Posted: 03 Oct 2009 12:45 PM PDT

"Cash for clunkers" was a powerful potion to get owners of older cars to trade them in on new ones.

But if your ride didn't qualify, or you just weren't ready to part with it, the question remains: When do you repair an old car and when do you say goodbye?

"The decision gets foggy when the car starts nickel-and-diming you to death," said Matt Wright, who dispenses online auto-repair advice for About.com in New York. "I think a good guideline is (to ditch the old car) when your repair bills start to look like a monthly car payment."

Americans paid $38 billion to fix their cars in 2008, according to the Automotive Service Association, with the average repair cost $217.

Wright cited a recent guideline from the AAA that when a repair exceeds 50 percent of the book value of the car, it's time to replace it.

"But I don't agree with that," he said. "The decision on when to give up has to be approached on a case-by-case basis.

"If the car looks like a smoke bomb when you start it up, or it shimmies down the highway, you're probably looking at a lot of repair bills, and it's time to get a new car."

Yet, if the book value is $3,000 to $4,000, "and the rest of the car is solid, you're probably better off forking over the $1,500 or $2,000 for a new transmission than taking on a new car payment," he said.

Wright and other experts said blown engines and transmissions are the most common big-ticket repairs for older cars, though they're not necessarily an economic kiss of death.

"People have to replace their engines more often than you think," Wright said. "It might be worth it to replace it just to avoid getting into a deeper financial situation.

"You can put it to yourself this way: I can get a new engine for $2,000 or I can get a car payment that's $500 a month."

And some major repairs might cost nothing, said Michael Gray, co-author of "Auto Upkeep: Basic Car Care, Maintenance, and Repair" (Rolling Hills Publishing), a textbook used in high schools and community colleges.

"People seem to forget, after they've had their cars for a while, that there are several different warranties that come with them," said Gray, who runs AutoUpkeep.com from Ozark, Mo.

"Some cars have 10-year/100,000-mile powertrain (engine and transmission) warranties," he said. "Emission-related issues (catalytic converter, engine-control module) may have eight-year/80,000-mile warranties."

He and other experts say that because cars are generally well constructed, they may hit and easily surpass 200,000 miles, which could strengthen the case for hanging on rather than trading in.

"I don't think 300,000 is even out of the question," said Karl Brauer, editor-in-chief at Edmunds.com, an automotive-information Web site in Santa Monica, Calif.

"It's totally do-able, if you maintain them really well."

Edmunds.com's published rule of thumb is that if the repair cost exceeds the car's value, it's time to trade in.

Presuming that the replacement would be new, rather than a used vehicle, Brauer cited several arguments against the repair route, particularly the peace of mind from a new car with fewer necessary repairs and the latest in safety technology.

Some people, he said, just want new.

"If you can afford a new car and are sick of the old car, fine," he said.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Price manipulators face instant arrest - Balita News

Posted: 03 Oct 2009 01:20 PM PDT

October 3, 2009 4:35 pm

MANILA, Oct. 3 – Price manipulators, hoarders, and violators of the price ceilings on food items and construction materials face instant arrest under the country's state of calamity declared a week after typhoon "Ondoy" devastated Mega Manila.

"Just tell us the complete details and we will go there together with agents from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Philippine National Police. We will arrest them immediately," said Trade and Industry Secretary Peter Favila after the Cabinet level meeting of the National Development Coordinating Council (NDCC) at Camp Aguinaldo Saturday.

"What is important is a complainant presents a receipt and we will go after them," he said, adding advertisements on price-controlled items will be published in newspapers.

Favila said that aside from food and construction materials, price controls have been imposed on oils and lubricants, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), funeral parlor services, and auto repair.

Favila said the Department of Justice (DOJ) found nothing wrong with imposing price controls on gasoline and diesel. "What the price ceiling will be is now being studied by us and the Department of Energy (DoE)," he said.

Favila said some LPG suppliers and dealers have voluntarily frozen their prices so as not to burden further the victims of typhoon "Ondoy".

He said the Department of Social Welfare (DSWD) gives burial assistance to the poor. "But what is happening is that private funeral parlors charge double what DSWD gives in burial assistance," Favila said. (PNA)

RMA/OPS/rsm

Similar Posts:

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

WEBBER OUT OF QUALIFYING - Sporting Life

Posted: 03 Oct 2009 11:19 AM PDT

----------------------------------------------------------------
Part of 365 Media Group

Mobile, Fun & Games
Free Online Games | 24-7 Football | Fantasy Football | Fantasy F1
----------------------------------------------------------------

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

This Oscar is no grouch - Robesonian

Posted: 03 Oct 2009 03:48 AM PDT

LUMBERTON — Oscar is an affectionate guy. When visitors drop by his abode, he nuzzles up to them with hairy split lips.

It's an odd but acceptable greeting, given that Oscar is a 2,800-pound camel. During his 10-day stay at the Robeson Regional Agricultural Fair, Oscar has a chance to offer his drool-dripping hellos — camels chew their cud — to 75,000 people.

Oscar has been to 13 fairs and festivals this year since he came to live with Darrell Stanley, a Ramseur, N.C., resident. He loves to travel, and can watch his trailer from his pen at home.

"When that trailer moves, he starts hollerin'. If we don't answer him ...," Stanley said, rattling the fencing panels as Oscar does to show his interest in loading up for another adventure.

Stanley borrowed Oscar from an acquaintance for a nativity scene at his church in November. Then "everyone fell in love with him, so I wrote him a check and he stayed," Stanley said.

Stanley, recently retired from the automobile selling business, turned his family's love for Oscar into an addition to his pony-ride, petting-zoo business. When he travels with Oscar, he sells rides around the ring of portable fencing panels. For the Robeson fair, he brought along 11-month-old Sandy, a Dromedary camel he purchased in January. At home waits Niles, 8, as Stanley thinks he could use a little more work on his friendliness.

"With us, the camels have to have a certain personality to come on the road with us," he said.

Stanley spends hours practicing the ride routine with his camels and hand feeds them every day. The camels eat loaves of bread — hot dog buns, potato bread, rye — llama pellets and fescue hay. Oscar prefers to drink his water straight from the hose.

"And they're foragers," Stanley said. "If they get around a tree, they'll strip it 10-foot high."

For about four months, Stanley and his family bottle fed Sandy four 2-litter bottles of Mare's Match milk mix four times a day. She is still growing now. Camels grow until the age of 10 years.

Niles is getting more affectionate and shoving his nose into Stanley's work, he said. One afternoon Stanley looked up from his auto repair project on the ground to come eye-to-eye with Niles.

"I'm 6' 4" and I can barely reach his hump and I'm down on my knees and he's standing over me," Stanley said.

Stanley does not carry insurance on his camels though they are worth about $50,000 together. Oscar could fetch $25,000 as he is a Bactrian camel and they are not as common domestically. Sandy, as a young female, costs $10,000. Niles is worth $15,000.

And just where does one buy a camel? From a breeding facility or private owner, Stanley said.

_________________________

Saturday

11 a.m. to midnight — Fair open to public

1 p.m. — Livestock buildings open

2 p.m. — wine judging

3 p.m. — 4-H youth meat goat show

5 p.m. — Adult/youth breeding meat goat show

5 p.m. — Unity pull for tourism

5 to 11 p.m. — tractor pull

5 p.m. — Sean Sharp at gate No. 10

6 p.m. — Junior Miss and Little Miss Robeson County pageant at gate No. 10

Sunday

Free admission for military personnel all day and with church bulletin until 3 p.m.

1 to 9 p.m. — Fair open to public

1 p.m. — Free carnival rides for 1 hour

2 to 8 p.m. — Gospel music

2 p.m., 3:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. — Dummy & Me Magic Mike shows on the midway stage

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Covington debates displaced auto shop - Cincinnati.com

Posted: 03 Oct 2009 02:22 AM PDT

COVINGTON - The relocation of an auto repair shop about a half-mile south on Ky. 16 to make way for a road widening project has some residents along Covington's southern border concerned.

Part of the planned expansion of Ky. 16 (Taylor Mill Road) from two to five lanes will take the land where Steve Wright has operated his auto repair shop, Steve's Auto Repair, for 13 years.

Wright has sought a zone change so he can move his shop from the intersection with Hands Pike to the intersection with Senour Road.

Covington City Commission will vote on the change from residential to commercial for the 3.3-acre parcel on Oct. 13 at city hall.

Some residents who live on or near Senour Road have made their opposition to the zone change known at public meetings. They have said they don't want businesses such as Wright's to populate the newly expanded highway.

Many southern Covington residents agree a larger highway is needed. What businesses the larger highway will bring, however, has some concerned.

The rural area that James and Judy Brinker moved into 41 years ago on Senour Road bustles with hundreds of new homes in massive subdivisions.

Judy Brinker said they want more aesthetically pleasing businesses, such as grocery stores and restaurants, to line the new highway. The Brinkers are circulating a petition to stop the zone change.

"At this time, when you have a five-lane highway going in and there is nothing there, you have a clean slate," Judy Brinker said. "You have an opportunity to make it a showpiece and not an eyesore."

Covington Mayor Denny Bowman said the city will look closely at how to zone the area along Ky. 16 and will control development.

"It is going to be a major highway," Bowman said. "It is going from a two-lane to five-lane highway. We want to make this a commercial zone so the people in south Covington will benefit from service-oriented businesses and a place to buy groceries."

The proposed zone change would allow for moderate to mild commercial businesses and would prohibit industrial uses, including salvage yards and major auto repair services such as engine overhauls, said City Manager Larry Klein.

Some opposing the zone change, however, have called Wright's operation akin to a salvage yard.

"What it does is set the tone for what is going to be in this whole area," Brinker said.

Wright, however, said he has operated in harmony with the surrounding area since he started the business as a 22-year-old entrepreneur.

He said his business won't change from what he does now, which is repair brakes, shocks, struts and the like. He said he doesn't do major repairs.

"I don't know why they say it is a salvage yard," Wright said. "The people who have been around me don't mind."

Wright's new location would have a capacity for 79 cars, but Wright said he will service the same number of cars he does at his current location, which has at most 30 to 40 cars at one time, he said.

The City Commission will look at the residents' concerns and consider adding restrictions that would ensure cars won't sit on the parking lot, Bowman said.

Some residents see Steve's Auto Repair as a welcome business. Senour Road resident Beverly McCubbin said Wright has kept the property in good repair as he waits for the zone change.

"Change is inevitable with the volume of new homes that have been built," McCubbin said. "I see the widening of the road as a good thing. I have no problem with Steve's business, looking at the condition of his property."

Wright has rented from the state since he sold his property this year for the highway expansion.

The state has so far purchased 154 of the 228 properties needed for the project, which will expand a three-mile stretch of Ky. 16 from the Interstate 275 interchange to Hands Pike. Construction can begin in the spring if the state Legislature allocates funds next session, said Nancy Wood, spokeswoman for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. Construction costs are estimated at $37 million.

"Congestion in this area is very bad," Wood said. "Over 30,000 vehicles a day travel on this two-lane road."