreciation, which is really just a fancy way of saying that new cars lose a ton of value the minute they are driven off the dealer lot. When you buy used, you let some other poor soul absorb that loss up front.
Buying used, however, can be fraught with danger. In my radio work, we have something informally known as “Car Call Mondays.” Every Monday, my staffers have to ration the number of car calls that get on the air. People flood the phone lines after buying suspect used vehicles over the weekend.
With used car purchases, you buy “as is”—no matter what condition the car is in. The vehicle and all its warts become your problem. If it comes with any warranty, it’s usually very limited. Yet if you know how to buy safely, your wallet will smile at you, I promise! Visit CarGurus.com to get some help sorting through the critical mass of used cars in your area. (See “Have a Certified Mechanic Inspect a Used Car Before Purchase” on page 28.)

Check a car’s repair record before buying

Buying a used car involves a little more risk than buying a new car because you never know how the previous owner treated that vehicle. One way to minimize that risk is to buy used car models that have proven to be reliable.

The best place to get that information is in Consumer Reports. The magazine publishes its Annual Auto Issue every April, containing a rundown of all its top picks for the new model year. Near the back of the April issue, you’ll also find detailed information on used cars.

The Auto Issue lays out Consumer Reports’ top used car picks by price category (“Less than $4,000,” “$4,000–$6,000,” and up). There are also detailed reliability ratings for the past six model years on every possible nameplate, which are compiled from reports about seventeen common trouble spots in more than a million cars on the road. This latter feature gives you a great vantage point on long-term reliability.

Another helpful feature is the magazine’s list of “Used Cars to Avoid” and a companion tally called the “Worst of the Worst” list. You never want to buy one of the stinkers on these lists!

If you stick with Consumer Reports’ used vehicle recommendations, odds are good that you won’t have any major problems. You shouldn’t have to buy an extended warranty.

Visit ConsumerReports.org to purchase onetime access or read the April issue for free at your local library.

I’ve always been a “thrifty” person, and at times have been ridiculed for it, so imagine my delight when I first listened to Clark Howard. I bought my first new car in 1991, a 4-door Geo Metro, and named him Herschel (after the rock group “Swim Herschel Swim” because I used to take Herschel 4-wheeling and through streams). I had researched cars for months, and got the car with the highest mpg and one that also fit my string bass and two cellos, plus several violins and violas. Clark says to pay it off and then keep your car until it dies. I did both. I traded my car in only last year when I finally got a new car. Yes, that’s 1991 to 2009. I lost track of how many times the speedometer flipped, but with regular oil changes and good care, that little car still gave me up to 42 mpg. I only gave it up because it had died a few times in the middle of traffic and as I drive for a living, I had to have a reliable car. The new auto dealer gave me $800 for it, and it wouldn’t even pass state inspection. They said someone bought it right away off the car lot too.
Thank you Clark! By the way, my new car is almost paid for too! I love my Red Pontiac Vibe. His name is Red Flash.
Tristan A., UT

Know a potential purchase’s total operating cost

When you’re in the market for new wheels and you’ve narrowed it down to one or two different vehicles, I want you to step back and consider the total operating cost of your top contenders.

Many people think of the vehicle’s expense as the price tag alone, but there’s also the cost of insurance, gas, and maintenance. Beyond that, the real cost of a new car is depreciation, which is how much it loses in value during the initial years of ownership.

KBB.com (Kelley Blue Book) said that half of all 2010 model year vehicles were expected to maintain less than 20 percent of their initial value after five years. So consider that before buying a fancy new car. Why not buy a not-so-fancy used car instead and let somebody else handle the depreciation?

If you’re still set on buying new, there’s a “total operating costs” interactive tool at NewCarBuyersGuide.com that lets you compare the costs of ownership for up to four different vehicles over the course of five years.

The way to really save money is to drive your new car long past five years—at least ten years to absorb all the depreciation. The interactive tool is a start to get you thinking in the right direction about total operating cost.

Consider a hybrid vehicle with early payback

People often wonder what the payback is on fuel-efficient vehicles. A few years ago, it would have been hard to find a true payback. But that math has changed significantly. More often than not, a hybrid or diesel will save you money, even though you spend more up front.

A recent report from IntelliChoice.com—a company that specializes in automotive ownership cost and value analysis—found that the most economically efficient vehicle is a clean diesel: the VW Jetta TDI. Over a five-year cycle (or 70,000 miles), it’s more than $6,000 cheaper to own this than a gas engine version of the same car—even though the diesel costs $2,000 more up front.

In all, IntelliChoice.com graded fifty-one hybrids and clean diesels on the cost of fuel, maintenance, and repair; retained value; insurance; and taxes and licensing fees over the first five years of ownership. Thirty-five of those vehicles offered a better cost of ownership versus their gas engine counterparts.

Another standout vehicle is the GMC Sierra 1500 crew cab hybrid 2WD, which costs about $500 more up front but is more than $5,000 cheaper to own over five years. Other top picks include the Toyota Prius (versus the Camry) and the Chevy Silverado 1500 crew cab hybrid 2WD.

On the flip side, one car that is an absolute bomb as a hybrid and should be avoided is the Lexus LS 600 H. Over the first five years, you will lose almost $25,000 compared with the gas engine version!

There are still some concerns about the reliability of hybrids and clean diesels. Those will be worked out in time.

For me, I buy alternative-fuel vehicles because I want to be part of the process of reducing our dependence on foreign oil. So I’m happy to be an early adopter of new car technologies because I believe that it’s important for our national security—even if it means taking a financial hit.

I recently outfitted my Prius with an aftermarket conversion kit that turns it into a plug-in hybrid. Now when I’m driving up to 50 miles per hour on streets, I do it as an electric-only vehicle, with no gas assist whatsoever. (The cost of the electricity is a little over a penny per mile.) A gas assist is still necessary when I’m traveling at freeway speeds. I’m averaging about ninety miles per gallon now, which is actually a little less than I expected.

The cost of the conversion kit? After a recent price reduction, it’s dropped to $7,000. But I paid $9,000 when I bought the kit before the reduction. At $9,000, I’ll almost never make my money back. But again, I’m happy to be at the forefront of alternative-fuel vehicles because I believe they are important to our future. Visit PlugInSolutions.net for more info about the conversion kit I bought.

Vet out problem cars online

In the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, I gave warnings about flood cars entering the used car market. At that time, hundreds of thousands of vehicles were rebuilt and had their titles “washed.” This is a recurring problem that happens anytime we have a major hurricane season or flooding.

Dishonest people take flooded vehicles into certain states where they can easily wash titles. That action removes any evidence that the vehicle was ever in a flood. Cars with washed titles can then be sold to any dealership across the country that either doesn’t know or doesn’t care that they’re buying a flood vehicle.

These cars often end up in the hands of “curb stoners,” illegal dealers who run ads in the paper. They pretend they’re selling their sister’s car or their mother’s car and they hope you don’t know what they know. About 20 percent of these cars go to unsuspecting people overseas. The other 80 percent stay right here at home.

To the naked eye, you can’t tell that anything is amiss with these cars. But you’ll know you’ve got a flood car when you encounter failed electrical systems throughout the vehicle.

A lot of people will pay CARFAX.com $35 to run the vehicle identification number (VIN) to check for title problems, liens, odometer rollback, salvage history, and more. That’s a good idea. But I want you to be doubly sure by also running the VIN through a free database operated by the National Insurance Crime Bureau at NICB.org.

Even if the car checks out in both databases, you should still have the vehicle inspected by a diagnostic mechanic before you buy (as I explain below). If the used car you want checks out in CARFAX and NICB, and it passes a diagnostic inspection, you can be confident it is a good car.

A CLARK FAVORITE
Have a certified mechanic inspect a used car before purchase
I was recently reminded of the dangers of used car buying when an unfortunate motorist broke down and had to pull into my driveway! Can you imagine the irony? I spend a lot of my days warning people not to buy used car lemons and here I had just such a drama playing out in front of my eyes.
In this particular instance, the motorist was a member of the U.S. Air Force who had bought the used car from a Craigslist seller. The airman had just picked up the car and didn’t even make it home before the vehicle broke down.
I bring this story up to show you that all used cars are sold “as is,” whether by a private seller or a licensed dealer—unless they come with a written warranty. Worse yet, the seller is not required by law to be honest about the condition of the vehicle. Whatever representations they make about the car can be false.
On my radio show, I talk to so many people who are duped when buying a used car. We call them “razor blade calls” because they’re so painful to hear. There’s usually nothing I can do to help.
Here’s my key rule for used car buying: Have the car inspected by a certified diagnostic mechanic of your choice as a condition of purchase. You can leave a deposit if you wish but specify in writing that the money must be returned to you if the car doesn’t check out. You can eliminate nine out of ten used car buying disasters this way.
You want an ASE-certified (Automotive Service Excellence) mechanic. Garages that participate in the Blue Seal of Excellence Recognition Program typically retain the most highly trained ASE-certified mechanics. Visit ASE.com to find one near you.

FINANCING AND THE PURCHASE PROCESS

CLARK’S GREATEST HITS
Prearrange your auto loan financing
You might have spent hours researching a potential car purchase thoroughly, but did you do the same when it came to getting your loan? One of the biggest mistakes people make when buying a car is to not arrange financing before they walk into a car dealership.
Dealers are entitled to make money on a loan if you don’t do your homework and get prequalified elsewhere. Credit unions offer interest rates on car loans that can be one to three percentage points lower than other lenders. You may also want to check online lenders. Even your auto insurer may be able to give you a competitive interest rate.
The real money in car dealerships is made in the F&I (finance and insurance) department, where the F&I man (or woman) sells extended warranties and writes car loans.
When you fill out a credit application at a dealership, the dealer goes out to wholesale the money for you. They might get money at 4 percent, but they could write the loan at up to 7 percent or even higher—especially if they con you into thinking you have bad credit. The younger you are, the likelier it is that you’ll be conned into thinking you aren’t good for the money and they are heroes to get a loan for you!
By prequalifying elsewhere, it will change the whole equation at the dealership. You can then go in and tell them the interest rate you’ve been prequalified for. If the F&I department can beat the deal you have, fine, give them a chance to make some money originating the loan. But don’t let them make money by gouging you on the markup of a loan.
I want you, not the F&I man, in the driver’s seat.

Never finance for longer than forty-two months

During a recent flight, I was talking with a seatmate who sold gap insurance for the automotive industry. This woman was telling me how people borrow so much on their cars and how the great service she sells helps them if they’re upside down in their vehicle (owing more on the auto loan than the vehicle is worth) when it’s stolen or destroyed. She had the solution to a problem that you shouldn’t let happen in the first place. You should not buy a car with no money down because of the rapid level of depreciation. The average auto loan is now more than sixty months long. So it’s very difficult to close the gap between your rapidly depreciating car and the amount of your loan.

The longest auto loan you should ever take out is forty-two months. If you can’t afford the payment on a forty-two-month loan, then you should buy a cheaper car.

The right way to buy a car is to save money first. Of course, it’s probably unrealistic to think that you can pay for a new car entirely in cash; estimates suggest only 1 percent of Americans are able to do so. But by saving a down payment of 20 percent, for example, you can have a shorter loan and pay less interest.

Avoid “the grind” at car dealerships

One thing you should never do when buying a car, new or used, is to go to the dealership and negotiate the purchase of your car then and there. Doing so means you risk facing “the grind.”

The grind happens after you’ve test driven the vehicle and kicked the wheels on the lot. When you’re ready to talk financing, the nice salesperson says he or she will go talk to the manager about getting you the best deal on your intended vehicle.

Instead they go watch TV for five minutes and eat a ham sandwich. Then they come back looking defeated while telling you that they really went to bat for you, but the manager couldn’t help out with a better price despite their best efforts on your behalf.

This is total baloney.

What they’re hoping for is that you’ll agree to a higher price. When it comes to price, you’ve got to understand that they have the home field advantage because they sell cars every single day. You, on the other hand, might buy only a handful of vehicles during your lifetime.

That’s why it’s so important to get a direct no-hassle price online, as I explain in the next tip, or perhaps at a warehouse club through their negotiated-rate car-buying program. If you have that price in hand, you’re not going to agree to pay a higher price at a dealership. If the dealer wants your business, they’ll have to offer a competitive price. You want to play in your ballpark, not theirs.

Get a direct no-hassle price online

A few years ago, after seeing one episode of Bravo’s reality TV show The Real Housewives of Atlanta, I thought it was a continuous train wreck, with a cast of women who had clashing personalities that were just unreal. Not to mention the way most of the women spent money!

Kim Zolciak, one of the cast members, was a prime example. In one episode, Kim wanted a new giant SUV, but she did not negotiate the purchase. She simply bought it on the spot for what seemed like a zillion dollars.

Her polar opposite was Kandi Burruss, another cast member who is unique on the show for being fiscally responsible. She’s a Grammy-winning singer/songwriter/producer and seemed to be the only show participant who did not think of her money as a joke to be spent frivolously. Around the peak of the show’s popularity, Burruss appeared on my radio show to explain how she became conservative with a buck. When the conversation took a turn to Zolciak’s SUV-buying fiasco, Burruss told me that she herself was leery of the whole car-buying process and didn’t like it.

Of course, she’s not alone in her sentiments. But it’s now possible to do everything without stepping into a dealership. In the past, I’ve talked about how CarsDirect.com and the wholesale clubs’ auto buying programs can help you in this respect.

Now there’s a new kid on the block known as Zag.com. Much like CarsDirect.com, Zag .com gives buyers instant guaranteed up-front prices from a network of certified dealers. It also offers an easy delivery process that helps you avoid “the grind” at a dealership. (See “Avoid ‘the Grind’ at Car Dealerships” on page 30.)

But Zag.com distinguishes itself by offering the benefit of various organizations’ large membership bases. As I write this, the service is available to members and customers of American Express, Bank of America, Consumer Reports, Overstock.com, Sallie Mae, and USAA.

So will Zag.com or CarsDirect.com get you the lowest possible price? Well, it’s a very good price, and you should definitely use it as a starting point for others to beat. In some cases, a quote from CarsDirect or Zag will be the best price. However, a dedicated hardworking shopper might be able to find a slightly better deal on his or her own.

Never trade in a car you still owe money on

Picture this scenario: You have a car and you’re still paying off the note. You decide to trade it in and get a newer vehicle, taking out a new loan in the process.

Several months later, you are contacted by the lender on your last car about missed payments. What happened? The dealership never paid off your loan when you traded your car in ... and you don’t have the vehicle anymore. Unfortunately, you are still responsible for payments on the car that you no longer own. Your credit is damaged because of the missed payments, and your new car may be repossessed if you can’t meet both loans!

The Associated Press has reported this happening all over America during the Great Recession. The car dealerships that took trade-ins and did this were not initially trying to cheat customers. But when they hit hard times and went insolvent, they weren’t worrying about paying off your note.

There’s actually a real double whammy here. If someone had the misfortune of buying the car you traded in, that person could have it repossessed because your original loan is outstanding. And they would still have the obligation on the loan they took out! Talk about a train wreck.

Be sure you’re not buying a used car with an outstanding note on it by doing a free title search at CARFAX.com or by checking with your local Department of Motor Vehicles. Until state legislatures pass bonding laws to protect consumers, we’ll continue to have this problem.

So the takeaway is this: Do not trade in a car you still owe money on—period. Pay it off before dumping it.

LEASING

Don’t lease a vehicle

People often ask me, when is it okay to lease a vehicle?

The answer is: almost never. Leasing is usually a bad deal because manufacturers and dealers like to trick people into getting more car than they can actually afford. They do that by using up-front fees to create ultra-low monthly payments. That disguises the true cost.

There are only two circumstances when leasing a car is acceptable. The first is if you like new wheels all the time and want to worry only about gas, oil changes, and routine maintenance on your vehicle. Then it’s okay to lease a new car every two or three years, but no longer than that.

The second instance is when luxury automakers offer factory-subsidized leases for which they eat a lot of the cost. The luxury nameplates hate to cheapen their brands with a bona fide “sale,” so often they offer such leases to help move extra product.

But other than in these two circumstances, don’t lease. It may seem cheaper than buying, but you’re mortgaging your future. After a few years of leasing a vehicle and making payments, you own nothing. And stay away from four- or five-year leases unless you want to face financial Armageddon.

Minimize the negatives of leasing

If you are going to lease a car, one key bit of advice I have is to stick to leasing terms of 36,000 miles over three years. Any longer than that and you’re really doing yourself financial harm.

What can you do if you’re already in over your head with a lease? You may want to try getting approval for a qualified person to take over your lease. LeaseTrader.com is one website where you can begin your search. Just be realistic: If you have a giant gas-guzzling SUV and gas is expensive, you probably won’t find many takers willing to get you out of your lease!

One other way you can minimize the damage of leasing is to refinance if you have good credit. Visit LowerMyLease.com to see if this is an option for you. This service takes your lease and shops it around among national financial institutions. If they find a better offer, LowerMyLease.com will pay off your existing lease and write you a re-lease under new, more favorable terms.

Of course, if you’re already in a manufacturer-subsidized lease, it’s unlikely that you’ll find a better deal. Also remember that you never want to extend the length of the lease, regardless of whether you get a lower rate.

Beware of leasing gotchas

I don’t know how to get the point across any better—leasing is my least favorite way for you to get in a car!

But if you do lease, make sure your lease agreement doesn’t come with an exceedingly low mileage allowance, and beware of excessive wear-and-tear assessments when you turn in the vehicle. The average leased vehicle gets hit with wear-and-tear charges to the tune of nearly $2,000.

When you lease a vehicle, take extensive photographs of the interior and exterior so there’s no question that you’re returning it in top shape. And if you do spill something in the car or tear the upholstery, fix it before returning the car. It will be one-fifth cheaper for you to have it repaired on your own than to let the dealer charge you their inflated repair prices.

Finally, before you return the leased vehicle, make sure you’ve gotten a third party to do a thorough inspection of the car. This alone could save you up to $1,500 in unnecessary turn-in fees.

And let me take a moment to address a really messy situation—when your leased vehicle gets totaled in an accident. You could be responsible for a giant gap between the amount the insurance company will pay and the stated residual in the lease. Ask the dealer when you lease for free gap insurance to protect you.

MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR

Don’t buy an extended warranty from a third-party company

Cars are the second largest expense in most people’s lives following housing. So it’s only natural that people would want some peace of mind when making a vehicle purchase, be it used or new. Sometimes they see that peace of mind in an extended warranty.

But please, don’t ever buy an extended warranty on your vehicle from a third-party company. Odds are you’ll be overcharged and the company may disappear when you need help.

For several years, USfidelis was perhaps the most heavily marketed extended auto warranty in the country, with a lot of ads on bad late-night TV featuring NASCAR champion Rusty Wallace. Consumer Reports investigated this popular outfit and warned people about them at the end of the last decade. I want to go one step further and warn people about all extended auto warranties except in limited circumstances.

According to Consumer Reports, USfidelis failed to respond to more than one thousand complaints registered with the Better Business Bureau. Among the complaints were gripes about the difficulty of canceling a warranty; obtaining a refund; the nature of the company’s misleading ads; their misrepresentation of coverage; and their failure to remove customer names from mailing lists.

In addition, Consumer Reports revealed that USfidelis told them customers were not allowed to see their contract until after they purchased it. You just know that signals somebody is up to no good.

Of course, many of these problems are not necessarily specific to USfidelis. They also plague the smaller players in the extended auto warranty business. USfidelis just happened to be the top dog at the time of the Consumer Reports exposé, so that’s why it was singled out. The company has since filed for bankruptcy and no longer sells extended warranties. “Customers who purchased a vehicle service contract can rest assured that their claims are still being adjudicated and paid by the top rated providers USfidelis represents,” according to a statement on the company’s website.

Here’s my longstanding advice: If you can afford the potential cost of a car repair, you should never buy an extended warranty. But if you’re unable to budget and save for repairs, then you should consider buying only the manufacturer’s warranty. If trouble happens, the manufacturer should be there to stand behind its warranty. A third-party company usually will not.

If you stick to Consumer Reports’ annual recommended list of vehicles, you shouldn’t have to buy an extended warranty at all—even if you have budgeting difficulties. The odds are such that their recommended vehicles won’t have severe problems over time.

Money-back car warranties are a real ruse

I’ve gotten calls from people who are being offered a unique kind of extended vehicle warranty that seems to be a real bargain. They’re told they can purchase a warranty, and then if they never use it, they’ll get back the money they paid. Unfortunately, it turns out this is just a ruse.

The Kansas City Star wrote a story about a lawsuit that went on for six years concerning the sale of these money-back warranties. The plaintiffs, obviously, were having difficulty getting their money back! A court ruled that the warranty company in question should give the money back, but—surprise—the company had already filed for bankruptcy. Good luck getting your money back then!

Here’s the lay of the land when it comes to cash-back warranties: The warranty companies market directly to dealers and get them to sell their warranties—instead of a manufacturer’s own, as I prefer—at huge profit margins to both parties.

But the warranty company doesn’t even have enough underwriting to pay for repairs. They just collect money with no intention of paying it back. Then they do what’s called a “bust-out” in law enforcement circles: They abandon their operations overnight and disappear with the money, leaving the lights on and all the office furniture in place.

The end result is that you as a consumer are stuck holding a worthless warranty. So don’t believe the claim that you’ll get your money back in the end. It has only a marketing company backing it up and isn’t worth the cost of the paper it’s written on.

Negotiate on a manufacturer’s extended warranty price

As you can probably tell by now, I’m something of an agnostic when it comes to extended auto warranties.

But I also recognize that in some cases an extended auto warranty can be a good thing. Fortunately, the cost of an extended warranty purchased through a manufacturer is open to negotiation. These typically have a markup of between 400 and 1,000 percent! Though they don’t want you to know it, manufacturers have a lot of wiggle room when it comes to the final price of a warranty.

The best way I’ve found to negotiate is to call your insurer for a quote and then use that as a negotiating tool with the manufacturer. Of course, if the insurer proves to be more expensive, do the opposite. Tell them what the manufacturer is asking and see if they’ll beat it. Just be sure to compare costs and coverage apples to apples.

Finally, never make a decision about an extended warranty on the day you’re purchasing your car. Take some time to sleep on it. With most extended warranty providers, you usually have at least twelve months from the date you purchase the car to make a decision.

Check for service bulletins and recall notices

The year 2009 will long be remembered for the sudden acceleration problems that prompted Toyota’s massive recall of millions of vehicles. The heavy publicity around the debacle really shone a light on recalls, and that’s a good thing, for a number of reasons.

A breakdown of your vehicle might be part of a defect in the model that affects other car owners. You might be able to negotiate a lower repair price or receive a reimbursement for repair work if the vehicle has been cited in a recall or in what’s called a technical service bulletin (TSB).

Many times when there’s no official recall, there still might be a TSB from the manufacturer. Thousands of TSBs are issued each year, as automakers become aware of systemic problems reported by mechanics and consumers. You can preview both full-blown recalls and TSBs for your vehicle by make, model, and year at the Center for Auto Safety website at AutoSafety.org and at ALLDATAdiy.com.

In one relatively benign example, I had an issue with a gas cap that would not open on one of my vehicles. So I went online to investigate and found that this was a widespread problem. I printed out some supporting material and went to the dealer, fully expecting some kind of push-back from them. But the dealer was happy to replace the cap for me once they pried it off!

Until recently, only one out of three people complied when notified about a recall and brought a vehicle in for the necessary fix. But I’m betting that number spiked after the Toyota controversy.

Get a second opinion on expensive repair estimates

We’re in an era in which more and more people are holding on to their old cars and repairing them instead of buying new. As a result, the repair and maintenance business is booming.

The best time to find a mechanic is before your car breaks down. If you’re at a loss picking a shop, consult websites with user-generated reviews like Yelp.com or Kudzu.com for guidance.

Members of AAA have access to the motor club’s Approved Auto Repair program that connects them with AAA-approved repair facilities. If you have any problem with the work done, AAA has a process to handle the dispute, and the mechanic must abide by what they say, though you’re not bound by the decision.

In general, you always want to talk with the mechanic doing the work on your car. I’m not a fan of the traditional dealer service model where you talk only to the service ticket writer, not the mechanic actually doing the work.

If you choose to deal with the service writer, be sure he notes the symptoms you’re seeing in your vehicle, not the remedy. Too often they’ll just write “do a tune-up” when you’re saying the car is intermittently losing punch while driving. The problem then becomes your signing your name to authorize a tune-up while the true nature of the problem remains undiagnosed.

If the estimate is large, don’t accept it as the final word. Take your car to another garage for a second opinion on the repair cost. If your car is not drivable, have it towed for a second estimate. Even after the cost of a tow, you could save yourself a bundle in the long run.

For foreign nameplates, I like going to single-brand independent shops that are not affiliated with the dealer. These kinds of shops service only one brand of vehicle, such as Honda or Toyota.

If you’re in need of auto body work, try a service called DentBetty.com, which allows you to upload a digital photo of your dents and have local auto body shops bid on the job. This service is available only in select areas. But it’s an ingenious idea because the pricing at body shops is dynamic, based on the volume of jobs they have during any given week.

Back when I lived in Atlanta traffic, I listened to Clark every day. I drove a Honda and the horn button was broken. I originally contacted the dealer and they estimated the repairs to be around $170 and said the airbag would need to be re-packed. Based on Clark’s advice to another listener, I went to a Honda-only salvage yard in an Atlanta suburb. They found the part I needed, charged me a dollar and it took me about 30 seconds to attach it!!! I honked my horn all the way home in tribute to Clark. Thanks, Clark!!!
Kati W., MO

Fill up with regular unleaded gas

We Americans have very short memories. When the price of a barrel of oil hit a record high of $147 in July 2008, I took a ton of calls from people who wanted to dump their SUVs and buy a hybrid or other fuel-efficient vehicle. But as prices subsided, Americans resumed their love affair with bigger vehicles.

It’s been the same trend with the sale of premium gas. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, premium gas sales dropped to an all-time low—7 percent of all gas sold in the United States—when the price of oil was at its peak in July 2008. That’s a big drop when you consider premium gas has accounted for up to 20 percent of all gas sold in the last twenty years.

But you know the story; now that $4-a-gallon gas is a distant memory, sales of premium have begun to climb.

I’m here to tell you that premium gas is, for most people, a waste of money. Most cars will run just fine on regular gas—even a Porsche! And unless your vehicle specifically requires premium, using higher-octane gas may actually harm it. If you’re not sure, just check your owner’s manual to see what your car or truck needs.

Ultimately, you want to use whatever the manufacturer specifies, even if that means premium gas.

Comparison shop for gas online

When gas prices at wholesale drop significantly in short time periods, you’ll probably notice big differences in the price of a gallon from station to station in most metro areas.

The price difference ranges from 15 to 20 cents, but it’s possible to see disparities of around 35 cents per gallon from station to station.

Why the almost double spread? It’s all about delivery cycles and the volume of business at filling stations. Stations known as “pumpers” in the lingo of the trade might get three deliveries a day. By comparison, slower stations that don’t sell as much gas might get a delivery only once every few weeks.

So during times of falling wholesale prices, the high-volume stations cycle through deliveries every day and reflect market prices quicker and more accurately. But during times of rising gas prices, the whole cycle is reversed and the low-volume stations have the best prices because they’re still selling gas from a week or two before the run-up in price at wholesale.

Pay attention to prices as you’re driving around and fill up when you see a deal. You can use websites like GasPriceWatch.com and GasBuddy.com to help you comparison shop for gas prices.

But remember, it costs around 58 cents per mile to operate a vehicle, when you consider fuel, maintenance, depreciation, and other factors. So beware of driving too far out of your way to get cheap gas. It defeats the purpose.

And finally, you need to know that there’s no difference in the quality of gas between a brand-name and a no-name filling station. The only difference is the price. So save your money!

Go five thousand miles between oil changes

It’s a message that has been steered at drivers for years: Change your engine oil every three thousand miles. Mechanics say you could be damaging your engine if you don’t. Yet Consumer Reports says it’s a waste of money.

To reconcile the differing opinions, you’ve got to consult your owner’s manual and use a little bit of common sense. Most owner’s manuals for newer vehicles will tell you it’s acceptable to go five thousand miles between oil changes under normal conditions. But you should drop to three thousand miles if you drive under severe conditions.

What exactly are severe conditions?

One oil change technician I spoke to said that “jackrabbit” stops and starts—the kind people tend to do when racing from traffic light to traffic light—are a prime example. An AAA spokesman I heard from cited other factors, including extreme heat and using your vehicle to tow others.

If you’re just driving back and forth to work during the week and soccer fields and baseball games during the weekend, then there’s really no sense in changing your oil every three thousand miles. A Consumer Reports study put the brakes on three-thousand-mile oil changes a few years ago. They found no noticeable difference in engine protection whether you changed the oil every three thousand or six thousand miles.

Ultimately, this one has to be a personal decision. Maybe you’re comfortable changing every three thousand miles and think five thousand is too long to wait. Then why not split the difference and do it every four thousand miles? You’ll be saving a third of the cost of oil changes by going that extra 1,000 between oil changes.

Experts tell me a $20 oil change is the best preventative maintenance you can do. So the interval is really up to you as long as you don’t exceed what’s recommended in your owner’s manual.

Avoid fancy wheels/tires on a car purchase

Have you gotten sticker shock when you’ve needed replacement tires for your car? Chances are you could have expensive nonstandard tires. It’s not at all unusual when you have to replace tires on your new car to have to pay maybe five times more than you paid to replace them on your last car.

Are we being gouged by tire makers? No, we’re being gouged by ourselves.

Automakers create multiple lines of a single vehicle at different price points. One of the up-sells they add to the pricier lines is fancy wheels that require larger-than-usual tires.

Some models even have speed-rated tires that are designed to perform at 149 mph or higher. We’ve all seen the commercials with stunt drivers tearing it up on closed roads. It’s the James Bond syndrome! But how often do you drive even 100 mph? Do you really need those high-performance tires?

So I recommend you check out the tire size and type before you buy a car. Or simply ask the dealer about the replacement tire price. Of course, for many people style is king and they don’t care if they have to pay extra.

But if you do care, use TireRack.com to price out the different tire sizes that are possible on the car you’re thinking of buying. When you see the price difference from cheapest to most expensive, that might change what wheels you buy on that new vehicle you’re purchasing. Your wallet will smile on you for years.

A CLARK FAVORITE
Find free street parking
I have always been cheap, which I define as being willing to accept lower quality for a lower price. That’s just me. But sometimes, my cheap tendencies have come back to bite me.
For example, I hate to pay for parking. So I often park in questionable areas where I can find free parking. My reward for being that cheap? Five smash-and-grabs through the years that have required me to replace the car window each time.
I could have paid for a lot of parking at that rate. In fact, I’ve had vehicles broken into in four countries—Holland, Spain, Canada, and here at home—because of my insistence on free parking.
But you’re not necessarily safe in paid parking areas, either. A couple of years ago, my wife, Lane, had parked her car in a paid lot and came back to find the window smashed. The thief or thieves were after a $99 GPS unit that I had bought during Christmas. So they smashed a $350 window to get a used electronics item that you could pawn for maybe $20.
I look at this story as a justification of my cheapness. And I think I’ll keep parking in shady neighborhoods. Maybe next time I’ll just leave my doors unlocked and make sure there’s nothing of value in the car.
My associate producer, Joel Larsgaard, has a favorite story about how my cheapnes with parking doesn’t pay
When we were traveling for the show in Appleton, Wisconsin, there was a parking lot right next to our hotel that cost $1 to park. Not $10 or $5, but ONE dollar. But I decided to park a half-mile down the road across the railroad tracks.
In the morning, I got to the car and there was a ticket on it—a $25 parking ticket. I tried my best to fight the ticket, but there is an ordinance that doesn’t allow street parking from 2:00 to 5:00 a.m. in the whole city of Appleton. I had to pay the ticket, plus an extra $1 processing fee. Talk about adding insult to injury!
Another time, I wound up getting my rental car crushed by falling debris when I opted for free street parking in Manhattan. Oh, when am I going to learn?! Sometimes it just doesn’t pay to be cheap....