In the past decade, I have purchased several project cars sight unseen. My first XJ6 was purchased via eBay from a carlot in western PA. The XJ-S was also purchased via eBay from a private owner in New Jersey. As nice as those cars were, if I did it again, I would hire an independent mechanic to inspect the car before making my final bid. Why? Something called Sandy happened this year. Thousands of cars were submerged during the flooding and there are probably thousands of unscrupulous people selling these cars now. What appears to be a great deal may not be after you have the car for a few days. So, how do you know if the car you are buying has been in a flood? Over at Hemmings Blog, David Traver Adolphus has written a helpful article, How to spot a flood-damaged car. Read it and you could save yourself a lot of heartache.
Victor Muller was the hero of the SAAB community during the couple of years that Spyker owned SAAB. In fact, I still have the Spyker patch on my black leather jacket. But people have varying opinions now that the company has gone bankrupt. And now that Spyker has filed a suit against GM for stopping their deal with Youngman, I’m beginning to wonder, too. Was Muller’s idea a pipedream as TTAC said back in April? I’m not very optimistic about the outcome of this court case.
At Orwell Bible Church yesterday someone asked me if the looming fiscal cliff was hurting auto sales at our dealership. At Leikin Motor Companies, we are taking things one day at a time and are still selling cars. But the reality of the fiscal cliff still exists. If politicians don’t get things taken care of soon, there will be problems for businesses, right? It appears that dealerships aren’t too worried about it. At least, that’s what Jamie LaReau says. Here’s hoping things work out.