Tag Archives: John Boyd

Cool Cars

Chris “Birdman” Andersen’s Monster Truck

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Birdman Truck1Hey Cool Car Fans,

My wife Becky and I were pulling into the Starbucks in Castle Rock this morning, where Hoss and I normally record The Cool Car Guy Show podcast, when Chris “Birdman” Andersen pulled into the parking lot in his unbelievable Monster truck.

A couple guys I know had told me they had seen this vehicle buzzing around the Denver area, but they didn’t know who owned it.  Well, now we know and it’s hard to miss this one.

I had to take a picture of his incredible, tricked out, totally black “monster truck” and post it up at CoolCarGuy.com.  I don’t know Chris, so I didn’t want to come across as some annoying fan and ask him for details about his vehicle when he’s simply trying to get a drink at a Starbucks. That would not have been cool.

Birdman Truck2Although, I did tell him that I took a picture of his truck, which was probably odd since most people probably want a picture of him instead of his vehicle.  I sure would have liked to have been able to get more details on it because it’s just not a vehicle you see everyday for sure.

I’m not sure how much he spent on this “bad boy”, but at least $150,000, probably more like $250,000 or $350,000 the way it’s tricked out.

Before you say to yourself, “What a waste of money.” as I know some of you are thinking, “He should have bought the new Aston Martin or some other supercar.” this is an incredible piece of machinery, if you are into trucks.  I mean look at the thing!

I’m sure he has to have a Commercial Driver’s License because of the size to drive it down the road.  Chris is a big man, towering over everyone in Starbucks Birdman Truck3and he can afford to drive whatever he wants with a new $25 million contract with the Nuggets, so cut him some slack.

Personally, I think his ride is over-the-top cool and makes a statement about who he is when he’s driving down the road.  He’s definitely not concerned about the gas mileage or about being politically correct, which is going to score points with most of the readers of CoolCarGuy.com.

Keep in mind that we live in Colorado and there are plenty of people driving Ferrari’s that they spent more money on than he paid for his ride that they can’t drive in the Winter. The “Birdman’s” Monster truck will go in or over anything that comes in front of it and I’m sure he can find some places in Colorado to take it in the mud for a great time.

His monster truck took up a couple parking spots at Starbucks, as you can see the sheer size of this vehicle parked next to the Cadillac Escalade and he was with his pretty girlfriend getting a drink.   I said to Becky, “I doubt she ever asks to borrow his truck.”, which is pretty smart for a guy with his toy.

Birdman Truck4I found a photo of another vehicle that Chris owns or had owned, maybe he traded up to this new ride because the other one is just a full size pickup compared to this vehicle.  However, he made a statement with that one too with a set of horns on the front of the truck, but there is no need for any horns on this “monster”.

As far as a Cool Car Guy Cool Car Shot goes, I’m going to rate his truck five stars for being Extremely Cool.

***** – Extremely Cool

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John Boyd

Auto Consultant – John Boyd: The Cool Car Guy

John is an auto consultant with his license at a car dealership in Denver, Colorado. 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

Cool Cars

What To Do When The CarFax Report Is Wrong

CarFaxWe are starting to see Carfax is making a major advertising push these days telling people that if they buy a vehicle without a Carfax report that they are doomed to Automotive Dealer Hell.  Of course, how many people buy vehicles on Ebay and Craigslist now with no recourse like they have when purchasing from licensed professionals?  Carfax is a good resource for people, but it’s not the “end all, be all” and sometimes it’s actually wrong.  What? A third-party source being wrong?

Have you ever  seen an error on a credit report?  They happen all the time.  A Carfax report is like a credit report for your vehicle and sometimes they get inaccurate information or information that doesn’t tell the entire story.  I’ve seen vehicles running through the dealer auctions and online that had a clean Carfax that I looked over and had been in an accident.

In fact, a couple years ago, a friend of mine who works as an Auto Consultant bought a Hummer at the auction and it had a clean Carfax. He did a frame and mechanical inspection on the vehicle.  Sure enough, it had been in an accident. The individual seller who sold it to the dealership that ran it through the auction, didn’t want to take it back because it had a clean Carfax, but a bent frame is a bent frame.

Many dealerships in Colorado now have you sign a form that when you trade a vehicle you are still responsible for any issues that were not disclosed.  This is because so many people have tried to rip off dealerships over the years with faulty vehicles.  And you’re shopping for your vehicles from a private party to save money?  Good luck with that because if you think licensed salespeople will lie to you, don’t think for a minute someone trying to unload their used car won’t.  Which is why people work with me.

Carfax is a great tool for people to use, but be aware that you still need to check out a vehicle and make sure that it’s what it should be. On the flipside, I had a guy call me today, about his 2001 BMW 330ci that shows it has been in an accident when it wasn’t in an accident. Someone had smashed the back window and pulled the seal to get into the vehicle to steal the radio. Because it was reported to the insurance company, it was coded by Carfax as an accident, but that’s not the true story on the vehicle.

BMWUnfortunately, especially on highline vehicles like BMW’s, Audi’s, Lexus, Mercedes, Infiniti and others, a Carfax report showing an accident can be the kiss of death!  There are many reputable automotive dealers now that will not take a vehicle that doesn’t have a clean Carfax into their inventory.  This is because consumers are demanding to see these reports as Gospel and the automotive dealers don’t want to sell someone’s junk either.

However, what does an owner do when the information is not correct and suddenly they can’t unload their vehicle as a trade or sell it for market value because of an innaccurate third-party report?

The only thing they can do at this time is go to the Carfax Help Center and put in a request for their report to be repaired. When enough people start losing money because of these errors, like having errors on a credit report preventing you from getting financing, I foresee the government requiring Carfax and other automotive reporting agencies will have to give these away for free.  Probably once a year to the owners of vehicles, like a credit report, and be required by law to correct the errors in a timely fashion.

Until then, here’s the link to the Carfax Help Center if you need to put in a request for having your Carfax report repaired.
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John Boyd

Auto Consultant – John Boyd: The Cool Car Guy

John is an auto consultant with his license at a car dealership in Denver, Colorado. 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

Infiniti

The Cool Car Guy Show – June 26th, 2009

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StarbucksHey Cool Car Fans,

Hoss and I were at the Starbucks last Friday in Castle Rock and we recorded a live version of The Cool Car Guy Show. It’s a pretty good show. Hoss is an awesome co-host and I couldn’t do this show without himor you would be bored out of your mind just listening to me talk automotive news for 40 minutes. I actually downloaded it and listened to it on my iPod this week while I was out on a run. My wife thought that was kind of weird, but I needed to see if it was any good and it’s pretty cool.

I hope to catch Hoss tomorrow and see if we can record tomorrow’s show in the morning. I’m helping out with TheRock.org for the Day Camp with the kids and all week I’ve been doing kid’s events. Today, I was at WaterWorld and it was freezing with the weather, but we all had a good time with 170 wet elementary kids.

BMW M5

Tomorrow I’ll be driving the church van to Boondocks up off of 120th in the afternoon, along with three school buses descending on that amusement park.  Then tomorrow night we’re ending up in Monument with all the teenagers and adults to play broomball until Midnight and I’m the designated bus driver for the group, so that should be a good time. All in a day’s work for The Cool Car Guy.

On this episode we talked about a comparison out of MotorTrend Magazine between the BMW M5 and the Cadillac CTS-V and it made for an interesting way to start the program. We also talked about some of my stories from real life as The Cool Car Guy and my take on buying used cars. We also mentioned the upcoming Classic Car Show in Castle Pines Village on Saturday, July 11th from 3PM – 6PM that some of you in the area might want to check out.

The show is about 40 minutes long again and it’s pretty entertaining and informative. We try to have a good time doing the show and hopefully it comes through that we enjoy doing it.  If you need assistance getting a vehicle be sure and drop me an email or give me a call.

Click Here To Listen Now!

Cadillac CTS-VWe’re going to be creating the show on different days of the week at unique locations, but it was pretty fun at Starbucks since that place is a money machine with a constant flow of traffic, so you’re going to want to follow The Cool Car Guy on Twitter – @coolcarguy or both Hoss and I on Facebook (Cool Car Guy) to find out where we’ll be on any given day. Tomorrow we’ll be at a Starbucks again, but I’m not sure if we’ll be in Castle Rock because I’m running with some buddies at 6:45AM tomorrow morning and it’s going to be a long day!

By the way, I got my wife Becky an Infiniti FX35 and I need to get some photos up here for people to check it out. I also got my Subaru with some new lettering on it and it seems to be pretty happy. I’ll try to get some updated photos up one of these days when my life slows down.
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John Boyd

Auto Consultant – John Boyd: The Cool Car Guy

John is an auto consultant with his license at a car dealership in Denver, Colorado. 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

Cool Cars

The Cool Car Guy Cancels His Trip To Steamboat Springs Marathon

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Hey Cool Car Fans, 

Steamboat MarathonAs many of you who follow me on Twitter, Facebook and Goblin Network know I’ve been training for the Steamboat Springs Marathon that is this coming Sunday.  Unfortunately, last week after four days in a row of long runs, I came down with a serious case of bronchitis that had me laid up at home and in bed for a week.  I’m still struggling with this junk as I write this, so I won’t be able to run it now. 

It’s a very humbling experience when you get ill.  I have clients who have battled cancer and some who are battling that disease right now.  My heart goes out to them and running in races is one way that you can help support charities that are in the fight against diseases like cancer.  

It’s amazing how much you appreciate your health when you don’t have it.  I also believe that God sometimes allows sickness to strike us down to deal with our own self-love, to remind us of our frailty as human beings and to not get so caught-up in ourselves that we forget about others.  This isn’t always the case obviously since we live in a fallen world, but for Christians I think it is often true, since once you become a Christian nothing in your life comes to you without first passing through Divine Providence.  Maybe it’s just me, but I get very introspective when I’m sick and I think that’s the case for most people.  You really appreciate your health!  

I was talking with a friend and she told me about how a friend of hers had gone on vacation to Hawaii and while he was there he got what he thought was a cold, it turned into pneumonia and he died.  A reminder that your life can be taken from you at any moment and don’t test your body even if you think you can.

I recognize that writing about this on CoolCarGuy.com is not probably what many first time visitors would expect, but I try to be real with people in my business as well as my personal life.  Too much of our world today are sound bites or if you’re an active follower of Twitter and other social sites, much of what people say today is non-stop promotion without any reality attached.  In the end, none of those things matter.  I have yet to see a U-haul following a hearse to the cemetery.  

A friend of mine told me yesterday about how his father had left his brother an original 1968 Shelby that has only 60,000 original miles on it.  He told me that he was offered $180,000 for the vehicle from a man of means, who wanted to put it in his collection, but his brother turned him down.  He raised the offer to $200,000 and his brother still turned him down.  He said, “My Dad and my brother bought that car together and it’s one of the only memories that he has left of my Dad, so I don’t think he’s interested in selling it.”  Obviously not, but it drives home the point that there are some things in life that cannot be replaced.  In this case, the car is not a commodity that can be bought with a price tag, but a memory tied to an experience.  I thought that was pretty cool.

Life is short and we should enjoy the time that we have and not forget the millions of people in this world who are suffering. Missing this marathon is not the end of the world and I enjoy running, so I hope to be back out hitting the pavement again soon.  I’m considering the Denver Marathon later this year and this race supports a number of great charities.  I also may run the Georgetown Half-Marathon on August 8th, which I’ve ran several times before.  That’s a really fun run, if you’re thinking of getting into running consider that run as a good challenge.

Enjoy the weekend!  If you need assistance with buying, selling, trading or leasing a vehicle feel free to give me a call and I’ll make the time to help you out.

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John Boyd

Auto Consultant – John Boyd: The Cool Car Guy

John is an auto consultant with his license at a car dealership in Denver, Colorado. 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

Cool Cars

The Cool Car Guy Show – May 15th, 2009

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FishCity GrillHey Cool Car Fans,

Last Friday, Hoss and I met for lunch at Fish City Grill at Park Meadows Mall and recorded The Cool Car Guy Show.

We talked about a number of issues, including Chrysler closing 789 dealerships with 12 closing in Colorado. We also talked to some interesting people while we were there and saw some very cool cars, such as a red hot Mercedes 4Matic and a Pink classic Ford Thunderbird.

Click Here To Listen Now!

We’re going to be creating the show on different days of the week at unique locations, like LODO’s, Starbucks, Fish City Grill and other locals, so you’re going to want to follow The Cool Car Guy on Twitter – @coolcarguy or both Hoss and I on Facebook to find out where we’ll be on any given day. You never know where we might show up and at what time because our schedules are nuts!

Pink ThunderbirdToday, I’m off to deliver a 2007 Infiniti FX35 that I purchased yesterday at the Colorado Auction for a client with just 21,000 miles in mint condition, in a unique beryllium exterior color with a very cool “baseball glove” leather interior. It has navigation and is hard loaded, complete with the Infiniti “smart keys” for accessing the vehicle.

There are some crazy things happening in the automotive industry right now from government regulations since the Obama Administration decided to partner with Chrysler and GM to Kelly Blue Book and the NADA being completely out of whack with the marketplace.

Be sure and tune into The Cool Car Guy Show as Hoss and I discuss changes in the automotive industry. We’ve been goofing around quite a bit with the show, but we’re going to get a little better organized and start bringing you details on what’s happening in the very fluid automotive industry.

I will be back with a new podcast for The Cool Car Guy Show with Hoss this week sometime, so stay tuned.

If you’re thinking of calling me for a vehicle, don’t freak out about how busy I am because this is normal for me and that’s why people call me. If I didn’t know what I was doing it would be different, but I do this everyday, working with people to track down every make, model and price range. Give me a call or send me an email.

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John Boyd

Auto Consultant – John Boyd: The Cool Car Guy

John is an auto consultant with his license at a car dealership in Denver, Colorado. 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