“The Honda plant is the other side of the bailout story,” Chaison said. “These are companies which are still expanding and which have lower cost structures. They are also facing the world financial crisis, but they are in much better shape.”

Under a new, two-tier UAW contract signed in 2007, the average base wage rate for existing workers at each of the Detroit Three is about $28 per hour, and new workers will be hired at base wage rates of $14 to $16.23 per hour.

“So much of the costs faced by GM and Ford are costs to workers who are no longer working anymore,” Chaison said. “Essentially, Honda is paying workers who make cars, and GM, Ford and Chrysler are paying workers that made cars.”

Detroit needs a total revision.  Michigan has extremely high unemployment currently, and this is due in no small part to them having one of the highest unionization rates in the country.  If you unions don’t go, the companies will.  Why don’t people understand this?

For more information about how to rent a car during the Thanksgiving or Christmas seasons, contact Triangle Rent a Car today!

I, for one, find this to be encouraging news.  The problem is that since we have finally started to cut our dependence on foreign oil, will the trend continue?  Certainly as long as we are in our current recession/depression oil consumption will be down.  I find the parallels to our current situation and the 1970s striking.  Today it is SUVs, in the 70s it was muscle cars.  In both situations gas started to get out of the reach of the ordinary citizen.  In the 70s it was due to a shortage mandated by the oil suppliers, today it was caused by the excessive prices.

Even though the 70s oil crisis lead to smaller and more fuel efficient cars, the trend was not long lived, as is evidenced by our current supply of SUVs.  After a short scare, people moved right back to big gas guzzlers.  I hope that we as a nation take this lesson and run with it.  No more gas guzzlers…forever, lest we repeat the errors of the past.

For more information about how to rent a car during the Thanksgiving or Christmas seasons, contact Triangle Rent a Car today!

Except that the hardest-hit category by far, gasoline stations–down 12.7%–was down largely because gas prices were down. It wasn’t that consumers were cutting back. It’s that they were saving money. Take gas stations out of the equation and the retail spending decline is 1.5%. Take gas stations and cars (motor vehicle & parts dealers) out, and the decline is 0.5%. Then again, if you take all the stuff that went down out of the equation, retail sales were up. Which means precisely nothing at all. (Source Time.com)

This begs the question, why are we bailing out auto manufactures who cannot currently compete?  In fact, the United States auto industry has been dead in the water for the last three decades, so why fix a problem that has been broken for so long?  To answer that question, I don’t think that we should.  The economist John Kenneth Galbraith is said to have remarked in the early 70’s that all of New York Cities problems could be fixed if we just doubled the budget.  A few years later the budget have more than doubled, and the problems were worse than ever.  If we bailout the auto industry, I predict that 10 years from now they will be just as bad off, and at the cost of our taxpaying wallets.

For more information about how to rent a car during the Thanksgiving or Christmas seasons, contact Triangle Rent a Car today!

The system will work something like a treadmill. If that doesn’t make much sense, think about when you check your heart rate to see if you are in the proper fat burning/cardio zone. Well the Fujitsu system has similar sensors in the steering wheel that detect when the drivers heart rate begins to regulate, a sign that they are getting ready to doze off. News.cnet.com says that at this point several things could happen:

The windows could automatically roll down, the car’s radio could be turned up, or there could be sensory feedback from the steering wheel to jolt someone awake.

The system isn’t a finished product. Right now, it’s still in the research and development phase, but the company hopes to have production models for consumer vehicles as well as commercial trucks ready by 2010.

Decades after the “sleeper beeper” and it is still a good idea!

For more information about how to rent a car during the Thanksgiving or Christmas seasons, contact Triangle Rent a Car today!

Suffolk County police say Shea Rosen was driving an SUV southbound on Route 110 in Huntington at about 7:25 p.m. Thursday when he hit the joggers.

Amanda Malloy, a 29-year-old Melville resident, was pronounced dead at Huntington Hospital.

Her companion, 32-year-old Vincent Saunders of Huntington, was hospitalized in serious condition.(Source newsday.com)

Rosen is currently being held on a 1 million dollar bond.
Specific details were not given about where the runners were struck, but my girlfriend is from this part of New York and said that Route 110 is heavily traveled.  It is of course suggested that when running you avoid high traffic areas, especially during rush hour, and that you run on the sidewalk if at all possible.  So be careful when you are running, and if you are driving please think twice about doing so while intoxicated.  The consequences can truly be life altering in the worst way possible.

For more information about how to rent a car during the Thanksgiving or Christmas seasons, contact Triangle Rent a Car today!

A Shrewsbury school bus driver has been fired for disciplining a 9-year-old girl by ordering her off the bus at the wrong stop, about a mile-and-a-half from her house across a busy highway.

The fourth-grader, Cyrena S. Medbury, was apparently being disciplined for moving to a different seat without permission Wednesday. She returned home safely after getting a ride from the father of another pupil she recognized. Her mother nonetheless fretted over what might have happened if someone else had picked up her daughter.(Source Boston.com)

I know that there are plenty of good bus drivers out there, but what if you get a bad one like this?  They have the lives of dozens of kids at their finger tips.  On the flip side of that coin, we have all seen the videos of kids going nuts on a bus leaving the bus driver unable to control the crowd.  In short…the busing program needs to go!

For more information about how to rent a car during the Thanksgiving or Christmas seasons, contact Triangle Rent a Car today!

1. Get Plenty of Sleep: If you’re leaving early the next morning, make sure you’re packed two days in advance, this way you can get to bed early the night before!
2. Bring Snacks: The less stops along the way will not only save you gas; it will save you time as well.
3. Leave with a Full Tank of Gas: Always start your trips off with a full tank. If you don’t quite have a full tank of gas, still make sure that you top it off.
4. Get Your Vehicle Inspected: Before any major trip, always make sure that your vehicle inspection is up to date. This includes major as well as minor things such as making sure the tire pressure is ok as well as having the oil changed.
5. Pack an Emergency Kit: Every car should have a first aid kit.
6. Bring Cell Phone Charger & List of Numbers: In this day and age, don’t leave home without your cell phone. It comes in handy should you be stuck in traffic or have a major emergency. However, technology is still flawed, so bring a hardcopy of any important numbers in case (god forbid) you have to use a pay phone.
7. Carry Spare Change: If you know that you’re going to be traveling on major highways, it’s always a good idea to carry spare change just in case. This is also true for unexpected payphone use
8. Don’t Stop for Anyone: If you don’t know them, don’t stop for them. Safety first.
9. Avoid Using Your Cell Phone While Driving: Most accidents these days are caused by people who don’t pay attention while driving because they are on their cell phones. If you’re traveling, let others know this way it’ll cut down on phone use. Try to use the phone only when you stop for gas or in case of an emergency. Additionally, know the laws for cell phone usage as it pertains to the state(s) you’ll be driving through. Some states, like NY, ban cell phone use unless you have a hands-free device.
10. Carry a Map: This goes without saying. Even if you have a GPS system, it’s always better to have a paper map as a backup in case something happens.

For more information about how to rent a car during the Thanksgiving or Christmas seasons, contact Triangle Rent a Car today!

1. Ditch the Collision Coverage: Regardless of what you think collision coverage benefits you more than it benefits the rental company. How? For a small, additional cost you’ll be protected against any type of accident versus paying the deductible on your insurance for the same repair which could actually end up costing you more especially if the car ends up in the shop.
2. Renting on the Weekend is Better: Not true! For instance, Triangle Rent A Car offers competitive, reasonable rental rates all the time and not just on the weekend. In addition we have other opportunities for savings depend on your particular needs or group rentals.
3. Taxes are the Fault of the Rental Car Company: State and local government agencies (like airports) basically have found a great way to generate revenue by mandating taxes on car rental bills. These taxes ultimately generate funds for airport improvements or to subsidize projects that the renters may never get to enjoy.
4. Flexibility in Returning Your Car: Rental clocks are 24 hour clocks so it’s best to return the car on time or early. You will actually get charged for time beyond the determined time that was established at the beginning of the rental period.
5. Anyone Can Drive: If you let someone who’s not included in the rental contract drive the vehicle and something happens then you’re in danger of voiding the rental contract.

For more information about how to rent a car during the Thanksgiving or Christmas seasons, contact Triangle Rent a Car today!

AAA arrived within thirty minutes to try to jump start her car, but when they opened the hood of her car, they discovered that the reason her car wouldn’t start was because the connecting rod was totally corroded.  I laughed when my mother told me all of this because not even two weeks before this incident, she had had her car inspected at the dealership.  And now, this was where she would have to take it to address the current problem.

To make things even more unsettling, the gentleman from AAA also brought something else to my mother’s attention.  Located right near the connecting rod was a single garlic knot.  At this point, I couldn’t stop laughing.  As it turns out, when my mom last brought her car into the Honda dealership, someone must’ve been working “extra hard” on her vehicle- so diligently, in fact, that they didn’t even stop for their lunch break.  Instead, they insisted on eating while working.  I still wonder whether or not the garlic knot factored into all of this.  It probably didn’t, but wouldn’t it have been funny if it did?!

For more information about how to rent a car during the Thanksgiving or Christmas seasons, contact Triangle Rent a Car today!

For more information about how to rent a car during the Thanksgiving or Christmas seasons, contact Triangle Rent a Car today!