Honestautoestimates.com is the auto repair consumer’s bailout plan! The problem of being over charged for auto repairs is one that cost Americans over $22 billion each year as estimates by the U.S. Government. Honestautoestimates.com is working to correct this problem by offering a unique tool to those who have found themselves in need of auto repairs (about 2 million people per day nationwide). Our company impacts people’s lives in a way that can only be described as “Uniquely significant” as one TV news reporter said. The U.S. Government is giving billions to companies that have a track record of not being consumer friendly, if fact some of these companies (Banks and auto manufactures) are well known to consumers as places that ad considerable expense to their lives with fees and high priced products. These industries have made billions by charging consumers more for products and services than they are worth. When was the last time you went to the ATM and paid $3 just to get your own money or you purchased a car only to find a year later the vehicle was worth thousands less than you paid? Honestautoestimates.com has made a lot of enemies by exposing the over charges in the auto repair industry and now we are seeing the effects of allowing other industries to go unchecked. Consumers are tired of being the “Scape goat” for businesses that are run poorly and take advantage of them with over priced products that rapidly lose their value. We hear a lot about “Mark to Market “ in the real estate industry. This means that the property has a value and if you pay more for that property your “Mark to Market” is off. Well the car industry has been doing this for years by setting prices on their cars based on “labor cost” not market value. Why should Americans pay thousands more for American vehicles just because the manufacture did not negotiate contracts properly with unions or CEO’s took millions of dollars in salaries and bonuses. The American auto manufacturer has been operating as if they have no competition and this has now caused the giant problem they are faced with. Americans are tired of going to work each day knowing they have to give their sweat and blood to poorly run companies and CEO’s that did not act on the obvious signs of the economic slowdown. If a company like HAE acted in this manner, we would have been out of business, no bailout! This, even though HAE can effectively save consumers from spending $22 billion to much on car repairs. If given the choice of giving auto makers billions to shore up the company that sells cars that are worth less than the sticker or spending $5.99 to save hundreds on car repairs, we would bet Americans would elect to keep the money in their pockets! So what should the Government do?
1. Make auto makers reduce the price of their cars by 15% to make them the best priced vehicle on the market. This will ensure selling off of inventory and repay the loans.
2. CEO’s no pay until the loan is repayed, and no “Golden parachute” ever.
3. Make the UAW give back some of the ridiculous rewards they have seen in the past years, especially the benefits paid to UAW officials that have nothing to do with making cars.
4. Give full disclosure to consumers as to vehicle build costs, so consumers will know how much the dealership is making on the deal. This is the amount the car depreciates when you drive away. Know what you are getting into!
5. Require auto manufactures to open bidding for parts manufacturers to allow build cost reduction, thus adding to the profit without raising the price.
6. Have strict quality controls verifiable by random inspection, that hold the UAW responsible with fines for not meeting these goals. This would mean that workers would have more at stake and their own union would have to enforce the standards.
7. Listen to the public demands about needs and wants when designing new car lines. Don’t build cars people are not going to buy just because the company has to meet production.
If these measures are put in place as a start, Americans would see that the U.S. auto makers were really trying to change and would buy their cars.
This problem will not be solved by Bailing out auto makers alone. Banks have to lend money to people to buy these better cheaper cars. The government has given billions to banks to stimulate loans and banks are sitting on this money to make their bottom line look better on the balance sheet. They are using the people money to make their bank better for themselves, is that not what started the whole thing down hill in the first place? Banks must allow capital to flow into small business and auto loans if housing is going to come back. Small business and auto sales have long been the back bone of the American economy, along with housing. People are not able to by homes because of loan restrictions, but they can buy the second largest investment they will make and that is a new car. Americans spend over $100 million in car repairs each year, with over $22 billion of that in over charged amounts. If HAE can deliver consumers the saving, they will have the extra money to buy a new car when their car is beyond reasonable repair cost. Right now consumers are forces to pay whatever the price simply because they have no other option. Some repair shops have made note of this condition and are over charging by alarming percentages. If banks do not ease up loans, people will continue to be held ransom by repair shops. The whole economy feels this impact because people are being forced to make decisions; do I repair my car and keep my job that is just looking for an excuse to lay people off if they are late? Or do I use the money to buy food and other essentials and hope I can get to work another way? HAE has example after example of this decision being made daily by Americans.
At HAE we realize that the economy is like the chain you use to pull your buddy out of a snowy ditch. If it has one week link break you wind up in the ditch across the road and now you are both stuck waiting for some else to come along and help! If we don’t act together and look at all of links in our chain we are just asking for all of us to wind up in a ditch with the ones we are trying to help. Giving billions to one industry does not make sense, when the people that industry is relying on to buy them back to profitability has no money to spend and no way to get a loan. We have to give people a way to buy a car before you can sell them one, so let’s first banks to fund affordable auto loans for cars that have been reduced in price and see what effect that has before we give billions to auto makers. Let’s secondly cut build cost by reducing salaries and benefits that are out of touch with the current economic reality. Third let’s cut build cost by renegotiating parts manufacturing contracts for auto makers. Forth, let’s get the word out that dealers are open for business in a name your price super sale on American cars to jump start the “Big three” and put them back on the path to profits. All of these things can be done quickly and save Americans the tax burden of billions in bailout cash!