Earl Stewart on Cars - 01.28.2023 - Your Calls, Texts, and Mystery Shop of Palm Beach Toyota

Episode Date: January 28, 2023

Earl and his team answer various caller questions and responds to incoming text messages. Earl’s female mystery shopper, Agent Lightning visits a local Toyota dealer to see how much over sticker they will charge for a new 2023 Toyota 4Runner on their lot. Earl Stewart is the owner of Earl Stewart Toyota in North Palm Beach, Florida, one of the largest Toyota dealerships in the southeastern U.S. He is also a consumer advocate who shares his knowledge spanning 50+ years about the car industry through a weekly newspaper column and radio show. Each week Earl provides his audience with valuable tips that prevent them from "getting ripped off by a car dealer". Earl has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, U.S. News and World Report, Business Week, and other major publications. He has also made numerous appearances on CNN, Fox News, CBS, and other news networks. He is frequently called upon by local and national media to comment on major trends and newsworthy events occurring in today’s rapidly changing auto industry. You can learn more by going to Earl's videos on www.youtube.com/earloncars, subscribing to his Facebook page at www.facebook.com/earloncars, his tweets at www.twitter.com/earloncars, and reading his blog posts at www.earloncars.com. Sign up to become one of Earl's Vigilantes and help others in your community to avoid getting ripped off by a car dealer. Go to www.earlsvigilantes.com for more information. “Disclosure: Earl Stewart is a Toyota dealer and directly and indirectly competes with the subjects of the Mystery Shopping Reports. He honestly and accurately reports the experiences of the shoppers and does not influence their findings. As a matter of fact, based on the results of the many Mystery Shopping Reports he has conducted, there are more dealers on the Recommended Dealer List than on the Not Recommended List he maintains on www.GoodDealerBadDealerList.com”

Good morning. I'm Earl Stewart. I welcome you to Earl Stewart on Cars, a live talk show all about how to buy, lease, maintain, or repair your car without being ripped off by a car dealer. With me in the studio is Nancy Stewart, my wife, co-host, and a strong consumer advocate, especially for our female listeners. We also have Rick Kearney, an expert on how to keep your car running right. I dare you to ask a question that Rick can't answer about the mechanics or electronics of your car. Also with us is my son, Stu Stewart, our link to cyber. space through Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Periscope. Stu is also the Spymaster Director of our Mystery Shopping Report. He dispatches our secret shopper weekly to an unsuspecting South Florida dealership.

And now, on with the show. Good morning, everybody. We're back and we're live. This is Earl Stewart, sitting in the studio with the team here. Les Stu Stewart. We're going to have to re-record that introduction if I don't get him back in the studio. he's recovering from his back surgery, and I expect him back maybe next week.

We hope so. Stu, if you're listening, we hope you feel better and can get back in on the radio show. Besides, we're working too hard. We need your help. Exciting time to be doing this radio show. We've been doing it a long time. I have been around a long time.

Some say too long. And this is truly, I mean, I have a perspective based on that longevity to say this is a watershed moment in automotive history, truly. I mean, everybody uses superlatives and exaggerates these things, but it's true. World witnessing, kind of like going from the buggy whip and the horse and wagon and to the first Model T, Model A fords.

It's kind of like one of those times in history. Exciting for me, because I saw the earlier part of the history, and now I'm seeing the present part of the automotive history, and I'm living it. I'm still a car dealer. I say that with full transparency and openness. This is not an infomercial. We have a toilet dealership in North Palm Beach, Florida.

But this is a consumer advocacy show for you, the car buyer, to help you avoid being taken advantage of by car dealers. And it is really a challenge. It was a challenge before the pandemic. and then suddenly microchips almost ceased to exist and automotive production dropped like a rock supply soared and demand, and I should say supply dropped and demand sword and people are lined up at car dealerships ordering cars

for thousands of dollars over MSRP, whereas before the pandemic a good negotiator, someone who listened to the show and did their homework, could buy a car thousands below MSRP, R.P. Now you're paying thousands over. Well, guess what? The worm is turned and we're coming back. I don't know how far back we're going to go, but 2023 by some of the largest manufacturers will be the biggest manufacturing year ever. Now they must think they're going to sell those cars because they're not going to build them unless they can sell them. And we do know this. There is no more microchip shortage and I can't say that, you know,

completely. It's just for all intensive purposes, the microchip shortage is over. But there are other shortages, and the issues, and you know them as well as I do if you watch the daily news. So what do you do? Well, listen to the show, call the show for your answers. You know, car dealers are in the same boat. They're going to have to relearn how to sell cars. They haven't been selling cars, basically. They've been taking orders in outrageous prices. it hasn't been business as usual at all and the salesmen are fat and happy and the car dealers are fat and happy

the manufacturers are fat and happy and they're making a lot of money because it's too easy it's shooting ducks in a barrel or is that fish in a barrel? I don't know anyway car dealers are going to have to go to work manufacturers are going to have to go to work

you, the consumer if you keep yourself on top of things and you're educated it'll be a better and better time to buy a car My recent blog, and Nancy will talk about this later, by the way, Nancy Stewart, my co-host, is sitting next to me here in the studio, and she's created an audience of 50% women, which is 20 years ago when we started, it was like an old guys club. We just a bunch of guys calling in and a bunch of guys talking, and we really didn't have half the world, the ladies of the world. Now we have them, thanks to Nancy. but she has a copy of my blog

and the blog basically says it's time to begin to buy another car if you want one. It doesn't say you go out and buy one today it says you do your homework and you read the blog, you'll see what I'm talking but up until now I've been saying don't buy a car unless you absolutely have to

and I'm changing that. I'm saying you can buy a car, you can start the process now and you can get a good price, relatively speaking. I mean, I'm not saying it'll be as good a price as you get at six months, but I'm saying that you can buy a car

pretty close to MSRP, in some cases below MSRP, if you're careful. So, interesting times. If there ever was a time to listen to the show and spread the word, we ask you

very, very loyal, regular listeners to spread the word about Earl on Cars. And, of course, we can be accessed all over the place. Earleoncars.com is the blog, and we have just virtually everything we talk about on this show very well indexed in the earluncars.com blog. All the blogs, of course,

and we have the good dealer, bad dealer list of places we recommend you go to buy a car, places where you stay away from, because you'll be taken advantage of, and lots of other tent bits of information that you can't get any. anywhere else. So check out Erlenkars.com. And during this two-hour window here, and we're on 8 to 10 this morning, Eastern Standard Time, call us. This is the most intimate way to communicate

with us. 877-960-99-60. We get a feel for your personality. You have a feel for our personality. You hear our voice. I know people text now, and it's all digital. digital world, but the phone call is still pretty important. Nancy Stewart, monitoring the line at 877 960-9960. That's 877-960

9960. Now, I'm not facing her, but she'll throw something at me or tap me on the shoulder, and stop me from talking, or stop Rick from talking, and we will drop everything we're doing and go to your phone call. Because you make the show.

I'm not just saying that to flatter you. If you're a regular listener, you know what I'm talking about. We have some really great calls. I mean, we get blindsided sometimes. Occasionally, we get a hostile call. We like the hostile calls. If you have criticism, we prefer to be constructive, but any type of recommendations, suggestions we'd love to have.

In real-life experiences, if you just bought a car or tried to buy a car, maybe you tried to sell your car, call us and tell us about it. We have a pretty wide audience. We're also on Facebook, and we're also on YouTube. That's Facebook.com for slash roll on cars. YouTube.com for slash roll on cars. I could do a whole show telling you how you can contact us, but I can't do that.

So how about our text number? Texting. Let's see anything. I'm a textor. I get a lot of phone calls. And if I don't have you in my contact list, or I don't know what the phone call about I send you a text automatically says please text me the reason for your call

and I'll return the call otherwise I'd be overwhelmed with calls so we ask you to Texas if you're busy and you'd rather not call on the phone Texas at 772 area code 772 4976530 that's 772 472 497 6530 that's 772 49976530 6530 6 530 Now, 772-497-6530. Now, Rick Kearney is monitoring all of this. Nancy monitors the telephones, but Rick monitors the text number, 772-497-6530. He monitors on Facebook.

Facebook.com, or slash rowland cars, and YouTube. YouTube.com, board slash early cars. But wait, there's more. do we have too many ways to reach us? I don't know. I don't think so. Your Anonymous Feedback.com You want total privacy?

This is like a anonymous number. You know the tip line to the FBI and to the police department and, you know, to the you want to call the media. They all have anonymous contact methods. We have this anonymous contact method because

who knows, you might be a car dealer. You might hate me. You might hate the show. You have a way to communicate with us. You car dealers out there, and we know you're listening. We know you're listening. Your Anonymous Feedback.com. Why, O-U-R-N-Y-M-O-U-S feedback, F-E-D-B-A-C-K.com. Your Anonymous Feedback.com.

Now, Rick's got to check all that until Stu gets back, then Sue will be able to help him out there. But he takes care of all that. Nancy Stewart takes care of. 877-960-9960 now before I turn the mic over to Nancy I'm going to say one thing about Rick and this is for the new folks the regular listeners know this Rick has been in the business over 25 years he's worked for me all that time most of that time and he is oh and I say this I know I I probably say it anyway but I'm

to say that to tell you the truth he's the most knowledgeable guy on the electronics, the robotics, the mechanics, the computerization, all that stuff. Cars now are computers on wheels. He knows all about them. And if you have an issue with your car, anything, squeak, rattle, or roll, call Rick. And you could get him directly on YouTube and Facebook, or you could just call 877-960-99-60. And that is one of the most important features of the show. just all about buying and selling cars leasing cars we know you got a car you don't

want to buy another car it's probably not a bad idea all the prices are starting to come down you just want to keep your car going and the cars are pretty good these days you buy a car today you can keep that car for three four hundred thousand miles I kid you not I mean you could drive a car for eight or ten years you do the factory recommended maintenance these cars last and last and last so you got a tweak you want to something you want to fix without having get ripped off of the car dealer or the independent mechanic, call Rick. He might even be able to solve your problem on the phone or tell you how

to get it done very cheaply. With all that said, I now turn the microphone over to Nancy Stewart and she's going to tell our ladies out there about a very special offer for more women to call the show. Thank you. Good morning, everyone, and welcome. We have more happy news. I have a It's just exciting. It leaves me speechless. It's time to begin the car buying process. Is that great news or what? So for the next couple of weeks, you know, you can take advantage of that news and you can also, well, start your homework, so to speak. And number one, I recommend the Consumer Report, number one. And also to shop online. It keeps you well insulated, I would say.

Also, I want to mention the Earl's vigilantes. We don't mention it enough, and we need everyone. Right here in the studio, we are all helping each other and you. But by joining Earl's vigilantes, you can help consumers in your own backyard. If you're an experienced car buyer, say, you know, you're not able to change an engine, you know, an engine, but that you know something about, you know, the cars and how they run and, well, a lot of advice that you can add to your, give to your neighbors in your backyard. So go to Earl's Vigilantes, and you can do that by going to Earl on Cars, and you can find Earlevigilantes.com where you can, you know, sign up and volunteer. As far as the ladies are concerned, we do have $50 for the first two new.

lady callers. We have been offering that to the ladies for quite a long time. And you can share with us your experience of purchasing a car or thinking about purchasing a car or leasing used, new, anything at all. 877-960. That's 870, excuse me, 877-960-99-60. Now back to the the recovering car dealer. You know, some people say I talk about Tesla too much on this show, and I know you can't turn on the television or go online or do any news source without hearing more about Elon Musk. He just has a way with attracting attention, good and bad.

The world is divided into we love Elon Musk and we hate Elon Musk. I have mixed emotions by the Elon Musk. I consider him an extremely smart guy. And my questions have always been with this business acumen. I mean, he buying Twitter. And there's a lot of discussion about that. So, you know, I go up and down about Tesla and Elon Musk. I own a Tesla in full disclosure.

It's kind of strange for a Toyota dealer. And that's full disclosure, too, to be driving a Tesla. And I do it because it's a wave of the future. I mean, you know, I like to stay on top of what I do, and Tesla is probably the most exciting car out there. Electric vehicles are coming online. I had a great service experience, by the way. Nancy and I did with a Tesla we drive,

and I had a little issue, and actually it was with the windshield washers. I mean, nothing serious. And Nancy filled the reservoir up for the windshield wash fluid. It still didn't work. So anyway, I took it to my dealership because it's closer than the Tesla dealership and they said we can't work on it because

you'd have to do some disassembly and it's covered under warranty. So I said, oh damn. And now I'm thinking I don't want to take it, leave it, that, blah, blah, blah. So I asked a Tesla person what can I do? I've got a warranty. He says, oh, he says, we'll come out to your house and fix it. That's pretty cool. And

he showed me online. I hit a few buttons and I have an appointment next week sometime I forgot when it is and they will come out and they'll fix my windshield wire no charge next Wednesday

that was a great experience going in we saw Javon so that's a good thing now automotive news that's a trade journal for the Oscar dealers that came out this week and on page 3

there's a article it says Tesla price cuts ignite shopping interest if you're streaming issue, I'll sure hold that up for you. Of course, most of you don't subscribe to the automotive news anyway, but

it's automobile dealers are about as interested and dislike Elon Musk as much as anybody because he's threatening their whole franchise. At any rate,

the price of Tesla stock plunged because he cut his prices significantly. They said, oh, he's running scared now. He's cutting prices. Well, guess what? He cut prices, his volume more than soared, and as a result, he had a record profit quarter.

Now he was an idiot before, we told you so, before now, record profit quarter, now, because of the great margin he's built in with the efficiency, the prices he's been able to get for his car, he has the ability to cut prices. he cut the price of his low-priced Tesla by $15,000 and then that made him eligible for the tax credit price cut so he's got over a $20,000 price cut

he's just cutting the legs off all the other EV competition and his margin was so wide he builds them so inexpensively compared to all the other manufacturers that he's still making a lot of money so I just had to pass that along to you I'm not in love with Elon Musk or Tesla. And trust me, my Tesla has got a lot of issues. I mean, it's supposed to be fully autonomous, self-driving.

And I guess it is if you want to take your life in your hands because it's, you know, and I don't use it very much anymore because it can't differentiate what we as humans can yet. So the autonomous was not as close as I thought it was. I was on the show before I got it activated. I thought they were very close. They're not close. But they're moving fast.

So even though they're not close, they could be right there two years. It won't be six months, but it could be two years. A lot of people say five years. I think it'll be sooner than that because they're moving very fast. Even Tesla is moving very fast. You know, what's amazing, excuse me for interrupting you, but you can take a look around now when you're on the road. road, and where you didn't see Tesla's before, it's amazing how many Teslas we see now.

And for the consumer, can you imagine the Tesla Y? I mean, for you to go in and purchase a Tesla Y and save $13,000, that's a lot of credit and the price cut, you're saving $20,000, yeah. And then you're, you know, eligible for the, you know, the tax credit, which is $7,500. So we're going to see a whole lot more of Tesla's on the road. Okay. Give us a call. We don't like to talk to ourselves, and we don't like to pontificate, although we can.

Yes. We don't want to do it. We'd rather have you call us. So you people who are listening who can call. Please call us at 877-960-99-60. That's 877-9-60-9-9-60. and, of course, you get texts at 772 4976530

again 772 4976530 and you can get Rick at YouTube.com for slash row on cars or Facebook.com for slash rolling cars. Rick, what have we got out of the way of texting?

Rick's got a whole lot going on over there, but we're going to hold on for a minute and we're going to go straight to the phones because Karen has been holding, and Karen is calling us from Coral Gables, and she is a first-time caller. Good morning, Karen. Good morning. And welcome. You won yourself $50 this morning as a first-time caller.

If you stay on the line, you can give Jeremy, who is in our studio, your contact information, and I can get you a check for $50. Well, thank you very much. You're welcome. What can we do for you this morning? I was wondering, I have an antique Mercedes-Benz, and to sell it, would it be, I think it's always better to sell a car and then we buy a car with the same dealers, well, the same brand. And would it be better because it's an antique car to sell it privately because they're not going to pull it? put, they're not going to put an antique car on their used car lot.

Yeah, I think, what year is it, Terry? It's in 1985. 85. You know, the auction, if you, and I'm not versed on this, we have a regular listener, John, he lives in Palm City, and he's a real affixionado of antique cars and auctions, and he stays, he keeps track of it, but I would consider sending it to an auction

and he could probably give you some guidance. So, John, if you're listening, give us a call and we'll try to give that information to you, Terry. Meanwhile, I would Google that if you sold it to a dealer,

and you could, you can sell it to a Mercedes dealer, but they would buy it with the idea of probably not retailing. They'd probably auction at them, ourselves. There are antique car dealers out there. Google it for start, but the good news is a pristine, well-cared for antique car has never been worth more and they're very, they're going for record prices. So be sure you get all the money for it and I would start with a good auction. Rick has a comment. I'd also look online for Mercedes-Benz, uh,

groups and forums, especially local groups, you might find in there somebody that has knowledge of people that are looking specifically for that particular car. And, you know, people with those in those car groups, they get some of the really best, shall we say, hidden contacts and information, places to go that might just help you get a whole lot more for that car. Yeah, absolutely. And Karen, boy, I'll tell you, you're sitting on a gold mine and you can just take your time

and take the highest bidder. That sounds good, doesn't it? Yes, unfortunately it's not pristine. Pardon me? Well, there's a market for everything, and you know,

it's a 1988 is not, you know, a real old antique car, but it's like selling any car. You want to be sure to shop it around. If you go to the first source and sell it, you're not going to get all the money for it. So I would spend some time. And if you're not familiar with it, if you're not good online, find somebody who is. But Rick's right. If you describe that car online, they would guide you to the best sources to purchase it. And there's a huge difference, particularly with antique cars,

between a good price and an average price. Yeah, I think that's great advice, because this circle, this cult that Rick mentions, you know, they're really educated and they're always looking for that special antique, and you just might have it. Karen, did you say that was in 1980? 1985. A 1985. You know, we'll have your contact information,

because you're a first-time caller. So with your permission, we can give this to John, the caller from Palm City, who is kind of an expert on this, and then we can get you that information directly from someone that is a real authority. Well, that would be great. We'll do that then. And I'll pass your contact information along to John once you leave it, you know, with Jeremy, and we'll take care of it for you.

And Karen, please stay in touch with us. Okay, okay, great. Thank you. You're welcome, Karen. Okay, we're going to go to John, who's calling us from West Palm Beach. Good morning, John. Welcome. Hey, hello. You can hear me okay? Yes, we're here.

Loud and clear. All right. Oh, wonderful. I have a question. When a person brings their car in for an appraisal of the dealership, what, and if we get that appraisal from the dealership, how much is the gap between the actual price of what the car is worth and the dealership? I know they might need to make a profit.

So when they give it, so it's like they're low-balling, would it be like 10, 15, 20 percent? So if someone came in and they get an appraisal for 10,000, because that's what the dealership is willing to give, what would be the market? up from there. John, you know, the actual word of the car impossible. Yeah, the answer is would vary from dealer to dealer.

The one thing that is standard, no matter which deal you go to, is you need to get two or three other bids. There's a lot of reasons for that. First of all, a car dealer's motive could be to sell you a new car.

And what dealers will sometimes do is they will allow you, you more for the trading allowance than they think you were able to get somewhere else because they overpriced the car you're buying and that's not fair

that's shady so you don't want that to happen. They're not really giving you the price because they pick up the extra money they paid by raising the price that's a car you bought. If you're just going to sell them the car directly they're going to try to bring

the car in at a level if they want to retail themselves. which usually they would want to retail your car, and they want to make $2,000 or $3,000 on the car. So best scenario realized they're going to give you a $2,000 or $3,000 less than you probably get somewhere else. But each dealer may have a different motive and the way they operate. You mind telling me what type of car you drive?

Oh, yeah. Well, no, I was in it. I brought it in on Wednesday. You guys gave me an estimate or an appraisal, but neither Stu, Rick, or you were there, and I brought in the high luck surf. Okay, and what was the model again? The high luck surf.

Oh, Hylux, okay. 1997 Highlux, sir. Yeah, I would hope to think that we gave you what we thought was the current actual market value of your car wholesale, and not retail, wholesale. Right. But I would advise you to get a couple of more prices.

I would go to Carvana. I would go to CarMax for sure. CarMax is the most honest of the third-party sources. I would try We Buy Anycar.com. I'd try VroomV-O-O-M.com. I would go to another Toyota dealer and say, I want to sell my car. everybody including my dealership we do our best in our case to be honest with customers but I'll be honest with you right now we have quoted people buying prices on cars and they

were able to go to other sources and make a thousand two thousand three thousand dollars more than we offered so the consumer is advised to always get two or three other bids on the car I mean even with a dealer like I like to believe my dealership was being honest with you, but even a dealer is being honest with you, they could be wrong. And there's always somebody that needs a car more than somebody else. CarMax is a prime example because CarMax has an algorithm built into their computer system. And they have hundreds of outlets all over the United States for the largest retailer of used cars in the world. So CarMax, when you go into the, say you go into the local CarMax lot, they go to the

computer and that computer knows how many of your exact car they have in the system if they have too many your price won't be so good if they don't have enough it's a high-demand car they will pay you more money than just about anybody else even more than what the auction the Mannheim auction prices would bring you so check with CarMax for sure and then if you have time Carvana we buy any car.com and Vroom but my dealership gave you a bid I hope I hope it's a good one. I hope it's a high one. If it's not, you should check two or three others. Now, the bid was about 2,000 more than what he paid for it. Like I said, it's 1997, high-lux surf, you know, from Japan, the right-hand drive.

But the only drawbacks is it's got GPS, but it's in Japanese. And so is everything else on the car is Japanese. So you need, so. demand may not be that great, you know, if I go to CarMax, there's only going to be one that they, I don't even know if they'd have any in their stock, but like I said. Well, their algorithm is amazing. I mean, we constantly marvel at it, and they do so well that they know what they're doing. I would call CarMax. I describe the car. They'll give you a bid on the phone, and then you have to bring the car in to verify it. But, I mean, it's only going to take you 10 minutes to call CarMax. Yeah. And then you can do the same thing. I'll take you.

another 10 minutes to do Carvana, and another 10 minutes to call Broom, and we buy anycar.com. So, you know, in an hour, you could get three more beds to my bed, but I'm glad we were $2,000 higher, but you might get $3,000 more than you expect. Yeah, I'm chuckling because it took me 15 minutes to try to get someone to trade me the Hylux for your Ribbyan that you have sitting there. Well, I guess that's an interesting car Where these electric vehicles are really something They're they're getting a lot of attention

Particularly locally we seem to have more electric vehicle dealers in this market South Florida than most other markets And that's because we have a lot of I guess affluence down here People can afford to pay a lot of money for a car And also you know People just like to have the first one on the block that's me I love to have something new I'm always trying to look for something to do

that's the reason I bought a Tesla yeah the um well it was interesting when I came in because it seems like you hit every uh EV out there on that you have on the lot except for the Mustang I didn't see a Mustang out there but you have the pole star you have the Kia you know you got all the others it's common I tell you it's so exciting for me being the business as long as I had to see the electric vehicle revolution it is really amazing. I mean, you can't stop thinking about it. I drive the car. I love my Tesla.

I love the, I was doing something wrong. I'm supposed to plug it in every day. I didn't know that. So if you plug your car every night and you have a garage outlet like I do, it eliminates the whole range

anxiety to worry about running out of gas and sand in the line and I thought by plug it in every day, I was maybe going to deteriorate the battery. Actually, it enhances the battery, and it also keeps me available to get all the software downloads. So, exciting times, John. I never thought I'd

see him, but I'm glad I did. Thanks for the call very much. You're welcome. Thank you. Have a great weekend, John. Hey, 77-960. And you can text us at 772-497-6530. And don't forget, It's a great time, a great time to begin that car buying process. And, you know, who wants to? For instance, I have a prospective customer this past week who said that they were interested in a forerunner. But the price was about $4,000 or $5,000 over MSRP.

Well, we've reached a point now where you can take your time, and it's time to begin the car buying process. and there's a whole lot of things that you don't have to deal with, that negative the microchip shortage and everything else, but you do have to buyer beware, you know, always, and to do it from your PC. Don't go into the dealership. 877960-9960, or you can text us at 772-4976530.

And as I suggested when we began the show this morning, Earl's vigilantes, don't forget you can become part of that group and go to Earl on cars and you can sign up right there for Earl's vigilantes. You can, yeah, isn't it a great-looking hat? You can also help consumers raiding your own backyard and you can also wear that hat like Earl does. 877-960-99-60 or you can tax us at 772-49-6-5. Now back to the recovering car dealer. I'm going to give it to Rick, but first I'm going to talk about

the mystery shopping. It's worth for shame on me. I don't think I talked about it. We're taking something for granted. I did that's probably the highlight of the show. Very exciting. I salute this radio station, True Oldies, for having the courage to allow us to do it. Vic Conallis is the owner.

And he's an amazing guy to allow us to do this Mr. Shopping Report. It's like a, for you folks who remember Mike Wallace on 60 Minutes, it is like that kind of an event. We have an undercover agent. Her pseudonym is Agent Lightning, and we dispatch her every week to go into a different car dealership, and she goes in and pretends to buy a lease a car, and she tells exactly what happened.

I mean, we name names, I name the dealership. the numbers, if the dealership broke the law and we find a surprising number of dealers do break the law, we're most familiar with the Florida law, but the state laws are fairly common. Florida law is probably pretty much the law in most other states in terms of dishonest advertising. So we'll say dealer ABC broke the law. Now, we don't dare say something like that if it's not true, and we've been doing this for 20 years. We've never been sued. We've been threatened. We've never been sued.

Those dealers that threaten us, I say, bring it on because I can't think of a better way to expose a dealer that's doing something terribly wrong than a jury trial. And we would demand a trial by jury so that we get some publicity. We'd want cameras in the courtroom. So any of you dealers out there that are angry at us because for the past 20 years we've been telling the truth the truth is the perfect defense against libel and slander.

So stay tuned. Last half hour of the show, about the last 20 minutes of the show between 9.30 and 10 o'clock Eastern Standard Time will be our mystery shopping report and we have another victim and we will keep on adding them.

We have a list on earlancars.com good dealer or bad dealer list so that's how we compile this list we compile it by the experience we ask you to vote on the experience so stay tuned don't miss that spread the word even if you don't want to listen to the show now tune back in at 930 and pick up the mystery shopping report now I'll turn it over to Rick well good morning I guess we'll start right off with Anne Marie's text like Stu likes to do every morning kind of a tradition good morning Ann Marie she says good morning. Every time I have my car serviced at the dealership, Toyota sends me a survey asking if I was happy with the service.

I was wondering, does Toyota and the dealers pay attention to these surveys, or do they just ignore them as long as there's no potentially bad publicity? Thanks. P.S., I hope everyone is on the road to recovery. And, Murray, that is, as usual, a great question. You see this on TV interviews all the time. Everybody always says, oh, that's a very good question. They do that to compliment people. I'm doing it sincerely because she's amazing.

The survey system is kind of a joke. And it's not as big a joke today as it was, but surveys can be manipulated. I mean, car dealers in, I guess, most businesses, they have companies that do nothing but teach car dealers how to manipulate surveys. They used to do it back in the day. They would just tell the customers

to bring their surveys into the dealership and then they would give them a free tank of gas or even a cash reward to get the blank survey and they would fill the survey out for themselves. Then they had another clever idea and some of the manufacturers and dealers are probably still doing this.

they put the wrong email address on the form so that the dealer, if the customer is angry, they don't get the survey if they do it by email. I mean, where there's a way, they figure out how to get around it. The smarter manufacturers and the sincere manufacturers and dealers, they judge the customer satisfaction of a dealers by how often the customer returns. duh, right. If you buy a car and you buy another car and you buy another car, what does that tell you? The customer's happy with the place and happy with the price, and so they give that dealer a good score. Same thing with service satisfaction. If someone is loyal, it comes back to the

same service over and over again, that's the way they measure it. But no, the question, is do we take a survey? No, we don't take the survey seriously. Unfortunately, you can even manipulate Google surveys. Now there's, of all the surveys, the Google is probably the best one. And if you read the surveys, particularly, they're the best one. But Google can be manipulated, and there are companies that say, let us show you how to improve your Google surveys. And they have a lot of very suave, clever ways to manipulate surveys. So the best way to prove that a car dealer is a good dealer has continued to do business with him. Do your service business with him and do your car business with him, and the manufacturer

will recognize him as having a good operation. Boy, I'll tell you, you really said a mouthful, and manipulation would be the perfect word, and buyer beware. And now that it's a great time to start your car buying process, be careful. Really be careful because all of those surveys can be manipulated. and go to Erlon Cars and you can take a look at the list that will help you to walk through this minefield. And that list is good dealers, good dealer, bad dealers list.com. Take a look at all of those dealers that we shopped in these mystery shopping reports that we do every week.

That will really help you. And another thing that's deadly or can be a great advantage, and that is word of mind. mouth. Boy, does that travel. And I hope you get the word on whomever you're shopping. Rick? Hi, and this one is from Anonymous. Says, good morning. I plan on buying a new car later this year with cash. I have heard that some dealers will refuse cash payment and try to force in-house financing. I understand that this tactic is to make a profit. Is there anything I can say or do to get get them to accept the cash. Thank you. Wow.

I've never known a dealer to turn on cash. They will try to discourage you because they make more money financing cars than they do selling the car. The markup on the car is not as much, well it is today because of the shortage of supply. But normally dealers make a lot of money. Average over $2,000 per car just by financing. On every car they sell, even that's averaging in the cars that they don't finance. So if a dealer sells 100 cars and made zero on each car markup, he'd make $200,000 just in financing.

So that's why they push you to finance with them. But cash is a good way to buy a car. Interest rates are up, and it depends on how you feel about the stock market, how you feel about investing your money. if you feel like you could do better than the current going rate to finance a car, which depends on whether it's used car or new car in your credit rating, then you're better off to go ahead and pay cash. Great answer. I hope we were able to answer your question.

We're going to go back to the phones, and we're going to talk to Henry. He's calling us from Jupiter. Good morning, Henry. Good morning, good morning, everybody. I started out with one statement. Now I have two other questions. Okay. You stated something about the dealers breaking the law in the earlier piece.

Has any official authority take action against these dealers, or is it just another one of those violations that just goes unaddressed? Henry, very rarely does anyone take action? The most common law that's violated is a Florida statute. I haven't got the number in front of me. I should know it by heart. That's okay. But the statute states that you must sell the car at the advertised price

plus government fees only. That's not literally the way the law reads. But it says if you advertise a car for $15,000, you have to sell it to the person that comes in on that advertisement for $15,000. Not one penny more. The only exception is

Florida sales tax, which is a state tax, obviously, and the license plate, which is a state tax also. So state tax is the only thing that by Florida law can be added to the advertised price. I don't know a dealer

that complies by that law. I mean, if you look online, line, look, you know, find an advertisement somewhere on a car price, and you will find out that that is not the legal price of the car. It's the price plus extra fees, dealer installed accessories, and it's a violation law. The second part of your question is, why don't they, why don't they do something about it? Because Florida Attorney General, she's the number one law enforcement of all. officer in Florida, Ashley Moody, she is elected by donations. I mean, if you, every politician, if you do the math, the one that got the most donations and had the spent the most money on the campaign, they win. It isn't the best candidate wins. It's the one that spent the most. So the Florida Attorney General has the support of all the car dealers, thousands of dealers in Florida, associations and there's four or five state dealer association the national

dealers association so when those car dealers get behind the candidate whether it's senator or congress or or attorney general they generally win and that's why they don't enforce the law sad to say right well it seems the climate in which we live laws are not being upheld actually a rule that's not enforced is no rule at all But I did forget my second question since we started, but I will tell you my statement. I was looking for a GV-70, a Genesis GV-70, and I was shopping around to Hyundai dealers. They're a little bit scarce, and especially the color combination I wanted.

So I had to go from dealer-deal. I haven't found one yet. But I went to Napleton on North Lake, and then I went to Naples, I didn't know it was Naples, on Okachow because they don't necessarily put the name out there. And Napleton on Okichoke, on North Lake Boulevard, I stated when I brought up that they just got slammed with a big fine for not putting the stickers on the windows. I don't know the name of that sticker.

And they were also selling higher prices to women and so forth. When I said something over in North Lake, they said, well, that wasn't us. That was another dealer. And then when I ended up at Napleton on Hokka Chobu, who had a big sign that your satisfaction is 100% guaranteed and we want to hear about you. Oh, I just remembered my other question. I'll get to that. I said to him, are you charging over?

When I asked him the question, he said, no, no, that wasn't us. That was North Lake. So each dealer or each salesman was putting the blame, and my decision was that if it's the company name that got cited, it was the owner. the company who's responsible. But when I asked him if he's charging over and above sticker, he said yes he was and if he didn't do

that because the cars are so scarce, he wouldn't be able to feed his family. So all of my absolute refused to pay any more than manufacturer's retail. So I just

and I've reported on Napleton before when they charged, tried to charge a dealer fee on transferring a to a purchase after 36 months. So they're definitely not a fan of mine. Any comments? Otherwise, I will ask you my third question. Yeah, my comments.

You probably are talking about one of the most evil, pardon the adjective dealers in the country. He was fined recently millions of dollars by the Federal Trade Commission. He's a very large dealership. He has dealerships all over the country. apparently has a lot of money and he's able to he's making a lot of money

he lives in Palm Beach as a matter of fact and he just seems to neglect he just doesn't care interestingly enough the manufacturers are unhappy with Napleton too and it's just very difficult for a manufacturer

to drop and cancel a franchise to a dealer so Napleton is kind of it's kind of like a disease we've got we're going to have to live with the naples dealerships they seem to be rather nonchalant about their sins because

they can afford an $8 million hit by the Federal Trade Commission they can certainly afford a $200,000 hit from the Attorney General so they're just not afraid and they continue to do business as usual yeah very good Lastly, I just wanted to talk about the survey.

You know, when you buy a car or you go in for service, if you have some report with the service rider or the salesman, they always talk about the survey that's coming, and they ask you to give them all A pluses or tens or whatever the highest number is. And really, if you've gotten along with your salesperson or the employee in any way, when you just burn through all the questions with a 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, the survey really, is just a moot point. It doesn't really do anything. But because of, you know, like someone asks you to do a favor, you just accommodate. Unless, of course, he's really irritated you. But so so many of the surveys just go through as an exercise just to keep the bookkeepers, keep them in a job, I guess.

Well, one reason that the service advisors and the salespeople push you is because a lot of the pay plan, for salespeople are based on scores of customer satisfaction. Absolutely, absolutely. And so, you know, they, you know, it's, it's, the best thing to do is they should not be able to do that. No one wants to be pressured to give a good score on a survey. You get the survey, you should either, if you want to fill it out, fill it out. But they will, they will find a way to intimidate people and to give them high scores

when they really wouldn't give them a high score. So you're right. As I say, the more enlightened manufacturers of dealers look at one thing, loyalty. Service customer loyalty and sales customer loyalty, if the customer comes back year after year to do business with that same dealer, he gets very high scores.

And also, Henry, let me add to this, that, you know, most car dealers in Florida, they don't understand or even know the law. and it doesn't really matter. They ignore it because the regulators and the legislation and they're afraid to enforce it. So we have to do all the work. And that law that Earl was talking about earlier

is www. Florida law protecting carbuyers.com. Go there and there's a heck of a lot of information right there that will help you. Our number is 877-960-99-60, and you can also text us at 772-497-6-5-30. We're going to go back to the phones where Victoria from Wellington is back with us. Good morning, Victoria. Good morning.

How are you today? Welcome. We're well, thank you. I just want to clarify something that it's actually Naples. was actually fined by the Federal Trade Commission $10 million. And like you said, you know, for them it's nothing. But I would also like to add that the Federal Trade Commission, they can fine them and cite them,

but they can't help people get their own money back because that's not their job. And as I've told you before, or I have my problems with 441 Nissan, which is owned by Terry Taylor, and I can't get my money back either, even though the state of Florida has fined and cited them. And so if your neighbors are hearing and they have problems with the prices that they've been charged and they can have the details, they can go to the state of Florida, and they can file a formal complaint,

and after a couple of months of lots of paperwork going back and forth, the state of Florida will look into it and if they find that information they will find and cite them but in terms of getting your money back that is something that you have to get a lawyer for which is that you all know exceedingly difficult yes absolutely yeah and i've already filed a complaint with the florida trade commission and the federal trade commission about nissan but you know we have to wait and see what happens but if more people would go to the Federal Trade Commission and file a formal complaint, then there would be more impudence for them to go and investigate.

And the other thing I wanted to say is last week, you had somebody, and I don't know his name, who brought my name up and said that I could contact Whitney LLC, Whitney Law LLC, and the only Whitney Law LLC that I can find is in Denver Colorado, not Florida. So if you could find this person, if they could call in, I'd like to know. if they're talking about somebody in Florida. Hmm. Interesting.

I seem to recall that Whitney one was possibly on YouTube, but I think from the New England area. Yeah, I'm not sure. Yeah. Let me try to do a little research on that myself. Yeah, we'll research at Victoria. Folks, if anyone remembers, if you gave us information about a Whitney LLC law firm, possibly on YouTube.

Let us know, which please. Yeah, give us a call at 877-9-60-960. We'd like to help everyone out there. And Victoria was kind enough to give us a call this morning. And back to what you said about Navelton, Victoria. It's amazing. You know, you're talking about getting your money back, not you literally, but everyone that was involved in this lawsuit against Navelton.

can you even imagine, can you digest the fact that over $70 million, $70 million in illegal fees from customers from eight different dealerships, will they ever get that money back? Please. I mean, you're going to have to spend a whole lot of time and you're going to have to muster up some patience because, as Victoria said, you know, without it, we're going nowhere. well and there's another issue i and i'm fairly uh persistent and i've made a lot of phone calls we need to find an attorney who will file civil suits in court in florida and other states to get the money back because i have all the paper proofs and everything i need and i cannot

find an attorney to handle the suit and and there you are victoria you spend so much time on the whole issue. So you're a living example. For everyone out there that's listening, you know, join Victoria in her journey. Victoria, when you talk to the attorneys, have they agreed that it's a violation of the Florida

Unfair of DeSepi Trade Practices Act? Yes, there's a couple of issues. The reason I ask, the reason is ask, I'm really speaking to attorneys out there. under the Florida Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practice Act attorney's fees

are you basically have to pay the defense attorney's fees if I sue a dealer under the Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practice Act the the prevailing party has all their attorney's fees paid

usually the claim is not as high as the amount of attorney's fees So that's the one lever you have with a Florida dealer is that he knows that even though the award is small and the lawyer knows if the award of damages might be small. But the damages could be $1,000 and the dealer's fees could be $100,000. So that's the threat to the dealer that would make him nervous. also it's a reward to the lawyer. So when

you're trying to persuade one of your attorneys, remind them about that unfair and deceptive trade practices award of attorney's fees. Well, I will, but you know, like I say, I still have not been able to find somebody in Florida who will file a civil

suit. And some of the dealers they try to get you to, when you sign that contract, if you read this small print, which I didn't sign the contract, but if you sign it, it says, I well, if I have a complaint that I will go to arbitration. Now, Rick, has a point. Yeah, the YouTube channel is Whitney LLP.P, P as in Paul.

And I found it here on YouTube. It's the Whitney Firm, H-T-T-P-S-C-L-S-WittneyFirm.com. And they have a phone number listed here, 410-583-8. thousand but on YouTube it's Whitney LLP where do you think that is? I don't know let me double

check here try one other things I think that's probably San Francisco 410 if I'm not mistaken and Victoria one other thing on our point about Baltimore Pawano Baltimore okay oh Baltimore okay

one more point about the unfair and safety trade banks the arbitration agreement, the arbitration agreement can always be challenged. And the arbitration agreement that Victoria is talking about, it's on every installment sale, well, not installment sales contract, every vehicle buyer's order in Florida and probably most other states. It basically says you waive your right to a trial. And it has to go through the American Arbitration Association system. But a good lawyer can find ways around that. So if you can get it,

around the arbitration agreement, there's a lot of money to be made in the Unfair and Decepti Trade Practices Act because all attorney fees, quickly, many, many years ago, back when I was doing business the wrong way, I refer to myself as an evil dealer. I have a used car allowed at Okeechobe Boulevard, and a customer came in and bought a used car, and the issue was over $1,000. And at that time, I litigated everything. You know, I was born, I was more obsessed with being right than being a good dealer. And so I usually won. So I wouldn't, I fought the, I fought the $1,000 claim. And the claim, the, the plaintiff against me won. And I appealed it. And then I lost the appeal. And then I appealed to the fourth

state court appeals. Finally, I had all the way up to the state Supreme Court. The state Supreme Court overruled the lower courts and awarded me my money back. And I had to pay an attorney. His name was Ray Inglesby. I don't think he's practicing anymore. We're now friends, by the way. And awarded me all the fees I paid him, which was like $50,000. It doesn't sound like a lot of money day, but back in the 70s, that was a lot of money. And I got that money back, but I had to go to the state Supreme Court. So all I'm saying is there's hope that you can prevail if you can get that arbitration agreement thrown out.

Well, and I think I should also point out to people, I've probably spent a thousand hours of my own time on this. And when you think about what your own time is worth, where in your life, you've got to somehow calculate that. And I'm like you. I'm doing this because it's the right thing to do. But when you look at that amount of time for the money, it's a weird calculation. Well, don't get discouraged, Victoria.

We're rooting for you, and we're on your side. So you keep on trucking. And if we find, check out this legal firm that we got you the information on. That might be it. And we'll keep on trying. We're not going to give up. And let me just say one thing. if any of us can find an attorney to carry these kinds of suits,

that attorney is going to make a lot of money. You'll be the first one to know. We'll let you know. I'm looking for one too. Thank you. Thank you, Victoria. You're welcome, Victoria. We appreciate you staying in touch with us.

Rick, could you repeat that Whitney L L.L. It was Whitney LLP or the WhitneyFirm.com, and their phone number was 410. 583-8, 8,000. Okay. And it's in the Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland area. Okay, Baltimore area. And how do you spell Whitney?

W-H-I-T-N-E-Y. Okay, folks, you heard it. That's Whitney L-L-P, and that telephone number is 410, 583, 8,000, and they are in the Maryland-Baldimore area. So hopefully that's going to be some help to you. 877-960-99-60. You can also text us at 772-497-6-5-30. We have a great mystery shopping report that we're going to get to just about, let's say maybe 930, and it is from the Home Beach Toyota.

It's a great shop by Agent Lightning. And also, you get a chance to vote on that at our text telephone number. We're going to go back to Rick. Okay. The next one we have is from Toyota Tacoma, 1952. He says, for Earl, are there any Toyota dealers discounting any models of Toyota models now? I've noticed several new models on the lot, and I've also noticed that on certain models, Toyota is offering lower interest rates.

Are there any out there that you think might be discounted? You know, speaking nationwide, I could say possibly, I'm doubtful. I know of nobody in our markets around here that's discounting below MSRP. I know of no dealers other than our dealership that is selling cars at MSRP. I know some dealerships are advertising they sell cars at MSRP, but they're lying. And they add hidden fees and dealer-installed accessories. So the prices are down from where they were. We're not back to MSRP.

If you see a car on a dealer's lot, it tells you one of two things. One, it's a really dog of a car. Nobody wants to buy it. I mean, even in the high-demand, low-supply situation, there are cars that people don't want to buy. It could be one of those. The other reason the car is not a dealer-law. lot is because the dealer's going to charge a lot of money for it.

If you want to get a car at MSRP, your best hope is to be flexible on the model or order the car. Today you can order a car and get it in a far more reasonable amount of time. A year ago, you could order a car, and it'd take you a year to get a car. Today, you can order a car and probably get it in a couple of months. So in another couple of months, you'll probably be a order a car and maybe get it in a month. So that's what's happening. But I can't tell you of a dealer I know, a Toyota dealer, that's selling cars below, new cars below MSRP. Okay.

And let's see here. We have several other texts have coming. Some of these I've been trying to just answer. They're more technical things. So I've been getting them on just on here. But this one from an anonymous, what, if anything, is negligent? negotiable in the case of a lease? Well, a leases, there's a lot of things that are negotiable.

And if you're really sharp and you understand leasing and you can read it in a leasing contract and you know all that, you have multiple variables in lease. Now, 99% of our listing audience isn't going to go through this. But to answer the question directly, with a lease, you have possibly of a down payment. So they don't advertise it. You can't see it.

It's in the fine print if there at all, but most leases advertised, I'll say all leases advertised, are going to have a down payment. And, of course, then you have the hidden fee in a lease, which is, there's a leasing fee built into a leasing contract. So the leasing companies have a dealer fee, typically around $500.

And, of course, the dealers have a hidden contract. fee, maybe another thousand dollars. So those are two things. There's also the residual value. That's the estimated value of the car at the end of the lease. You want to shop around and be sure that you have a higher residual because that gives you a lower monthly payment. And then there's a lease factor, which for all intents and purposes is an interest rate, but it's a least factor. you get in over your head and in the weeds too much when you do that

here's what I recommend with the lease to negotiate get the exact car you want down to the exact options accessories MSRP is exactly the same you go to three or four different dealers of that make to get the lowest payment but you specify

you stipulate the MSRP the down payment if any the number of months, the term of the lease, and if you do that, you just take the lowest lease payment. As long as you take away all their variables,

lease down payment is a variable. Trade-in is a variable. Definitely stipulate what the trade-in is going to be worth. And if you know the monthly payment and the term, that's all you need to worry about, the lowest monthly payment. But leases are complicated,

And that's the reason I tell people usually, all things being equal, buy the car, don't lease it. Okay. And from Cindy, a kind of follow-up question where she'd asked about buying a car with cash and how to avoid dealers that want to force you to finance. It's just, I know you said we should contact the dealer online to get an out-the-door price. But I can imagine many sales associates will respond by saying something like, We don't do that online You'll have to come to the dealership

What would be a good response to that The response was If you want to waste your time Because there's so many dealers of every make And when you're online You're not even limited by geography So they don't know that But just

If you want to respond to a stupid comment like that I would say If you give me a price online Out the door I will shop that price and if I get a better price I'll buy the car. So let's say you got one chance out of three or one chance out of four of selling me a car. If you won't get me your price online, I'll never talk to you again, I'll never come to the dealership, I'll never email you again,

and you'll never sell me a car. So would you like a 20% chance to sell me a car or would you like a zero percent chance? And they probably won't even respond to you, but that makes me feel good when I say that. So you will, if you go online and you keep expanding your geography or zip code area, you should be able to find a half a dozen or ten dealerships

that you could contact online and of those ten, you're going to hit three quarters of them will give you an out-the-door price. You have to word the request carefully and the language I use for out-the-door price is

I want your lowest price out the door which means plus government fees only you're selling price plus government fees only give me that price and I'll get back to you you'll get two of three

three out of four will come back to you okay and this one from Bob says good morning South Florida my question is what is the process when a vehicle comes in and the original owner canceled it in the original person who had ordered the car. Do you go down the list of people that have open orders for that type of vehicle before it's available to everyone?

And he said, he did have a second question, which I'll throw this one out real quick. He says, does it hurt to jack up just one side of a vehicle either from the side or from the front of the back? Example for rotating the tires on each side. Yes, that is completely fine to do that. However, if you're doing that, make sure you have a good stable, solid surface, and you're using good quality jack stands. Never rely on just a jack safety first, folks. My advice is called AAA.

But, no, what was the first part of it? He was asking if someone orders a car and then they cancel their order when the car comes in, what happens? If you order a car, the policy of dealers varies from dealers. to dealers what their internal policy is. With our internal policy, your order car, we require a nominal deposit. Sometimes we don't even ask for a deposit, but a nominal deposit. We do that so we're sure the person is sincere about wanting to buy the car. But we tell all the customers your deposits are all 100% refundable.

As far as if the person doesn't want the car, we give them their deposit back or maybe If they don't even have a deposit, if they do, we go to the next person on the list, and then we go to the next person on the list. So my advice to you, I mean, if you're really a good car buyer, you'll negotiate the best price. You will order your car because if you want to get exactly the car you want, you're probably going to have to order it. And you'll be sure you have a refundable deposit.

And the other thing you want to worry about, what are the prices come down? Are you going to be locked into that price? You want to, in our dealership, we're selling all our cars at MSRP now because we can, and it's because it's lower than all the other dealers when you get rid of dealer-installed accessories and addendums and hidden fees. So we do that now. Now, let's say three months from now, things return almost to normal, and we're discounting MSRP.

If you had the car on order from before that time, we lower the price for you. We don't, if we have to raise the price, which is not going to happen, you're not obligated. So we try not to hook you when you order a car. We try to give you that freedom to shop and compare prices until your car actually comes in. The other variable, I should mention, are trade-ins.

What you trade-in, you know, the allowance, we have one regular caller. He'll probably hear this and call in again on that. He's had a car with us on order for months and months, and the value of his trade-ins is going down. so he had called me last week he says well the price of the new car when it comes in be enough to

compensate me for the price of the trade income down I said I think so but I'm not sure but if it doesn't you're in an obligation to take the car so we believe in total flexibility with the customer some dealers believe in get it all as quick as they can

and to hell with the customer all right and this one had come in where an anonymous he says my mechanic is unsure of how to deal with a diagnostic trouble code of P-0600 on a 98 infinity I-30, which 267,000 miles, and the person's just trying to keep their car running long enough for use car prices to come down to where they can afford to safely trade it out and saying that

the car stalls out. If your mechanic's not willing to diagnose that car properly, I would go find a different mechanic. Just from my knowledge and research on that one, this could be as simple as a weak battery or charging system or a wiring issue, some corrosion on a ground wire. But it could also be as severe as being the actual computer for the car. And for a 98 Nissan, you might have a hard time finding that part. Well, can you tell them where to go to one of these places that do the thing for free?

Well, there are lots of places that will pull the code for free But just pulling that code He already knows the code Well, he can't translate the code They don't... But apparently his mechanic doesn't want to try to Continue diagnosis on it.

Yeah, how about the independent places? I would look around for some of the Japanese Auto Service places, independent mechanics And even look online for Nissan car clubs There are a lot of car clubs specific for Nissan, and they'll be able to maybe hook you up with a local mechanic

that would be more interested in trying to help you on that. Well, you could put in the car code for the 98 Nissan model and see what you get on Google. Right, but that also says, you know, if it's a battery issue or a wiring issue, but it could be the computer. I'd already looked at that for them, but apparently their mechanic just doesn't really want to try getting into it. So I would simply seek out a different mechanic. for you.

And that's pretty much got us caught up, except for Frank from Jupiter, who says he wants to switch his Mercedes-Benz from gas to electric. And he included a picture of what appears to be a half-dozen marine deep-cycle batteries sitting in the trunk of his car.

Frank, you may want to research that because you may be taking a really big bite of something that would be hard to chew. That looks like a really big project. Funny you should mention... And I don't think those six batteries are going to do it.

Because Akio Toyota, the chairman of board of Toyota, is advocating that as a major way for Toyota to go in the future, is converting combustion engine cars to all electric. He ain't no more. He's not? Accio Toyota just lost his job.

He has been replaced by Kochi Sato from the Lexus Division because Akio Toyota did not keep up with the industry on getting electric cars and because Toyota has fallen so far behind on electric cars. This happened in just the past couple days. I saw a news report on it and Akio Toyota is no longer CEO of Toyota, Koji Sato from the Lexus division has now been given that title. Rick, you just gave us some breaking news.

I figured you knew that one. And that has everything to do with the article that came out in the USA Today, and that was, I believe it was last week, and that was about the Prius and Toyota, just not keeping up with the times, as far as electric was concerned. This is the current weeks. This is this week's automotive news. So it happened after.

It had to. Just in the past couple days. Here's the main editorial in the current automotive news. Akio Toyota, who is the ex-chairman of Toyota, retrofitted electric vehicle vision is noble but flawed. So apparently that isn't the only thing about Akio Toyota was noble but flawed because they just fired him. And that is really a shock.

Wow, that is something. He's the grandson of the chairman of the board. I mean, so for the first time in Toyota's history, they have gone to an outsider, meaning a non-family member, to be the chairman of the board of Toyota. And this quote on CNBC.com, the outgoing CEO of a giant autos firm has a message for his successor. Don't be like me.

Wow. It was announced Thursday that he is stepping down and Koji Sato will be taking his spot. Wow, that's a real... Unbelievable. Well, I tell you, you know... You knock me off my chair. Toyota was criticized for being late to the party on EV,

and maybe this was the straw that broke the camel's back. I thought it was... I mean, out of respect, I didn't say it before, but I thought it was a little bit nutty to expect people to take their old cars and bring them in and put a battery in them so they'd be a V. I mean, how, I mean, it isn't important anymore for the current car buyer, the millennial. With you and me, I mean, I'd love to be driving a 1957 fuel ejected Pontiac convertible. I mean, the old cars have an emotional thing for me. But today, that's gone.

I think Akiah was thinking about people wanting to keep their old fuel-burning cars out of sentiment, and people don't feel that way anymore. And I wonder also, he has a background as a racer, a race car driver. Exactly, yeah. He loves racing, which is part of the reason why the GR models, the Gazoo Racing, has become so prevalent in Toyota, the Supra, the Corolla, the 86, Several other models, they're building these GR racing models, which that's fine. But we only have one electric car, and it hasn't even made it to dealerships yet.

You know, Nancy and I have met in Talk to Akio, Toyota, and he's just a very personal guy, and he's a real hands-on guy. They call him a car guy. that's a term used in the wholesale and retail into things. That's an ultimate compliment. Oh, he's a real car guy. So Hocchio was a real car guy. I guess he wasn't a good businessman, though. Good car guy.

Isn't that the truth? That's quite a statement. Folks, we are going to have to go back to the phones where Frank has been patiently waiting, and he's calling us from Jupiter Farbs. Good morning. Well, good morning. As always, it's such a pleasure to be able to turn on the race.

you and hear you guys with your various health and advice and people calling in so I'm glad I'm glad my photo with my Mercedes Benz with six batteries for my golf cart led you to um talk about burning the cars I wondered if you were playing me on that one Frank I wondered about you know how I like to joke around but in any event um we shall see if the golf cart actually runs we put all the batteries in yesterday which took about two plus hours and when I first stepped on the accelerator it felt like we were being launched off a catapult on an aircraft carrier

because maybe I didn't have something wired exactly correctly and then I made about as far as a mailbox and it wouldn't run anymore so we shall see I got it on the charger now for 12 hours but anyway back to the real car stuff we have this Audi we purchased up at Stewart

where you mystery shop with an actually salesman Brian that we used and it's now due for one first year, checkup, free oil change after that, you pay thousands of dollars, but the first one's free. So we've got 6,000 miles. They would like to rotate and balance the tires. Is that a good option to do each year or each time doing all the change to prolonging life? It certainly can't hurt.

I mean, rotating the tires is obviously necessary about every 5,000 miles. Balancing them might be a little excessive, costing a little extra money, but it can't hurt because as the tires wear, the actual concentration, the thickness of the rubber might change little bits and cause slight changes in the balance. Rick, quick question. Can you, I know with alignment, you can check the alignment. Can you check the balance without having, I mean, do you just have to say we think it might need the balance or road test it or is there a way we can measure the balance?

Really, the only way, the only accurate way is put the wheels on a computerized balancer to check it, and then you've pretty much done 90% of the work. Well, if you're going to rotate them, you don't have to take the wheels off anyway, right? Right, but still it's the work of putting them on the machine and setting the machine up, doing all the measurements, and then spinning the wheel. And at that point, if they're out of balance, it's just simply remove the old weights and put on the proper weights that are needed. but it's still it's and balancing really isn't that expensive anyways yeah I actually called your dealership yesterday to get a quote for doing that with rotating balance and it was under $100 I said oh that's good because you know Audi was like 135 so but anyway um yeah it's just like I said it's just happening we

get the little light on the cars saying your cars ready for an oil exchange and then notes come in the email so it's amazing how fast a year goes by anymore is it's almost scary it definitely is well listen you guys have a wonderful day as always um i'll i'll keep the other jokes to the minimum until next week so okay thanks so much frank we appreciate that thanks for being a listener and a caller uh rick do you have anything for us we're caught up at the moment except oh one quick one here uh Toyota Tacoma 1952 is saying is there any disadvantage to buy buying a car, a Toyota, outside of the SET area. It can be done.

I mean, it's awkward, but if you get the right dealer, it's not a problem. We have done it at our dealership, and it's just a matter of transportation, really. I mean, the further you go, the more you have to pay for transportation. So if you get the lowest price and you're getting treated fairly on the transportation, you could buy a car anywhere in the United States you want to. And, of course, we got Negan 1. Yes, dude, I understand. He's kind of showing off with his notes on his collection.

He says he's going to be keeping his 79 TranZam, his 93 Chevy 454 SS, and his 2002 Ford Lightning. Man, if I could get into your garage just to take some of those for a drive here and there. Oh, he has got some cool toys. Just a five-minute drive. That'd be great. I'd know. It'd be about five days for me because I'd need a good time out in each one of his vehicles.

He lives in Arizona, and some of the vehicles that he has mentioned that he has some really awesome vehicles. Only a car lover like you. I'd want to get those out on those highways. Could appreciate it. Okay, folks, we're all caught up. Yeah, let me, before we get to the Mr. Shepin report, there was something. Before we do, I'm going to interrupt you, and I'm going to remind all of our listeners that when we do get to the mystery shopper report, please take advantage of 772-4976530 because you can place your vote right there. on the mystery shop for this week, which is the mystery shop of Palm Beach, Toyota,

now back to the recovering car dealer. I want to remind you folks that are shopping for cars now, that there's something that is not in the advertised price and you kind of an inside thing. There are two types of discounts that are available. if you know what they are, that they're there and what to do. There's dealer discounts that are hidden, and there's customer incentives, which for all intention and purposes are hidden. I haven't, the current automotive news now, and there's some substantial ones.

So we had a caller just a short time ago with an Audi. There are Audi's, new Audi's being sold now with $12,500 discounts. Now, that may be advertised somewhere, but you probably don't know about it. I'm looking here at a Jeep gladiator with a $3,000 customer incentive. Now when you buy a car, the customer doesn't know that salesman doesn't tell you there's a dealer incentive and a customer incentive. He should tell you about the customer incentive, but they don't. They never tell you about the dealer incentive.

about the dealer incentive. So when you are listening to the discount on the car, it isn't all coming out of the dealer's pocket. Sometimes it's coming out of your pocket because the discount was intended for you. So if you bought an Audi and you come in, and they say, well, I'll give you $12,500 off on this new Audi.

That sounds pretty good, except for the fact that he gets that money back from Audi. So it's not really coming out of you, It's coming out of your pocket because you should have got that and then asked the dealer for a discount. That's Audi's discount. You should also have the dealer's discount. And the dealer also has something that automotive news won't report.

They used to. They don't anymore. But all the dealers are getting some kind of dealer incentive of some kind on cars. Not as much as they usually do because during the COVID issue of the pandemic, the incentives became very limited. When you buy a car, you will sign a piece of paper, and you probably won't read it. You don't read one-tenth of what you sign. That piece of paper says, this price includes all dealer and customer incentives.

So that gets him off the hook legally for not telling you about it. That's also why you don't know about incentivize interest rates. Interest rates today are very high. the industries have gone way up, and if, let's say, Honda gives an offer of a 6% interest rate or an option of a $5,000 discount, you should know about it, you should be able to make the choice. You'll never hear about the lower interest rate because the discount, the dealer takes off the car and probably doesn't give you anything. He probably just marks it up even more. So the dealers are using the customer incentives.

They always use the dealer incentives, and they're not telling you about the interest rate incentives. So this is all the shenanigans that are going on now, and you don't know about. It's amazing, the minefield that you're walking through. And folks, let me remind you that this show is pre-recorded. And if you want to go back and listen, please do, because there's been a whole lot of information that we have shared. with you and our callers and listeners have shared with us and you can go back and you can listen to the show and you can make some notes and it can be to your advantage because as we said earlier when we began the show it's time to begin the car buying process and it's a great time

but I have to remind you everything is negotiable now back to the recovering car dealer okay we'll get to the mystery shopping report okay let me remind our listeners again that you can vote at 772-497-6-5-3-0. And that is important because we do want to hear from you. Why? You're an extremely important part of the show. That is the mystery shopper and report of Palm Beach, Toyota. Now back to the recovering car dealer.

You can also vote on YouTube.com. Ford. Slash, Rurland Cars. Rick has a whole lot of votes on YouTube. YouTube.com. forward slash rolling cars and you can vote on facebook facebook.com for slash rolling cars we grade on the curve a through f a is not a perfect dealer a is just the best dealer out there by the way we've had two ways in a row right we've had the lucid and we have the Tesla yeah so great reports both electric vehicle

dealers are both owned by the manufacturer they're not really dealers they're direct sales and that's the way it's going to go folks we are going to see the elimination of the dealer network and all cars will be sold directly by dealers one day which makes me a little sad because I've been a dealer for a long time but everything

changes for the better for the consumer hopefully. This mystery shop is a Palm Beach Toyota there in West Palm Beach, Florida and they're owned by the Penske Auto Group. I'll speak of the first person our undercover agent is Agent Lightning, a female

and she does an amazing job job, and I'll speak as if I were her, and this is the way the report went. I arrived mid-afternoon, and the forerunner, shopping for a new Toyota forerunner, I was here to see was parked right out in front.

The MSRP was $40,390. Now, it's kind of surprised they would have a forerunner, because it's a very popular car. And I said earlier, the show, if you're listening, I said there's only two reasons why a car is in a dealer inventory. Number one, they're asking way over MSRP. Number two is nobody wants to buy the car.

Well, the forerunner is a very high demandless of a black car, and as I say, we're surprised they had it there. The MSRP was $40,000, $390. There was an addendum listing a bunch of add-ons, but no prices. Violation of law, folks. If you have an addendum changing, modifying the price of the minimum, the vehicle, it should be posted on the car. I spent a few minutes looking at it, waiting to see if anyone would approach me.

She's Agent Lightning, I'm outside, I'm looking at this forerner, nobody comes up. However, I was surprised that no one came up before I walked in the door. Once inside, I was graded by two young ladies sitting behind the receptionist desk. They both smiled, and then one of them asked me if I was here to see someone in particular today. and that tells me that they're used to dealing by appointments. I said, no, but I was hoping to see that forerunner sitting out front. She said, sounds good. Let me call a salesman to help you.

Please give me a few minutes. Very nice gentleman named U-T-O-N, I guess it's U-T-O-N, I guess it's U-Ton or U-Ton. I came over and introduced himself. I showed him my phone and said, I think that it's up front, picture on my phone, I think it's up front. He asked me to look at the stock number and we would go take a closer look. We walked back outside, he asked me what makes me a wonderful runner, and if I'm familiar with what it offers. I said I've done quite a bit of research online, but I wanted to see how it drives.

He opened it up, gave me a thorough rundown of the SUV before we went for a test drive. By the way, that's one of the sad things about the high-demand low supply and shortage of cars. It's so important to drive the car you're going to buy, and sometimes it's impossible. and you should try very hard, even if it's only close. If you get a late-model used car, similar to what you're buying, or even another new car, it's so important to drive the car that you want to buy. And it's very difficult today, be honest, when you're just almost impossible. Once back, he asked me if I was ready to take it home.

I said, if the numbers come out right, yes. We headed inside where he had me type my information into the computer, and me typed the information into the computer. I joked that he had me doing his work. He said, that's how he say, Bunny. I like that, joking, good personality. I then responded, does this mean I get your employee discount? So a good rapport going there.

He laughed and thanked me for my help. So there's a good salesman. The whole key about being a good salesman, whether you're selling refrigerators or cars, you have to earn the trust and likability. You have to be liked. If someone likes you, they're probably trusted you, and they're probably going to give you,

they're probably going to get the sale. He then had everything in the system and asked me about the ceramic coating. And another appearance package, it would cost me around $3,300. So you see where we're going. There was no addendum label. There should have been one in the car, just EMSRP.

So we pop on $3,300. I said, I don't want this. He was quite pushy. Explain how the ceramic coating helps to reduce windshield wiper friction, I guess, what you're saying, where you barely need to use them when it's raining. That's true. Renex. Reminds me, I've got to ask Rick about what,

Amazon's got 8,000 different brands of RENIX, so I'll ask you after the show. I've got to get some for my car. Stick with the original. Original. Okay. And this is a ceramic thing along with wheel locks, tent. Oh, yeah. In addition to that, they had the wheel locks, the tent, the storage guards, et cetera, a whole bunch of stuff. These are overpriced, valueless items that they used to make another $3,300. One quick note there. Kyle in Pennsylvania had mentioned this. Those cables for plugging your phone into your car. He says he sees those listed as is like a $78 to $80 add-on. And when you buy a cable from Apple, it's like $40 or $50. They're racking those prices up on those things.

40% is standard and it's 100% more typical or higher. He spent a lot of time, that's Uton, spent a lot of time trying to convince me the benefits of all this garbage. He didn't say that. It was very valuable ceramic coating and the rest of it. And finally agreed to remove it. So there we go. Now, he gives me a victory.

I'm, I just got $3,300 discounted off the cars. I'm feeling pretty good, speaking in the first person. I'm Agent Lightning. He left for only a few minutes, Hewton, and then returned with his computer that had the screen pulled up and said, you're finally, OTD, out-the-door price would be $51,232.78. cents. Now, let's go back

here to, I forgot what the yeah, the sticker price was 43,390. Now, he's telling me the out-the-door price is $51,232.378. I asked for where the breakdown was because, you know, tax and tag is legitimate.

Just then Andy, the sales manager came over and joined us. He asked how Utah was doing today and if I was ready to buy. I said, Utah's been great. I still didn't need think about it and I'd like to see the full breakdown of the prices. And he has you to town for my sales info sheet

gives himself to go to print it, return a few minutes later with a worksheet. As you regular listeners know, a worksheet is something, but it's not a buyer's word. It's something that comes before the vehicle buyer's order. The vehicle buyer's order is a legal document. The worksheet means nothing.

And that's why they don't show you the vehicle buyer's order. They want to show you something that if you don't buy, they'll just tear it up and throw it away. They don't want to give you a copy of it. Especially, you might grab the vehicle buyers where it run, in which case you could shop and compare a price, and they don't want that.

Anyway, on this worksheet, the top line was $45,000,676, which was the advertised price. The advertised price was on the MSRP. That counts as an advertised price. There were $5,000 over MSRP. They added $1,094 in after markets. Okay, now, we thought the after markets were up here with the addendum label. We said, no, that was $3,300.

And now he's got more after markets, $1,094, and the old $995 dealer fee, which he calls, I think they call it pre-delivery inspection. and that's illegal, by the way, because the Florida statute says that you cannot charge to prepare the car for delivery because you're reimbursed by the manufacturer. See, Toyota pays me

because I'm a Toyota dealer and pays Palm Beach Toyota because they're a toy dealer, pays them to pre-deliver the car. So now, Palm Beach Toyota is charging you again to pre-deliver the car, $995. Toyota gives them $150,200,000. or box something like that and in addition of that they want you to pay $9.95. So now we're looking...

Palm Beach Toyota's price was... Yeah, Palm Beach Toyota's price. You're hanging. Sit down for this one was $4770, which is $7,380 over MSRP. Again, sales tax is okay and a license place is a leg okay. So, but you're looking at what, maybe a couple thousand dollars for sales tax and license plates. So it's still way, way over MSRP. Andy, the sales manager, made a lot of conversations, seemed genuinely kind.

Again, we got a good sales manager because he's smiling and he's kind. We had a smiling, happy salesperson. They're professional. And said he'd love to earn my business. So if he's close to an agreeable part, just ask. He wants to haggle a little more. He'd love to send me home with a new car. He didn't then thank me for coming in.

Stapled his card to the sheet, said to please let him know if there's anything else he could do to her in my business. And that's pretty much the report here. We have copies of offense number one. I'll hold this up. This is the Monroney label, the addendum label that was on the car.

And there's no addendum. And there was $3,300 in extra costs plus $995 for pre-delivery inspection, which is something that should be not done because the federal law says that you cannot charge and be reimbursed for something that the manufacturer has already reimbursed you for. So we have that much. And anything else of interest, votes, we'll be looking for your votes. You can text them or you can send them into YouTube. Earl Sterling Cars for us last year YouTube.com

for us slash rolling cars or Facebook.com for us slash rolling cars and we'll go around and pull the votes and see where we stand. And they are coming in. We have Scott Hunter D. Fee's Fee's Feeze.

Nate Miller, there are three things guaranteed in life, it seems. Death, taxes, and car dealers charging outrageous hidden fees. D plus. Kyle in Pennsylvania, I thought Palm Beach Toyota was a bit better than Ed Morris and Al Hendrickson, but both this time, D-minus. Tim Gilliland, in Yuma, too many red flags despite the smiles, D-minus. Tom Steckle, D, too many fees and illegal delivery fee, still not as bad as Napleton, the quintessential F.

Wayne Veit, old school, F. Rocky Blockatiel, typical fees, unfortunately. D. Johnny Z. Fradley? C-minus. They're not even the worst. Mark Ryan, D-minus. Mark Smith. I give them a D. Kirk in West by God, Virginia, Palm Beach Toyota, Hocus, Pocus, mystery, and floating fees earns PBT a solid D-minus. Joseph Kelleher, F. Negan won, a big F. And then we have, let's see here. Mark, pricing fiasco equals no sale, C minus. Here we go some more. Bob F, those smiling faces are very expensive.

And from, I don't see a name here that's anonymous, just a simple D. Myself, I'm going to say they're playing those same old games, so I can't fail them because they're really not doing anything. that all the rest aren't doing. So a D, and you've got to watch yourself, folks. They're out there. Yeah, with Palm Beach Toyota, they're Penske, part of the chain. And they're typically the auto nations, the sonics, of the lithiums, the big auto groups, and Penske is one of the biggest, they're usually a cut above the average independently owned dealership.

And I'll say this about Palm Beach Toyota. the personnel are, they treat you with respect, they're courteous, I mean, we've seen some outrageous treatment of individuals. I mean, we've had Agent Lightning, I mean, on the verge of attacking some of the salespeople. You won't get that at Palm Beach Toyota. So I give them credit for that. They're professional and they're trained. And one of the reasons to publicly help groups in Pennsylvania,

is on the stock exchange. I mean, AutoNation is traded on the stock exchange. Almost all the big public groups, all the public groups are traded. And so when you're in trade on the stock exchange, you have to divulge everything through the Security and Exchange Commission. So therefore, they stay away from the big crimes. They don't want a stockholder or they don't want someone filing a lawsuit

because if someone really wanted to make trouble for a publicly owned company that was doing something illegal, they could do it. So I, you know, if Roger Pinsky is listening right now, you ought to take a closer look at your advertising. I'm going to say something good about Palm Beach Toyota also. I've seen some of their TV advertising recently. It's first class, and there's no fine print. Now, these are unused cars that I've been seeing, and no fine print. Let me tell you something. To try to find a television ad, at least, where I see television in South Florida

without fine print is very unusual. So I congratulate Penske and Palm Beach Toyota on that. They're professionalism, but they're still doing some bad stuff, so you heard the grades. Nancy? Agent Lightning did a great job again,

and she just does a fabulous job weekend and week out. As far as my vote is concerned, you know, smiling faces, that's great. Everybody wants to see a smiling face, but, you know, there's a lot of deception, and it's unfortunate, and there's a lot of fees, and you walk in, and you have in mind that you're going to pay $40,339, $390 for a forerner, and the out-the-door price, it doesn't reflect that, so for that, I give them a D-minus.

Okay. We got a little bit of time? What about, would you like to vote? I'm going to give them a C. A C. I'm a C. Yeah, they're about average. Unfortunately.

I did want to say something about Volkswagen suing the state of Illinois. This is kind of like an insider stuff, so listen carefully if you go into car dealerships for service. The reason Volkswagen is suing the state of Illinois is because the state of Illinois is telling the dealers. They passed a law that says your warranty work has to be reimbursed by Volkswagen, you dealers, Volkswagen has to reimburse you at whatever you charge your customer for customer pay. So for non-warranty work, customer pay is usually quite high and competitive, and warranty work is less than that. most dealers today are pretty much being compensated.

Florida has the same law. Florida law says that if I charge my customer $150 an hour for labor, Toyota has to reimburse me at $150 for labor. So this is what's going on. If you have a dealer that is getting far less for your warranty work, then they're going to try to push into customer labor, and they don't want to do the warranty work if they can't make enough money, Rick. The other point of that is there also, Illinois is requiring that dealerships must pay the technician the same labor time on a warranty job as they're getting paid on a customer pay job.

I didn't know that. So that becomes like Chilton's or motors, manuals, when they set the labor times and say a job will pay. pay 10 hours to anyone else, Volkswagen or anyone else, can't come in and say, well, all right, we know they're saying it's a 10-hour job, but under warranty, we're only going to pay you six hours. They are not allowed to do that. Now, they have to have a standardized time that is paid warranty time and customer pay. Yeah.

There's all sorts of things like this that go on behind the scenes that affect you the customer. and when the manufacturer and the dealer are at odds with each other, typically you get caught in the middle. When I first got into the car business, the warranty reimbursement was terrible, and the warranty reimbursement was so bad, we didn't even want to do warranty. We would tell a customer at Stuart Pontiac and Westbound Beach

back in the 70s and the 80s, we'd say, listen, if you don't buy the car from us, we won't do the warranty work on the car. And we won't work on the car. Well, today you can't do that. That's illegal. And, of course, today, all car dealers in Florida has to be reversed at the customer pay level. So these are behind the scenes that affect you positively.

So it's not all bad about the arguments between the manufacturers and the dealers. Yeah, a lot of good things happening. Folks, we can't, Rick? One quick note here from Kyle in Pennsylvania. He says, Earl, can you shop JM Lexus again? They're the only one out there with no fees. See if they're still acting well. I had a call.

Funny you should mention that. I had a call from a woman and said that they advertised no dealer fees. J.M. Lexus. They're owned by Southeast Toyota. They're the largest Lexington dealer in the world. And they're in Coconut Creek, Florida. And they're, you know, one of the good dealers. But they still charge a worldly small dealer fee,

and they advertise they don't charge a dealer fee. It's like a $199 dealer fee. which makes no sense. So I told, I gave her the cell phone number of the general manager and said Earl Stewart told you to call her, call him, and see if they'll take off the dealer fee. But J.M. Lexus, if you're listening, anybody, J.M. Lexus, I mean, the money you guys are making is obscene.

You're making a ton of money. You've got an Alexis franchise. You're the largest volume in the world. Take off the lousy $199 dealer fee. You're still the best place to buy a Lexus from. I recommend J.M. Lexus, but get rid of the dealer fee. good advice ladies and gentlemen thank you for joining us this morning we definitely enjoy your company you're a huge part of the show we'll be right back here next week the same time

eight a m have a wonderful weekend