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Stateside
5:20 pm
Wed March 20, 2013

What women look for when buying a new car

Colorful used cars
Credit Zelda Richardson
Do men and women prefer different cars?

In a recent study by L.R. Polk, none of the top ten car companies that women prefer were domestic.

Susan Ianni, the general manager of Gordon Chevrolet of Garden City, argued otherwise.

"Women here love domestic cars," she said. "It's in other parts of the country where the problem lies. Women aren't even looking at domestic cars. They aren't even on their shopping list. Women are going for the car they're driving which is probably a foreign car, so they're going back to that dealership and not giving domestic cars a chance."

So what was this study getting at and why do some women prefer foreign cars?

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8:41 pm
Thu March 14, 2013

GM looking to expand its Lansing Grand River plant

Credit Steve Carmody/Michigan Radio
General Motors Lansing Grand River plant

General Motors is considering spending nearly $40 million to expand its Lansing Grand River plant.

On Monday, the Lansing city council will consider granting tax abatements to GM.

The abatements are tied to the automaker’s plan to spend $38 million to expand its Lansing Grand River plant. The expansion would add about 150 jobs.

GM already makes its Cadillac ATS at the plant.   The ATS recently won the North American Car of the year award at the North American International Auto Show. 

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Stateside
4:44 pm
Tue March 12, 2013

What's behind the high costs of Michigan auto insurance rates?

Credit Toby Oxborrow / Flickr

Depending on where you live in the state, your auto insurance rates could be outrageously high.

During the last session of the Michigan Legislature, there was an attempt to change the state’s auto no-fault insurance with claims that it would lower rates.

This is something the auto insurance agencies keep lobbying for, and Governor Rick Snyder said in his State of the State address we need to keep costs down.

But there’s little evidence that your insurance rates would go down that much, or at all, by these limits.

That’s because the real reason auto insurance is so high in some areas is theft, fraud, and uninsured motorists.

The part of no-fault that guarantees someone severely hurt will get the reasonable care they need is just a fraction of the cost, and some would argue the best bargain in the nation.

Joining me now is a lawyer who, we should point out, fights the insurance companies over claims on a regular basis.

Steven Gursten is with the law firm Michigan Auto Law.

Most of us find auto insurance coverage a little confusing at best, so we started off by explaining what catastrophic coverage is, and what the Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association is.

Listen to the full interview above.

Stateside
1:12 pm
Mon March 11, 2013

The outlook of the auto economy in Michigan

Credit automotiveauto.info

Michigan's economy is recovering faster than most states and much of that growth is because the auto industry is doing better these days.

Ford, GM, and Chrysler are all seeing increased sales in North America and China.

But just how healthy is it for the state to be reliant on building cars and trucks?

The state's economy has not diversified. It's riding along with the ups and downs of the auto industry.

The auto industry is booming for now, but for how long?

We spoke with Rick Haglund of Bridge Magazine about this. He covers Michigan business, economics, and the auto industry for Bridge Magazine.

Listen to the full interview above.

Auto
11:27 am
Fri March 8, 2013

Feds close probe into Ford SUVs rolling away

Credit By IFCAR (Own work) / Wikimedia Commons
NHTSA: No recall on SUVs that might roll away in park.

DETROIT (AP) - U.S. safety officials have closed an investigation into allegations that three Ford SUVs can roll away when the transmissions are in park.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says the probe involved about 1.5 million Ford Explorer, Mercury Mountaineer and Lincoln Aviator SUVS from the 2002 to 2005 model years.

The agency determined that failure rates weren't high enough to order a recall. The probe began in April 2009 and was closed last month. The safety agency found 36 complaints including 14 crashes and six injuries.

Investigators found that the park gear in the transmission failed only 4.4 times per 100,000 vehicles. A system that prevents the car from being shifted into gear unless the driver's foot is on the brake failed only 3.4 times per 100,000 SUVs.

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