Toyota Camry Dealers in St Louis MO

If you are a parent or a relative of a new teen driver you are probably slightly concerned about their safety on the road.  As if just learning the ins-and-outs of driving weren’t stressful enough, society throws all types of “must-have” distractions in the mix to make for an even more alarming teen-driving concern.  During a time where new drivers should be focused on the road they tend to be worried about other factors that cause a serious hazard while driving. You may have already guessed that the hazard that is being referred to revolves around electronics.  What you may not have guessed is that there is a clear gender difference involved.  According to AAA, “females were nearly twice as likely as males to use an electronic device while driving, and overall were nearly 10 percent more likely to be observed engaging in other distracted behaviors, such as reaching for an object in the vehicle and eating or drinking.”  Historically, boys have held a record of being more wreckless in

I was driving to pick up my son from school yesterday and I noticed a car was pulled over and she was holding her cell phone.  It was apparent that she was receiving a citation for talking on her cell phone while driving in a school zone.  This gave me a sigh of relief…not that she was on her phone…but that my local law enforcement was actually doing something about it.  Every day I see children walking in and out of school and I see careless drivers who are too busy chatting, and yes…even texting on their phones when they should be watching for pedestrians.  I appreciate this state law and I think I’m not alone. What can you do to be safe in your child’s school zone?  First of all…you should wait to take a call until you have exited the school zone.  No conversation is worth the life of an innocent child walking to school.  You should also look at the current technology that is offered to new or used cars that will keep you safe while driving and still allow hands-free options fo

Just because you’re a buyer on a budget doesn’t mean you need to settle for a car that is unsafe to drive. Instead, become aware of your car buying options before settling for a subpar car. There are some shady sales stores out there that prey upon people who don’t qualify for traditional financing and are looking for a quick transportation solution. However, if you fall into one of these traps you could easily end up with a lemon car that will cost you an arm and a leg to fix and no transportation. They are simply a big waste of your time and money. Instead of falling into these schemes become familiar with other buying options. You may even consider leasing a vehicle instead of buying. However, if you are unable to qualify for the financing you may need to go a different direction. Look to the used and pre owned vehicle inventories. However, do this at a trusted brand name dealership to eliminate the risk of buying a lemon car. At the Weiss Toyota dealership in St. Louis MO you wi

As we embark on the upcoming presidential election, it is important to know how the results might impact the automotive industry.  There have been a lot of talks and debates about President Obama’s push for green technology and whether or not his efforts are paying off.  If President Obama is elected for another term, he will undoubtedly continue his efforts towards a goal of supplied the roads with one-million plug-in cars within the next three years.  This sounds like a great idea however according to autonews.com, “A disconnect is emerging between the White House and the auto industry over the short-term future of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids.” No one is arguing that electric and plug-in hybrid models aren’t great for the environment and for the pocketbook…the real question is, are Americans ready and/or prepared for them yet?  Better yet, is the market ready for them?  Most experts believe we have a ways to go, making Obama’s three year goal seem nearly impossible.  What a

Over the last several articles we have been discussing everything you need to know to understand your credit score as well as what you can do to easily raise your score and increase your buying power in an economy where your credit score is more important than it probably ever has been.  In our last article, we talked briefly about tip nine which was to “blitz significant errors” according to money.msn.com.  Here, we will talk about what makes an error significant enough to take time disputing it.  Below is a list provided by MSN Money: • “Late payments, charge-offs, collections or other negative items that aren’t yours.” • “Credit limits reported as lower than they actually are.” • “Accounts listed as “settled,” “paid derogatory,” “paid charge-off” or anything other than “current” or “paid as agreed” if you paid on time and in full.” • “Accounts that are still listed as unpaid that were included in a bankruptcy.” • “Negative items older than seven years (10 in the case of bankrup

Of the different components that make up your credit score that we have been breaking down in our previous articles, we still have one more to address. When you have a good handle on what all of the individual components are, then you can have a better idea of what you need to do to improve your rating. Types of Credit Types of credit could include things like your mortgage, installment loans, student loans and credit cards to name a few.  Your credit is affected by what type of loans you have because different loans have a different level of risk associated with them.  Again, don’t go crazy with credit cards…they will have the greatest negative impact on this portion of your score, which makes up the remaining 10% of your total overall score. Given the state of the economy today, you need a high score to get a good interest rate and many banks aren’t even lending unless you do.  This means that dealerships have had to find ways to help consumers get into automobiles.  What exact

In our previous article we began our discussion on how to improve your credit score with the first two of nine steps provided by MSN Money.  Next we will discuss the third and fourth options for you to consider if you would like to increase your overall score. 3.  “Pay down your credit cards.”: Sometimes this is easier said than done, but if you are paying extra towards your installment loans (as discussed in the previous article), then discontinue that and pay that extra money towards your credit cards instead.  This will cause a more dramatic increase in your overall credit rating.  The larger the gap between what you are allowed to borrow on your credit card and what you have actually chosen to borrow dramatically affects your score.  It is important to make that gap as big as possible.  A goal would be to have your balances “below 30% of the credit limit on each card, and 10% is ideal.” 4.  “Use your cards lightly.”: According to MSN Money, “racking up big balances can hurt you

If you have been following our previous posts, then you should have a good idea how your credit score is generated.  In detailing that information, we also provided a few tips on how to increase your score, but we will get more into that in this article and then next few to follow.  If you have a low credit score, it is not the end of the world, but it is time to make some changes to increase it so you can be where you feel most comfortable in your buying power.  According to MSN Money, there are nine simple steps you can take.  We will start talking about each of those here. 1. “Get a credit card if you don’t have one”: You may be thinking this is a crazy idea…but remember, the length of your credit history makes up about 15% of your overall score.  Now, we aren’t suggesting that you go crazy racking up credit card bills.  We are suggesting that if you don’t have any outstanding credit, then the nature of the score means yours will be lower.  Consider getting a credit card for paying

It is always interesting to hear people’s opinions about when the best time to buy a car is.  Opinions on this subject are always flying around and people swear on their methods of getting the greatest deal on a new car or truck from a dealership.  According to Edmunds.com, there is some truth to some of these thoughts but many of them simply aren’t true.  So, here are a few thoughts on some notions you may have heard… • Holidays:  There is always a holiday sale in town and it is often times hard to decipher who is really having a good deal.  Skeptics would say that dealers just raise the price before the holiday and make you think you are getting a good deal.  The truth is, you really can get a good deal on a holiday sale.  Dealerships understand that sometime it is these days that bring shoppers out and they want to get your business and that is accomplished by offering a good deal. • 15 minutes before closing:  People who really think they have one up on a car salesman might think