That worked great!

That event went great!

Thanks to everyone who helped make it a success! Likewise, our 103.7 Hot Days of Summer event went off without a hitch. The winners of the new cars are all very happy to have them.

Here's a video of one of the winners--amazing!



A collection of other videos from the 103.7 days of summer event can be found here, at the Kiss 103.7 website.

In other news, since the last clearance event worked so well a month ago, we're doing it again. Here's the information on this big event:

Well, it's been a while since we've updated the blog. It's been a busy few months for us! With our model year end close out in effect, we're getting swamped with used cars as trade-ins.

Which is why for the next three days, we're having a big used car sell-off event. These sort of events always get crazy, so we're looking forward to a lot of work, but also a lot of results.

Huge News for Ford!

There was some huge news for Ford this week:

Ford beats Toyota in quality rankings

DETROIT - People might have to stop making all those jokes about the quality of Ford’s cars — the ones that say Ford stands for “Found on Road Dead” or “Fixed or Repaired Daily.”

Now, it could be “Fixing Our Reputation Daily.”

Ford Motor Co. supplanted Toyota as leader of the pack in J.D. Power and Associates’ annual initial quality rankings released Wednesday, grabbing more individual awards than any other automaker for the first time since 1998, when it tied for the top spot.
(continued at link above)

That's some great news about the state of American car manufacturing!

Who says Toyotas are so great?

In its latest challenge to consumer confidence, Toyota has already recalled another 533,000 vehicles in 2007. At this rate, Toyota will once again recall more vehicles in a year than it builds. That would make three years in a row!

In related news, the Chevy Impala has now beaten the Toyota Camry in J.D. Powers and Associates studies in initial quality, for five years straight! And BOTH the Ford Fusion and the Mercury Milan scored higher than the Camry this year according to Consumer Reports!

The Braeger Experts

When the Journal Sentinel needs to find a car expert in Milwaukee, who do they turn to?

That's right, Ben Kallies, service manager of Braeger Chrysler/Jeep.

This Sunday, Ben was quoted extensively in the Wheels section of the Journal Sentinel in an article on Winter Tires. (On the road again! Written off back in the 1980s, snow tires are making a comeback thanks to new technology, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Jan 27th, 2007)

"Snow tires do make a difference," [Ben] says. "Even for front-wheel drive cars and those with stability control."

What about all-wheel drive? Winter tires, Kallies believes, multiply the all-wheel drive advantages in braking, acceleration and handling.

He has high praise for the new breed of winter tire. "New technology" has made huge strides, he declares.

"They don't even look like snow tires," Kallies says. "They're actually a nice-looking tire. And they're not as noisy as the old snow tires."
...
"Many drivers have them [winter tires] mounted on less expensive steel rims, instead of choosing the costs and time involved in mounting and rebalancing them (on their factory-provided rims) every winter," Kallies says.
...
He also suggests: "See an authorized tire dealer, like us, because of things such as wheel speed sensors, ABS (antilock braking system) and electronic traction control that might be involved." Tire know-how is essential.

That's great advice Ben!

How to be a good customer!

In the spirit of "Brutal Truth Motors" the Tappert brothers at Car Talk (or Click and Clack if you know them by that name) just published an interview reminding all of us that sometimes it helps to be a good customer too.

Some gems include:

CAR TALK: So, what makes a great customer?

RAY: There are some customers who have been coming to the garage for years, who we love to see. First of all, they're pleasant people. They're non-confrontational; they don't come in ready for a fight, or assuming we're going to rip them off — which is especially important when things go wrong.

We consider some of our customers to be our friends. They have the same qualities that you would want in a friend.

TOM: And they can describe their problem clearly. That's really important. It saves us hassle — and saves the customer money. We're more likely to get it right the first time, which is important to our sense of self-esteem.

RAY: Right. You know, mechanics suffer from an extremely low sense of self-worth.

TOM: And then, of course, there are the customers who come bearing fresh baked goods. Somehow, they never seem to need transmission rebuilds. Isn't that interesting?

As has been said for years, it's easier to catch flies with honey than with vinegar!

CAR TALK: And the customers who are less than friendly?

RAY: There are some people who are jerks. They're adversarial, because they treat us as if we're trying to rip them off. They're attitude is accusatory from the get go.

TOM: And, nobody wants to be approached like that.

RAY: We've actually fired customers.

Sure, the customer is always right, but wouldn't it be great if they were always nice too?

Making Milwaukee a Safer Place

"Our community comes first."

That's not just a hollow motto, but something Braeger actually takes to heart each and every day. When we heard the people with DNA Lifeprinting were looking for a local business to sponsor an event to help parents protect their children in case of an abduction, we jumped right in.

With Braeger's help, DNA Lifeprinting was able to offer hundreds of parents a free digital CD Rom with a picture of their child, and a kit which would collect and store their child's DNA for years. DNA is a better tool than even a fingerprint in identifying missing children and reuniting them with their families, and a digital photograph can be distributed faster and more effectively across the whole country than a standard photograph. In fact, the digital picture can even be forwarded to cel phones, and mailing lists to make sure a missing child's face is everywhere!
We were proud to help, and excited so many families took advantage of this great program!

We'd also like to give an extra special thank-you to our Local Police Department who joined in, and even brought McGruff the Crime Dog, as well as our local Fire Department which was on hand to help out too!

Parents and children alike were excited to protect their safety!	Even McGruff the Crime Dog was on hand to help out!

Did you know?

Did you know that DaimlerChrysler, Ford, and General Motors "spent over $12 billion to provide health care to 2 million Americans in 2005?" (Detroit News, Detroit Free Press). That's a lot of health care. That's a lot of people that are healthy now, thanks to the American auto manufacturers.

And despite what recent commercials from certain imports would have you believe, Japanese manufacturers just don't measure up. All other automakers combined spent only $1.6 billion on health care in the U.S. (Same source)

Oh and Toyota? You're NOT American.

Did you know?

Did you know:

Toyota had the second-highest number of recalls last year, but it also dominates consumer satisfaction polls by J.D. Power, report Joann Muller and Jonathan Fahey in Forbes (7/3/06). Only Ford, with 11.7 percent of its vehicles recalled in 2005, exceeds Toyota, which recalled 10.1 percent, followed by GM at 6.8 percent, Honda at 4.0 percent and Chrysler at 2.5 percent. During May 2006 alone, Toyota recalled “one million vehicles worldwide.”--http://reveries.com

50% more recalls per car than GM? Over four times as many recalls per car as Chrysler? I have a feeling that this relates directly to yesterday's "Did you know" installment. American manufacturers are spending more to make better cars. That's good news for you, for us, and for America.

Did you know?

Did you know that the US Automotive sector spends more on Research and Development than any other sector? Just the "big three" alone (DaimlerChrysler, General Motors, and Ford)spend over $21 billion each year.


That beats out pharmaceuticals ($15.9 billion), computer software ($15.1 billion), semiconductors and electronics (12.6 billion), and even aerospace products and parts ($8.2 billion)!


Next time you turn the key in your car's ignition, just imagine how much time, effort and money went into making sure that vehicle is the best it could be!

Source: Wards Automotive Facts and Figures 2005, National Science Foundation