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Car dealers, parts makers, union leaders and others hoping to convince lawmakers that the industry is an indispensable piece of the economy are planning a caravan to Washington in early December. The 525-mile drive will occur as auto executives make a second plea for federal assistance. The caravan participants are not asking for money directly, but are among those who would suffer if the industry collapsed.

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Spencer Platt, Getty ImagesTrucks from Ford's 2009 F-150 series are parked in a lot in Detroit last week. Analysts said yesterday that any emergency cash for Detroit's Big Three automakers would just be a lifeline until Barack ...

The tens of billions of U. S. taxpayer dollars being asked for by Detroit could be the tip of the iceberg, analysts at JPMorgan said yesterday.

With Congress preparing to hand struggling automakers General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LL...

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Congress took a sensible step in telling Detroit to come back with a plan before lawmakers consider an auto-industry bailout. Now that the heat is temporarily off, Congress should go the full monty and shut the door.

This may seem callous, and also brutally unfair in the wake of all the help that has been doled out to Wall Street. It may also look self-destructive

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It was a dose of tough love that President-elect Barack Obama offered the American auto industry Monday. America shouldn't let the auto makers "vanish," he said at a news conference. But the auto companies should get help, he added, only when they show a better plan for pulling out of their downward slide.

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NEW YORK (Associated Press) - After being skewered by Congress and lampooned on NBC's "Saturday Night Live," the CEOs of Detroit's three automakers may end up making their return trip to Washington by car as they seek a federal bailout.

The Detroit area's auto industry, whose livelihood depends on the health of Chrysler LLC, Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. spent the weekend e-mailing and discussing how to set up a giant car caravan to seek help from Congress.

Auto executive specifics about how they plan to spend taxpayers' money and crimp their highflying lifestyles if they hope to get aid from the federal government, congressional leaders and key members of the incoming Obama administration said Sunday.

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With two of Detroit's Big Three automakers teetering on the brink of collapse, congressional leaders yesterday refused to advance a proposal for a federal bailout, saying auto industry executives had failed to persuade lawmakers that they would make good use of the money.

Instead, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) ordered General Motors, Chrysler and Ford to submit detailed proposals by Dec. 2 explaining how an emergency infusion o...

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Over and over, as I watched Rick Wagoner, Alan Mulally, Bob Nardelli and Ron Gettelfinger stumble and pause their way through two days of erratic questioning by U.S. Senate and House committees in Washington, D.C., I kept thinking the same thought.

These guys don't get it.

They're trying to win a $25-billion lifeline of loans for Detroit's auto industry by appealing to the minds of Americans with logic and dense facts and figures -- but the only shot they've got is to...

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Reporting from Washington -- Embattled U.S. automakers added a new entry to their list of troubles Wednesday: executive jet travel.
For a second straight day, the chief executives of Detroit's Big Three tried to convince a skeptical Congress that they deserved $25 billion in emergency loans. But that message was nearly drowned out by discussion of their corporate flying habits, and the Senate later scrapped plans for a vote on the loans today -- dimming hopes for a rescue plan this ye...

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DETROIT (AdAge.com) -- A Miami-based dot-com is helping financially strapped Americans bail out of their vehicle leases in a hurry.
LeaseTrader is introducing a Nationwide Car Lease Bailout Program that aims to transfer car and truck leases to creditworthy people within a week or two, down from the company's current average lease transfer of three to seven weeks, said John Sternal, VP-marketing. Consumers who use the service will get more visibility on the marketer's website, paying $...

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WASHINGTON – A Democratic Congress, unwilling or unable to approve a $25 billion bailout for Detroit's Big Three, appears ready to punt the automakers' fate to a lame-duck Republican president.

Caught in the middle of a who-blinks-first standoff are countless manufacturing firms and auto dealers — and millions of Americans' jobs.

For now, with the plan headed for a roadblock in the Senate, lawmakers in both parties are engaged in a high-stakes game of chicken, posi...

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Filed under: Technology, Transportation

If you took out a Car Lease only to find that, with a change in your circumstances, your can no longer afford your lease , you may want to check out LeaseTrader.com. The ten-year-old firm is in the business of matching drivers in the market for a short-term lease with those looking to get out of an existing one. For its trouble, the company collects a fee, of course.

The process, which has been OK'd by almost all the car manufacturer's f...

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WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- Proposals to give U.S. automakers $25 billion in funds from the Treasury's financial-market rescue package are "unnecessary and unreasonable," the White House said Tuesday, stiffening its opposition to legislation introduced by top Democrats this week.

"We're going to draw the line at the $25 billion that has already been appropriated," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said, referring to the Department of Energy loan program designed to ...

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Nov. 19 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. auto company executives today will make their plea for government aid for the second straight day, as prospects for a Democratic-backed assistance plan waned.

General Motors Corp. Chief Executive Richard Wagoner, Ford Motor Co.'s Alan Mulally and Robert Nardelli of Chrysler LLC are scheduled to testify today at a House Financial Services Committee hearing after telling a Senate panel yesterday that they need $25 billion to keep operating.

A plan by ...

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MIAMI, FL, Nov 18, 2008 -- LeaseTrader.com, the nationwide online marketplace for Car Lease transfers, today launched its Nationwide Car Lease Bailout Program, which is designed to help American families cut their bills by giving them the option of escaping a Car Lease contract they can no longer afford or need.

Through the program, LeaseTrader.com is committed to working with anyone that wants to cut their bills by escaping their lease without having to break the contract and...

MIAMI, FL, Nov 18, 2008 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX) -- LeaseTrader.com, the nationwide online marketplace for Car Lease transfers, today launched its Nationwide Car Lease Bailout Program, which is designed to help American families cut their bills by giving them the option of escaping a Car Lease contract they can no longer afford or need.

Through the program, LeaseTrader.com is committed to working with anyone that wants to cut their bills by escaping their lease without having to break...

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LOS ANGELES — General Motors' (GM) Cadillacs and Hummers may be icons of extravagance, but a cash crunch is forcing frugality on the automaker, from paper clips to auto shows.

GM puts its poverty on center stage by its obvious absence from media events at the Los Angeles Auto Show starting this week. It canceled a multiday series of events, including unveiling of a new Buick and Saab and parties and seminars around the show.

GM also has canceled the lavish, star-studded ...

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The auto leasing industry is one that has slowly picked up steam through the years, evolving into a mainstream option to purchasing a vehicle that has been highly beneficial to customers looking for lower monthly payments, a short-term commitment and tax benefits.

But thanks to the recent credit crunch, the business has had to make quick adjustments that are leaving customers with less-than-perfect credit with one less option for their auto needs.

“Everything is going ba...

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Blog posting, email, LinkedIn. So much social media, so little time. I think we have to ignore some of it, some of the time, but on the other hand, what works? How does anybody get any email message read?

1. The Good

I don't know why this one appealed to me as it did. The book is called "Dirty Little Secrets of Buzz," by David Seaman. I never would have noticed it, except for the emails.

• The first email in...

Stiff Republican Resistance Could Force Democrats to Wait for Obama and Their Party's Enlarged Majority to Take Office

WASHINGTON -- Congressional Democrats are scaling back plans for an economic-stimulus package as partisan deadlock clouds chances for passage of either that measure or a proposed bailout of Detroit's auto makers until the party's enlarged majority convenes in January.

Former auto worker Willie Daniel leaves a United Auto Workers hall in Brook Park, Ohio, on We...

President-elect Barack Obama is asking a Congressional lame-duck session to approve $25 billion to $50 billion in rescue aid for Detroit’s crumbling auto industry.

He also wants to appoint a czar or board to oversee the auto industry’s rescue and reconstruction, Bloomberg reported.

Both are steep requests that would require nationwide support – from Michigan state officials all the way up to President George W. Bush. Without 60 seats...

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The effort by General Motors Corp. to secure a federal bailout faces an overlooked hurdle: skeptical politicians, policy makers and industry analysts who don't think the world's largest auto maker is capable of turning itself around.

"Detroit has had a lot of time to understand what it takes to compete. They wouldn't stand up to the labor-union bosses, and now they're facing the consequences," said Rep. Jeb Hensarling, a three-term Texas congressman and chairman of a group o...

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President-elect Obama suggested to President Bush that the administration immediately provide extra help to struggling U.S. automakers, aides to the Democrat say, in their first face-to-face meeting since Election Day.

Obama's aides said the president-elect brought up the issue with Bush during their two-hour White House talks on Monday, expressing his view that action is needed now, not just to help the U.S. companies but also the broader economy, because of their enormous reach. Oba...

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DETROIT — The press for a federal bailout of the auto industry increased over the weekend.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said in a letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson that the Bush administration should consider expanding the $700 billion financial rescue to include car companies.

"A healthy automobile manufacturing sector is essential to the restoration of financial market stability," they wrot...

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Remember those plans to pick out a nice new car this year? Chances are they went down in flames this month along with your IRA. We Americans have a passion bordering on entitlement for purchasing a new car every two or three years. Low monthly payments and easy financing have fueled that craving to the extent that this year was supposed to see 16+ million new cars sold.

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Government Finds It Difficult to Deny Aid to Detroit in Wake of Wall Street Rescue

The auto-industry crisis is forcing a broader debate over how far the government should go to prop up ailing industries, as the Bush administration resists Democrats' request to use part of the $700 billion financial-rescue fund to aid Detroit's three struggling car makers.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, in a letter Saturday, formally re...

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Well, congratulations to President Elect Barack Obama. And good luck, too, as he will need it to engineer America out of its worst economic slump since the Great Depression. This week Barack Obama defeated John McCain by a narrow margin to become America's next President.
Obama won the popular vote by a margin of 60% to 40%, edging McCain in heated states such as Pennsylvania, Florida and California. Clearly, Obama's first big task on his lengthy "to-do" list will be t...

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Nov. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Carlos Ghosn should focus on managing Renault SA and Nissan Motor Co. through the worst auto-market slump in years as merger talks between General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC hamper his quest for a U.S. partner, investors say.

``Ghosn needs to concentrate on his companies now, because they're both suffering,'' said Koichi Ogawa, who helps manage $28 billion at Tokyo-based Daiwa SB Investments Ltd. Nissan and France's Renault should tighten the screws at home ra...

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MIAMI (November 6, 2008) – LeaseTrader.com, the nationwide online marketplace for Car Lease transfers, reports a 24 percent rise in customers listing their vehicle for transfer due to job loss and their desire to downsize into a more affordable car.

With the economy slamming on the brakes, a staggering amount of Americans continue to lose their jobs. Naturally, the first thing they look to do is lower their bills. LeaseTrader.com’s vehicle lease transfer p...

November 6th, 2008

I hate the doom and gloom stories, but there are realities we have to face. One of them is unemployment numbers expected tomorrow.

Job cut announcements by Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., as well as payroll manager ADP, both said this week that job cuts soared in October compared to September. What’s worse, the Department of Labor’s monthly report is due this week and is expected to point towards a growing unemployment rate beyo...

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Drivers Using Vehicle lease transfer Program to Downsize & Cut Their Bills

MIAMI, FL, Nov 06, 2008 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX) -- LeaseTrader.com, the nationwide online marketplace for Car Lease transfers, reports a 24 percent rise in customers listing their vehicle for transfer due to job loss and their desire to downsize into a more affordable car.

With the economy slamming on the brakes, a staggering amount of Americans continue to lose their jobs. Naturally, the first thi...

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A top General Motors Corp. (GM) executive on Wednesday said the next 100 days could represent the most crucial time in the history of the troubled company and entire U.S. auto industry.

Troy Clarke, president of GM North America, urged auto industry executives to make the case to Washington leaders that the failure of auto companies would have devastating effects on the economy.

Clarke said GM, expected to release bleak third-quarter results on Friday, is evaluating all its op...

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WASHINGTON -- The chief executives of the Detroit's automakers and the UAW president are to meet with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi today to discuss the possibility of a second $25-billion loan to the companies, as General Motors Corp. prepares to report financial results Friday that will sound new alarms about the industry's need for aid.

The meeting among Pelosi and industry leaders likely will pave the way for Congress to include new loans and perhaps other aid in a new economic stimu...

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DETROIT -- Gloom enveloping the U.S. auto industry is translating into some hot deals for car buyers.

While tough-to-get credit and a sinking economy is keeping legions of consumers out of showrooms, those able to buy are in a prime position as car makers take unprecedented steps to halt skidding sales.

"The affordability index for the auto industry is at its best level in 28 years," said Bob Carter, group vice president for Toyota Motor Corp.'s Toyota Division. &quo...

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Auto finance lenders, which include banks, lending units of auto manufacturers and independent finance companies, are facing mounting delinquencies and charge-offs, higher loss severity due to declining used car prices and rising funding costs due to the ongoing credit crisis.

Charge-offs are loans written off as not being repaid.

Beaudouin did note that ratings actions for large banks, such as Wells Fargo & Co, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Capital One Financial Corp. and Cit...

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Ford reports a 29% drop for the month compared with last year; General Motors is down 45%. Among imports, Toyota falls 21% and Honda, 26%.

The last time auto sales were this bad, the U.S. had just gone to war in Iraq -- for the first time.
Total U.S. automobile sales in October slumped to 838,156 cars and light trucks, a 32% decline from the same month last year. That's the lowest single-month sales figure since January 1991, when Operation Desert Storm began under President Ge...

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Want to switch to a car that guzzles less gas, but don't want to be hit with big penalties by terminating your lease early?

No problem--folks who are looking for a shorter lease or who don't want to put any money down would ove to take over your lease and finding these new lessees.  For a small fee lease trading websites, will match you up.

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DETROIT (Dow Jones) -- The United Auto Workers union has so far said relatively little about a merger of General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC, but now appears set to emerge as a key player in the fate of any deal.

The union, people familiar with the matter said, recently retained a former adviser to GM Chairman Rick Wagoner to help "level the playing field" in any discussions about changes in its current contract that could be needed in a tie-up of the two auto makers.

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The discussion in Washington about facilitating the merger of Chrysler and General Motors highlights the turmoil plaguing the US automobile sector. But there is also an emerging automotive finance crisis. The credit crash has triggered a precipitous decline in new car sales, caused in part by a rapid reduction in automotive financing. This in turn threatens to spark additional large write-downs in the financial sector. Rather than allow this systemic risk to spread through our entire economy,...

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LeaseTrader.com surveyed 500 men who use their site to get an idea of what it can cost to end a relationship. In addition a broken heart, the top five financial issues are, in order: rent; an unwanted car; credit card debt, property damage (Yikes! Ladies! Temper, temper!), and the responsibility of a formerly-shared pet -- though no one is suggesting any couple stay together for the gerbil.

Upon polling women, the web site found that they are most often left holding the bag after a br...

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