CARS

Lexus is the top performer in a survey of vehicle dependability released Wednesday, but most other brands also showed improvement in an industry that has reached historically high dependability levels. Consulting firm J.D. Power and Associates polled 31,000 owners of 2009 model-year vehicles and rated brands by the number of problems owners have experienced in the last 12 months.

If a car tops your teen's holiday gift wish-list, give as much consideration to insurance as you do the car's make and model and the debate over whether to buy new or used. And brace yourself for insurance premium sticker shock. Here are some ways you can mitigate the cost of insuring your teen driver.

GM made $2.2 billion in North America in the third quarter, but it couldn't expand on that number with earnings abroad. Now the bailed out, revamped and much-improved automaker has to find a way to make Europe profitable -- because the Continent is essential to its global operations.

While car buyers have been able to comparison shop online for years, drivers who want to lease their cars mainly have had to do their own legwork -- until now. LeaseTrader.com this week launched a new service to help them comparison shop for leases.

In a still-shaky economy, more and more drivers are deciding to lease their cars instead of buy them. If you're considering leasing your next set of wheels, here's how to find out if it makes sense -- and to get a good deal.

Buying your teen a first car is fraught with emotions, and even more laden with financial implications: Used or new? Who pays for what? How much input does the new driver get in the purchase decision? How can you get the best deal on insurance? We surveyed the experts to get those answers and more.

What can a man like Pixar genius John Lasseter, whose movies have made billions, teach us regular folks about the troubles of workaday life? Turns out, Lasseter has shared one rite of passage that too many of us have been through recently: He was fired -- from his dream job.

Toyota will announce Friday that by September, it expects to have all of its North American plants back to their normal production levels. Then, it can begin attempting to recoup the U.S. market share it lost due to shortages related to the Japan earthquake and tsunami, as well as a slew of recalls.

Summer is car buying season, but this year, it's a sellers market. Between the Japanese earthquake, high gas prices and a shaky economy, you'll have to work harder than ever to score a deal on the vehicle you want. But it can be done, and we've got advice from the experts on you how can do it.

Our first collection of readers' gas-saving suggestions looked at methods to help you cut Next, we covered methods for squeezing extra miles out of every tank. This time, DailyFinance looks at discounts and other ways that drivers can actually pay less for each gallon of fuel.