auto

What Percentage of Your Income Should Go Toward Auto Loan Payments?

By Betty C. Morrow 2 months ago


a woman in a car: woman driving car smiling.

© lechatnoir / Getty Images
woman driving car smiling.

Housing expenses such as mortgage payments or rent and insurance are usually the biggest monthly line item in most people’s budgets. Not far behind are transportation costs, particularly if you own a car — and certainly if you finance your purchase.

See: 7 Crucial Things You Need To Apply For an Auto Loan

If you plan to get an auto loan, you need to first figure out the answer to the question “How much car can I afford?” Figure out how much you can afford to pay by calculating your monthly budget. Do this before you set foot in a dealer’s shiny showroom where they might try to seduce you into buying and financing more car than you can afford.

How Much of My Paycheck Should Go Toward Car Loan Payments?

You’ll hear different advice about how much you should allocate

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Japan car makers scramble to assess impact of Renesas auto chip-plant fire

By Betty C. Morrow 3 months ago

TOKYO (Reuters) – Toyota, Nissan, Honda and other Japanese automakers scrambled on Monday to assess the production impact of a fire at a Renesas Electronics automotive chip plant that could aggravate a global semiconductor shortage.

“We are gathering information and trying to see if this will affect us or not,” a Honda spokesman said. Other car makers including Toyota and Nissan said they too were assessing the situation.

The effect on car makers could spread beyond Japan to other auto companies in Europe and the United States because Renesas has around a 30% global share of microcontroller unit chips used in cars.

Renesas said it will take at least a month to restart production on a 300mm wafer line at its Naka plant in northeast Japan after an electrical fault caused machinery to catch fire on Friday and poured smoke into the sensitive clean room.

Two-thirds of production at the

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Nutson’s Digest Of Top Auto News

By Betty C. Morrow 3 months ago


PHOTO

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AUTO CENTRAL CHICAGO March 14, 2021 Every Sunday Larry Nutson, The Chicago Car Guy and Executive Producer, with able assistance from senior editor Thom Cannell from The Auto Channel Michigan Bureau, compile The Auto Channel’s
“take” on this past week’s automotive news, condensed into easy to digest news Nuggets.

LEARN MORE: Links to full versions of today’s news nuggets along with a million pages of the past 25 year’s automotive news, articles, reviews and archived stories residing in

The Auto Channel Automotive News Library can be found by just copying and then inserting the main headline into the News Library Search Box.

Want more automotive content than our million plus pages?, TV viewers can watch The Auto Channel-TV Network on Hulu, Google, You Tube and of course TUNA Digital Network and Old Fashioned “Free and Clear” OTA (Over the air)
TV in Boston and South Florida as well as local

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Car seat foam shortage threatens to derail auto production, report says

By Betty C. Morrow 3 months ago
2021 Chevrolet Trailblazer

You have to have seats to build a full car.


Chevrolet

Automakers continue to suffer through a semiconductor shortage, but there may be another issue brewing in the background: foam. Specifically, the foam that goes into millions of car seats we sit on every day when going for a drive. According to a report from Automotive News on Thursday, suppliers are “scrambling” to restart production following the devastating Texas winter storms last month.

The storms knocked power offline for millions of residents and produced water shortages statewide, and the state’s petrochemical plants didn’t go unscathed. Two sources spoke with the publication saying things are fine for now, but the problem may become serious in the coming weeks. One source cautioned this is a “threat” and not a “given,” depending on how the sector ramps up production again. But the semiconductor shortage has left automakers in a tough spot

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