But when those times come, particular that of maintenance, I have found it slightly simpler to dedicate a little time to take care of those minor things that have to be done to keep your car running smoothly and comfortably over the long haul— like your tune-ups and oil changes as an example. It’s kind of like the week I take off to celebrate my birthday, only I spend it with my car.

So here I am right in the middle of car-bonding week and I’m taking care of those “little” things. At the top of the list — the ever-refreshing oil change — that oh so simple, extremely affordable process that aids gas mileage and adds life to your engine.

A standard oil change (not your premium or synthetic) will run you upwards of $25 dollars, but have you ever wondered why, like most visits to the auto shop, when you go in for something as simple as an oil change, you come out with a laundry list of other needed services? Well, today I found out and I got it right from the shop owners mouth.

It’s because the oil change is the hook, the let’s-get-them-in-the-door-see-whatelse-we-can-charge-them for service. That’s the interesting little tidbit I learned today as I sat in the auto repair shop talking with the owner. And by the way, I wasn’t getting this information inconspicuously, this gentleman knows what I do and has supported our automotive educational efforts for women. The truth is he was just telling it like it is — straightforward and honest. The oil change, as he put it “doesn’t make us any money. We use that to get folks in and then find other things wrong with the car”.

Now before you get in an uproar, he quickly assured me that “they don’t look for things that aren’t wrong, just the things that are” in the hopes that once they identify the problem, then you’ll be back to see them. And the truth is, by the time we get around to doing those little things, there probably are a few other things going wrong or on it’s way to going wrong, hence my bonding week — “let’s take some time to see about that little noise I’ve been hearing” — you know how we do.

The trick is knowing what you really need and what you don’t. Often times the unsuspecting (females particularly) customer comes in the door pretty sure she needs something, but not so sure of what. So the next time you go in for an oil change, don’t be surprised when you come out needing something else.

Over the years though, they’ve gotten quite a bit smaller and much more quaint (e.g. girl term for cute). I imagine there are all types of reasons for the changes — gas prices for one, an attributing factor making the once overly popular gas machine far less appealing.

Just recently my mom opted to buy one, yes she finally made a decision (more on that later) and ended up with a Toyota Rav 4, and boy is it cute (e.g. girl term for well, cute).

While roomy enough for five easily, big bodied young men included, it still has a small feel. When driving it recently I didn’t feel at all like I did when I drove the Ford Truck I owned some years ago, which I loved by the way.

The difference is when I was in my truck, which was only occasionally as opposed to daily, I wanted that “big ride feel” as I manipulated the roads and dared others to challenge me on it. But when it comes down to car preferences, I still prefer the smaller sized car, although like anything else they have some advantages and disadvantages, so here I’ve listed just a few of the benefits attached to driving either, depending on Your preference:

Benefits of Driving a Smaller Vehicle
1. Small cars fit neatly and indiscreetly on the road.
2. Great for singles, loners, and those that travel light.
3. They’re the best things since sliced bread since gas topped $4.00 a gallon
4. They’re compact, cozy, and cute.
5. A small car does sporty much better than larger sized cars.

Benefits of Driving a Larger Vehicle
1. Larger cars work well for large families and socials that do most of the driving
2. They’re roomier and great for long-legged future athletes.
3. You don’t have to give up the front seat because those long-legged future athletes can sit comfortably in the back.
4. Large cars are great ego-boosters when you need to feel in control.
5. You don’t have a problem finding used tires — smaller used tires are practically obsolete these days.

I went over and took a look at the site since I am almost the demographic they’re targeting, professional African American women between the ages of 25 and 40. My goal was to do some “market research”, which prompted me to stay a while, but I’ll admit, I didn’t get it. I couldn’t help but think, I have more important things to do, which I imagine others might be thinking because women are busy. And while statistics have shown that women are online more, they tend to go online for research as opposed to other things like playing games. But I don’t know, like I said I’m almost their demographic.

I can’t imagine women getting that excited about this game. And I really can’t imagine women getting so excited about a fictional character named Bianca who happens to drive; you guessed it — a Camry, that they start running out to buy them.

I’m just wondering if the manufacturers are getting it wrong. Wouldn’t it be a tad easier to pull together a focus group of this same demographic and find out why they see the Camry as “boring and suburban” and what might make the car more appealing? But maybe they did that. I don’t know. The bottom line is, I just can’t imagine a group of my peers saying, “I was online playing this reality game and I’m really thinking about buying a Camry”.

But there are two things we have to remember. 1. This is the first time Toyota has targeted African American women and 2. This is the first time I’ve been online to play a reality game. Could be we’re both wrong.

Bad credit. You’re a credit risk. You haven’t paid somebody or you’ve paid them late, consistently. No offense.

No credit. You’re young, inexperienced, and lacking in maturity. You haven’t had a chance to make credit decisions because you haven’t had one of those 3.5 x 2 inch cards that fit easily into your wallet pretending it’s the answer to all of your money needs, looking ever so attractive until the bill comes in and you suddenly realize that they want you to pay them back, with interest!

We Can Help! Why would they want to? They don’t know you and the little they do know about you isn’t so good, right? Yet, they’re right there willing to put you into a car. Are you kidding?

I’m sorry; maybe I’m just cynical. That can happen after you’ve lived a little while, but if truth be told, I’m mostly an optimist, but something here just smells a bit funny to me. And knowing what I know, which may not be a whole lot but I’m constantly learning from day to day, leads me to say no — they’re not really trying to help. They’re trying to sell you a car, in any way they can and they’re willing to put you at risk to do it.

Let me stop here and make a disclaimer: This is my opinion only. My 2 +2 thinking that looked at this picture and came to the conclusion that something indeed is not adding up here.

Let me ask you, logically, can you think of a reason why somebody that doesn’t know you — who doesn’t have the knowledge of understanding that you lost your job, bills piled up while you looked for work and you really are a hard working decent person or . . . . You’re young but have always been beyond responsible, graduated college, made good grades and you’re just really looking for someone to put a little trust in you —- why would someone that doesn’t know all this great stuff about you really take a risk on you? They wouldn’t right? Unless of course they had a hidden agenda, which really isn’t so hidden: WE WANT YOU IN ONE OF OUR CARS. WE NEED SALES. AND WE’RE WILLING TO MAKE YOU OUR GUINEA PIG.

Here’s my suggestion to you if you see the ad above — Bad Credit? No Credit? We Can Help! —-and it happens to speak directly to you.

1. Bad Credit – Give yourself several months, 6 – 12 maybe, some time to rebuild. I know you really need a car, but others have survived without one and maybe you can too. It’s probably well worth it to put yourself in position to buy the car you want, down the road, at a better interest rate, without people judging and taking advantaged of you for a few past mistakes.

2. No Credit – Take some time to build a little credit and let people know that you are trustworthy, can and will pay your bills. Finish school, get a job and start with a small credit card – a gas card, or a card like American Express (where you have to pay the balance at the end of the month). Then buy a car you can purchase with the cash you’ve saved up. Hey, it may not be so pretty, but as they say, don’t despise small beginning. Pay less and fix it up. You’d be amazed at what a paint job and a good detailing can do.

3. We’re Here to Help – Hey, look to your family and friends, those individuals that do know you and really want to help. Ask around and see if anybody has a car for sale. Find out if anybody’s working in or near the area where you are. Have you heard of carpooling? Listen, gas is high! They might be elated to have someone to share the gas expenses.

But now here I am, smack in the middle of my mother’s car search. While tackling robust restaurant menus are no feat for her, the sampling of dealer menus has had her vacillating and it’s time to make a decision. It’s been almost five years ago since I was looking for a car. I was challenged, frustrated, and overwhelmed, mostly of my own doing, but I have some knowledge now and have happily passed it on to mom, but things haven’t been as simple as they might seem.

Your first thought was probably, surely things are easier, you guys know what you’re doing, the internet is packed with information, and there’s plenty to choose from, not to mention the current state of dealerships and their need to move cars off the lot. I know. I know.

But in some instances, therein lies the problem. And then there’s the ever so slight issue of the age difference and the car shopping approach, and well, let’s just say we’re still looking.

So since it’s May and Mother’s Day is coming up as well as my mom’s birthday, I thought I’d chronicle our journey of mother-daughter car shopping. Mom has given herself a deadline to have a car by her birthday. It’s coming up in just a few weeks, so we’ll see how it goes.

Stay Tuned . . . . .

The report shows both a man and woman going into the dealership to purchase a car. After being in the dealership, the man comes out with a great deal while the woman leaves without even getting a quote. Are you surprised? We’re not. But why is this? Why do women tend to pay more.

Apparently it’s because Women Don’t Ask. In her book of the same title, author Linda Babcock shares studies that reveal:
· Men initiate negotiations about 4 times more often than women;
· Women will spend up to $1,300 dollars more to avoid haggling at the dealership;
· And 20% of women say they never negotiate.

The reasons why goes beyond the extent of this particular blog post, but here’s the deal ladies, we have to wise up and begin to ask!

One interesting site is called Car Tango, a site for women with the slogan “Girl Meets Car”. It’s cute if nothing else. Their goal according to the website is to help women find their perfect automotive match, at the best possible price and without the hassle.

We at Car-Buy-Her particularly like this concept because we understand how time-consuming and frustrating car buying can be for women so we decided to mosey over with our actively looking, ready-to-purchase Car-Buy-Her, to see if we could learn how to Tango and meet the car of our dreams. We started out by getting a membership, free and relatively simple to set up, options included the “Quick Profile”, which was indeed quick and void of a long series of intrusive questions, requiring only an email and a password. Excellent, we thought, moving right along.

We found the site relatively easy to navigate, starting initially at the research section, which allowed us to plug in various cars of interest. This section was particularly useful as it gave us the option to do side-by-side comparisons along with providing pros and cons of one car over the other. We were extremely impressed and received a good overview of what one car offered over the other all together on the same page. Since our Car-Buy-Her was still deciding on what she wanted we decided the Car Soulmate Survey might shed some light and add a bit of fun to our research. We sifted through a series of female-friendly, sometimes silly and sometimes unrelated car questions like, What kind of vacuum cleaner do you own and if we could who would we hang out with for a day with choices ranging from the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Jennifer Aniston, Ellen Degeneres, and Condoleezza Rice as options. We certainly didn’t know how they all worked together but when the questions were all answered and the results came back, the car options were unbelievably close to what we liked and thought we might be interested in and included pictures, prices, and links for more information.

That was fun we thought, but now it was time to get to work or to dancing, the Car Tango way. We were ready to buy, to Tango with the dealers and see what they had to offer, but then the trouble began. For starters after reading the directions on how to Tango, we couldn’t figure how to get started. We fumbled around on the site a bit then tried doing a search and save with our cars of interest. The problem was once we put our cars in, we didn’t get any information back.

We sat, confused.

Then we decided to call Car Tango and things got better.

We were extremely happy to get a live voice on the phone, someone who could actually talk us through the website and explain how we should go about Tangoing. It turned out we were talking to the owner Dan, who was very nice and helpful. Not only was he willing to talk us through this, but he actually stayed on the phone as we went through the process. He explained that they (Car Tango) were a new company and still bringing in dealers and it was possible we might need to expand our search beyond the 50-mile radius we had initially put in. We were willing to give that a try. Dan put some different variables into the system and was able to get a list back. Unfortunately we were not. We tried again. No luck. We all decided it must be a software glitch, in which case we emailed the Car Tango tech department with the URL of the error, thanked Dan for his time and agreed to give it a try later.

Later that afternoon we received an email back from the tech department stating the bug had been fixed. Cool, we thought, we’ll give this a try later.

We haven’t gotten back just yet, but are anxious to do so and see just how well we do with the Tango.

We’ll keep you posted.

1. New Cars Last Forever. Unlike, diamonds, this is not the case with your new car. As a matter of fact, it’s the exact opposite meaning the minute you drive it off the lot it depreciates, losing its initial value. That’s why it’s important to know and buy the car you want because if you find yourself unhappy and wanting or needing to sell, it might not be so easy to get rid of.

2. It Smells So Good. You remember in the beginning of your relationship when your guy always smelled and looked fresh and then one day you looked at him and thought, “You stink”. Sadly but true, the new car smell does wear off and then you’re left with dangling scents of uneaten food, dirty shoes, musty laundry and who knows what else. Not to fear though. There are plenty of products that help eliminate this problem.

3. It’s Pretty and New so it has No Flaws. Outside of just wanting and needing a new car, many buy new because they don’t want to deal with the hassles of maintenance. They assume cars straight from the manufacturer with warranties equates to no-fuss driving. Not necessarily so. New cars have their share of maintenance issues as well, thus the warranties. Sometimes there are manufacturer’s issues; recalls for example, are certainly possible. So keep in mind that buying new is not an absolute or your guarantee that you won’t spend some time in the service department.

4. The body will maintain itself. A nice body is usually an easy sell. I mean who doesn’t like a shiny, buffed body, right? Just remember, the shine and body will not maintain itself. It has to be taken care of. Unless you plan to sit your car in the garage somewhere and not drive it, there is the distinct possibility that over time you will see some wear and tear on it’s body. Unexpected and unexplainable dings and scratches to the paint and a general wearing down of the original color are to be expected over a course of time.

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!

Ms. Coffey will share automotive money saving tips and why she started her crusade to help consumers make smart financial decisions after falling victim to a car buying scam.

Ms. Coffey is a veteran journalist with 20 years of newspaper experience, she has written and edited for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, The San Diego Union-Tribune, The Prague Post in the Czech Republic, the Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce, the Peninsula Clarion in Kenai, Alaska, and the St. Petersburg Times in Florida. Her column “10 Tips for Keeping Your Money in Your Wallet” is featured weekly at msnbc.com

To hear the show live, visit www.blogtalkradio.com/auto-estrogen