Earl Stewart on Cars - 02.20.2021 - Your Calls, Texts, and Mystery Shop of Southern Palms Mazda

Episode Date: February 20, 2021

Earl and his team answer various caller questions and responds to incoming text messages. Earl’s mystery shopper, Agent Thunder visits Souther Palms Mazda in Royal Palm Beach to see if he can get the $5000 discount offer featured on their website on a 2020 Mazda CX-30. 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 as my son, Stu Stewart, our link to the car. cyberspace 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. I don't know how it is in your neck of the woods, but in South Florida, at least in Palm Beach County, it's pretty gloomy out there. We've got a lot of clouds, a lot of winds, a little chilly. but how can we complain when you look at what's going on the coal blasts and the rest of the United States

anyway here I am the recovering car dealer and I'm in the radio studio true oldies with my team we're missing one team member this morning my son Stu Stewart he's being ultra cautious we call it

an abundance of caution lawyers called an abundance of caution that little fever yesterday and last night and a little bit of a cough. So just to be ultra-cautious, he's going to get a COVID test. And I'm sure he's okay.

And he's probably listening to the show right now. So we're going to be covering for him. He's a mystery, he's a cyberspace expert. He's a mystery shopping report, Commander-in-Chief. So we'll have to assume those duties along with his anomalousfeedback.com and also the tech.

and Rick's going to hang on to the iPhone and try to cover that with you. So we'll cover everything. We're looking forward to all your calls. And the main thing I'd like to communicate to you that you really make the show. We wouldn't be on the air if you didn't call or text or use the YouTube or Facebook, Twitter, Periscope.

We're everywhere. We're all over cyberspace. And, of course, the number we like the most is our old-fashioned phone number because we hear your voice and it's a personal touch. I don't think telephones will ever go away. I don't think text can never fully

replace that. Maybe, I don't know. I mean, who knows what's going to happen. This digital explosion we got going, who knows. But for me, good old telephone, we prioritize our phone calls. If you call this number, 877-960-9960, 877

960 9960 if you call this number you're going to get an answer if you're the first I think three callers might be four so we prioritize your phone calls so you don't have to wait

and we will try like the co-founder of this show Nancy Stewart monitors those phones real closely and she is supposed to interrupt to interrupt everything to prioritize phone calls. So when you call, we'll get to your call. We will not keep you holding for a long time.

At least we'll try our darn-disk. If we get two or three on the line and you call, you might have to wait a little bit. But 877-960-99-60. 877-960-99-60. You make the show. I mean, I'm not saying this to flatter you, but every week I learn something.

I mean, I've been in the business for over 50 years. I started out in 1968 as a car dealer, and you'd think I would know a lot, but every week I hear something from you about automobiles I wasn't aware of, and I love it. And we find answers, or we try to. We've got Rick Kearney here with us, as I said in my introduction. He knows all there is to know about the mechanics, electronics,

the computerization of automobiles. I mean, the high-tech Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi and and I mean a car is a complicated computer these days it's a complicated product and I'm a dealer I have a car dealership we we've been a business for a long long time and one of the most common complaints I get from my customers is not being able to understand their cars and of course I get angry when I hear that because we're supposed to train people when they take the car. We're supposed to give them all the information. But frankly, it's a challenge

because there's so much and things are improving so quickly. Thank God, largely with safety devices or safety things that you find a car today that you just didn't have around 10 years ago. So if you haven't traded a car and in 10 years and you get a new car, you better take about a week to learn everything about that car. And I don't mean that literally. I think a good day would do it, but you need to sit down with a technician or somebody that really understands it. And we'll get a lot of calls today, and I hopefully Rick will be able to help you with most of those. And we've got, we've also got Nancy Stewart, my wife, and she's my co-founder of this show back in the, you know, 20 years ago when we started out a half an hour on a radio

called Sea View. They're no longer in business. We're still in the same studio, or the same building, I should say, and now we're two hours. And Nancy Stewart is our female advocate. She's, you know, ladies are different than men. Did you know about that? I mean, you know, you've got to be careful when you talk about the difference between men and women. Hey, you got the guys smiling in the studio. I love it.

But there are good differences. I mean, thank God their differences, right? We'd be in trouble. Vively de France. That's right, that's right. Your French accent is terrible, but that's a... Thank you. I understood what you meant.

But ladies see life a little differently. They see cars differently. They buy cars a little differently. And they have their cars maintained and repair a little differently. They see things a little differently. And they are a huge power because they're half of the people out there. human beings, half are ladies. And statistics prove they buy

at least half of everything. In fact, I've seen some statistics that they have more than half of the wealth of the world of the country. And anyway, they're very, very important people, and they're neglected. They truly are, especially in car dealerships when you go

to buy a car. She's on top of that, and she has very strong opinions about that. And we invite the lady callers 877 960, 9960. I'm going to give that out again. I'm now I'm going to turn the mic over to Nancy

because she has a very special offer. You've heard it before. It's your regular listener. But if you're a new listener, don't touch that dial. If you're a new listener, especially female, hang on because you're going to hear an offer that you're not going to believe. Good morning. Good morning to all of you out there. We have an exciting show ahead,

and we're going to have a great time. Very informative, entertaining. And as Earl mentioned earlier, females do, well, they purchase more cars than anyone would realize. And what's great right now is the auto dealers, some of them are getting it. And if they don't, it is a financial disaster for them. The successful ones are getting it. Yeah, and so there's more of the auto dealers that are getting it today. So we're grateful for that.

Ladies, we're going to offer you $50 for the first two new lady callers. So take advantage of that this morning and give us a call at 877-960-99-60. And ladies, did you get what you wanted for your trade-in? How was service your experience that you can share with us? also you can definitely help other ladies that are listening to the show that are just a little bit hesitant a little bashful and they you know don't call the show and I talk to them throughout the week I get Texas and they're like I said they're a little bashful so if you call in not only are you going to win $50 for the first new first two new lady callers but you'll be helping others other females that were out there and purchased a vehicle, and maybe they weren't respected as they should.

And then again, maybe they had a great experience. We'd love to hear it all. 877-960-99-60. And don't forget, Your Anonymous Feedback.com. You can also text us at 772-497-6530. Now back to the recovering car dealer. Yeah, I mentioned Rick Kearney a minute ago, and Toyota calls him a certified master diagnostic technician. That's the highest honor, ranking, whatever you want to call it, any technician can reach with the Toyota Corporation.

And his knowledge expands way beyond Toyota, maybe because of this show. I mean, he's done a lot of self-education. His fingers are flying on Google a lot And he knows a lot about all years, makes, and models of cars So just because you don't have a Toyota doesn't mean you can't ask Rick a question And I alluded earlier to the fact that cars are complicated today I'm going to ask Rick this question myself What is the most common maybe the most common two or three questions

That you're asked about people that take delivery of a new vehicle And they go home and something's something that's you're asked about people that take delivery of a new vehicle and they go home and something's not working. When you get into the picture, what was the problem? On a brand new car, something that's only a couple weeks old. Yeah, I mean a late model. I mean, it could be a 2021, 20 or even a 19, but they bought a used maybe, but it's fresh to them,

and here they are, and they got a problem. Number one, how do I get my phone to connect properly? How do I get CarPlay to work? Google CarPlay, Apple CarPlay. How do I get my text messages, my Bluetooth? It used to be, hey, my AC doesn't seem quite as cold as it should. Yeah. And 15 years ago, 20 years ago, we used to joke how folks would,

they'd fix air conditioning before they'd fix their brakes. Now, air conditioning brakes, whether the engine runs or not, all that seems to take a backseat to the electronics of, how do I get internet in my car? How do I get my phone to pair up my car? So that's basically, how do I get my smartphone to integrate, pair, become one with what my car is doing? That is number one. Do you see a pattern and do more Android users or do more iOS?

what sort of is it an iPhone or an Android that has the most problems? Well, it's interesting because it's almost a 50-50 split because it seems like, and I don't mean to sound this in the wrong way or be agist or anything, because I'm 52 years old and I'll tell you, it took me a little while to pick up the technology myself. It seems the older folks gravitate to the iPhones because they are more of a straightforward, a more user-friendly interface.

And they can also afford iPhones because they're more expensive. Yeah, but also iPhones just seem to be more geared towards making the experience straightforward and simple, and yet they're more structured. And they don't allow some of the flexibility that Android phones will have. Android phones, it seems like you can kind of go off the beaten path

and do some odd things with them. We have an Android yourself, personally. No, I run iPhones, actually. Yeah, I'm old. I stick with the idiot phone. I got you. I just, I love the way they work. But I do have to understand the Android systems as well.

And I can appreciate the folks that do love them because there is a certain amount of, I'll say it, flexibility. You can get off the beaten path. You can do things with an Android phone. that Apple will not allow you to do with iPhones. Well, here's what we're going to do because I say I learned something. I learned something, Rick, I learned something with my callers. Rick, you're going to do a YouTube on that, and we're going to put it online.

And in fact, you could do multiple YouTubes. And my question after that is, if I have fallen in that category, can I go online and say, I just bought a 2020 on their cord? and I can't pair my iPhone with my navigation system. What should I do? I Google that. Will I find a YouTube that will tell me how to do that? You will find so many that you will be overwhelmed with them.

My best advice to anyone, when you're going to pair your phone, be very specific in your description of what phone you have, what car you have, and even down to the trim level of the car, Because otherwise you will have so many different people, you know, offering videos and just look for the one that's highest rated and go with it. Very good. And I guarantee you will get top-notch advice on how to pair of phones. Very good. You know, these YouTube's that you talk about, you know, I find the ones that are brief, focused, and detailed that, you know, is pretty helpful.

Rick, what would you say is more user-people-friendly, the iPhone or the Android? The iPhones are easier to use for the most part. Yeah, I agree. And the only reason I say it is because every single model of iPhone, certain things like setting up the Bluetooth and that follow a specified track on every single one, they're the same. You go to settings, you go to Bluetooth, you do this, you do this, and you're connected. Androids, there's, because there are so many different companies that use Android,

and each one has their own say and how they're going to set it up. So, androids can be a little different per one. That's why one of the best factors that I know of is to be able to find a little bit of Google reference on it. And I'll let you know a secret. One of the absolute best qualities of a mechanic, the best mechanics, aren't necessarily the guys that seem to know it all. it's the guys that know how to find the answer.

Because I don't know at all, and I never will. There's no way you could. Let me interrupt you there. Before I... While I interrupt you, I want to read an anonymous feedback, because I think some people don't like it when I interrupt people. This is anonymous feedback that came in. It was after the show last week.

It says, Earl, you sound like... And I can't say the word on the air. It's really a nasty word. Ooh. But you'd understand it if I'd... understand it if I said it. When you disagree with anyone, huge turn off for me and my husband when we watch a show as a lady listener, you're a bully, and I've stopped recommending your show. So I apologize for that. You know, it's, it's, I do have kind of an aggressive nature, and I try

to keep it under control, but I also try to keep the show under control. And I read that because I want you to know that we're honest and transparent, and no matter what you say about, us we're going to go along with that and we're going to tell people because we know we're not if we pleased everyone we'd become like some of these politicians that tell you what you want to hear sometimes we have to tell you what you may not want to hear because we feel it's the truth so I apologize for that back let's let's let's let's can I throw a thought on that one sure I have been your employee for 25 years now almost 26 and I've counted you as a friend for most of that time.

And I've got to say, even here on the radio show, I will never agree with you 100% of the time because there are times that one of us is going to be right, one's going to be wrong, and who wants a yes man? I think the good talk shows are the ones that are totally honest, and you can be honest and wrong. But I would rather listen to a person, male or female, if they were honest and even wrong some of the time,

someone that was not honest and sounded really good all the time, Nancy. Absolutely. Transparency is what you're going to find right here at Earl Stewart on Cars, transparency and honesty. And the proof is in the pudding. Earl just read a text from Your Anonymous Feedback.com. And that's why we have that offer to you, Your Anonymous Feedback.com, but guaranteed it will be read on the air.

So with that said, remember that phone number where you can get in touch with us at 877-960, or you can text us at 772-497-6530. We're talking a lot. Do you have any text or YouTube yet? We have a caller. We have a caller. We have a caller, prioritize.

And we're going to go to Howard, and Howard's calling us from Jupiter. Good morning, Howard. Hello, Howard. Good morning. I hope everything is fine with you. I know the weather isn't that great, but it's a little cool for me. I like the hot weather. But wait, you know, wait a couple of weeks, we'll get hot weather again.

Yes. Okay, so here's my question. Here's my question. Actually, it says a statement. I was driving in my friend's Genesis 2017 on the highway and he was trying to go into his right lane and for some reason the car swerved out

the car automatically did not let him go into the right lane because there was a car there in other words it's protecting him from crashing into a car on the side now my question is this how many cars makers have this feature. I think Lexus has it, but I'm not sure if Toyota has it. Yes, they do. In fact, I think most

of the manufacturers have that. Some have it available on more models and some fewer, some of them more on the luxury models. What's your observation, Rick? Howard, I got one quick question. Was he using his turn signal at the time?

No. What he experienced was the lane keep assist, that's the Toyota term for it, and I'm sure others have other terms, but most manufacturers now have not only the blind spot monitor, like Earl's mentioned before, that lights up in your mirror when there's a car there, but also lane keep assist and lane departure alert. The lane departure alert will beep when you get too close to the line, and the lane keep assist, if you don't use your turn signal, it will actually vibrate the wheel and push you back in your lane

to try to keep you in your lane. One of the problems is Howard and Rick, when the person doesn't understand that, it can be frightening, and it could actually inadvertently cause an accident. I recall the first time I experienced it, I thought I was having a problem. I thought there was a mechanical issue

because you're driving down the road and you have your lane keep assist on, you don't know it, and you look at your view of mirror, side view, mirror, whatever it may be, and you see everything is clear behind you. So you're not going to, you should use your turn,

certainly even when you can't see anybody behind you, but how many people really do that? Exactly. And so you start to slowly change, and all of a sudden your wheel whips back, and it won't change lanes. And you don't know a thing about lane keep assist. And the salesperson that sold you the car,

he probably didn't know about it. If he did, he decided it was too big a hurry to tell you. Yep. So education, education, education. It's a great safety device, but it can also be counterintuital it can also be a danger it's definitely a safety feature

that I couldn't live without now and most of all hey I'm just saying there are more people on the road who do not use their turn signals today somebody chime in here this is one step

closer to autonomous cars and it's a great step okay let's get to some text there was some new new questions. Oh, we got, no, we got Howard on the line still. However, I'm sorry, I forgot about you. We were talking to a bunch I forgot you were there.

One other question. He was going at a fast rate. I think if you go slow, under 25 miles an hour, it doesn't kick in. Is that correct, Rick? Yes. Are you sure about that? Actually, it's under about 30 to 31

degrees. Lane departure alert and lane keep assist do not activate. Blind spot monitor, on the other hand, will operate at any speed even sitting still. You talk about for Toyota. That's for Toyota, and I would bet that's going to be the same on most. But we don't know. There will be a lower limit where lane departure alert and lane keep assist do not activate. Once again, it's learning about your car, and we don't know what Hyundai's do,

and we don't know what Honda's do, we know what Toyotas do. We read the owners manual, have someone explain it to you. There's two reasons to know about. First of all, it's a valuable assist to help you and keep you safer. And also, it can be a danger if you don't know what it is. For example, the blindside monitor, if you assume it's on all the time and you take your car in the car wash and somebody gets too ambitious inside when he's wiping your dash down, it can turn the switch off on your blindside monitor.

So you get in the car fat and happy and driving home because you don't need to worry about somebody in your blindside because you'll be alerted. Well, guess what? he turned it off. Yep. And you whip over and you hit somebody. So education, learning more about your car is primary, and it's one of the biggest problems we have

because buyers of newer cars are not being informed properly, and we talked about that before. But Howard, thank you very much for the call. Okay, one other thing. Very important. I'm going to stump Rick on this question. I think I could stump him. When do you turn the traction control off?

Rick Myself, I wouldn't But there are times that you might need to turn it off If you're stuck in some loose sand Or for those up north A little bit of slushy snow You might need to deactivate it If you've got two wheels

Or even all the wheels You might have to turn it off to try to get loose But I would leave traction control on all the time Yeah, Rick, you're right You're getting stuck in the snow you turn it off, you get out, and you turn it back on. You're absolutely correct. Does it affect your gas mileage, Rick, is there,

if you have your traction control in all the time, does that affect you? Nope, not at all. Because traction control will only come into play in a slipped situation. I would think that there would be some way that you should make that the default position and have to turn it off instead of on. Oh, it is. It is on all the time. You can turn it off on some cars, but it's actually you shouldn't ever have to turn it off. I got you. Very interesting. Except if you get caught in snow. Yeah. Yeah. Occasionally, yep.

Hasn't happen to me in several weeks. Okay. Thanks very much. Have been a good day and pleasure to talk to you guys. Thanks, Howard. Boy, I could have used that back in Pittsburgh. Great feature. just for spinning. Yeah. Ladies and gentlemen, 877960, 9960, and you can text us, of course, that's 772-497-6530. Don't forget, ladies, we would love to hear from you $50 for the first two new lady callers. And don't forget about Earl's vigilantes.

I have to take a moment, excuse me, Rick, and talk about that and ask, do you consider yourself an auto expert? um tired of all the dealer dishonesty um we we sure could use your help and you'd be helping people in your community so sign up at earls vigilantes.com and uh we'll have a whole lot of fun and you can you know share the experience and you can also win yourself a great booking hat that earl is wearing this morning and uh jonathan will get a little picture of that and uh you get yourself a free hat. So there you go. Now back to Rick. My first one here is from Mark Smith up in Iowa. And he says, now, right now, their conditions. He's got three to four inches of snow coming. He's in cold temperatures, below 30, and

six plus inches on the ground. And his question is, my driver's front window began binding up yesterday or day before, and it's never happened before. This is a 2019 Camry. And he says, it doesn't feel like it jumped the track. Well, being in that cold weather, what you may be experiencing, Mark, is the rubber weather strip around the window sticking to the glass a little bit. What you might try is a little bit of glass cleaner, and if you can find it at the auto store, a dry silicon lubricant, but in a crayon form, not the spray. You never want to put sprays inside the door because it can get all. the lock actuator and kill the door lock actuators but a dry lubricant that you can rub in like a waxy silicon lubricant into that window channel may

help loosen things up especially in these winter conditions where for you folks up north I know down here we're we're seeing springtime really all the time but you guys have got it really really bad right now and try that to help lubricate that track up a little bit okay let's have another one as a matter for In fact, I'm going to switch over to the text messages just real quick for Anne-Marie because she came up with a really excellent text. It's kind of long, so I'm going to just paraphrase a little bit. And this is talking about the state of Texas with the huge Arctic blast

that they really weren't prepared for because, you know, who has seen those temperatures in that area in the last hundred years. The new Ford F-150 has an optional system called the Pre-Ebroseph. Pro power onboard feature. It's basically an electric generator, and there's also versions on the hybrid system that these things can put out over 2,000 kilowatts of power. Now, from our hurricane days with running a small generator that's only 5,000 kilowatts, I can tell you, 2000 will still run a good space heater. It'll keep some electric going to be able to boil water on a hot plate, something like that. It could run a small microwave, things the necessary things that you need right now. Cool idea. I like it. And Ford CEO, Jim Farley, took note of how people have mentioned that they've been able to do this.

He has asked Texas dealers to please get all of the new F-150s with that feature and loan them out to residents in need of power. Wow. And this has actually been reported in the auto news. Reportedly, there's over 400 of these trucks on lots in the state, and Edmund's reviewer said that a fully gased F-150 can be used as a generator for days. It won't run everything in your house, but it'll give you some lights, it'll give you some power, and I've got to say this is a fantastic thing that they are doing. Well, let me tell you something. and first of all, let me tell Anne-Marie,

I think Nancy's going to get jealous because I do love Anne-Marie. I do love Anne-Marie Delgado. Oh, she's fantastic. And she is one of our very, very best callers. Jim Farley, by the way, I know personally, he used to head up the Sion Division for Toyota, and then he moved into other responsibilities.

Since he's taken over Ford, CEO Ford, let me tell you something, see some amazing things. This guy Farley is just, he's not only a super smart guy, but he is a, well, what's the word? He's a good person. He understands human beings. He cares about his customers. He cares about doing things right. And he's going to be an amazing seal. I predict that Ford is going to make one huge comeback, and they need it. This generator idea is not only good for the F-150, but what a PR move. Absolutely.

And this will sell a lot of F-150s. Oh, yeah. It'll sell the Ford brand. So, Ann Marie, again, thanks for a great call. I didn't know that. And, you know, I got a text message from our grandson, Owen, this morning, who is in Dallas without power. And because of Jim Farley, they're in a much better place. He was teasing.

He said, we got the toaster running. Yes. But as you said, it's effective. but it only, you know, it'll only give energy to just some small appliances. I got to add one thing, though, folks. Important safety note, super important safety note. Make sure the vehicle is outside at least 10 or 15 feet away from your home, completely away, and make sure that the exhaust is pointed away from your house

and that the exhaust is not getting covered by snow or drifts of snow. If that exhaust starts to plug up, you get carbon monoxide poisoning that starts spreading. So clear the exhaust and make sure it's a safe plot. Great information. Any phone calls over there? We haven't. No phone calls. 877-960-9960, or you can text us at 772-497-27-49-0.

Okay, here's an anonymous feedback. and this came in a comment on our mystery shopping report of Beth Smith-Kia. I'll just read it. I agree with your Mr. Shop, with Best Smith-Kia, 100%. I just got screwed by them as well. I should have done more homework before I bought. They get an F from me, too. So it was a late boat that came in on Bill Smith-Kia, Mr. Shopping Report.

You know, thank you for that. And, you know, part of the, part of the, what is the word, negative side of car dealers doing things like this is when they get exposed and when you talk about your personal experiences you get exposed we do know that best of Kia is all they do not recommend list and therefore maybe when they hear more and more negative comments by people about the way you treat people maybe they'll clean their act up a little bit so we help so thank you for that anonymous feedback let me try another one here let's see we

We got another anonymous feedback. Okay, Earl, you said that I cannot return the new car that I just purchased once. I leave the dealership. Once you buy it and you drive away, I said you can't return it. What if the check I wrote doesn't go through? Sadly, you would be the enemy and the victim because the dealer would pursue you legally. and he would take it to court and you would lose

if you give someone a bad check it's a real serious thing and you could possibly be criminally prosecuted so it's so important when you buy when you're shopping for a car and you decide to buy it

don't sign the papers don't give them a check I was going to say considerations a legal term check cash sign an installment sales contract. Don't do any of that until you're absolutely sure. 99.9% of all car dealers will never refund your money. Now, there are some dealers out there that do have return policies, but most of it is pretty sloppy. It means returning if you buy one new car

and you don't like it, you can bring it in and they get to substitute another new car, but that gives them control over what you pay, which is not really like getting your money back. So do not take delivery of that car. Do not sign on the dotted line until you're absolutely sure. Okay. Let's go to, you got some text over there? We do. Nate Ward is asking.

He says, good morning. I have two questions. I'm looking at a 19 Toyota Ravreve for adventure package for purchase. He says, are there any particular pattern failures that I should be looking for? And second, he says, I've seen reviews where people complain about. the transmission and drive train, making moating and groaning noises at lower speeds, and these are covered and repaired by way of a TSB that has come out, are these noises fairly common?

And Nate, actually, those noises are about the only real complaints that I've heard on the new RAVs, and the TSBs do address them. They're actually not very common because it's only on the all-wheel drive versions of the RAV-4. drives don't seem to have that issue. Other than that, they've been really bulletproof cars. Did you say what caused that noise, Rick? I'd have to look up the TSBs, but I believe it has to do with the suspension or something in the transfer case of the all-wheel drive portion. And it's at lower speeds, you'll hear this like slight moaning or groaning sound when you're driving the car like through a parking lot or something. So you don't recall

the recommended procedure? No, I'd have to, I can look that. up real quick, but while I'm doing that, Nagin 1 is asking, he says, I want to ask, Earl, I have a friend's daughter, just bought a used car, a 2018 Cadillac XT5 with 40,000 miles, she's first-time buyer, first major purchase, with a good credit score of 770. The dealer is giving her 5.9% interest on this used car. Is that a good deal, do you think? a 2018 Cadillac XT5 model with 40,000 miles? You know, it's not a bad interest rate. It's something you should shop and compare.

Never accept an interest rate. It could be competitive. But I'd have to get a chart out. And maybe Stu or Josh or one of our outside listeners out there that would know could give us a text on that as to whether it was a kind of, but your credit union, your bank, I would say likely has at least as good a rate and maybe better. And don't ever accept the dealer offered financing until you've checked and compared that with your credit union and with your bank. Okay.

And for Negan 1, apparently that noise is coming from the front transfer case, like I thought, at 20 to 30 miles an hour, or 20 to 13 on deceleration. What's a front transfer case? This is actually the device that splits the power from the front wheels and sends it back to the back wheels and controls where the power goes when you're driving in four-wheel drive, and they're going to be replacing the transfer case electromagnetic clutch assembly and reprogramming the ECU. So it's an electronic control unit in there, and that's what apparently is making these noises. Well, that sounds like an expensive repair that Toyota is going to pay for. It's a very expensive one.

Their pencil pushers are not going to be happy on that one. If I had a rab four, I would be sure to act on that technical service bulletin, even if I could tolerate the noise. Oh, no, if you've got a noise on a brand new car, I would absolutely be addressing it. Because if they keep that car too long and it runs out of one, warranty, they've got a problem. That transfer case should be a $560 item,

five years $60,000, but regardless I wouldn't let it go very long because there are some dealers, I know obviously you're not going to be this way, but there are some dealers out there that I bet would say well you've waited too long and now you've damaged other things

and so we're going to cover maybe that but not these other things. Well the dealers don't are not allowed by the manufacturer on a TSB, that's a technical service bullet. That's pretty common in the trade. All manufacturers use that verbi, I think, TSB, technical service bulletin.

And we are instructed as a dealer's not to let the customer know about one unless they complain. Exactly. So if you're hard of hearing and you're driving a ramp for and you don't know you have it and somebody else is driving with you

and say, what's that noise? You say, I don't hear anything. Just to be safe, bring it in. And if you complain, they will check the technical service bullet and they get paid for it. So they should want to repair it because they get paid for it. Yeah. If it's within the warranty period. Absolutely.

Okay. Very good. And the last one I have here is Brian from California. And let's see here. Let me get back to his last one there. Oh, I got the right way. Okay, there we go. Again, kind of a long one here, so I'm going to try to paraphrase this down.

His friend Josh was in the market for a new car, a 2020 Subaru Impresza Sport, and they made an appointment for a test drive, loved it, went into the sales manager. The guys put him to work. They installed $1,700 in items, accessories. brought the MSRP from 25-765 to 27-458. He was able to get him knocked down 1,300 of that. They were a little upset to say, oh, I don't know if I can use that language on the air,

but they weren't happy. And then they tried to sell the car at MSRP, even though the online price was 24-4, which should have knocked another 13-9. off of it. They showed them the VIN, even though they didn't believe it, and they caved in. They saved a total of $2,500 before getting into finance. Now for the real shenanigans, they tried to charge us free oil for life for $1,200, then an eight-year extended warranty for about $3,000. I told the finance manager, if we were worried about

this car falling apart after a few years, we're in the wrong place. It's a Subaru. The manager angrily said to Josh, you better go to Brian to pay for any repairs if anything happens after the stock warranty, and he says they just laughed at him. Out-the-door price, including sales tax, DMV license, and registration was 27-259. Now, their original MSRP was 257, so it sounds like they got a doggone decent deal there. My friend was able to take advantage of the discounted vehicle price and 0% interest, and out-the-door price was lower than their selling price without any taxes, tag, or license included. I saved a total of $6,700 in bogus items. Someone not knowing what they were doing would easily have been around $32,000 to $33,000 for

the same car. He says it was an amazing experience to help a good friend out, and once again realize how nasty these people are. The sales manager actually offered Brian a job before they left because he was so impressed with his negotiating skills. I wish you guys were out here in California I would already be working for you. Well, Brian, you know,

it's great that your friend has you to go in with and you did it the hard way, but you have that type of knowledge and personality that you get the job done and you felt good about helping your friend and it had a happy ending to the story. For the average person out there, unless you have a Brian to go into a dealership with you

who enjoys negotiating and he's sharp enough to be able to catch the snakes when they're trying to bite you, unless you have that, the best way to do it is to use true car or Costco auto buying program, consumer reports, which is also the true car program,

There are a number of good American Express, there are a number of good car buying programs. They use a third-party source to find what a good price is. And we prefer the Costco Auto Program. They have by far the best price, as long as you deal directly with Costco and the Costco certified reps, and as long as you see the Costco member-only price sheet. Absolutely. But if you're going in there and do battle like you did, Brian, for your friend and get a good price,

be prepared to spend a lot of time. And ultimately, you'll come out on top because car dealers love to sell cars. What a happy story. And the moral of the story is, you know, if you can do it, take a friend with you, no matter who you are, because it's going to work to your advantage.

I can't stress that enough. Give us a call toll-free at 877-960, or you can text us at 7-7-7-7. to 4976530 and don't forget your anonymous feedback.com we're going to go to the phones where Marty is giving us a call from West Palm Beach good morning Marty nice to hear from you hi how are you we're well thank you I have a couple questions first one I want to know has Earl Stewart Toyota ever had to take any car back with the lemon law oh sure it's we've had limited laws filed

over, you know, I've been at that dealership now for 47 or 48 years, so we've had lemon laws for, I think, almost that entire time. But we have one every now and then. They're rare. The lemon law

usually only filed as a last resort and it gets the manufacturer's attention. Why do you ask the question, Marty? Well, I've had Toyota since the year 2000, and I've never had a problem with a Toyota that couldn't be fixed. So I just wondered if you really ever run into the situation where a car just can't be fixed. Well, Marty, thanks for the compliment. Toyota has built a really good car, but so does Honda and a lot of manufacturers.

And you remember, they build millions of cars. You buy a Toyota, a Honda, or you buy a Subaru, your odds against a get a lemon are very, very high against getting a lemon. You buy a fiat, a different story. But Toyota still has lemons, and so does Honda, and so does Subaru. And manufacturing is not completely a science. It's still a little bit of an art. People make mistakes. And when you have a stubborn manufacturer, remember, a lemon law is filed against a manufacturer.

not the dealer. And the dealer is given three chances to repair it. So in a sense, the dealer is kind of defending the manufacturer. And the manufacturer gets very nervous if they've got a dealer that's not doing their job because they're going to have to buy the car back. So you really get everybody's attention when you file a lemon law. I recommend the use of the lemon law as a threat more than actual, because when you file it, then once you file it becomes a legal issue and suddenly nobody wants to talk to you. The dealer, when you file a lemon law,

the manufacturer tells the dealer, don't talk to the customer anymore, we'll handle it. And it can't afford to let the dealer try to handle it because he's already screwed it up because he didn't get the car fixed right the first time. But, you know, there are lemons of every make. Rolls-Royces, Subaru, Hondas, Toyotas. My next question is, I happen to be, when I consider a fairly good negotiator,

and I don't mind spending time since I'm retired in your showroom or whatever to negotiate the price of a car. Sure. I've tried going on Costco and all these other places, and in my opinion, I've always gotten a better deal myself rather than going through them. But my question is, on a lease, can you go through them on a lease? can you go through them on a lease? I've never tried a lease through them.

Yeah. It's more complicated, Marty, with a lease, and I use the rule of thumb recommendation buy rather than lease, but there are occasions when the lease can give you a better price, total cost. Manufacturers more and more are incentivizing. They're putting special deals on leases. Manufacturers love to lease your car and so do dealers

because there's chances of leasing you another car or selling you another car much higher on a lease than they are purchased. So if they can get 40% more people back in the door to repeat buying a vehicle of that make, they can afford to put a few hundred dollars on a lease incentive. Sometimes you'll find a vehicle advertised on a lease that has a manufacturer's incentive that doesn't apply to the purchase, in which case the lease would be better.

but the lease is fraught with pitfalls and there's so many extra hidden charges. You've really got to know what you're doing. If you want to negotiate a lease, the way I would start, I'd negotiate the purchase price first. I would find out, and you say you're good at it, and I believe you. Go in there and tell them you want to buy the car and negotiate the price down as low as you can get it

until you're satisfied. You've got a really good price if you bought the car. Then say, I changed my mind. I want to lease it. And that selling price that you negotiated should be put into the lease contract as a capital cost. That is capitalized cost. That was a selling price. The way they can jack up the lease payment and profit is by just simply putting a high cap cost.

The manufacturer will typically allow a dealer, or the leasing company, will allow a dealer to mark up the price on a car by. 10% over MSRP. They'll allow them to do that. So you can lease a car and they just mark the capitalized cost up to 10% over MSRP. So you probably would negotiate that price down way below MSRP, maybe 10%, maybe more. So that price you negotiated, it should be in the column on the lease called capitalized cost. Then after that you just have to worry about the lease rate and the residual value. But I know you're telling you can see now how complicated it.

is there's too many variables in a lease, and it's harder for you to negotiate. Yeah, well, you know, when you have the money factor and everything else thrown in there, you don't know. It's definitely a tougher thing. I mean, I'd rather buy the car, and then you know what you're actually paying. But sometimes my wife has gotten leases,

so I get a lease, and mine is an owned car. But, you know, you've got to go through the thing. but I didn't know whether if you go to a Costco, are they going to help you with a lease better than that you can do it yourself? Costco doesn't have the lease. They have the purchase price. It's a purchase.

And then you take that price to be sure, getting the capitalized cost. But there's too many variables in there. They have more hidden fees. You know, you have hidden fees when you buy a car, add to those hidden fees, which still apply when you lease a car. They call it an inception fee.

seven or eight hundred dollars and there's a disposition fee which is three or four hundred dollars there's an over mileage charge which is God knows how much could be thousands of dollars and there's a be a beyond normal warrant charge which can be thousands of dollars so it's just like it's like playing Russian roulette when you lease a car unless you're really sharp and and do your homework right and another thing that I think is wrong which I guess Florida allows and I'm sure it's in every state They'll show you a car on an advertisement and say,

well, you can have this car for, you can lease it for $99 a month. You've got to put $10,000 down from all print. So, I mean, to me, they should make a car advertisement say what the true cost is without these nonsense prices. Pine print is a joke. It's against the law. Federal Trade Commission says anything that modifies the price of the average. The advertised product, any product, has to be in bold print, equal in size to the advertised price.

Nobody does it, and the regulators ignore it. So it's just a fact of life. They don't enforce the rules. All right, well, thanks a God. I guess I can't change the rules. But anybody that doesn't realize that and goes into a dealership thinking they're going to pay $99 for the car, not paying attention. paying attention. Marty, how about volunteering to become a vigilante for us?

And people, you're such a strong negotiator, you could really help people get a better price. Would you want to be a vigilante? Well, I probably could, but you know what? I find for me personally, I could go to a dealership and spend four hours in there. And I've been to places, your dealership is pretty straightforward.

Thank you. But I've been to L. Hendrickson were taking me four hours to do a deal. And I've walked out of the door four times, and they keep calling you back. So it all depends. You know, I figure a price out what I think I should pay. And if I get that price, fine. It's not I walk away. But I don't know if I'd be good to tell somebody else what to do.

Well, think about it. You get a nice hat? You get a nice hat like I'm wearing right now. if you do it for us, you sound like you know what you're doing. People, you could really help some people. Now Marty, thanks for their call. Please call again next week. Okay, have a good day.

Nice hearing from you, Marty. I loved it whenever Marty said that you know, he can't change the rules at these dealerships, but what Marty can do is walk in another direction like a lot of people should do. You know, when you're not

getting what you want, and you see there's a lot of shenanigans going on, you just walk away. Knowledge is power, ladies and gentlemen. 877-9-60-99-60, or you can text us at 772-497-6-5-30. We're going to go back to the phones where John is calling us from Whispone Beach.

Good morning, John. Hey, good morning. You can hear me okay? Yes, loud and clear. Okay, very good. I don't know if this is, a dean on Raymond

condo or if it's a compliment for Costco but we have a lease that we got from Raymond it's due in a couple weeks so they sent this a whole bunch of things out you know you got two months left

bring the car in we'll get the new lease stuff like that they even sent a flyer out saying, Dawn, your lease is up. Come in, we have a Honda Civic War for $109 a month and $3,000 down. Well, I said, Don, let's shop around because that just doesn't sound right. So we went ahead.

We went through Costco. We're Costco members. And Costco does not have a representative at Raymond Honda. The closest they have to Honda is in Del Rey. So we talked to the guy in Del Rey, and we explained to him that we got this card from Raymond, stating that a Honda Civic, we told him about the car. You know what it said on the flyer that they set up, this customer were $109 and $3,000 down, and he went through his booklet, and he says, I can't do that.

He says, if you can't get that thing, he says, because I can't. repeat that. He says, the best I can do for you is $127 a month. And I'm thinking of something that's not right. So we took that card back in about two weeks ago and said, we want this car as advertised on here, $3,000 down. And we knew it was going to be a base car. You know, nothing on it. For $3,000, we're $100,9. And he took the card. We said, wait a said, let's take a picture of it. You know, or he gave it back. He took a picture of it. He said, let me see what I can do to work it out. And he never called us back.

We had left. We said, we'll move it across the street. We'll go get something to eat while you're working out. So we left, and we never heard back on the business. You know, and I just, I think we still have that card that things on us, but it's just the deception. And I'm really, I'm really appreciative of the Costco representative from El Ray Honda spending his time to help us. even though we didn't buy a car or get into another lease. I said, forget it.

We're done with leasing. We're just going to go buy a car, and we ended up buying a 2002 Avalon. I see. With $3,000 but $50,000 miles. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Well, that's the Costco auto member program, I tell people that aren't even near Costco,

that for $60 a year is worth paying that just to be able to access their auto member buying program. even if you don't, you know, I had a lady to email me yesterday, and she wants to buy, she lives in Georgia, and she wants to buy a car, wants some advice. I say, are you a Costco member? She said, no, the nearest Costco was 65 miles. I haven't answered yet, but I'm going to tell her that she should go ahead and join Costco, even though she's never going to go in the door, just to be a member of the auto buying program,

just so she can get a price on a car. And then she will, as a Costco member, she can find a dealership that she can buy the car from at a guaranteed lowest price. So, yeah, Costco is by far the best auto buying program out there. You just have to be careful that you deal with a certified Costco representative and that you go through their website. That's what we did. Okay, John. Thanks again. Thanks again for the call.

Thank you. Call us again next week. We'd love to hear them from you. Yeah, we like hearing from you. You're going to find transparency and honesty right here at Earl Stewart on cars. So give us a call at 877-960. And ladies, I'll remind you that we do have $50 for the first two new lady callers. Give us a call and share your experience if you purchased, leased, or had your car service. our tax number is 772 4976530 you know I ran across I was thumbing through the consumer report and I noticed that they had some deal breakers they were addressing and that's about cars and SUVs and the highest repair costs and common fixes and you know there's when someone goes out to purchase a car they don't always figure in, pencil in, what is going to cost them a year to keep that car on the road? They are focused on the price of the car, the car payment, and so many other things. And it really is something to take into consideration because that will be the deal breaker. It may be just way too

expensive to keep that car on the road. Good point. Yeah, absolutely. Costco recommended car doesn't have to be the number one recommended car, but if a car has extremely high, repair costs, insurance costs, or it's unsafe. It won't be on the Costco recommended list. If Costco recommends a car, it's hard to go wrong. Rick, how are we doing over there on the text? Before Rick gets to that, we're going to go back to the phones, and John's calling us from Palm City. Good morning, John. Good morning to everyone. I want to point out an article, a big article that was in the business section of yesterday's New York Times, and it's about to collect the car market. It's very interesting because the live,

old car auctions will all cancel. So now basically it's online only. Now, my opinion, anybody that buys even a new car or a used car, especially a collector car online, is out of their mind. Second thing, they put an example of people from Hageddy, which is one of the largest old car insurance collector insurance company, they say that over half, more than half of their classic car buyers. of 380 cars have an income of six figures or over.

So that's just people that are interested in these cars. It's not for everyone. That's what I want to say. And then they give some exact example, which is out of sight. I mean, they give an auction company $65 for which shall be $3.85 million. That's the one from the movie. So it's not reality. But here's reality examples that they give.

They only give two cars as an example. A 49 MG, and they don't tell you what the guy paid for it, he bought it online. The second one is a 75 Toyota Land Cruiser. The guy flew 900 miles buying it from the Internet to Grand Rapids, Michigan. Well, again, I've been following collector cars. I have no idea what that's worth now or what a course new. But I know one thing for myself. If I had $27,000, I would never spend it on a collectible car,

including a 75, whatever it would be. So that's the way I feel about it. And then the one that shocks everybody, there's a reference in there to a website that's called Bring a Trailer. That has collectible cars on it. It's a fairly new website. It's so successful. It's unbelievable.

It was bought out recently by Hearst Publications. In last year, they had sales $1,000,000. cars a month. The sales are up 60%. But again, in my opinion, it may be called bring a trailer. But if I saw their cars advertised, I would not only bring a trailer,

but I would bring two mechanics with me. So that's my comment. I've following collector cars for years. It's not for the average person. You can wind up losing your shirt on it. It's a pain in the neck to store a collectible car. today's gasoline, and running wise, it's a problem. So, again, Haggerty makes sense with their actual figures,

more than half of their policyholders of pre-80 cars, have six-figure incomes. It's an interesting article. Somebody should read it. It's in yesterday's New York Times, and it gives unbelievable figures of cars that sold from the auction live, internet and it's an interesting lot of cool. Great. Thank you, John.

You know, you said something earlier. I want to clear up that anybody that buys a car online. I can't disagree with you on collectibles, but most used cars now are being bought online. And the biggest seller is the Mannheim auction. They're virtually a monopoly all over the USA and most all car dealers use it. And they buy cars online. perfectly safe. Actually, they have the checks and balances in there so you can't be lied to or deceived. If you're a professional and you're buying an option online, that's the way it's

done today. Collectible, I don't know how they do it. And the other thing I was going to say that there's a huge amount of money going into collectibles these days. A lot of people are looking at collectibles almost like they do gold or some other things. They're afraid of the stock market, you know, you don't know, the markets at an all-time high, but if you look back over the years with collectible cars, their return on a good investment,

you've got to say that, a caveat, if someone takes advantage of you, you can lose your shirt, as you said, but if you have someone that knows what they're doing, and you sound to me, John, like you know what you're doing, but if you know what you're doing, if you've been buying collectible cars and you had a place to keep them

and take care of them, I think you'd be ahead of the stock market today over the past 25 or 30 years. Well, I agree with you, Earl, and at certain vehicles, they give an example, I mean, a guy purchased a 35 Duceberg, which is American car, and that sold an all-time record that Ducemberg sold for $22 million. I read that. Who bought it? It was a car that was owned by Gary Cooper.

Gary Cooper, yeah. And I'll give you an example. of a man that passed away last year that I knew very well. He was a former mayor of Manalepin, and he had as many as 80 cars. He had 50s, 60s, and 70s cars, and he had 20 of them in Manalepin. He lived right on Ocean Drive, and the rest of them were in a special temperature control garage, which I visited in Montana, but the man had medical problems, so he knew he wasn't going to be around and he liquidated him through the years from 2015 on and I would say he would

put an unbelievable amount many of them were restored where you have 37 Pontiac was he had probably more in them than what they were worth yeah and mostly all the cars that they followed when they were auction at different auction companies were actually a loss but he was a ardent collector started him up on a dynamometer. He had a crew taken care of him. And, I mean, cars that were so fantastically restored, I can't describe it. But I'd say very few of the total of 80 cars

that actually were a profit from what he had invested in the restoration and collecting of them. So you have to be careful. Yeah, you're right, John. Absolutely right. He probably was buying cars that he liked instead of cars for his best. But if you bought them, particularly for investment,

you know, when I buy a stock, I don't care whether I like the company or not. If it's a good stock, I'll buy it because I think it'll go higher. That's the way you have to buy cars. But if you just like convertibles and you buy a pretty convertible because you had one when you were 16, that's not the way to buy a collectible. Jonathan, thanks very much.

I appreciate the call. You are on the top of our recommended caller list. We appreciate your call, and look for your next call. Always have some great. Okay. Thank you. that really shocked me would just bring a trail of website. Yeah, yeah, definitely.

I'm going to take a look at that article in the New York Times. You always have such great information. Okay. Thank you, John. Okay, 877-960-99-60, or you can text us at 772-497-6-530. And ladies, I'll remind you again, $50 for the first two new lady callers. I have breaking news. If you have nothing to talk about, just call, say hello.

Yes. Breaking news, Stu Stewart has a negative test on COVID. He still has a temperature, but his COVID test came back now with him. Congratulations, Stu. We love you. And we look forward to having you back on the show this coming Saturday. I'm so happy. Feel better soon.

How are we doing on text? We've got a couple. Let's do it. Let's see. Bob Antiville is asking, what do you think about these companies that, connect people with others to take over their lease, like swap a lease? It's legitimate. Swap a lease is probably the most famous one.

They're careful, and they make money because they've been around for a while. And so you have to qualify. Remember, when you have a lease and you have six, eight, a year, more payments, what you're looking for is somebody that's qualified with a leasing. that you are qualified for. So it's not easy to qualify for a lease. You have to have above average credit to lease a car. So the first thing swap a lease has to do is find someone that's qualified,

who also has the money, who also wants the particular car that you have. Now that's a lot of qualifications. If you get lucky, it's a great way to get out of a lease. But some leasing companies will not allow anybody to take over a lease. So first thing you want to do if you're thinking of, if you're thinking about it, is check with your leasing company and say, hey, if I go to swap a lease or anybody else and find somebody that will take over my lease payments and you approve them as a lessor, is it okay? And some people say, no, they won't. One of those is Toyota. Toyota

will not allow anybody to take over your lease. So when you lease a car, 36-month lease, you've made 24 payments but you don't like the car or you can't drive anymore or whatever it may be. Too bad. You've got 12 more payments that Toyota is going to get, and somebody's going to have to make them. Don't believe the dealer, when you take it in to trade it, he'll say, oh, I'll take care of those payments. He does. He takes care of the payments with your money. He pays Toyota leasing 12 payments, and then he adds it to the price of the car that he sold you or leased you, so be careful. I'll tell you, I hope that it turned out well because recently someone asked me about their lease. their spouse had passed away and there was a lot of lease

left on the transaction and I referred them to swap a lease at swapbleleaf.com www. www.waplease.com. Give it a try. They do work for people. I know I know some people that have worked for

but it's difficult. It can be on God's send but it is very difficult to qualify. Back to Rick. And we've got one good morning Earl, Steve from New Jersey, crazy how technology changes. Just today I read that LoJack will discontinue, oh, I lost, sorry, I lost my spot. There, there we go, okay. LoJack will discontinue U.S. sales in March while committing to provide services to current LoJack owners. In addition, Owl from the Owl Cam has found it impossible to compete with better and cheaper alternatives. Apparently Owl Cam is shutting down.

Well, let me say this about AL-Cam. My AL-QM is lying prostate on my dashboard, and it worked great for me for about a year, and then it just died, and I just, I'm looking for the new ring webcam when it comes out. But I'm sorry to hear about the AL-CAM, and I'm also sorry about Lo-Jack. That's been around for 25, 30 years? At least, yeah. Very interesting. Okay, how will we do?

You got some more text over there? Do you all me go around? We do? Let me see. Ah, here. Hi, Earl. My mom wants to, this is from Sean in Cleveland. My mom wants to sell her least 2019 Subaru Forrester.

It's in very good condition, has 29,000 miles on it, and 15 months at 435 per month left on the lease to the bank. 65, 25, 25 total. Residual value is about 18,000. Kelly Bluebook says a value in trade at a dealer who's 21 to 228. What's the best way to shop the car around the dealers to get the highest price so we can pay off the car with the sale? That's a great question. I was going to mention that as just an interesting note.

My dealership actually deals with some of these people that you should check with. We found that Carvana, we buy any car. Brum, strange as that may sound, V-R-O-O-O-M, you may have seen their Super Bowl commercial, which was hysterical about torturing the customer and a car dealer. All these names I'm mentioning are online buying of used cars, and they'll buy your car, or you can buy a used car for them or both. CarMax, Automation, everybody's jumping into the digital buying cars online. So, what a great way to be sure you got the right price. What we're doing in my dealership now is we have an appraiser, when we appraiser car, when you come into buy a car from us, but we also check with those names I just mentioned,

CarMax, Broome, We Buy Anycar.com, Carvana, because they'll buy your car online. You go online, you never have to call anybody. You'll eventually have to let them look at a car. They'll come to the house or you go to them, and they will verify that the condition and mileage and everything you reported online is accurate. So that's the way to answer the question. That's the way I would go to check the value of the trade-in, to be sure if it was a fair price.

Don't answer the question. That I believe you got it. I believe I got it. And let's see. The next one we have here is from Frank in Jupiter Farms. He sent in a picture of the dash on his Mercedes where it was showing minus 39 degrees Fahrenheit. height. And I had to ask him, did you go out of town? And he said, no. That actually was right here.

And he actually was talking with Randy Deppin, one of our service riders. And Randy found him a shop nearby that handles electrical really well on the European cars. And they found out that a rat had chewed into the wiring and caused a bad sensor reading. Must have been a very cold rat. Very chilly. But it made it even cool. older than minus 39 so he got his Mercedes all fixed up and it fixed several issues actually were several wiring issues there and Frank thank you very much because although I did not partake because I'm trying to drop a few pounds Frank dropped off a whole box of pastries from Panera bread at the dealership for the service department yesterday oh wow thank you I mean

it just it's you know things like that just we really love it oh Warren your heart. We are going to go back to the phones. We are going to talk to Alan from West Palm Beach. Good morning, Alan. Good morning, Earl. Nancy, Rick, and Stu and Absentia. Oh, gosh. I'm so glad to hear from you. We all are. Yeah, I'm sitting here. I'm watching you guys on a big screen on my back patio, and I was reminded of a text Earl sent me earlier in the week about model-specific premiums going up. And it was on a it was on a Corolla, I believe.

Yes. And a lot of people don't realize insurance companies now are perfecting. Used to, they broke cars down in the categories to determine premiums, you know, a performance or a luxury car. Alan, let me interrupt you briefly to let everybody know who you are because you've been off the show for a while. Alan Napier is a collision repair manager

at our dealership. He's been with me for a long, long time. He's kind of like a collision repair version of Rick. He knows just about everything about collision repair and insurance companies, and he was part of the show for many years. And we miss him, and hopefully he'll make a guest appearance soon. But thank you so much for calling in. I just want to introduce you, and please continue. You're too kind.

the uh anyways it got me to thinking most people probably think like i was thinking before i got your tech that um uh they're just looking at categories of cars four-wheel drives jeeps jeeps have always had high premiums but this was a corolla and there apparently is a high incidence of accidents with corolla not because of the vehicle but because of you know a lot of young people buy them and for whatever reason the insurance companies have done studies and determined your insurance can be a slight bit higher. I think it was $16 a month higher than Alexis, which the customer was puzzled about that. I was too, but you answered it. Yeah, but I hadn't realized that they had reached that level of study.

on these cars so it's the lady the customer that uh called you with that concern uh i'm glad she did because it educated me and and so we just need to educate the public that uh even though you think you're buying a a frugal economy car this or that if if it's got a high incidence of your insurance might be higher than a luxury car sure and and i did not know that um the other thing is just a quick thing on the collision industry and the insurance industry. Since COVID, insurance companies have been pushing virtual inspections of cars where they don't want to send adjusters out. It was a money-saving idea prior to COVID.

They want the shop to take photographs or in some cases videos, and then they write their estimates based on what they can see two-dimensionally in those photographs. And after COVID, they use the excuse that we don't want to expose our employees to the chance of getting sick, which made sense. But now that they're doing that, it has slowed to process way down. So if you get in an automobile accident, expect the repairs to take longer because the processes with the insurance companies are taking so much longer. We can write an estimate, take photographs, send everything into an insurance company. Then it kind of goes into a little pool where it's waiting for an adjuster. They could be in California to review it and rewrite the estimate on their stationery and their software.

And you know, Alan, I'll bet it doesn't go back after COVID. When this thing passes, hopefully in 8, 10, 12 months, I guarantee you the insurance companies are going to see how much money they're saving by doing this photo thing that makes the customer wait and a lot of companies are going to end up being

liking the digital way of doing things and not going back to having the adjuster come in and actually look at the car personally. Yeah, and it can be a good thing but they need to refine the process because most people have a 30-day policy limit for their rental car

And the insurance companies, in some cases, are eaten up seven to ten days of that, just waiting for the process to play out. So I just wanted to throw that out there because it's become a real problem for collision shops. It's sorry, I'm outside with my dog. We're glad to hear from you. Well, while you're on the phone, let me remind, and I know you'll endorse this comment, remind all people, that when you have a, When you have a collision, when you have a damage to your car, you have the right in Florida, anyway, and I'm not sure about all other states, to choose your repair shop. And the insurance company is going to want to choose their repair shop, and we recommend that

if you're driving a Ford, you should go to a Ford dealerships collision repair shop. Honda, go to a Honda dealership's repair shop, if you can find one. or if you have an experience with any repair shop that you know are honest, transparent, and we'll treat you right. But when the insurance company is steering you, and that's what the legal term is, steering, they'll steer you to their approved shop, quote-unquote.

Yeah, it's approved all right. It's approved by them because they agree to fix the car as cheaply as possible. And they agreed to use aftermarket parts, not OEM, factory parts, and they make a lot of deal with the devil, the insurance company, to keep the repair down. When you let Allstate State Farm, Progressive choose the shop, beware.

Yeah, that's an excellent point. And most of the manufacturers now, Volvo, Ford, Honda, Toyota have certification processes that require a minimum amount of equipment, safety equipment, training for the technicians. These cars are so technologically advanced now. You need that. Whenever an insurance company sends you to a hind, independent shop, they're really not trained in any specifics of vehicle makes and models. You're rolling the dice.

That all the safety features are going to be reset properly. Last thing, and I know you guys have a busy show going on a big dog ranch rescue. They're working on saving a lot of dogs out of Texas, and they really need some donations. I believe it's BDRR.org. Yeah. Yes. But they need blankets. They need all kinds of things for all these animals shelters.

Jonathan, get my book up here? Here's a way to donate. I was just saying to Jonathan have my book on camera because one way to donate to Big Dog Grants Rescue is to buy Confessions of a Recovering Car Dealer on Amazon. And when you do that, 100% of what you pay goes to Big Dog Ranch Rescue. So what a great way to learn how to buy a car

without being ripped off and save a dog at the same time. Yeah, that's a win-win situation. Alan, before you go, thank you for mentioning that, but I have a young lady that texts me this morning and I'm going to take advantage of you right now. She asks the question, how can she keep her car insurance costs down? and I told her shop, shop, shop, you know, and just research all the other companies that you haven't dealt with. What's your opinion and what do you have to say for her?

Well, a few years ago from personal experience, I learned that insurance is one of the very few industries where you can be a customer and you're not rewarded for your loyalty. the longer you're with an insurance company, the more they're going to charge you. You don't get a discount for your loyalty, so you have to shop your insurance every two to three years. I say $30 a month switching from Progress to State Farm probably five years ago, simply because I was a new customer. so you know like my father's had the same insurance agent for 50 years and he's paying out the roof and he's like well he's a good old boy he's always taking care of me and it's like but dad the new customers get rewarded the old customers pay for the new customers do have a reward program but it's a negative the longer and more loyal you are the more they charge you that's interesting you know a lot of companies

your points and if you buy everything you can apply the points and get discounts insurance companies raise your price. Very interesting. Thank you all. Usually about 12 to 17 dollars every time

you renew and it's just they do studies so that they understand you know the average 45 year old male will accept without researching X amount of dollars of increase. They they've got this down to a science.

Yeah, she did share with me that she felt that she was being penalized because she's on the road all the time. She's been with the same insurance company forever, and she started talking to a few folks, and she said they told her this just isn't right, and you proved that point just now. These insurance companies don't care about you, and how long you've been with them.

They're not friends. Yeah, and I'll close out because I do know you have a busy show and you have other callers. There are some things you can do to decrease your premium. One is like State Farm, they'll put a tracking device in your car that monitors whether you speed, how fast you break, how fast you accelerate, you can get safe driver discounts like that, decrease the amount of miles you're driving if possible. That's not possible for everybody. and it's also it depends on the zip code you live in and where you work the frequency of accidents there

it's pretty extreme but when I moved from Wellington where I lived right across from a mall that there were accidents every day and I moved out to lock the hatchie it dropped me $30 for every six months just just changing my zip code that's pretty extreme anyways I'll let you It's been a great show, and I look forward to Stu being back next week, and I'll see some of you guys on Monday morning. Thanks, Alan. Thank you, Alan. We are going to go back to Rick.

John Strine is asking, I applied to be a vigilante, but haven't heard anything for some time. Oh, boy. By the way, how do people who want a vigilante to assist them access this service? Well, that's good. You go to Erluncars.com. and you will see a link for vigilantes. And the question is, how does he sign up? Well, he's already signed up, apparently.

Oh, signed up. He wants to know when folks want a vigilante's assistance, how do they access that? Okay, well, we have a list of vigilantes only, Erloncars.com. And you go there, we have their contact information so that you can look for your state, your region, and unfortunately, we don't have,

really good coverage, except in Florida. We have quite a view, and we have them spotted around the country. That's the reason we're trying to recruit more and more vigilantes from all over the USA. And you will find the location of the vigilante nearest you at earlonecars.com. And Donovan says, I have a question on how you deal with a used EV electric vehicle when it comes into the dealership on trade. The trade end and then on the use sales end, what is the difference with the experience between an electric vehicle

and a regular gasoline engine vehicle? As far as trade ends and coming in, they're the same. I mean, they're very few, and the fact of the future of the electric vehicle is engraved in stone. Now, it's going to happen. All the manufacturers have poured billions of dollars into EVs. Most of them

have committed to a date, at which point they will have either all EVs or mostly, and so it's a done deal. In terms of trade and values and everything else, it's like any other car. You want to get a vehicle that has a good reputation,

has good quality, consumer reports, endorsement, and all those sort of things, but it's the same thing as internal combustion in terms of trading and buying. Okay. Michael Elliott has actually a two-parter here. Hey, Earl, at what point in the deal do I tell the finance officer

that I have my own finance with a great rate? And how do I get past the thought that I cannot hassle with the salesman since we go to church together? Oh, boy. Tossed you right in the minefield, didn't we? Well, I would remind your salesman about the golden rule, and you can tell them that you're going to explain to the minister

or the rabbi or the preacher or wherever you're going, that he sold me a car and he violated the golden rule. I think there's a penalty when you go to church. Absolutely. And I think this is an opportunity for you to hold up your book because you have been to the confessional.

Yes. I don't want to offend any Catholics out there, but with us, I'm in a confessional booth there. And I am confessing some sins that... Yes. I've only started confessing them recently because of the statute. limitations. It's a good thing. So at what point would it be in the deal should he tell the

finance officer that he has its own financing? When's the time to spring that? Well, after you've bought the car, you want to buy the car assuming that they're going to let you finance it. And that gives them hope that they can recover. If you've got a good price and you negotiated a good price, you've used true car or Costco, and they feel like they've been defeated because you got such a good price on the car. When you're in that position and you've signed on the dotted line, bought the car, and they're expecting to get you into the finance department,

well, they'll make twice as much money. Of course, in your case, probably 10 times as much money in the finance, there's hope for them to make that huge finance profit. So when you get the deal done and they're committed to sell you the car, then you go into, we call it the box, the finance department, and you say, guess what?

a Flagler National Bank will sell me this car for $325 a month out the door with $1,000 down. If you can beat that deal, we can talk. If you can't, I'm going home in my new car. Rick, is this a... Did you say this was a friend?

This is from Michael Elliott on YouTube. Go ahead. And he says, I guess his salesman goes to the same church with him. Okay, so they're friends. You know, I don't know, my opinion would be from the get-go, you know, when you walk into the dealership, whether, you know, he's a friend, whomever he is, because you cross that line as you walk into the dealership, and there isn't any, I don't mean to sound harsh, but there isn't any friends or neighbors or anything like that. You're there to make a purchase, not, you know, to, it just isn't. acceptable. So you say what you want, you do what you want. If you don't get it,

you know, you walk away. Makes it tough. Okay, and last one so far is Silver Surfer. Good morning, everyone. With your Tires for Life program, what brand of tires do you decide to use? And does the customer have a choice? Stay safe. The customer does have a choice and the tires that we use are the ones that are recommended by consumer reports that have the best overall recommendations. You know, when we give a customer a set of tires, we look at them as being our tires, and if we give them some bad tires

and we have to replace them in two years or 20,000 miles, that's pretty expensive. So we want something that will last longer and be reliable and not have to have problems with because it's our tires in your car we want the best we could get for your car. Absolutely. If you decide you like a different brand, we'll accommodate that too.

I've got an anonymous feedback. Let me, this is interesting, and it was a very good anonymous feedback. Is the Costco Auto Buying Program equivalent to a fleet buying price? Is it possible to get a lower price from in-person shopping? Is financing offered in the Costco process? All good questions. It's not, I guess it is equivalent to fleet. Because the dealer, who is a Costco-approved member-only dealer,

that dealer has to sign a contract that says that the price he's giving you as a Costco member is lower, not as low, but actually lower than the price he sells that car to anybody. So that's sometimes even better than a fleet price. Also, you should still shop and compare. If you've got the time I mean you can go on and buy a car on the Costco little buying program if you go by the book and see the member only price sheet

it's safe and you've got a great price if you really really want to be sure shop and compare there are dealers out there that are crazily competitive and you can take a Costco price to another dealer and say look this is my out-the-door price from ABC dealer

Out the door can you beat it? They say yes make them prove it and they beat it buy the car from the other dealer I mean it's a doggy dog

out there and just because the Costco auto buying program is a good program or a true car doesn't mean that someone

might not beat the deal there's a good way to tell when a dealer's lying when he says I guarantee nobody can beat my price that's just like

his lips are moving when they tell you they guarantee nobody can beat their price they've got to be one. Otherwise, they'd be the only car dealer in the world selling that make a car. I thought you were going to stop it right after the words

guarantee. I guarantee. Oh, okay, never mind. No, no, nope, yep, nope. You know, this just isn't a popularity contest, as I mentioned earlier. It definitely, you know, falls into, you know, a purchase that is, you know, it's a pretty big purchase for a person, two of them that you're going to make in your lifetime,

and that's a vehicle or a home or both, and a popularity contest just doesn't come into play. You dot your eyes, cross your cheese, and you get the best deal that you can. Okay, I've got another anonymous feedback here. How do we do it on time? Okay, anonymous feedback. I see many in the listings of 2018 Toyota Highlanders

now appearing on AutoTrader, as well as on dealer websites, would these be lease returns? Is there still any remaining warranty on these average 30,000 miles on them? Well, the Toyota warranty is 3 or 36,000 miles, so

yes, probably would be a warranty on these. These probably do sound like lease returns, but some of them aren't. There's a lot of lease returns coming in now, and this is a good thing. The bad thing is manufacturers and deals have been pushing, pushing, pushing leasing,

because they make more money when they lease cars. That's the bad news. The good news is, because they did make more money, the bad news is, or good news is, when these lease comes back in, it's an opportunity to buy cars. The more that come off the market on lease, the lower the prices, supply and demand.

So there are a lot of good white model, low-mile vehicles coming off lease, and you want to, you're doing the right thing, you're going to Auto-Trader. And the other trader is, I mean, talk about the behemoth of used car dealerships.

I mean, they're not a dealership, but every dealer that I know in the United States displays their entire inventory on another trader. And you can, depending on how far you want to look, if you live in Paducah, Kentucky, and you want to go to Los Angeles, you can put a Los Angeles zip code in and find a car there.

And you have to go get it or ship it if you want to pay for it. Road trip. But yeah. So, when you go to a car dealer, you see an inventory, let's say he's got a big inventory. He might have 500 used cars. He might have 1,000 used cars. Auto-trader has got 5 million used cars.

They've got every make-a-model color combination you want. The one caveat about other trader is the fact that they don't give you an honest price. They let the dealer add hidden fees on top of the auto-trader price. That stinks, but it gives you a place to start, so you find the car you want, you got the exact car, and you call the deer, and then that's where you go to, okay, you say the price is this, what is the real price, then you play that game, and find out what the real off-the-door prices. But you have a place to start anyway. That's a great point that you just made, definitely. So ladies and gentlemen, as always, knowledge is power, and as I said earlier, they're not your friends, it's not a popular. contest so do what you have to do we are going to be going to the mystery shopping report and it's going to be very interesting and we would like you to vote on that mystery shopping report from Mazda so I'll take advantage of that and we're

going to go back to the recovering car dealer for the report southern palms Mazda when I saw the report and Steve Stewart wrote it up for me and emailed it last night and I looked at this mystery shop of Southern Palm's Monsda and said where is Southern Palm's Monson? I didn't know what the... I hadn't heard of this dealership. Anyway,

last week's mystery shop of Mastra Palm Beach was the first Masta dealership explicitly we've done in a long time. As a matter of fact, Masta Palm Beach is one of only two current Masta franchises on a recommended dealer list. So we take it upon ourselves to find another Masta

store to investigate and get some better representation on good dealer, baddealer, list.com. Go to Erlenkars, or you could go directly to good dealer, bad dealer list. If you go to Earl and cars, you'll see the link. And you go there and you find out the recommended cars, dealerships, I mean, and the ones that

we don't want you to buy from, and we have a grading system that is A, B, C, D, F. Now, if it's an F, it's on the bad list, but you can choose the dealers on the good list by how high they scored. We've been to Southern Palms Mazda before, but we didn't know it back in March of 2020 at the beginning of the pandemic.

This was actually the second mystery shop we did after the national emergency was declared on March 13th, 2020. Three years ago, Southern Palm Mazda was Royal Palm Mazda. That's what I think of that dealership, Royal Palm Mazda. Pinsky Auto Group store, that's the second largest retail publicly owned group of car dealerships in the country, automation being number one. Penske Auto Multi Group sold three of its dealerships in the Royal Palm Metal Mall on Southern Boulevard to the Terry Taylor Car Dealer Group Auto Management Services. Now, Terry Taylor, we talked about on the show before, Terry Taylor is the largest owner, private owner of car dealerships in the USA.

And he's kind of a mystery man. He keeps behind the scenes and doesn't like publicity, which is highly unusual for car dealers. Most of us car dealers, now I'm in there. there, we're all egomaniacs. I think I'm an egomaniac. Maybe, I don't know. Anyway, I'm not shy. Actually, I am shy at parties, but I digressed.

I'm going to plead the fifth on that whole conversation right there. Royal Palm Toyota became Southern Palm, Royal Palm Toyota became Southern 441 Toyota. Royal Palm Nissan became Southern 441 Nissan, and Royal Palm Mazda became Southern Palm Mazda, You know, it's confusing, isn't it? The names are terrible, in my opinion, but that's just my opinion. That dealership has changed names at least three times that I know of.

Yeah, it's three times, yeah. You're right. A lot of Juggling, South Florida dealership changed hands a lot. A lot of car dealers want to be in South Florida because they love South Florida. So they're up north or in New Jersey, and it's too cold. Look at what it is right now. I mean, they're freezing them. So right now, a car dealer is saying, boy, I'm freezing my blanket.

off. If I had a car dealership in South Florida, I'd have sunshine, I'd have the Atlantic Ocean. That's what I'm going to do. I can ride off everything when I go down there from my home in New York and New Jersey, and I can expense everything because I've got a car dealership. So they come down here and they buy a lot of car dealerships. That's a little aside there. As I said, we think Terry Taylor owns Southern Palms Mazda, and I told you he is kind of a undercover guy and he's a good dealer. I mean I don't say he's a bad deal. He's got good dealerships. He has some good people. I personally know some of his dealers and he's I say probably more often than not on the recommended list. Last March we sent Agent

Thunder to investigate a Southern Palm's Mazda ad for a new 2019 Mazda 6th with a super low price, 16,500 on a vehicle with MSRP of 21,000. $2,375, when he went in to try to get the advertised price, Southern Palm Mazda added $2,700 in hidden fees. That's a lot of hidden fees, folks. I say a lot, not in South Florida, maybe, anywhere else it would be, and that included ad-on dealer-installed accessories. We found a similar ad this week. This time for a CX-30, Mazda, the same vehicle agent lightning, tried to buy last week. This time, the ad promised $5,000 off MSRP on all remaining 2020 miles of CX30s.

With Agent Lightning away on a long-distance measure, remember we talked last week, if you're a regular listener, we were going to have a real long-distance mystery shop, but unfortunately, Agent Lightning, our female shopper, was delayed by the massive winter storm affecting most of the United States. We call an Agent Thunder to come in, fill in for Agent Lightning. Agent Thunder being a mail shopper. Here's the report, speaking as if I were Agent Thunder. Prior to departure, I went to Southern Palm's Mazda website to get a feel for the availability in online pricing of 2020 CX30s.

Like my counterpart, Agent Lightning, I discovered an exaggerated amount of vehicles listed as being in stock and available. Deals love to exaggerate. They love to lie about. I have the biggest dealership. I have the most inventory. I have the lowest prices.

Puffery. Yeah, puffery, yeah. And it's not true. And inevitably, it's not true. There's always a lower price. There was always a bigger dealership. And there's a whole lot of Morales dealerships, probably. So, there he has, 603 new vehicles.

That's BS. Just like Mazda Palm Beach, this reported, inventory level is not believable at all. This dealership does not sell anywhere near the volume of new vehicles. They were just like stocking so many new models. But you see in the advertisement, 603 new vehicles, it sounds like if you got that many cars, you're going to be discounting them.

That's a lot of cars. You've got to get rid of something. You probably don't have room to park them all. I'm going to get a good deal. Plus the fact, look at the selection. They're going to have every color, equipment, combination, everything I want. Anything I want, the CX30, 6003, I'm going to find exactly what they want, except they're lying.

They don't have 6003 new vehicles. The dealership also claimed to have 76 CX30s and not credible. I called the Earl's own car team to discuss, and we eventually figured out the mystery. Looks like Southern Palms Mazda pools their inventory with two other Mazda dealerships at Daytona, and so on by Penske, Daytona Mazda, and Mazda of Southern Charlotte. It's also owned, no, by Terry Taylor, I'm sorry. Monaster of Southern Charlotte's owned by Terry Taylor, too. We're all assuming that is true. He's the mystery man, so we just strongly think that's what it is.

Interestingly, the ability to specify a particular location is only found in the mobile version of their website. The desktop version makes it appear that Southern Palm's monster is gigantic. Go figure. I narrowed my search to exclude the North Carolina and Daytona locations. I saw that they really had only four. So we went from 76 CX30s to four CX30s. Then I hopped in my car and made my way to Royal Palm Beach. Which looked different from my last visit.

It looked like they'd done some remodeling. I was spotted through the window by what seemed to be a sales manager who pointed me out to a younger man. the younger man jumped into action ran outside the grief. His name was Ricardo. He was wearing a mask and he was full of energy. He asked to see how he could help me. I told

him that I had seen their ad for a new 2020 CX30, Mazda, I'm talking about, with a $5,000 of a discount. That'll get anybody's attention, right? I asked Ricardo if I had described the offer correctly and he confirmed that I did. At least he knew what the advertised car was. Oftentimes you go

into a car dealership. They don't know what you're talking about, but Ricardo did. Crowdo then said he needed some information from me and got started to let me into the showroom. I complimented a shiny new showroom if we made our way to his desk. Once we sat down, Ricardo took my driver's

license, asked for my contact information. He entered all this into his computer. Then he began asking me about the things I hope to get in my next vehicle. I played along. As I read that, I was thinking about this as morning, can you imagine going through that in any other product you want to buy. I mean, you are literally

interrogated. They got the light on and they're kind of thumb print. I don't think they do a prostate examination, but I probably shouldn't have said that, sure. Anyway, to me it's an invasion of privacy and why should you have to go through that to buy a car? Ricardo came to get me after maybe 15 minutes and he led me to the CX30 which had all the doors and rear hatch open. Then he systematically reviewed just about every feature the car had inside and out. Ricardo could educate me during the test drive. It was one of the

most competent performances I've experienced. And as Agent Thunder, and I'm speaking as what I were, but he's seen a lot of car dealerships. He shopped a lot of dealership. That's a compliment. Ricardo, if you're listening now, congratulations. You know your product, and you know how to deliver a pitch and deliver a product presentation. Congratulations. Back to the log, Ricardo attempted a trial close.

He asked me if I'd like it, and if the numbers are right, would I take it home? They all do that. Standard operating procedure record dealership, trial close. I think I really disappointed Ricardo with my answer. I told him I wasn't that kind of a buyer. told them that even if the numbers look good, I may have to go home and sleep on it. I mean, that's an educated consumer.

You don't ever buy a car the same day you start shopping. And you don't ever buy a car from the first dealer you walk into. They want you to, and you know why. Then I suggested we head back inside where he could show me the pricing. Ricardo said he needed to speak with his manager. Okay, that's standard operating procedure too, the back and forth. Let the games begin. We walk back inside.

inside. I was led to my seat again. Ricardo left. He was back on a couple of minutes and he sat down and delivered a message from his manager. Because they were so busy, it seemed busy to me, the manager can email the figures to me. Now, usually when we do a mystery shop, everything is kind of like some other dealership we shop. We've never seen this. The manager was too busy to come out and speak to the customer. And I'm sitting there, I don't see any other people in the showroom, but he was too busy. I'm afraid to speculate on what he may have been doing that he was too busy, but he was too busy to talk to the customer. Once he's there. Then he's going to email me the figures. Was he there? Yeah, maybe there is no manager. And anyway, and who wants to email figures?

You should email figures, but the hardest thing we see is getting anything in writing, but he offered to do that. In fact, will it happen? Will they get the figures? I don't know. I do know because I read the whole report, but I'll tell you later. This was new. I asked him why he couldn't take a few minutes to go over it with me while I was there. Ricardo said that since I can't commit to buying today, the manager needs to prioritize

his time. In other words, I wasn't important enough for the manager to come out and say, hello, here's the numbers, here's the price. I wasn't important enough. I wasn't a priority, and we still don't know what the priority was. Then he promised I'd have the numbers sent my way ASAP. At that point, do you think I believe that?

I think he just wants to get rid of me. Yeah. And he gets me out the door and says, well, that cheap, blackety-blank, we're not going to make any money off him. Let him go buy the car somewhere else. He didn't say that. I'm just off the cuffing.

I recapped the deal I expected a $5,000 discount off the MSRP of $27,300. Ricardo confirmed this and said there were no gimmicks. We bumped elbows, you said to get the boss to email that afternoon. I left. After two hours, I still had I received the email with my pricing, and I texted Ricardo. This worked. And that surprised me as I read this report this morning. It worked.

I received the figures within a minute. The top line was MSRP, $27,300. There was a $5,000 discount, just like the ad promise. But, you know, there's always a but. Then came the ads. $347, permaplate. That sounds like one of these PACEA and DS things that they've never paid a nickel out of a warranty and they don't work.

Worthless. $1,195 for an appearance package, likewise, worthless. Then they added $285 in taxable fees, which is the new name, taxable fee. Taxable fees is the new name for hidden fees. That's one of the reasons they, one of the ways they hide them. They call them a fee, but they say taxable. Real fees aren't taxable. They don't tax sales tax, that's a fee.

They don't tax a registration fee, that's a fee. But if they say, deal a profit, they tax. They tax it, but they call it a fee and say it's taxable fee. Confusing. And of course they have the $899 dog fee, all told an extra $3,226 in hidden fees and unwanted accessories were added. Here we are. This was almost repeated the bait and switch that we investigated March last year. The main difference was a bizarre refusal of the manager to come out and present the deal.

True car was not cooperating. I'm not sure. I'll have to ask Stu why that was. So we were only able to compare Agent Thunder's price range, a price with a range of $25,000 to $27,000. So it was probably an average price. I don't think it was a terrible price. They wouldn't have emailed the price if it were a terrible price.

So I'm guessing it was probably a reasonable price. Not the lowest price, but a reasonable price. but a reasonable price. And now we've got a score of these folks. And anybody got any scores coming on you? We do at the moment. First one I've got is Jonathan from Wellington, who says, hidden fees, way too much, automatic F.

I'm waiting to see what we've got coming on Facebook. I've got another one here for an F from an anonymous. Okay, folks, come on on YouTube. Give me some grades here. Yeah, the Fs automatically put somebody in the Do Not Recommend list. And for the new folks listening, remember, we grade on the curve. And the curve is the best of the worst and the worst of the best. And because virtually every car dealer in Florida has some bad habits and treats customers in ways that we don't recommend,

If we scored them all Fs because of those bad habits, we'd have no place in Florida to buy a car. And the same thing applies to other states, because I keep forgetting we're worldwide now. So we say if this dealership is okay, even though they shouldn't have done this, this, or this, then we give them a grade above an F. So if you haven't voted yet,

and you're getting ready to go on Facebook or YouTube, text or whatever you do, but better that in mind, We have to have someplace to buy a Mazda, and we have to grade it on the curve. Nancy, what do you got over there? What I have is, anyway, I'm trying to wrap my head around the fact that there's only four of these vehicles instead of 76. That's number one. Number two, where on earth is the manager?

Where on earth is the manager? also this here permaplate you can do the same thing with some if you take it to a car wash and have it detailed and the permaplate doesn't even last that's the bottom line for that

and migrate I give them an F okay now we got some coming in okay good Linda's going with an F Mark Willicki with an F $3,000 hidden fees can't make the manager walk out Mark Ryans is a D

Tim Gilliland D minus Donovan's giving him an F Mark from St. Louis a D plus he likes the idea of the quote emailed less people interaction Wayne with a D guy with a solid D

and for myself I'm going to go with the D because I'm going to say I love the salesman Ricardo he knew his product he knew what he was doing and I think if you can work the negotiation if he could have got to the manager and beat him up on the negotiation.

You could have got a good deal on that car. Yeah, I'm gonna go with a, I'm gonna shock you here, I'm gonna go with a C, and the reason I do that is I agree with the last grader about the email. What they did was they were, they put their price in writing and they gave it to you on a piece of paper when you print out your email.

And that tells you something. If you can get a written price, bottom line price from a dealer, they can't be too bad. In this case here was combined with the fact that the manager was insulting by not coming out. Manager should have come out, written the price down, and handed it to you. And I'm probably giving you a B if he'd have done that. Because when people say they're shopping around, they usually can't get a price from a car dealer. In this case here, they did get a price, and it wasn't raining. And it might have been an accident that happened that way, but I'm going to pass them.

I've got a whole bunch more Ds and a couple of Fs, but a lot of folks are saying passing, but just barely with that D. Okay, we pass them. And we have Palm Mazda on Southern Boulevard and Royal Palm Beach. Southern Palms, Mazda, go on the approval. We're running a short of time. Yes, we are. And another great mystery shopping report. We hope all of you enjoyed it.

And we thank you for joining us here at Earl Stewart on cars. And we will be right back here next Saturday morning. Have a wonderful weekend. Thank you, too. Thank you.