Automotive Addict

Im Just Looking:
This one has been used by Car Buyers for ages. Everyone is just looking when they come to a Car Lot. If you are new to Selling Cars remember, ALL customers are just looking. Your job is to assist them in the process of looking without being smart about it. Crazy Salesmen Response: "Im just looking too." or "Looking is Free Today." Dont be smart about it, just realize everyone is just looking when they first arrive. I have even heard salesman ask in the greeting, "are you here to buy a car today."

Check with Spouse:
Check with Spouse is one of those excuses that is hard to overcome because if I were making a major purchase, i would have to check with my spouse too. Just give the customer all the information they need so the spouse will have all the answers to their questions. Crazy salesmen response, "I have to check with my spouse to sell it to ya." I have actually heard that one! And, dont assume that a female shopper has to have a spouse to buy a vehicle. Women buy the cars in the household or have the influence of what is bought! Remember this, Women may not like to negotiate, but they decide what is purchased!

Have Doctors Appointment:
I have never seen so many customers that have Doctors Appointments. This is a good excuse because it is hard to overcome or question. I dont know which customer started this one, but its a good one. Crazy salesmen response: "Can you get me some good meds too."

Go To Work:
This one does not work too well because how many people actually leave early enough to look at a car before going to work. The only time this might come into play is when a customer may be on a lunch break. Crazy Salesmen Response: "Are they hiring."

Have 5 Minutes:
All customers only have 5 minutes. This is because they do not like you in the first 30 seconds. They will give you 5 minutes before they go to another dealer. Crazy Salesmen Response: "Thats not enough time, come see me later when you have more time."

Not Ready:
A customer is telling you they do not have enough information to make an informed decision. Do not take this as a customer wasteing your time, give them more information. Crazy Salesmen Response: "Come see me when your ready." That is too funny, call the customer tomorrow and see what kind of vehicle they purchased!

Do You Have Other Color:
Have you ever seen a customer look around to see what you have to ask you for a color that you do not have? This is sometimes a defense mechanism to get away from you. You now say you can locate one, but they say they would have to look at it first. The customer is usually one step ahead of you. If you are new to car sales, realize the same excuses come up every time and have a response ready. Crazy Salesman Response: "You want a white one, that is the most popular color. Why would you want what everyone else has?"

Price Too High:
This is another excuse for not enough information. You may have to go over features of the vehicle again and make sure customer test drives the vehicle! Customers already know what you can sell a vehicle for because they have invoices just like you. They know you cannot take 5k off the price, believe me! Crazy Salesman Response: "I am trying to feed my kids."

Not Enough For Trade:
Its never enough for trade, but explain where this number comes from. Just like the price of the car, they know what the car is worth. Crazy Salesman Response: "You want more, its a Piece of sh%#!!!"

Have To Look At Other Make:
Customers always want to compare your vehicle to other vehicles. Just remember this, call them the next day to see they purchased the same vehicle from your competitor. Once this happens a few times, you will quit listening to this. Crazy Salesman Response: "You want to look at that. Why? They are ugly!!!"

I have been in the car business for over 10 years so I have heard and seen it all. Customers have excuses for every situation, but i have found out why they come up with these excuses. They either do not feel comfortable with the salesman or in the situation they were put in. You have to give a customer all the information they ask for and let them make an informed decision. You dont have to be pushy, just informative.

When you go to a dealership to buy a car, sign all the paperwork in the finance office, drive off, end of story right? Most of the time yes, but what happens if a dealer calls you back and tells you they could not obtain financing for you? This is called "Spot Delivery" as far as car dealer lingo goes or "Spotting the Deal."

It seems when you sign all the paperwork at a dealership that everything should be final, but this is usually not the case. Here is how dealerships operate when financing a car for customers. They have trained Finance personel to look at your credit and determine what rate they believe they can get for you based on the Finance company's standards. The standards set up by the lenders will depend in part on your credit score, type of vehicle you are buying, miles on vehicle, how long you are financing, how much money down, are you trading a car, do you have negative equity? These are just a few factors so you can see how complex these issues can be. Now, most of the time when you sign the paperwork at a dealership, the lender has not given the dealership the final approval or the final interest rate. Many times it may be the next business day before the dealer will know how much the interest will be or if the deal will even be approved.

Many larger dealers will look at your deal and make an educated guess (most of the time very accurately) at your rates. Now realize this as well. When you finance anything, the rate you are given is usually not the best rate possible because interest rates will be marked up just like vehicles. Your buy rate may be 5% and the dealer charges you 7%. The extra money made from the interest goes to the dealer. For anyone in Car Sales, you always get the question on the lot, how much will my Interest Rate Be? Never tell a customer you will get the best rate possible! This will set the dealer up for a lawsuit because a customer usually never gets the best rate possible. Tell the customer: Every customer and every vehicle qualify for different rates and you will be more than happy to figure an interest rate once the application process has been completed.

But, what happens when a dealer calls you and tells you they could not get your vehicle financed? Here is what happens on the dealers side. They believe they can get your deal worked out when you drive off with the car, but lenders are funny sometimes. They may decline a deal that you were sure you could get worked out. The dealer will call the lender back the next day and give them a reason to buy your deal. They may have the General Manager or Owner of the dealership call to try getting your deal worked out. Believe me, they will try every possible option to keep from calling a customer and telling them to bring the car back. This is what they refer to as "Rehashing a deal" and there are some finance managers that are better than others when it comes to "rehashing". This may even be turned over to a Finance Director is some larger dealerships. They will try to find some way to go with your deal. They may even call the customer back and tell them that another $1000 down is needed to secure the deal or the customer may have to resign paperwork if another lender is chosen. It is always a last resort to call a customer and have them bring the car back.

I've been posting few posts about car dent repair and trying to convince that car dent removal is not an expensive job and can even be performed by some household items. Regarding this I've come up with another way of removing car dents, and it can be done with the help of a hair dryer and CO2. So all you need is a hair dryer and a liquid CO2. Even a spray can can of carbon dioxide can be used. I will tell you how to make the spray can emit CO2 in liquid form. So when you are ready with these two items just follow these steps and witness that fixing car dents is too easy and cheap. Note that the experience of many people has revealed that the diameter of the dent should be at least 3 inches in order for this method to be effective. Now coming to the method.

1. Heat the dent with the hair dryer for approximately 30 secs to 1 minute. Make sure that the panel is hot enough when you are done.
2. After heating it spray CO2 on the region. Make sure that you hold the spray can upside down while you spray it. The reason for this is that CO2 comes out in a liquid form when you spray it upside down.
3. The panel will be covered by a foam of ice. You just wait and listen until you hear a popping sound which tells you that the metal has retained its original shape.
4. When the white foam disappears, clean the area with a piece of cloth.
5. The dent is no more there.

This technique does not cause any harm to your car paint so you don't need to worry about it. The secret is warming the metal hot so that it expands so this technique is very effective and works well in warmer regions of the world.

P.S Many people have said that using even a boiling water instead of CO2 even does the trick. I cannot say anything because I haven't tried it yet. If any one has done it then you are welcome to share your experience.

Car performance body kits are now a days being manufactured by different materials. All have some advantages and disadvantages and selecting a body kit of a particular material depends totally on the price, conditions, usage and other various factors. The different materials could be polyurethane, fiber glass, carbon fiber, ABS plastic e.t.c.

In this post I intend to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of car body kits made up of polyurethane. I hope this will make your mind even more clear and lead you to a better decision making when selecting the performance body kit for your next exterior car modification.

Advantages:

The biggest advantage of attempting your car body kit modification and then replacing it with polyurethane is its durability. These are more long lasting than the famous fiber glass body kits as the material is more flexible. This flexibility makes it to get mount on your car very easily. So if you are reluctant in changing your car's body kit and consider installing a new one very tough job then polyurethane body kits will change your opinion once and for all. This attribute makes a car modification quite simple and pretty much a DIY job hence saving time and money.

Since polyurethane is a hard and flexible substance, it does not damage easily as compared to its other competitors. So you need to bang real hard your car in order to place an impact on the kit. But wait. Did I say "Bang Real Hard!!!" you definitely would not love to strike your car anywhere no matter what material your car body is and this feeling become even more extreme when the material is polyurethane. Because the moment your car strikes and an impact is laid on the kit, there's a great disadvantage waiting for you which I will discuss in the disadvantages section.


Disadvantages:

Since it is a high quality material so generally the polyurethane body kits are more costly than other materials so you really need to have tight pockets if you are going for it. This is a great drawback as it goes out of reach for many car enthusiasts and they cannot afford it at all. Secondly, painting over polyurethane is not a convenient job at all at paint requires more adhesion and also sags more quickly over time when exposed to sun or heat.

Furthermore, these are more heavy than fiber glass, so when you mount them over your car keep your mind well prepared for more fuel consumption as more power is going to be required by your car to drag it. Now coming to the disadvantage because of which you would not love to hit your car and cause an impression on it. Polyurethane body kits are not easily repairable or in some cases, it is impossible do retain the original shape of it and you will only have to replace it with new one as the car dents are not going to be removed. So you have to be even more careful on the road.

Bringing my discussion to an end, polyurethane sure is an expensive material to afford but think of it from the positive angle. The less the people will have them, the more your car is going to be unique. The decision is sure in your hands.

With the advent of modern technology, even the cars have been made smart and their performance tuning has been made even simpler. Now a days engine tuning can be performed via computers. Car engines can be made more efficient, producing more torque and power and become economical as well as far as fuel consumption is concerned. This all results can be achieved by remapping your car's ECU settings.

Now a question arise what actually is ECU remapping?

Before telling you about it lets talk about some fundamentals. Different car's performance parameters are now judged by sensors embedded at various places in the car. These parameters may include ignition timing, fuel consumption, air flow, throttle position, crank position e.t.c. All these are closely monitored via sensors and their performance reports are send to car's engine management system or electronic control unit (ECU). So ECU basically is a software program which process the signals send by the sensors and helps in better performance of the car in any given condition.

Having said that, the question is automatically replied that why you should have your ECU remapped. Of course for better engine performance. The car manufacturers do not always tailor make their ECU settings at sports performance level. It may sound weird for all car enthusiasts but its a fact. The logic behind it is that why would a granny still able to drive or a mother who drives along with her kids, would require a high performance engine. So they address the concerns of all the end users and make sure that their product is well enough for almost every conditions.

So ECU remapping can be done by just over writing the existing software program of your car and replacing it with a more tuned software, best fitting your conditions. The remapping, until recently was done by removing the existing chip containing the software. It has been made easy after the advent of serial port remapping, and now ECU remapping can be performed by just plugging and overwriting engine map by a better sports performance version in to the serial port.

Tuning ECU is a simple performance upgrading but it may become complicated if you are not aware of your car's specification and would end up in creating a mess if you do not pay consideration to the conditions, the car will have to endure. If you are a newbie and want to perform a rather non professional remapping, I would advise you a simple tool best fit for this purpose. It is known as "Galletto" and use to read your car's ECU tuning file. It's available at more or less $100 from the internet. You need to connect this tool with the obd socket and can be used to diagnose any fault in the car. When the information in the ECU tuning file is retrieved you need to edit and amend it according to your desire using a better tuned software program. But be careful here as the information would be in the form of binary numbers. The software programs which are used to edit these information can be either "race 2000" and "winol". Don't forget to put back tuning file back in to the ECU after you are done.

ECU remapping do have some fuel implications if you are looking for an increase in engines power and torque. However an car can be tuned to an optimum level to save fuel and raise the power and torque as well. The results of the ECU tuning vary according to the engines on which you performed the remapping.

For a turbo charged petrol engine, you can achieve an increase of 20-30% in power and 20-40% in torque. The increase is about 10-15% in power and 15-20% in torque when there is a normally aspirated, non turbo petrol engine. Similarly turbo charged diesel engine ECU tuning may yield a result of 25-50% and 50-75% rise in power and torque respectively. With all these engine upgrading, high power, more torque and better fuel efficiency, why would you not go for DIY ECU remapping?

Dents on a car are hated all around the world by the car owners as they seem to sabotage the whole look of your shiny, pimped out, modified car. Many car lovers, rush to their their nearest car body repair shop to fix a car dent as soon as they get one and empty their pockets by paying heavy bills of these body repair shops. Not all the car enthusiasts know that they can easily remove car dents simply by using common house hold dent pulling tools as well as some specialized tools and the cost of removing them is pretty nominal as compared to those heavy bills of body repair shops. In this post I will discuss some easy "how to remove dents" techniques which can be performed via the help of some specialized or common tools which are available every where at economical price. Its so easy to remove car dents that after reading this post you will say for yourself that "car dent fix" is definitely a DIY job.

I will discuss a some general steps of removing car dents. But first just a quick peek of some tools that are considered effective as auto dent puller.

Dent Pulling Tools:

Now there are different dent pullers or dent removers which are used to remove dents from the car. Some of these are specialized for this purpose while some of them are common house hold tools which cab also be used for this purpose. These tools or materials can be:

1. Wooden block and a hammer.
2. Suction cup dent puller integrated with air compressor.
3. Dry Ice.
4. Plunger

and many other tools which I will discuss later, can be used as dent pullers or dent removers.



How To Remove Minor Dents On A Car:

Note that these steps are recommended only for minor dents on a car.

1. First clean the area with water and a piece of cloth so you are in a clear contact with the surface area and the dented region can be easily seen.
2. Drill a hole right at the center of the dent.
3. Insert the dent pulling tool inside the hole.
4. Try to pull the dent puller towards you until it pops out.
5. Once the dent pops out, remove the dent puller.
6. If the dent has been removed, fill the hole with the body filler and cover the area with touch up paint.

Remove Car Dents By Suction Cup Dent Puller:

Most non violent way of popping out minor car dents is using a dent puller which when combines with air compressor attempts to pull it by creating a suction. Therefore I would call it as a suction dent puller. Following are the steps to use this tool effectively.

1. Clean the area with water and a piece of cloth.
2. Combine the dent puller ( suction dent puller) with an air compressor and activate it.
3. keep the dent puller on the area of the dent.
4. Make sure that there is no gap or space left open between the dent puller and the dent area of the car. As any space left opened will make it impossible for creating a vacuum and no suction would be created.
5. Once the dent puller is nicely placed it will attach to the car's metal where it has been placed. This will testify that the tool is working effectively.
6. Pull the tool towards yourself. Since there's a vacuum between the car body and the dent puller so the car dent will also tend to pop out with the dent puller.
7. That's it. You are done. De-activate the air compressor, remove the dent puller and ta-daa!!! The minor dent on your car is a history.

How To Remove Relatively Larger Dent From A Car:

If the dent is relatively larger to pull it from a dent puller you can use a small sledge hammer and a small 2"x 4" wooden block. Follow these steps.

1. Remove the upper layer of the dented area from inside the car. For instance if you want to remove dent of a car door. Reach inside your car and remove the clothing or leather layer from inside your car so that you reach the effected region from inside.
2. The area must be popping out from the interior side as it must be appearing as popped in from outside.
3. Take a wooden block and keep it on the surface area of the dent area.
4. Now take a hammer and hit the block with the hammer. Make sure that you hit the block gently or you will cause a permanent damage to the car body.
5. Your job is done once the dents pops out from exterior and the body returns to it original position.

If the text is becoming difficult for you to understand, watch the video below.