2007 Cadillac Escalade Transformed into a Stolen Stretched Limo

Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009

One thing about car thieves, they will make all the necessary modifications to stolen cars to avoid being caught. Unfortunately, the robbers who had stolen a 2007 Cadillac Escalade were not so lucky. Originally stolen last February 1, 2008, special agents and the NICB had recovered the said vehicle but this time sporting a new look, a stretched limo look!

Apparently this transformation went under a complicated process. In fact, it was manufactured by a limo company, unsuspecting that the car they are transforming was actually stolen. It eventually landed in the hands of a businessman in Texas which was sold for $125,000. A vehicle identification number actually gave it away.

“Consumers need to exercise sound judgment when buying used vehicles from private parties or online services,” said Joe Wehrle, NICB president and chief executive officer. “In this case an innocent purchaser may be out thousands of dollars as a result of this transaction. So, if in doubt, check it out carefully before you hand over the cash.”

This quote may seem contradicting to the rampant push for online car buying. If this is one of the thing that they will encounter, it will severely affect the business intent of online car sellers for sure.

(Source) Press

Tags: 2007 cadillac escalade, business intent, businessman, Cadillac, car thieves, chief executive officer, doubt, limo company, necessary modifications, nicb, online car sellers, private parties, purchaser, robbers, sound judgment, thousands of dollars, transformation, vehicle identification number, wehrle

Light Vehicle Sales Plunge by 40%

Thursday, March 26th, 2009

Regardless of the type of auto in the market today, anyone of them will get hit by the economic problems plaguing the world today. Retail new-vehicle sales during the first 17 selling days of March were down by 40 percent compared with the same period one year ago, according to J.D. Power and Associates, which gathers real-time transaction data from more than 10,000 dealerships across the United States.

New-vehicle retail sales for the entire month of March are projected to come in at 633,000 units, compared with 1.07 million units a year ago. Retail sales in February totaled 557,000 units. To better reflect consumer demand for new vehicles, J.D. Power and Associates focuses on retail sales, which include only dealership sales and leases to private parties and does not include fleet sales.

The crossover utility vehicle (CUV) segment is generating the greatest year-over-year segment share growth, up by three percentage points since March 2008. In contrast, the traditional utility vehicle, compact car and midsize car segments are generating the greatest year-over-year declines in segment share. A proliferation of new CUV models has been introduced to capitalize on this shift in consumer demand. A total of nine new models have been introduced since February 2008.

(Source) Press

Tags: compact car, Crossover, economic problems, j d power and associates, midsize car, new vehicles, plunge, private parties, retail sales, time transaction