Housekeeping: A Reminder About Used Car of the Day

Tim Healey
by Tim Healey

I keep seeing comments -- and not just from one particular individual -- that suggest that not everyone fully understands the Used Car of the Day format, its purpose, and how I select the cars I do.

So let's do some learning.


Let's start with what the feature is not -- it's NOT a chance for the site, or me personally, to make money from a sold car. I make no money on any sales and I have no idea if our forums take a cut. I don't care if someone buys a featured car or not.

The purpose of the feature is to feature cars I think you, the B and B, would find interesting. Even if they are junkers that aren't running. Like yesterday's non-running diesel Merc. A two-year-old Camry in OK shape isn't interesting. A rare car that's a project? Interesting. A pristine IROC Camaro? Interesting.

I use an automated database that updates daily with new listings, and some days are better than others. Somedays, pickings are slim. So please bear with us.

It's also meant to be separate from Junkyard Finds and Rare Rides. JFs are cars that are about to be crushed and the Rare Rides feature is all about the overview of a specific make and model, with a lot of detail on its history. UCOTD is about cars people own that you can buy.

Finally, the other purpose of the feature is to introduce the forums our parent company runs to youse guys. We hope that you'll browse around and maybe become a member if applicable.

We aren't trying to sell the cars or give you agita. If a car doesn't appeal to you, scroll on by. Some days we'll have a better pick than others -- it just depends on what's on sale and how well I judge your tastes.

It's a fun feature -- not something meant to give anyone heartburn. So let's have some fun and talk about some of the cool cars that are out there in folks' driveways and garages.

Ok? OK!

[Image: hodim/Shutterstock.com]

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Tim Healey
Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

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2 of 35 comments
  • Daniel J Daniel J on Jan 29, 2024

    I've gone back to the last 4 UCOTD and they've all be ridiculous. That's on you, Tim.


    Maybe put something out there that's worthy of discussion?

  • Randy in rocklin Randy in rocklin on Jan 29, 2024

    I love the site so don't cut it. It's always the bad eggs that spoil it all.

  • Theflyersfan With sedans, especially, I wonder how many of those sales are to rental fleets. With the exception of the Civic and Accord, there are still rows of sedans mixed in with the RAV4s at every airport rental lot. I doubt the breakdown in sales is publicly published, so who knows... GM isn't out of the sedan business - Cadillac exists and I can't believe I'm typing this but they are actually decent - and I think they are making a huge mistake, especially if there's an extended oil price hike (cough...Iran...cough) and people want smaller and hybrids. But if one is only tied to the quarterly shareholder reports and not trends and the big picture, bad decisions like this get made.
  • Wjtinfwb Not proud of what Stellantis is rolling out?
  • Wjtinfwb Absolutely. But not incredibly high-tech, AWD, mega performance sedans with amazing styling and outrageous price tags. GM needs a new Impala and LeSabre. 6 passenger, comfortable, conservative, dead nuts reliable and inexpensive enough for a family guy making 70k a year or less to be able to afford. Ford should bring back the Fusion, modernized, maybe a bit bigger and give us that Hybrid option again. An updated Taurus, harkening back to the Gen 1 and updated version that easily hold 6, offer a huge trunk, elevated handling and ride and modest power that offers great fuel economy. Like the GM have a version that a working mom can afford. The last decade car makers have focused on building cars that American's want, but eliminated what they need. When a Ford Escape of Chevy Blazer can be optioned up to 50k, you've lost the plot.
  • Willie If both nations were actually free market economies I would be totally opposed. The US is closer to being one, but China does a lot to prop up the sectors they want to dominate allowing them to sell WAY below cost, functionally dumping their goods in our market to destroy competition. I have seen this in my area recently with shrimp farmed by Chinese comglomerates being sold super cheap to push local producers (who have to live at US prices and obey US laws) out of business.China also has VERY lax safety and environmental laws which reduce costs greatly. It isn't an equal playing field, they don't play fair.
  • Willie ~300,000 Camrys and ~200,000 Accords say there is still a market. My wife has a Camry and we have no desire for a payment on something that has worse fuel economy.
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