Earl Stewart on Cars - 02.04.2023 - Your Calls, Texts, and Mystery Shop of CarMax of Royal Palm Beach

Episode Date: February 4, 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 CarMax location to see what the shopping experience and price will be for a used 2021 Toyota 4Runner. 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 business. 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 LinkedIn's side. 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. Well, we're back. And when I say we're back, I'm talking about all of us. A round of applause for Stu Stewart. He's back after a long absence to do some back surgery. and he's looking good and he's feeling good and he's back on the job. Great to be back.

The whole team is right here in the studio and we got Jonathan in the control room and we got Rick Kearney, our certified diagnostic master technician. We got Nancy Stewart, my wife and co-host and female advocate, the whole team here, championship team, to defend you against the evil car dealers of the world.

And we've been doing this for a long, long, time. It's a good show. It's an exciting show. Probably the most exciting part of the show is our mystery shopping report. I don't say probably. It actually is. And we've got another doozy today. It's a new angle. I'll tell you who we shop. We shop CarMax, the largest retail of used cars in the world. And as usual, we did it for a reason.

We try to come up with a new angle, new twist, some new information to benefit you, the listeners, and the watchers to the show. Speaking of watchers, I don't have my list of telephone numbers here, so I know I'll get one shortly. But we rely on you, the audience out there, the visual, the video audience, as well as the audio audience, I have right here. And even though I've been doing the show for 20 years, I can't remember the telephone numbers. That tells you something, I'm not sure what. but we love to hear from you and if you don't call the show

it's just not as much fun and it's not as informative because your questions are in the minds of thousands of other people even on our minds sometimes you ask questions we don't have the answers for but we find them most of the time

and our favorite method of communication is the old-fashioned telephone and that number is 877 960 9960. You might want to write that down if you haven't got a question right now. Probably don't.

But as the show progresses, you know, we're on for two hours. We're on from 8 to 10 Eastern Standard Time. I give that Eastern Standard Time Out because we're all over the country and the world, for that matter. And if you write the number down 877-960-9960,

when you think of something, and give us a call. We will prioritize your phone call. Telephones, it has the personality, the warmth. You know, it's just more complete communication. I know it's old-fashioned. I know you some folks are like I am. You text a lot, you email a lot.

But there's nothing like the old-fashioned voice. A voice communicates something just in and of itself, even without the words. So let's hear from you. and we'll drop whatever we're doing, and we'll jump on the telephone. Nancy Stewart monitors all our phone calls on our laptop, and they come through the switchboard, and she will recognize you and your number and your location, and we stop what we're doing, we go to the telephone.

So, 877-9-60-99-60. Let's get those phone calls coming in. ASAP, 877-9-60-99-60. And for you texters, and I admit I'm a texter, I really, in my daily life, prefer texting because you can get more text, you get back to them. It's not invasive, you know, you get a text, you get back to it a little bit later. Telephone, ring, ring, ring, you've got to answer the phone. So our text number, for most of you, probably, is 772-4976530.

That's 772-4976530. is zero. And we'll accumulate to Texas. We don't get to them as quickly as we do the phone calls, but we'll get to them. And Stu is accumulating them on his list over there. And so before the show's over, we'll get to your text. 772, I'm sorry, 772-497-3530. And probably the most, I don't know why YouTube is so popular. I mean, I guess I do. I mean, YouTube is YouTube. I mean, it's huge. So, YouTube.com, forward slash Roland Cars,

and Rick Kearney, to my right, also our expert on technical matters, Rick Kearney accumulates the YouTube's, YouTube.com forward slash Erlon Cars. Have a huge number of great YouTubers out there. And in the past

several weeks, we've been getting more YouTube comments than anything else. And there's Facebook. Stu monitors to Facebook.com. that he's back and Facebook.com forward slash Earl and Car. So we're streaming and you can see how pretty I am

especially since I got my face fix and no more bandages, no more stitches. And here I am, I'm pretty. So Closure. Tune us in. You can see us visually. Here is audio-wise

and your comments are really what make this show interesting. I'm going to turn the mic over to Nancy Stewart, my co-host, and we've been studying all morning. We get up early on Saturday mornings. We go over the automotive news. We go over our newspaper clippings. I mean, we do our preparation. And so we're prepared for you.

Give us your best shot. Ask your hardest questions. And Nancy Stewart has a special offer. I've never heard of any other radio show or any show that does this. but we do something crazy to encourage you ladies out there to call the show and it's working because we have a lot of great

and extremely intelligent, interesting lady callers. Thanks to Nancy. Nancy, the mic is all yours. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Earl Stewart on Cars. You're a big part of the show. We appreciate your company and your communication,

whichever you choose, to get in touch with us. There's a whole lot to get to for the next two hours. I have a question for everyone. Are you still waiting for your vehicle? Has it been delayed in any way? We'd love to hear from you. 877960.

Or you can text us at 772-4976530. For the ladies this morning, as usual, we have $50 for the first two new female callers. Take advantage of that. us a call and share your experience with us, whether you purchased, lease, whether you went in for service, anything at all, or just give us a hi, a hello, and we will welcome you with open arms. 877960, 9960, and the text number is 772-497-6530. And don't forget your anonymous feedback.

We love to hear from you from your anonymous feedback. and also take advantage of Earl's vigilantes go to Earl on cars and sign up and you can help somebody in your community we'll talk more about that later now back to the well we're going to go right to the phones we have a couple of callers that have been holding we'll take John's call from Jupiter first good morning good morning good morning thank you very much thanks for taking my call. Earl, you and I've just met a few times and chatted very informally. We have the same eye doctor. So one of your old long time ago employees has worked at my firm. I'm now retired, but for the last, gosh, 25 years. So we have that in common. We've chatted about that

a few times. Give Dr. Mettle to a plug. He's a great doctor, isn't he? I'll tell you, Earl, I love my new cataract. uh, you know, my new, uh, lenses. Yeah. Oh, gosh. Change, you know, my golf game's not any better, but, you know, it may eventually come around. Anyway, thanks for taking my call. I have a question. I own a 2010, um, Corvette, uh, coop and, uh, like the little old lady who just go, went to church on Sunday for the last, whatever it is now, uh, 12 years. I've pretty much just gone to and from the golf course here in June. Jupiter. So I've got about 47,000 miles on the car. It's in very good shape. But I am thinking it's

time to move on to something else. And in terms of selling it, I have no idea at this point if I want to buy a new car or what, so I don't really know. But I'm just trying to determine the value of the car. So I went to Black Book online and looked at the retail host loan, etc. And I guess that's my first question. And then the next will deal with their ratings of extra clean, clean, clean. But what should I look at for the best number for the real value that I could get for my car on Blackbook? Would it be wholesale or loan or retail? I don't think you should using the Black Book right now. The used car market that is in such flux. We watched it right up to historic highs in the last couple of years, and now it's coming down pretty fast. So

the Black Book is a little publication. I know you might get it online, but the best way to get the value for your car is just to get bids from three different buyers. An online source, a CarMax, maybe a Chevy dealer too, because it's a Corvette. Because that's going to give you a real number yeah so yeah yeah so i don't mean to remember sorry but so really uh you know if if it's really not that accurate or or the best measure then i really don't need to worry about i'm assuming extra clean just cross it out that no one's going to give you extra clean but for example with my car given the mileage you know you can adjust the base the black book's mentions and so it adds about close to $4,000 to the base. Is that legitimate given? No, no. See, the people that are

going to be buying the car are not going to use Black Book. They're not going to look at that at all. They're going to look at the Mann High Market Reports, which are the actual in real-time transactions across the country at all the various auctions. And even right now, that's kind of sketchy because the MMR value today will not be the MMR value in a couple of days. Anheim is the largest auction. It's like almost a monopoly. They're all over the country. And that's the most common referred to wholesale version of used car prices that you're going to find.

There's also within markets, still the we use, I'm blanking on the name of the service we use for pricing. Oh, it's V Auto? V Auto, yeah. V Auto is more regional. And we've been glad to check it for you on V Auto. they give you a range of what the prices would be within a geographic area, zip code area. And so between V-A-O-and-Maheim auction, you can get a real accurate price on what that Corvette worth. By the way, the prices are coming back, and Corvette never got hit too bad compared to everything else.

And a gym, pristine car like you have, 47,000 miles, 12-year-old car, you should get a pretty good price for it. okay okay and you did mention i have actually i was handling my mother-in-law's estate a few years ago and i sold her but it was an older honda accord i sold that to car max um and you know i thought i got a reasonably fair price but it's not as nice as car as i have so i don't know if that's a good so you said go to car max and who we buy any auto what about well i'm i'm not by any car I'm glad you mentioned CarMax, because we did go to CarMax. That's our mystery shopping target that Stu set us up for and wrote the report on. And so that comes at the end of the show.

But the reason we shop them, John, was that they are very heavy in their inventory, meaning that they brought in a lot of cars, traded them and bought cars in the past. when the used car prices were a lot higher. Now, the used car prices came down, but CarMax, surprising to me, didn't adjust. We did, and your more progressive dealers recognize the fact that the wholesale market was coming down. And we adjusted our prices by writing them down.

CarMax, we found out, did not. So right now, CarMax is very, very, very careful when they buy a car, because they're already too heavy in their inventory. I would still get a price from them, just like I would. We Buy Anycar.com and Carvana. But even Carvana is having huge financial problems. They are on the verge, actually a bankruptcy. So your best bet, when Stu says shop it around, I'd go to three Chevrolet dealers and at least three,

and I think they would fight over your car. I think that would be a pristine car for their lot. And if I were you, I'd go online and maybe do four or five Chevrolet dealers. Yeah, okay. Well, but I'd still need to obviously take the car to them. Yeah, and let them look at it and all that good stuff. But, okay, and again, the Mannheim and the V auto, though, someone who's not a dealer, can not, you probably subscribe to that,

so I couldn't access those, right? Correct. Well, we could for you. I mean, if you wanted to give Stuart and me a caller, Nancy, we'll get, we could get your Mannheim number. Well, that'd be wonderful. I won't, you know, how about maybe early in the week? Do you have a number I could call or use your text here that you announce on? You could just call the dealership and ask for me or Jason Stewart.

Jason Stewart is my brother, and he'd be the one who would be helping putting the value on your Corvette. Okay. Well, you're very kind. I will do that. then I'll get rid of it and come buy a Toyota. There you go. John, you couldn't be in a better position right now. You're in a great position to negotiate, so take advantage of it while you can.

Very good. Thank you. Enjoy your show. Thank you. Thank you. 877-960-9960, and you can text us at 772-497-60. As I said earlier, your anonymous feedback is pretty important. can you know use that um as a way of communicating with us and we're going to go back to the

phones and we're going to talk to maxine from a melbourne florida she's a first time female caller no she's not she's she all worked she called before maxine good morning welcome back oh good morning no i didn't call before all right then you're 50 bucks richer okay that's good that's good i like that you are a first time caller? Oh, yes, I am. Oh, great. Before we get started, Maxine, I want to let you know that you can leave your contact information with Jeremy in the control room. It is the only way I can get you a check. There's no other way for me to get your contact information. And when you do that with Jeremy, he'll pass that to me, and I will write the checkout and send it to you. What can we do

for you this morning. Do I just stay on the phone when I'm done talking to you? That's right. All right, okay. First of all, I apologize for my voice. My allergies are killing me, but other than that, I had sent a text message in

weeks ago, and I got a reply back from someone from your shows that I should call in. Last October of 21, I went to a car dealer, and I was looking at a key of soul, and I told him when I got there that if I have a mobility lift on the back of my car, and I told him if I can't put it on the sole, I can't buy the car.

He said, oh, that's not a problem. And he said, well, let's see if your financing goes through, and if it does, we'll put a hitch on it and get you hooked up. And so we did that. I didn't take the soul for a driver or nothing, because I knew what it was, and I wanted one. Well, about two days later, he called me back and said, I'm sorry, we can't put a hitch in your lift on the soul. It's too small. And I said, okay, well, at least I tried. He said, well, come on up and we'll see what else we can find for you. So I get there, and he

starts, he says, well, come back to my desk. He said, I got good news and bad news. And I said, well, first of all, you shouldn't have any news, but what is it? He said, well, you own the soul, and we own your car and you can't leave here today with your car and I'm like okay this he pressured me

and pressured me so I literally had me in tears at one point I'm a senior citizen I'm disabled he just I felt like I was backed into a corner and I know better

I mean I got I'm not dumb you know what I mean I knew that I was being done wrong but he had me to the point I couldn't think straight and get myself straightened out to get out of this situation

I found out later all I had to do was go out to get my car and leave and he couldn't have done a darn thing to me but and I tried talking to lawyers nobody would talk to me I got stuck with a car with a $500 car payment

because instead of trading my car in he traded in that new Kia Soul in on this Kia Sportage. I ended up owing, I owe way more than it's worth. I stole $30,000 on the car after making over a year's worth of payments on it. I said to him, I said, okay, number one, I said, as you can see, my health isn't all that good. I said, what if I get to the point where I can't work anymore? I said, how am I going to make the car payment?

I said, I can't do this. And I said, what if I lose my job? He says, well, if you lose your job, you can always get a job at Publix. That's what they said to you? Pardon? That's what he said to you? Oh, yeah, it gets better. And I said, well, how did you?

I'm not going to work at Publix? I can't stand any length of time. Then he says, well, he says, the other thing, he said, if you quit eating out at fast food restaurants, he said I'm sure you'd save enough money to make your car payment I said excuse me what did you just save me I can't believe that I mean I believe that that's a stop Maxine would you mind telling us the name of the dealer sure it's the time it was Cocoa Kia

it's now Jackson Kia Where is that located I'm not familiar with it Melbourne? Melbourne okay you haven't heard of them yeah we're not familiar with them either It's up at Coco yeah What which attorney how many attorneys did you try to reach?

You had an extremely good case and I'm surprised we do know there's a problem sometimes with attorneys if they don't see the monetary potential but I see pretty good monetary potential here for them how many did you try?

I called I don't know how many I called probably about four of them or so and everybody I talked to you said oh we don't handle cases like that And I finally just gave up. And I went around to, I think, every car dealer in Bavard County trying to get someone to, you know, let me trade it in on something cheaper.

But I couldn't, nobody would touch it because it's an upside down loan. Maxine, you should file a complaint with the Department of Motor Vehicles, the Florida Department of Motor Vehicles. There's a forum on our website, on our Earl and Cars. you can download a form for a complaint to the Department of Motor Vehicles. You would try to contact them by phone or do that complaint. They have a lot of power. What they've done here is a pretty severe violation.

One of your problems may be that the salesman will deny what he said and what he did. If he was to tell the truth about what he did, that would be a very serious violation. The Department of Motor Veilers can actually revoke the Kia dealer's license. They can find them. They can suspend the license. And that would be the quickest way to get the dealer's attention. You need to get through also to the owner of the dealership or the general manager. That salesman is...

Okay. Yeah, go ahead. that. I did that when it was Cocoa, I went up and I talked to him. He said, you know, well, there was nothing. They told me there was nothing they could do. Then it's under new ownership

now. And I took my son-in-law with me. And he was out of town when I bought this car. And that's kind of why that you know, if he'd have been with me that day, this probably wouldn't have happened to me. But he went with me and we went up

and spoke to the new manager up there. and he said well that was under different ownership I said that's beside the point you still have that same guy working for you he still has the same desk he's still here I said and if you did it to me I'll see you think I'm the only one he's going to do that too but nobody would talk to me up there well we'll try to help you on this Maxine

if you if you can get us the specifics the name of the dealer and the name of the salesperson person. If you can, you can text that to us or call us and give us an information. We'll try to get you an attorney that will help you. And I also think that you really need to file that complaint with the department motor vehicles. This is a terrible wrong they've done you. And it needs to be corrected. And we'll help you any way we can. Okay. The other thing is I lost my job. the beginning of the year. January 1st, I lost my job. Sorry, real sorry.

So now I'm to the point where I can't afford this payment, and I'm going to have to let the car go back to the bank. And, I mean, I just, I don't know what else to do. Maxine, this is Nancy. You know, we realize you're in a bad position right now, but I have a question for you. When you were spoken to about your options for employment, by the salesperson, were you alone?

You mean it's a car dealership? Yes. Yeah, yeah, it was just him and I at the desk. Okay, so your, did you say your brother-in-law or your nephew was with you when you went back in? Yeah, he went with me. When we went back up, yeah, we went back up to see if they would. Okay, so you were spoken to while you were alone. You know, Maxine, this goes on more often than any of you.

wants to admit and it's unconscionable and I truly am sorry for you and there is no reason for anyone to be taken advantage of whether they have a job don't have a job whether they're upside down anything you must be respected whether you're a man or a woman and this gentleman and I use the term loosely he was definitely out of line and please Maxine, that information you're going to give me for contact, please give Jeremy the information that Earl just asked you for. It will help us out tremendously. Our voices must be heard. There are too many dealerships out there now that still exist and base their sales on this intimidation. So please get me your information.

I did talk like I said I think I talked to every dealership in Burmard County and I tell you what I can't tell you the one I remember this one salesman he said you know we get a bad rep anyway he says but when somebody and he gave him a name he says treat someone like you like that he said all that does is make the rest of us look even worse exactly it spreads quickly Maxine I can't thank you enough for calling it was great hearing from you. Please stay in touch, and please stay on the line and give Jeremy the information that we need. I most definitely will. I did have one attorney tell me to blast him on social media, and I just did that when I lost my job, and I'm like, well, here I go, now I'm going to lose my car.

You know, ruin my credit. I got good credit. Now my credit's going to be ruined because of him, and I put his picture on even. Yeah, exactly, exactly. Again, thank you. We have another caller waiting. I'd love to talk to you further, but we're out of time.

Have a wonderful weekend. I appreciate it. There is light at the end of the tunnel. Stay in touch with us, please. Okay, I will. Thank you. 877-960, or you can text us at 772-497-6530, And as I said earlier, your anonymous feedback, take advantage of that, your anonymous feedback.com.

And there's no better time than right now for you to read Earl's latest column. Don't let dealers steal your discount on a new car. Go to Earl on Cars and take a look at that column. There's a whole lot of information in that column. And also the last one was it's time to begin the car buying process. And also a wonderful, a great read for these times that we're in that are so volatile. And again, you can go to Erlon Cars for all that information. We're going to stay with the phones.

We're going to go to Boka, where I believe we have deck holding. Good morning. Good morning. morning it's it's kept to come in after that that was a heavy call very uh sensitive call yeah mine is not mine is not like that i think um can i please have a question i i bought a 2007 lexorex 350 from a private person and the car is wonderful i knew everything i had a pretty good idea uh you know when i bought it what i saw but the front dash was cracked and kind of soft

so I figured I call Lexus and see what they will do about it so when I call Lexus they said there was a recall on us but the recall finished in 2017 yeah my question is

do I have any recourse on that I don't think so it's that's pretty far out of the of the time range you tried and they turned you down but if you were the original owner you'd have a better chance the fact that you're not the original owner

hurts and the fact that the car is 15 years old there was a chronic problem with auto dashes Lexus Toyota a lot of cars were having problems especially in Florida with cracked dashes and we had cases with our customers where Toyota would go back several years in repair

dash even though technically it was out but you're pushing the limit when you go back 15 years okay that's what I thought but I'm glad to hear it from the professional well I'm sorry I have to give you the bad news but I think that would be

it'd be just probably a waste of time for you and no sense of doing that you're the one that got the whole thing going with Toyota with the cracked and melting dash problem It was a problem our customers were bringing it in, and it wasn't being acknowledged, and then they finally started paying attention and fixed them. Yeah, we got some publicity on it.

I went to Channel WPT, the Channel 5, they came out and did a special story on the cracked dashes. So we take pride in the fact that we probably created the attention, national attention, eventually, where these crack dashes became. We thought it was just Toyota, and suddenly Honda had it. them and Lexus had them and pretty soon a lot of car manufacturers admitting they had apparently they're buying their dashes from the same supplier and in the sunbelt states like Arizona Florida they were cracking the way I got the media's attention as our customers were complaining the dashes don't only cracked but they melded to some extent the hot sun and they would get a slick look on the dash so the sun coming in would reflect off the melted dash and became a safety

safety issue. So once you say safety issue to an auto manufacturer, they get really frightened. The lawyers say you better do something about it. So that's how we got their attention. You know, now that I go over that, you might consider one last shot, maybe go in writing to Lexus and just say that your dash is reflecting the sun based on the, you know, the condition. and it's creating a danger to you when you drive, I don't think it'll work, but you put in this much time, you might give it a try. Wow, that's incredible.

That sounds like a terrific idea. Worth a try. Good luck to you. Call us back next weekend. Let us know how you did. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. I will indeed, and thank you.

What a great show you have. Thank you very much. You're welcome. Keep listening. 877-960, or you can text us That's 772-4976530. We're going to talk to Paul, who's calling us from Lake Worth. Good morning, Paul.

Hey, good morning, guys. Hiya, ha, ha, happy Saturday. Thank you. Cool. I think it's interesting that you're going to be shopping CarMax today. Yes. And I just happen to be of the philosophy that, in spite of everything, I think a buyer out there can still find a later model.

really good used car for a fair price. So here's my question. Manufacturers certified use cars. And, you know, why does one car qualify for a certified program and others not? You know, same year, same model, same mileage, same dealer. What's the criteria? Well, the dealer has to want to certify the car. It's a cooperative program between the manufacturer.

and the dealer. Now, the manufacturer sets up criteria, year, condition, and mileage. And you have to go through a checklist for a manufacturer-certified car. And when you go through the checklist, if you fix the things that need to be fixed, and it qualifies mileage and time-wise, then you can certify it. But to certify it, you have to pay the manufacturer a certain amount of money. Now, that is probably the answer to your question. Some dealers choose not to certify, and some dealers do certify. Okay, well, but what I'm saying is, for example, a Lexus dealer has a certified Lexus of 2020 and another 2020. So why would he not, if the vehicle is still under warranty to begin with, why wouldn't he, fix what needs to be fixed to make it manufacturer certified. Well, if the mileage and condition qualify it to still be under warranty, there's no reason why he shouldn't.

It's still his choice. It isn't a very smart choice, in my opinion. It could be all about the money, depending on how much he has in that other vehicle. He might have allowed too much money or pay. too much money for that other vehicle and he doesn't want to add another $600 to his cost because it'll cut into his profit when he sells a car. Here's what I advise people on certified cars. I say, if you have a car that qualifies for certification and you take it to your independent mechanic to check out, don't spend the money to have it certified. Just go ahead and buy the car.

If it qualifies for certification and you've had it checked out by your independent mechanic, you've save the money that the dealer would be charged you extra because he had to pay the manufacturer to certify it. Because the extra warranties that you can get with certified, the free one is a power train warranty, which you're most likely never going to take advantage of. And then the extra warranty that you can get, it's a good deal, but you have to pay for it. Yeah, all right. Because in the case of the Lexus certified vehicle, the certified warranty, at least on paper, looks to be just as good as anyone else. new car warranty.

Oh, yeah. It covers the same thing. It's comparable to the Lexus new car warranty, and same with all the manufacturers. Cool. Okay. And when you're buying a Lexus, you're buying a very good vehicle, and my philosophy, this is just my personal philosophy,

when you buy a top-quality car like a Lexus, you really don't need the warranty. I mean, you take care of the car, you do the factory recommended maintenance, and the chances are you'll never use the warranty. warranty. So it's like a peace of mind expense. And that's all it is. It's a piece of mind

thing. And when you buy a really high quality car that has been, you know, gone over by consumer reports and everybody says, oh boy, this is a good one. You can still get a good value. Yes. Absolutely.

Cool. Great. Thank you. Thank you, Paul. You're welcome, Paul. Thank you for the call. Stick around, folks. Later on. in the show we're going to we have the mystery shop coming up with the carmacks of royal poem beach age and lightning went out and did a great job again and of course the spite master general is right here with us this morning and we're all going to welcome him again welcome stew hello it's good to be back it was quite a surprise seeing you walk through that front door

i didn't give an announcement ahead of time but listening to you guys on the radio at home i got a serious case of FOMO, so I'm glad I'm back. Oh, okay. Are you ready for Amory's kickoff text? Oh, yeah. Okay. We got a text from Amory. She says, Good morning. What would you recommend the best time for customers to get

insurance when they buy a car? Just after papers are signed, right before they take delivery, when they get around to it, thanks. Well, yeah, absolutely. You want to do it before you take the car home. And the dealer,

should really push you on that because they're they're at risk also I mean with the lender assuming you finance the car you want to be sure you got the proper insurance on it because the lender requires that so yeah by all means before you drive the car home be sure you have security or insurance I would also add I would feel more comfortable and advise that you don't don't put the insurance on the car until you've signed everything in the finance office so there's no more surprises a lot of people get very invested in the purchase and you can you can put the insurance on as soon as you have the VIN number in the description of the car. And if you imagine doing that and then an hour later, you're in the finance office, in your mind,

you've owned it, you're insured that car, and it's a lot harder to say no to some of the pitch. So I'd wait until you're done signing all the papers and before you drive off. And speaking of insurance companies, that's reminded me that Nancy read an article to me and I think it was Automotive News that I think State Farm or Allstate, a couple of the insurance companies, have stopped insuring IKEA's and Hyundai's that are easy to steal. And the speculation is that other insurance companies might be doing the same thing. So if you folks are thinking about buying a Kia or Hyundai, check to see if it's on the list of it's easy to steal.

You might want to check with your insurance company before you buy the car. Yeah, great advice. All right. Well, let's jump ahead to Bob from Naples, but actually he's Bob from the North Coast of Cuba. He's on a cruise ship right now. Just off of Cuba. Really?

Yeah. We've never had a call from Cuba before. No, technically it's in international waters, I'm imagining. Bob says, hope you are all well. Question, for us snowbirds, if we were to leave a car unused for six months in Florida, what things should we do to the car? It would be in a covered carport. And again, that's Bob from Naples.

This sounds like a Rick question. The first thing I would do is find a neighbor or family member and have them come over about once every two to three weeks and take the car out for about a five-mile test drive. If you can't do that, the next best thing you can do is get a solar-powered trickle charger. Even though it's in a car port, you're still going to get quite a lot of reflected solar radiation coming in. And those solar-powered trickle chargers can keep your battery charged up and help keep the car in good shape for you. Now, I got to stop you. Hey.

You're telling me that a solar power trickle charger will work in the garage? No. Carport. He said a carport. Oh, carport. Carports are generally open on at least two or three sides. Therefore, you get sunlight. It's a light. It's reflected in.

Okay. Yeah, I had a cardboard in my last house, first house. Yeah. And just the reflected light was enough to. Yeah. Oh, I didn't have a charger. I don't know if that's true. In a garage, however, just get a trickle charger with the plugs in the wall.

and that actually will help keep your battery charged up and keep the computer systems alive. I like the idea of having the neighbor do it. We've talked about having trickle chargers, but there's more benefit than just getting the everything charged up. Absolutely. You have fluids and other stuff. Also, what you're going to want to have them do is once a month

check the tire pressures because six months' time, you're going to come back to flat tires. And it can also create what's called a flat spot on the tire because it's sitting at one position. for a long time. When you go to drive the car for probably the first 20 or 30 minutes, you might hear this thump, thump, thump noise as it keeps hitting that flat spot. Yeah. Also, your brake pads can actually start to rust just a little bit to the rotors and actually lock up to where you may have an issue of getting the brakes to work properly,

and they'll be extremely noisy after sitting for a length of time. So the best option really is to have a family member or friend that can come over and just exercise the car a little bit. I wonder what the situation would be with electric vehicles now. Like with a full charge, could it sit there idle for six months? I know you'd still have the issue with the flat spots on the tire. But could a Tesla S, Model S, charge up and sit for six months and still be drivable? I think you'd still see some issues with the batteries because the Tesla still has a 12-volt system for the computers to keep the memory alive,

even while the car is turned off. Does it have a separate 12-volt battery for that? Yes, they do. Okay, like a regular car. And I would suspect that you're going to see those draw down over time. If you don't run Tesla for six months, I think that battery would wear out.

One other thing, you've always talked about the wireless, or the keyless remote battery, and you want to be sure you keep that away from the car so it doesn't keep trying to reach. the car. Yes, minimum 20 to 30 feet with at least one or two walls between the key and the car. We'll keep the two from trying to communicate back and forth. You want to take that with you or put it away from the car. There was a lot of our listeners that were, you know, unaware of that Rick, and that was great advice that you gave out on more than one occasion about the remote.

And also to the person that's on the cruise, you know, I've left, Earl and I have left for two weeks. And I've come home to a dead battery. So it's key what you said, you know, you should really find someone who will run your car at least not around the block, but for several miles just to, as you said, give us some exercise. That's great advice. Warm up the engine and just exercise it, basically. And Stu, I did not know that about the electric vehicle. You know, I just thought that was a shoe in. You could just leave it sit. That's what I was thinking, but I got thrown off a course with the 12-volt battery that they have it just like. I said it known because the hybrids have a 12-volt plus the hybrid battery. Well, and a quick word here from Donovan. He says, flat spots would definitely be an issue, but the 12-volt battery is lithium, and the main battery lose only about 1% every three weeks.

And he says, all Teslas have a 12-volt lithium battery, but not all EV makers do this. Okay. So I would still be concerned about that 12-volt battery. And even on a Tesla, I'd say it's still a good idea. Get it out and drive it a little bit. Let things exercise. Cars aren't meant to be sitting. They need air.

We'll take a moment to thank Donovan. You know, he's such a big part of the show. He's patched us in a lot of information. We've covered that's Patrick pretty well. Okay. I have some anonymous feedback. It says, and we don't know who sent it. How would the out-of-the-door price be impacted if I order the car in 2022 and it arrives in

2023? I don't know how much it would be impacted from 2022 to 2023. It depends on when it arrives. We're anticipating new car prices that come down throughout the year later on in the year following this use car decline. So I think your out-the-door price would most likely go down. For example, if you bought a car, I use our dealership for an example, bought a car ordered it in December last year in 2023, and it comes in later in the year. And if prices have come down, and we're going to be, we'll be following the market, and we're going to want to stay on this low end.

We'll be below MSRP then, whereas now we're anticipating, you know, deliveries now are done at MSRP. But when the prices come down, it should follow the market prices. is if you have an order with a dealer that is going to try and keep you to the MSRP or the above MSRP price six months from now when prices come down, don't buy the car and don't worry about it, there'll be plenty of cars to choose from that. Well, if you're easier said than done, I mean, if you bought a car and you put a deposit down and signed a contract, you know, you bought a car and you can... But not to you drive it off the lot in Florida, at least.

Well, no, that's not exactly. That's not entirely true. That's part of the full consummation. But if you sign a contract and you put a deposit down, for sure you don't get the deposit back. Right. And in terms of the dealer forcing you to buy the car, that's another issue. But technically, he has a case. So, yeah, be careful if you're buying a car today, you don't want to, you have to realize you can be locked in for the price. So clear that up.

Say, I'm giving you this, I'm signing at this price. If prices come down, I want you to understand, I'd like to have the lower price. And then you've had to get that in agreement, that way you're locked in. Great advice. And it's all free, folks. Give us a call, toll, free at 877960, or you can text us at 772-497-6530. Mimi from Miami, I'm sorry we couldn't get to you in time. I promise if you call back, we'll interrupt what we're doing, and we'll take your call.

We're going to go to John in Palm City. Welcome back, John. Hey, John. You there? Yes, John Lina. Yes. Hello? Welcome, John.

Yes, I just want to give a little advice. The gentleman with the 2010 Corvette, I would recommend that he goes to the newsstand and pick up the Bible of the collector car industry. It's a publication called Hemmings Motor News. It comes out once a month. he'll get a general idea there'll be other covettes

advertise in there and he may want to send an ad in himself if he's willing to wait a look few and that's a good publication to get a general idea of what his car might be worth great

I also want to we all need a good cheering moment what everything is going on with spies and balloons and interest rate raises we all need an uplift and I want to recommend a place that I just want to

this week, a museum, it's an art museum in Viro Beach, and they have a special exhibit to April 30th called Art Deco, and it has 20 of the most beautiful cars, the rarest cars in the world, cars are on loan from General Motors, Chrysler, Auburn Court, Dusenberg Museum, a Peterson Museum from California. I've never seen an assembly of such fantastic mostly cars in the 30s on one display, and it's Bureau Museum, Eural Art Museum, and it's just held until April 30th, and it's an experience.

We all need a good museum visit and automobile uplift in life. Well, that's great news. My favorite expression is, boy, that's a doozy, and I've never seen a Dusenberg. I might want to drive up there just to see it. Are you telling me that expression comes from the Dusenberg car? Exactly.

Exactly, yeah. Oh. That's the best thing I ever learned on the show. You and I, you never even heard of like a Ruxton, a Corsair, a Panhard, a Tatra, which is a Czechoslovakian car, a Graham, Talbert. I mean, you name it a stout scab. There's a car there even that has a steering wheel in the center part. You could buy it, and you could get a left hand or a right-hand drive, or a center. center, there's another car that has tables and chairs inside the car.

It's just unbelievable. Gosh. And fantastic, restored cars, one of a kind, and it's just an experience, and it's well worth to visit. And what's the name? Art Museum, Art Museum. Art Museum and Viral Beach, oh. Boy, that sounds like an entertaining day of fun and finding out so much you didn't know about cars.

John, you have the greatest calls. You always have something for us. We had a call last week, John, about a woman had a car, and I said, you need to get hold of John from Palm City, and we never got hold of you. Do you remember what car that was? I'll look into that. I've got my notes from the last show, and now that you're...

Well, you have my number when I call into you, so I'll be glad to try and help people. That's what I've done all my life. And I'm very happy to give the assistance. to people. It's my way of thought to help people like you guys do on the radio. Oh, thank you. You're great, John.

Thank you guys for being there. Thank you. Thanks for the call. Week in and week out. We are going to go back to Mimi's call. Thanks so much for calling back, Mimi. Good morning. Good morning. Sometimes we can't take the calls immediately.

Sorry for the wait. What can we do for you? and I'm old enough, I don't care. I love Art Deco, by the way. It's so lyrical and back to nature, very beautiful. My 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan, the one with the wheelchair possibilities, it had an engine light go on, so I took it to advance auto parts over here in 45th Street, and they were kind enough to figure out that it was the knock sensor.

Now, I don't know what that is. The car drives just fine, although I've been really careful. I only take it, you know, like a few miles away at a time, you know, for the grocery or something like that. What my question is, I won't get to get it to a mechanic till next Thursday when arrangements will be made. How far can I go? Can I take it out every couple of days for a little drive, or should I let it sit? or what is a knock sensor? It's not expensive either.

It's a little thing, I guess. Yeah. You'll be just fine to drive it. Do you remember in the old days when we used to have the lead of gasoline and you had what was called a spark knock or a ping when you would accelerate the car? Yes. You'd step on the gas. You know, while it was revving up a bit.

That's spark knock. and on modern cars where the computer can control the ignition timing, the knock sensor actually detects that spark knock or that ping before it can start even. At the moment it hears it just a first little tap of it, the knock sensor detects it, and the computer will adjust the ignition timing to reduce that spark knock to make it go away.

And ordinarily what happened is when you had that spark knock in the old cars, your mechanic would either adjust the timing a little bit to reduce it down. Of course, that costs you a little bit of power, or you had to step up to a higher grade of gasoline with higher octane, so it burns slower and would reduce that spark knock. But modern cars now, they've designed it to where it can automatically adjust the timing just a little bit to make that knock go away, and then it will keep bumping that timing back up, just to the point where it's about to knock. And as soon as it starts to hear it, it drops it back again.

So it's constantly adjusting it. But when the knock sensor stops working, the computer will actually reset the timing back to a pre-programmed value and set it back just a little ways. So you might actually lose like a tiny little bit of performance that most people won't even notice. You'll never even realize that it happened. But once you get the new one in,

that'll clear up that check engine. light and everything can be fine. But you're completely safe to drive the car until you can get it taken care of. Thanks, Rick. Oh, thank you so much. It makes me feel better. I'm so happy to listen to your show. Thanks again. Oh, thank you, Mimi. We're glad we could help. Rick always has the answer. And I learned something new. I never knew what a knock sensor was. I thought a knock sensor was my dog when he barks when they knock out the door. My dog's good at that. I thought it was something to do with the front door, too. Like it's a doorbell. Give us a call, tool for you. at 877-960

or you can text us at 772-497-6-5-3-0. Boy, I can't wait until my cough is cleared up and I can talk like Nancy. And Rick, you sound terrible. I am done for it. I just got better. Can I tell a Tesla story?

We have Marty holding. So if you could just hold that thought, That's right. Marty, welcome to the show. How are you? Hi, good. Glad to see Stu is back in his chair. Yes, thanks. We are happy. I got a couple points. Point one, in New York State, you could never take a car out. The car dealers used to have to call the insurance company, and you'd have to get your insurance card faxed over or whatever. before you could ever take the car out.

In Florida, I think you've got 30 days to change the insurance because they don't want you changing your mind on the car. They want you to take the car out one minute after you've signed the paper. And you've got to have a license plate and registration before they'll let you take it on. Right, right. My second point or question is, now that these interest rates have gone up, what about the leases?

I don't think there's any more bargain leases on anything. Fewer, I mean, for sure. The industry is getting nervous about that. The dealers and the manufacturers are really starting to get nervous because they aren't leasing very many cars. And leases are their prime

and not only do you make more money on the lease, but you're able to get the about 50% greater return to purchase or lease when a person leases them when they buy. So leasing is down from like 30% of deliveries down to like 10 or 15% and they're trying everything they can to get that percentage higher. Yeah. Now, I went over to Ed Moore's Honda.

My wife's got a CRV, but the lease is not up to April of 24. I prefer getting a Rav 4, but just for me to check it, I went over there, and the guy said, even if you have $3,000 or $4,000 worth of equity, he said, the lease price in the same car is over $150 a month more than we're paying now. So I told him, well, I'll just buy the lease out then at the end if it's the same in April of 24. And he said, it's the only smart thing to do. He said, don't, don't.

He was very honest. And he said, don't bother with a lease. Yeah, residual values were very, very high three years ago, and then they overestimated the value of these cars, and it's just, I mean, they underestimated, is what I'm trying to say. So now they've overreacted in their new residuals, I'm afraid. And what Nancy said in the beginning, she said, tell us if you're still waiting for your car.

I'm waiting now 11 months. How are you? Yeah. From your dealership. Yeah. So I know it's a long wait. So I'm not figuring on a 23. I'm figuring on a 24.

Yeah. You know, what's great is that you realize, you know, how long you're going to wait. I had several phone calls this past week. And to my surprise, they were surprised that they were still waiting for their vehicle. And in these times, you still have to have some patience. But, Marty, let me ask you this question. Were you surprised that the interest rates went up again? What is this the ninth time?

Yeah, well, I think now what they said, so many people had new jobs, what they say, $517,000 new jobs. It's going to still keep going up, you know. Yeah. But I'll tell you one thing, the banks, they're not paying out. You know, they definitely went up in their interest rate, like on CDs. But they think the interest rate is eventually going to come down. Yeah.

And they're not locking people in for five and ten years. They're making sure they maybe have a one-year C-D. For people who are thinking about buying a home or buying a new car, you know, it's a game-changer. But on a more positive note, credit unions are going to be getting a lot of business. That's the way to go. and I just want you to know as far as the car I'm looking for there's not any dealership out of the South Florida guys are in Pompano and in West Palm Beach

nobody has like a hybrid Camry XLE nobody has it nobody's ever seen one I don't think and you may never see one that's why we call them the unicorns Yeah, and if I don't see it, well, right now I've got three years on my cars. I guess I've got six years. Maybe it'll be a classic before. Yeah, we're calling John from Palm City to find you at a barrio.

All right, so have a good one. Marty, thanks for the phone call. We love talking to you. Have a great weekend. 877960-960 and 772 is where you can text us. 772-49-7-6530. We're going to go back to Stu, and we're also going to get in touch over here with Rick when Stu's finished. Okay, we have a text here, and it's a doozy.

Ah, a dozen. D-U-E-S-I-E. D-U-S-I-E. All right, listen to this follow along. It's a little bit long. If a dealer takes a car in trade, which has a good title, and a short time later, discovers that a couple of owners back on that title, the title had been washed. The fella who traded it in

had bought that car, not knowing about any of the title problems because it was a clean title when he got it. It turns out the trade in was worth a lot less because of the washed title problems. The dealer then went after the fella who traded it in in an attempt to recover the difference between the trade-in allowance

and the actual cash value of the trade-in. And this owner refused to pay is the previous owner, the person who traded it in, legally responsible to pay the difference. I'm going to say no, but I'll turn it it over to you. You know, I think the original sin, the original time had happened, I think it goes back to that time.

It would be a very awkward situation, probably practically speaking, impossible. Legally to sort out. Yeah, but I think with odometers, the dealer that traded it in with the bad Even if the owner was guilty of setting it back, the dealer was the dealer was the one that you'd have to go after for any consideration. And subsequent dealers, I don't think would be held responsible. But if there's any lawyers out there listening, correct me. But I think that's the answer. I think it's up to the dealers due diligence to make sure the vehicles he's are taking an inventory. They have clean titles. And most dealers don't do title checks, you know, right? You do a car fact. and Carfax will alert you to title checks. So that would be my question. Did it show up on the Carfax or Auto Check Report?

Because that's the first clue, usually, if you see there's a title issue. All right. All right. The next, we have another text from Jim in Indiana. Good morning, Stu. Hey, Jim. So glad to have you healthy and back.

You've been sorely amassed. The show just in the same with that. I shouldn't be read. Some of these should be reading this to me. The show just isn't the same without your contributions in you. Thanks, Jim. I'm touched. I think we're caught up.

I'm going to log back into the... I'll tell my Tesla story. Perfect timing. I just want to... People know that I... I'm actually a plaid, the fastest Tesla S model, but they call it the plaid. And we love it.

We have a lot of fun with it. But because we own the Tesla, we talk to a lot of other Tesla people, and we read a lot about Tesla. So I just like to keep all you Tesla folks out there updated. By the way, when I'm driving on the road now, I'm seeing more and more Tesla's, it's number one selling electric car in the world. I mean, it's hard to believe the volume that that vehicle is getting. But I had a problem with the Tesla the other day,

and the windshield washer, not a big deal, and I lived with it for a while. I even took it into our dealership, and they said, well, we can't do anything. We'd have to take this apart, and it would be a warranty issue. So I brought it home. So finally I decided, or somebody called the show. What happened was it all began with me filling the reservoir because I like doing that. I liked filling mine and I like filling the Tesla. And I thought it would be very interesting to compare the Tesla to the Avalon in the experience. Yeah, I get excited easily.

But at any rate, I'll continue with the story. So we contacted Tesla on the app that I have on my iPhone. And they said, we will send a technician out to your home and take care of it. I thought that was really cool. So sure enough, Jeff, the technician for Tesla, came out, and he had his Tesla in the driveway, and he had his tools and whatnot. And so I said, well, make yourself at home. Anyway, he jacked the car up in the garage.

Rick, you would have loved this. I had to go out because I just really get into this stuff, and he had like his little doctor's bag. He had a little mini jack. He had all these little tools, and it was just, it was amazing what he could do in our garage where we didn't have to take the car in. Cool. It turned out great.

Did he fix it? And the wipers work. Did he fix it? Yes. He found out that it needed a new motor. Now, you would think, and this is amazing to me, one of the chances of him having a windshield washer motor. And his doctor's bag. And it's a pack.

Well, you told him that the wipers, the washer didn't work, right? And he said that this is practically never the problem. He said, he says the first time he's found a situation where the windshield washer, motor, went bad. Maybe he always brings one and it just didn't turn out. But he was smart. Everybody jump in here. Everybody jumped in. I mean.

I was excited. You tell my story for me. Wait all of you. Sorry. I'm just praising the mechanic because he was smart enough to bring that part. I have never had the experience of someone coming out to the house. Usually they have to take the car back because they don't have the tools. They have to order the part.

I don't know if this is a fluke or not, but I was amazed in about an hour. I had a new windshield washer motor. And he also told me something very interesting. I never knew. You Tesla owners listen to this. If you have an issue with your Tesla, any kind of a glitch. You're driving along the road, a glitch,

and you have a problem, you hit your little speak button where you talk to your Tesla and you say bug fix. And when you say bug fix, it goes straight through to the tech at Tesla in the world. And the computer automatically

takes a digital picture of your vehicle at the instant. That the problem is happening. It's kind of like when we deal with service customers and it's an intermittent problem. And we ask them to describe it. We ask them to take videos. This is at that moment you have a technician paying attention. And then he looks at what he's looking at and he calls you and tells you what the issue is

and whether to take it to the dealership or... Get out of the car immediately. By the way, when I told the technician I didn't know about that and thank you very much, I said, the last time I had an issue, I was backing out of my garage, and I got right up to across the street in front of my neighbor's house, and it wouldn't go out of reverse. So, I re-fix. Bug-fix. I reboot it. He says, reboot is the best thing he can do.

He says, reboot and bug check. So all you Tesla holders out there, I think it's really cool. Bug check or bug fix? bug check bug check bug check I didn't know about that when I was driving

with great times I don't tell you I mean I just I learned a lot on this show I've been gone too long I had a problem with that Tesla

that I was driving and it was glitching like the screen would go off and I didn't know about bug check but I went on the app and got the service I couldn't talk to anybody

and they came out to the dealership our dealership to fix the car they weren't able to fix it there if you want to talk to anybody I have Jeff's cell phone number. Yeah, we had a personal number, really?

A local telephone number. Well, I don't need that. And while you were away to, you know, we were talking, Earl and I were talking about the autonomous feature that, you know, we tried to utilize. And we made a lot of enemies on the road. Well, you're still alive. We got called, a lot of names. We got the finger.

There were a lot of things going on. We were attacked. You're probably not the only ones. But right now we're reporting a lot of good stories right now about Tesla. and there are a lot of good stories. So autonomous is for us to go out into the country and drive away from people. Rick?

This is from Donovan. The Toyota Corolla has been the best-selling car in the world since 1974. In 2022, they sold 1.1 million units. Looks like that's coming to an end in 23. The Tesla Model Y became the fourth best-selling car in the world in 2022, selling 759,000 units. With the recent surge in sales, new factories are ramping up and the rating growth in sales. It's looking like an American car will be the best-selling car

in the world this year. He says, in Germany, Tesla sales were up 912% in January of 23 versus 22. That's because of the price drops. And Johnny Z. Freidley had come in also to say the lower Tesla prices will definitely help it reach number one. That's a good tie into this anonymous feedback. They said that it says, nice to read that Elon Musk and Tesla is selling the Model Y in China for about half the price of what's being sold in the U.S. It's amazing what's happening with the Y and the price and how it's gone down. But Donovan, we have a chair right here for you in the studio. I'll tell you, you're filled with all kind of information.

We'll squeeze them in. We have one extra microphone. Now, we're saying a lot of good things about Tesla. To be fair, here's something bad. And it really surprises me. I've talked negatively about the Tesla self-driving, you know, the total autonomous feature, and Nancy and I have had so bad experiences with it.

It isn't what it was cut up to be, cut out to be. And Consumer Reports recently tested all of the autonomous drive technologies, and Tesla was number two out of 12. Now they've dropped to seven. So Tesla's losing ground in their autonomous driving. And Nancy and I are witnesses to this. We've had some scary issues with that. We've actually had the car stop in a busy road. We've had our car want to make a left-hand turn from the right-hand lane. So there's some glitches. and the autonomous and consumer reports slapped Tesla down on that. But that's basically the autonomous feature that can, you know,

that you're led to believe that you can just go, you know, ball, I mean, excuse me. Wide open throttle. Wide open. And that's not the case. Autonomous, you know, we need more autonomous out there in order for us to each understand each other because we're creatures of habit with our gas-driven, cars. And this autonomous is just stopping where she shouldn't stop. And we, well, you get the point. Okay, folks. Well, I hope everyone enjoyed Earl's story about the Tesla. And I know we did.

And if you'd like to talk about the Tesla or maybe a purchase that you made or you've leased or a car you're waiting for, give us a call toll free at 877-960-99-60. And I do have 50. for one more new female caller. So give me a call before we run out of time. I have that right here, holding it in my hands for you. So give us a call, 877-960-99-60 in Texas at 772-497-6-5-30. I think Rick has some things for us. We've got a couple here yet.

Guy Larrabee says Toyota announced that they'll be producing an EV Highlux, which is a pickup truck, than Tacoma in foreign markets. With Ford's success with the Maverick here, is there any chance of seeing that EV Hylux in the U.S.? We haven't heard anything about that. Only recently did we get some information about Toyota's shift and their strategy with EV, like kind of catching up a little bit.

Fired Akio. Akio is gone, and is he going to remain on the board? or is he just gone? He's around. Probably, I don't know. Okay. I was reading about that, no, pardon me, Stu. I was reading about that in the automotive news in Satio.

Satio, yeah. Yeah, he's pretty excited. And he's only 53 years old. Yeah. Hey. And he's got some plans. Saito Sato. Good luck.

Good luck. Bakio was very happy. Yeah. I mean, when I heard the news, that's the first thing I thought of. I thought it had to do with the EV. It could have been a strategic blunder on ACIO's part, but we don't know. They fell behind with the Prius, and they just didn't stay up to, well, and Rick broke that news last week. But to answer your question about the Hylux, everybody likes the Hylux.

It's an overseas vehicle. It's like a Tacoma. It's available in a vehicle. If you're a truck nut, then you know about the HILACs, and they're pretty cool. So an electric Hylux is pretty exciting, but no specific information. about whether that's coming to the States. I don't know that. I don't think so.

I don't think it will. It's too small. We like her big EVs. And Regina Downey says, Hi, Earl. Last week, Karen was the lady that called in about the 85 convertible Mercedes. And Jeremy should have the contact information

or you might have them because I believe that she was the first time caller. So we passed that information on to John to, see maybe get her some interest on her car. That's a great idea. Karen, that's right. Yeah, that's a great idea. Rick, I'm going to go back to the phones where Richard is holding and Charles, hold on. We'll be right with you. Good morning, Richard.

Good morning. How are you all doing? Good. Well, thank you. Yeah, I am. I'm a constant listener every Saturday morning. You're doing the Tesla thing this morning, so I thought I'd call in. I'm a Tesla owner, and I've called before. I have a model F. And I wanted to reinforce the good experience you had with a home service like Tesla. I've had it three times, I believe, on various things, including the flat tire.

They do a great job. Yeah. Well, that's great. What issues did you have, Richard? Well, one of the flat tire, and they come right out, and they have a tire all mounted, and they take your tire back and fix it and put another one on for you. use you can go wherever you want and then later on you swap it

did they charge you for that service no it's free wow that is amazing I didn't know that so not only warranty service you know you don't have a spare tire so I thought I was right and I've dealt with it Jeff has service seats one of the guys who've been out to see me too and he's good

boy we learned something new today I didn't know that so they'll show up with a brand new tire they have your spare tire amazing we got it we'll drive it out to you that's incredible yeah they um i also had them service the air conditioner filter and you do that in the yard for about 60 bucks the ether filter that's in the air conditioner eventually it gets a little wet and mildewy and you get an odor well i wish i'd known that i've had three flat tires and i took it to my dealership to have them fix it and it would have been easier if i'd call Tesla

Yeah, call them. I come out, and like I say, and they don't know. The reason I caution people, don't let's say anybody change the tire on a Tesla. They might not know how to jack it up. So it's a revelation of the kind of work they've done. So you had your air conditioner worked on? The garage door opener, you know, the dash garage door opener, and where we work, or they come out and fix that phone, too. Richard, have you tried the autonomous, the Toyota self-driving on your S? I was going to get to that.

I'm a big autonomous fan. I'll watch it from day one. I've been the beta tester and all that sort of thing. It has improved and proved steadily almost every month. There's a considerable improvement in the driving and whatever. I understand you're concerned about the quick stopping, but that has improved where it does. It does it easier now.

I use it quite a bit. I've had it take me places. I do not use it in a really, really tight situation. You've got to grit your teeth to do that. I've tried it, and it recovers, but it wants to make dodgy moves. Yeah. There's a lot of situations like that now. We have a huge amount of traffic on the roads here in Palm Beach County.

And depending on the time of day, you're really in heavy traffic, a good percentage of the time, and I get very nervous about my Tesla doing something strange. Well, it's great in stop-and-go traffic, like you get a stop-and-go traffic with traffic lights, you turn that on, they just take care of it. I use that all the time. I'm talking about heavy-moving traffic, where it's high-speed things are happening quick. I don't use it there. It became a bigger problem because of the intensity,

of the construction that's going on in our area, which led the autonomous feature very confused. I just did the test going up to my friend in Palm City, from Jupiter, and I put it on a drive in my yard, and it took me, put the address in. It went up there, and I went up to the back way going up off of Pratt Whitney Road. And it had a couple of experiences that it did perform flawlessly. One was a four-way stop. And it so happened, there was three other cars at the stop.

Well, it stopped. It let the one on the right go first, and then it took its turn and went ahead, and it did all that by itself. Oh, I'm in a hard. And on up the road, there was a construction site where they had orange barrels set up for, you know, a quarter of a mile or so up there before he turned on the Canter Highway. And it responded to that, moved over in the right lane, and then went over into the counter highway and stopped and then it pulled out and went into the left lane for higher speed and did all it by itself

and it's gotten much much smoother i had i used it when it first came out it was jerky and it's kind of scary but that's encouraging a proponent now they're doing good and uh by the way uh i'm not a fan of consumed reports on their cars They miss a lot. They need some good engineers on that thing. They don't, I, they miss a lot of stuff when they're, and they seem to have a vendetta, I guess that's what they're true. So that's my opinion anyway. Yeah, well, I know I go on and on about Consumer Reports,

and I know they make mistakes. I've seen some of their mistakes, but the thing I like about them is when they make a mistake, they make a mistake. It isn't because they're in bed with a manufacturer. Yeah, I understand that. Yeah, but you're right. They're not, they're far from perfect. And I'm a subscriber.

Don't get me wrong. I use it for all kinds of stuff to buy. On the cars, they're not really good. I mean, there's other podcasts and whatnot on Tesla's that you'll learn a lot more. And by the way, I want to thank you for the bit about the bug fix. I didn't know that one. Go on. Buck Jack.

They should keep these things in secret. But I started to do it this morning. and we had a slight issue, but I wasn't fast enough. But I'm going to try to use it and see if I actually get a call back from a technician. And Richard, I have a question for you before you go, and that feature that... I do have one more question if we've got time. But go ahead with yours. Okay.

Are you the only driver of that Tesla? No, my girlfriend loves it. Okay, so she drives it and you drive it. I'm 85 years old. we talked before. I'm going to retire right with the engineer, rocket engineer. Okay, so both of you drive the Tesla? Yeah, I can't keep around. Okay. Do you have a problem with the feature that you can adjust by entering your name or your

girlfriend's name? Does that an easy transition, or do you have a problem with that? Well, it works well. You just go through the dice. I'm in there under my name. He's in there, her name and you just touch it and it goes to your seat adjustment mirror adjustment whatever you got interesting have you tried setting it up and it doesn't respond or what i'm sorry i'm having a problem hearing you what was a question oh i said have you tried setting it up and it doesn't respond or what is it doing uh yes it's definitely set up for both of us uh but the transition is what's a a little complicated when it comes to us, you know, changing seats. But we're working on it.

When you touch the thing on the dash, it doesn't respond? I'm sorry, I can't understand what you say. I understand the problem. He says when you touch the icon on the dash, does it respond to you? Oh, absolutely. Hey, Richard, I just noticed that we've got like three or four calls backed up. We would love to hear from you again. Yeah, I've got one about Prius.

When I get a chance, I'd like to talk to you about it. Okay, fantastic. You know how to get in touch with us. Have a wonderful weekend. We hope to hear from you again. Okay, we're going to go to Charles, who's been holding, and Howard, hang on. We know you're there. Good morning, Charles.

Good morning, Charles. Okay, let's move to, let's move to. Howard. Good morning Howard. Good morning. Welcome. I have a, yeah, thank you very much. Pleasure talking to you guys. I have a question about service. The question is this. When should you go to a dealership? What service or repair should you go to the dealership and not to an outside mechanic? really just about anything that can be handled that is not warranty, should be able to be handled by an outside mechanic. If it's something really in-depth like, say, electrical or possibly computer-related,

then I'd be looking at taking it to a dealership where the techs are going to be more specifically trained. But for basic maintenance, anything like that, basic repairs such as brakes, tires, belts, filters, outside mechanics are going to be a much cheaper option in most cases. Yeah, my son had a Mustang, and he was up here in Florida, and he went to a number of non-dealerships. They could not fix the problem. This is in 2012. So you had to bring it to Ford.

Ford charged him much more money, but they fixed the problem. So that's why I'm asking that question. In 2012, they'd be different than today. So would you say in 2012, the dealership could do more than the outside mechanic? It depends on the car. Cars have gotten so complicated now that the modern ones, everything is computerized,

and without special training and certain special equipment to really diagnose the cars properly, a lot of outside shops are left with their hands in the air. But dealerships have one thing about it, though. The buck stops there. We really can't say, I'm sorry, we don't know what's wrong with your car and we can't figure it out because the customer is going to say no, it's your car, figure it out. You guys, you know, you're Ford, you built this car, figure it out.

Eventually they're going to have to. And also the fact we have access to the manufacturer. And oftentimes, if we have a problem, we can't figure out we can call to a technician for Toyota and any manufacturer will have technical experts. They can actually send a factory person into the dealership to check the car out. So you have a much deeper source resources if you have a very highly complicated problem. But when you're going on the outside independent mechanic, it's a lot less money. You just want to be sure they're qualified.

And you really always can't tell until you actually get into the, trying to get the car fixed and then they sometimes it's too late they'll go in they'll log a lot of hours they'll be charging you for their time and they still don't fix the vehicle so that's reason you have to be sure you have a qualified independent that's great i have another question i'm not going to ask it because you packed up i'll talk to you next week thank you very much for the information thank you very much thank you Howard thanks for your consideration It is just by the clock 932 And Earl, do you want to get started with the mystery shop

Or would you like to go to Stu in her? I think we have some time for text Okay, we're going to go back to Stu. All right, clear up the last text. We have one from Bob says, good morning. I'm listening to the show this morning And it sounds like a lot of people are having issues occurring with their test lists.

Sounds like some minor ones, but it sounds like a lot are having issues. That's from Bob. And let's see. see here. We have one from anonymous feedback. Such corruption, really sickening the way these dealers get away with murder. Your best bet is buy a car in a different state because Florida is just bad news. Not a consumer-friendly state at all. You're spending your hard-earned money, but the dealers have all the rights. And it is tough in Florida, but we have had some silver

lining, some encouragement recently with the Attorney General's office and some of the prosecutions that are going on in investigations. I'm glad to hear you say that. Well, Florida definitely is the worst. And South Florida is really terrible. So, you know, if you're in a position to get a car from a friendly state, you know, we found Pennsylvania and Tennessee, or a couple of states that we mystery shopped,

and we've seen some very, very good dealers in other areas. So I think there's something about South Florida that is unique. And if I could avoid, if I were not in the business and I was just a civilian out there trying to buy a car, I think I've at least drive to North Florida. Right. I think it's, yeah, get out of the urban areas. Yeah, I wouldn't buy a car in Fort Lauderdale, Miami. I don't know any dealers down there that I would want to buy a car for it. I'd go up to Lake City or Eustace.

Yeah. And as far as the previous text about the Tesla, Tesla is just a hot topic. It's fun to talk about. Elon Musk is a character. It's a phenomenon. So I think a lot of Tesla people like to talk about their vehicles. And we talk about the problems and the good things and the bad things. Nancy and I love our Tesla, but we also complain about the problems and the issues we have with it.

But they're amazing machines. And I still think you heard Rick had a call her. on YouTube, the Tesla Y is number four in the world. Fourth best, that's from Donovan. Donovan. And Elon Musk, I mean, he's just a damn genius when it comes to marketing. He doesn't get enough credit for that.

Think of this. Do you know another manufacturer that doesn't advertise their car? Tesla does not advertise. Have you ever seen a Tesla advertisement? All Elon Musk is, he tweets, and he goes on television, And he's interviewed, and people are begging him to talk. But for a long time, he had the only electric car. People sought him out.

And he's making a 23% margin, which is more margin than any manufacturer makes. And a dealer makes. So he was able to cut the price of the Tesla Y by $15,000. And then... Still make a ton of money. It qualifies for the $7,500 rebate as a $22,000 tax, I mean, price cut. and he's still making a good margin. It arguably made that he made a pricing mistake in the first place.

So it's just fun to talk about. I can't stop talking about. But trust me, as a Tesla owner, and I know a lot of people that own non-Teslas, I have fewer problems with that Tesla than I've had other people have with their normal cars. Rick? Here's a slightly different opinion from Steve Mags. Tesla sucks. Oh. In my opinion, people who drive with Tesla's autonomous driving features are nothing more than beta testers for Tesla. Of course.

Musk has admitted as much. He uses self-driving errors to improve the software. That's how it's going to work. My non-Tesla, Steve's non-Tesla, has a self-driving feature, which I only use on major highways since the cars are all going in the same direction and around the same speed, reduces fatigue during long distance. drives. And to think that Tesla charges $6,000 for the owner to use the autopilot in a model three. I think it's even more money for some of the other models. Owners are actually paying Tesla to be their beta testers. Okay. All right. You're absolutely right. It is a beta product, but did you know that in the Tesla autonomous cars, the percentage of action is fewer than the average car. So, yes, it's a beta program. Yes, it's not perfected yet. Yes, there are accidents,

and yes, there have even been deaths. But the percentages, if you buy a Ford or you buy a Buick or you buy a Honda, your chances of having an accident are much greater than an autonomous Tesla. And we're also, beta, I know it can be used as a pejorative of saying it's not ready for public consumption, but when we're, this is like a frontier, and I'm not defending text, I'm talking about all EVs and autonomous driving. That's the only way it's going to happen is by feedback and real-world experience. It's not going to be done in the computer level. Every new car that hits the road for the first time, for the first several years, you're a beta tester.

Yeah. And when internal combustion engines cars came out, you know, 100-something years ago, everybody was a beta tester. And nobody's being forced. No one's being forced to be a beta tester. You do it voluntarily. and you talk about it. You're pulling up some cash and have fun. Exactly.

Look how many times your cell phone updates over the course of a month? Tell me that's not beta testing. Same thing. And with my Tesla, by the way, I just found out, I don't know if the student knows this, you're supposed to leave the Tesla plugged in all the time. Every night, you're supposed to keep your Tesla plugged in. Okay. And the reason for that is because they do constant software updates

and you will have continuous... And if you're not plugged in, they don't do it. If you're not plugged, if they do it, but at any rate... Learning a lot, a whole lot about Tesla and AI, EVs. It's all here, folks. It's not in the future. It's here. It's now.

We are going to go to our mystery shopping report. That mystery shopping report is from CarMax and Royal Palm Beach. And written by Chat, GPT. Pardon me? And written by Chat GPT. Yes. Absolutely. And folks, you can vote on the mystery shopping report by going to 772-497-6530.

That's where you can text your vote on the mystery shop. It's real important we hear from you. So take advantage of that. 772-497-6530. Now back to the recovering car dealer. Okay. CarMax is the largest used car dealership chain in the United States, probably a world, with over 200 locations. are established in 1993.

CarMax has built a reputation for offering a stress-free car buying experience with focus on customer satisfaction. Companies know Haggle pricing policy, wide range of used vehicles are the reasons why CarMax has become the most popular choice for used car buyers. We've recommended CarMax over and over, and we still do, on this program. In this report, Agent Lightning will be exploring the CarMax sales experience of the Royal Palm Beach at South Florida location

amidst the current market of declining used car prices. She will provide an in-depth look at what it's like to purchase a used car at this CarMax location and how the dealership is adapting to the current market conditions. This report is aimed at providing our listeners with valuable insights

and information about the CarMax sales experience. Agent Lightning has been our eyes and ears in the field to some of the craziest times in the car business. It looks like the times are changing again. So here's a report speaking as if I am Agent Lightning. I recently visited the CarMax location in Royal Palm Beach, Florida to investigate their sales experience. Upon arrival, I was greeted by a salesman named Lee, who was unlocking the doors and I walked up.

Lee asked if I had an appointment with anyone in particular. I told him that I did not. He then invited me to follow him to his desk. I showed Lee the car I was interested on my phone and he turned the computer screen on so we could both see it together. He asked me if I had checked out the Carfax's report online and when I told him that I was unaware I could,

he pulled it up for me and printed it out. That's nice. The report showed that the car had only one owner and no accidents, which was a positive aspect. Lee suggested that we go find the car. We headed out to the lot. He pointed out their lots were usually full, the tax season was causing cars to sell quickly.

I kind of doubt that. I mean, it's unusual for a Carfax salesman. It's also a little early for anybody to have their taxes back yet. Exactly. Very early. So I think Lee shouldn't have said that. We spotted the car right away, and we approached it.

Lee apologized for how dirty it looked and explained that they just arrived and needed to be detailed. He pointed out that the tires look branded. and had low miles. Now, in full disclosure, we asked, I asked, that we check and see what would be a good vehicle for us to talk to CarMax about. We had an ulterior motive for going into CarMax because we talked on the show last week about how CarMax has fallen behind the times in adjusting the prices of their inventories

and that their sales and profits were down and that they were higher in their inventory cars than they should be because they were hesitant to write their cars down and take the pain and the loss, financial loss, of adjusting the cost of your inventory when it's too high. So we went in to check out cars that we knew had been there for a long time. And this Highlander was one of them. The window sticker showed the same price I saw online, which was $40,998.

Now, that number was $7,000 higher than what the current wholesale value of that vehicle is. Now, you don't mark a car up $7,000, at least CarMax doesn't. And so that tells us right there that they're in the car too heavy. Yeah, they're not trying to rip somebody off and make $7,000. and they're trying to get out of something they bought several months ago. Yeah, and you could say, well, that's their decision, but the decision is a selfish one. People don't like to lose money.

And when you're a public corporation, it's dangerous to lose money because everybody knows about it. And you're making profit, profit. You're a hero. And suddenly you realize you've got too much money, invest in your cars. The prudent thing to do, and the business, a wise thing to do is to adjust your inventory to the market. They have chosen, CarMax has chosen, not to do that. So we'll see how that... Take a piece of wood and buy it on it to it really hard,

then take the pain. So $40,000, $998, that's about $3,000 more than what my dealership would charge for that same vehicle. After starting the car, taking a look around, I was impressed with its condition. We head back inside, Lee, the salesman promised to provide a detail buyer's order. He explained that Carmack's sales people work on salary rather than commission, which is a good thing, which you said is much nicer for customers. And it certainly is. When a salesperson has paid a percent of the profit and the salesperson has the ability of the authority to set the price, you're talking about a pure adversarial relationship. You might as well get into the boxing ring with somebody else. You are their enemy. You are

enemies. He's trying to get the price higher and you're trying to get the price lower. At CarMax is salary. The salesperson has to sell the car for what CarMax said the price is and that's it. He's not going to make more money or less money. He just makes less money if you don't buy the car. The added that there are no hidden fees or information and the prices are non-negotiable with only a $399 dealer fee and a $399 dealer fee. 90-day 4,000 mile warranty plus any remaining warranty from the original dealer. Now, that's not quite true either. And later on, when we checked the buyer's order, we found out they did have an electronic

filing fee, and that is another name for a hidden fee or a dealer fee. I'm not sure that Lee, the salesperson, even knows that. But it is true that these tag agencies fees and electronic filing fees. filing fees are just another name for a extra profit to the dealer. I wonder if he ever asked why on their buyer's order it says optional. Exactly. Wouldn't he think that was, when he makes that statement before, I'm sure he's studied his own buyer's order.

And it says optional in the fine print on the buyer's order. I mean, it's by the charge, but it's smaller. And people, you're not going to see that. I mean, well, Agent Lighten didn't see it either. I mean, it's very small. I wouldn't have seen it except for I'm trying to blow up a PDF to... So why would Carmack's put that in there? Because if you ask a person, would you really pay $39 more profit to me or would you prefer not to?

What's the answer going to be? I don't care. So why do you put it on the buyers or in the first place? Okay. So keep, it's $39. I just spent $50,000. I also mention the CarMax sales extended warranties and walk me through the options available for the specific make and model. the car i was interested in he also mentioned that he didn't mention whether or not he gets

commission on the extended warranty and i don't know he also mentioned that if i took the car to a car max a repair pal certified shop i'm not familiar with repair pal are you no i i'm familiar with pay pal that's one word yeah one word r e p a r p a l repair pal certified shop mr Mr. Kearney is Googling it. I would receive a $50 discount on the deductible for each repair, probably owned by Gormax. Finally, Lee took me through the process of inputting my information, including a recall check with the vehicle identification number, and reached the screen for the buyer's order, excused himself, sprinted the order, and returned a few minutes later with it. The top line was $40,988, as I said, that's about $3,000.

than my dealership would charge for that car. And it's $7,000 over what the current wholesale market value is for that car. A $3.99 CarMax processing fee was added. That's what they call their dealer fee, hidden fee, whatever would it call it. And a $34 optional, which is kind of silly, electronic funding fee. Lee thanked me for visiting CarMax and hand me his card. So that is The report

I will say this That the The Barre's Order And Agent Lightning Comment on it Was one of the Easiest to understand To read

It's fairly standard though And it's a real buyer's order Yeah Not just a worksheet And there's a picture of it I mean it's just And the fact that you would see a barrage order Usually you see a worksheet

So with CarMax They give you a buyer's hoarder is a legal document and they show you that and you can sign it and you can commit right away and so it's very upfront. Rick? Apparently Repair Pal is a website

that you can go to put in your make model of car and what repairs you're looking to have done and they will send you a list of repair shops. Certified. It's similar to the collision thing that we're doing. It's a network of repair shops.

I put in our zip code Palm Beach Mitsubishi and then a lot of small independent shops in Rivera Beach and it says they have a from 64 reviews they have a rating of 2.6 stars

so not very good but they're not known by CarMax no it's just a an outside source apparently that and the way they make their money is the repair shops pay them 10%

of the amount that they sell the cost customer for work they send back to repair pal to give them a cut of the pie there i was looking for some connection to car max i don't see anything anything so the 10% is probably going to be more than the 50 bucks so they're actually if you go through repair pal you're going to end up paying more money because they got to pay 10% to the shop and the shop's got to charge you 10% more to make up for that but they're giving you a 50% Oh, oh, Mickey Mouse. Thanks for checking out, Rick. That's surprised me a little bit about Kermex.

So a couple little surprises about Kermax, but they're still, I think they're still recommended. We'll see after we get the votes on this shopping report. Let me see what's coming in. Yeah. What do you got, Rick?

I've got, let's see, Tom Steckle, A-minus, with the gross margin, their earning on the sales price, they shouldn't be charging any fees. However, it sure beats having to haggle for hours to get addendums and fees reduced from a dealer. Tim Gilliland, B. Plus. Kevin Bryson, B. Mark Ryan, B. Mark Smith, B. Scott Hunter, B. Johnny C. Fradley, B. At least there aren't fees galore. Andrew Placinski. Although the price is a little higher that it should be. CarMax is a clear-cut and dry, a clear-cut and dry business deal, B-plus.

Brian said Latko, I like the CarMax as no-pressure tactic. Great is a B. Rocky Blocketeel is a B. And, let's see here, Kirk in West By God, Virginia, CarMax Royal Palm Beach, just because you're in underwater doesn't mean I want to be too. a big boo on the electronic filing fee but everything else seemed reasonable and above board so CarMax earns a C minus Joseph Kelleher a D

no dealer fees in upstate New York on used cars not even a dock fee that's interesting Negan 1 with a D for myself I'm going to say I'll say a C because it seems like a pretty average thing but that little extra dealer fee

of the $39 added on the $3.99, just put that in the price of the car. Go back to the guy that says there's no dealer fees or dock fees in upstate New York. Can we contact him? Joseph Kelleher. He says, no dealer fees in upstate New York on used cars. Hey, Joseph, how about call into us real quick, if you would? Or send a text to Stu with some information where we can get in touch with you.

That number for the text is seven. Can I see the number there? 172-497-6530. That's 772-497-6530. Excellent. Yeah, Joseph, if you contacts, too, Earl, definitely talked with you on that one a little more. Yeah, absolutely.

Okay. Over here, we have from Bob, says, I'm not grading today, but my wife, Agent Sprinkle, says C for CarMax. We have a C-plus that just came in. Jonathan and Wellington he says I will give them a B

and I don't have anything on Facebook right now as far as I'm I don't they got to do better than a C they get a B I'm not going to overthink it

well in light of all of Carvana's problems and they have had a lot lately I'm going to give them a C plus. Yeah, I think this issue of their inventory not being written down, it's a very useful thing

to know. If CarMax has done it, a lot of car dealers have done it. Right now is more important than ever before to shop used car prices because the salesman is helpless. If they, if the owner of the dealership or the used car outlet is made the decision that he's going to, he's going to, to stick with the prices that these cars were originally bought for and appraised for, then the salespeople are helpless. They're just going to try to sell the car for the money that they have to sell the car for. So we're in a transition period now on used cars, and we've learned now when the prestige used car seller in the world, CarMax, made the decision to sick with a heavy, too heavy

in inventory, there will be a lot of other car dealerships that are doing the car. the same. Carvana's probably done it and I would think a lot of car dealers so you could go to auto trader and you could look at used car prices and you should shop

it's difficult to shop a use car because each used car is unique but you need to come up with some flexibility on that model that you're choosing and shop the price more than you normally would. Another bit of advice if you can wait a little bit. Work

where there's the slide is occurring right now so it'll it's they're going to go lower so if you can wait a little bit yeah wait a little bit what is your vote Earl I'll go with a B and I'll I'll also say that with use car prices uh with these car prices today if you still have a lease out there exercise your option to purchase if you lease a car three years ago uh you have got yourself a real bargain uh for now For now. Yeah. And so exercise your option.

Don't be, I wouldn't buy a used car. If I liked my lease car, I would rather buy that. And then you could, even if used car prices come down, you might not be able to make a profit on your lease option purchase price, but you'll break even. If you buy a car now, you might pay $3,000 more than it's going to be six months from now. But if you exercise your purchase option, that's probably not going to happen

and a lot of people out there are doing that one of the reasons why used car prices are stabilizing or where they are now haven't come down faster because people we're not seeing the used cars that are coming in

and the dealers aren't getting those lease returns normally they'd go into our inventories yeah Errol I have to ask you so would you go to Carvana to purchase a used vehicle in light of everything that's been in the news recently

you know, all of the negative PR, I mean, between all the layoffs, you know, between the lack of inventory, decline in sales, everything, would you? Well, you've got nothing to lose by getting prices from everybody. I mean, time is on your side, and with online, you're able to shop a huge number. Think about it. In the old days, when you shop for a car, how long did it take you to go to three or four dealerships? Right now, you're going to go to three or four dealerships and five.

minutes online. So why not go to 30 or 40 dealerships? If you want to spend some time and go to Carvana, go to CarMax, go to a lot of the independents, go to car dealerships. And if you have a, if you have a flexibility of the car you want to buy, you'll come across a bargain. And great advice. Take a couple days. Yeah, you can take the time. It's, you know, in the end, you're the winner. Folks, we have come to the end of another show, and I want to give a special thank you to Stu, who showed up and surprised a heck out of us, and he is a huge part of the show, and there certainly was a big piece of the puzzle missing these past, which seems like, forever, and it's just great to have him back.

Thank you, Nancy. You're welcome. Everyone, tune in next week. 8 o'clock will be right here, and to all. All of you have a great weekend. Thank you.