As a whole, used car dealers have a bad reputation that is almost unrivaled.  This is partly due to an image consumers have of dealers going to huge auctions full of beat-to-death vehicles and buying up a few dozen junkers that will later be shined up, given bubble-gum-and-duct-tape repair jobs, and sold on the lot as “Like New.”  I wish I could tell you that this doesn’t happen, but it does.

The problem is not with the auction, but with the dealer who decides to use it in that manner.  The auction system is a tool that can be used either properly or improperly.

Just because a car winds up at auction does not mean that it is a bad car.  Take, for example, a woman who buys a brand new Jeep Wrangler.  She loves the Jeep and takes perfect care of it.  Five years later, she moves to a new job with a much higher salary and she decides to trade her Jeep in and buy a new Lexus.  Now the Lexus dealer has a 5-year-old Wrangler that’s in great condition.  Since it is unlikely that someone who walks into a Lexus dealership will decide to buy a Jeep instead, the dealership will probably take that Jeep to an auction where it can be bought by a Jeep dealership (where a customer looking for a new Jeep will be likely to buy this cheaper, used model) or by an independent dealer.

The car auction is a microcosm of the entire automotive universe.  It contains junkers and perfect vehicles.  There are old cars with lots of life left, and new cars with hidden problems.  Trustworthy dealers will do their best to bring back the good ones.  After that, it is up to you to do your homework before buying:  Test drive it thoroughly.  Get a CarFax report.  Bring a friend along for a second opinion.  Have a mechanic check it out.

The best defense against bad cars is an educated consumer!

If you’re in the market for a car, one of the first questions that you’ll need to answer is “What kind of transmission do I want?”

Gone are the days of the simple “stickshift or automatic” question.  Many cars are still available with a conventional manual transmission (with as many as six forward gears in cars–and many more if you count trucks that have multiple-range transfer cases), and you can still typically get a conventional slushbox (a.k.a automatic transmission) — with as many as *eight* forward speeds in the Lexus LS460, but there are now many additional choices.

The Continuously Variable Transmission (or CVT) has been making somewhat of a comeback lately.  First introduced in 1912 by Zenith Motorcycles (if you believe wikipedia), this type of transmission works by constantly adjusting the gear ratio without distinct “shifts” in gear.  It is, in effect, shifting continuously.  Modern cars that are available with this type of setup include the Toyota Prius, the Honda Civic Hybrid, and many of the latest Nissans.  The main benefit of this is fuel economy.  The main drawback (with modern systems, at least) is that most people just don’t like driving a car that never seems to shift.

Perhaps the most common setup in new cars today is the automatic transmission that can pretend to be a manual.  It starts with a conventional automatic transmission and adds a means to tell it when you’d like it to shift up and down–either by a separate gate on the shift pattern, buttons on the steering wheel, or even paddles located behind the driver’s fingers.  Porsche invented the idea about 25 years ago for it’s 956 race car, and the technology later became known as Tiptronic in the German automaker’s roadgoing cars.  Since then, the basic idea has spread as far as the Hyundia Sonata.  It’s mildly fun on some of the sportier systems, but in general I don’t like it for enthusiastic driving.  Downshifts always seems harsh and there’s all sorts of lag and general unpleasantness.

A higher-end alternative for more serious automotive tomfoolery (or even track duty) is the clutchless manual.   This type of transmission starts with a conventional manual gearbox but replaces the expected H-pattern shifter and clutch pedal with a solenoid-driven mechanism that uses buttons, paddles, etc to bang through the gears much faster than a human could shift.  Gee-whiz technology from Ferrari, BMW, and Audi seem to be the current leaders in this arena.  Formula One cars use it.  It’s wicked fast.

As if these options weren’t enough, Nissan has just introduced a new technology called SynchroRev Match that automates the most difficult part of the footwork necessary to execute a smooth downshift while braking with a manual transmission.  Normally, since not many of us have the three feet requisite for pushing all the pedals at once during this maneuver, a technique called Heel-Toe braking is used.  I learned to do it at the Bertil Roos Racing School, but I still have a hard time doing it *properly*.  It’s amazingly satisfying when done perfectly, but it’s way too easy for your foot to slip (especially in street shoes on passenger car pedals) with results that are embarassing at best.

Aside from considering which type of transmission you prefer to live with every day, longevity and replacement cost are also considerations.  BMW’s clutchless manual gearbox (called the SMG) that is available on the M3 and a few other of the company’s sportier models may be a great option for indulging your Sebastien Bourdais fantasy, but it’ll cost you over 8 grand to replace if it decides to grind to a expensive-smelling German engineered halt someday.  Also consider the type of driving that you’ll be doing.  That manual transmission might be a great choice for tearing up the back roads, but not so much when you’re sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic while eating your breakfast and getting yelled at by your boss on the cell phone.

On a side note, I haven’t tried Nissan’s SynchroRev technology yet, so by all means email me if you’d like to lend me your new 370Z.  I’ll be nice to it.  I swear.

Owning and driving a car can be immensely expensive.  Aside from the cost of the purchase (or…gasp…lease), your wallet gets squeezed for insurance, gas, scheduled maintenance, unexpected repairs, and (in some areas) state safety inspections, emissions tests, and sales tax on the purchase.  Think about what all those things cost you every year.  For many people, it’s 10 or 15 grand or more.  Now think about what your life would be like if you could drive for free.  Think about how much you could save in 5 or 10 years by squirreling it away, or the places you could travel to every year.

Now for the secret.  I’ve been driving for free for years now.  It’s easier now that I own a dealership, but I was driving for free for about five years before becoming a dealer.   It’s not easy and not everyone can do it, but just trying it will save you a ton of money even if you don’t get the whole enchilada for free.  There’s nothing to buy.   No 800 number to call.  It’s all right in the next two paragraphs.

This might sound mean, but most people make dumb decisions about every aspect of car ownership.  It starts with getting a bad deal on an unreliable car that will depreciate quickly and that they won’t want anymore after 2 or 3 years.  They need more expensive insurance to cover their more expensive vehicle that they’re more likely to get in an accident with because they don’t drive properly.  They take it to the wrong repair shop and get the wrong work done for the wrong price…or worse, they don’t maintain the car at all and wind up with an even bigger bill.  Then they get tired of the car after a few years because they bought the wrong car for the wrong reasons (ooh…shiny!) and trade the first car in to buy an even dumber and more expensive (yet shinier) new car.   Unfortunately, the first car depreciated in a hurry while their  high interest rate loan payments barely chipped away at the loan principal, so now they’re “upside down” on the trade in.   But wait, they’re lucky enough to find a dealer that will “pay off any trade”, which puts them even deeper in debt.  Does any of this sound familiar?  Remember the Nine Inch Nails album called A Downward Spiral?  That’s exactly what this process is, and it’s a very tough cycle to break out of.

By making more informed choices at most or all of these decision points, you can save an amazing amount of money.  It’s even possible to end up with more money in your pocket than you started with (by using the same basic principle that all used car dealers base their business on).  Think of the above scenario.  Now imagine a smarter consumer.  She starts out by doing some research to find a vehicle that she likes and that fits her needs while still having a great reliability history, low cost of repair, and maybe even good gas mileage.  She diligently searches for a great deal from a motivated seller.  This step alone can save thousands–and in effect that savings can pay for your insurance, gas, repairs, etc.   She finds a great repair shop based on trusted recommendations, or maybe she even learns to do some simple repairs herself.  If she was able to find a car that was cheap enough to meet her needs without borrowing any money, then she’s avoiding the high interest rate trap–and possibly saving a ton on insurance by avoiding the expensive comprehensive coverage required by all lenders.  When it’s time to sell, she’s patient, cleans the car up so it’s attractive to potential buyers, has a written log of all the maintenance she’s performed,  and uses the internet to target the right customers.  She probably sells it for a few grand more than she paid for it.  After all that time without a car payment, she got even more money saved up than when she bought the previous car.  The cycle is one of improvement and savings instead of debt and needless spending.

If this sounds like a lot of work, think about how much harder you’d have to work at your current job to make an additional 10 or 15 thousand dollars after taxes every year.  When it comes to cars, it pays to be smart!

This podcast (my first attempt!) describes a day at one of the largest dealer-only used car auctions in the country.   The transcript follows the link.

Let’s hear it!

UsedCarGenius.com presents: A Day at the Used Car Dealer Auction – Part 1

By 5:45am, I’m on the road towards Manheim, Pennsylvania in a 10-year-old Chevy truck that’s seen better days.  The heat in the truck hasn’t come on yet and my coffee mug is the only thing keeping me warm on this 9 degree December morning.  Hanging off the back of my truck is a 20-foot-long trailer that I use to tow cars home from the auction.   In my pocket is a neatly folded list of the eleven cars that I’m interested in out of the 8,205 cars that are being offered for sale today.  I haven’t realized it yet at this point, but my cell phone is still at home—forgotten on my nightstand and still plugged in to the charger.  This fact becomes significant later.

By 7:30am, I’m passing through the morning rush hour traffic in Harrisburg.  It’s a little unnerving because my empty trailer is almost invisible to other drivers from some angles.   There are always a few close calls with sleepy drivers rushing to work and trying to multitask.  My coffee is a little cold now, but it’s almost gone anyway.  I’m listening to an audiobook.  It’s terrible, but that doesn’t really matter because I’m still half asleep.

Around 8:25am, the surrounding Lancaster farmland is replaced by an almost constant string of automotive businesses on both sides of the road.  This is, after all, the used car equivalent of Mecca.  A few minutes later, I turn onto Auction Road, which hosts the massive auction building itself and the sprawling adjacent system of immense parking lots, check-in points, guard shacks, reconditioning centers, hot dog stands, port-o-potties and whatever else the auction management team could dream up to try to facilitate the sale of about 8 thousand cars every Friday.  I park my truck and take a shuttle bus about ¾ of a mile to the main auction building.

The heat inside the shuttle bus feels good at first, but then almost immediately becomes stifling.  The 4 rows of seats are jammed with a surprising stew of diversity.  People are talking loudly in what seems like every language but English, and I’m looking over my list of cars that I’m interested in buying.   I own a small business that specializes in selling hard-to-find vehicles for under 10 grand, so my auction experience is a little different than most of the people who I’m sharing the shuttle bus with.  Most of them are either “buyers” who are trying to pick up a few dozen cars for various large dealerships or exporters exploiting the weak dollar by buying up large blocks of cars to ship to other countries.   My goal for the day is finding one great car.

After showing my ID card to get past security and then using the computer kiosk inside to get my bidder’s badge, I’m ready to start the day in earnest so I proceed to where all the magic happens.  Thirty two lanes of high-tech audio, big-screen LCD monitors, and fast-talking auctioneers make the seemingly impossible task of auctioning off thousands of cars before lunch a reality.  No matter how many times I go, it’s still an overload to the senses.  The PA system in each lane is specifically designed to focus the auctioneer’s voice to the bidding area for that lane, but when you’re between lanes, your ears are bombarded with the sound of twenty or thirty lanes worth of simultaneous auctioneer-speak.  Your eyes are trying to focus on the car you’re about to invest several grand in, but there are so many distractions.  Thousands of fervent shoppers are scurrying like ants from sale to sale.  Lines of cars are coming and going from the building to and from infinity in both directions.  You notice the occasional shady character who looks like he just might steal your wallet if you aren’t paying attention.  I’m wide awake at this point.

Around 8:50am, I locate the first car on my list: a 2002 Mercedes ML320 that turns out to be hiding a very dirty secret.  I spot the black SUV amongst a long row of cars and it looks great from a distance.   I get closer and it keeps looking better and better.  The paint is brilliant with no scratches or dings.  The driver’s door opens smoothly without any creaks or signs of damage.   I run my hand across the leather seat.  Perfect.  I stick my head further inside the vehicle to take it all in.  It looks, smells, and feels like a new Mercedes.  I pop the hood and the engine compartment looks clean to the point of being sterile—like you could perform surgery in there.  I unscrew the oil fill cap and look inside.  Here’s where things get dirty.  Oil tells you a lot about a car.  Light brown or almost clear oil is fairly new.  Black oil is old oil, and no oil is a bad sign!  The oil in this otherwise impeccable Mercedes was white and foamy—like a vanilla milkshake.  This happens when water or coolant is introduced into the oil, which typically happens as a result of a blown head gasket.  A quick google search on my Nokia N810—which is basically an iPhone with a bigger screen and no phone – shows that it’s a $1,500 to $2,000 repair on that particular vehicle.  I decide not to get involved.  As I walk away, I wonder if that repair is going to get passed on to an unsuspecting consumer who doesn’t check the oil before buying this great-looking car from some fast-talker in a nice suit.

It’s just after 9am and I’ve been up for almost 5 hours already.   I check my email on the Nokia as I walk across the auction yard trying to locate a 2008 Toyota Matrix that a customer put in a specific request for.  My stomach is starting to growl for breakfast.  People are eating hot dogs and ice cream novelties like Chief Crunchy bars around me.  I look at my watch and laugh…and then a minute later think that a hot dog would sort of hit the spot.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of A Day at the Used Car Dealer Auction – presented by UsedCarGenius.com

It’s nearly impossible to watch television for more than 10 minutes without seeing a commercial for a prescription medication and it’s long list of side effects.  Even though they are only available with a prescription, the commercials *still* enumerate the potential side effects–one bone-loss-causing, flatulence-producing gem after the other.  If you decide to go to your doctor for a prescription, he’ll tell you the side effects again.  Then the pharmacist.  Then the little pamphlet that comes in the pill bottle.

I’m not saying that there’s anything wrong with this,  but where’s the warning when you buy a car?

The ad might advise you not to “try this at home” after showing the Dodge truck jumping off an an exploding hillside in a bizarre and pointless webisode of Dodge Ram Challenge (btw — this is so lame that it hurts me almost physically to link to it).  Any car ad that shows up on TV will surely warn that all maneuvers were performed on a closed course by professional drivers.

Where is the warning about the crushing financial effects of buying a car that you can’t afford?

I’ve never seen a commercial say “by the way, you might not be able to retire until 10 years after you die because of how pricey your car payments will be.”  A bank will turn you down if they think you won’t be able to make the payments, but there’s a big difference between being creditworthy for a $25,000 debt and being able to afford it.

This brings us to the dealer.  Even the most legitimate and honest dealer is very unlikely to turn you away because you’re considering a car that doesn’t make financial sense for you.  Doing so just wouldn’t make financial sense for him.

Buying an expensive car is a big commitment that can have a major effect on your life.  You wouldn’t start taking Propecia without reading about the “certain sexual side effects.”  Why buy a car without giving some thought to the financial side effects?

The electric car is not a new idea.  According to a PBS Article, early iterations of the electric-powered carriage existed as early as 1832, with “the first successful electric automobile in the United States” being built by William Morrison in 1891.  There have been a several iterations of the all-electric car built between then and now, but they have obviously never *really* taken off.  The three limiting factors have always been speed, range, and affordability.  You can have any two of those, as the saying goes, but you can’t have all three.

A perfect example of this unobtainable trifecta is the new (and thoroughly awesome) Tesla Roadster.  This truly stunning two-seater can travel up to 244 miles on a charge and is capable of reaching 60 MPH from a dead stop in 3.9 seconds.  That puts all but the fastest offerings from Ferrari, Porsche, and Lamborghini to shame–and without using a drop of gasoline.  It also costs $109,000 and takes about a year to get one after placing your order.

On the other end of the spectrum is the Zap Xebra sedan.  It’s much more affordable (at just under 12 grand), but it only goes 40 MPH and has a range of up to 25 miles between charges.

Somewhere in the middle is the upcoming Chevy Volt, which is technically a plug-in hybrid (because it still has a gasoline engine in addition to the electric motor).

Lets pause to take a look at 3 obvious facts:

1) The Tesla is sweet but a 6-figure two-seater isn’t in the cards for most commuters right now.

2) The Xebra is more affordable but needs a recharge every 25 miles and looks like a mix between a VW Rabbit (the old kind), a bicycle, and a DisneyWorld bumper car from the 1950s.

3) A vehicle made by Chevy that holds enough amperage to fry a rhino is scary.

If you love the idea of driving an electric car but are not crazy about any of the above scenarios, don’t give up quite yet!  A growing movement of DIYers have been taking their desire for an electric car (quite literally) into their own hands.  They typically start with a small gasoline-powered car with a manual transmission and a blown engine.  From there, they take to the junkyards, eBay, and a few internet companies who specialize in providing components for electric vehicles.  Those with big budgets go for lightweight lithium-ion batteries, purpose-built high-power electric motors, and high-tech speed controllers that allow regenerative braking.  Others with less cash (and more tolerance for unforeseen automotive “adventures”) have been known to dismantle electric fork-lifts and build an entire electric vehicle for under $1,000 (including the donor vehicle, half-broken electric fork-lift, and everything else that is needed).

Since the prospect of converting a conventional gas-burning, oil-dripping, carbon monoxide spewing car into an electric vehicle (or EV) is a fairly daunting one to the uninitiated, I turned to Google.  Of all the sites that I came across, my favorite was www.diyelectriccar.com.  They provide knowledge, motivation, and stories (often with very complete build details) from those who have already done their own conversions.  Their web forum is a hotbed of questions and answers from a passionate and knowledgeable group.  Also be sure to check out the Garage section of the site.  It provides information about conversions completed by members of the site (including a 2003 Honda s2000, a Triumph Spitfire–a.k.a. the SparkFire, a VW microbus, and many more).  The site is a fantastic resource.  It’s addictive and I am hooked.

The question is this:  Is it possible for a person with a decent set of tools and a fair degree of mechanical know-how to convert a conventional gasoline-powered car into a 100% electric vehicle that is safe to drive, fast enough to keep up with traffic, and able to cover 30 or 40 miles between charges for under $5,000 in total cost (including the donor gasoline vehicle)?

Can someone with a computer programming job, a used car dealership, and a blog to update still find time to do the conversion?

Stay tuned for Part II to find out!

It’s a helpless and terrible feeling. Maybe you’ve noticed your car making a strange noise, or pulsing under heavy braking. Perhaps it all began with an indicator light on your dash (like the ever-painful Check Engine Soon), or maybe it was just the expiration of your state-mandated safety inspection that started this whole process.

Whatever the reason, you’re now sitting at your desk back at the office and the phone rings. It’s the repair shop calling. They found a few things. The brake rotors need to be replaced (which, of course, means new brake pads as well)…and for that matter the calipers aren’t in the greatest shape.  That’ll be $715 plus tax. The catalytic converter is shot, and guess what…that’s an $875 part for your car. Oh, and only one of your headlights is working and it turns out that the problem wasn’t with the bulb…it’ll take some exploration and that’ll be billed at $70 per hour.

The parts are all in-stock, the mechanic informs you. Would you like to proceed with the repairs?

While he’s been speed-reading this list of needed repairs to you, you’ve been furiously trying to scribble the details down on a PostIt note (which proved woefully inadequate–leading to micro-scribbling). Now you’re trying to mentally compute the total and you can’t read your own writing. You’re heart is racing and you’ve just managed to sweat through the armpits of your shirt. You get a quick signal from the part of your brain (the medial prefrontal cortex, in case you’re ever on Jeopardy and they ask…) that wants to avoid the embarrassment of asking if there’s really such thing as a catalytic converter and how it could possibly cost $875–the signal is “Just say OK…we can put it on the credit card and forget about it.” Next you’ll start thinking about what you could have spent the cash on if you didn’t have to sink it into your once-loved-but-now-reviled money pit of a car.  Then you’ll wonder how much of that four-figure repair bill is necessary and how much of it is the mechanic pulling your leg.

Would you like to proceed with the repairs?

Step 1: RELAX…

Take a deep breath.  As painful as the prospect of a super-sized repair bill is, it’s not life-or-death.  Some repair shops will bully you into feeling like you need to make a snap decision.  This simply isn’t the case.  Ever.  Take your time with the mechanic on the phone and make sure that you have a complete (and legible) list of what repairs he’d like to do and what the estimated charges are for parts and labor.  Tell him you’ll call him back shortly with your answer.

Step 2: RESEARCH

The internet has facilitated this step to the point that anyone who was able to access this blog article will be able to use the internet to quickly arm him or herself with a little quick and dirty research that will go a long way toward determining the fairness and validity of your mechanic’s estimate.

Start by typing one of the terms that you’d like to learn more about into Google–along with the year, make, and model of your car.  For example, begin with something like:

The search results from a query like this will typically give you a jackpot of information including a basic description of the part, an estimate on what it should cost, likelihood of the part failing on this particular vehicle, and just about anything else you want to know about it.  Repeat this process for any part or procedure in question.  After 30 minutes of googling, you’ll be an expert.

While you have your web browser open, look up phone numbers for 2 or 3 more repair shops in your area (including the nearest new car dealership that sells your make of vehicle).  Call them all and ask what they would charge for the same work.

Step 3: REFLECT

Now that you’re armed with some information, take a little time to think about what the repair shop told you when they first called.  Look for any inconsistencies between the information they provided and what you found for yourself.  Talk to a knowledgeable friend.  Take a lunch break.  Do whatever it takes to get yourself feeling positive, educated, and ready to call the shop back and impress the hell out of them with your new-found knowledge about your vehicle and its components.  Call them back and ask any questions you might have.  If you’re ready to make a confident and informed decision at this point, great!  If you need to do more research and call them back again, that’s fine too!  Remember that they have to answer to you…not the other way around.

I get requests a few times a month from friends and family (also strangers, homeless people, etc…) to go check out a vehicle that they’re considering purchasing.  I’m a total OCD case pretty thorough, so I tend to find *something* of interest with just about any car that I evaluate.  I don’t make a big deal about minor issues, but when something major is wrong, I don’t hesitate to ask the seller about it.

A few months ago I went to a medium-sized used car dealership to evaluate a very sharp-looking 2-year-old Honda Ridgeline that a friend of mine was thinking about buying.   This was the first time I saw the Ridgeline, and I hadn’t run a CarFax report on it yet.  After getting the keys and driving it about 50 feet, I noticed that it pulled *hard* to the right.  Lots of used cars have minor alignment issues, but when such a new Honda feels like it wants to commit hari-kari by swerving off the road into a tree every time you take a hand off the wheel to change the track on your Weezer CD, something is wrong.

I brought it back to the dealership after about 3 minutes of driving, and our conversation went something like this:

Other Dealer: What did you think?

Me: It’s a nice truck, but it pulls pretty hard to the right.  Do you know what happened to it?

Other Dealer:  It doesn’t pull to the right.  It’s been through the shop.  That truck is perfect.

Me: Have you driven it?

Other Dealer:  I just had it out today.  I’ve been driving it all week.   It doesn’t pull to the right.

Me: Have a nice day.

Don’t fall for the Jedi mind trick!  People will sometimes try to convince you that a lie is the truth by repeating it over and over.  It can actually be pretty comical sometimes–ask me about the time my rental car got hit in Ireland!.

A dealer should never try to convince you that you are imagining a problem.  If you find something wrong with a car that you are interested in buying, the next words out of the dealer’s mouth should be one of the following:

1)  That is a problem.  Sorry for the inconvenience.  I will happily have it fixed if you would like to buy the car.

or…

2)  That is a problem.  Sorry for the inconvenience.  I am willing to take $300 dollars off the price (or throw in a Dwight Schrute bobblehead, or whatever the situation warrants…) if you decide to buy the car.

or…

3)  I don’t see a problem, but you are welcome to have the car checked out by a qualified third-party mechanic.

With any of these three responses, the dealer is demonstrating that he respects your opinion and your right to an honest appraisal of the car that you’re about to spend your money on.  Accept nothing less!

1. Karma

If you’re a into recycling, think of how many soda cans you’d have to put into the green bin to add up to the ecological impact of recycling a car!  When you buy a brand new car, you’re telling the factory that it needs to produce more vehicles to keep up with demand.  When you buy a used car, it cuts down on a few thousand pounds of steel, rubber, aluminum, and batteries that’s going to need to be disposed of someday.  Granted, much of this *can* be recycled down the road, but the pollution and energy expenditure of building that new car is another matter!

2. Carcinogens

That “new car smell” that everyone loves so much–turns out it causes cancer. What’s that you say?  You don’t remember ordering the benzene and formaldehyde with your new vehicle?  Well, they came standard…

3. Cash

This is the obvious one.  Use the extra cash to take your significant other out to dinner, pay off your mortgage sooner, or drink some Rochefort 10 instead of that Keystone Ice you were going to order.

I hate multitasking.  It was all the rage during the late 90s, but now studies have shown that human brains function best when they’re only doing one task at a time.  The same is true of car tires!

Each tire has a contact patch with the road that’s roughly the size of your hand.  That contact patch is the only thing (aside from wind resistance–which you don’t really have any control over on passenger cars unless you have an air brake) that can be used to accelerate, slow, and steer your vehicle.  Normally, the friction between rubber and pavement is sufficient to give you all the control you need for normal driving.  Add snow or ice (or deep enough water) to the equation and things change in a hurry!

Regardless of the road conditions, each tire’s contact patch has a finite amount of friction that it can exert to the road surface at any given time.  This friction is your currency for purchasing control of the vehicle.  Once you’ve spent all the available currency, the car is no longer going to do what you ask.  Instead, it’s going to go wherever it feels like (without any regard for trees, ditches, or that snow plow in the oncoming lane!).

You spend this currency in three ways:

1) trying to speed up

2) trying to slow down

3) trying to turn

As soon as you try to accelerate, there is less friction available for anything else (like steering).  The same goes for trying to slow down.  In slick weather conditions, bad things tend to happen when you ask your tires to multitask (like when jamming on the brakes and steering abruptly at the same time) .

When the weather gets bad, maximize your control by only asking your tires to do one thing at a time.  Accelerate or brake in a straight line when possible…then turn–or turn first and then accelerate or brake.

It takes a little practice and planning at first, but it’s worth it!