Hey Cool Car Fans,
I decided to start 2017 off by writing an article about the plethora of car websites online with “information” about getting a deal on vehicles and online reviews. There is a popular old saying, “there’s a sucker born every minute” and this is really true when it comes to what you read online. Granted, I have an online blog here, so people could probably say the same thing about me, but the difference is that I am actually licensed to buy, sell, trade and lease vehicles for a living and I’ve been doing it for the past twelve years.
ONLINE REVIEWS
Let me start though by talking about online reviews. What a joke most of this information has turned out to be. I know of a dealership that rips people off constantly and they earn a ton of money selling cars. They “inspect” their cars, advertise their cars as “inspected”, but most of their vehicles are rusted out from the East Coast and they don’t actually fix them.
They just advertise that they have a “90 point inspection” done on the vehicle, which is true, but they don’t pay to repair them. In some cases, they don’t even do an oil change or they may only do an oil change on the vehicle. When a person goes back to complain they tell them that they purchased the vehicle “as-is” and to have a nice day.
Some disgruntled people will go and write a bad review about them, but they don’t care. The salespeople have their friends and family write reviews for them or they write them on their own under an alias. Their good reviews outweigh their bad reviews, so they look like a great place to buy a car. How is the online website like Google going to monitor that? They can’t and do they really care? Think about it. The reality is that you could buy a car that is a piece of junk if you buy from that particular dealership based on their reviews.
On the flip side, you see people who are extremely unreasonable write negative reviews about repair shops or car dealerships that are really quality businesses. I know of a repair shop in Denver that has been around for 40 years and they specialize in doing clutches at a pretty reasonable price. They will even use upgraded materials like Kevlar that can last longer for only about $100 more than an OEM clutch.
Recently, I read a review online that blew my mind. Some disgruntled guy wrote…
The quality was excellent–HOWEVER they tried to charge me sales tax on MY components which were brought in for reconditioning, which is labor only. This is NOT legal under Colorado State Law, and they IMMEDIATELY developed an attitude when informed of this fact. Will NOT use them again.
Really? This guy brought in his own parts for “reconditioning” and they charged him sales tax of 7.65%? I bet his bill was about $200, so he had to pay about $15 in sales tax and he took the time to rate this shop one-star on a popular website. He even said, “The quality was excellent”.
This guy failed to realize that most shops won’t even let him bring in his own parts. The repair shops want to use their own parts, so it’s amazing this shop did that for him and then he pounds them online over sales tax? Wow. How many people won’t bother reading the actual review to realize that an unreasonable guy gave this long-term shop a one-star rating and they will miss out on using a really good shop for their service. Once again, I take online reviews with a grain of salt because most of them are B.S.
CAR PRICING ONLINE
Let’s shift gears quickly and talk about one of my favorite things that you will see online today. There are so many websites now telling people what they should be paying for a vehicle. And most of the time it’s really comical. I’m not going to mention the websites directly because I don’t need the heat from their lawyers, but you will know who they are. The websites that tell you whether you are getting a fair market price or a value price or what the dealer price should be.
I ran an Internet company for three years before becoming The Cool Car Guy twelve years ago. Guess how we made our money on the Internet? We sold ads. And the more visitors we would get to our site the more ads we could serve up and the more ads we served up the more money we made. Do these sites actually sell cars? No. Do they really care if they tell you that you should be paying $25,000 for a $30,000 car? No. Why would they? They have zero risk for giving you poor information. It’s on the same level as fake news.
These websites often pull data from the dealer auctions for example or previous sales on their website, but that really means nothing. Does their algorithm that they are using stop to say, “This vehicle had frame damage we need to adjust the price and notify our visitors.” or “This vehicle was in two accidents and was priced less.” or “This vehicle has $5,000 in hail damage that wasn’t repaired.” or “This same vehicle is missing a front fender and the tires were bald and the sunroof was cracked and leaking water.”? Do their websites take any of this information into consideration? No. They can’t! It’s simply taking an average of all recent sales data and telling the visitor that they should be paying $25,000 for that $30,000 vehicle because they have all the “data”. It’s ridiculous because the data isn’t completely accurate.
It can’t be because sometimes a dealer will low-ball someone on a trade and the person will take their low-ball offer. Now, they paid $16,000 for a vehicle that is running through the dealer auction for $22,000 that they can sell for $20,000 and earn $4,000. Does this now mean that these vehicles that are retailing for $25,000 should be selling for $20,000? This is the brain damage that these websites are creating in the marketplace because of mis-information and just spitting out “data”. Ever watch Pawn Stars on television or some of the car shows where someone wants $10,000 for their vehicle and they offer them $5,000 and they take it? It happens quite a bit nationally, but it’s not reality because some dummy gave away their vehicle.
You get to run around trying to buy a $30,000 for $25,000 and telling the local dealership or a private party, “Website so and so says I should be paying this, so that’s the most I am going to pay.”. Does website “so and so” own that vehicle you want? No. Does website “so and so” actually sell cars or just advertise cars for sale? How does website “so and so” get paid? They sell advertisements or you have to pay a fee to list your vehicle on their website.
Are all cars that are the same make, model and year the same? Ever been in a used car that looked like a family of rats lived in it or was a rust bucket compared to one that is car show worthy? Are they worth the same? Do these websites really care if the vehicle sells or if the visitors get the wrong pricing information? No. It’s not like you are buying the vehicle from them. They have absolutely no skin in the game and there are zero regulations to make sure that their information is accurate.
What should you really do to get pricing for a vehicle? See what the vehicle is really selling for online and if it fits your budget great. If not, you probably have to adjust your budget based on the actual condition of the used vehicle. You are far better off going to NADA.com and KBB.com and pull the data with the options to see what the retail and wholesale value is for the vehicle. This is what banks use to loan money on vehicles, so it’s much more real data. If you are under retail and close to wholesale than you’re probably getting a good deal. You should compare both book values though because sometimes even they miss it. Some banks use Kelly Blue Book and some use NADA, so if you are financing the vehicle, find out which your lender is using.
In the end, a vehicle is worth what the owner is willing to pay. A few years ago there was an article about a 1956 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing that was unrestored and it sold at auction for $400,000 more than a restored one brought. What’s the website that the buyer could have gone to see if he got a good deal on that vehicle? You can see details on this vehicle purchase at Gooding & Company’s website.
Obviously, the vehicle was worth what the buyer was willing to pay for it. This is one of the reasons why I often enjoy selling historical or classic cars more than more modern vehicles to clients. Most of the time the buyers and owners are much more reasonable about the vehicles they are looking to purchase and sell.
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Auto Consultant – John Boyd: The Cool Car Guy
John is an auto consultant who owns CoolCarGuy.com that is a licensed car dealership in Lone Tree, CO. He can help you save time and money on any make or model, new or used, lease or purchase – nationwide! Call or email John about your next vehicle! jboyd@coolcarguy.com or Twitter @coolcarguy
Hey Cool Car Fans,
These cars are super cool, but the race series is not winning over new fans and that’s a problem for the future of the Formula One racing. John Malone’s Liberty Media has agreed to buy the racing series in a deal that values it at $4.4 billion, plus debt that will take it up to $8 billion. That’s big bucks for a racing venue, but this is Formula One racing, which is the Super Bowl of race car driving and a global audience.
Since the announcement was made back in September other news reports have said that they intend to put spending caps on race teams. This is a great idea because Formula One has been dominated by Red Bull and Mercedes Benz. This is because they can spend $400 million or more on putting together a racing team and other teams have been spent into ruin trying to compete, which has created an unfair advantage for smaller teams. It’s not a big win for the fans when two teams can dominate the racing circuit with better technology and loads of cash, so it will be interesting to see how it all shakes out with the new owner.
Auto Consultant – John Boyd: The Cool Car Guy
Hey Cool Car Fans,
One of the reasons why I selected these two vehicles is because of the incredible disparity in price between the two vehicles. I wanted to use this article to illustrate the fact that no two vehicles are ever the same, especially when it comes to classic cars. Much like a piece of a artwork the beauty is in eye of the beholder and what has gone into the creation of the vehicle. Many factors come into play from vehicle restoration, make, model, year, original miles, overall condition, who did the restoration, color, popularity, scarcity, etc.
First I spotted this 1962 Porsche 356B that was yellow and black with about 100,000 miles on the vehicle. The description of the vehicle didn’t really say much about it though. This vehicle was being priced around $72,000 with auction fees and shipping. Here’s what they had to say about it, but let’s get some more research on this year and model as well.
“The 356 was created by 
One of the reasons why the 356 is popular is because it was originally created by the son of Ferdinand Porsche and it’s a cool body style. In addition, it’s an extremely popular Porsche model and is claimed to be the world’s largest classic Porsche club of all the models. They also are popular for rally and racing car events as well. What about the 1962 though compared to the 1960? Actually, there were not huge changes in these vehicles from 1960 to 1962 since the biggest changes to the 356 actually occurred in 1959.
The second vehicle I spotted was a 1960 Porsche 356B convertible, which I’ve put some photos in this article of as well. This vehicle was a complete restoration with an asking price of around $189,000 with auction fees. The first 1962 Porsche that looked like a pretty sweet ride was being listed at around $72,000 and this one was being listed at around $189,000. That’s a big spread in price.
The Listing: “1960 Porsche 356 B Super 90 Convertible Signal Red Tan Leather Interior 1600cc Super 904-Speed Vin/Serial: 87746 Full Restoration in 2014 500 Miles Since Restoration Rust Free Body Rebuilt Drivetrain Solex P114 Carburetors New Clutch New Brakes and Suspension 12-Volt System Leather Trimmed Seats Leather Trimmed Door Panels Leather Trimmed Dash Detailed Undercarriage New Seals and Weather Stripping Constant refinement has always been the watchword at Porsche but the new-for-1960 356B represented a marked leap forward in both mechanical and cosmetic features. Most notably the traditional dropped nose and slanting headlight covers gave way to a raised front bumper and fenders and more upright headlights. The T5 body style also introduced such new details as opening front quarter windows except on the Draus-bodied Roadster so named to appeal to the fast-growing American market. 
Famed photojournalist Jesse Alexander described the 356Bs new T5-series body as a rather drastic face lift that will come as a shock to Porsche owners all over the world but today it is symbolic of Porsche excellence. This superb Drauz-bodied 1960 Porsche 356B T5 Roadster is presented fresh from a three-year no-expense-spared nut-and-bolt restoration completed in 2014. After being stripped to bare metal the rust-free body was finished to high standards of fit and finish and expertly painted in Porsche Signal Red. In addition to all new seals weather stripping and exterior trim it features excellent glass chrome and canvas top Concours-standard detailing including the undercarriage and a crisp clean Tan interior with leather-trimmed seats door panels and dash pad square weave carpets and fully functioning controls and instrumentation. The restoration included rebuilding a Super 90 1600cc flat-4 engine with Solex P114 carburetors. The transmission was also rebuilt and a new clutch installed; the completed driveline now has approximately 400 miles of use. All steering linkage brake system and suspension components have been restored or replaced and the electrical system upgraded to 12 volts. This marvelous collector-grade 356B Roadster is offered with the Porsche Certificate of Authenticity.”
It is amazing how global the automotive industry has become over the years as we have watched prices of vehicles skyrocket. Isn’t the idea that if you manufacturer something in another country you should be paying less? We’ve seen that with calculators, computers and digital watches, but apparently not with cell phones and automobiles.
Let’s look at the new 2017 Chevy Bolt for example and who has been involved in creating this new vehicle. According to Wikipedia the Chevy Bolt was created in conjunction with LG.
You could get a 2000 BMW Z3 similar to this one (I’m not selling this one, just showing an example) that I spotted through the Manheim dealer auction that gets great gas mileage and has about 77,000 miles for less than half the price of a 2017 Chevy Bolt. I would take an older BMW hands down personally, but I recognize they are not in the same category. My point is that there are some great used vehicles out there that you don’t have to spend $30,000 on with a tax credit to get a cool car.
I have clients from all walks of life and often times I’ll have clients contact me about buying or leasing a luxury SUV. For example, Maserati is introducing a new SUV in 2017 called the Levante that will be available in both a diesel and a gas powered engine.
This should be a popular SUV for a very specific market segment and it’s a super cool ride, but it also has some serious competition. Jaguar has the F-Pace that they have rolled out, which is less money, but is smaller in size. There is the tried and true Porsche Cayenne that is another high performance and well made vehicle. The Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT-8 that has plenty of horsepower and Jeep has been making the SUV forever. The always popular BMW X5 that is available in a number of configurations that has been around for a long time as well. Meredes-Benz with their assortment of SUV and the Tesla Model X that is the new SUV from Tesla to name just a few of the options available from luxury car companies.
The problem though is when a manufacturer rolls out a new product, like Maserati and Jaguar are doing, do you really want to be the guinea pig and purchase the vehicle? I wouldn’t recommend it. I didn’t say I don’t like these vehicles. I think they are really cool, just like many of the others I’ve mentioned in this category. I would just suggest leasing a first release vehicle like the Maserati, the Jaguar or the Tesla and letting the leasing company share in the risk. This is because we don’t know what the depreciation is going to look like over three or five years for a newly released vehicle. It gets even more sketchy with the Tesla because many people want the electric vehicle for the tax incentives, but it’s hard to unload a used one without the appeal of a tax incentive. If you lease it you can drop the keys, walk away, fix your costs and tell the leasing company the vehicle is theirs and to have a nice day.