The LuxMob Info Tags

Almost every financial organization has a workout department. Their names are as varied as Problem Loan Administration; Central Loan Department; or Special Assets Department. A dealer may be assigned to one of these special departments, or a member of the department may start appearing at meeting with the dealer’s regular bank officer.

The courts have consistently upheld the rights of lenders to have workout teams and to have those teams, within broad parameters, take affirmative actions to protect the lenders’ interests.

Matching the average dealer’s experience with work-outs, to that of the lender’s experience, would be equivalent to matching a high school football team against a professional team. The professionals have played the game hundreds of times. They have seen and heard hundreds of presentations, arguments, excuses and reasons for a dealership’s problems, while the dealer, lacking experience, is encountering the trauma for the first time. Realizing the dealer will probably be a neophyte, with respect to workouts, the following rules are provided the dealer, as a plumb line, to be followed throughout the workout procedure:

1. Do Not Confuse Friendship with Business. Factories and lenders have seen and heard most of the workout plans any dealer could suggest. The have probably seen versions of each plan which have been refined over generations by some of the best minds in the business. Their experience, however, cannot help the dealer get the best benefits for the dealer.

Employees of the factory/lender have an obligation to their corporation and in turn to its shareholders, to get the best contract for their corporation. There is nothing wrong with that; they have a legal duty to their shareholders and creditors to protect them, not you.

They will, however, indicate whether or not you workout plan is “acceptable” or “unacceptable” to them.
If the proposed plan is “unacceptable”, one of two things can happen. The dealer can keep proposing plans, until one is accepted, or the factory/lender might suggest an acceptable alternative.

If the factory/lender suggests a plan acceptable to them, it means just that: the workout plan is acceptable to the factory/lender. It does not mean, and should not mean, the factory/lender will not approve some other plan, which may be more beneficial to the dealer, if the dealer knows what to request and how to structure it.

2. Do Not Confuse Optimism with Confidence. Optimism means expecting a plan will work. Confidence means knowing what to do if it does not. Never act without confidence.

3. Do Not Value a Dealership by the “SOT + Assets” Formula. The odds against that plan working are about the same as the odds against winning the lottery, except the ante is higher.

4. Do Not Say “SOT”. Sometimes a dealer talks in terms of SOT (Sold Out of Trust) or OT (Out of Trust) with the factory or lender, when the dealer actually has SAU (Sold and Unpaid) units. Once the dealer refers to an out of trust situation, it puts the factory/lender in a precarious position. All sorts of rules then come into play, both legal rules and company rules, which would not have had to take effect if the dealer used the phrase SAU. The factory/lender can’t read minds to know the dealer really meant SAU, instead of SOT. From the moment the phrase SOT is used, the only thing the listener knows for certain is, if there is a law suit and the listener were asked if the dealer said he or she were SOT on such and such a date, the listener would have to answer “yes.” Don’t put them in that position.

5. Do Not Lie. Don’t lie to yourself; don’t lie to the factory; don’t lie to the lender.

Dealers, who lie to themselves about their problems, how they got there, or their ability to solve them, base their entire solution upon a lie and, without exception, compound and complicate the original problems.

A lie to the factory/lender will alienate the only entities which have both the ability to help and the most to gain, besides the dealer and the dealer’s family, in finding a workable solution. When in doubt, remember what Mark Twain said: “I never got hurt by anything I didn’t say.” He also said that when he was ninety, he recollected he had worried about a lot of things in life, most of which never happened.

6. Do Not Panic. There are many challenges in business, and being short of cash is but one of them. Numerous dealers have been there before and numerous dealers have survived.

Analyze the problem as if it were someone else’s problem, and compose a short letter as if you were giving advice to another dealer. The advice should be to get professional help. A storm at sea, calls for seasoned sailors. No one would want a crew with little experience in storms, unfamiliar with navigation, no charts, no radar and no one to call upon for advice. A dealer with a SOT problem is in a big storm, except it won’t go away with time. Without help, the dealer’s family, friends and employees will all be affected. The dealer has to make tough decisions, or time will make themand the dealer will not like the decisions time makes.

At the time the lender has the second meeting, referred to above, wherein the lender wants the dealer to sign the work-out agreement, the dealer should be prepared to structuring of the work-out plan, the handling of a keeper, the method of repayment and such.

As soon as you know you are OT, your first call should be to us (or someone as experienced as us) and your second call (after visiting with us, your attorney and accountant) should be to the credit company. Telling the credit company you have sold and unpaid units before they tell you, is vital to establishing a foundation upon which to build a work-out plan. At the same time, Automotive Advisors’ experience is vital to the dealer and the dealer’s attorney and accountant, in providing constructive suggestions and in planning and recognizing realistic options.

John Pico is a vice president of Automotive Advisors of America, Inc. He has completed over 1,000 dealership transactions, and published the first books copyrighted in the Library of Congress on Buying and Selling Automobile dealerships. You can obtain his biography and more information, sources and references at http://www.automotiveadvisors.com/johnpico.asp.

Imagine your horror when you discover your emergency surgery is not covered by your health insurance. You have no idea what to do. AND you’re a recovering patient!

The moral is that if you, or your company for you, purchased a health insurance policy more than five years ago, it would be prudent to review your benefits. You might find quite a few very unpleasant surprises. Wouldn’t it be better to know now rather than later, when you need your benefits and it’s too late to make changes.

The costs for medical services have soared. Many of the benefit amounts in health insurance policies do not cover the current charges.

I recently learned of a case where the patient bought his policy many years ago when medical costs were far less than they are now. His policy stated that his coverage for anesthesia services was one-third of the surgeon’s fee. Meanwhile, the cost of anesthesia services has greatly increased.

The maximum or “cap” in his policy was $1,000, leaving him with a significant - unexpected - out-of-pocket amount for the anesthesia service.

This same patient also found that his deductible was not an annual charge. He learned that he would have to pay the sizeable deductible for each medical event and/or procedure. Unfortunately, he found this fact right before his surgery, too late to make any changes in the policy.

He also found that lab charges would not be covered at all. His policy states that the cost of lab work would not be paid if it is billed from a site outside the hospital; only lab charges billed from the hospital itself were covered. Nowadays, many hospitals outsource some of their services and patients are stuck with more out-of-pocket charges.

Had this patient carefully read through his policy - and done so annually to remind himself - perhaps he could have made changes in his plan to better protect himself.

If your policy is through your company, they likely have an annual Open Enrollment period during which you can make changes to your health insurance plan. Use this annual event as the time for reviewing your policy.

Another reminder: check the pre-authorization, or pre-certification, requirements in your policy. This means calling the insurance company, describing what’s going to happen, and receiving approval for the procedure prior to the actual procedure. Often the physician’s office will handle this step. Make sure that it occurs.

Keep good records of your conversations. Note the date, the time, to whom you spoke, and what was said. Until you know for certain, assume any medical treatment requires pre-certification (often called “pre-cert”).

I hope this information has encouraged you to review your health insurance policy at least annually. You surely don’t want the financial surprises this patient found.

After fighting her own health insurance company, Leland Draper founded The Draper Forum to assist clients as an advocate for Georgia citizens regarding medical insurance. She deals with claims departments and agencies, overseeing claims, including Medicare, Explanations of Benefits, and supplemental policies. On behalf of the client, she copes with physicians’ offices, service agencies, hospitals as well as auxiliary labs and services. She provides this service for her clients because managing, on your own, the chaotic muddle of bills and insurance paperwork is emotionally exhausting and can affect recovery.
Ms. Draper can be reached at http://www.thedraperforum.com and at mld99@juno.com.

“Life is about living with people, not counting the seconds”.
With a grin on your face and an open mind, consider the following efficiencies:

Use one word where it is enough.
Use two words where you wish to use twice as many.
Find a friend who is that.
Lose a friend who is not that.
Redefine descriptions, perhaps.

Spare the rod and have a spare rod, as well as more energy. (T.M.)

Remember to rinse your disposable razor thoroughly to extend its workable life. You’ll get six months from it!.

Oil the axle of your wheel barrow and de-grease the shafts. Inflating the tyre is exercise-dependent!

Only curse if politically strategic.

Look your enemy in the eye, front or back of it.
Look your friend in the eye; the front of it.

Like timely flatulence, release to the atmosphere all guilt that is not truly yours.
Even if it is, consider a similar release!

Abandon expeditiously, your formidable hindsight, as it no longer applies.
It is no more than a clever commitment to clutter the consciousness!

Use a pliable margarine over a difficult butter.

Copy and paste, as thats what it is for.

Never turn your head where the swing of an eyeball is sufficient.

Always, use a shorter word than efficiency where you can find it easily.
If you ever had a difficult butter, you can reprint this anywhere and link it to the http://www.thetrivialtimes.com

(c) Thick Mick
treblethick@The Trivial Times.com

About the Author

Thick Mick is an “expert” columnist with The Trivial Times
By r.s.s. at http://www.thetrivialtimes.com/backend.php

Thinking to buy a luxury car or thinking for going abroad or worried about children marriage. Is one of them is your dream. Everyone in this world see dreams. But along with the dream they also have a fear that might be dream may not come true!! And if your fear is just because of finances then personal loans can help you out.

Basically, Personal loans can be acquired in two ways

• Secured personal loan
• Unsecured personal loan

Secured personal loans are generally taken on large amount. It can be taken only against any asset given as collateral. Ownership remains with the borrower itself. In case repayment is not made on time the lender has the legal right to liquidate the asset to recover the money. On the other side unsecured personal loan does not need any collateral against loan. It is taken on smaller amount.

On evaluating both sides of coin. Secured personal loan offers less rate of interest as compared to unsecured personal loan. As the lender feel secure on the part of repayment of loan amount. And also the repayment period of loan is longer in secured personal loan.

Secured personal loan can only be taken up by asset holders. While unsecured personal loan is opened for both tenants and asset holders. The only difference that matters is whether secured or unsecured personal loans suit your needs and requirements.

Personal loans are provided by

• Banks
• Financial institution
• Building societies
• Online lenders
• Other lending companies

These lenders provide loan at convenience of borrower.

Generally seen people get confused in making choices between various lenders. The best way is to compare not only the interest rate but also the other cost involved that is loan arrangement cost. Interest charged can be from 6% to 17%. The interest rate may vary from person to person depending upon the needs and prevailing market.

Credit score also plays a key role while applying for personal loan. The person with bad credit history can also apply for the personal loan in order to improve the credit score. The drawback which the person of bad credit history has to face is high rate of interest.

Personal loan can be used for many purposes

• Buying a new car
• Debt consolidation
• Higher education
• Going abroad
• Home improvement
• Holidays
• Many more

Hence, personal loan make your dream come true on easy terms and conditions. With, personal loan just dare your dreams.

Mary Jones is an expert financial advisor. She has done Masters in Finance from London Business School. To find Personal Loans & Mortgages - Secured Loan Unsecured Loan visit http://www.loansvalley.co.uk