2014 Buick Encore Premium on 2040-cars

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Repo man pays off elderly couple's car just in time for Thanksgiving

Repo men get bad raps for a good reason; no one likes having their car taken away. At least one guy in the repossession game proved folks in his profession aren't all bad when he helped an elderly couple hold on to their wheels right before Thanksgiving. According to the Belleville News-Democrat, unexpected bills and the rising cost of prescription medications pushed Stanford and Patty Kipping's fixed income to the breaking point. Unable to keep up with the $95 dollar a month payment on their 1998 Buick, they fell into arrears and the bank sent a repo man out to their home in Red Bud, Illinois to reclaim the car. Jim Ford, co-owner of Illini Recovery Inc., hooked up the old Buick and dragged it away, but later that night his conscience caught up with him. "When I got home that night, I said to myself, 'They are a real nice elderly couple. I gotta do something. I can't just take their car,'" Ford told the News-Democrat. Ford did do something, something surprisingly humane. He set up a GoFundMe and, within just a few short hours, he raised more than $3,500 dollars. This was enough money to pay off the Kipping's loan with a little left over for some maintenance. Ford and a friend then hooked the car back up and towed it back to the Kipping's home. Ford presented the couple with their trusty Buick, and threw in a thousand dollars in an envelope and a frozen turkey for Thanksgiving. "It was a miracle come true," Patty told the paper. "We didn't know what we were going to do." "I got up this morning and I looked up at the sun and I said, 'I hope we get our car back,'" added Stanford. "It's just unbelievable."Related Video: News Source: Belleville News-Democrat Auto News Weird Car News Buick repossession repo man

2013 Opel Cascada

The Future Buick Verano Convertible?
I wasn't wearing a pedometer while in Germany covering the Frankfurt Motor Show this year, but it's safe to say I walked more than a few miles between press conferences, shooting cars and trekking back to the media center on the first day alone. For this reason, it didn't take much convincing from General Motors for me to duck out of the Messe a day early and drive some of its latest Opel models. No, this didn't include the all-new Country Tourer, but I was able to drive the Opel Mokka (our Buick Encore), the Opel Adam and the Opel Cascada.
I focused most of my driving time behind the wheel of the Cascada, which went on sale in Europe earlier this year, since rumors are swirling that a Buick version of this convertible "could happen soon." Buick hasn't had a convertible since the Reatta, and GM has been lacking a non-performance, budget-minded convertible since the Pontiac brand - and its G6 - was dropped, so adding the Cascada to Buick showrooms could further help the reemerging brand compete in the near-luxury segment. Although the weather was too chilly (and occasionally rainy) to enjoy the Cascada with its top down for very long, I was able to clock a fair bit of drive time behind the wheel on roads ranging from the autobahn to tight roads in small, quaint villages.

2013 Buick Encore

Ignored On Arrival, But Coming On Strong
An image exists out there that perfectly conveys the fate we thought would befall the Buick Encore after its world debut at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show. The shot shows the just-unveiled Encore on stage, basking in the glow of spotlights but surrounded by a large display area that's bereft of both cars and people. Two journalists are sitting on a couch over to the side, both facing the Encore but ignoring it as they inspect their swag, and a solitary custodial engineer pushes a vacuum back and forth across a sea of gray carpet.
Like a kid with his birthday cake at a party no one came to, this little crossover's debut was largely, almost cruelly, ignored. Who can blame us, though? Two shows ago, the Motor City's main stage welcomed the redesigned Aston Martin-esque Ford Fusion, the 3 Series-assassin ATS from Cadillac and the return of Dodge to the small car game with the Dart. A fourth model for the wayward Buick brand, especially one so arguably un-Buick in form and function, did not seem to deserve the attention paid to its peers that year.