uLooking To Finance A New Or Used Vehicle? You’re Likely In For The Long-Haulr

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  (Chris Goldberg)

  Purchasing a new or used vehicle can represent quite a commitment for consumers, especially as the length of an average vehicle loan continue to get longer, now reaching all-time highs.

  In fact, the average loan terms for new and used vehicles span 67 and 62 months, respectively, according to the latest State of the Automotive Finance Market report from credit reporting agency Experian.

  The terms for both types of loans increased by one month in the first quarter of 2015, representing the longest length since Experian Automotive began tracking the terms nearly nine years ago.

  In all, the report found that even longer loans – those with terms lasting 73 to 84 months – are on the rise, with 29.5% of all new vehicles financed with such terms. Long-term used vehicle loans for the same duration represented 16% of that market.

  “While longer term loans are growing, they do not necessarily represent an ominous sign for the market,” Melinda Zabritski, senior director of automotive finance for Experian, said in a statement. “Most longer-term loans help consumers keep monthly payments manageable, while allowing them to purchase the vehicles they need without having to break the bank.”

  Still, people undertaking such a long loan should be aware of other drawbacks, including the fact that they need to keep the car longer or face negative equity, Experian points out. The average age of cars on the road in the U.S. is 11 years.

  The report also found other upward trends in the new and used car loan markets, with the average amount financed for both types of vehicles increasing.

  A new vehicle loan for the first part of 2015 clocked in at $28,711, nearly $1,000 more than the same time in 2014. Used cars saw a more subtle increase in average cost with an increase to $18,213 in 2015 from $17,927 in 2014.

  According to the report, it appears that more and more people are turning away from buying a vehicle outright, instead turning to a leasing option.

  Leases accounted for about 31.5% of new vehicles financed in the first quarter of 2015, an increase of 1.3% from the previous year.

  At the same time, the average monthly payment for a leased vehicle decreased to $405 from $412.

  Auto loan terms reach all-time highs [Experian]

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uOlive Garden’s Board Of Directors Waited Tables To Experience Life As An Employeer

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• Not even a year ago, the activist hedge-fund investors at Starboard Value were making headlines with their 300-page report criticizing Olive Garden management for being wasteful with the free breadsticks, overly generous with the salad dressing, and not selling enough booze. Since then, Starboard has ousted board members at Olive Garden parent company Darden Restaurants and replaced them with their own nominees who have ushered in menu changes like turning those breadsticks into sandwiches. In an attempt to ground the new board members’ decisions in the real world, they all got to spend an evening on the foodservice front line.

  “Every board member worked inside of a restaurant,” Starboard CEO and Darden Chairman Jeff Smith tells Bloomberg’s Market Makers. “Once we went on the board, every single board member took a night and worked inside of a restaurant.”

  Smith says that there was no attempt to pretend that he and his fellow directors were new employees. “Everyone knew” who they were as they got hands-on with customers.

  “I was waiting on tables, greeting guests, serving some food, in the kitchen,” he explains. “All of us did that. It was an amazing experience because we felt as board members, ‘How are we going to be able to make good decisions in the board room without really knowing what’s happening inside the restaurants?’”

  Smith praised the company’s employees, saying that the staff is “working really hard. They care a lot.”

  In addition to Olive Garden, Darden owns a number of other chain eateries, including LongHorn Steakhouse, Capital Grille, and Yard House.

  Getting into the restaurants to see how things operate is “”about making sure we’re giving them the tools so that they can do the best job succeeding for us, for everyone,” says Smith.

  These sorts of in-the-field experiences are not unheard of for top executives. In 2012, Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly ended his 27-year break from working retail to spend some time on the sales floors of the electronics chain he’d just taken over.

  
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by Chris Morran via Consumerist

uKFC Sues Three Chinese Companies For Allegedly Starting Rumors It Uses Eight-Legged Chickensr

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  (Mike Mozart)

  Kentucky Fried Chicken wants customers to know that it hasn’t created mutant chickens with eight legs and six wings to fill its big ol’ buckets. While one might think the notion of a chicken with more than two wings and two legs is a bit farcical, a rumor of such genetically modified birds has been circulating in China, leading KFC’s parent company to file lawsuits against three Chinese businesses for allegedly concocting and publicizing fabricated stories about the chain’s products on social media.

  The Wall Street Journal reports that Yum Brands filed lawsuits against the companies for supposedly spreading false claims about KFC’s food and supplier practices, leading the restaurant’s image to become tarnished.

  KFC alleges in the lawsuits that the companies spread rumors on microblogs and through photos and articles online that purposely misled consumers about the quality of its food.

  Among the falsehoods KFC says the companies disseminated are accusations that chickens used by the restaurant are genetically modified to have six wings and eight legs.

  According to the WSJ, Yum is seeking about $245,000 in compensation from Ying Chen An Zhi Chenggong Culture Communications Ltd., Wei Lu Kuang Technology and Ling Dian Technology.

  KFC said in a statement that brought the legal action after the Chinese government began a campaign to dispel and discourage rampant social media rumors.

  The lawsuits are just the latest attempt by KFC to repair its image in China. Back in 2012, Chinese media reported that a supplier of the restaurant used growth hormones and antibiotics to help chickens grow faster, which led to worries over the safety of the company’s food, the WSJ reports.

  A rep for KFC says that the chain has since strengthened its supplier management practices.

  KFC Sues Chinese Companies Over Alleged Eight-Legged Chicken Rumors [The Wall Street Journal]

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uReport: Airlines Get A Lot Of Hate On Social Media, Especially The Big Onesr

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  (benh57)

  As often as we use social media to proclaim our likes and loves, just as often we air grievances to our friends and the world — including complaints about the companies we do business with. When it comes to talking about airlines on social media, a new report says it’s a negative arena, especially when it comes to the largest carriers.

  According to an analysis of Tweets from 2014 into this spring by Crimson Hexagon, a social media analysis company, 47% of posts about five large U.S. airlines were negative, with positive comments only getting about 20% of the social media pie, reports the Chicago Tribune.

  The rest of the posts got a “neutral” rating — like, “Hey, I just boarded a/an [X] flight to [Y] and thought I’d tell everyone I know.”

  The report says that United Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines and JetBlue have seen a 209% increase in mentions on Twitter since January 2012.

  The two biggest airlines United and American — also had the highest rate of negative posts among the rest, with 56% of both carriers’ mentions on Twitter being rated negative.

  In the social media age, companies have had to adjust their customer service methods to adapt to the changing times. Customers can now complain directly to companies’ Facebook or Twitter accounts, instead of being restricted to only emails, phone calls or handwritten letters.

  “More consumers are taking to social media to discuss these airline brands, ask general and specific travel questions, and express their satisfaction — or more likely, their dissatisfaction — towards these brands,” said the “Analyzing Customer Relations in the Airline Industry” report.

  While social media is supposed to make people feel more connected to the brands they’re encountering in real life, the report points to American as an example of a somewhat robotic social media personality.

  “Twitter was designed to be a social platform where relatively informal conversation takes place, yet American Airlines has not adapted its customer service methods to fit this social setting,” the report said. “The company’s replies to customers are very formal and do not come off as personal.”

  JetBlue uses less formal responses, the report says, and it ended up with the highest rate of positive comments, at about one-third of the total.

  The lesson to be learned here, the report indicates? Acting natural when communicating with the customer, because no one likes to feel like they’re talking to a robot instead of a real live person at a keyboard.

  Larger airlines get social media hate [Chicago Tribune]

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uOwner Accuses Petco Groomer Of Leaving Dog To Die Of Heat Stroker

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• Most dogs are not fond of blow dryers, which is why pet groomers use a quiet, hands-off method to dry them off after a bath. Drying cages are simply cages that blow hot air onto the animal inside. Users are not, however, supposed to put a dog inside and then leave the shop, and that’s what a Virginia dog owner accuses her local Petco of doing.

  If her allegations are true, this would not be the first time that a dog had died while in a grooming cage. One owner whose pet died in a cage seven years ago campaigned for the contraptions to be banned, and Petco claimed at that time that while it continues to use dryer cages, they were no longer heated.

  Yet TV station WWBT reports that the woman whose dog, Colby Jack the Golden Retriever, died after a grooming session in Virginia was told that the animal suffered from heat stroke. She called the store to check on her pet, and was put on hold for an extended period before being told to meet an employee at a nearby animal hospital. There, she learned that Colby Jack had died, and due to his still-elevated body temperature, the veterinarian declared that it must have been heat stroke.

  The owner claims that the store holder they couldn’t reach the technician who had bathed her dog, since she had left to go to a graduation party and wasn’t answering her phone. They wouldn’t comment directly on the situation to the media. Both Petco and the local animal control department are now investigating the incident.

  Woman says her dog died of heat stroke at Petco [WWBT] (Thanks, Ed!)

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

uThe Former Face Of Men’s Wearhouse Re-Emerges With On-Demand Tailoring Businessr

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  (nathanmac87)

  He might not be able to guarantee you’ll like the way you look, but George Zimmer, the former face of Men’s Wearhouse, is back and pitching on behalf of his own clothing company, an on-demand tailoring business called zTailors that he thinks is “a hell of an idea.”

  Though you might have thought Zimmer was just going to fade into the darkness of a closet somewhere after he was fired in 2013 from the company he founded more than 40 years ago, he has emerged with a shiny new company that uses a nationwide network of on-demand tailoring professionals that make house or office calls for customers, reports Bloomberg.

  The new company launched today, offering at-home alterations on both men’s and women’s clothing. Once the measurements are taken, the tailors take the clothes for a week or less to make the alterations before returnig them to customers. If something doesn’t fit quite right, additional changes are free. For now there’s simply a website for customers in most of California, Texas, Florida, and New York’s Tri-State area, but the company is planning to expand to other areas and create an app for the service as well.

  Tailors first have to be tested for their ability and interviewed by an executive, as well as submitting to background checks. So far there are 600 tailors signed on, with plans for 1,000 by the end of the year.

  “We think this is a hell of an idea,” Zimmer, who owns about one-third of the company and serves in an advisory role as chairman says. “I’ve had a 40-year tradition with tailors, and they are the quintessential underdogs.”

  As for guaranteeing how people will feel after using the service? Well, Zimmer won’t be uttering anything familiar on that front.

  “I’m very careful not to use that word,” he told Bloomberg. “I’m fine using it in jest or for charity, but I’m not using it commercially.”

  The Face of Men’s Wearhouse Is Back With a New Tailoring Startup [Bloomberg]

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uTesla Won’t Be Selling Cars Directly In Texas For At Least Another Two Yearsr

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  (Atwater Village Newbie)

  Tesla won’t be conquering the Lone Star state anytime soon, as bills in front of the Texas legislature that would allow direct-to-consumer sales by the electric car maker likely won’t see the light of day until 2017, when the next regular legislative session begins.

  Bloomberg reports that the latest hurdle for Tesla is the second in Texas since 2013.

  This year, Tesla backed two bills that would have allowed the company to sell directly to consumers in the state, rather than going through a car dealership. However, neither the Texas House nor Senate brought the bills to a vote.

  The legislative failure comes after Tesla CEO Elon Musk campaigned heavily for the bills, including a tour through the state’s capital of Austin in early January.

  In all, Bloomberg reports that Tesla hired about 20 lobbyists and spent more than $150,000 on campaign contributions last year in an effort to sway policy in its favor.

  However, Tesla’s backing paled in comparison to that of traditional auto dealers in Texas – which represents the second largest car market in the U.S. Dealers in the state have had substantial support of residents and legislators especially in Texas’ vast rural areas.

  Additionally, the industry’s lobby groups have fought fiercely to protect their businesses, and not just in Texas. Tesla has seen setbacks in several states when it comes to its direct-to-consumer sales model.

  Back in January, a Missouri auto dealers group sued the state for allowing Tesla to sell directly to consumers.

  Before that, in October 2014, the Michigan legislature quietly passed – as an amendment to an unrelated bill – a law that explicitly states that the dealership-only requirement applies to all car companies who sell, service, display or advertise vehicles in the state; meaning Tesla isn’t welcome to sell directly to customers.

  Just last month, the Federal Trade Commission urged Michigan lawmakers to repeal the ban.

  But for every setback Tesla has faced in recent years, there have been a few victories. Georgia, Maryland and New Jersey passed measures that allow the electric car company to sell its products directly to residents.

  As for Texas, Tesla likely won’t be backing down from its fight, but it will have to wait nearly two years for its third go-around with the state.

  “We have to do a better job of marshaling the popular support that we know is there,” Diarmuid O’Connell, vice president of business development for Tesla, tells Bloomberg.

  Tesla’s Push to Sell Cars Directly to Texans Runs Out of Juice [Bloomberg]

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist