Two States with New Driving Laws

New Jersey and Georgia are trying to pass some new legislation that could eventually impact some driving laws in other states.

New Jersey is enacting a law that requires drivers under the age of 21 to addendum there license plates with a red sticker letting other drivers be aware that they're following a vehicle driven by someone under the age of 21. The law is being called Kyleigh's Law in memory of a young driver that was killed by another young driver, and will go into effect beginning in May.

Though some are against the law because they believe that the red stickers will make the younger drivers targets of sex offenders or criminals, the state insist that the stickers will help police officers identify drivers that are out past the 11 o'clock curfew and other laws specific to restricted license drivers.

Moving down south to Georgia, the state is in the process of passing Bill 1047 that is aimed at stopping slow drivers from driving in the left hand lane. The bill was already passed in the house after a short debate 129 - 29, and is awaiting the vote in the senate.

The marking cars driven by drivers under the age of 21 I don't see as being that important. Sure they may be more likely to be talking on their phone, texting, tweeting, and updating their facebook all at the same time while driving their car, but it's becoming more common for drivers of all ages.

However I'm all for pulling people over that are taking a Sunday drive in the left lane on Wednesday morning when I'm trying to get to work. Is it really necessary to get in the passing lane and drive 5 mph under the speed limit. High five to Georgia. I can only hope that this bill is passed and goes well that way other states, Oklahoma, step up and pass something similar.

What Mattered to Me This Past Week

Big news from Chrysler was the 2012 production of the Fiat 500EV, an all electric vehicle, in the United States. The power plant that will be making this car go will consist of three major components: an advanced lithium-ion, high-power electric powertrain module and an EV control unit to manage overall power flow.

More news and the alternative fuel front for Chrysler is the building of 140 Ram plug-in hybrids. Chrysler is receiving up to $48 million from the U.S. Department of Energy for this undertaking. The plug-in trucks will be used in a three-year demonstration project that will help in expediting the development of vehicle electrification technology.

In the world of legal issues we have Toyota and Kia.

Kia is in the middle of a lawsuit involving there Superbowl commercial which featured Muno, the large sock monkey, from Yo Gabba Gabba. The lawsuit is coming from the use of The Heavy's song "How You Like Me Now". Apparently the Heavys sampled the music from a different song, "Let a woman Be a Women" by Dyke and the Blazers. Now since the Heavy's song was released on their album "The House That Dirt Built" in 2009 one would think that all the samples that were contained in the album had already been settled. Even if it wasn't The Heavys should be the ones facing the lawsuit and not Kia. Obviously the big money for the recording label holding the rights though is to get Kia involved with the lawsuit. We'll have to see how this one plays out.

As far as Toyota goes they made their own mistake by not registering "Prius" as a worldwide trademark. Who knew an automotive company in India named Prius Auto Industries was going to spring up and nab the rights to "Prius". A court in New Delhi told Toyota sorry no exclusive rights. Toyota has deep enough pockets they could persuade the other company to change its name, but how many Prius' actually sell in India?

This story from Austin, Texas. Twenty year old Omar Ramos-Lopez apparently was not very happy about losing his job at Texas Auto Center so he decided to release some frustration on the dealerships unknowing customers. Omar, who probably had passwords into the computer programs for this, activated the GPS immobilizer systems on customers vehicles to disable them. Owners missed work, had horns repeatably honking and many paid for towing and repair. On top of that he changed customers names and information to keep the dealership from being able to make since of what was taking place. Unfortunately Omar's luck ran out and now he faces between 4 months and 2 years in state prison should he be found guilty. Word of advice to business owners. You may want to disable ex-employees passwords and logins to all company programs when you part ways. There is reason why some companies escort former employees from company property when they are fired.

Glenn E Thomas CJD Steps Up

I just want to go ahead and give Big Props to Glenn E Thomas Chrysler Jeep Dodge. They made the mistake on E-bay auctioning their 2009 Dodge Challenger SRT8 for the mere amount of $21,900. Alex noticed the change in reserve when Glenn E Thomas was trying to lower there buy-it-now price and jumped on a great deal. Obviously the dealer didn't want to take that large of a hit on the car and originally said that they didn't make the error and that it was a glitch with E-bay, but it appears they changed their tune.

Alex updated his post on Challengertalk.com with a picture of the keys to his new Challenger and this to say,

First of all, "Thank You" to everyone for cheering me on and helping me move
forward in a positive way. A lot of message boards picked up this thread
and have to thank everyone for passing the word around too. There you have
it. Visual of the keys in my possession of the SRT8 deal that Glenn E.
Thomas Dodge honored for $29.1K plus tax and license fees of course.

Both parties had plenty to talk about that day but in the end of it all, things worked out for everyone. So there is praise to be made to both sides, especially the
dealer who did honor the auction. Would encourage everyone to send them
praise and not attack anyone in that establishment as this was not the point of
the thread.

Glenn E Thomas stepped up and made the right decision to honor the auction. I bashed them when this story came out originally but they proved me wrong and I'll be the first to say my bad. Dealers like Glenn E. Thomas are a great example of integrity and customer service. I know it wasn't an immediate choice to sell the car, but taking a loss like that on a vehicle like a SRT8 Challenger is a little hard to do in a split second.

For the record, they not only honored the winning bid amount, they sold him a 2010 Dodge Challenger SRT8 instead of the 2009. Glenn E Thomas not only seems like a good place to do business but a good place to work for anyone in the automotive industry.

Dealer Ebay Blunder. Again.

So this story comes out about Glenn E Thomas Chrysler Jeep Dodge making a mistake in an Ebay listing on a 2009 Dodge Challenger SRT8. To make a long story short, the dealer apparently was changing the price of the vehicle and erased the reserve price on it. A savvy buyer realized the listing changed and won the vehicle for $29,100, or about $13,000 less than the value of the car. Obviously this cause concern with Glenn E Thomas and they have chosen not to honor the auction. Instead Glenn E Thomas says that there was a glitch in the listing ad that they never changed or removed the reserve price, and that they only lowered the buy-it-now to the reserve amount. The bad thing about this coming out is that a similar thing occurred not too long ago with a Hyundai Dealer on Ebay.

Thanks to all the dealers that need to read "Ebay for Dummies", which they can pick up for about $10 from Amazon.com, we're all going to look like dishonest car dealers who can't use the Internet.

I can understand the money situation for Glenn E Thomas. Who wants to take that big of a loss on a vehicle, but if you made the mistake just step up and do the deal. You may be receiving some positive press out in the world of the Internet instead of all the negative stories out there right now. You can just write the $12 to 13,000 your losing as going to your advertising budget. I'm sure it's only a fraction of what you actually spend.

John Davis, the GM at Glenn E Thomas, released a statement saying, "Glenn E Thomas is looking for a happy medium and willing to take a reasonable loss" followed by "Our philosophy is to make our customers happy." I would suggest you take your loss and start making your customers happy. I hate to break it to you but there was probably human error involved in the listing mistake. Ebay is a large enough company that they have really smart people making sure that there site doesn't make mistakes like erasing some one's reserve price.

Chrysler SRT vehicles recieving new Hemi

"Who wants to go fast?"

Chrysler SRT models are about to get a face lift under the hood. The current 6.1L Hemi v8 that resides in this space is rumoured to be evicted for the new 6.4L version of the same engine. If the 425 horsepower 420 lb/ft. of torque has left anyone longing for more the new engine promises to offer more.

Unfortunately for all the Heavy Duty truck owners who were hoping to see the engine replace the 5.7L Hemi now offered in the trucks it looks like you'll still be waiting for a larger as engine. Ram Truck execs said that there still may be a new engine in the works but it will be a modified version of the 6.4L. Currently the engine is built for high performance and not the work load Ram owners need out of their engines.

As more information on the engine is released we'll keep you posted.