California’s insurance commissioner on Thursday ordered nearly 50 auto insurers to provide detailed information about their claim costs during the pandemic, his latest attempt to compensate consumers he says were overcharged as traffic virtually disappeared when the nation’s largest insurance market imposed the first U.S. coronavirus stay-home order.
Commissioner Ricardo Lara gave California's major insurers 30 days to respond.
"With this letter, every insurance company is on notice to give us data so we can tell them what they owe consumers," said Deputy Insurance Commissioner Michael Soller.
It’s the latest salvo in a dispute over whether Lara's refusal to approve more than three-dozen rate hike requests over the past 29 months threatens insurance companies' ability to write policies in California. Insurers already gave back $2.4 billion in excess pandemic profits but say they are now losing money as traffic has rebounded to pre-pandemic levels, with inflation and supply chain shortages compounding the cost of increased claims due to worsening driving habits.
“We are concerned about the effect that CDI’s inaction is having on the auto insurance market and California drivers," said Denni Ritter, vice president for state government relations for the American Property Casualty Insurance Association.
She said insurers “are heartened to see the department make some moves towards at least reviewing these filings” and will provide data she said will “demonstrate the extreme cost drivers that CDI has been ignoring.”
Several major companies have said they are cutting back their California marketing or operations, with the CEOs of Progressive and Kemper last month tying their decisions to Lara's failure to consider rate increases.
The dispute comes as Lara runs for reelection against Republican Robert Howell, who is not expected to pose a serious threat.
The companies say Lara can’t force the additional refunds he says are still owed consumers, because of a 2021 appellate court decision that he says they are interpreting too broadly. Lara’s demand letter is his latest effort to try to incorporate insurers’ earlier profits into their current rate increase requests.
His letter went to 47 companies doing business in California, addressing 54 rate increase applications including 38 that have been stalled for months.
Insurers' claims costs “became overstated as a result of policyholders driving significantly less,” the letter says. “On behalf of California consumers, the Department of Insurance seeks premium refunds in the full amount of what policyholders are owed.”
The detailed cost information will be considered in the department's review of any pending or future rate increase requests, says the three-page letter. It has a separate “refund information workbook” — a spreadsheet with five subcategories for companies to expand on requested details in at least six different areas.
The Detroit Auto Show only had about half as many attendees as the event had pre-pandemic.
Yet, organizers are “thrilled,” said show co-chairman Thad Szott.
“What we pulled off here, I think we surprised a lot of people,” Szott said. “A lot of people around the globe did not think we would even have a show. With inventory shortages and the way that manufacturers go to market these days, a lot of people were saying it was going to be a total, total flop or it’s going to get canceled like some other world shows.”
Szott is open about one of the show’s biggest failures, however – measuring the crowd.
Pre-pandemic, organizers released exact attendance numbers. But with the show expanding this year to be indoors at Huntington Place and outdoors at Hart Plaza and the surrounding area in downtown Detroit, organizers didn’t have proper counting methods in place, Szott said.
The show also sold family passes, but failed to count how many people came in on each ticket.
Szott estimates 300,000 to 500,000 people attended overall.
“There were hundreds of thousands of people engaged in the auto show. How many hundreds of thousands? It’s hard to put an exact finger on that,” Szott said. “We’re going to do a better job next year with measuring that.”
In 2019, 774,179 people attended the Detroit Auto Show. It was the last show pre-pandemic and the last time it was hosted in January.
Despite a roughly 50% decline in attendance, this year’s event blew away the 2021 iteration of the show – called Motor Bella and hosted outdoors at Pontiac’s M1 Concourse during a rainy week in September.
Counting was a similar struggle for that event, but organizers targeted 150,000 people.
Here’s a look at how attendance at the Detroit Auto Show has changed since 2007.
The record for a Detroit Auto Show came in 2003, when 838,066 attended. There was a dip during the recession, but numbers picked up each year after until 2016, when the show had nearly 816,000 attendees.
A ‘reset’ on the auto show concept
Observers grumbled in 2019 when the show saw attendance drop by 35,000. This year’s event was the first back downtown, and it saw hundreds of thousands of fewer guests.
But auto shows around the world have had to adapt or be canceled. The pandemic taught manufacturers they could do product reveals virtually and by themselves, without having to compete against 15 other manufacturers for attention on the same day.
So this year’s show put more attention on experiences. Visitors could take a ride in a Ford Bronco inside Huntington Place and traverse a metal structure nearly scraping rafters. Or they could feel the sensation of an electric F-150 Lightning truck being floored, and then screeching to a stop.
Jeep and Ram also offered rides through an indoor obstacle course – which more than 45,000 visitors got a ride on, Szott said.
“It was way more people than they were anticipating,” he said. “They’ve done some shows in LA, New York and Chicago, and I don’t think they really came even close to those numbers.”
The Bronco ride line occasionally reached two hours, Szott said. Organizers want to improve wait times for 2023. Part of the solution is adding more experiences. There were four indoor test tracks this year, but Szott thinks they can have 10 in 2023.
There’s still room to expand outside and to the lower floor of Huntington Place, which was empty this year.
GM and Volkswagen also offered test drives along the Detroit riverfront. All of these experiences are key for consumers, who are “starving for education” on hybrids and electric vehicles, Szott said.
“There’s still a lot of hesitation because people just don’t understand the technology,” he said. “That show we had was very impactful for those that attended on educating them (and) pulling their comfort level way forward on how this stuff works.”
More than 30 auto brands had displays at the show, including Detroit’s Big 3, luxury brands like Mercedes and Porsche and a handful of flying vehicles.
Szott has already heard from automakers who didn’t attend the show – who regret not coming.
“They were a little disappointed they didn’t show up this year, particularly when the president showed up and started shaking hands with a lot of CEOs,” Szott said.
President Joe Biden attended the show on Media Day, Sept. 14. He was the first sitting president to attend the event since Barack Obama in 2016.
Biden’s presence put a spotlight on Detroit, its auto industry and the event, said Chris Moyer, senior director of Communications for Visit Detroit.
“Regardless of somebody’s political persuasion, having the president of the United States ... for hours highlighting Detroit, highlighting the sustainable mobility industry that we are leading – this is a commercial for the city, for our region, for our state,” Moyer said. “It is a profoundly good thing for us.”
Attendance may not have set any records – but hotel revenue did.
During preview week, hotels in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties had their best revenue week ever – in the 126 years it’s been measured, Moyer said. Hotels topped $30 million in revenue, more than $3 million higher than the next best week.
Part of the record is attributed to rising hotel rates, Moyer said. But even during the week of the public show, occupancy was up 24% in the region compared to the week before auto show activity began.
“The auto show added to a sense of vibrancy and vitality in this city and throughout the region that really speaks to Detroit’s growth and continued renaissance,” Moyer said.
The Detroit Auto Show had a $300 million economic impact on the region, Ancora Holdings Group told multiple media sources. While notable, that’s down from an estimated $430 million economic impact in 2019.
Marketing a September auto show has been a bit of a struggle, Szott said, as consumers are accustomed to January. The show will return in September again next year – Sept. 13-24 – as organizers hope the new season eventually becomes ingrained in peoples’ minds.
“There’s still a large percentage of the population I don’t think knew we were having a show in September,” Szott said. “Every year, we’ll get better and better if we stick with the same month.”
More electric cars will be sold in the country this year than in the rest of the world combined, as its domestic market accelerates ahead of the global competition.
Zhang Youping, a Chinese retiree, purchased an all-electric, small sport-utility vehicle from BYD — China’s largest electric vehicle maker — at an auto show for around $20,000 last month. Her family has bought three gas-powered cars in the last decade, but she recently grew concerned about gas prices and decided to go electric “to save money.” A few months earlier, her son had also bought an E.V. It was a $10,000 hatchback from Leapmotor, another Chinese manufacturer.
This year, a quarter of all new cars purchased in China will be an all-electric vehicle or a plug-in hybrid. There are, by some estimates, more than 300 Chinese companies making E.V.s, ranging from discount offerings below $5,000 to high-end models that rival Tesla and German automakers. There are roughly four million charging units in the country, double the number from a year ago, with more coming.
While other E.V. markets are still heavily dependent on subsidies and financial incentives, China has entered a new phase: Consumers are weighing the merits of electric vehicles against gas-powered cars based on features and price without much consideration of state support. By comparison, the United States is far behind. This year, the country passed a key threshold of E.V.s accounting for 5 percent of new car sales. China passed that level in 2018.
Even new U.S. incentives have raised questions about how effective they will be in addressing mitigating factors for electric cars, such as long wait lists, limited supplies and high prices. The U.S. Inflation Reduction Act passed last month included a $7,500 tax credit for electric vehicles with conditions on where the cars are manufactured and where batteries are sourced. Automakers complained that the credit did not apply to many current E.V. models, and that the sourcing requirements could increase the cost of building an E.V.
Qilai Shen for The New York Times
It took China more than a decade of subsidies, long-term investments and infrastructure spending to lay the foundation for its electric vehicle market to start standing on its own. Tu Le, a managing director of the Beijing-based consultancy Sino Auto Insights, said competition and dynamism are now driving the Chinese market, not government subsidies. “We have reached a point in China where we’re competing on price. We’re competing on features. So it’s not a subsidy thing,” Mr. Le said. “The market is taking over.”
China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, declared in 2014 that development of electric vehicles was the only way that his country could transform “from a big automobile country to an automobile power.” Underscoring its ambitions, China set an aggressive goal: 20 percent of new car sales would be electric vehicles by 2025. China will most likely fly by that target this year, three years ahead of schedule. Already the biggest E.V. market, China also has one of the fastest growing, with sales expected to double this year to about six million vehicles — more than the rest of the world combined.
Of the world’s top-10 best-selling E.V. brands, half are Chinese, led by BYD, which lags only Tesla in global market share and is starting to ship its electric cars abroad. And it’s not just the car sales that are thriving in China. The Chinese battery manufacturers CATL and BYD are the biggest players in the industry, while Beijing holds a tight grip on access to critical raw materials.
CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images
The strong demand for electric cars is a bright spot in an otherwise sluggish Chinese economy, which is coping with a property market in crisis and crippling Covid-19 policies. As part of its economic stimulus plan, China said it would continue to plow money into electric cars. Beijing said last month that it was extending a tax waiver for new energy vehicles until 2023 at a cost of $14 billion instead of letting it expire this year as scheduled.
Gou Chaobo, a 27-year-old employee at a construction firm who recently decided to trade in his gas-powered sedan for an E.V., said financial incentives did not weigh on his decision to go electric. In Chengdu, the megacity in southwestern China where Mr. Gou lives and works, traditional cars are restricted from being on the road certain days of the week to help reduce congestion and pollution. Electric vehicles, however, are free to come and go. For electric cars, parking is free for the first two hours at public parking lots.
Mr. Gou said the cost of operating an electric vehicle, by his calculation, is less than one-tenth that of a gas-powered car. Once he settles on a specific automobile, he will also benefit from a government subsidy that can knock nearly $2,000 off the sticker price, depending on the E.V. Also, the government will waive a 10 percent car purchase tax on “new energy” vehicles — a catchall phrase used in China that also includes plug-in hybrid cars.
Qilai Shen/Bloomberg
Mr. Gou, who was checking out a midsize sedan from the Chinese brand XPeng at the Chengdu auto show, said he decided to go electric “because new energy is where the future is headed.” In other markets, electric vehicles from traditional automakers are often considered luxury vehicles, whereas Chinese brands are also competing with inexpensive models like the Wuling Hongguang Mini — a $4,500 four-seat hatchback that was China’s best-selling E.V. in 2021. It is made by a joint venture of General Motors and the Chinese automakers SAIC and Wuling.
The country’s seriousness about developing electric vehicles was on display when it rolled out the red carpet for Tesla to build a massive factory in Shanghai in 2018. The move was seen as a way to force the domestic market to compete directly with an industry leader. Beijing allowed Tesla to become the first foreign automaker allowed to manufacture in China without a local partner and the Shanghai government helped foot some of the factory-building costs.
After some early stumbles and Covid lockdowns that hobbled its China operations, Tesla now produces more vehicles at its Shanghai factory than anywhere else. But a slew of Chinese competitors who are catering to local tastes are also churning out new models at a rapid cadence. Roughly 80 percent of all electric vehicles sold in China this year were made by domestic automakers. Most foreign brands have largely struggled to make inroads and keep pace with their Chinese competitors.
Aly Song/Reuters
The domestic competition is cutthroat, with new entrants emerging constantly, leaving most of the Chinese companies swimming in losses and many almost certain to fail from the challenges of manufacturing electric vehicles at the scale needed to drive down costs. But moving from selling cars at home to selling them abroad comes with complications, such as disputes over warranties. Yet as sales of gas-powered cars slump, Chinese automakers increasingly have little choice but to go all in on electric.
Last month, Geely Automobile Holdings, one of China’s most prominent automakers, with investments in Volvo Cars and Mercedes-Benz, said it aimed to sell as many electric and hybrid vehicles next year as traditional internal combustion engine models. Jason Low, a Shanghai-based principal analyst for the research firm Canalys, said Chinese E.V. brands have been more aggressive than foreign automakers in integrating new technologies into the vehicles, such as entertainment features and voice-activated controls.
Ms. Zhang, the retiree who bought an electric S.U.V., said she chose BYD because she preferred a bigger brand. She added that she was cautious about what brand to buy because the air-conditioning on her son’s less expensive E.V. hatchback broke after a few months. She also considered some foreign electric vehicles, but the minimal features did not suit her tastes. “There was thoroughly nothing inside. I don’t really like that design,” Ms. Zhang said. “It’s a bit different from our Chinese living habits.”
Just over a year ago, Derrick Stasica and his wife, Jennifer, opened Steel Auto.
Steel Auto specializes in servicing vintage cars from any manufacturer and restorations for British and American vehicles.
”We do unique cars such as ’80s Rolls Royces, ’60s and ’70s Jaguars,” Stasica said. “A lot of places won’t touch those cars because they’re hard to get parts for and stuff like that. Or they are also just built so differently that it’s kind of a whole other ballgame.”
Stasica worked in marketing prior to purchasing the shop, but he said he was not nervous to jump into the new business. He and his wife bought the garage, once the Ron Shimek Auto Service Center, and opened Steel Auto on July 20, 2021. To better define what the business does and help customers find them, they will soon change the name to Steel Classic Garage.
Stasica said the shop is the only British classic car shop in Central Texas that is registered with the British Motor Trade Association. Stasica said roughly half of his business is American-made cars.
During a week in late August, a red Honda Beat imported from Japan—with a right-hand steering wheel—sat in front of the shop. Inside the shop a yellow Triumph TR6—a British car produced between 1968 and 1976—sat above another Triumph TR6 in green. Nearby, was a lighter green Triumph and a baby blue Austin-Healey 3000, another British car.
The connection between all of these cars is their age. Stasica said most cars the shop works on were built before 1999 or anything with a carburetor—a device that mixes air and fuel for internal combustion engines and was phased out by the end of the ’90s.
Stasica said Austin has an active car scene and points to car meetups everywhere from Pflugerville to the Circuit of The Americas and other events that highlight the depth of local interest in unique cars.
“Austin’s [classic car] scene is a lot bigger than what people think,” Stasica said.
Google’s Android Auto has a redesign incoming, and a new behind-the-scenes change of that forthcoming interface shows off a handy widget that “Coolwalk” will provide to Spotify, and probably other music apps too.
As spotted on Reddit, recent updates to Android Auto and Spotify seem to have unlocked a new dual-page widget for the music app that works with the platform’s upcoming “Coolwalk” redesign. The change was only spotted in an early state, as “Coolwalk” still hasn’t been released. Rather, it was accessed through a rooted Android smartphone.
What’s new here?
We’ve known for a while that the new Android Auto UI will have a music widget as one of the options to show content on displays of all sizes. In Android Auto’s current form, music apps can either take up the full screen, or be minimized to a logo with play/pause and track controls on the bottom bar. At least, that’s the case on most displays. On wider displays, you’ll also get the option to display both apps side by side, which is closer to what’s happening in “Coolwalk.”
With the new widget, Android Auto offers not just music controls, track info, and album arts, but also a second page that includes a “For You” interface from Spotify. This includes a few playlists, as well as a “Shuffle Play” option. It’s a neat use of space, and could certainly save moving into the full app.
Right now, this UI seems to only be used by Spotify, but it seems reasonable to assume that others such as YouTube Music will follow closely behind. Generally speaking, all music apps on Android Auto support the same features, more or less.
We won’t know for sure, though, until Google gets around to finally releasing “Coolwalk” to everyone. The Andorid Auto redesign was announced in May 2022, but has yet to even see an announcement about its formal launch.
Chip maker Qualcomm (QCOM) shined a light on its automotive strategy during an investor day Thursday, detailing new partnerships and offering fresh insights into projected revenue at its auto division. Club holding Qualcomm said its automotive "design-win pipeline" now stands at $30 billion, up from roughly $19 billion when it reported third-quarter results in late July . The estimated figure stems from Qualcomm's deals with auto companies that it expects to translate into sales in future years. It is not reflected on the company's balance sheet yet. The company also disclosed an agreement with Mercedes-Benz to bring its cloud-connected auto platform to the German carmaker's upcoming vehicles starting in 2023, as well as a deal with IBM software subsidiary Red Hat. "The automotive companies know they have to become a technology company. The car is going to be a connected computer on wheels," Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon told CNBC earlier Thursday. "Companies know … they need to move fast to this new automotive industry, and that's why partnerships with companies like Qualcomm become very important," he said. Bottom line Qualcomm delivered with its first-ever automotive investor day. Its booming auto pipeline and additional tie-ups with vehicle original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) offer more evidence that the industry is embracing its automotive platform. Looking forward, we think that as Qualcomm proves its become more than a handset company, investors will ascribe more value to its future earnings. That, in turn, would translate into a higher multiple for its stock. It currently trades at less than 10 times forward earnings, well below its five-year average of 15.8, according to FactSet. More Club thoughts Thursday's auto event has been circled on our calendars because it goes to the heart of our investment thesis in the company: revenue diversification. Qualcomm is a longtime leader in smartphone chips and other wireless communication technology, but has started to more aggressively expand into other industries like automotive. Although Qualcomm modems have enabled cellular connectivity in vehicles for roughly two decades, this current chapter is about developing a connected-vehicle platform. It's a small contributor to Qualcomm's top line right now, but represents a key ingredient to its growth recipe in the coming years. We are believers. We think Qualcomm can successfully diversify, leaning on its mobile-computing DNA to develop the digital support framework that tech-heavy modern vehicles require. Qualcomm's overall automotive platform is called the Snapdragon Digital Chassis. It carries the Snapdragon brand given to the company's mobile processors and uses the same word — chassis — given to a vehicle's physical support frame. In this case, it's silicon and software taking the place of steel or aluminum. In addition to cellular connectivity, infotainment screens and the vehicle's cockpit, other features include advanced-driving assistance systems (ADAS). Qualcomm has existing deals with automakers involving its ADAS infrastructure, known as the Snapdragon Ride Platform, including with BMW and General Motors (GM). Nonetheless, the market has not been kind to Qualcomm's stock price this year, sending it down by more than 30%, as investors jumped ship over fears of a smartphone slowdown and higher interest rates. We started buying QCOM in February and have since built up our position to 850 shares, trying to capitalize on weakness as believers in the company's multiyear diversification story. It has about a 3.83% weighting in our portfolio . While it's not fun to see a stock you own fall out of favor, as long as your rationale remains intact, long-term investors can view the selling opportunistically. That's how we approached the decision to purchase 100 Qualcomm shares on Sept. 9 . The market gave us a chance to buy more of something we like at a discount. Qualcomm's stock closed down 0.75% on Thursday, at $123.68 a share. Details on financials Qualcomm CFO Akash Palkhiwala offered some auto-focused financial comments during the investor day. Some quick background: Qualcomm reports results in two primary segments, Qualcomm CDMA Technologies (QCT) and Qualcomm Technology Licensing (QTL). QCT is the semiconductor business most think of when considering Qualcomm's operations and generate the bulk of the company's total sales, while QTL grants licenses to use portions of Qualcomm's intellectual property portfolio. Here is a quick summary of Palkhiwala's comments. The company expects QCT automotive revenue -- auto-related sales from its traditional chip business -- to be $4 billion in fiscal 2026 and $9 billion in fiscal 2031, compared with an estimated $1.3 billion in fiscal 2022. Palkhiwala said management has "exceptional" visibility into future revenue due to how its deals with OEMs are structured. "Over the next four years, 90% of our cumulative revenue forecast ... is covered under existing design wins," he said. (Qualcomm's total revenue for fiscal 2021 was $35.57 billion.) Palkhiwala also indicated that Qualcomm anticipates its ADAS offering to meaningfully scale in fiscal 2026. Fiscal 2022, on the other hand, represented a major ramp up in revenue from its Snapdragon Cockpit Platforms, he said, noting there were 20 new vehicle launches this year. The executive tried to quantify Qualcomm's potential revenue on a per-vehicle basis by the year 2030, saying that it should come in around $200 for a lower-tier car and up to $3,000 for high-tier vehicles. "You should think of cars going forward, the mix will continue to shift toward the high end," he said. "The opportunity will keep expanding as we go forward." An important thing to keep in mind with Qualcomm's design-win pipeline, Palkhiwala said, is that recurring services and cloud revenue is "upside to those numbers." The company sees "tremendous opportunity" there, but it is not embedded in the targets for now, he said. For now, the design-win pipeline mostly consists of expected revenue that existing chipsets and software will provide. (Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust is long QCOM. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.
Qualcomm president and CEO Cristiano Amon speaks about Qualcomm's technology for automakers at a news conference during CES 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada, January 4, 2022.
Loans to buy or refinance a new or used car are some of the most common loans available at financial institutions. Auto loans generally come with much lower interest rates than other types of credit, such as credit cards and personal loans, since they’re usually secured loans backed by the car they’re financing.
In fact, APRs can go as low as 0%, but only for buyers with excellent credit. For borrowers with average or poor credit, interest rates can climb into the double digits. According to the Q2 2022State of the Automotive Finance Marketreport from Experian, the average auto loan rate is4.33% for new car purchasesand8.62% for used vehicles.
Loan terms for auto financing typically range from 12 to 84 months, but most experts advise against84-month auto loansand long terms. While these terms may be attractive to borrowers as they come with lower monthly payments, they also tend to come with higher interest rates and create a financial commitment that can extend beyond a car’s best years.
Types of Auto Loans
In the auto finance industry, borrowers have different situations and needs. As a result, lenders offer alternative financing options to accommodate them. Many of these loan options are similar products with other names, but understanding their differences can help you get a clearer picture of what to shop for.
Purchase Loans
A purchase loan is a loan for buying a vehicle. Within this category, there are three types of loans:
New car purchase loan: This loan is used to buy a new vehicle from a licensed dealer. New car loans usually come with lower rates than used car loans.
Used car purchase loan:This loan is for purchasing a used vehicle from a licensed dealer. Many lenders charge higher interest rates for vehicles that are older or have more miles on the odometer.
Private party loan: This type of loan is used to purchase a vehicle from a private seller rather than a dealer. Many lenders don’t offer private party financing. The ones that do typically charge higher rates because these loans are considered somewhat riskier than traditional purchase loans.
Lease Loans
A lease is essentially a rental agreement for a car, except that when the agreement is over, you may have the option to buy the car. There are two types of lease loans:
Lease agreement: A driver gets a car for a certain amount of time, usually 24 to 36 months, with set monthly payments. The driver must return the vehicle at the end of the agreement, but they’ll often have the option to purchase the vehicle at that time.
Lease buyout: A driver can secure a lease-buyout loan to purchase their leased vehicle at the end of the term if they opt to buy.
Refinancing Loans
When yourefinance an auto loan, you take out a new loan to pay off your existing one. There are two main types of auto refinance loans:
Standard refinance:This is a loan that pays off your current one, often with a different term, different interest rate or both. If you can get a lowerrefinance auto loan rateor take on higher monthly payments with a shorter term, you can reduce the amount you pay in interest. You can also get lower monthly car payments by extending your term, but doing so will increase how much you pay in total interest.
Cash-out refinance: With this type of loan, you remove equity from your vehicle in the form of cash when you refinance. This raises your LTV ratio and usually extends your loan term.
Where To Find Auto Loans
Auto loans are popular financial products, so you can find them practically anywhere. Lending options have different features and advantages that may appeal to different borrowers.
Banks
Brick-and-mortar banks are still popular choices for auto financing. Traditional banks generally offer competitive rates, but they may have stricter lending requirements than other options. Many banks offer discounts to people who have other accounts with the company, such as checking accounts, savings accounts or credit cards.
Credit Unions
Credit Unions are similar to banks but are member-owned organizations rather than for-profit commercial financial institutions. These organizations often have more lenient lending requirements than banks and may have lower interest rates. Most credit unions require membership, but many allow you to join for a small donation to the credit union or a charity.
Dealerships
Car dealerships often have in-house financing options that may offer lower interest rates than some banks and credit unions. Larger, branded dealerships may even offer0% APR car dealson new vehicles to buyers with excellent credit.
Independent dealerships, sometimes called buy-here, pay-here (BHPH) dealerships, may also have their own financing options. While these vehicle loans may be accessible to borrowers with bad credit, many of them come with sky-high interest rates. It’s also common for BHPH dealers to install tracking devices on vehicles they finance and charge for this service.
Online Lenders
In an age where people buy practically everything online, auto loans are also widely available over the internet. Some of these online companies are direct lenders backed by banks, while others are lending brokers that seek out financing options for you. And some are loan marketplaces that allow you to post your needs and information online and wait for lenders to send offers to you.
Online lending has made it easy to compare loan offers. Applying online can be a fast, easy process. You may even get offers or approval within minutes, if not instantly.
New York, Sept. 22, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Auto-Dimming Mirror Global Market Report 2022" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06317652/?utm_source=GNW
, Murakami Corporation, Shenzhen Germid Co., Samvardhana Motherson Group, Tokairika Co. Ltd., SL Corporation, Ichikoh Industries Ltd., Metagal Industria E-commercio Ltd, Fuyao Glass Industry Group Co.Ltd., Dura Automotive Systems, Webasto SE, and Glas Trösch Holding AG.
The global auto dimming mirror market is expected to grow from $1.82 billion in 2021 to $1.98 billion in 2022 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.5%. The auto-dimming mirror market is expected to reach $2.41 billion in 2026 at a CAGR of 5%.
The auto-dimming mirror market consists of sales of auto-dimming mirrors by entities (organizations, sole traders, and partnerships) that are used to improve visibility and safety at night while driving.Auto-dimming mirrors are made up of a mirror and an electronic system that uses photo sensors to detect light from the front and back.
These mirrors can dim the light reflecting from their surface by considerably reducing the glare of light from following vehicles on busy routes at night.
The main types of fuel in auto-dimming mirror markets are internal combustion engines, hybrids, and electric.The internal combustion engine (ICE) refers to the ignition and combustion of the fuel that occurs within the engine itself.
The engines convert the energy from the combustion into work.The engine consists of a fixed cylinder and a moving piston.
The various vehicle types include passenger vehicles and commercial vehicles and involve several functions such as connected auto-dimming mirrors and non-connected auto-dimming mirrors. The various applications include the inside rear-view mirror and the outside rear-view mirror.
Asia Pacific was the largest region in the auto-dimming mirror market in 2021.North America is expected to be the fastest-growing region in the forecast period.
The regions covered in the auto-dimming mirror market report are Asia-Pacific, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, South America, Middle East and Africa.
The auto dimming mirror solutions market research report is one of a series of new reports that provides auto dimming mirror solutions market statistics, including auto dimming mirror solutions industry global market size, regional shares, competitors with an auto dimming mirror solutions market share, detailed auto dimming mirror solutions market segments, market trends and opportunities, and any further data you may need to thrive in the auto dimming mirror solutions industry. This auto-dimming mirror solutions market research report delivers a complete perspective of everything you need, with an in-depth analysis of the current and future scenario of the industry.
The surge in the automotive industry is expected to propel the growth of the auto-dimming mirror market going forward.The automotive industry refers to the designing, developing, and manufacturing of motor vehicles.
These mirrors are used in vehicles to reduce the glare of light that is coming from other vehicles and hence prevent the driver from getting distracted. For instance, according to the India Brand Equity Foundation, an India-based government export agency, in May 2022, sales of automobiles in India increased by 5.8%, which is 18.49 million units, as compared to 17.47 million units in the year 2020. Also, the premium car industry sold 2,259 units in December 2021, an increase of 19.7% when compared with 2020. Therefore, the growth of the automotive industry is driving the growth of the auto-dimming mirror market.
Technological innovations have emerged as the key trend gaining popularity in the auto-dimming market.Major companies operating in the auto-dimming sector are focused on introducing new technologies to sustain their position in the market.
For instance, in August 2019, Gentex, a US-based company that develops, designs, and manufactures automatic-dimming rear-view mirrors, launched the latest version of its HomeLink car-to-home automation system that works on Bluetooth.It also controls a variety of radio frequencies by using cloud-based home automation technology that makes up the system.
In addition, the company created an app that allows cloud-based device operation.
In October 2021, Motherson Sumi Systems Limited, an India-based automotive components manufacturer, acquired Nanchang JMCG Mekra Lang Vehicle Mirror for an undisclosed amount.This acquisition would help SMR Group expand into the commercial vehicle category.
Also, it would allow SMR to explore additional prospects for expansion in this region and strengthen the company’s presence in a growing market. Nanchang JMCG is a China-based manufacturer of vehicle mirrors.
The countries covered in the auto-dimming mirror market report are Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Russia, South Korea, UK, USA.
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DETROIT, Sept 21 (Reuters) - Automotive industry suppliers are raising prices to their customers across the board, not just with Ford Motor Co(F.N), which warned this week it was taking a $1 billion inflationary cost hit.
Several suppliers said Ford isn't suffering alone, as automakers across the board are being asked to shoulder more of the burden suppliers have faced from spiking energy, labor and raw material costs. Suppliers contacted by Reuters said they have raised prices on parts in the range of 7% to 20%.
"During the course of this year, more and more suppliers have gone in to their customers," demanding higher pricing from automakers, said Andreas Weller, chief executive of aluminum parts maker Aludyne.
"They've been trying to hold everybody off, but eventually the dam breaks and then you've got to pay people," he said of the automakers.
Weller said in Europe alone, natural gas and electricity prices are almost 10 times what they were two years ago thanks to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and even in the United States those prices are five times higher. Throw in the tight labor market and the higher compensation required to attract workers, and "there's no improvement in sight."
That pressure was reflected in Ford's warning on Monday that inflation-driven supplier costs would run $1 billion higher than expected in the current quarter. Fear of rising costs caused the Dearborn, Michigan automaker's shares on Tuesday to show their deepest one-day decline in over a decade. read more
Ford's warning also hit other stocks, not only of automakers like General Motors Co(GM.N) and Stellantis(STLA.MI) but also more broadly. read more
Bob Roth, co-owner of RoMan Manufacturing, a producer of transformers and glass-molding equipment in Grand Rapids, Michigan, said the only place where his company has seen cost relief recently was with declining copper prices.
"We're not giving it back until our arms are really twisted," he said of the company's price increases. In fact, the rapidly-changing price environment led RoMan to change requirements so customers only have 15 days to lock in contract pricing compared with the 90 days it previously offered.
Vitesco Technologies CEO Andreas Wolf said last week during the Detroit auto show that the maker of engine control units and electric vehicle charging hardware has been passing on increases in its materials costs to automakers.
"It's clear the (automakers) have the chance to increase the prices of new cars, we have increased on the materials side, (and) in many cases were are able to give those increases to our customers," he said.
At the same time, Wolf said, Vitesco has teams assigned to keep watch for suppliers in its own network that could be having financial problems because of rising costs.
Many suppliers can't move fast enough, offering trailing contracts that leave them squeezing costs and accepting lower profit margins when prices spike.
"It's hard to get out in front of it," said Bill Berry, owner of Die-Tech & Engineering. "Our cost of raw materials has skyrocketed from an historical perspective."
Berry has raised some prices, but is sensitive to competition from overseas.
Automakers have faced a series of supply chain issues over the past two years that have repeatedly delayed vehicle production, including semiconductor chip shortages.
"Ford's announcement shows that we are not yet out of the woods," Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas said in a note. "It was only a matter of time before supplier cost recoveries began to flow."
Suppliers say things won't likely change any time soon.
"It's the new economic reality and we'll continue to fight for (financial) relief," said Joe Perkins, CEO of Michigan engineering and machining firm Mobex Global.
Reporting by Ben Klayman and Joseph White in Detroit Editing by Nick Zieminski
When Dave and Keely Ogden were adding a baby to the family earlier this year, the Ewing, N.J., couple knew their Honda Civic would be too small.
At about the same time, Marc Ziss was growing tired of paying for repairs to his 2007 BMW, and he wondered how a Tesla would fit into his Center City condo lifestyle.
Neither Ziss nor the Ogdens were ready to commit to buying a new vehicle, so they turned to two different new-to-Philadelphia car subscription services to fill their needs — Ziss went for a Model 3 from German-based Finn, while the Ogdens chose a Nissan Pathfinder from Ardmore-based Go.
“When I first discovered Go I was like ‘Oh my god, I want to give the CEO a hug’,” Dave Ogden said. “I was like ‘Yes! A solution, the solution I’ve been looking for!’”
Dave Ogden, of Ewing, N.J., with his 2022 Nissan Pathfinder. Ogden got his SUV from Go, a car subscription service.. ... Read moreALEJANDRO A. ALVAREZ / Staff Photographer
The services — Go started in 2021 and Finn earlier this year in Philly — may be just the first trickle of newer types of car subscriptions , as people like the Ogdens and Ziss look for ways to make shopping for a car more flexible. Unlike leasing a vehicle, car subscriptions cut out the dealership all together. A customer pays their subscription provider a recurring fee to drive a car for a limited period of time. Finn offers six- and 12-month commitments, while Go offers three-year terms.
Many independent subscription services have come and gone in the past six years. Some manufacturers continue to offer subscription services, including Audi, Porsche, and Volvo, but they’re in limited areas, and because of the brands, pricey.
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But Michael Beauchamp, CEO of Go, is undaunted. He expects big things for the small service, which currently has 14 employees and 1,000 subscribers in seven markets in the U.S., Beauchamp said.
“We have a waitlist of 4,000 people for a car that has not yet arrived,” Beauchamp said.
Beating supply chain issues
While consumers on that waitlist may not be quite so eager to hug Beauchamp, they could still wind up in a new vehicle more quickly than if they’d gone the traditional car-buying route.
Throughout 2022, manufacturers have been building new cars almost on a made-to-order basis, as pandemic-induced supply chain issues have rendered vehicles and the chips that power much of their system hard to come by. Dealers often have empty lots, or lots filled for a short time with vehicles that are already contracted to customers, while prices are rarely discounted and in many cases, over MSRP, the price a product’s manufacturer recommends it be sold for.
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But both subscribers said their cars came fairly quickly for their spring deliveries — Ogden’s in about two months and Ziss’ in just one — and that they knew clearly what they were paying.
Marc Ziss, 55, in the Tesla Model 3 in Philadelphia. Ziss has been driving the car through Finn, a subscription service, since April of this year.. ... Read moreTYGER WILLIAMS / Staff Photographer
“When my car came, it came on the day they initially promised,” said Ziss, a 55-year-old software developer. “If you buy a Tesla there was a long wait like, I don’t know, six months’ wait time, and Finn said they’d have it to me within a month, and they did.”
How car subscriptions work
Subscribers have cars delivered to them, usually with just a few miles on the vehicle , although both services might bring cars with a few thousand on the odometer. All are still considered “new,” though, because they’ve only been titled once.
Both services are web-based. Log in to Finn.auto or drivego.com, fill out some forms, and get started. Potential subscribers need to be at least 25 with a valid driver’s license, a clean driving record, and a credit score of 640 or higher for Go or 680 and above for Finn. And, of course, plenty of room on a credit card. Go requires an insurance purchase as well when ordering, while Finn’s is included in the fee.
Two auto industry analysts agreed that Finn’s and Go’s success may lie in the fact that they follow the model of Volvo Care subscriptions, another service available in the region, which also focuses on months-long commitments to one car. Other services have aimed for people who would like to switch frequently, or at least on occasion.
“What Volvo has done is really make it almost one person, one vehicle, and it’s a short-term lease more than anything, so that can work,” said Tyson Jominy, vice president of data & analytics at J.D. Power and Associates in Troy, Michigan. “You’re basically tying down the one vehicle, and you don’t really have the vehicle until you have a consumer for the vehicle.”
Finn offers Cadillac, Chevrolet, Nissan, Jeep, and Tesla; Go has BMW, Chevrolet, Ford, Nissan, and Toyota vehicles, as well as offerings from Stellantis — which includes Jeep, Ram, and Chrysler .
Affordability is key
Both Beauchamp and Finn CEO Max-Josef Meier come from outside the auto industry and were looking to change the model for car ownership, and for the buying/leasing experience.
A sharp bend in the learning curve for the CEOs: sales taxes. Meier learned this because Finn serves Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and the District of Columbia, with more places planned for the future. Go offers vehicles in the Philadelphia region, New Jersey, Delaware, Miami, Orlando, Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, and Houston.
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“Sales tax state by state is quite a complex thing when you run car subscriptions, because you’re always between renting and leasing and that makes things a little bit complex,” Meier said.
Go and Finn both offer longer-term contracts — Ziss has a one-year deal on the Model 3 Long Range and the Ogdens, three years.
But for Finn at least, short-term leases were the original focus.
“One of the many surprises very early on when we started in 2019, we thought flexibility is the coolest thing, ” saidMeier . “But then we introduced these longer terms, [and we learned that] affordability is more important than flexibility.”
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The company, which has 300 full-time employees, now projects it will have 25,000 subscribers by year’s end — about 4,000 in the U.S. and the rest in Germany.
Happy drivers, cautious optimism
So far, users seem pretty happy with the services. Finn has 940 reviews on the review website TrustPilot, with 86% in the “excellent” category and another 7% in “great,” and just a handful in the three lowest categories. With just 50 reviews, Go has 72% in the excellent pile and 8% in the great stack, but another 18% at the bottom of the five levels.
Dave Ogden said online reviews helped reassure him about using a car subscription service.. ... Read moreALEJANDRO A. ALVAREZ / Staff Photographer
Ogden, 34, pointed out that Go has plenty of positive ratings on Google reviews, which helped reassure him.
“It’s hard to get good ratings on Google reviews because people naturally talk the loudest when it’s something negative when it comes to reviewing stuff, and their reviews on Google are like 99% approval,” the IT systems administrator said.
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Ogden said Go’s price was comparable to a lease, but with no money down. As for Finn, Meier said it may not be the cheapest but it’s competitive.
Among other subscription services, Hertz My Car and Sixt+ also service the Philadelphia region.
As the pandemic and inflation continue and interest rates rise, unpredictability is being injected into just about every business model. But another analyst sees a reason for cautious optimism for subscription services like Go and Finn, in spite of previous services’ failures.
Bertrand Rakoto, a senior engagement manager for Ducker Carlisle LLC consulting in Michigan, said: “There’s a trend that customers are willing to have benefits of the lease but a little more flexibility; I think it’s one step toward that direction.”
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