Mercedes Benz Car

So you know you want a Mercedes Benz car, or you want to upgrade to a new one. Join the club. Whether you want it as a statement of style, or you want it because their cars are engineered to be some of the safest on the road, or you just want to it impress the neighbors, you want one

Mercedes-Benz USA offers 15 different classes of vehicles, broadly grouped into seven body styles. The Mercedes Benz corporate website is quite helpful in navigating your options. You can supplement that with Motor Trend Magazine's New Car Finder if you restrict the search to the Mercedes-Benz make.

Regardless of the tool you use, your first job is to assess what you want the car for. First, though, a word about safety. It's pretty much a given for any Mercedes Benz model you choose. You'll find debate about it, but Mercedes has always been one of the safest cars on the road. So restricting your search to only safe models is unlikely to help you. It's better to start with what you'll use the car for.

Want a car for the family? No problem, but what does your family look like? You'll need to know how many people you need to move, their ages and their needs.

This is where body style and the number of seats become important. Mercedes Benz does not offer a true mini-van, for example, so if you have kids you need to transport, you'll probably be looking at a GL-Class SUV, or an E-Class wagon, or perhaps an R-Class crossover. If you only have adults to move, that widens the field a bit to include the C-Class, E-Class and S-Class sedans.

If you're looking for a car for yourself, or perhaps you and your spouse, the coupes and roadsters come into play. The CL-Class, CLK-Class and CLS-Class coupes offer style and luxury similar to the sedans, but with only two doors. The SL-Class, SLK-Class and SLR-Class roadsters give you the best of Mercedes Benz engineering and road race inspired design.

So far, I've assumed price is no object. Mercedes isn't a bargain automobile, but you do have some choices. In the sedan category, for example, a still luxurious and practical C-Class starts at just under $34,000 for a solid V6 engine and 26 mpg on the highway. Or you can pump up the power at the high end and go for the AMG model for a beefy V8 at almost twice the price. And if you're independently wealthy, you can invest in an SLR-Class roadster starting at nearly half a million dollars.

When you've narrowed the options down by body style, number of seats and price, you can further restrict your searches by fuel economy and features.

Now this obviously is just what's available on the Mercedes website, but it's the bulk of what you'll hear from a salesman in a showroom. The difference is that a salesman can address very specific questions about particular features and options in each model. If you're looking for definitive information, there's no substitute for talking to a human who knows the product...and nothing beats actually seeing, feeling and experiencing the vehicle you're considering.

A Mercedes Benz car is a significant financial commitment, no matter which model you go with. If you'll do a little preparation before visiting your local dealer, you'll have a better idea of where you'll fit in the Mercedes class universe, and you'll get the most out of your new Mercedes car purchase

BMW Car

The growth in used car marketplace has been accelerating each year as American's appetite for leasing new cars outstrips historical trends of purchasing cars with four and five year car loans. The move towards leasing creates a predictable cycle of used cars hitting the market. Most leased cars are returned to the dealer within 24 and 36 months from the origination date of the lease.

The leasing phenomena has changed the dynamics of the used car marketplace by injecting quality pre-owned cars that often have low mileage and excellent service records. Many readers may remember the days when a used car lot looked like a collection of "misfit toys" from the popular animated cartoon movie. Today, a used car dealer strives to find quality low mileage cars with no history of accidents, abuse or stress to the car.

The certified pre-owned (CPO) BMW program is an example of taking the used car buyer seriously. BMW created a certification checklist that all used cars must pass in order to be qualified as a CPO car. If a BMW is still covered by the original warranty and passes the CPO checklist, BMW adds a two year /50,000 mile additional warranty to the original warranty. As I learned about this program, I was amazed to see resulting BMW used car warranty you can get from a BMW dealer.

For example, if you purchased a certified used 2006 BMW 525i with 23,000 miles from an Authorized BMW dealer; there would be approximately 3 years left on the original warranty. The three years is based on the balance of the BMW new car warranty; four years or 50,000 miles.

If you purchase the used BMW 525i from an authorized BMW dealer and they sold the car in the CPO program, you would receive following mileage warranty:

Original Mileage Warranty Remaining: (50,000 - 23,000) = 27,000 miles

Additional Mileage Warranty: 50,000

Total BMW Used Car Mileage Warranty: 77,000

You can drive the car 77,000 miles and still be under the BMW warranty program. If you don't drive many long distances, you would also have a five year warranty on the car (3 years from balance of original new car warranty + 2 years from CPO certification) so you can rest assured that your used BMW vehicle will deliver many years of driving pleasure.

When buying a BMW used car or any used car, research the warranty programs from each manufacturer. With an ample supply of quality pre-owned BMW cars on the marketplace, it pays to buy the car from an authorized BMW used car dealer. Sellers on popular auction sites may have a slightly better purchase price, but what is the cost of downtime, repairs and service that an additional 50,000 miles could bring to your BMW used car