Study: Ford Surpasses Honda in Initial Quality

May 15th, 2009Auto Loan, Auto News, Economics, car buying process No Comments

- Ford surpasses Honda in initial quality and remains in a statistical tie at the top with Toyota.

- Ford’s initial vehicle quality improved 5 percent over last year.

- Ford customer satisfaction continues to improve and is equal to Toyota and Honda.

- Ford has five segment leaders: Ford Mustang, Taurus, Taurus X and Ranger, and Mercury Milan.

DEARBORN, Mich., April 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F), continuing its rapid quality improvement, surpassed Honda in initial vehicle quality for the first time and reached new levels of customer satisfaction with vehicle quality, a new survey shows.

Ford is also statistically tied with Toyota at the top of the industry when it comes to initial vehicle quality, according to the 2009 U.S. Global Quality Research System (GQRS) survey conducted quarterly for Ford by RDA Group of Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

“This is truly a significant accomplishment for us,” said Bennie Fowler, Ford group vice president, Global Quality. “Honda and Toyota have claimed bragging rights for years, but now we are seeing our hard work pay off. It’s evident in study after study.”

The latest GQRS survey measured 2009 model year vehicle initial quality in two categories: the number of “things gone wrong,” and customer satisfaction with vehicle quality in the first three months of ownership.

In the first quarter of 2009, Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles saw things gone wrong fall by 5 percent to 1,228 per 1,000 vehicles, significantly better than Honda’s 1,422 things gone wrong per 1,000 vehicles and statistically equal to Toyota’s 1,150.

In addition, the survey shows that Ford Lincoln Mercury improved two percentage points to 79 percent in customer satisfaction with vehicle quality, which puts Ford’s domestic brands in a tie with Toyota and Honda for industry leadership.

“Ford’s commitment to quality is really paying off as they continue to rival Honda and Toyota on both initial quality and customer satisfaction with the quality,” said Donald Pietrowski, president, RDA Group.

The following models led their respective segments in the survey:

  • Ford Mustang – initial quality and customer satisfaction for sports cars
  • Ford Taurus – initial quality for large cars
  • Ford Taurus X – initial quality for crossover utilities
  • Mercury Milan – initial quality for midsize cars
  • Ford Ranger – initial quality for compact pickups

The new 2009 Ford F-150 recorded quality levels that equate to less than one problem per vehicle, as did the Taurus, Taurus X, Fusion, Milan, and Edge.

“We are energized by the continuous improvement we are seeing on both initial vehicle quality and customer satisfaction,” said Fowler. “This survey validates the hard work and dedication to quality from Ford employees, suppliers and dealers. We will keep the momentum going as we strive to become the clear global quality leader.”

The GQRS study is conducted on a quarterly basis with scores assessed from survey responses collected from owners of vehicles purchased within specific short-term time frames.

New vehicle owners are asked to report any defects or issues as well as rate their satisfaction with vehicle quality on a scale of 1 to 10 across an array of vehicle systems and features.

Ford China venture car sales up 33% in April

May 14th, 2009Auto News, Economics No Comments

Ford Motor Co’s car venture in China sold 33 percent more vehicles in April from a year earlier, its Chinese partner said on Wednesday.

Changan Ford Mazda, a tie-up with Chongqing Changan Auto Co and Mazda Motor sold 25,882 cars in April, up from 19,462 cars a year earlier, Changan Auto said in a statement.

Sales came to 82,957 vehicles in the first four months, up from 81,465 units in the same period last year, it said.

General Motors’ China sales surged 50 percent to 151,084 units in April, a monthly record, helped in part by its Wuling brand mini vans and pickup trucks made at a local venture, it said earlier this week.

China overtook the United States as the world’s largest auto market this year and year-on-year sales growth in March rebounded to more than 10 percent as government stimulus measures helped fuel a recovery in demand.

Jiangling Motors Corp Ltd, a commercial vehicle maker partly owned by Ford, sold 10,568 vehicles, down 5.7 percent from a year earlier, with sales for the first four months down 5.3 percent to 35,980 units, the statement said.

Overall sales of Changan Auto were 117,846 vehicles in April, up 51 percent from a year earlier. January to April sales rose 22 percent to 415,594 units, it added.

Ford to sell 300 million common shares

May 13th, 2009Auto Loan, Auto News, Economics No Comments
DETROIT: Ford Motor Co said on Monday that it would sell 300 million common shares and use part of the proceeds to pay off its healthcare obligations to the United Auto Workers under the terms of a recently concluded deal with the union.
Ford also said it expects to grant to the underwriters — Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley — a 30-day option to buy up to 45 million shares of common stock.
Ford shares fell 4.6 percent to $5.80 in after-market trade following the stock offering. At that price, the new shares would raise about $1.7 billion for Ford.
Ford is the only U.S. automaker that has not sought government aid.
Ford’s stock offering comes on the heels of a successful debt exchange. Ford shares have had a four-fold rise in price since hitting a low of $1.50 on February 20.
Ford said net proceeds from the stock offering would also be used for general corporate purposes.
“Today’s equity offering is another example of the fast, decisive action we are taking as we build momentum on our plan, including further progress on improving our balance sheet,” Ford Chief Executive Alan Mulally said in a statement.
Ford is trying to raise capital to fund the Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association (VEBA), a union-run fund set up for retiree healthcare expenses.
Ford restructured payments into the VEBA, including the option to contribute about half in company stock, to conserve cash. But the plan to make payments in stock requires shareholder approval at Ford’s annual meeting this week.

Bad Credit Auto Loans

May 12th, 2009Auto Loan, Bad credit auto loans, Car Loans, Economics No Comments

Bad Credit Auto Loans

What is “Identity Theft”?

May 11th, 2009Auto Loan, Economics, Identity Theft No Comments

Identity theft is a crime involving illegal usage of another individual’s identity.

According to the non-profit Identity Theft Resource Center, identity theft is sub-divided into four categories:

* Financial Identity Theft (using another’s name and SSN to obtain goods and services)
* Criminal Identity Theft (posing as another when apprehended for a crime)
* Identity Cloning (using another’s information to assume his or her identity in daily life)
* Business/Commercial Identity Theft (using another’s business name to obtain credit)

Related crimes include illegal immigration, terrorism and espionage. Identity theft may also be a means of blackmail. There are also cases of identity cloning to attack payment systems, such as obtaining medical treatment.

A classic example of consumer-dependent financial crime occurs when Bob obtains a loan from a financial institution impersonating Peter. Bob uses Peter’s personal identifiers that he has somehow acquired. These personal identifiers conform with the data retained on Peter by national credit-rating services. For Bob, these crimes are non self-revealing, although authorities can track Bob down unless he conceals his mailing address somehow. With consumers being credit-dependent, the onus shifts to them to re-establish their credit-worthiness with the lending institutions and credit-rating services.

Another example: a criminal legally acquires personal identifiers, and then clones someone to them for concealment from authorities. Unlike credit-dependent financial crimes, these crimes are non self-revealing, continuing for an indeterminate amount of time without being detected.


Identity Theft Techniques & Government Response

May 10th, 2009Auto Loan, Auto Maintenance, Auto News, Bad credit auto loans, Identity Theft No Comments

Techniques for obtaining information

* Stealing mail or rummaging through rubbish (dumpster diving)
* Stealing payment or identification cards or the information on them (pickpocketing, “drive-by” scanning of RF-enabled cards/tags)
* Eavesdropping on public transactions to obtain personal data (shoulder surfing)
* Stealing personal information in computer databases (Trojan horses, hacking)
* Infiltration of organizations that store large amounts of personal information
* Impersonating a trusted organization in an electronic communication (phishing)
* Obtaining castings of fingers for falsifying fingerprint identification.
* browsing social network (MySpace, Facebook, Bebo etc) sites, online for personal details that have been posted by users
* Simply researching about the victim in government registers, at the internet, Google, and so on.

Legal response

The increase in crimes of identiy theft lead to the drafting of the Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act.[3] In 1998, The Federal Trade Commission appeared before the Subcommittee on Technology, Terrorism and Government Information of the Committee of the Judiciary, United States Senate.[4] The FTC highlighted the concerns of consumers for financial crimes exploiting their credit worthiness to commit loan fraud, mortgage fraud, lines-of-credit fraud, credit card fraud, commodities and services frauds. The Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act (2003)[ITADA] amended the U.S. Code, s. 1028 – “Fraud related to activity in connection with identification documents, authentication features, and information”. The Code now makes possession of any “means of identification” to “knowingly transfer, possess, or use without lawful authority” a federal crime, alongside unlawful possession of identification documents.

In the USA, until 2003, dealing with consumer crimes involving legally attributed personal identifiers was the jurisdictional responsibility of the local and state authorities. Identification documents are a different story, addressed in Title 18 > Part I > Chapter 47 s.1028 of the U.S. Code. The unlawful use of identification documents is historically a federal offence. In response to the consumer issue of “identity theft”, the U.S. Congress passed the Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act (2003) amending Title 18 > Part I > Chapter 47, s. 1028 to include the unlawful use of a “means of identification” [s,1028 (d)(7)] making it a federal crime alongside identification documents. The title of s.1028 is, “Fraud related to activity in connection with identification documents, authentication features, and information”. The Act also provides the Federal Trade Commission with authority to track the number of incidents and the dollar value of losses. There figures relate mainly to consumer financial crimes and not the broader range of all identification-based crimes.[5] Punishments for the unlawful use of a “means of identification” were strengthened in s.1028a, allowing for a consecutive sentence under specific conditions of a felony violation defined in s. 1028c.

If used to commit another crime in the commission of identity theft in the United States (if charged federally) include:

* Class B Felony: 6-20 years in Jail and a fine up to $10,000
* Class C Felony: 2-8 years in Jail and a fine up to $10,000

If charges are brought by state or local law enforcement agencies, different penalties apply depending on the state.

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