Earl Stewart on Cars - 03.11.2023 - Your Calls, Texts, and Mystery Shop of Kia of Vero Beach

Episode Date: March 11, 2023

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

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

Good morning, everybody. Well, we're back. We're live. It's going to be another morning, two hours of actually answering your questions, is the name of the game, about the car industry, mainly the retail. car industry if you're buying or leasing a car or you have to maintain or repair your car if you have an accident you have a collision issue dealing with insurance companies we pretty much hurt it all we've been doing this for 20 years of course

things are changing extremely fast the past three years have been a warp speed and evolution of the retail and wholesale auto industry manufacturing things are just changing so fast that we don't know what to talk about from one week to the next because there's so many interesting dynamics electric vehicles, autonomous vehicles, just absolutely nutty stuff

that 30, 40 years ago we thought about that as the future and we actually thought about that as maybe just a pipe dream. It's a science fiction. Can't Happen.com. Well, it happened. And here we are the most exciting.

And I just, as a car dealer, an old car dealer, I've been around since 1968. I guess I have a better perspective on things because, yeah, I started out in the business. We didn't even have seatbelts. Forget about airbags. And sold a lot of cars without air conditioning, without power steering. I mean, sometimes you go to a used car a lot and you'd buy a car. The only accessory was a radio. And now here we are.

I mean, now there's so many accessories on the cars you buy, we have another problem. You can't remember what accessories you have, and the ones that you do have, you don't know how to operate. Our cars, our new cars that we buy today and drive are like an airliner was, and, you know, maybe 30, 40 years ago. I mean, it just, you would never try to fly an airplane, would you? Well, now it's kind of hard to even drive a car. Well, you can drive the car, but you can't get all your money out of it. When you spend X dollars for a car, say $45, $50,000 for a new car, you're paying for a lot of gadgetry and actually useful gadgetry,

if that's a contradiction in terms, it probably is. But you're paying for a lot of stuff you don't use because you don't know how or you can't use it. And we'll try to help you there. This guy sitting by right here in the studio, Rick Kearney, he stays on top of this stuff. If you recently bought a car used or new, I can almost guarantee you there's some things on that car.

You can't quite figure out how to use properly or you might not even know they're there. You have features in your car that you probably don't know. Well, call the show. tell us what kind of car you have. And we might cheat a little bit and Google it for you, but chances are Rick has got most of it right up there in his head. Call us. That's the key.

Call us. 877-960-99-60-960. 877-960-99-60. I went off on a rant there because I get excited about this show. I really love doing it. And this sounds like flattery to you. the listener. But I do learn something new on this show. I mean, who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks? I'm an old dog. I learn new tricks every week, sometimes from you,

sometimes from Rick, sometimes from Nancy, sometimes from stew. This is an evolution. This is an information revolution that we have two hours of exchanging ideas, asking questions, answering questions, all about cars. And as I say, Rick Kearney, If you've got a car that you have any questions about, operation, trouble with a car, how to get a fix, where to get it fixed, how much to pay to get it fixed, just call us at 877-9-60-90-60. Now, I have to go through a litany of other ways to reach us. Our preferred method, because we'd like to hear your voice, is 877-960-99-60. But we've got five lines, and in reality, we can't take all phone calls. So we have a lot of other venues.

We've got texting, 772-4976530. If you can write this down, write it down. If you send us a text, we'll get to it. We'll get to it later in the show, maybe. But we've got two hours. We'll get to it. 772 4976530

and usually the last half hour if we haven't got to a text I'll get them out before we do the mystery shopping report which is something else I have to mention it is truly the

most interesting part of the show probably the most informative part of the show it's definitely entertaining and we have some laughs. Maybe we shouldn't laugh at some of these bad things that happen with mystery shopping reports. And we also have some extraordinarily good mystery shopping reports. We've had in the past 30 days, I believe we've given scores of A or better, A minus A plus. We've given A's to

two dealerships. I don't remember that ever happening before. We score the mystery shopping report. We ask you to call in after we read them. This is a shopping report, you know, between 9.30 and 10, Eastern Standard Time. And we ask you to score the report. And we put this on the good dealer, bad dealer list,

which you can access on our blog at earloncars.com. Earl oncars.com. And you can look at the, make a car you want. You're looking for a Chevrolet, check out Chevrolet dealers. I'm not saying you're going to find a Chevrolet dealer in your area with an A, but if they're on the recommended list,

even if they have a D, they passed, because we grade on the curve. There are no perfect car dealers, certainly, and that includes myself. We are not perfect. But we have to have a list that you can refer to if we score it on the absolute basis of ABCDF, and we flunked everybody, we're going to buy a car. I mean, we have a situation.

situation in the world, I started to say, the United States, where most car dealers are trying to rip you off. I know I'm irritating a lot of people by saying that, but it's true. You know, you're all familiar with the annual report, the Gallup annual ethics and honesty. If you're not, Google it. Honesty and ethics and professions by the Gallup organization. They'd be doing this since 1977, I think, are... in the 70s. And they ask you, of all the different businesses,

which ones do you regard with the highest integrity and the lowest integrity? Bottom line, car dealers are at the bottom. If they're not at the bottom, they're second or third. I mean, if they're third from the bottom, that's a good year for a car dealer. Usually they're on dead bottom, along with lobbyists, politicians,

and who else? Direct mail solicitors? Drug dealers. Drug dealers. Assassins. I don't think they, I don't think they have drugs. Joe, Stu is just kidding you. So, anyway, high point in the show between 930, 10, Easter Standard Time, Mr. Shopping Report, you make the show.

Nancy and I driving to the show this morning, she says, what are we going to talk about? I says, we're going to talk about what you want to talk about, meaning the listener, I mean, the listener. Oh, I thought you meant me. I thought you meant, too. You said that very seriously. Exactly. You're going to talk about what you want.

I just said that. So they're attacking me now because it was a slip of the tongue. It's earlier. At any rate, seriously, if you don't call the show or you don't text the show, and oh, I forgot almost, YouTube.com forward slash rolling cars. What are YouTube? You can stream us. You can see us live and in color.

Rick Kearney monitors the YouTube. Facebook.com, for it slash rolling cars. Stu Stewart. He's sitting right across from me. He monitors that. The real party's over at YouTube, though. The real party is going up there at YouTube. A lot of viewers on YouTube.

I don't know why, but anyway. I do know why. Because I'm awesome. Yeah, that's true. I won't say. It's Rick, and, you know, Facebook is not as cool as YouTube. Hey, well, what kind of readings did we get last Saturday, Jonathan? There was a spike at one point during the show.

I don't know what happened. And we had one more that I'll mention before I turn the mic over to Nancy Stewart, and that is the anonymous feedback. dot com. Anonymous Feedback.com. It's a URL. It's a website. Your Anonymous Feedback.com. And that's a confidential,

private. You know, you've heard of the tip line. You'd call the cops. If you're afraid you're going to be found out and shot by the crook that you turned in, they have an anonymous feedback line. I have also on this show, Your anonymous feedback. If you have something that you're afraid is going to hurt my feelings, or Nancy's feelings or Ricks or Stu's feelings.

You can say it anyway. We'll read it on the air. We don't edit anything. We don't censor what we do. We take the four-letter words out. If something has said that's really obscene or profane or something, we'll say expedite deleted. But we'll get to the essence of the comment,

Your Anonymous Feedback.com. Now, Nancy Stewart, co-founder of the show and she has done something absolutely amazing over the years and she has brought you ladies from whatever you were doing

to the telephones and to the texting and to the emailing and she has got you involved in Erlun Cars. We started out it was an old boys club. Nobody but guys calling in. Now we have about 50-50 and she's done

She had a very great idea. She'll tell you about it just shortly because she incentivizes you. She'll tell you what that is in just a second. And when you call the show, you feel good about it, then you tell your friends about it. You spread the word, and other ladies call, and that's what we have.

It's our very best text her, by the way, and email her as a woman. We have a lot of amazing women out there, thanks to Nancy Stewart. So the mic is yours, Nancy. Tell us what's on your mind this morning. Good morning. Welcome, Daryl Stewart on cars.

To the women who have called the show and moved us in this direction. I thank you. This morning, I have $50 for the first two female callers. Yes, $50 for the first two female callers. Give us a call, 877-960-99-60. For you others, you can text us at 7.3. 472-4976530 as Earl said don't forget your anonymous feedback.com and I have a question for our audience I was just wondering do you think that electric car is going to save you some money is it something

you would consider and I hope by now that you have picked up the 2023 auto issue of Consumer Report boy I'll tell you what it has a lot of information in it. We have a great mystery shopping report to get to from Vero Beach, and, well, a heck of a lot of news and things to share with you. Again, that number is 877-960-9960. Has anyone heard about Elon Musk planning a Texas utopia? Yes.

About 35 miles right outside. of Austin. It's going to be interesting. Building in his own city, amazing. Yeah, an interesting article. You might want to take a look at that. You can pull that up on the internet. We are going to go to Warren,

who has been holding from New Jersey. Good morning, Warren. Good morning, guys. How are you? Well, thank you. I got two notes before I ask a question. I was down by your neck of the woods for two months. Got back yesterday and now it's snowing in New Jersey.

It hasn't snowed all year, but it's snowing today. Enjoy it. So the other thing, you can wish me a happy birthday. It's my birthday. Hey, happy birthday. Happy birthday. Rick, thank. Sing.

Thank you. No, I was good. Anyway, I got a question for Earl, and I know you talked about leasing and buying on infinitum over the years, but I'm looking around cars, and my oldest philosophy was I didn't like to tie up money in a car, and I used to lease cars. And I'm looking at new cars. can you negotiate the buyout at the end of the lease? Is that negotiable, or if they say the car, it's $20,000 to buy it out?

That's what it is, and there's nothing you could do about it. On a closed-end lease, you cannot negotiate that. There were other versions of leases at some time or another, which I don't think really exist anymore, where I think there was, I don't know, Ford did that, but I think that Ford can negotiate the buyout with the FMAC. Well, it's important to know what Suja said that, It's non-negotiable, but it isn't so much on you.

It's the dealer that's going to try to negotiate because he's going to try to buy that from you at a lower price. Typically, the purchase option prices today are a bargain, and the dealer will not offer you to buy it if they purchase option price. As a matter of fact, it's the lessor, the leasing company that actually buys the car back. And you are contractually guaranteed that option price. They can't charge you, meaning the dealer, one nickel above that price. Most people don't know that, and unfortunately some dealers ignore it. It has only come to the surface recently. In South Florida, we had a big stink when WPLG Channel 10 television found out

that a lot of dealers who are charging thousands over, trying to buy the car for less, and then adding more money to the purchase option price. So you can't do that. Your purchase option price is the price you pay, not one penny more. You know, I know that happened to somebody when COVID started. His lease was up, and the dealership not only told him, just played out why it.

Say, in Florida, you can't buy a car off a lease. And he believed him. I mean, yeah, I try to tell him it wasn't true, but he refused to do any research on it. He let them buy the car, take the car back and re-buy it from them and cost them thousands of dollars. It was just unbelievable. It was just crazy. They committed an absolute crime on it.

But, you know, so the question that I actually answered the question, but because of the high prices of cars, again, I've been thinking about leasing it because obviously the payments are going to be lower. But have you changed your mind about leasing and buying? Are you still like most of it's still better off buying? dollar cars are now $45,000, $50,000. Are you still adamant that buying is a better deal? Real quick, now for sure, I mean, most of the major manufacturers leasing programs,

like incentives are at a, still at an all-time low, but they're very low right now. So there's not a lot of supported lease programs, like incentives. So right now, for example, just speaking for Toyota, yeah, I mean, we do feel buying is a better option, but especially now, there doesn't seem to be a lot of incentive to go in there. The payments aren't that low. They're just standard lease rates now. Okay. All right, guys.

Thank you very much. You answered my question, and you have a great day. Thank you, Warren. Yeah, got it. Give us a call again. We're going to go to Bob in Lake Park. Good morning, Bob. Good morning, Bob.

Good morning. How is everybody today? Great. Good. Welcome. Thank you, Burm. much. I got one for Rick. Okay, he's

right here. Okay, great. On my Mustang, I told you, I had problems with the power points, and it wasn't the fuses or the relay. It told me to get it diagnosed, which I did. And apparently the body control

module is not sending the signal to the relay. Is there any way of resolving that without having to replace the whole module? Because everything else on the call works. Actually, there is, but it's kind of a shade tree method. What I would do in that case, I would offer this to the customer where we would simply run a wire from the ignition source to the relay, telling the relay to turn on when the key

was on. And basically I would cut that relay out of the original circuit and I would create a new circuit just, so when you turn the key on, that power outlet would get power only while the key is on. Oh, okay. All right. That's really nice to know. All right. So it can, there isn't an alternative because the module is quite expensive.

So, you know, even if they use one, and then you have to reprogram the keys and everything. So, yeah, no, that's a good, okay, so you're just going to bypass the pretty way, put in a bypass. That's basically what you're doing. I have another question. I have a friend that has an Audi, a little two-seat Audi, very fast car with the engine in the back, and he needed a new battery. You want to take a guess on how much they whack them for to put that in? Well, I'm going to say $575. Over $800.

Wow. Yep. And, you know, when he told me, you know, and I think the one thing that came to my mind, Earl had to be a lot. a couple of people call a few weeks ago about complaining about how much they had to pay to fix, to have some programming done on their

E-class Mercedes. And I'm saying to myself, you know, if you buy an E-class Mercedes or a BMW or Jaguar and Aspen Martin, whatever it might be, once the car is out of warranty, you're going to be on the hook, you're going to pay some money to have those things fixed. German engineering.

Yes, I get it. I don't know the same way people complain about how much they have to pay if they're going to drive that type of cost they're engineering the money right out of your pocket into theirs right and i have something for stew uh i saw a couple of online i saw brayman honda is advertising uh that if you go to have the one in green acres you go to his store that uh they're not selling anything that's uh msrp it's under if you want to buy on the msrp uh that was brayman being on that was brayman being on Graham and Honda

Green Acres Thank you for the tip Yeah And the other one that I had called on before I don't know if you want to shop them But the other one I had called on before That you did shop was the Nissan 441 Nissan Guy

And he just changed his commercial And he's Now not only saying that they're selling NSRP But he also says in the commercial No markups no markups so I thought that was pretty interesting

so we got Bremen Honda and who's the second Southern 441 they're bandits south there I don't know how they get away with their TV commercials I mean they they don't even try to be honest on the air and somehow they get away

with it I know but now he's also he's also advertising along with the under below MSRP which you You already exposed him to that. I told you about it, and he went over and shopped him. But now he's also saying no mock-ups in addition. So I thought that was pretty interesting.

Yeah. And one other thing for, Earl, I think you might want to consider, I've been listening to you for a long time, but I think he might want to change the name of your show. Earl Stewart on Teslas. Some shows are like, you know, I plead guilty to that. And I apologize. I know I talk too much about Teslis.

and we drove to work in our Tesla this morning and part of the if you haven't driven electric car it's a thrill I mean just so it's a car that gets people excited and I shouldn't let it bleed over on the air because most people only 5.3% of people have electric cars and I'm yacking too much about them I know that

but what other carmaker has 60% market share There you go. They're pretty extraordinary. Mm-hmm. I know. Well, thank you very much. Bob, we promised not to go on this Saturday morning about Tesla and our disagreements, but it is a great car to drive. Thank you.

I'm a long-time listener. I remember when you used to be on the other station. Oh, do you? Oh, great. Steve you, yeah. I've been listening for a long time, so you never had talked about Tesla's before, before they, because they didn't. So that was better. So, okay, well, have a great day, everybody.

Thank you so much. Thanks for listening. We're going to go to Jay. Who's calling us from Hoopson? Good morning, Jay. Hey, good morning. I've got a few questions. One of them is, is it a good time to buy a new car right now?

You know, it's a difficult question. It'll be a better time in six months. And I've been saying that for three years. We had this wild market adjustment with the COVID, the pandemic, and the supply chain issues. And prices soared all the way to the stratosphere. Now they're back down to about 10,000 feet, but they're not back down to ground zero. And no one knows if they will be there. Bottom line is, new cars are less expensive today than they were six months or 12 months.

months or 18 months ago, but they're more expensive than they will be by the end of 2023. So the question is, how long do you want to wait? How do you want to, how long do you want to postpone the pleasure? People love to buy cars. And as a car dealer, I'm very happy about that. And they buy cars, not because they have to have them sometimes, because they want them. And because they're fun and they're part of, it's become a part of American life. So if it's all budget, keep the old car, wait another year, and you'll probably get a much better price. But a life is short, if it brings you enough pleasure between now and 12 months from now when the prices drop, buy it. You get your pleasure out of it, and the heck with the fact that you're going to save money, yet you enjoy it life a little bit more.

Yeah, I hear that. And I've been waiting two years to buy a new car. I keep putting it off, hoping the prices will come down because the chips are being delivered to the factories and all that. But anyway, one other question is, is it good to time at your purchase, like towards the end of the month? I've heard you'll be able to get a better deal because the dealer wants to push their inventory at the end of the month. See, that's one of the reasons why prices are so high. The answer is no. Three years ago, it was a huge advantage to buy them toward the last of the month.

And because there were excess inventories. Everybody was paid on commission. It was a dog-eat-dog competition. and everybody's looking for market share and a car that you sold on the last day of the month you can sell a loss, hit a quota that would mean a big bonus from the manufacturers or the dealer.

Today, none of the above exists. The cars aren't available and you have to wait typically if you want the car that you really want, if you take whatever is in an inventory and you want to pay too much money, you can buy a car today. But the salespeople are lazy today.

I mean, my own salespeople all salespeople, and I don't mean literally, I mean, they don't have to hustle because the buyers are lined up, and so a matter of price. If you want us, if you, we mystery shopped a Kia dealer, and you'll hear about this at the end of the show, and they were asking thousands and thousands, $9,000 market adjustment and a whole lot more on top of a Kia telluride. and that was the price and the mystery shopper walked out because they wouldn't come down one nickel over like $9,000 over his sticker. So

he doesn't care whether it's the last day of the month, the first day of month, with the high supply, I mean high demand, low supply situation. Every day is a bad day to buy a car today. And Toyota of Hollywood's

advertising a Corolla a lease for $1.49 a month, and do you think that would be a good deal on his toilet of Hollywood, a good dealer to go to? Still will answer that, but I know what his answer

is going to be. You can speak for me. Read the fine print. Read the fine print. Nobody's going to lease your corolla for that price. There's a very big down payment in the fine print, thousands of dollars. And why... I figured as much.

Yeah, yeah. And it isn't just a The manufacturers do that. The manufacturers do that. I mean, my God, can you imagine General Motors, Honda, Toyota, Ford, actually breaking the law in a national commercial? I mean, what's this country coming to? The Federal Trade Commission says anything in an advertisement that modifies the advertised price

has to be displayed prominently alongside of the price in the same bold type. and font size is the price they're advertising. And nobody does that, and nobody does anything about the regulators are sitting on their hands, the legislators who make the laws, they know they're breaking the law, and everybody stands by and ignores it. I can see Napleson Hyundai or Napleson Kia, you know, he's our bad boy of South Florida as a car dealer. I can see him doing that kind of stuff, but I can't see Nissan, and I can't see,

with Toyota, my own franchise, advertising products on leases and hiding the down payment and the fine print. It's just unethical and illegal. Well, that's Toyota of Hollywood. Are they a good dealer? They're pretty aggressive. I think you might, we've shopped them before, and, you know, they're making a lot of money down there. Yeah, yeah. Aggressive is a great word. It definitely describes them. Pardon? I'd be better off with your dealership.

That's a personal choice. Well, that's up to you. What was the question? He'd be better off at our dealership. I said it's always a person. Well, yeah, you would be better off at our dealership. I hate to answer questions like that because my competition and other car dealers who I attack, I say Earl isn't doing an honest show.

He's just trying to sell cars from his own dealership. So every time. Exactly. I understand. All right, thanks a lot. You guys have a great day. And, Jay, if you continue to listen, this website is very important to all of us, WWW Florida Law Protecting Car Buyers.

And I'll tell you what, it is worth this wait for you to take a look and read that at Errol on Cars. And there is absolutely no reason for anybody to pay market adjustment. It's ridiculous. And don't forget, everything is negotiable. You're still in the driver's seat. 877960. You can text us at 772-4976530. Don't forget, your anonymous feedback.com.

We're going to go to Boka, where Mill has been holding. Thank you for your patience, Mill. Yeah, thank you. Thank you for having the show. That kind of leads me into my question about buying cars. the MSRP, is there any dealerships to actually you can negotiate below MSRP at this stage of the game here? Yes, not many. Absolutely.

We've actually done some mystery shopping reports. It's very rare, but what happens typically at this stage of our pandemic economic recession or whatever you want to call it, At this stage, we're seeing less desirable cars go below MSRP. If you have a car, I mentioned earlier, we mystery shopped a Kia dealer on the Kia Telluride. The Kia Telluride is one of the top 10 cars by Consumer Reports, best cars for for 2023. So when you get that kind of a rating, everybody wants to buy it, and there's just not enough. Kia tell your rights to go around, so they do get all the money, thousands and thousands, over MSRP. Now, there are other cars that have less desirable equipment colors and models and ratings,

and you can negotiate those pretty well, but it's kind of a sad situation when the only place you can get a good price below MSRP is on the less desirable cars, but that's about it. And we have some odd incentives too, some rebates. that helped to bring it down. What are the advantages of buying a car from your dealership? I mean, do you guys, I mean, can you throw out some things, you know, or you're allowed to say that? Well, you know, again, we're timid about it, but I will answer the question.

All we do is what any retail operation should do. We're like Amazon, we're like Costco, we're like Target, we're like Walmart. You walk into our store and ask how much a car is, we tell you our best price. And that's pretty much it. You know, we don't add hidden fees. We don't add dealer install accessories. And we say to our customers, this is our lowest price. This is the price I'd sell my mother the car for, my sister.

You know, the press of the United States came in, he's not going to get a better price. everybody pays the same price and that's the lowest price we will sell the car for but it's not necessarily the lowest price another dealer will sell the car for it now we say that a little tongue and cheek because the reality is that the dealers won't sell it lower than MSRP today

that's what our price is by the way we put MSRP out the door on all of our cars and as prices come down we will lower that below MSRP be. So we give you the buyer the right of

shopping and comparing prices. That's what I love about Amazon. I go Amazon, I want to buy a shammy to wash my car with. So on Amazon, they tell me the price of the chamois. I can't negotiate that price. They give me the price. But then I could go to eight other

vendors and find the same shami, and if I could get it for less money, I buy it. That's the right of the shopping, consumer. I give you that right at our dealership. Other dealers don't tell you the price. You cannot get an out-the-door price from 99.9% of the car dealers. They will give you, if you buy the day price, but it won't be good tomorrow.

And then they will say, I won't give you a price. Go out and get your best price and come back in, and I'll beat the price, which is probably a lie. And that's what sets us apart from the other dealers. I see So that's basically That's basically the whole story there So you guys don't charge any dealer fees Or anything like that you said or you

Correct, Mill And for me to wrap this up right now Because we have some calls backed up Car buying simplified There is absolutely no reason to pay More than MSRP That's it, bottom line Thank you for calling

Thank you Thank you. Thank you. Have a good day Thank you. We're going to go to Joe in Port St. Lucie. Good morning, Joe. Hi, good morning. Thank you. You guys are on a nice show.

Oh, thank you. A question. Yesterday, I purchased my 2019 Honda CRV. I bought it. I just bought it. And I want to get an extended warranty. Can you guys give a recommendation on which company offer the best

I would talk to a Honda dealer I would get some I did I hate to cut you up but from what I was told if you do that you'll have to bring it back to Honda for any repairs I'm not sure most of you know most

dealers sell their own warranties or another company's warranties not the manufacturer's warranties and and Right. And the ones that I'm familiar with, usually they're able to be redeemed in any ASC certified shop, and that includes dealers and independent shops as well. Is that what the Honda dealership told you? Or was that just a chance? Yes, one of the service advises. Oh, a while back, I knew I was going to buy the car. You could have my call around. Yeah, there's probably a million Honda dealerships around. You'd probably call a couple, and you'll probably get different in.

information. That's a good place to start, but I also think your insurance company might be able to point you in the right direction. Triple A, I think, is also a source of information for service contracts. Years ago, I had a Cadillac for my wife, STS, back during a financial crisis. They were practically giving it away. And I remember I bought one of the company's name with, I believe, Fidelity. Okay, yeah, that's Jayman. Yeah, that's, that's, that's a warranty company from a product from a jam family and associates fidelity warranties. Joe, a good roll of thumb is just take good care of your CRV and the money you pay for an extended warranty

is probably not going to be worth what you spend. Thank you. It's a good car. The Honda is a good car. I'm assuming you're taking good care of it. If you do the factory recommended maintenance, you're not going to need an extended warranty. And whatever you do, don't do those car shields that you see on TV with the celebrities. No, no, no, no, I would never do that.

Again, I want to thank you guys. I mean, you're so down to Earth and honest. In this world, it's amazing. Thank you very much. You're welcome. Thanks for the compliment. Very much appreciated it. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you for tuning in, Earl Stewart on cars. Our number here is 877960. You can also text us at 717. to 4976530. Ladies, I know you're out there, I know you're listening. Give us a call. Give us a call. How was your service? How was your servicing experience? How was your purchasing experience? I have $50 for the first two new female callers. 877-960 9960. We're going to go to Marty, who's been holding. Good morning, Marty. Welcome. Welcome back. Good morning. Good morning. How's everybody doing?

Well, thank you. I got two questions for Stu. The first question is I've been waiting now a year for my car. Oh, boy. Oh, I haven't gotten it. I figured if I talk to you, I'll get a 24. I figured the 23 is out of touch. But anyways, here's my real question.

My wife has a CRV that has one year left on the lease. So I assume this situation is going to be on for another year, but who knows. So what I want to do is I want to buy her car out. Now, if I go to your dealership for a RAV-4, once I buy it, do I have to wait until I get the title from Honda in order to trade it into you? or would you do it before I get all the paperwork? We would need you to get the title or at least have the, you know, producing title imminent.

So, yeah, we can't sit on that and wait for that to process. But are you going to, you guys are planning on buying it out early before the end of the lease? Well, I can because what they do, and I'm sure Toyota's the same, every payment I make lowers the buyout price

until it gets to the residual. Yeah, you're close. It doesn't really matter at this point. Yeah, but I'm going to wait the year out probably, just, you know, there's no sense paying $20,000 when I can pay a few hundred a month that I'm paying. Yeah. But right now I went to Honda, and they won't even touch that same price I'm paying for, like, a 23 lease for the same car. It's like $2,300 more they want per month.

right are they charging anything over the they they told me buy it directly from Honda they said they said don't buy it forever from Ed Morris really oh who told you that Ed Morris what not Ed he is my back but he didn't do it yeah one of the one of the sales people told me okay so they didn't say what would happen they just advised you to go through okay it was watching out for You know, people keep me about driving a Tesla, and I'm a Toyota dealer. Teddy Morris drives a motorcycle. Right?

Do they have a Harley dealership? Yeah, he does. He does? He bought out the Bruce Rossmeyer up in Daytona. Oh, he is. Really? He's a motorcycle dealer. Oh, I didn't know that.

So it's legit. Did not know that. How could you go in? He said he's a cool-looking guy. Yeah. So let me just ask, Stu, do you have a feeling that I might get my voted cameras? I have a feeling you're going to get it any day now. But I have this completely unrealistic feeling.

I'm teasing. The best person to speak to is Jason or Lauren. I'm sure you're aware of them. And I'll touch base with them and see if they have a feeling because my feeling is irrelevant because I haven't been studying the list or seeing how fast they're coming in. I am seeing we had some lower than expected wholesale. New cars sent to us by Toyota, the allocations. It's all based on production, and it was less than was forecasted,

and we had to adjust our forecast for the month of February because we just couldn't get the cars to sell. That doesn't mean that's a long-term trend. It goes up and down. For example, even though it's only the 11th of the month, we're leading all the Toyota dealers in the South Florida market right now because we just got more cars. It's not because we're...

That's the simple reason. We have to live by the ebb and flow of the inventory. Yeah. All right. Luckily, my car runs good. I have no problem. So I'll just hang on for it. You're in good shape.

Marty, there's a lot of customers out there right now that we're on that long waiting list. And as Stu mentioned, Jason and Laura, you know, we're all trying to do the best we can to stay in touch with everyone, keep them informed, and let them know. We haven't forgotten about them, but there is a weight, and that's the bottom line. Patience. Well, Earl should know that he's not going to go out of business for many, many, many years. Absolutely. Even though Tesla, I know I'm not supposed to say it, but Tesla lowered their prices again and threes and wise.

And I'm still sticking with my camera. Elon knows what he's doing, that's for sure. Oh, yeah. He's messing up our used EV situation now. Right, right. All right, well, have a great day, and thanks for the information. Thank you, Marty. Thank you for always tuning in.

We are going to go to Howard, who is a regular, and he's calling us from Jupiter. Good morning. Welcome, Howard. Good morning. Good morning. I hope you all are doing well. Yeah. I have a question for Rick.

Sure. Okay. I drove my son's Mini Cooper. It had three cylinders and a turbo. I'm sorry. I remember years ago when the turbos came out, there was a leg. You step on the gas

all the way down. There was a leg. Now, when I drove my son's mini, it had three cylinders. Three, yeah. And what happened is that the thing was very fast. So my question to you is, why doesn't Toyota use turbos? We do.

Most of our new four cylinders coming out now are turbocharged. The new tundra is a V6 turbocharged. In the last couple of years. This hasn't been like a long-going thing. Just in the last couple of years, they started bringing back in. It's for fuel efficiency and power. It's pretty cool. Yeah, they finally worked out the issues with turbo lag, and they were able to get them much more efficient and durable.

Yeah, but when you have a turbo, I was told, I don't know how true it is, you have to change the oil more often. Is this correct? No. 5,000 miles, 10,000 miles on synthetic oil. Okay, one other fast question. How often should the battery terminals be clean in a car? Whenever they're dirty. How do you know if they're dirty? That's my question. Just looking at them.

If there's bluish stuff growing on it. With a brush? Pardon me? Brush it off? Just plain old water and a brush. Okay. Let's give for a moment. He's got a cough.

So, yeah, what is that stuff anyway? is that it's not a live fungus it's a buildup of minerals and metals and uh salts it's actually uh corrosion from battery acid gathering around the terminal uh-huh the acid is in a vaporous form so it corrodes right on the terminal there okay uh clean water um sorry water will dissolve it clean water and a toothbrush all right brush the teeth of your battery okay let's move on hey Howard let's got a question for me Okay, so now let me ask you this question. Is that a service if I say clean my terminals? They'll know what you're talking about.

Yeah, okay. So, no, I come in, I have an oil change and everything. Oh, by the way, can you clean my terminals? But if they take off the, they're not the battery, everything has to be re-programmed again, correct? No. Most of the modern cars have a battery. basically in a maintenance form.

When you disconnect the terminal, even your clock stays correct. Your radio stations, all of that stays the same. That's good to know. Okay, I didn't know that. One other question. One other question.

I want to do it myself. Can I start the car and very carefully take the terminals off, wrap socks around each one, the car will still be running if my alternator is good. Is that correct?

Yes, but the safest method, really, is simply pull up the plastic cover on the positive terminal, spray it with just clean water, use a toothbrush. If you want, mix water and baking soda. Use your wife's toothbrush, or use yours. Yeah, and just give it a good scrub down, clean water to rinse it off, let it dry for a couple hours, and then get some like just simple grease or the battery terminal protector spray that you can. can buy at the auto parts store and just give it a couple of codes of that and you're done hey don't even take the terminals off oh you you don't know the terminals Howard

nony all right there you go good do it hey Howard it was great talking to you do you have any other questions no no I have a good day and thank you so much and thank you I'll keep on listening thank you we love hearing that keep on listening ladies $50 for the first two new female callers. It is now 853. You have some time left to give us a call. Give us a call just to say hello. Give us a call to let us know how your service was,

maybe your purchasing experience. How did you negotiate for whatever service you had? 877-960-9960 for you others. 772-4976530. You can text us in, don't forget. Your anonymous feedback.com. We're going to go to John in West Palm Beach. Good morning, John.

Oh, good morning. Good morning. I got a question that from last week that I heard a caller, and I think the caller was already on, if I order a new car, can I avoid all those dealer markup fees? Is that what I heard last week? not necessarily it depends on the dealership if a dealership is honestly selling a car

you know without any markups and you order a car from them then they won't charge you that then there's dealers that will tell you they're charging it they'll look in the eye and there's dealers that will not tell you they're charging it the car will come in and they'll try to mark it up but Earl has some thoughts on like getting a solid basically contract

yeah you shouldn't order any product automobile or otherwise, without having a definite legally signed contract. So in the car business, they call it a vehicle buyer's order, and you need a vehicle buyer's order showing you the bottom line out-the-door price. That's on the bottom of the buyer's order, and that means the only thing above the price they quoted you would be sales tax and license plate. In fact, on a vehicle buyer's order,

that should be on there too. So you do have a literal out-the-door price and you order the price. Now, the thing to keep in mind in today's crazy world, if you order a car and you have an out-the-door price quoted today, when that car comes in, we just talked to Marty, who's had a car out-order at our dealership for a year. Well, the price that he originally was quoted will probably be less when the car comes in.

We will honor that lower price, but other dealers might not. So I would say give a signed buyer's order with your bottom line price and an addendum to that vehicle buyer's order that says if the market price or the car is reduced at the time of delivery, then you will pass those savings along to me. Whether you can negotiate that with the dealer or not, I don't know. I mean, it's fair, but that doesn't say the dealer would do it. But whatever you do, don't leave it open-ended. If you leave it open-ended, then you're going to be right back where you started, and you're going to be arguing and negotiating and haggling or a car that you thought you bought three months ago.

Okay, very good. And then my last thing is the same, I think it was the same caller he was mentioning about. He was looking for the, he wanted one, but I guess he didn't get it, was the uh the corolla gr and uh you know they said you know there there you don't see any at the dealerships well last week i happen to see one at cars and coffee and it piqued my interest and it was a sharp looking car and so i looked it up and it's a three-cylinder turbo um and putting out 300 horsepower so how come we don't have cameras with the b6 putting out 600 horsepower well this is this is a pretty pricey corolla i guess it's kind of a

specialty car yeah but that would be kind of fun to drive too um but anyways i was just uh i was surprised to see that they were putting out a three cylinder pushing out 100 horsepower per cylinder and you know why can't they pass that on to the camrys and that are six cylinders and getting 600 horsepower out this toy is kind of boring that's why yeah all right very good all right that's it for me thank you so much thank you john keep on listening eight seven seven 960-9960 or you can text us at 772-497-2-4976530 and remember it takes some time but select you know a dealership that can give you the best out-the-door price and remember that the um excuse me the true definition of the out-the-door price is one with only Boy, we both have it, Rick, is only the price that includes government fees and sales tax and a tag added. I hope that information will take you a long way.

877-960-9960, and we're going to go to Mary who's calling us from Pompano Beach. She is a first-time caller. Wow. And this morning, she has won herself $50, and she can collect that by staying on the line after we speak and speak with Jeremy, giving him your contact information. And I'll get that check out to you. Good morning, Mary. Good morning, Nancy. First of all, I have to thank you.

I was just turned on by a friend. I'm in the process of buying a car, and you're really providing an incredible service. all of you. I'll get back to you later on with what's going on. I want to put it all together and I don't want to ramble about it now. But one question I have is that my family and I go up to New York for several months at a time. I live in a building on A1A, which is right on the beach. So there's a lot of moisture and everything. But what can we do to optimize our car in good condition while we're away. I know every time we come back, everybody does the same thing.

They say their battery is dead. Can we disconnect the battery? I'll leave it to you and your expertise to tell us what to do, and we're grateful for your information. Thank you. The best choice is if you have a garage with electricity available, that'll protect you from the salt air, which the salt air is going to play havoc with your brakes.

The electricity gives you the advantage of hooking up a trickle charger to your battery, which will keep the battery charged up, and you won't have to worry about that. The other thing is when you get back, the first thing you want to do is check your tire pressures and get them pumped up and make sure your tires are in good shape. And if you don't have electricity available, look into a solar-powered trickle charger. if your car is anywhere where even under a car port, the reflected sunlight will be enough to charge that battery and keep you charged up.

Mary, do you have any friends that you would trust to drive your car once a week while you're away? Well, previously, when we were away, we did have a friend who lives in an adjacent building that would come every 10 days and run the car for about 10 to 15 minutes. And that worked out very well. But, you know, I hate to depend on someone.

And like I said, this is great information about the solar trickle charge. Unfortunately, I don't know if we really will have enough light because it's one of these large high-rise buildings. The first few cars are the garages. They are kind of open air on both on the sides. But there's, and there's no electric outlet, unfortunately. So, like I said, people have told me that if you remove the left, I think the left terminal on the battery, and you just leave it off, when you come back, if you just put it on, everything's okay. Is that true? Well, you can disconnect the negative terminal, and hopefully the battery will make it through the time while you're gone.

But once it starts getting old, it may not last through that length of time. So you need to be aware of that. But, yeah, always disconnect the negative terminal first and reconnect it last. The main reason for that being is if you've got a wrench or a tool on that terminal and you actually bump it against metal on the car, it's not going to cause any sparks because it's the negative touching a negative surface. Whereas if you've got it on the positive side, it can shore it out, and that can cause a lot of issues for you.

Hey, I'm wondering about a car cover. Do you think that would provide any protection from salt spray? I know she's in a parking garage, but even in there, you had your motorcycle in your parking garage. I have mixed emotions. I tried it, and this is purely anecdotal on my part. You're experimenting. It seemed to me my motorcycle rusted more with the cover on it. Absolutely.

I think the idea of having the fresh air, even though there's salt and the fresh air, I think when the salt's trapped under something, I think it tends to... The deterioration never dries out. It was amazing. I'm not actually correct. So don't get a car cover. It really, you know, enhanced the deterioration. Mary, how long do you leave your car for?

Well, let's see. Last year it was two months, but once it was, when we first moved down here, we had to go back because of supply issues, no furniture. We went back for about four and a half months. The four and a half months, the car um was just left in the garage we we didn't anticipate being away that long and um the uh the building staff is great and they jumped the they jumped the battery i unfortunately i think took the battery took the car to i won't even say which honda but um you know they said

immediately oh you need a new battery and i said well this is now October and i just got a brandon battery in April when I left New York, how could the battery be that bad? And, you know, they said, oh, no, you know, the heat is the worst thing for the battery. So I acquiesced and I bought a new battery, you know, because you don't want to get stuck anywhere, especially when you've just moved somewhere and you really don't know where you are. So, you know, we're anticipating leaving for a couple of months again. And I just wanted to ask, when you say to remove the battery terminal, the negative, first. Should I be removing both? Because a lot of the practice in this building, not that I know

that this is the best practice, they say just remove the negative. Right. And leave them. Yeah, it's just a negative. Okay. That's great. And, um, Mary, no. Mary, do you have a keyless remote? Where do you leave that when you go north? We leave the remote in the unit in case something happens. that they have to move the cars. So it is available, but it's left up in the apartment. I asked that because Rick explained to me. I didn't know this, but it sends out checks to the car and periodically to talk, electronically, wirelessly talk to the car,

and that can draw on your battery. But if you've got the negative terminal disconnective, then you don't have a problem. Right. And it only does that if it's like within 50s, 50 or 60 feet of the car. Yeah. Yeah, and Mary, whenever you mentioned your previous trip

and you had somebody, you know, that was available for 15, 20 minutes to start your car, I can't tell you, I've learned from my own experience how beneficial it is to have somebody, you know, do more than 15 or 20 minutes running the car, but to take it out and to, you know, take it for a ride. it's definitely a big advantage but sometimes you can't do that so you know whatever kind of attention you can have paid to your vehicle while you're away I guess it's better than nothing and then when you do get back into town once you get the car started up take it out for like a nice 20 or 30 minute drive just to get that battery charged back up yeah and it'll be fine then Mary I was gone for two weeks

came back my car's dead so there you go and it's in a garage so that's you know that was my experience mary it's definitely been a pleasure to talk with you we all here want to thank you for giving us a call and helping me build the platform right here for the ladies you're absolutely wonderful nancy let me just ask you one other questions sure this is what triggered my answer this question I heard you say that even when you disconnect the battery, I have a 2018 Honda CRV. It will not lose all its radio stations, all its electronic. You're right breaking up, but it sounds we know what you're saying. Yeah, the clock and the radio, they should keep all their memory alive.

I really appreciate it. Thank you so much. Thank you, Mary. Thanks for being part of the show. don't forget stay on and talk to I'll give the control room your information so I can get that check out

to you. All right, thank you so much, Nancy. Thank you everyone. Have a great weekend. We are going to go to Linda, who also is the first time caller. She's calling from plantation. Thank you for your patience, Linda.

Hello, good morning. Good morning. You won yourself $50 this morning and if you stay on the line, you can leave your contact information, and I can get that check out to you. What can we do for you, Linda? Thank you. I just want to say that I'm outraged over the price of cars, what the prices are currently going for. I'm a Corvette owner. I've owned a Corvette for probably the past 25 years.

And right now, the dealers, they want to charge 5,000, 10,000, or even 15,000 over sticker price. And I won't give in to that. I know that there are two dealers in the United States, the biggest Corbett dealers. They will sell it at sticker price. But the problem is you have to wait 12 to 14 months in order to get the car when they get their allocation. And I'm just so angry at how the prices of cars have been the past few years. Yeah, it's just totally amazing. And, you know, I rent and Ray for Earl, you know, he talks about how upset I get about this market adjustment.

And Rick just shared with us, what was it, Rick, a Toyota Corolla? 2003 Toyota G.R. Corolla, which is the Gazoo Racing car. Yeah, $20,000 over MSRP. I mean, does the times justify this highway robbery? You've got, you've got probably the most consistently over the years high demand, low supply car in the world. The Chevrolet Corvette is unique. And even before the pandemic and before this, crazy market we've seen ourselves in for the past three years. Corvettes have always been the highest price with respect to MSRP. So I'd like to offer you some hope, but I'm, I was amazed to hear you say. There are three dealers that are selling corvettes that's sicker, and of course

you have to wait months and months to get them, but you're just out of luck. If you want a Corvette, if you want a new Corvette, the dealers know that you can't buy. one anywhere near MSRP and get the car. I mean, you can get the, you can buy one an MSRP, but it'll be a year before you get your car. So you have to decide, do you want to enjoy the new Corvette, and how much do you want to enjoy it? A thousand over MSRP, 10,000 over MSRP, 20,000.

The more money you will pay over MSRP, the quicker you'll get that Corvette. I'll bet you can buy a Corvette today. if you paid enough over MSRP. You'd have the pleasure of driving that car for a year. If you'd have gone to the dealer that's sold to MSRP, it might not even be available in a year. So you're in a bad position, and I can't offer your way out. I'm sorry.

Well, you're only in a bad... You know what I am doing. Pardon me? I do have a Corvette. I have a 2002 Corvette. So I'm going on 21 years with the car. It's a C5 model. I'm much older model than what is currently out there.

And I am fixing that car up. I have about 55,000 miles, and I want to keep that car due to the high prices of the new ones. So I'm going to get new tires. I decided I'm going to get new wheels, new rims. There you go. You have a choice, and it's amazing. You know, just earlier I had just mentioned, you know, selecting dealerships that give you. the out-the-door price.

You sound like an educated consumer, Linda. You did just that. And you fund, what did you say, two or three dealers that give you the out-the-door price. But right now, you're in the position where you can take and just, you know, add a little, a few bells and whistles, fix it up, tires, this, that, and the other thing. And you don't have to fall prey to this market adjustment. Let me go back to my anger about the market. adjustment it is just not necessary agreed why do we have to take advantage of all of these consumers

with market adjustment it makes no sense at all because people are not willing to wait you know americans are very big spenders now and i'm willing to wait exactly i i mentioned patience earlier in the show and they definitely patience and whether you are at you know in a situation where you can do what you're doing. You're an educated consumer, Linda. Thank you. I enjoy your show tremendously. Thank you for the great job you guys do.

Thank you, Linda. Keep listening and spread the word. We're trying to build an audience here, a platform for the ladies. Our number here is 877960. You can also text us at 772-497-6530. Don't forget your anonymous feedback. dot com. Now back to the recovering card. I promised I wouldn't talk about Tesla, but I've got a question for you Tesla owners out there. I was very depressed on Thursday. Last Thursday, I went to

the dentist to get my teeth clean, and when I'm alone in the Tesla, I put it on autonomous. And so on the way home from the dentist, I'm going, you know, seamlessly and safely, and everything going on, about 15, 20 miles from home. And when I got about five miles from home, suddenly my Tesla said, autonomous will remain off until the end of the trip. I lost my autonomous driving. And when I got home and stopped the car and said, we have given you a third strike, you have two more chances, and you will lose your autonomous completely.

Now, that happened. The other two times it happened, once to Nancy and what's to me, I had my hands off the steering wheel, admittedly, which was stupid. But on the way home, I had one hand completely on the steering wheel, and it was actually a yoke, but, you know, steering wheel. And the other one, just like three or four fingers on there. But it let me go 15 miles before it cut me off. No, I'm really worried because I've only got two strikes left and I fully lose my autonomy. So any of you Tesla owners out there, if you have a tip for me,

what was I doing wrong? Is the, are the cameras in the cockpit looking at my eyes? Did I touch my iPhone by accident? Or did I look out the window instead of look at the windshield? I don't know what I did wrong. I'm afraid to put it on autonomous again. I added my own Miss Nancy, camera, the cockpit and I did not

well I did not tell you because you remember last week we talked about the autonomous feature and it just really wasn't that safe that's all I'll say well Donovan has been getting some good comments on YouTube today

already if you got anything about this Donovan let me know he mentioned earlier on the customer with the Honda asking about their extended warranty he said hey it's a Honda Do your basic maintenance and roll the dice because they don't really need an extended warning on a Honda. When the customer had mentioned turbos, he says most cars today have turbos.

It's hard to find a new car out there without one, which again, very true. And he's also mentioned on car covers that they trap the salt and moisture underneath it. And here he is Earl. In an update that should come to you any day, there's a huge update. to FSD. I'm guessing that's... Yeah, I heard about that. There is a huge update coming. I don't, I haven't received it yet. And it lets up on the hand on the steering wheel requirement a lot. It also allows the FSD beta on the highway. Oh, FSD, full self-driving, okay. So the update that's coming should

relax some of the restrictions on your full self-driving. So that probably will save you for from another strike. Thanks, Donovan. Yeah, thank you very much, Donovan. He's my go-to helper on there. And Donovan is awesome. Where's Donovan-based? I'm pretty sure he's local here in Palm Beach County.

Oh, is that right? Oh. Yeah. Yeah, he's been a great asset. Thank you so much, Donovan. Because he's mentioned quite a few times things here in the county, places that he knows here in the county. He may travel quite a bit because he seems like a businessman who does a lot of traveling

for that. He's an educated consumer, that's for sure. awesome guy I'd love to get him in here for a show one day yeah absolutely that'd be great well that's an invitation yeah there you go donovan donovan if you like to uh be a guest on the show i mean you would really be valuable so let us know and we'll we'll invite you over to the studio there you go speaking of another guest that we he says he's in lakeworth florida is that right i'll be there local yeah thank you donovan um speaking of guests um on our show. Without a doubt, what an exciting guest this one would be. We're talking roadrunner

Steve. Hi, Steve. Good morning, everybody. How are you? Good morning. Welcome. Okay. Thank you. I got a little serious thing going on here. Yeah. I got this thing in the mail, license plate toll statement. Okay. The statement date was 211, 2023. And the charges were $4.60 and the due date was March 10, 2023. Okay, so I'm looking at it. I see

my license plate number here. The location was East 470 Plaza B. South amount $4.60. So, I said, let me get this number of call.

I call up. It was a legit place, license plateau. So I'm explaining to her, you know, why I get this. Well, we got your license plate number, but she read off, and I see on the paper. It was correct. I said, well, I don't drive on the turnpike in Florida. She goes, oh, no, Mr. Steve, this was in Colorado. I said, what?

She goes, yes, Colorado. And this has happened in January 3rd of 2020. three. So I said, man, I never been to Colorado. Okay? And then again, I said, why would I be in Colorado in January when I live in Florida? And most of all, I can't drive that night. Steve, let me ask you this. Steve. Okay, Mr. Steve.

She goes, let me go back to the computer again. She goes back to the computer. She goes, oh, we apologize. It wasn't in the number. but it was a letter. So we just assumed it was your vehicle. Oh, cheers. Colorado, imagine that in the wintertime?

Yikes. I mean, that's a good thing you weren't accused of a crime. I mean, they could admit you stuck up that gas station, collateral, and we can prove it. Yes, I know, but the funny thing is, if you get this, I assumed it was from Florida. Yeah, sure. And you know what happens when you were soon? So anybody in Florida gets one of these things And they would say themselves

Oh, yeah, I was on the time pipe that day It might not be for Florida State It could be from anywhere You know, we have an attorney That drives a There's only commercials I hate worse Than car dealer commercials or attorney commercials And there's as you well know, Steve, in South Florida

There's a zillion on television, I'm talking mainly. And this one, I can't think of his name now. I'd say it if I can think of his name. But his uniqueness that he's selling to you the potential customer is he has a software that is linked up to all the traffic lights. And he knows if you have an accident, he can get all the information on that internet. on that intersection from this software. Now, I wasn't aware that a private individual,

an attorney, much less, could have that kind of... We talk about privacy. Apparently, there's a software available in an app that you could get for your phone. You probably have to pay for it. But if you want to know at 2 o'clock at the morning who went through the intersection at 3rd Avenue and 4th Street in Tampa, apparently he can figure it out so I think I guess there's something in Colorado I don't know I think we've given up our privacy in the 21st century yeah it's scary and no hey Steve I have a compliment for you you know who you remind me of whenever you call and we just love to hear from you Willie Nelson uh huh are you there yeah Willie Nelson he's a happy go lucky guy

And he's filled with all kind of information. Check them out. I didn't got no Southern's wall. I got a New York accent. Yeah, that's right, yeah. You what? I don't have no Southern's wall. I got a New York accent.

Well, you definitely have a New York accent, and I didn't mean it in, you know, that context, that fashion. It's just your state of mind. you just you're always so upbeat and filled with so much information and it was definitely meant as a compliment I thought Willie Delson was always stoned yeah yeah I don't know

well we'll just forget she said that Steve yes but keep an eye out there but people that are listening out there make sure you challenge this don't just go off and pay the some money If it was from another state

Yeah, exactly, exactly That's a great story, Steve I mean, that is The reason we love you I've always got something interesting to share it with us I thank you very much You have so much to share with us

Enjoy the show and talking to everybody Okay, thank you Thanks for calling Willie Thanks Steve What is this Dodge Hornet that's coming out A Dodge Hornet I haven't seen anything on that one I'll have to do some research.

It's electric. Ah. How could they steal that name? Wasn't there a company back in the 50s that made a Hornet? And AMC made a Hornet? Oh, yeah. You're right. Jonathan said Hudson.

The commercials are on TV for the Hornet. Check it out. Everybody have a good and save weekend. You do, Steve. Thanks for leaving us with that. Have a great weekend, Steve. We are going to go to John in Westwood. Palm Beach and John in Palm City

hang on we will be with you shortly good morning John Hey good morning calling back because the gentleman that was just talking Florida turnpike if you get a ticket or if they're going to send you a picture of your violation so if you're on the

turnpike you get the picture how do I know because we were told my son's car and they tried to charge us for the part on the trailer really So it took a picture I saw the car And it didn't see it on the trailer

And we'll pay for the trailer But we're not going to pay for the car That's on the trailer So if they get a notice And there's no picture It's probably not from Florida Yeah Interesting

So that's That one tidbit And then the Second thing Oh man Good information John Thank you He's got something else

Yeah I got something else I was just trying to remember what it was happened to be about the, oh, about the cameras, the, the lawyer. The only information he's, the only thing he can pull is if the intersection has a camera. So not every section, intersection will provide them information on, you know, if there's an accident. And I believe it's only going to be a still picture, not a video. Okay.

So I don't know how much the lawyer can use from that. Yeah. But, you know, unless it's taking constant pictures and he gets a whole. whole, you know, ream of still pictures. He said, she said, who ran the red light? They would probably have the

photographic evidence. I had a video sent of me when I I didn't run the red light, let's just say right, I rolled through taking a right on red, but they sent me a video of my thing in Juneau. I was caught red-handed.

Yeah, yeah. Praise God for my test-law, because it records everything and you know if I run a red light it's going to be on the camera there if I don't sufficiently try to accuse me and I didn't do it it's on camera so it's always recording yes you can always delete the evidence that's good if you're a good guy that's a good thing if you're a bad guy that's a bad thing I look at this way I have nothing in the high so you know I'm I've confessed all my crimes you know if the cops want to come and get me they can come and get me but i don't uh privacy is not a big issue with me well i

record a lot of bad drivers that what they're doing i'm just wondering if i should post them saying you know hey look what this guy did you know but i don't know if that's legal or not because i see a lot of dumb stuff and it's recorded i i mean i liked having a dash cam i didn't you know i didn't didn't have the built-in one from the uh uh tesla but uh having the dash cam i thought It was cool. I was just hoping that I would record something extraordinary one day, like a meteor or trained to rail in or something. A plane coming down. Yeah, there's something worth, you know, posting.

UFO. Right, UFO. Mine doesn't do that 360 view. It only does the sides in the back and the front. And sometimes, because I teach at a high school, I go ahead and sometimes put it on security camp and caught some of my students leaving school. time. Uh-oh. I got the picture right here.

Really? How does he keep catching us? Nice. So anyways. All right. Very good. Thank you. Thank you, John.

Thanks for listening. We are going to go to John in Palm City. Good morning, John, and welcome back. Thank you. I won't hold it because I know the chopping report, but I got such a letter like that. from a Baltimore Expressway in December, and it was a picture of a large Volvo truck with a license plate with my number on it

and top of the press. But let me say this much, there's a lot of lights in place, believe it or not, people forge them. They're not just, you know, the authentic thing. So I wrote them a very nasty letter. It's on a truck and never was in Baltimore whatsoever. And I got a reply back that we're sorry,

some kind of error but I did get one of those and pictures on a big front of a truck a Volvo truck there's you and your giant semi well it's unbelievable I mean you know I don't have a truck at all but the quest question for

Rick I have a Corolla 104000 miles on it does he think that this spark plug should be changed depending on the year of the Corolla they're either at 120 or or 150,000 miles. I think most of them are 120,000 miles

is the recommended time for changing them. Okay, I'm glad to know that, because I got 104,000, and I read somewhere where some cars, it's 100,000 that they change them on. But the old days, we used to change them on every 10, 15,000 miles or regap them. Those days are gone forever, thank God.

Yeah, John, well, can I ask you a question? Yes. In the Wall Street Journal this morning, there was an article about a, you start out as a blog, and that was just an online thing. And it's called Bring a Trailer, as in I bought an old car, bring the trailer, pick up the car. And this thing apparently has taken off huge. And the guy that founded it, the whole theme is he finds cars like, you know, a movie star drove this car one time. or, I mean, interesting cars.

Have you ever heard of that place? Yes, I have. It's all the time on the Internet, and they show the results, some of the publications, and they seem to specialize in different type of cars and some collectible cars, but I don't trust any of those websites whatsoever.

Classic and collectible cars. The millions and millions of dollars of cars, according to the Wall Street Journal, that have been sold on that website are unbelievable, and they give you a credit. line and then you bid. It's just an auction, but it isn't true antique cars. In other words, you're not looking at, you know, cherry, perfect 1937 Pontiac or anything like that. You're looking at something that, for whatever reason, this was in a movie or this was owned by a famous

person or something like that. Many of them are complete phonies. Yeah, how do you prove it? They lie about the history of the car. There's some alteration been made and the firewall plates on it it's a good website of my opinion to stay away from okay well thanks I knew you'd know they mentioned Tom Cruise in the article John and you know

I guess that gets the you know whomever's like you know interested in collectibles and these classic cars it gets their attention I guess but you never know who was the actor in the John Seinfeld

show that George said he bought his car and it was John Voigt. John Voix car. That was hilarious. Well, Seinfeld himself has been sued because when he sold a group of his Porsches, one of the Porsches was an altered car and when he bought it that way

and when it got sold at auction, the person sued the auction company and him because the history and the documentation on a car was all falsified. So, Nobody's exempt from crooked the crooks. Interesting. All right, guys. I'm waiting for the copying report.

Thank you, John. Appreciate you call. You're our best caller. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you for listening. As Earl said, we're going to get to the Mystery Shopping Report. The Mystery Shopping Report took Agent Lightning to Vero Beach, where she shopped Kia, Kia, of Vero Beach.

and for all of you that would love to vote on this mystery shopping report when Earl has finished it, you can text us at 772-4976530 and we would definitely love for you to join in and let us know how you feel about the mystery shopping report. Agent Lightning did a great job again. Now back to the recovering car dealer. I think we have a little bit of time. It's 933, and I know we have some text.

You know, our favorite text or email this time, and I'm forwarded that. So let's hear. She texted and emailed. She covered all the bases. She didn't want us to miss this one, and I was starting to feel bad because I thought we're going to miss it. But here we go. This is from Anne-Marie. And Anne-Marie, you thought we weren't going to get to this.

Anne-Rie says, good morning. This news story must be a car dealer's nightmare. Thieves stole six Dodge Challenger of Hellcats from Don Franklin Chrysler Dodge Jeep in Somerset, Kentucky around 2 a.m. on February 28th. My personal, Amory's personal opinion, is they had inside information, judging by their speed and efficiency shown on the security camera footage. The four Hellcats in the showroom had their keys in them. The thieves located the keys for the two Hellcats that were outside. Security video shows the thieves even putting on temporary license. tags before driving out of the showroom.

The thieves and cars were gone 40 seconds. Sounds like a movie title. Gone in 40 seconds. The alarm went off 20 seconds later. Police arrived three minutes later, and the thieves were long gone. Police encountered them later in speeds, and the chase apparently reached 180 miles per hour. I think it's asked. You let them go at that point.

You're going to kill everybody. The cars are worth around $600,000. dollars. As of March 1st, police have recovered five of the six Hellcats. Three were found in Kentucky, and they were stolen in Kentucky, and one was in Tennessee and the other in Alabama. Police believe the missing cars in Alabama. So Amory's question says, you're a car dealer in Florida, not Kentucky. I doubt that you're familiar with Kentucky's laws, so let's assume the theft had taken place in Florida when answering the following questions. One, if it was your dealership, what could you do to slow thieves like that down?

Well, I mean, I think better security, but if it was an inside job like you suspect, I guess there's nothing you can do. We have a key system at our dealership where you have to have a thumbprint that unlocks the drawer. But if you had somebody inside, I could see a way, you know, a determined thief is going to beat those security systems. You can take a car that you know is a super high demand, super low supply. and you just lock it up, you don't leave it outside. I assume these Hellcats were rare, unique gems. Yeah, crazy that they had that many in February. So back in the day at our dealership, we were having some problems

and professional because we're in South Florida, and it's so easy to grab a car, throw it on a boat, and next thing you know, it's in Venezuela. we're a market for professional fees because it's once you get to the port and you get on the boat that's why I thought it was interesting that all the cars were found like within a hundred miles and that wouldn't happen here you can't you can't stop a pro from a steel in a car the pros are good and you have to spend more money that was worth than have to suffer the loss of a professional car thefts We do, and what most car dealership should do, is security camps.

Typically, it's like your home. If you have the security cams up, the thief is going to go to the house that doesn't have the security camps. Same thing with the car dealership. So we have security cams all over our car dealership. Anybody that walks on or in our car dealership is being videoed. So if someone is either crazy enough or good enough to steal a car and still be... shown on video you can't stop that insurance does cover us for stolen cars yes we we pay the premium probably we could go self-insured that we would have been ahead

it's kind of like an extended warranty argument I say if you take all the proper precautions you don't need extended warranty I say the same thing with you know theft she has some more questions in here to excuse me for just for a second And Anne-Marie, I'll tell you, many, many, many years ago when cars were being stolen, there was a time that I went over to the dealership, and I'd check each car that was on the lot to see whether or not it had a key. So so much has changed about security. And as Earl said, with cameras and there's ways of getting around this.

But it just took me back to that day. And there were a lot of cars being stolen. But definitely not today. Stu? Just going on with her question, she says, if those cars had specific buyers who already put money down, who in the dealership gets to tell the buyers that the cars were stolen, it's probably the salesperson,

the sales manager probably tell them to make the hard call. They don't want to deal with themselves. Since those cars were part of a crime, where do they go once they've been recovered? Well, you know, they're owned by the car. car dealership, I'm sure the police are going to collect whatever evidence they got to collect and then it goes back to the car dealership. The car dealership is going to inspect

it and apply for any damages if there is any insurance claims, if it's even worth it to make an insurance claim. But a lot of times, like we Earl was saying down here with the organized crime and if we ever get a recovery down here, there

is not much left of that car. I mean, it's been stripped to hell. That's I'm surprised that they found intact health in Kentucky because they would have been on a ship. They would have been South America or the Caribbean somewhere or they would have been taken apart for parts. So, okay, next question. Who pays for the repairs, insurance or the dealership

if they choose to do it? And if any of the thieves crashed into someone injured to kill them, who would likely be a response for the damages besides the thieves? Well, in our legal system, you know, somebody who gets hurt, They might accuse the dealers from trying to sue them because they have deep pockets and say they didn't properly secure the cars. I don't know how far it would go. If you left the car out with the keys and the engine running and a kid jump in the car and ran over somebody, you'd have a serious problem.

In fact, insurance probably wouldn't do you any good because that would be punitive damages because you were negligent in protecting the public by not having a car secured. But if there was a sophisticated inside caper, like that. Amory suggests. The dealer's probably off the hook. Wouldn't stop somebody from suing them, but he probably wouldn't have to worry about much. Okay. And we don't have time for the video, but Amory sent a story of the video. And you could, it's on road and track, but you could probably just Google it. Hellcat stolen in Kentucky, and it'll show up in the search results. And you'll probably be able to read it and see a video. Okay. Thanks so much, Annmarie. That was covered well. Okay, here we get to the mystery shopping report of Kia, Vero Beach.

And Vero Beach of folks from out of the area is still kind of South Florida. It's up the east coast a little bit toward Orlando, small town. And we shop the Kia deal there. We shop the Kia Telluride because that is one of the top 10 cars of 2003, according to Consumer Reports. And by that, they're talking about safety, reliability, cost of operation, all the above. And it's interesting to see Kia. And also Hyundai had a car that we shopped last week at Mystery Shopping Report. So we did this because we want to see what dealers are charging for low supply, high-demand cars.

We talked to a woman about her Corvette, trying to buy a Corvette, the epitome of low-supply, high-demand vehicles. vehicles. Mystery Shop of Kiavira Beach. I'm speaking in the first person as if I were Agent Lightning. I arrived at Kiev, via Beach, in the mid-afternoon, was greeted by young salesman as soon as I stepped out of my car. He asked if I had an appointment with anyone that day, and I laughed, blind that I had an appointment with him. He smiled wildly and invited me into his desk inside the dealership to get some more information. On her way, he inquired about my interest, to which I mentioned my desire for a tolly ride. but not at the market-adjusted price.

Don't want to do that. He informed me that they had at least three new tellurize, which is interesting. Car, that high-demand-low supply, I am surprised that he would have three. You'll understand more when we get into the shopping report why there were three of them there. And they were available, and we proceeded to his desk

after he took my license details. On the way to his desk, he asked what I was interested in. I mentioned that I'd been eyeing the ten. telluride for a while, but didn't want to pay the market adjustments. Once we arrived at his desk, he introduced himself as Ricky and asked for my license. After gathering my information and making a copy of my license, Ricky came back with a few sets of keys. Oh, interesting. A few sets.

And we headed outside to the lot where there were three tellurides. Okay. I chose a black 2003 telluride SX with an MSRP, of $47,320. Now, remember that number. Sticker price, Menroney label, $47,320. However, there was an addendum sticker next to the Monroney label

that added another $3,000 for door-edge guards, door pockets, door pocket protector, pinstripes, nitrofiled tires. I can't believe they're still selling nitrogen. It's coming back. It's making a big comeback. Unbelievable. Is that right?

And one year of key replacement. Now, there's a doozy. One year of key replacement. Although after a year, you lose a key, you're just a... Yeah, it's not enough time to lose your key. I've lost my keys once in my life. It took 53 years to do it. Although there was a line for a market adjustment,

there was no dollar figure, only an ambiguous MP. Market price. It's like lobster. Yeah. You can guess what this is. Okay. Well, you guessed good. During the test drive, we went out quite far down U.S. 1, and then I made a U-turn headed back to the dealership.

Once we arrived, Ricky asked if I wanted him to run some numbers, to which I said yes. He asked him I was looking to finance or pay cash, and I mentioned that it would depend on whether there were any incentives available for financing. Rick said he would go speak with his manager, come up with numbers. After about five minutes, Jamar, the sales manager, came back with. with Ricky and a worksheet. The selling price was MSRP, manufacturer's suggested retail price, $47,320.

To that they added the full amount of the addendum. That was $2,995, called $3,000, and $9,99 market adjustment. Let's call that $10,000. There's your MP right there. So that's what MP stands for. They also taxed on an $899 dealer fee. This is really disgusting.

And they even jumped up the government fees. We don't believe that $814 could be legitimate. I wonder if that's a reaction to what we say on the air. We say the only thing that's legitimate is sales tax and government fees. I bet it is. And now they're labeling things government fees. And they probably stuck in the junk fees, private tag agency, electronic registration fees, electronic filing. I was shocked to see a market adjustment and ask why it was so high.

That was the $10,000. Jamar replied that televised were going for $10,000, $15,000, even $20,000 above sticker. And I believe that. I mean, again, high demand a little supply. He also mentioned that I could buy the car and take it to auction and get $66,000 for it easily. Maybe so. I mean, crazy things in this market. I declined to start to stand up, but Jamar asked.

for a minute and walked away you know the game back and forth a few months later another sales manager sat down with me and wrote down the deal so we've got three people now the other sales manager I don't think has introduced himself yet

he could offer right down the best thing he could offer which was 60,000 out the door he said that would make the market adjustment around 4,000 $3999 give or take I said I doubt it because it was still too high for a 47,000 MSRP.

He added that he could show me auction slips where used ones were going for more than new. I mean, somehow, I see why he says that. I mean, first of all, if it's true, I don't know. And if it were true, who cares? I mean, who wants to spend that amount of money over the price for a new Kia? Yeah. The client said it was too high. I asked if all their cars had a markup. He said, only the teller rides.

And I don't even believe that, and the carnival had marked up. But there were no carnivals available. I haven't heard of the carnival, but that doesn't mean anything. Carnival. Yeah, I know what a car was a boat. In conclusion, I had an interesting experience at Kia of Arrow Beach. Yes, it was interesting. But the prices were too high for me to consider purchasing a car.

from that you know they got some great pictures here and I love that sign are you going to show the sign oh Jonathan do you have that yeah Jonathan has it on the oh yeah the carnival is something that looks I guess it looks kind of like a sienna it's like a minivan SUV looking thing okay so is here important this is sitting on the desk of the sales manager sales sales sales important verbal promises are difficult to enforce it's so I mean it's a It's so blatantly amazing that they would have this sign and says all promises and items do must be documented with their due bill we owe for them.

Right. Now, the sign might as well say, this salesman might lie to you. Right. So to keep him from lying to you, or you can't keep him from lying to you, But if he puts a lie in writing, then you can sue us and get your money back. I mean, why would you put a sign like that on a desk? Actually, it's a very good advice. Actually, it's not a, it's a good thing.

For wrong reasons. I'm a liar. I'm a cheat. To keep me honest, make me put it in writing and get a sign. It's like having, like, you know, lunch with a cannibal. They have to put a guard over their muzzle. I guess the truly crooked salespeople. I'll hold this up, you can't read it.

You appreciate the muzzle. Yeah, I'll hold this up. That's a sign that's on the desk. Yeah, I think Jonathan has a clear picture. Oh, okay, good. And I just, it's embarrassing to me. It's embarrassing to me being a cardier that cardiolers do these sorts of things, but they do.

And they get away with it, and that's the name of the game, and it's voting time. We're probably going to have some time for text after this. because it's only 949, but let's have some votes coming. Now, remember, we grade on the curve, and remember there are no perfect dealers. We grade on the curve. Our listeners, our listeners, got to tell it like it is. Well, no, no, I'd like you to grade on the curve, too, because if you fail everybody,

and in my opinion, the ultimate sin is to lie, cheat, and steel, the acceptable sins are to charge way too much money for a car because you can but you tell the person what you charge it when you hide the fee and conceal it and manipulate that's bad if you just say listen I know I got

a hot car here the Kia tell you ride and it's going to cost you $10,000 over a sticker take her or leave it I don't like that but I'm not going to give him an F he told it like it is and you can turn around go somewhere else I have every right to do that.

And shop and get a better price. So we will take the votes if they've come in. Well, with that mitigating admonition, we have an F from Paul Anderson on Facebook. Paul who? Paul on Facebook. Paul Anderson. Yeah, Paul Anderson. The reason I say that, he used to be the world's strongest man.

Really? Yeah, it was from Georgia. He was all you old timers out there. My hero, when I was a kid, when I used to live. weights. And that's who gave the grade right there? Was Paul Anderson. That's a strong grade. Wow. That's all I got right now, but I'm going to give a low passing grade a D-minus.

Okay. Okay, we got Kirk in West Buy God, Virginia. Kia of Eurobeach addendum in market price, plus excessive government fees and more okey-pokey. My Lord, where's the kitchen sink? Kia, Vera Beach earns the promise of a D-Mineas, but then again I could be a liar. Truth equals F-minus.

Nigan 1F. Tired I'm not buying a car or a truck for a long time. Let's see here we got Tom Steckle, D-minus, just a step away from Hollywood Kia. Donovan. Okay, he was in a conversation with Steve Mags there. Mark Smith, D-minus, Rocky Blockatiel, a solid D. Brian said Lacko

The mystery shop is too easy to grade F minus And Mark Ryan D minus The scales of supply and demand Will shift at some point And that's what we've got for right now

For me They're playing the usual games And I would say I'll I'll give the D minus grade Meaning if you go there just be ready for the markups and if they're not going to do anything

walk away but I would have a little bit better grade but the market price thing I know it added a great dramatic effect for the shopping report there's suspense what is MP going to be but that's even more obscuring it's less transparency

it's like another label I mean that MP could have been anything was the mood of the sales manager that day. It's 10,000 a day, you know, just 12,000 on the weekend, I mean. Yeah, but Stu, didn't you mention lobster

and market price? I mean, they're in that setting, in a restaurant, you know, I think that it's under consideration. But when you walk into a dealership, you know, it's not the same thing. Do you feel like as if that you're

blindfolded and you walk in and they can just throw anything at you. Right. And it's acceptable. At no point until you are signing on the dotted line, do you actually know what you're paying? Exactly. No limits and you're wearing a blindfold. No exaggerations either. You want my grade? F. I do. F. F. F. Ms. Nancy gives them an F. And along with that, go to your consumer report, the 2023 auto edition. And you can read all about just say no to these dealership. chip extras.

Yeah. Great article. And it's funny how nitrogen exists after all these years. I guess some people just don't read the paper or don't read the online. They don't read the news. They don't listen to anything.

Nitrogen is just... It's hard to, it's really hard to believe, but you don't have any other recourse, but to think that way. If they're selling xenon in tires, then I would be impressed. Yeah. Another guess. but nitrogen

it's all around us anybody's guess I'll give them a D I mean that's my lowest guy I don't I'm lighter on the on the punishment scores of most people

but for some reason I got a bad taste I certainly wouldn't fail them I wonder if I shouldn't give them a C minus but I'll give them a D and I think that you know what a lot of dealers

are hurting themselves unbeknownst because Because when you hold, they have three Kia tellurides in stock, and they're sitting there, and Kia knows they're sitting there. Meanwhile, there's another Kia dealer, or a lot of Kia dealers, that are selling their Kia teleorides. And Kia allocates cars like Toyota or Honda or all the manufacturers.

The faster the dealer sells them, the faster they ship new cars to that dealer. So this Kia Vero Beach, they're probably shooting themselves in the foot here. Not only that. I don't know what their, obviously, know what their financials are, but generally speaking, it makes more sense to turn vehicles faster. In the used car, you want to make room for another one instead of sitting around waiting for that $15,000 deal. Exactly, yeah.

And then when this is over, if it's ever over, the people that have survived the pandemic and the economic and the environment, the supply chain, that in that moment in time that are receiving the most cars, they have the lead in the race. And then it gets competitive again, but they have the cars and the other dealers won't have the cars because of turn and earn, yeah.

You know why? Because there's no pay plans based on turn and earn. It's all on gross profits. Exactly. So they kill themselves with their greedy pay plans. That is a profound statement. And you've got to remember this in the service department, too, because there's a huge amount of screwing

that's going on in the service departments and everybody in that service drive is on commission. So if you're on commission and you have to feed your family, put food on the table, buy how much money your check is every week and you don't sell anything that week, then you're in serious trouble.

So it's adversarial. You go into buy a car, you go into a service a car, you're going to have to pay the highest, price they can get from you well my opinion is this and that is if you do business right this is breaking news if you do business right that dealer and I know one your business will triple you just simplify things you pay what you're supposed to pay MSRP for a vehicle your your business will triple quadruple

it's so easy to do business the right way now back to the recovering car dealer well I haven't got anything else do we have any text left okay well we have a really long one so I don't think we have time for it we'll get it next week but I think we're caught up I can sing a song okay well they could play the theme song you you sang this morning and we're singing I want to

cue theme music I want to remind everybody Jonathan just reminded me that we spring forward. Hippity hop, hipty hop, spring forward. And lose sleep. Yes, that is terrible. I can't afford to lose much more sleep. At any rate, thanks for tuning in, ladies and gentlemen.

We had a great time with you. We enjoy your company without you guys out there and your phone calls. The show wouldn't be what it is. Stay tuned next week, Saturday morning. Same time, 8 a.m. right here on the oldies channel.