Automobiles in the United States

Legal Materials

Arranged by type of information.

Buying Guides: Edmunds.com provides a wealth of information about buying new cars, including “prices, ratings, reviews, specifications, recalls, etc,” as well as safety and insurance information. Consumer Reports regularly publishes reviews of new cars, and there is an annual Consumer Reports Automobile Buying Guide. Consumer Reports is available is almost all public libraries and it’s on the Web and Lexis. Also check out the rival Consumers Digest, which is available in many public libraries.Carpoint offers evaluations, prices and leasing options.

Carpoint and Intellichoice post rebates and other manufacturer incentives.FuelEconomy.gov provides the EPA’s official estimate for gas mileage (MPG).

Reliability ratings for recent models are available from the J.D. Power consumer Center. Information on older models is available through MSN. You can check to see if a particular vehicle has a record of being involved in a crime, a flood, etc., usingCARFAX and/or the government-sponsored National Motor Vehicle Title Information System.

If you just want to see models and prices, go straight to Autobytel.com. This site is designed to facilitate your on-line purchase of a car, so it takes you pretty directly to what you need to know.

See also the “Safety” section, below. For used car prices, see “Automobile Valuation Information.”

Industry: Figures for sales, manufacturing (“production”), inventory, and incentive programs, are available in the “Data Center” on the Automotive News website.

Insurance: See the Automobile Insurance section of the “Insurance” entry.

Laws: The Automobile Association of America posts a handy Digest of Motor Laws that summarizes the laws of all the states, but without citations. See the entry for each state to get the actual law. See also “Lemon Laws” section of this entry, below.

Lemon Laws: Lemon Laws give a buyer who get a defective car the right to sue the seller. All states have Lemon Laws. They are summarized, with citations, in theNational Survey of State Laws (Gale Research). They are posted on Lemon Law America, with citations, but you have to find the link that says “Statutes” to get past the advertising.

Loans: Information on auto loans, leasing and shopping for automobiles is posted on the Web by the Bank Rate Monitor and Car Finance. Sites that specialize in leasing information include Leasesource and Auto Site.

Ownership/Registration/Loans and Liens: Accurint, TLO, LocatePLUS, Lexis andWestlaw (xx-MV) have motor vehicle registration databases from most states that tell you the owner, VIN number, make/model/year, lien holders and license plate/tag numbers. Accurint has a “Gateway” that lets you search most state DMV databases directly. You may also be able to search a database posted free by the relevant state agency, or you can hire a company that gets registration records from that state’s MVA. In many states you can also get information on outstanding loans and liens from the MVA.

Police Reports: You can purchase police reports on automobile accidents occurring in many states through PoliceReports.us.

Recalls: Information on automobile recalls is posted by AutoRecalls.org, the National Highway Traffic Safety Association and Transport Canada. More sites are listed on theVehicle Recalls page posted by AutoGlassSearch.com. You can also find recall information in some buying guides such as Edmunds.

Safety: The Crash Test Web site compiles data from various sources on automobile models back to the 1970s. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration posts lots of safety information, including crash results for selected late-model cars. More reliable information is available from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.MotherProof.com is known for good safety reviews of popular models.

As mentioned above, SAExpress (417-776-4970) sells papers on and standards for automobile manufacturing.

Federal safety statutes, regulations, and related legal materials are compiled in CCH’sConsumer Products Safety Guide.

Stolen Cars: Generally car buyers have to call the police if they want to know if the VIN, license plate number or other number on a car or car part has been reported as stolen.

Automobile Valuation Information

There are several good sources for automobile valuation information.

(1) N.A.D.A. Official Used Car Guide. The National Automobile Dealer’s Association’sGuide is generally called “The Blue Book,” even though it has a gold cover and even though there is another series of valuation books called “Blue Books” (discussed below). The Guide tells you the average price dealers paid for trade-ins. It is widely used by dealers, insurance companies and people valuing estates for tax purposes because its figures are low.

There are several different editions of The Blue Book for different regions of the country, and NADA publishes other Guides for other kinds of automobiles (motorcycles, trailers, “classic” cars, etc.). The N.A.D.A. Web site list all the Guides, but somewhat obviates the need for most of them by letting you look up the value of most kinds of vehicles sold in the last ten years. You can find out the price for older cars by calling N.A.D.A. (800-966-6232; $30 per request in 2011) or getting copies from N.A.D.A.’s Older Used Car Guide, which is available in many larger public libraries.

(2) Price Digests The Price Digests series includes The Automobile Red Book, known as “The Red Book,” as well as a number of “Blue Books” covering other kinds of vehicles (e.g., the Truck Blue Book, the Horse Trailer Blue Book, the ABOS Marine Blue Book, etc.). There are special Blue Books for older vehicles (e.g., the Older Car Blue Book, the Older Truck Blue Book), boats and airplanes. These are available in print or by subscription through PriceDigests.com.

The publisher’s stated goal is to be impartial and accurate. That is, the price in The Red Book should be a useful measure of what a car is really worth on the open market.

Note: Between November 15, 1999 and 2002 The Automobile Red Book was titled theNMR Auto Blue Book. Also, at various times, the publisher has called itself “National Market Reports,” “Mclean Hunter Market Reports” and “Blue Book Values” before being purchased by Primedia and renamed “Primedia Price Digests.” When I checked again in 2008, the publisher was Penton Media, Inc.

(3) The Kelly Blue Book Price Manual. This is also put out by a private company. There are different versions for new and used cars; there is also a user-friendly Internet site (www.kbb.com). The Manual’s values are based on average prices paid at recent car auctions (usually by dealers) plus transportation, cleaning and repairs. Historical valuation reports can be purchased by calling 800-258-3266, option 2. Note: The “Kelley Blue Book” should not be confused with “The Blue Book” by NADA or the “Automobile Blue Book.”

(4) Black Book. Black Book produces several print and online valuation guides based largely on auction sales. They cover cars, light trucks, snowmobiles, ATVs and other vehicles (boats, etc.).

(5) Other electronic sources. The consumer-oriented Edmund.com provides a wealth of information about buying new and used cars, including “prices, ratings, reviews, specifications, recalls, etc,” as well as safety and insurance information. TrueCar.comsells New Car Reports will tell you the dealer’s real cost for a particular model (the invoice price, the “holdback” discount, special incentives, etc.) plus actual local sales data. For a modest fee, CarBargains will try to get the best new car price on any make and model you request; Authority Auto is an upscale higher-priced car shopper site.

For older car prices you can also check Classic Cars, Mecum Auctions and Collector Car Market Review, as well as the relevant sections of the NADA, Kelly and Edmundssites. CarGurus locates used cars currently listed for sale in a particular zip code.

Damage, Fraud: For a small fee, Carfax will check a used car’s identification number to see if it has ever been involved in a reported fraud situation (e.g., an odometer roll back), if the title is encumbered and to see if has ever been wrecked and retitled, and to see whether there have been manufacturer recalls. Carfax Vehicle History Reports are also available through Accurint. Experian sells an equivalent report called anAutoCheck Vehicle History Report.

Main Topics of Automobiles

This entry in the American Encyclopedia has been organized to address the following topics, among others:

• Automobiles : Accident Liability
• Automobiles : Buying a Car/Registration
• Automobiles : Driver’s License
• Automobiles : Insurance
• Automobiles : Leasing a Car
• Automobiles : Safety
• Automobiles : Seat Belt Usage
• Automobiles : Traffic Violations

Resources

See Also

• Auctions
• Auctioneers
• Transport
• Aircraft
• Automobile Theft
• Automobile Insurance

Distance
Driving
Driving Records
Maps
Parking Lots and Parking Garages
Safety
Trade Journals
Transportation

Further Reading

• Information about Automobiles in the Gale Encyclopedia of American Law.