Taxman gouges car buyers for money never spent

Federal tax authorities are "respectfully declining" to discuss just how deeply they are thrusting the grasping hand of government into the pockets of new car buyers, and no wonder.

New car sales are up nearly 10 per cent this year over last year, and last year broke sales records. Canadians are spending tens of billions, and federal and provincial governments are raking in a healthy chunk of every dollar spent — 13 per cent, for example, in Ontario.

Connected cars perfect for harvesting personal data, report warns

As our cars get more high-tech and connected, they are increasingly spying on us and sending personal data about us to many different parties — in violation of Canadian privacy laws, a new report warns.

Regulators need to step up and protect the privacy of car users at a time when the range and amount of potentially sensitive — and commercially valuable — data being collected by cars is growing, says a study funded by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada and released today by the B.C. Freedom of Information and Privacy Association.

Air Pollution From Traffic Linked With Childhood Cancer

There is a link between exposure to traffic pollution during pregnancy and risk of childhood cancer, according to a new study presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.

Researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles, found that women who were exposed to high levels of traffic pollution (emissions from cars and trucks) while they were pregnant also had higher risks of their children going on to develop pediatric cancers, including acute lymphoblastic leukemia and retinoblastoma.

With regulators poised to propose black boxes in all new cars, privacy concerns go unaddressed

WASHINGTON - Many motorists don't know it, but it's likely that every time they get behind the wheel, there's a snitch along for the ride.

In the next few days, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is expected to propose long-delayed regulations requiring auto manufacturers to include event data recorders — better known as "black boxes" — in all new cars and light trucks. But the agency is behind the curve. Automakers have been quietly tucking the devices, which automatically record the actions of drivers and the responses of their vehicles in a continuous information loop, into most new cars for years.

Car prices just went up

If the federal government were to decree that all new cars sold in Canada must now be Priuses or similarly priced, fuel-sipping models, imagine the reaction from Canadians.

You can’t tell us what to buy! You can’t force us to spend several thousand more on our cars!

Ah, Environment Minister Peter Kent would argue, but you’ll save hundreds every year at the pump. Trust us. We know what’s best.

Higher vehicle prices push inflation higher

Consumer prices rose at an annual pace of 1.5 per cent in June, slightly ahead of the 1.2 per cent increase a month earlier.

Statistics Canada said Friday that higher prices for vehicles and electricity were the two biggest factors in the uptick.

The price of vehicles increased by 3.9 per cent over last year's level, in part because of heavy discounting in the summer of 2011, the data agency said.

The cost of electricity rose 5.9 per cent year over year in June, mostly as a result of increases in Ontario, Alberta and B.C.

Auto Insurance Costs More For Poor People, Consumer Group Says

The poorest Americans are unable to buy affordable auto insurance because of insurance company bias, a consumers group charged Monday.

Insurance companies are prohibited from basing premiums on income, but can consider a driver's credit rating, home address and occupation. Those factors are essentially surrogates for income, according to the Consumer Federation of America, a consumer lobby group in Washington, D.C.

"In some areas, many responsible lower-income drivers are required to spend more than $1,000 a year for liability coverage that is often unfairly priced and provides no real insurance protection to them," said Stephen Brobeck, executive director of the consumer group. He called on states to improve access to low-cost insurance. California is currently the only state with a robust low-rate coverage program.

The number of miles driven -- a factor that lowers the risk of accidents and may help reduce premiums -- is inadequately weighted in the insurance industry's classification system, Consumer Federation of America argued in a report.

Reliable, fuel-efficient cars are passé

Sirens wailed and guitar strings screeched as the 2013 Dodge Dart rolled onto a stage at this year’s Detroit auto show. Hundreds were there to see the first new vehicle spawned by the marriage of Chrysler Group LLC and Fiat Group Automobiles S.p.A. in 2009. They weren’t disappointed. The sporty small car, built using Fiat’s Alpha Romeo Giulietta platform, represents yet another attempt by Chrysler to reach into its rich past for an all-new vehicle—in this case, for the name of a popular sedan from the 1960s and 1970s—while shedding its reputation for building only powerful muscle cars and hulking pickup trucks.

The Dart is meant to compete head-to-head with the brisk-selling Chevrolet Cruze, sleek Ford Focus and popular Honda Civic by adding some attitude to the segment. Prospective buyers will have their choice from a long list of optional features, including LED accent lighting, an 8.4-inch touch screen and no less than seven different steering wheel choices. “The traditional ‘why buys?’ in the segment are price, fuel economy and reliability,” says Dodge president Reid Bigland, who chatted with onlookers following the unveiling. “But today those are no longer differentiators. They’re just simply the minimum barriers to entry. We wanted to do more.”

Chrysler wasn’t the only automaker flaunting a little extra flash at the annual industry gathering. Toyota Motor Corp. unveiled a Scion-badged rear-wheel-drive car called the FR-S, built in partnership with Subaru, marking the first time in years it will have a sports car in its lineup. General Motors Co., meanwhile, displayed a sportier version of its subcompact Chevrolet Sonic and two Chevy concept cars that attempted to combine the look of raw power with a frugal budget (with mixed results). For those who can afford the real thing, a long-nosed Lexus sports coupe concept was also on display, as was a low-slung Acura NSX “super car” concept.