Ask Patty, Cash for Clunkers, Gas prices, NASCAR
Are women really treated equally by car salesman, mechanics and the like? Jody DeVere, Founder and CEO of AskPatty.com believes that the male dominated atmosphere surrounding auto business needs to be more in tune with female clientele. According to the press release announcing Ask Patty’s launch, DeVere's company provides,
“Enhanced Certified Female Friendly Training for Car Dealerships, Tire Dealers and Automotive Service and Repair Centers”. (1)
“Automotive retailers that do not change their approach to communicating more effectively with women will get left behind and leave themselves open to being over-taken by their competitors,” DeVere said, “Our goal is to provide training for automotive retail locations that is beneficial to the entire staff to help women have a great experience with all aspects of the car buying and automotive ownership experience.”
On a miniature video next to the online press release, DeVere raves about Acura of Valencia in California, one of Ask Patty’s major success stories. The dealership now offers manicures, and when DeVere took her car there as a secret shopper to be serviced, the staff washed it inside and out, left her a “Beautiful thank you note,” and a bottle of water.
CASH FOR CLUNKERS
The saga continues. To help push it through, the legislation was attached to a war-spending bill in the House of Representatives, but the ties could be removed if opposition from Legislators in the House and Senate decide to drag their feet.
"People need to be patient. Creation of a whole new program like this does take time," National Highway Traffic Safety Administration spokesman Rae Tyson said Monday. "It's a very complicated thing, and one that's going to require some safeguards to make sure it doesn't get abused." (2)
Under the current proposed plan, $3,500 or $4,500 vouchers good towards the purchase of a new more fuel-efficient car would be awarded to consumers who relinquish their dirty cars and light trucks rated at 18mpg or less, and large pickups and SUVs that suck around at 15mpg or less. As an added incentive for the workin’ class guys out there: ALL “work trucks” built before 2002 would be eligible.
To see if you’re vehicle qualifies as a clunker, copy and paste this bad boy into your browser:
http://www.detnews.com/article/20090616/SPECIAL01/90615001/1148/auto01/Is+your+car+officially+a+clunker?+Search+the+database
GAS PRICES
Making the Clunker deal all the more enticing, summer is here and the price of regular unleaded gasoline has jumped up nearly 46 cents a gallon in the past month with the national average sitting threateningly at $2.674 as of 6/16/09. (3)(4)
NASCAR
Have you noticed all the cars look the same, minus the grill and headlight decals that are supposed to distinguish them as a particular make and model? Well, they kinda do.
But now Ford and Dodge are going against the near universal NASCAR body style by submitting models of their Mustang and Challenger muscle cars to be tested and approved by NASCAR to run in the nation-wide series that better resemble the street versions of the iconic vehicles.
“The Mustang and Challenger body proposals are said to look much more like the production cars.” AutoWeek.com reports. “The move by ford and dodge are an attempt to get their cars to really stand out on the track.”
How cool would that be?
Sources:
(1) http://www.prweb.com/releases/askpatty/certifiedfemalefriendly/prweb2501464.htm
(2) http://wot.motortrend.com/6554612/government/feds-warn-that-if-cash-for-clunkers-passes-it-will-take-a-while-to-implement/index.html
(3) http://www.autoweek.com/article/20090609/CARNEWS/906099981
(4) http://www.fuelgaugereport.com/
(5) http://www.autoweek.com/article/20090616/VIDEONEWS/906169989 4.5
“Enhanced Certified Female Friendly Training for Car Dealerships, Tire Dealers and Automotive Service and Repair Centers”. (1)
“Automotive retailers that do not change their approach to communicating more effectively with women will get left behind and leave themselves open to being over-taken by their competitors,” DeVere said, “Our goal is to provide training for automotive retail locations that is beneficial to the entire staff to help women have a great experience with all aspects of the car buying and automotive ownership experience.”
On a miniature video next to the online press release, DeVere raves about Acura of Valencia in California, one of Ask Patty’s major success stories. The dealership now offers manicures, and when DeVere took her car there as a secret shopper to be serviced, the staff washed it inside and out, left her a “Beautiful thank you note,” and a bottle of water.
CASH FOR CLUNKERS
The saga continues. To help push it through, the legislation was attached to a war-spending bill in the House of Representatives, but the ties could be removed if opposition from Legislators in the House and Senate decide to drag their feet.
"People need to be patient. Creation of a whole new program like this does take time," National Highway Traffic Safety Administration spokesman Rae Tyson said Monday. "It's a very complicated thing, and one that's going to require some safeguards to make sure it doesn't get abused." (2)
Under the current proposed plan, $3,500 or $4,500 vouchers good towards the purchase of a new more fuel-efficient car would be awarded to consumers who relinquish their dirty cars and light trucks rated at 18mpg or less, and large pickups and SUVs that suck around at 15mpg or less. As an added incentive for the workin’ class guys out there: ALL “work trucks” built before 2002 would be eligible.
To see if you’re vehicle qualifies as a clunker, copy and paste this bad boy into your browser:
http://www.detnews.com/article/20090616/SPECIAL01/90615001/1148/auto01/Is+your+car+officially+a+clunker?+Search+the+database
GAS PRICES
Making the Clunker deal all the more enticing, summer is here and the price of regular unleaded gasoline has jumped up nearly 46 cents a gallon in the past month with the national average sitting threateningly at $2.674 as of 6/16/09. (3)(4)
NASCAR
Have you noticed all the cars look the same, minus the grill and headlight decals that are supposed to distinguish them as a particular make and model? Well, they kinda do.
But now Ford and Dodge are going against the near universal NASCAR body style by submitting models of their Mustang and Challenger muscle cars to be tested and approved by NASCAR to run in the nation-wide series that better resemble the street versions of the iconic vehicles.
“The Mustang and Challenger body proposals are said to look much more like the production cars.” AutoWeek.com reports. “The move by ford and dodge are an attempt to get their cars to really stand out on the track.”
How cool would that be?
Sources:
(1) http://www.prweb.com/releases/askpatty/certifiedfemalefriendly/prweb2501464.htm
(2) http://wot.motortrend.com/6554612/government/feds-warn-that-if-cash-for-clunkers-passes-it-will-take-a-while-to-implement/index.html
(3) http://www.autoweek.com/article/20090609/CARNEWS/906099981
(4) http://www.fuelgaugereport.com/
(5) http://www.autoweek.com/article/20090616/VIDEONEWS/906169989 4.5
