In simple terms, the rack is a grooved bar which extends across the bottom of the engine compartment connecting the two front wheels together. The pinion is a gear located at the end of the steering shaft which fits into the grooves of the rack. When you turn your steering wheel, the pinion rotates and moves the rack from side to side. Depending on which way you turn your wheel, as the pinion rotates, the rack will move and push the back of one tire out and pull the back of the opposite tire in causing your car to turn appropriately.

Okay, so what are the benefits? There are some great benefits to Rack and Pinion steering. The simplicity of this type of steering means there are fewer parts. Having fewer parts, means your vehicle will be lighter thus increasing fuel economy. Another benefit to fewer parts is it makes your steering easier to control. And yet another plus, fewer parts under the hood means fewer parts to break and an easier diagnostic exam for your repairman.

Now that you have a brief understanding of how Rack and Pinion steering works and it’s benefits, be sure to ask your sales person what type of steering each car has. The more you know about the car you are purchasing, the better the odds you will purchase the right vehicle for you.

Here is how it works. A small transmitter is hidden in your vehicle in one of over 20 possible places. If your vehicle is stolen, you simple report it to law enforcement and they will activate the transmitter. The person who stole you vehicle will not hear an alarm and will have no way of knowing the transmitter was activated.  Once activated, it will emit a silent radio signal. Law enforcement vehicles equipped with LoJack tracking computers will follow the signal to the exact location of the vehicle. This signal is so strong it can locate your car even if it is well hidden, garaged or in a steel container.

So is LoJack right for you? If you live in a high crime area, installing LoJack may help you sleep a little better. If you live in the suburbs but work in the city, you may want to check the crime rate in that area.

Two additional items you may want to consider before purchasing. If you own a General Motors Vehicle equipped with OnStar, you may skip the LoJack purchase. OnStar already has the ability to track your vehicle. The other thing to consider is you may not want your vehicle back if it has been stolen. Some stolen vehicles are returned with mechanical problems, vandalized and some even have structural damage.

Whether or not you install LoJack on your vehicle is a personal choice, however in the citizens of Utah did not have that option until now. If you are interested in installing LoJack, contact your local Law Enforcement and inquire if it is available in your area.

The word is they are not your typical car dealer. They treat you like a person, which is what makes them different. This is not a paid endorsement by Showroom Logic. We simply want to spread the owrd about how great they are.

2009 Nissan Rogue

Tim Dahle Nissan doesn’t only have a great selection of new Nissans, they also have a used car lot with just about every vehicle you can imagine. Check out their inventory by clicking the photo, or call (888) 603-0707.

This week’s featured car is this 2009 Nissan Rogue, available for only $24,295.00.

Ever try to create and run a successful Google Adwords Campaign? It’s not as easy as it may seem if you never have.

We find many dealers fighting over the same 10 keyword phrases, and some are bidding as high as 4 dollars for a single click.

Ever wonder how AutoTrader and Cars.com gets so much traffic? They have a huge campaign with tens of thousands of keywords, and you are forced to try to out-bid them as well.

Showroom Logic has automated this process. We take your inventory and create a Google Adsense campaign for each vehicle, new or used. When each ad is clicked, it takes the user to the actual vehicle listing page.

Now you can truly claim and own your area in all Google Searches. This tool is only available for 1 dealer per city, so I suggest you check out the screen shots  below.

During the last 3 calendar days we received a quarter of a million impressions in the Tampa Bay area alone for our client. Not only do these ads show up on Google searches, but they are displayed on thousands of area auto related blogs, newspapers, YouTube videos and forums.

This Google search showed a Chrysler Sebring that Park Automall has in stock. When clicked, it will go directly to the vehicle’s page. If Park Automall didn’t have any Chrysler Sebrings in stock there simply wouldn’t have been an ad.

How do we do it? It’s simple: Automation. We write the code and connect it to the site. As a dealer’s inventory rolls in our sytem generates the campaign instantly. When the vehicle is marked as sold, the campaign is deleted.

This article website wrote about a 2008 BMW. When viewed in the Tampa Bay area Park Automall’s add showed up . They happened to have a 2007 model in stock.

Park Automall normally doesn’t see motorcycles, but they recently took a Harley as a trade. Now that the bike is in their inventory this ad was displayed on a Harley Davidson Forum.

Car Dealers can decide if they want to be included in just search results or the content network like the examples above (or both). Like any adsense campaign you decide your daily budget and target audience.

Unless you are in the Tampa Florida area you will not be able to see this in action. If you would like to see a demonstration, call Mike @ 863-666-0130. A high speed connection is all you will need.

Showroom Logic is a small company, but we have some of the Car Industry’s best tools including our automated Twitter Tweets and Facebook Updates.

Park Automall owns the Tampa Florida market, and we can do the same for and car dealership saving you thousands of dollars in advertising. Remember, we can only do this for 1 dealer per city.

If you would like more information you can email mike@showroomlogic.com or visit Showroom Logic.com.

This is great for you if you’re in the used car market. As each new vehicle is added to their inventory, you will receive a tweet with a direct link to the vehicle. The great part is, Cutrubus doesn’t over-tweet. You will never get more than 3 inventory tweets in one day. Check out their Twitter Pages:

Cutrubus Of Layton On Twitter

Cutrubus Of Riverdale On Twitter

The idea? Simple. Car Dealers still aren’t utilizing social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter. Most car dealers are too busy looking for the “I want to sell a car today” method.

Social networking takes a while to acquire friends and followers, but if it’s done properly car dealer will reap the benefits. What I mean by properly is simple. Don’t bombard your followers with useless tweets and updates. They don’t want to know what you had for lunch.

There’s an old saying, “Only speak when you have something to say”. This is very important in social networking, especially if you are a business. If you get a new follower on Twitter or a friend on Facebook you will be put on “probation”. If you annoy this person they will leave you, simple as that.

Even if you only tweet or update a couple of times a week, that will be acceptable. How often does you dealership offer new incentives? Let’s say you have a “0% Financing” Special starting tomorrow. This would be an acceptable tweet. Simply say “Starting tomorrow, 0% Financing on select models. Visit our website for details”. Then you should have a direct link to your webpage explaining the promotion.

Your url will probably be too long, so shorten it at http://bit.ly. For Facebook, all you have to do is copy and paste the entire url into your staus update box, and they do the rest. For more detailed directions, visit the Social Networking Map To Success.

So what makes Showroom Logic’s Twitter tool so special? Simple, we make your updates for you. As your newest inventory rolls in, we send out a Tweet with a direct link to that vehicle. We also send an update through Facebook (with photograph) of the actual car or truck. You are still free to do as many manual tweets and updates as you wish.

Here is a Screenshot of a Utah dealer’s Twitter page, using our tools:

Snap Shot Of Jerry Seiner Using Our Twitter Tools

For more information, visit ShowroomLogic.com, or contact:

Brandon Bishop (All other states): (866) 994-1601 Extension 106

Patrick Bennett (Utah): (801) 400-9178

Mike Annable (Florida): (863) 812-6411

Look At The Publicity We Obtained From Our press release for one of our customers, Park Automall in Tampa Florida.

Car dealers throughout the country are dabbling in Social Networking. I’ve located car dealers throughout the US who at some point signed up for a Twitter and Facebook account. The problem is, car dealers like instant results so within weeks they simply abandon their accounts.

In my opinion this can actually make a dealer look bad. Every Twitter Tweet and every Facebook Update has a time stamp. If I am starting the process  of buying a new or used car I will not simply Google it, find the car and run out and buy it today.

My buying process would take at least 30 days. There are 3 places I would start looking:

1. Google: I am a Googler, what can I say. I will look at any dealer that pops up on the first page. If I get greeted with a pop-up, I will be gone in a heartbeat. We call that a “bounce”. You see, you cannot trick me into filling out a pop-up coupon (I compare this to pulling into a dealership and a salesman pops out from behind a car and starts annoying me with sales pitches). I am the savviest 41 year old you’ll ever meet. Let’s face it, car dealers have a bad reputation that exists from decades ago. Your brand will not sell me either. I look at 2 things, your inventory and your prices. If it’s a new vehicle I will also look for incentives like 0% Financing. I hope you make it clear to me when I see your website. I really don’t want to have to navigate through all of that flash on your website because at some point it will probably lock up my computer.
2. Twitter: I love Twitter, and I love the power of it. If you are on Twitter I will find you and follow you. You will be placed on my “Twitter Probation”. If the first Tweet I see says you just had a Big Mac for lunch I am gone. You see, I don’t expect a Tweet from you every day. What I do expect is a Tweet every time you post a new vehicle on your website. Why? I am shopping for a car. I also want to know about a new incentive you have to get me in the door, but please don’t keep telling me the same thing.
3. Facebook: Facebook is great too, but it’s hard to find friends who will join a car dealer. I would look for a sales person that had a personal account. I would expect intelligent updates from them. I would also expect to see some inventory on there.

Most car dealers have an older “old school” management team who ultimately make all of the decisions. This can create a problem for the younger employees who see the potential in Social Networking. You will not start utilizing social networking today and reap the benefits tomorrow. Realistically it will take a couple of months.This is the new generation we are dealing with, and it’s here to stay.

Lorrie Walker runs a public relations firm in the Tampa Florida area. Last week she wrote an article about Social Networking. There was one particular quote in their that says it all:

“If Generation Y isn’t already part of your client base, they soon will be,” Walker said. “So businesses need to communicate on their level.”

I could go on and on with this post, but I highly recommend you read Lorrie’s article here.

2 Largest Social Networking Sites:

1) Twitter: It’s very easy to get a Twitter account, but there’s more to it than that. Now you need to get followers. The easiest way to do that is to start following people like your friends, family and even your vendors. Supposedly about 30% of the people you follow will follow you back. If you have no followers in Twitter it will be like talking to yourself. Be sure to fill in your profile information (especially the town you’re in) so you will show up in directories.

When you do get followers, don’t be obnoxious with your Tweets. Only send a tweet when you have something to say, even if it’s only once every day or 2. Nobody wants to hear about where you ate lunch. All dealers signed up with Showroom Logic can take advantage of our automatic used car tweets. Every time a new vehicle is added to your inventory we will send out an automatic tweet through the dealers Twitter account with a direct link to the vehicle detail page. If your inventory rolls in late at night like most car dealers, we will put the Tweet on hold until the next morning. We will also space the tweets out. If you have 20 new cars come on your users won’t want 20 Tweets in a row, so we roll them out about every 20 minutes or so. Here is a screenshot of one of our client’s Twitter Account:

Automatic Twitter Updates - Click For Live Dem0

2) Facebook: Facebook is also a great way to advertise, and you need “friends” as well. It takes time to get friends, but it’s not rocket science. Showroom Logic can also automatically update your Facebook Account (pictures and all):

All Of Your Inventory Will Be On Facebook (Pictures & All)

Showroom Logic can accept dealer inventory feeds, or car dealers can use our back-end to post their own vehicle. Call 863-812-6411 for information.