Car shopping
Car info – edmunds.com a car shopping website that makes car buying easy. It provides car info, car buying advices, reviews, customer rating and price & payment calculator.
Never overpay, find out what others have paid for – truecar.com a data driven platform provides market base pricing data on new and used cars. Guarantee saving with network of over 7,000 certified car dealers nationwide.
Useful car buying tips – realcartips.com provides expert tips and info of how to save money on buying, selling, leasing or financing a car.
Shop smart – consumerreports.org nonprofit organization provides unbiased ratings and test results on over 3000 products to help consumer shop smarter. Cost $6.95 per month.
Buy a new or used car online – carsdirect.com an online car buying service allows consumers to research, price, purchase and finance a car online.
Car research tools
Rating for quality and reliability – jdpower.com provides car buying tips and user verified rating for quality, performance and reliability.
Safer by design – NHTSA.gov a government program dedicated to educate consumers how to purchase safe vehicles.
Compare fuel economy of car models – fueleconomy.gov the government web site for comprehensive information about vehicles fuel economy.
Recall and defects – .nhtsa.gov to find out if your vehicle has been recalled by VIN search on national Highway Traffic Safety administration website.
The resale value of your car – alg.com rating for brand and model based on its depreciation and residual value.
Used cars
Used car values – kbb.com a data base for used car values.
Used car listing – cargurus.com a car shopping website that assists buyers in contacting sellers and comparing local listing of new and used cars.
Vehicle history report – carfax.com is a commercial service that provides vehicle history reports to individual and business on used cars by vehicle idenfication number (VIN).
Auto financing
Compare loans for a best lender – lendingtree.com an online lending exchange connects consumers with multiple lenders and get quotes from banks completing for the business.
Bad credit or no credit – autocreditexpress.com a leading online service provider of new and used car loans with special program for someone who has bad credit, no credit or has been turned down in the past due to bankruptcy.
Leasing
Smart car leasing guide – leaseguide.com helps consumers understand car buying, leasing, and financing options and how to make the best deals.
Useful car buying tips – realcartips.com provides expert tips and info of how to save money on buying, selling, leasing or financing a car.
Exit your car lease early – leasetrader.com an online marketplace for lease swap, lease transfer, third party lease information and options for early terminations.
Lease trading – swapalease.com a marketplace for someone who wants to get out of the lease or someone who wants to take over a lease.
Residual value of your leased car – alg.com provides rating for brand and model based on its depreciation and residual value.
Auto Insurance
Compare and find the best deal – thezebra.com is the most comprehensive site that compares hundred of insurance companies in a minute and find the best deal.
Insurance quotes and coverage guides – einsurance.com offers quotes from multiple insurers.
Complain
For automotive safety, contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration at 888-327-4236 or – nhtsa.gov
For issues related to a car dealer, contact your state Department Of Motor Vehicle.
Car Rentals
Worldwide car rental – rentalcars.com offers car rental services in more than 6,000 locations worldwide at discount price.
Rent car by the hour from the people around you – getaround.com platform for social car sharing, to rent a car or rent out yours.
The Turo private car rental – turo.com a marketplace for car rentals, to rent a car you want or to make money renting out your car.
Auto Repair
Touch up pain and accessories – automotivetouchup.com provides links to find the original factory color codes and tips to use touch up paints.
Gasoline
Top tier gasoline retailers – toptiergas.com provides a listed of top tier gasoline brands and retailers who sell high standards detergent gasoline that produce better performance of the engine.
Electrical Charging stations
Find a place to plug in your electric car – plugshare.com provides a database of the more than 50,000 charging stations in US.
Apps
Find the cheapest gas nearby – Gas Guru and gasbuddy.com
Tips
Tire rubber deteriorates over time. So for your safety, you should replace it if they are over 6 years old regardless of its remaining tread.
Money factor is a different way of expression of interest rate in terms of auto leasing. You can simply multiply it by 2,400 to get the true interest rate in percentage. As an example, money factor 0.00135 X 2,400 = 3.24% interest rate.
Never lease a car longer than its warranty so you do not need to worry about paying for repair beyond normal maintenance.
Make sure your lease contract include a gap insurance which covers any difference in what an insurance company will pay out if a car is destroyed in an auto accident and the value of the lease company assigned to the car.
According to AAA, the cost of owning and operating a car in US for 10,000 miles is $5,952 for a small car and $9,748 for a large car. This cost include ownership cost (license fee, tax and financing cost of an auto loan), depreciation of the value of the car, and operating cost (routine maintenance, gasoline, etc).