Tool Storage Problem SOLVED

GRADUATES of the automotive technology program at Pittsburg State University (PSU) generally enter the workforce in some type of automotive management role. As a result, the program does not require students to purchase their own tools. And it does not have room for all 280 majors to roll around a personal tool chest. Each instructor must maintain adequate tools for each lab exercise, which can present quite a challenge.

But our Technology Education Collegiate Association (TECA) chapter came to the rescue with a niche service that provided the automotive technology program with top-quality laser-cut tool organizers for its tool cabinet drawers. The organization did this at a reduced price, while earning more per hour than in earlier fund-raising activities--and it gave the students involved excellent real-world experience.

The Tool Management Challenge

Schools often use a set of tools that many individuals must share. With this situation comes the issue of accountability, which causes problems for instructors and students alike. Educators commonly turn to shadow-board storage, which requires painting each tool's shape on the tool board (Photo 1). When someone removes a tool, everyone can see (1) that the tool is missing and (2) what the tool looks like, based on the shape of the "shadow" of the tool on the shadow board.

Shadow boards work fine when you have only a few tools in use and when each tool has its own clear identity. For example, if an instructor gives each lab group a shadow board containing a hammer, a pair of pliers, a screwdriver, a wrench and a tape measure, he or she can easily see when one tool is missing. However, when the tool sets have similar shapes--for example a set of 3/8″ drive torque sockets--students and instructors have the challenge of identifying which one of the small sockets is missing.

Most tool manufacturers offer tool storage for their particular sets of tools. However, our program, like many others, uses a variety of technical labs, creating a need for unique tool storage for each one. For example, when seven laboratory groups are disassembling seven Ford 4R70W transmissions simultaneously, the laboratory experience works best if each group has its own set of tools. An example of required tools includes a servo removal tool, a set of oil pump slide hammers, a set of snap ring pliers, a set of torque sockets, plus a few common hand tools. PSU recently purchased several new tools for the automatic transmission lab. The purchase of these new tools brought the challenge of maintaining and inventorying them each time they are used.

Previous Solutions

In the past, PSU's automotive program has tried several options for shadow-boarding shared tools. One involved having a student use CAD to draw a tool layout for basic engine tear-down tools. The student worked with PSU's wood technology program to machine tool cavities in MDF particleboard using a CNC router. The resulting tool trays were then placed in drawers inside a roll around toolbox. Although this option worked well, we couldn't find someone with the right CAD experience who could spend the time needed to draw a new set of tool trays for our automatic transmission laboratory.

Another professor had paid a tool manufacturer to provide a similar service using soft foam in place of MDF particleboard for three toolboxes. Each box needed six pieces of foam averaging approximately 2 square feet of surface area per drawer. Each box housed 143 common hand tools, such as sockets, wrenches, screwdrivers and pliers. For $1,500, PSU received foam to house a total of 429 tools that used 36.7 square feet of foam. Although the manufacturer did a quality job, it took nine months for the company to deliver the finished product.

New Solution: Student Manufactured, Laser-Cut Foam Organizers

As mentioned, PSU recently procured several new tools along with seven new toolboxes for the automatic transmission lab (Photo 2). Before ordering another set of foam organizer inserts, the automotive department inquired about the possibility of the students in TECA providing a similar service. TECA members agreed to investigate the possibility and ultimately accepted the opportunity to make the organizers.

The first step called for determining the quantity of material needed and foam specifications. The new automatic transmission toolboxes contained a total of 97 tools, requiring 7.8 square feet of foam for each of the seven common toolboxes. Selecting the correct foam is critical to this kind of application. Students researched material specifications by conducting an extensive web search; along with hours of phone conversations with suppliers.

The students determined that the foam must be (1) durable, (2) solvent resistant, (3) able to be cut with a laser and (4) of a color that would allow for easy reading of the laser-engraved name. The team selected MC1900 gray, a polyethylene-based product from Buckley Industries in Wichita, KS, having determined that it would work well around the petroleum-based solvents associated with automotive work.

MC1900 gray has several characteristics that make it suitable for tool tray liners. The polyethylene foam is approximately 5/8″ thick and is sold in sheets that are approximately 50″ x 74″. The material cuts easily in a single pass with a 25 W laser, which reduces machining time dramatically. The material costs $1.17 per square foot (not including shipping), making it very economical for tray liners. The gray material turns a light-black color after cutting with the laser, which works well for labeling the tray liners and enhancing tool organization and aesthetics.

To laser Cut the material, the MC1900 must be precut to an appropriate size. PSU uses a Universal M-class 30 W laser with a 12″ x 24″ platform, which works well for cutting and engraving on the precut drawer insert pieces. The material can be cut to insert size using either a table saw/band saw or a hot knife. If using the table saw or band saw, students found it necessary to use caution since the material tends to grab on narrow pieces. If available, the hot knife proves the best choice, with the use of a straight edge to guide the knife. Students must determine the best size for their particular laser and drawer size.

Students input tool drawings using CAD--an excellent opportunity for practice with real-world design. Creating the drawings in full scale eliminated the need to resize in the engraving program. Most of the tools involved are fairly simple geometric shapes, although some required more extensive design work. After creating the tool outlines with CAD, students export the drawings as a data exchange file (.dxf) format. Although laser-engraving programs vary by manufacturer, most will import a .dxf. The file can easily be imported into the drawing program that comes with our machine, CorelDraw (Photo 3).

Students can make simple modifications to the drawing once it is in the graphics program. They can add text to the drawing using a different color. Text is usually cut using an engraving setting and tool outlines are machined using a cutting setting.

A honeycomb table should be used when cutting through the material to prevent any vaporized material from sticking to the platform. Lacking a honeycomb table, students should place stock on a secondary material to prevent damage to the platform. Power settings for the laser will vary from machine to machine, and students need to perform some test cutting on scraps before cutting the actual stock.

The PSU Universal 30 W laser settings were 100 percent power, 1.7 percent speed and 500 ppi for cutting (black lines), while the engraving settings were 90 percent power, 100 percent speed and 500 ppi (red lettering). After finding the settings for a particular laser, we recommend using extruded polystyrene to see if parts actually fit (Photo 4). Extruded polystyrene is available at local building stores and is fairly inexpensive compared to the polyethylene foam.

With the engraving and cutting operation complete, students removed the cut-outs from the stock (Photo 5) and add the liners to the drawers. Narrow parts, like those for screwdrivers, may fuse together in places, but with a little work the parts can be removed.

This customized approach allows for efficiently accounting for all tools in each box. Students added Coroplast (similar to cardboard) purchased from Regal Plastics of Joplin, MO, as a backing material for each drawer to facilitate visual referencing of removed tools. Solvent-resistant material, like plastic sheeting or vinyl sheet stock, could also be used.

Once the cut-outs are removed and the background material is in place, a spray adhesive (3M works well) adheres the liner to the colored background. It's important to maintain the correct spacing on cut-out areas to ensure that tools fit properly in their spaces (Photo 6).

Final Comments

Making laser-cut drawer organizers provided our students with an excellent project that saved the program money, makes tracking of tools easy and allows students to apply their knowledge to a real-world project. We encourage other educators to try it with their students.

Authors' notes--Robert Erker, a technology education senior at PSU, created the CAD files and took primary responsibility for machine setup and operation.

While laser engraving machines are fairly expensive, they offer tremendous returns. In addition to making tool tray liners, students can use the laser for prototyping, glassware engraving, plaque making and many other fundraising options.

Vendors we used: • Buckley Industries, 1850 E. 53rd St. North, Wichita, KS 67219; 800-835-2779; www.buckleyind.com • Regal Plastic Supply Co., 601 E. 9th St., Joplin, MO 64801; 417-782-1420; www.regalplastic.com • Universal Laser Systems, Inc., 16008 North 81st St., Scottsdale, AZ 85260; 800-859-7033; www.ulsinc.com

Police Impounded Cars

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as auto makers push to sell more suvs it hurts biofuel initiatives

As Auto Makers Push to Sell More SUVs It Hurts BioFuel InitiativesWriten by Lance Winslow

Currently the United States of America we produced 17 million cars each and every year. Most of these cars run on gasoline and very few actually run on ethanol. Although most cars can run on at least 15% ethanol blends. If we truly wish to break their addiction to foreign oil we will need to expand the number of cars which can run on either pure ethanol or E85 Ethanol, which is 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline.

Ethanol runs better at higher temperatures and that means it should be sold in places like Arizona and New Mexico. Places like Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and Georgia. Yet most of the Midwest where the ethanol is refined and grown from corn has cooler temperatures and fair for the ethanol is less effective. By less effective I mean you get less power as a fuel. In fact you get less miles per gallon with ethanol than you do with regular gasoline and you have less power when it is cold out.

In places like Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Florida it is hardly ever called and therefore ethanol would work much better. However, Texas is primarily an oil industry state and they have refineries nearby which keep the price of gasoline low. Florida has many ports and can get loyal in for refining rather cheap. These issues pose a problem for the switching to ethanol.

If the United States is to break the addiction to foreign oil we need to have proper planning of infrastructure to get ethanol to market and where it will do the most good. That makes the most sense and yet there are distribution issues. Such as ethanol is more corrosive and harder to move from place to place. It does not work very well and pipelines. There is more to consider when growing our own fuel in America then most people understand. Please consider all this in 2006.

Lance Winslow - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

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japanese and american automobile markets trends an insight why american companies losing

Japanese and American Automobile Markets Trends - An Insight Why American Companies LosingWriten by Boris Mann

The automobile industry like any other industry is dependent on consumers. In my opinion the American and Japanese companies have looked at consumers and other stakeholders differently and thus we are in a situation where some companies are doing better than others. But the big question is - Are they doing better or worse based on the demand that exists in the market.

American cars have always made a statement, they are symbolic of what America and its people represent. They are big, shiny and beautiful. They are distinct, powerful and representative of a culture and way of life.

Our country has always been known for the cars we make, and our cars are branded as 'So American' because that is how we make them - American.

The car companies had been the drivers of our countries growth in the 20th century, however at the start of the 21st century. Their operations for a change seem to fragile, manpower incompetent and design out of place. In the 20th century, it seems that the big car companies controlled the country and moved mountains, not anymore.

When I say not anymore, it comes from the fact that General Motors, Ford and Chrysler have always done so well that a blip in their performance makes one feel that all is lost. And actually speaking things are really bleak, the place these companies faltered was in giving away too much in their hay days, CEO after CEO kept giving concessions and privileges that are impairing the performance of the companies now. The companies are under a huge burden of recurring expenses that are more than their profits.
But to reflect back on how they were doing, we should look at the bare facts that these companies have continued for nearly a 100 years and spent nearly 50 of those years in the top 10 list of fortune 500 magazine.

Off late the difference has occurred in the preferences of the consumers and the changes in the environment. The consumers want cars that are easier to drive and economically efficient to maintain with sky rocketing gasoline prices.

Japanese Car Market
For years, the business strategies of the Big Three auto makers in Japan have been at odds with U.S. industry and government trade rhetoric. Having disdained re-entering the Japanese market on the grounds that it would never be significant enough to warrant serious effort, the American companies relied on their enormous domestic market and focused international efforts on building a major position in Europe.

Trapped by their own neglect in the late 1970s, they embraced a range of protectionist measures at home and in the recent past pursued an aggressive agenda of so-called 'results-oriented' trade policies designed to pressure Japan to meet highly specific targets for both sales and the number of outlets in the Big Three distribution network in Japan. With the introduction of the first American right-hand drive vehicles in 1994, hopes soared as sales of U.S. cars, Big Three autos companies nearly tripled over the next three years.

But the slowdown in the Japanese economy exposed the weak strategic position of the American manufacturers for all to see. Sales of U.S.-made vehicles dropped nearly 18% and were off even more sharply in the first quarter of 1998. This has once again raised the specter of potentially divisive and economically damaging trade disputes, as U.S. government officials and executives blamed Japan for the decline.

Key Factors influencing American Car Companies in the Japanese Car Market:

Since the U.S.-Japan auto agreement was reached in June 1995, the Big Three have been engaged in an active process of churning franchises, closing and/or opening a total of about 360 showrooms a number representing more than half of the 600-plus outlets in their Japanese distribution network. Despite this, and contrary to years of complaints about the need for more outlets, the American makers ended 1997 with fewer showrooms than they had three years ago not the 177 'additional' stores that have been claimed. This level of turnover is quite large for a mature market and clearly unsustainable over the long term.

Ford Japan has made by far the biggest commitment and investment among the Big Three faces the most severe challenge because of strategic and product shortcomings. The company suffered nearly a 40% drop in sales of its U.S.-built vehicles in 1997, and many of its dealers are openly angry about the lack of appeal of current models, the paucity of financial support from the manufacturer, and the apparent lack of exciting new products in the pipeline.

Because of these problems, Ford has just recently announced a 180-degree strategy shift in Japan, and its new president has publicly embraced sales and marketing changes.

Chrysler has substantially increased its investment in the Japanese market, but now faces the critical and daunting task of rebuilding an independent dealer network after terminating a lucrative arrangement with Honda for the distribution of the well-known Jeep models. Chrysler also faces serious questions about future product suitability in a fast-changing sport utility market.

General Motors continues to play out a conservative and largely uninspired strategy that, if left alone, could drop it into third place behind Chrysler in unit sales of U.S. made vehicles in Japan. Moreover, its Saturn Japan division, launched in April 1997, is off to a very slow start, because of severe limitations in product quality and variety.

The current import share of the Japanese auto market is 9.6%, not the lower 5.4% reported by the Big Three and the U.S. government. Their calculation divides total import car sales, including grey market imports, by the total number of vehicles sold in Japan, including mini-vehicles, trucks and buses, which the American manufacturers do not even make for Japan. The rest of the world calculates market share simply and cleanly: by dividing imported passenger cars sold by the total number of passenger cars sold.

Japanese auto dealers are a widely diverse and dynamic group who provide an exceptionally high level of customer service in a fiercely competitive environment. While the internal structure of day-to-day business operations is different in many respects from that of dealers in the U.S., they share a high degree of interest with their American counterparts in testing and pursuing many kinds of new systems and marketing tools. Debates over the effectiveness of 'one-price' showrooms are particularly intense and quite similar to trends in America.

Things are not so rosy for the Japanese manufacturers either, just today Isuzu released its numbers and the shrinkage of Isuzu underscores how increased competition is forcing smaller competitors by the wayside. Automakers will launch 197 models this year through 2009, a 53% increase over the number of vehicle introductions from 1987 to 2005, Merrill Lynch said in a report last year.

Competition will only grow more fierce. The South Korean brands have become competitive enough to pinch Japanese and domestic automakers. Chinese makers might be next to wash ashore.

Isuzu presents a classic example of what can happen to an automaker that fails to invest in its market. They are fighting their battle in an overcrowded market with models that aren't being supported. While Isuzu used to be a low-price brand, The Koreans now are offering a competitive product at a cheaper price.It has just pushed them out of the marketplace.

With vehicles that differ little from their GM cousins, Isuzu tries to appeal to buyers by selling them for less. The base Ascender lists for $26,644, about $300 less than the Chevrolet TrailBlazer built on the same production line, reports Edmunds.com, a car buyer research website. But buyers are finding TrailBlazer cheaper because of sales incentives.

Isuzu also tries to gain an edge with a better warranty. Instead of three years or 36,000 miles, Isuzu's warranty is 50,000 miles. The drivetrain's warranty is for 75,000 miles or seven years.

GM's involvement with Isuzu is not coincidental. Starting in the early 1970s, GM took a 37.5% share of Isuzu, which it later increased to 49%. For years, Isuzu thrived.

In 1984, Isuzu introduced one of the earliest and most successful compact SUVs, the Trooper. It came to market ahead of what would later become the domestic makers' best-known SUVs. And the Trooper developed a reputation for toughness and quality. Isuzu followed up with the smaller Rodeo and a little sport vehicle, the Amigo.

Isuzu was a brash competitor. Its cheeky approach came through in its popular television ads featuring Joe Isuzu, a car salesman whose outlandish claims were contradicted by a sober scroll running across the bottom of the screen.

Its success was reflected in its sales, which peaked at 127,630 in 1986 and stayed strong into the late 1990s. Then, little by little, the market withered away. Trooper disappeared in 2002, Rodeo, in 2004. A proposal to bring in a Thai-built SUV a couple of years ago fizzled. The company restructured two years ago. GM has reduced its stake to about 8%.

It might help if Ascender, a name which means nothing to customers, were redubbed Trooper, which still resonates with buyers. Or if Isuzu could bring some of its vaunted diesel engine technology, still important to GM's midsize Duramax truck line, to the light-vehicle line.

With all the bad news coming out of Detroit these days, many have a disarmingly simple suggestion: Ford and General Motors should simply build better cars.

Quality Perception

A perception of poor quality certainly isn't the only reason Ford and GM cars can have trouble in today's market. But it is one of the most importatnt factor.

I looked at J.D. Power and Associates Long-term Dependability Surveys to get a sense of where American cars rank in terms of reliability and how much they've improved. That survey measures the number of problems vehicle owners have after 3 years of ownership.

The survey shows that all the big three are doing pretty good but the problem is that 'pretty good' has become 'not quite good enough' in a world where quality standards have been raised significantly. The bad experiences of customers with American cars still lingers in their memories.

Reliability by the numbers

If you believe J.D. Power's surveys, the story for American luxury brands Lincoln, Cadillac and Buick is particularly striking.
Of the above three brands, Lincoln performed best in the 2005 survey ranking third of all brands behind Porsche & Lexus.

Lincoln, Cadillac and Buick all out-scored Toyota's Toyota-branded and Honda's Honda-branded vehicles in the same 2005 J.D. Powers survey.

Another view

But the people at Consumer Reports don't have quite as good a view of Ford and GM products as J.D. Powers' survey.

In Consumer Reports predicted reliability ratings, brands like Toyota, Subaru and even Suzuki rank higher than Pontiac, which has average predicted reliablity in Consumer Reports' estimation.
Lincoln, the top-ranked American brand in the J.D. Power survey, is seen as having below average predicted reliability by Consumer Reports.

Still, agreed Michael Quincy automotive content specialist for Consumer Reports, the quality of Ford and GM cars has improved greatly in recent years.

Some Ford cars are actually above average in reliability, according to Consumer Reports own surveys, Quincy said. The Ford Escape Hybrid SUV is etter than average, for example, and the closely-related Mercury Mariner SUV is much better than average in reliability.

GM brands, according to Consumer Reports, have mostly average predicted reliability. Hummer and Saturn are seen as below average.

Why are we so sure they're bad?

Given J.D. Power survey results, and even the ot bad showings in Consumer Reports data, why do Americans seem so sure that American cars are dross?

Three possible reasons:

Reputation: Toyota has, by now, had a lifetime to cement its reputation among American consumers for nearly fool-proof quality. GM and Ford spent nearly as long honing a reputation for not caring much about quality. Things may have improved, but it takes a long time for that to sink in.

Recalls: GM, in particular, has had a problem with headline-making recalls. It's a big company, it sells a lot of vehicles and they share a lot of components. When one of those parts goes wrong, eye-popping numbers of vehicles can be affected. That doesn't mean the vehicles are unreliable. Recalls are a different sort of problem. But it does cause concerns.

Reviews: GM and Ford vehicles haven't always exuded quality that may have been hiding in there somewhere. Cheap-feeling interior materials, raspy-sounding engines and gap-filled construction didn't give potential buyers the feeling of confidence that even lesser Japanese brands manage to carry off.

GM and Ford deserve credit for what they've done so far. But American consumers have shown they still need lot more proof.
There are problems with Ford and General Motors.

On paper Ford appears to have it much easier. Despite losing $1.6 billion in North America last year, Ford Motor remains profitable. It has more cash and less debt than GM, its credit rating is higher, and its legacy costs are lower because it has shrunk less (and thus has fewer retirees to support).

Yet Ford Motor hasn't been running all that smoothly since Bill Ford took over as CEO in 2001. Strategic direction looks like a lot of zigs and zags. Ford Division has dumped its overtly conservative design and will pursue more eye-catching ones from now on. The Taurus, Ford's bestselling car in 2005, is being discontinued in 2006 (it hopes the Fusion will fill the vacuum). Lincoln has gotten yet another facelift, while Mercury is still seeking a personality after decades of searching.

To get his company up to speed again, Bill Ford has produced the second turnaround plan of his tenure, called 'Way Forward'.

The plan promises cost cuts, improved quality, and increased productivity. Those are all essential in an industry that gets more competitive by the day,But the statement has no plans for events which are beyond Bill Ford's control could make his job even trickier. Some analysts think a GM bankruptcy would force Ford to follow suit.

The truth is that GM is essentially indentured to the UAW because of the union's power to strike. GM's hourly and salaried employees, present and past, essentially own the company, a fact I like to prove by describing some bank accounts.

At the end of 2004, the latest date for which figures are available, GM's pension funds (both inside the U.S. and out) had $100 billion in assets, which is wealth belonging to GM's employees, retirees, and dependents. To that you can add $19 billion that GM has put in a dedicated account for retiree health benefits. That makes $119 billion that GM has banked for its employees. In contrast, the shareholders of GM recently owned their grubby $13 billion in market value. That is a bizarre, Alice-in-Autoland result from 98 years in which capitalism supposedly reigned.

The likes of Toyota and all have not committed that mistake. They give limited insurance and their new plants are being set up in Canada because Canada has a better healthcare system, which means the company does not have to pay costly healthcare insurance to its employees.

The good news is that within the American borders, General Motors is still the king with around 40 percent market share and Toyota has 15 percent. The big ball game is that there is a huge market outside America and the big problem is we are repetitively failing to penetrate those new growth centers in the world.

Changing World

Companies like Nissan driven by visionary CEO Ghosn has been making some of the best cars off late. They are listening to the consumers while the American companies are not. Ghosn entered the tough world of the Japanese business and managed to close factories and retire people when it is almost impossible to do something like that in Japan. People need to make some very tough decision and he has been able to do it. No wonder that now he is also the CEO of Renault the French company and combined Nissan and Renault are in the top 5 manufacturers worldwide and have a 9.6% market share.

Nissan had an operating profit of 249 billion yen in the first three months of 2005, according to Bloomberg calculations, which was the fourth quarter of Nissan's fiscal 2005 year. That translated into a 10 percent operating margin.

Nissan on Feb. 2 maintained its April 2005 forecast for net income to rise 0.9 percent to 517 billion yen, while sales will rise 4.9 percent to 9 trillion yen. The company plans to increase global vehicle sales in the year ended March 31 by 6.8 percent to a record 3.62 million units.

However, the markets are unrelenting but the American manufacturers are going to suffer more. If I want to buy a car, I will buy the best car available and an American manufacturer does not make that best car according to customers' needs. The tragedy of the American automobile/car industry is that we are not listening to the consumers and have the terrible reputation of making bad cars. The Japanese on the other hand realized that Japan is a much smaller country which cannot absorb all the cars they can make and choose to sell their cars to the American market.

Here is the list of the Fortune 500, top 10. there are a few car companies, 3 are American (assuming the combined share of Diamler Chrysler) and 1 japanese. Toyota makes more money than all 3 combined.

The rank is followed by the name, revenue and then the profit of the that company.

1. Wal-Mart Stores 287,989.0 10,267.0

2 BP 285,059.0 15,371.0

3 Exxon Mobil 270,772.0 25,330.0

4 Royal Dutch/Shell Group 268,690.0 18,183.0

5 General Motors 193,517.0 2,805.0

6 DaimlerChrysler 176,687.5 3,067.1

7 Toyota Motor 172,616.3 10,898.2

8 Ford Motor 172,233.0 3,487.0

9 General Electric 152,866.0 16,819.0

10 Total 152,609.5 11,955.0

Seems the world is just buying fuel and cars, then why are we losing money? Shouldnt we listen to our consumers?

Boris Mann is an auto-Industry analyst and tracking the american and japanese market trends for over a decade now. He writes for various magazines and is Heading the Automobile Industry section of http://www.writetermpapers.com

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auto detailing testimonials

Auto Detailing TestimonialsWriten by Lance Winslow

Offer A Free Detail For Best Testimonial

If you run an auto detail business then you need to have a professional website. On this website Testimonials are important as they elevate you to the expert you are and also add credibility for the new customers. Most of your business is word of mouth, but often the new potential customer will look up your website to see if you are legitimate. How do you get the best testimonials?

Carry a tape recorder and ask your favorite customers to tape a testimonial to your business. Encourage them to be creative, enthusiastic, and energetic. Then take the tape to another good customer and say can you beat this? Give them the same 100% encouragement. Print the best testimonial on the back of your flyers and put them all on your website. Ask permission of the best testimonials and then tell who the person is, and that they received a free detail for their effort. Print a copy of their business card along with the testimonial. They will get calls from appearing on your flyer and this will help their business. You can even print a testimonial of the month in the newspaper. If you run an ad, just be sure to get permission from the customer. This same technique can be used in the on the website.

After youve selected fifteen or twenty really good testimonials, youll have built up a great portfolio of recommendations for yourself and they will be dynamite for your website as well. You can show these testimonials to potential car wash, auto detailing and fleet customers. The customer who gave the testimonial will feel that much more a special part of your business and this while embolden them to give you further referrals. Think about it.

Lance Winslow - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

getting the most car for your buck car auction tips

Getting the Most Car for Your Buck - Car Auction Tips

Vehicles that are used in the commission of certain crimes, particularly drug offenses, often become the property of the arresting agency, depending on local laws. While these seized vehicles are occasionally used by the agency, in the vast majority of cases the vehicles are sold at auction.

Cars that have been repossessed for nonpayment are also commonly sold at car auctions. This means that, under the right circumstances, the savvy shopper can find some spectacular deals.

Car auctions are competitive, however, so it is possible to come away paying more than the vehicle is worth. This article provides a few car auction tips that can be used to increase the chances of finding real bargains.

It is important to do your homework before the car auction begins. Most auctions will allow the automobiles to be inspected by the public a few days before the event is held. This provides a great opportunity to look under the hood, kick the tires, check the shocks, and do all the other tests that can give the shopper an idea of the state of the vehicle.

Be sure to record the vehicle identification number (VIN) of any vehicle you are interested in buying. You can use this number to get a report on issues that have been reported to insurance agencies or law enforcement departments in the past.

It is important to know if the vehicle has been flooded, fire damaged, rebuilt, or involved in a major accident. Armed with this knowledge, you can return and inspect the vehicle and look for defects that you might not otherwise know to look for.

This advice assumes that the purchaser is skilled enough with automobiles to know how to inspect them properly. For most auctions, a test drive is out of the question.

Therefore, if you are not confident in your ability to diagnose the condition of the vehicle, consider asking a friend or relative who is knowledgeable about the inner workings of automobiles to help you out. Some professional mechanics will also attend the auction to inspect the car for you (for a fee of course).

It is important to have all of your homework complete by the time the auction begins. Know beforehand the maximum amount you are willing to pay and stick to it. It is very easy to get caught up in the competitive nature of bidding and become so engrossed in beating the other guy that you lose perspective of the real reason you are there--to find the best deal possible. It is not uncommon for people to leave auctions bewildered why they paid as much as they did.

Car auctions can be a great source for excellent deals for those who are serious about finding bargains and do their homework. Those who attend the auction spontaneously or lose themselves in the competitive nature of bidding are likely to come away paying more than if they had bought the vehicle from a dealer.

For listings of car auctions, please visit http://www.auto-car-auctions.info/

This article is not to make you an expert on Motorcycle Auctions but it is just to cater to your need of being aware of the topic.

spotting a flooded car

Spotting A Flooded Car
Writen by Verapol Chaiyapin

Over 500,000 new and used vehicles were damaged in the recent floods and hurricanes but unfortunately, many of these vehicles make it into the hands of the general population. Although many states require that car titles specify when a car is flood damaged or salvaged but the descriptive terms vary from state to state. Scam artists can move the car to a less restrictive state and using the discrepancies in state standards to wash the cars flood history clean. Many of these cars are shipped far from the affected areas so dont assume that a car youre looking at couldnt be a flooded car just because you dont live near the flooded areas.

Have a professional mechanic closely inspected any vehicle that youre considering, used or new. Be alerted if the car price is significantly low. If a deal sound too good to be true, it probably is. Look for rust or fresh paint, mud, grit or mold and smelling mildew or strong air fresheners may be important tip-offs. Insist on seeing the cars existing titles. If the previous owner is an insurance company, find out how the company took ownership of the car. Also, check where the car was recently registered. If its one of the areas affected by any recent hurricanes, you should be skeptical. Remember, problems caused by flood damage may not show up right away. You dont want to end up with a dream car that turns into a nightmare.

If you are looking to buy a car, I advise you to do your homework. Don't forget to check out our
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