2009 Toyota Corolla Le Sedan 4-door 1.8l Solar Roof (1st Owner) 40,000miles on 2040-cars

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Subprime financing on the rise in new car sales, leasing too

We all remember the financial crisis that began several years back. At its core was a splurge of subprime lending for housing loans. The housing bubble burst, triggering a collapse of the mortgage-backed securities market. Apparently, those types of loans still exist in the automotive industry, and the market share for these types of "nonprime, subprime, and deep subprime," loans has grown 13.6 percent compared to the third quarter a year ago.
According to an Automotive News report, high-risk lending expanded to 24.8 percent of total loans in Q3, up from 21.9 percent for this time last year. As this level increased, average credit scores of borrowers dropped to 755, down from 763 a year ago. In that time, the average financing amount increased $90 per vehicle, to $25,963.
At 818, Volvo maintains the highest per-owner credit score, while Mitsubishi has the lowest, at 694. The highest rate of borrowers was at Toyota, with 14 percent of the market, followed by Ford with 13.1 percent and Chevrolet at 11.1.

2015 will be the biggest year ever for cars at CES

Like the SEMA Show, major automakers are paying increasing attention to the CES, with 2015 expected to be one of the most auto focused yet. Ford, Volkswagen, Toyota, General Motors, Hyundai, Mazda, Audi, BMW and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles will all be in attendance when CES 2015 kicks off next week, taking up a record-breaking 165,000 square feet of space at the Las Vegas Convention Center. "We've come a long way from a single car on a carpet," Ford's Alan Hall told Bloomberg. Unlike SEMA, or a more traditional auto show, like the upcoming festivities in Detroit, CES doesn't necessarily focus on entire cars or the way they perform, but on the way our technology will interact with vehicles, and in how those vehicles will deliver information to drivers. "CES has become a major launch point for a lot of the big automakers," IHS tech analyst Mark Boyadjis told Bloomberg. "CES is a way for them to get on a global stage for technology." As for what kind of wares automakers will trot out in Las Vegas, we already know that BMW will show off an autonomous i3 electric car that can navigate its way through a multistory car park and can be hailed via a smartwatch app. According to Bloomberg, Hyundai will show off its own smartwatch app for the Genesis sedan, while Audi and Mercedes-Benz will show off autonomous vehicles next week. Automakers won't be the only companies looking to capitalize on CES. Tech firms, like chipmaker Nvidia, are becoming increasingly involved in the automotive game and will be in town showing their wares off to OEMs. "Two years ago, our booth would have been filled with PCs and people playing video games," Danny Shapiro, Nvidia's senior director for automotive business, told Bloomberg. "This year we made a strategic decision to shift the focus of the booth on automotive and de-prioritize some of the other things." Needless to say, you can expect to see a lot of news out of Las Vegas come next week. Stay tuned. News Source: BloombergImage Credit: Julie Jacobson / AP CES Audi BMW Chrysler Fiat Ford GM Hyundai Mazda Toyota Volkswagen Technology CES 2015

Kyle Busch breaks leg in big crash, will miss Daytona 500

NASCAR driver Kyle Busch suffered a compound fracture of the lower right leg and a mid-foot fracture of his left yesterday at Daytona during the 112th lap of the Alert Today Florida 300, the season-opening race of the 2015 NASCAR XFINITY Series. Busch came into contact with the infield wall just past the pit lane exit, an area where there is currently no SAFER barrier, which is designed to reduce the risk of injury in a crash. Fellow racer Ty Dillon, the third-place finisher in the race, expressed a common refrain following the news of Busch's injury. "I think we're to the point now in NASCAR we should have SAFER barriers at a place like this, we're going so fast. I think we could probably afford it," said Dillon. Matt Crafton will drive the No. 18 Toyota today at the Daytona 500 today as a substitute for Busch, but it's not yet clear if he will continue to drive the car following Daytona. Kurt Busch, Kyle's older brother, will also miss the Daytona 500 due to the domestic violence case against him in Delaware. Video footage of the wreck can be seen above. It goes without saying, but we wish Kyle a speedy recovery and a return to his stock car as quickly as possible.