With all the folks who have lost cars to the flooding in the Southeast, here's a nice gesture from Nissan. It is offering employee pricing discounts and delayed car payments to victims of the recent tornado and flooding in the Southeast.  Consumers who live in Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, Mississippi, Arkansas and Kentucky and who can show proof of vehicle damage or loss caused by the storms will be eligible for employee discounts. The discounts offer up to $1,500 off the dealer invoice price on top of any applicable regional or national incentives. For instance, you could get a total of $3,628 off a popularly equipped Nissan Altima (MSRP $22,070), costing you only $18,442 total. You can check all the employee pricing deals here.  Nissan is also offering delayed car payments for eligible individuals who've financed through Nissan Motors:  See photos of: Nissan Motor Company  It's not just foreign automakers that are seeing the advantages of building products in the USA. Now, Yamaha is about to start regular production at the Georgia plant making all-terrain vehicles that were previously assembled overseas.  Yamaha's decision to consolidate the majority of ATV manufacturing at its plant in Newnan, Ga., could eventually create 200 jobs, the company says. And that's not even counting the additional jobs at the company's 125 parts suppliers in North America.  The Japanese motorcycle and small-engine maker has invested more than $250 million into the factory over the past 10 years. The plant is being ramped up through 2013.  "This production transfer shows Yamaha's commitment to this facility and the U.S. motor sports market – the world's largest ATV market," said Henio Arcangeli Jr., president of Yamaha Motorsports. "Manufacturing ATVs in Georgia will allow Yamaha to respond more quickly to its customers' demands while streamlining its supply chain and distribution processes."  Yamaha held a press conference at its factory in Newnan today. The company also unveiled a new "Assembled in USA." logo.  Yamaha employs about 2,800 Americans and its operations support 30,000 other positions. It's facilities are spread over nine states -- Georgia, California, Wisconsin, Texas, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Illinois, New Jersey and Washington.  It's the best time in years to sell your car, the Associated Press reports.  People are holding on to cars and trucks for about a year longer than they did before the recession, which has created a tight supply of used vehicles. So few are on the market that prices have risen to their highest in at least 16 years, writes auto writer Tom Krisher. He goes on to report:  Dealers are paying an average of $11,660 for a used car or truck, up almost 30% since December 2008.  "You're not going to find a situation like this very often," says Jonathan Banks, executive auto analyst for the National Automobile Dealers Association used car pricing guide.  The run-up in prices for used cars has been so dramatic that it almost doesn't make sense to buy them anymore, says David Whiston, an auto analyst for Morningstar. That's probably a good indication that prices are at or near a peak.  "For just a little bit more I can buy a brand-new car," he says. "There's a tipping point. I think we are getting very close to seeing that."  Take the Honda Accord, known for reliability and holding its value:  See photos of: Honda Accord  If you're going to get in the electric-car business, you'd better partner up with an outfit that knows something about recharging. That's what BMW is doing.  The German luxury brand has chosen a company called AeroVironment to install home recharging units when it starts its next big test of electric vehicles, its BMW ActiveE program.  Charging stations will be installed with a 240-volt electric circuit in drivers' home garages as part of the vehicle's total driving system. The cars can usually be charged with a standard 110-volt wall outlet, but that can take hours longer.  "BMW has a strong legacy as one of the world's premier performance luxury brands, and AeroVironment looks forward to bringing our own legacy of reliability and innovation to BMW's exciting new launch," said Tim Conver, CEO of AeroVironment. "Together, we can expand boundaries in providing practical, emissions-free mobility to the performance vehicle market."  ActiveE vehicles will be distributed in Boston, Los Angeles, New York, San Diego, Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay Area.  Rather than just holding on to a Chevrolet Volt to test it for a couple weeks, our friends at Cars.com are keeping their extended-range electric for months to give readers a complete picture of how the car holds up. Now the gray Volt has gone through the ultimate test, one that Cars.com never wanted: a crash.  As you can see from the photo, the Volt was pretty banged up. The driver, an employee, was injured in the accident. But the episode is an interesting insight into how the electric car does in a crash, and how much it costs to get repaired.  The answer: the crash wrecked the front end and caused two driver's side air bags to deploy. Total estimated cost of repair: $10,500. Yikes. Sounds like a lot to us, but then again a new Volt costs $41,000. The toll:  In addition to the hood, bumper, grille and at least one headlight, the radiator and various heat exchangers will be replaced. The air bags and seat belt pretensioner account for more than $1,100 in parts alone.  Making matters worse, Cars.com says the rear end was damaged when a cop used his cruiser to push the damaged test car off the road.  The Cars.com Volt seems to have been born into bad luck. Already, the crew had to shell out more than $700 when the car was near new over the winter to fix damage to wiring due to a hungry rat. They named the rat Chilly. No, he wasn't driving this time.  After the dreadful winter of 2011, lots of us are out scrubbing and waxing to try to get our cars back into spring driving shape. As nice as we can get them, you won't believe some of the tricks of the trade that professionals use when it comes to pimping a ride.  Our favorite: mayonnaise. International Aero - one of the world's largest aircraft detailing companies - says it uses a dab of mayo when it is trying to remove tar. Just let the Hellman's (or Kraft, or whatever) rest for about 10 minutes on the gob of goo and then rub. If that doesn't work, go with lighter fluid.  Borrowing from the aviation industry, here are some other often weird auto-care tips from International Aero:  Paint transfer: To remove paint transfer from minor scrapes with other cars, fences, etc., wet a towel with common lighter fluid and lightly dab the surface, wetting the area for 20-30 seconds. Then, rub the surface lightly and the transferred paint/color will disappear. Don't worry, it won't harm your cured paint, it just breaks down the bonds between the two paints there. Be careful because it is extremely flammable!  Adhesive removal: Time to remove those pesky stickers or decals you've had for years? Again, lighter fluid is a great option as it breaks down the adhesive bonds; follow the same steps as above for paint transfer. This works on glass as well as painted surfaces.  After admitting to having fathered a child with a mistress, former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger might want to keep a low profile right now. But don't expect it to extend to his wheels.  As of yesterday, as the press descended on his office in Santa Monica, Calif., he was still driving his stunning jet-black Bentley Continental Supersports -- a car that stands out anywhere you take it. In fact, there's no mistaking it. Photographers snapped pictures of it as they waited to see if Schwarzenegger had anything to say about the revelation that he had a child with woman besides now-estranged wife Maria Shriver.  PHOTO GALLERY: Maria ShriverPHOTO GALLERY: Arnold SchwarzeneggerSTORY: A long-held secret breaks Arnold's family apart  Schwarzenegger was never one to be subtle. Oversized man. Oversized ambition. Oversized cars. With a black and red leather interior, Schwarzenegger has been snapped for months driving around Southern California in the convertible. As The Washington Post noted in 2006:  See photos of: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Maria Shriver  Love Chevrolet's Volt extended-range electric car but can't stomach its $41,000 price tag? Just wait three years.  Then, after a typical three-year lease period, the same Volt should be worth only $17,000 on the used car market, Kelley Blue Book tells Autoblog. Despite all the hype and multiple Car of the Year honors, Volt retains only 42% of its original value after three years of ownership -- a lower percentage than a 2011 Toyota Prius hybrid (46%) but more than a 2011 Ford Focus (37.5).  Volt's resale price is predicated on continuation of gas prices of about $4 a gallon, KBB says. If gas prices soar, Volt's resale value would conceivably rise since gas savings is the major selling point of the car. Volt, a plug in, runs on electric power for at least 25 miles before its gas engine starts recharging the battery. It has unlimited range cause of its gas engine.  Kelley Blue Book is yet to tackle resale value of the Nissan Leaf, the first 21st-century, all-electric car from a major maker. It sells new for $33,780. Both Leaf and Volt qualify for big federal tax rebates and in some states, incentives there as well.  Updated: 8:50 p.m. ET to recognize Fishininthedark for finding the auction link. An amazing team effort and successful sleuthing uncovered the identity of this week's Mystery Car 86 on Drive On's Forum.  To cut the chase, the car was a 2002 Panoz Esperante convertible that's up for auction this week at Mecum's big Indianapolis event at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. It's one of hundreds of cars on the block, including a lot of vintage American muscle.  As for our Mystery Car, however, even though we gave you all a pretty crummy view of the car in question, Fishininthedark narrowed it down to the Panoz in no time. Ecomcon ventured that it is the 2006, and Fast Hawg thought he could put a name to it, "Francine," a 2005. While Vessel went looking for the toy -- where do you guys find these things? -- and Redbulloh went leafing through Popular Mechanics and ADK lent moral support. Fast Hawg did a self-correct and found our actual picture.VesselFishin' administered the final shot by linking to the auction listing.  Mecum says about the 2002 Panoz:  Some 197,000 U.S. customers looking to buy new cars are "up for grabs" because of shortages resulting from the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, a new report says.  Reuters reports that Toyota and Honda are most at risk to losing customers who turn to other brands when they can't find the models they want, according to the A.T. Kearney report released today.  The big potential winners? Detroit's Big 3 and South Korea's Hyundai.  Only 42% of the buyers who would have claimed part of the 341,000 vehicles in production lost due to the Japan crisis will stay loyal to their favorite Japanese brand. The rest will take a close look at what the competition has to offer.  It could even get worse for Japanese makers. If full production at Japanese plants doesn't get back to normal by the fourth quarter, the number of sales up for grabs could rise to 328,000.  That's significant even though it pales in comparison to Kearney's estimate of U.S. sales this year: 13.2 million, up from 11.6 million last year.
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