Nada Used Car Guide

Q.I am in need of a resource to teach me all about the car industry. Specifically I need to learn about different manufacturers, what models they make, why some are better than others, what features are important Basically I need to learn all I would need to become a consultant to people looking to buy a used car. If they wanted a certain type of car need to understand what is available in the market that would meet thei needs (ie if there is another make and model that is basically the same but just cheaper).

A.If you can read 360 magazines cover-to-cover in sequence, and retain what you learn, you will come closer than anyone you know to being an "expert". Go to the reference section of your public library, then read and digest back issues of Car and Driver, Consumer Reports and Motor Trend. You should begin with the 1985 model year, perhaps August, 1984 issues of each, and read them *concurrently*: the August, 1984 issue of each, then the September issue of each, and so on. No fair trying to memorize the annual auto issue of Consumer Reports instead of reading each issue: you won't remember enough to make it worth the time you spend doing it. Consumer Reports looks at everything from an antiseptic, utilitarian point of view. Car and Driver concentrates on the enthusiast in each of us. Motor Trend falls somewhere between the two, and leans toward neither. Better yet, forget Motor Trend and concentrate on the other two. If you get through ten years of Consumer Reports and Car and Driver, read Automobile magazine. Learn the '85 model year, then the '86, then the '87, and so on, until you are thoroughly conversant with what each magazine has written about the automobiles it tested. Don't get out of year model sequence, because you will only be confused. In fact, you might build a spreadsheet containing nutshell commentaries of what is written about each car. Forget the NADA Used Car Guide, except for the "fat" issue which comes out quarterly, and contains pictures to help identify cars by appearance and help to parse the Vehicle Identification Number to determine engine size, year model or body style. The values published there are almost meaningless, because you can't sell cars to the publishers of the NADA book, and you can't buy cars from them. Better yet, don't get involved in price negotiations at all. Even dealers have differences of opinion as to what a particular vehicle is worth...that's what makes a market. Most people are interested in Overall Quality, which is Consumer Reports' bag. Some are interested in cars as extensions of their personalities, and Car and Driver appeals to them. I would say that if you take the time to do this correctly, you will have as complete an education about cars as you can get from books.

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