Ever heard of the Buick Rainier?

How about the Isuzu Ascender?

When you look at new or used cars and trucks and now SUVs, you may be confused. In spite of a recession and bailouts, you still have a lot of competitors in the same space. And I don’t even mean the different models available from say Toyota, Honda, Hyundai and Volkswagen. We’re talking about the same automaker.

How to Figure Out Model Glut

Here’s one example: at Nissan, you have the example of the Rogue, Juke and Cube all competing in the compact utility vehicle/hatchback slot. There’s the Pathfinder and the Xterra, and then the Murano, Infiniti FX series and the Nissan Pathfinder Armada (Full credit goes to this thread).

So, for three segments, you see Nissan (and it’s captive luxury brand Infiniti) offering at least 8 models depending on how you want to slice the FX SUVs. That doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense, but is a common distinction among Japanese automakers and it’s where you can make a big play.

A similar possibility opens up at Ford, where you have the Ford Edge, the Ford Explorer which will be car-based by 2011, and the Lincoln MKX. The only reason you didn’t have more options is because Ford Motors finally shuttered Mercury.

If your head is starting to pound, it’s quite alright. Most automakers are still worrying about how to pare down their line-ups (even Cadillac, which offered the SRX mid-sized crossover, is still bringing out the CTS in wagon form). So how does this help you?

Making Poor Automaker Choices Into Cost Savings

If you’re looking at a new car, you can still find overlap among cars that are built on the same chassis and offer pretty much the same sorts of features. I recommend using the PSCars.com Car Configurator to see just exactly what I mean.

While I won’t go into too much detail about how similar chassis affect cars differently (you can read more here), you can definitely go for the unloved models. For example, if you look at monthly sales figures for Nissan, you may find that the Xterra gets more attention thanks to prior ad campaigns that linked it to extreme sports.

So rather than pay a premium for demand, wait until new cars start showing up and pounce on the less-beloved Nissan Pathfinder. You’re more likely to find

Used Cars Offer Even More Opportunity

General Motors may have set a record in the early part of the decade when it rolled out not two or three, but six midsize SUVs that basically all offered the same thing.

Starting with the Chevrolet Trailblazer (offered also in an extended wheelbase version that could remind you of the Suburban), they expanded. The GMC Envoy reflected the common GM tactic of making twinned Chevrolet/GMC variants. Add in the Oldsmobile Bravada, the Buick Rainier, the Isuzu Ascender and even the Saab 9-7X and you have a bevy of options.

It’s like that for a variety of vehicles, especially among domestic makes. For example Ford generally made three types of mid-size sedans through most of the 1990s and 2000s, all based on the Taurus.

Again, you’ll find that it’s easy to find the lesser loved car (for the six-headed monster, the Isuzu and the Buick come to mind), and drive a hard bargain about the lack of interest in the vehicle.

It may have contributed to the automaker’s bankruptcies, but you can certainly do some research on the trend.

Stay out of the showroom

Reality took a hit in a recent survey. If your family makes less than $50,000 per year, it doesn’t feel like you have the upper hand in trying to negotiate a new or used car deal. Hogwash.

Well I’d use stronger language, but it’s true however you look at it. The reason you’re already at PSCars.com is because you believe you can find the information to get the right car for your budget. And we say we can do better for you than the nearly half of all Americans who don’t believe that buying a car has gotten easier because of the recession.

How Do You Do It?

How much time to do you take to pay a $200 utility bill? Fifteen minutes, at the most to review it and make sure nothing’s out of the ordinary. Your next car might cost $10,000. So you could spend 15 times 15 minutes or more than 10 hours. That means taking the time to research the ways you can save money. Here is where you can look to get a head starts.

When you come to PSCars.com you can find out the dealers’ invoice (not retail) price for a car. That’s your starting point. Then you look for incentives. The latest advertisements should tell you how much off you can expect either your interest rate of the car itself.

If you’re not scratching your head, you might now. A lot of the money that can give dealers wiggle room isn’t publicized for obvious reasons. Terms like dealer incentives (what the manufacturer pays a place to sell a vehicle) and holdback (the cost of keeping a car on the lot without it selling) all play a part.

How Do You Find Them?

Google News is your friend. Several sites collect the information on monthly deals and buying tips for specific models. Since they change with time your best bet will be to use aggregators like Google or Bing that require news organizations to be vetted.

Take note of any financial information you can find, even if the terms of a program don’t match the exact model or your car buying time frame. It builds a better of how far you can push in negotiations.

Stay Online

As we’ve written about in our summer buying tips, there’s really no reason to go to a dealership except to inspect a car and sign off on final paperwork. Once you’ve got your financial information in front of you, you can get dealer quotes from our very own site. Just type in what you want after perusing our Car Configurator, and you can be sure to get several options.

Now you go back to the incentives that you had researched. While all dealerships operate differently, if the numbers don’t follow your own math, feel free to send an e-mail detailing what you found to the internet sales manager. Keep in mind that many don’t particularly enjoy negotiating via e-mail, but it is certainly an option (and creates a record).

With all of that, you should be able to get a fair price with a minimum of hassle. And if that doesn’t make you feel like you’ve got it easier in the recession, try looking at the Car Configurator and through these lesser known incentives to find out how much you could save.

[Image courtesy William Hook via Flickr]

John Curran is a PSCars.com automotive writer. He can be reached at JohnC@practicalsystems.com.

A standard college packing job

Pack lists from most colleges don’t include a car, but that doesn’t mean that your young scholar doesn’t need a new or used car. Depending on the school, a vehicle can be key to accessing local parks or concert venues, and open up the possibilities of internships that can help in a creaky job market.

We’re fully convinced that the PSCars.com Car Configurator should help you pick out the right new or used car. So rather than making a list of cars or SUVs, we’d rather point you towards features that can help you feel comfortable about one important aspect of sending a son or daughter off to school.

(To any college students reading this: most of these tips can be applied to the car you want. Print out everything below this if you want help justifying the purchase.)

Five Seats or Less

Too many automotive and consumer journalists worry about the safety gadgets that go into a car. It’s easy to think that side-impact airbags and electronic stability control will help in the moment of a crash, and the best options among cars will have them.

But college students are social creatures. And there’s a reason that most states require younger drivers to have one or two passengers in their car while they are learning how to drive. Distractions during driving are one of the leading causes of crashes.

Minimize the hassle, and increase the possibility that your teenaged youngster will be able to focus on driving. Get a vehicle with five seats max. They don’t need to be a taxi service.

Ride Height Below Eye Level

This is covered in an e-book that you can get for free when you sign up for the e-newsletter (it covers six other myths about cars!), but the simple fact is that SUVs may not always be the best bet, especially for kids.

“But the CR-V and the RAV4 are based on cars!” Ride height is a factor that affects handling of the vehicle, attempting to park and dealing with the elements. In a new atmosphere like at school, these are all aspects of driving that can be difficult for younger motorists.

In addition, the available space in most wagons and hatchbacks is only a couple milk crates lower than that of a comparable compact SUV. If Junior doesn’t need to be Lawrence of Arabia, you’ll do better in a smaller vehicle, and they’ll pay less for gas.

Great Handling Reviews, Low Power

As a not so long ago student, I had fun driving around campus and the Tampa Bay area. In fact I did that all without having a high performance car. In fact, it was a Chevy Cavalier, as I talked about in an earlier article.

If you want a car that your kids will enjoy and not lead to further gray hairs, handling is a good place to start. A car or SUV that feels like it rides on rails ends up being safer because a younger driver is confident that it will go where you want it to, no matter the situation.

On the other hand, you probably don’t need a car that snarls. Realistically, it just tends to eat into a wallet where college students could be going to movies, concerts or whatever else they want. More importantly, the odds of needing a car that can do 0-60 MPH in under 9 seconds in college has always hovered around zero.

Space for Stuff

Cargo capacity is hands down the most important thing that will enable a college car to be its most useful. But you need to complement the cargo capacity with the recommendation we made above about seats.

That’s why we keep going back to wagons or hatchbacks, or even a small pick-up like a Nissan Frontier or a Ford Ranger. These allow for a lot of gear to be carried to and from school, and even allow for room re-decoration without the bungie cord/twine mess that can be a disaster.

Looking for space is an easy enough thing to do using the Car Configurator. In fact, you can compare our earlier assertion about small SUVs versus wagons and hatchbacks. If I’m wrong, show me in the comments.

There’s Room For Disagreement

I know that, like your son or daughter’s first college professor, I didn’t really answer the question. But just like the perfect length for an essay, there really is no correct answer to the best car for a college student. Take these ideas and work them into your own desires for a car to protect one of the most important parts of your life.

But horsepower, all-wheel drive capability or a pretty exterior? Those are the province of a family conversation.

As always, feel free to leave questions, concerns or rebuttals in the comments.

[Image: Brian Lane Winfield Moore via Flickr]

The heat can have adverse effects on car and driver alike

New and used car owners, this is not your standard “the weather’s warm so the editor made us write a summer driving post.” If you live above the Mason-Dixon line, you’ve already taken off your snow tires. Hopefully you’ve also already taken your car in for a tune-up.

Consider this a post-Fourth of July post. If you’re like most drivers, you probably put a couple hundred miles on your vehicle to go on vacation. That means that your car has more wear and tear than it normally would. Considering we still have all of Auugst, plus Labor Day weekend, consider this a primer on making life easy for you and your car.

Streaks and Squeaks

Did you know that wiper blades are designed to work in warm weather, cold weather, but not both? Like tires, some are designed to try and bridge the gap. But if you’re wondering why you see white build-up like a color-bleached sunrise, it’s probably your wiper blades. Considering the number of rain storms that occur over the summer, you want as much visibility as you can get.

Try looking at your local car parts store or even department store for wiper blades that are made for warmer weather. They wil be a bit softer and better suited for hot temperatures, making sure that both water and grime stay out of your line of vision.

The other thing to watch out for is any squeaks that you may hear. The holiday weekend was probably the longest trip you’ve made since the weather warmed up. That means that parts of the body can settle, or shift minor problems. If you hear anything untoward, take it into the shop before it gets worse.

Easy Does It

I track how long it takes me to get from my home to my relatives, and try to better my time each time I make the trek. But I don’t do it by going 10, 15 or 20 miles over the speed limit. Why? It’s not good for me, and it’s not good for my car.

While a car can overheat because of age or mechanical malfunction, the hot weather means that if you act like a speed demon on the road, you’re playing with fire. Or rather, the smoke that might rise from your engine on a 100-degree day.

It also hurts your gas mileage, and if you’d like to actually enjoy your trip it would be nice to have some more money. It’s not just the speeding, but the start and stops and frequent braking of people who don’t use proper distancing techniques.

Save your head from migraines and your car from trouble. Relax.

Practice Tetris

Want to save a couple bucks each time you fill up? Take a hundred pounds of stuff out of your car. Think that’s a lot? It’s about the size of two checked bags on an airline flight.

When we say Tetris, we’re imagining fitting blocks into small, complementary spaces. You can do that when you pack, and it helps for two reasons. One, the less you pack the better your car, truck or SUV will handle. Also, the lower it is to the bed of the trunk or back will help it drive better, and increase your vision.

Of course, the simplest way to get out of packing too many things is to travel light. If you don’t need it, don’t bring it. That’s what making friends in new locales is for.

Increase Your Suds Quotient

If you live in the colder areas of the country, your car may have been caked in salt. While the necessity of getting the entire underside of the car washed like some people recommend is debatable, the salt and other things that get caked on to your vehicle during the winter can have an adverse effect on your car.

In addition to the standard issues of making your car less attractive, the salt and gunk can corrode things like your brake rotors and other pieces of trim on the vehicle. So the next time you do take your car to the car wash, make sure you spend some time on the wheelwell, spraying out the brakes, the wheels and as much as you can reach on the underneath.

Not only will the car look a little bit better, but you’ll be reducing the odds of corrosion. And if it makes you more likely to do it, it can also have a bit of an effect on fuel economy.

[Image: robbie1 via Flickr]

Buy a new car and you’ve likely pulled reviews and insights from a variety of automotive journalists, as well as research from PSCars.com and other sites. While I write about cars, I don’t drive a high-end sports car. Most auto journalists don’t.

It’s economics to be honest. None of us (BBC Top Gear presenters excluded) are struggling to make ends meet on a six or seven-figure income. In fact, most of the reviews you see are written by journalists who spend 2-4 days with a $150,000 Aston Martin but come home to a late model Volvo.

They’re not lying to you. After all, do you really get excited about long-term road tests of 2006 Mitsubishi Galants with milkshake stains on the back seat? Maybe not.

Consider this one auto writer’s mea culpa. I’ve owned three cars and have managed some feats in them that outstrip anything a writer ever noted or a manufacturer recommended.

1996 Pontiac Grand Am GT coupe:

A Grand Am is a type of race. One this poor car was ill-equipped to handle.

This was a family hand-me-down that had more than 190,000 miles on the clock when I got behind the wheel. A standard transmission matched engine to wheels, and it was still on the original clutch.

That old clutch taught me to master the gas and third pedals on hill starts. The Grand Am was a bad car, and ugly. To make it go anywhere was akin to coaxing a mule in a Western movie. Prior to totaling it, the Grand Am showed me the bottom end of cars, but also how to maintain near beaters.

2003 Chevrolet Cavalier LS Sport coupe:

The 2003 Cavalier.

My first new car, the Cavalier was optioned out, but as most writers will tell you, that’s like putting lipstick on a pig.

On the other hand, I can safely say that a two-door Chevrolet Cavalier will carry an entire dorm room of gear from New Jersey to Florida. In fact, while it received poor marks for capacity, I fit a desktop, peripherals, weeks of clothing and even some furniture all through extreme weather on a 1,000+ mile stretch. It proved not all expectations were correct.

Repair jobs were also easy. A minor fender bender left my front bumper gaping and scraping the pavement, a problem solved with $3 in nuts and bolts from a home improvement store. Maintenance costs weren’t very high outside of that during its 90,000 mile lifespan either.

2008 Subaru Impreza 2.5i sedan:

My Subaru, nicknamed "Scoobie"

The only option on this are deep floor mats to capture mud. But this car can carry a disassembled futon, full size bed and mattress on top with the confidence you need on snowy roads. My proof came on a country byway where I was going 35 miles per hour comfortably as a Hyundai Accent skidded sideways at half the speed.

This is my current daily driver. It’s docile in bad weather, and the weight and all-wheel drive aren’t power robbers when you keep the engine in its sweet spot. It can also carry more than you think, especially if you take off the spare wheel cover in the trunk and use the space in front of the rear seats.

So What?

Auto journalists have the same economic restrictions and family needs that their readers face. But our reviews are often of sterilized or idealized situations. I hope that these quick, real-world explanations show that cars don’t always match the two or three days we can spend learning about cars. Like the problems we found with initial quality reviews, at the end of the day you make your car your own.

Expect to see that mentality later this year when we compare new cars off the lot to the testers other sites used for their reviews. You can sign up for our newsletter here to be notified of our real world tests.

It’s a down market, your credit isn’t perfect, and the thought of paying $25,000, $30,000 or even more on a new truck or SUV just doesn’t match what your check book can shell out. That doesn’t mean that used trucks and SUVs for sale are much of a bargain these days, either. Here are three reasons why:

Prices Are Up Across the Board

The industry average for used cars is for prices to increase about 3.5 percent per year, or about the rate of inflation. While the industry as a whole has seen increases of 5.5 percent (that’s a difference of $600 for a $30,000 vehicle, for comparison), General Motors trucks and SUVs have seen even greater price hikes.

And by hike, we mean a quarter to nearly one-third of their previous year value. On a truck valued at $20,000 in 2009, it’s now being priced at $25,000 or more. Yikes.

The Sellers

We don’t mean the dealerships either. Pre-owned autos haven’t drastically changed since the financial downturn, nor have the dealers that sell them. But the people who have been trying to get out of them has.

Let’s take a look at two likely demographics who would put up a truck or an SUV for sale: families who couldn’t afford payments on an SUV, and construction or landscaping firms that couldn’t hold onto a pickup truck.

Either way, you’re looking at a lot of wear and tear. If you have a family of your own, you probably wince at the number of old candy wrappers under the seats and the amount of vacation luggage you’ve tried to stow in the back. Add the fact that maintenance might not have been studiously followed by moms and dads more worried about work and Junior’s extracurriculars and you could face a big problem.

Construction companies and landscaping firms are no more gentle with their trucks. The service life of a truck used by this sector is measured in a couple of years, with the wear and tear of days that look like every Ford, GMC or Chevy commercial you see on TV.

Credit Is Still A Pipe Dream For Many

Dealership copy aside, credit and loan numbers are still pretty depressing if you’ve made a few mistakes in your financial past. If you can get past finding the money in your monthly budget for the vehicle and its maintenance costs, that still might not be enough.

Industry surveys are finding that only the best qualified buyers are seeing an uptick in the number of loans issued. Worse, used car loans are increasingly difficult to find, and generally require a stronger credit history to gain a similar rate as new car financing.

Still Interested?

We hate to say it, but even if you’re a Chevrolet or GMC fan, you’d do best to stay away from those makes if you’re looking for a deal. As we noted above, the rise in used vehicle prices from General Motors is leaps and bounds above what they were just a year or two ago. Other manufacturers’ trucks and SUVs have also grown in value, but won’t hurt one’s wallet or purse quite as badly.

To avoid the sellers issue, look for less family-friendly vehicles if you’re in the market for an SUV. This could mean looking for an up-optioned mainstream sports utility vehicle, like a used Mercury Mariner with leather everything or a compact SUV that can’t fit enough kids to affect the interior. One trick for pick-up trucks: try to find a truck with enough options that it was used by a foreman or other supervisor. These vehicles will generally have been babied more than their workhorse counterparts over their life.

Finally, there aren’t a lot of easy ways to get around the financing question, but one is to use your local bank and credit union. If you’ve developed a long-term relationship and have proved your financial stability, you could get a loan you might not be able to obtain through a dealership.

Buying a new or used car can seem like a bit of a long-winded experience. You have to research, contact dealerships, get the right price and then establishing your credit for a loan if you need it. It used to be that would involve trips to several dealerships, picking up brochures and trying to get quotes.

“Those days are gone,” says Peter McInnis, internet manager at Mercedes Benz of Fort Lauderdale. When we spoke to him, McInnis was actually confused by the concept of buying a car without internet resources; just five percent of his customers go that route.

So if that’s the case, then there should be a general game plan for how to make it an easy process. PSCars.com spoke to internet sales experts, credit rating impresarios and others to find out how to make buying your next used or new car as painless as possible.

What Do You Want?

Your dream car?

We, and the dealerships we talked to, advocate getting as much of your research done online before you start looking for quotes. Another article will detail the specifics of how to go about it, but here is a brief primer:

1- Make a list of your needs, wants and likes. Use a tool like PSCars.com to ensure that you find models that fit the majority of your needs, most of your wants and a few of your likes. Have a list of three or four cars that fit those needs best.

2- Create a budget by listing your monthly paychecks (if you’re paid bi-weekly, double the net payment on your most recent stub), and then subtracting your expenses. The result is your total budget for a car, including the loan, gasoline (or diesel), insurance and maintenance.

3- Match the models listed in step 1 with the finances in step 2. You should find a couple cars, wagons or SUVs that fit your need, whether they’re new or pre-owned vehicles. Now take a deep breath and let’s get ready to deal with the automotive salespeople. They won’t bite, we promise.

What Should You Look for from Dealerships?

McInnis says that he has access to dozens of images whenever a customer asks for resources to help them choose a car, in addition to videos that he sends to all leads.

You should look for an internet sales manager that provides these sorts of multimedia tools. As A.J. Hasty, Acura of Palm Beach Internet Manager, understands, you also need to look for dealership staff who are prompt. He expects to be able to provide a quote within minutes of receiving it through the corporate intranet.

That means that customers shouldn’t deal with companies that aren’t prompt, courteous and eager to help them answer questions. As we’ll soon find out, though, that doesn’t mean that they are looking to be taken advantage of.

How Do You Act Around Internet Sales Managers?

Hasty says that he has been “blessed because I have the right people [as customers],” ones who understand that he will work hard on the customer service side. He’s even delivered cars as far as four hours away, so that customers never had to step foot in the dealership.

But many internet sales managers we spoke to say they don’t have a lot of wiggle room in their quotes. Since it’s designed to speed up the buying process, they argue that they are giving the best price they can afford to.

It may mean that you should be doing any research you need prior to e-mailing a representative, and to leave haggling to issues such as delivery or trade-ins. The dealership personnel PSCars.com spoke to admitted that their job performance is based on a key indicator, the Customer Satisfaction Index.

The numbers for each salesperson are based on the surveys that new and used car buyers receive shortly after taking delivery. They determine any bonuses, as well as who gets to keep their job. So if you are a terror for them to deal with, they might just ask you to kindly move on. In some cases, it’s worth it to lose the sale if they know their ratings will go down.

That same mentality means it irks sales managers when potential customers give out false information like telephone numbers or e-mail addresses. One went so far as to day that the practice eliminated any chance of price negotiation.

At the same time, A.J. Hasty told us that every e-mail he sends out includes the line, “I want to make it easy for you to buy this car.” He and others told us that they are genuinely interested in helping consumers.

Just remember, they have a job to do, as well.

Steps to Make Your Money Work for You

By now, you should have one or more quotes, and a healthy understanding of the car you want. That doesn’t mean you should be rushing out to sign a contract or get ready for a new car in your driveway or in front of your home.

The financial side of things is often the least-explained and yet most important aspect of buying a car. Taking advantage of certain requirements and stipulations can mean the difference between a $20,000 car and a $17,000 car.

Start with dealer incentives. They can seem great, but Thomas Alexander, professor of finance at Norwood University, notes that many discounts that are above $1,000 or so are used on cars that are being discontinued. If you’re planning on re-selling the car down the road, the discount may not be as valuable as the loss in re-sale pricing.

If you plan on taking advantage of a zero percent interest rate, use a spreadsheet or online loan calculator to determine the difference between the loan amounts and any incentives you may have received. In most cases, the lower interest rate is the most valuable thing you can get.

That Thing About the Credit Score

One of the key determining factors about interest rates is your credit score, the number that you get from credit agencies and determines your rough ability to be a good loan target. There are a variety of resources out there about how to improve your credit score, but we want to delve into one that affects short-term issues like buying a new or used car.

Wayne Sanford calls himself Wayne the Credit Guy, and seven years in the credit re-building industry has seen him trying to find ways for consumers to come out on top. One tip he normally advocates is to pay down the balances on their credit cards, because up to 30% of that credit score is based on balance ratios, or the amount you have in debt versus your credit limit.

“What people don’t realize is when you pay off or down your credit card the company does not automatically call the bureaus to report that information…. They report that information monthly,” he says, arguing that consumers should wait at least 45 days if they expect their credit rating to drop drastically by paying off bills.

John Curran is a PSCars.com automotive writer. He can be reached at JohnC@practicalsystems.com.

We know that the Car Configurator is still in beta, so there are a few kinks to work out. But we also want you, our readers and car shoppers, to be able to get a handle on the system while it’s still in beta. The more you can do, the better shot you have at designing the car that fits your needs.

We’re going to look at the new car showroom another day, because it’s fairly well running. With so many of you interested in used cars, it made more sense to try and show you the steps it takes to configure a used car with our system. Let’s start by clicking on the configurator link at the top right of the home page.

You should see this:

Still there? Great. Now we want to pick a car. One that I’ve been kind of loving for a while is the 2003 Audi A4 Avant wagon with a manual transmission. Don’t ask why, but it’ll serve nicely. Where you see the arrow, you’ll fill in the information for year, make, model and body time/trim lines.

So here’s my fantastic wagon. I’m a writer, so it’s not like I’m really looking to buy an all-new Audi (though, here’s hoping!) But, what if I wanted to compare it to slightly newer vehicles? That’s what the link to body changes under the ownership tab is for (second from left). It offers the last several years of cars, and you can quick scroll back and forth between them.

Now we’re ready to build our own. Click on the right orange arrow that says “Build Your Own.” See the steps along the bottom? We’re still getting the last kinks of out of the dealership part of the system, but you can click through the “select vehicle” and “mileage” before you get to appearance. I picked a Denim Blue Pearl exterior and a platinum interior. You can see the car changes colors with the selections here:

You can also pull up packages and options. On mine I did the pearl paint and the rear side airbags. Then click on “summary.” Et voila! You have a car. If you’re like me, you have a significant other that you would have to run such a big purchase past. That’s why I like having the html link at the bottom left of the summary page. I just copy it and forward it to get the approval.

Now, we’re also working on the “parking” function. It’ll let you configure several models and then come back to them easily. For now, a really good workaround is to copy that URL at the bottom left into a new window, and then bookmark it.

PSCars.com Car Configurator is pretty neat, and I bet you didn’t think you could get this much information from one site about new and used cars. Try it out and let me know what you think, as well as any questions, comments or concerns. This tool is for you guys, after all.

John Curran is a PSCars.com automotive writer. He can be reached at JohnC@practicalsystems.com.

Lincoln and Cadillac have both announced that they would offer free servicing programs in a bid to compete with luxury automakers like BMW in providing service to customers. But is free service that necessary for a new car buyer?

Using Edmunds.com’s spreadsheet for the estimated value of vehicle maintenance programs, we can see that these programs don’t offer the most value. For example, BMW offers a 4-year, 50,000 mile program that includes standard maintenance intervals and normal wear and tear items.

By The Numbers

The estimated value of that is $2,200 or so. In other words, BMW’s plan is the equivalent of buying a $50,000 car and getting a loan for 5 years at a 4 percent APR versus 6 percent.

In fact, the Cadillac and Lincoln plans are less involved, with them just including oil changes, tire rotations and an inspection. Considering most local repair shops offer the tire rotation and possibly an inspection of the car for different concerns, you’re looking at a value of perhaps a few hundred dollars over the course of the three-year Lincoln program or the four-year Cadillac program.

The Reality

If you were to try and go for a new car, and the dealership advocated its dealer maintenance program, you could easily make up the difference by asking even for 0.5% lower APR on cars over $30,000, a bit more leeway on lower-priced new or used autos, or a higher value on your trade-in. Quite simply, these maintenance offers are not a huge savings.

What they do offer is simplicity. You’re going to a dealer staffed by technicians who work solely on one brand or family of cars. And you get the advantage of knowing that everything is taken care of by the same people who sold you the car.

The Value of Warranties

If you are looking for a real value when shopping for a new or used car online, warranties may be your best bet. As long as you bring in your car for regular service intervals, you can be covered by a 3-year, 5-year, or even Hyundai’s 10-year warranty. In the case of catastrophic failure, these are much more valuable than any premium maintenance program that may be available.

But again, if reducing costs down the road is not a key consideration in your next car buying purchase, than the premium servicing options may be just a handy amenity. Just don’t take them as a huge savings without doing the math, or letting PSCars.com staff writers do it for you.

John Curran is a PSCars.com automotive writer. He can be reached at JohnC@practicalsystems.com.

If you read other automotive blogs, they will all trumpet the fact that J.D. Power and Associates have noticed that domestic automakers are making big strides and new Ford models especially have seen a jump in quality.

But what does that mean for you, the shopper who wants a reliable car in the driveway or on the street?

90-Day Guarantee

Part of the reason that the awards can come so quickly from J.D. Power is that their analysis only comes from the first 90 days of new car ownership across various makes and models. They then compile the reports of equipment malfunctions, non-required dealer servicing and other issues, and create a metric called problems per 100 vehicles.

Combine that with surveys about how buyers viewed their car as a whole and of their sales experience, and J.D. Power issues its sought-after rankings using an equation they don’t usually publicize.

What’s Missing?

Well, unless you’re renting a car, 90 days is not a long time to judge a car. Very poorly built cars will stand out in J.D. Powers surveys, as well as those where assembly lines took their time in producing vehicles.

The average length of ownership in the United States is roughly seven years. Unfortunately, 90 days is about five percent of that. Your better bet is looking at recent models in the line for recall and safety information, and incorporating any research you’ve done here at Pscars.com about manufacturing updates.

As a counterpoint to J.D. Power and Associates’ claim that their system predicts long-term reliability, one need only look at the recent spate of recalls of hybrids from Ford, Toyota and Mercury. None of these factors were picked up by the surveys, even on models several years old.

Does It Matter?

In a word, yes. For example, Ford has developed a standard of reliability that is more than just the fact that it’s the leading domestic automaker on the list. What should catch new car buyers’ eyes is the fact that new Ford Taurus models, Focuses and Fusions all are in first or second place in their class.

Keep in mind that each of these are produced in different facilities, two in the United States and one in Mexico. That points to a system of production that leads to happy customers no matter where the cars are produced. On the other hand, another manufacturer with only one or two cars on the list could be building them at the same facility, and potential problems could exist at others.

How Do I Use It?

The same way you would if you were hiring a new employee and saw they had made the honor roll in high school or the Dean’s list in college: with cautious optimism.

You get the advantage of knowing that initial impressions with your car are good, which can be helpful who buy several months after initial release. But it’s not the all-encompassing mark of quality; really it’s just a reference point that can help you in your buying decision.

John Curran is a PSCars.com automotive writer. He can be reached at JohnC@practicalsystems.com.