Earl Stewart on Cars - 03.29.2025 - Your Calls, Texts, and Mystery Shop of Holman Honda of Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

Episode Date: March 29, 2025

Earl and his team answer various caller questions and responds to incoming text messages. Earl’s female mystery shopper, Agent Lightning travels to south Florida, to visit a local Honda dealer to see what they have on the lot and how much over sticker they will charge for a new 2025 Honda Civic 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, and reading his blog posts at www.earloncars.com. To purchase Earl’s book, “Confessions of a Recovering Car Dealer”, go to www.earlsbook.com. This will forward to Earl’s Amazon page to complete your purchase. All proceeds from the book go to Big Dog Ranch Rescue. For more information or to adopt the dog you have seen today or any of their other dogs, please visit their website at www.bdrr.org. “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”

Hello, I'm Earl Stewart. I welcome you to Earl Stewart on Cars, a live talk show all about how to buy, lease, maintain, or repair your car without being ripped off by a car dealer. With me in the studio is Nancy Stewart, my wife, co-host, and a strong consumer advocate, especially for our female listeners. We also have Rick Kearney, an expert on how to keep your car running right. I dare you to ask a question that Rick can't answer about the mechanics or electronics of your car. Also with us is my son, Stu Stewart, our link to cyberspace through Facebook, YouTube, text messaging, and our encrypted anonymous feedback service. Stu is also the Spymaster Director of our mystery shopping report. He dispatches our secret shopper weekly to an unsuspecting car dealership. And now, on with the show.

Good morning, everybody. Well, we're back again. Our second comeback. And our apologies to all of our regular. hear listeners. Last time we were back a few weeks ago, we thought we were back for good, but we weren't. And we've got some, not only do we have my illness to deal with, but Nancy's had a couple of issues, too. It comes with the territory. It comes with being in our 80s, but we're dealing with it, and we're feeling pretty good this morning. And we hope you're

still with us. I wouldn't blame you if you didn't leave us. But Just for some new folks, this is a car all about, this is a car, this is a show all about how to buy a car without being ripped off by a car dealer. And we've been doing this for about 20 years. If you are new, stick around a little bit. I think he'll want to come back every Saturday. And we are on every Saturday from 8 to 10.

We're a live show, a live talk show, which is kind of an exciting thing, really. thing, really. I mean, you don't know what you're going to say and you don't know what we're going to say. We're very candid on this show. I don't think we get bleep very much, but we ask people to speak their mind, and we rely on you, our listeners. We've got a bunch of regular cadre out there of regular listeners that we can talk to almost every week, and we gather more and more regular listeners. It's an exchange more than the talk show because we hear your views and your suggestions,

your criticisms, and your compliments. We get a few of those too. So thank you very, very much. You're going to hear us getting out a telephone number a whole lot, and I'll give it out for the first time right now, and that number is 877-9-60-99-60. That's 877-960-996-0. Write it down.

You might not be able to talk to us or call us or listen to us right now, but you might, you know, before 10 a.m., Eastern Standard Time. So we're on from now until 10 o'clock, Eastern Standard Time. We're all over the country. In fact, we're all over the world. We stream the show too.

And I keep referring to this as a radio show. It's really a TV show in the old sense because we have streaming. And you can stream us at Facebook.com forward slash Erlon Cars or YouTube. That's our biggest source of video. YouTube.com forward slash Erlon Cars. And by the way, Erlon Cars is our website and virtually everything that we cover is covered even more completely and in more detail on our website, earl oncars.com.

We also archive our shows so you can listen to this show again or on a show we did five years ago or ten years ago based on subject or time, however you want to do it. And you can also volunteer for things like being one of Earl's vigilantes. We call them Earl's vigilantes.

because we ask people around the country who are very knowledgeable about cars and retail and about buying a car from a car dealer, which believe me, you need a PhD to do that safely. And we have some people out there with PhDs, I guarantee you, especially on YouTube. And if you can volunteer to be a vigilante, others around the country can go to our website,

go to Earl Vigilantes on our website, find somebody in that area, that maybe knows the local market pretty well and he's a vigilante meaning he has been qualified by us and believed he believes in himself or herself to be able to give you advice on how not to be ripped off by a cardio so that's what the show's all about I've got Rick Kearney in the studio with me my son Stu I'm not sure if he's on the way or not but I asked him if he would be coming to the show and of course

Nancy Stewart, who is not only my wife, but she's my partner, and she's a co-founder of this show going back about two decades, if you can believe that. You know, we started out about 20 years ago, a half-hour show, and now we're up to a two-hour show, and we still don't get it covered. We run out of time, and I guess the last thing I'm going to have to mention is our mystery shopping report, because that's a highlight of the show. We go into a car dealership somewhere in the United States, and we pretend to buy or lease a car. We have an undercover agent code name Agent Lightning, and she goes in and goes through all the buying or leasing steps,

and she reports back her exact experience with the salesperson, the manager, whomever in the dealership she speaks with, and her treatment, was she treated with transparency, honesty, or otherwise? And then we repeat the event, we repeat the mystery shop. Here comes Stu Stewart, so we are fully manned and limined this morning. So if the dealer did a good job, we give them a good grade. And we'll ask you, at the end of the show, that'll be the last half hour. We ask you to vote on our mystery shopping. report so we've covered pretty much what the show's all about again please excuse us I

know a lot of you tuned in and we got another Earl Stewart on guard rerun and that's just not fair but you know we don't know Nancy and I don't know about the doctor thing and you know we're both being we go into tests we're going to the hospitals we're going to the doctors and any of you about our age know how unpredictable that is so sometimes we think we're gonna be back but no we've got to do something else and we don't get back but I think we're back for good now I really think with Nancy's health and my health I think we're really gonna be back for good I sure hope so because we love it we love it more than you do we love it now

I'm gonna turn the microphone on to Nancy Stewart and she will give you her view from a female standpoint that's her main stock and trade She has built this audience that we have accumulated over the years to 50-50, half-female, half-male. That's the way life should be with everything. It should be half-female and half-male, and that's what Nancy has done. 20 years ago, this was an old-boys school, and the only people that ever called or texted or came on the show were, you know, guys.

We didn't like that. So she's cured that. She'll tell you about a special offer to you ladies out there. Nancy, the mic is all yours. Good morning, everyone. Wow, we're glad to be back in the studio, and as I always say, you make the show. So give us a call toll-free at 877-9-60-960,

and you can also take advantage of our text number, and that number is 772-497-6530. And don't forget your anonymous feedback. We just love your anonymous. anonymous feedback, and we'd love to hear from you and your thoughts, and you remain anonymous. We have the mystery shopping report. It's a mystery shopping report from Fort Lauderdale. It's a home in Honda.

We also have the Dog of the Week, Paco, and you'll hear more about Paco later on in the show. And, folks, we have some good news this morning, so it is all, it is. isn't all doom and gloom. But one of the things I came across that everyone would be interested in is a Gallup pole. And it was interesting for me to find that auto mechanics, yes, auto mechanics, boy, they're at the top of the list. Things have changed for them. And there are more consumers who believe in the mechanic.

And as you all know, that's Rick's forte. So, at any rate, let me give you some numbers in the 2024 survey. 33% of Americans rated the honesty and ethical standards of auto mechanics as high. Isn't that great news? I know how doubtful everyone was and is and how you search for that, well, talented, perfect, honest, mechanic. And there you go. I mean, it is just great news. And it's an improvement. It's 24% during the 2000s. And it indicates growing trust, growing trust. And the survey found recently 33% of Americans rated for ethical and honesty. The mechanic came up pretty high. So that's great

news and I know Rick enjoyed that information and again our number is 877 960-9960 ladies $50 for the first two new lady callers and also attached

to that you could also win a subscription to consumer report and you would receive the 2025 auto edition if you qualify Okay, we're going to go read to the phones, and we're going to talk to our first-time caller, and she is from Coconut Creek.

I believe her name is Ivan. Did I get that right? Not really. I botched it. But you were close, Evan with an E-VAN. Oh, E-VAN. Okay, well, evening, welcome. And you won yourself $50 this morning as being a first-time call.

caller, and if you will leave your information with Jeremy in the control room, he'll pass that alone to me, and I'll get that check out to you. Also, Yvan, you also won a subscription to Consumer Report, and I'm not sure you're a first-time caller, whether you know that this is a Bible for Earl and I, for all of us here, we refer to it quite a bit. So you win a subscription for the consumer report. And like I said, included in that will be the 20-25 auto edition. So there you go. Congratulations. That's wonderful. I don't have to have my brothers anymore. I'll have my own. Thank you very much. What can we do for you? So good news about the mechanics, really good news. I think I found one that I really like. And my question

today is pretty much I was up at your dealership a couple of weeks ago with deck and they bought a car and it was a good experience but I think today I'm going to buy a well get a Subaru

from Schumacher and I just wanted to know what's better buying or leasing good question it's the easy answer is they're equal to you.

If you fully understand the purchase and you fully understand the lease, it's six of one, half dozen the other. Some of it might depend on your tax situation, but it's really almost equal. And the reason I say almost equal is that dealers, on the average, on the average, make a lot more when they lease the car. and that means you pay more but that's only the people who don't understand the lease and the lease is more complicated and for the consumer to comprehend

and they can sneak in head and charges and adjust the terms without you being aware of it so buying a car is far simpler it's very linear it's like you can line it up and go price and tax but one one exception is there are tax credits out now, especially on electric vehicles.

And if you're going to be an electric vehicle driver, you're better off to look at a lease in general, depending on the vehicle you pick out. But the lease would have a distinct advantage to you if you were buying an electric vehicle of a certain year-making model. Okay, great, great. Not going to be electric at this point. Okay.

That's good to know. Evan, let me ask you this. How much do you drive your, would you drive the vehicle that you were thinking about purchasing or leasing? I don't commute, so it's more of a pleasure errands type thing. Okay. So maybe about a few miles a week, actually. And then electric would be perfect for you. That makes a difference.

Yeah. Mileage limits are in a lease. Uh-huh. But if you are driving an electric right now, you would be done with fuel. You have no reason to worry about the range of the vehicle or charging on a trip. You just plug it in at your home every night, and you don't have to have an expensive adapter even. And it will be fully charged. If you're only going a few miles a week, you'll be silent, good for the environment.

And, you know, you might be able to get a really low payment if it qualifies for those credits. All good advice. I'll definitely take that into consideration. Thank you very much. You're welcome. Thanks for the call, Yvonne. Thanks, Van. Remember to spread the word, we're building a platform here for the ladies.

Have a great weekend. We'll do. Our number here is 877-960-99-60, and you can also text us at 772-497-6-5-30. We're going to go with Joe. and he's calling us from Pompano Beach. Good morning, Joe. Morning. Morning.

Hope you guys are feeling better. We are. Great, great. I had a question. When you buy a new car, the manufacturer suggested retail price. Is that a fair price to pay for a car? Not usually. Not now.

I mean, it depends on the car, an extremely rare vehicle, even now. Now, MSRP would be fair, considering a lot of dealers would try and get more than that. But generally now, it's a pretty competitive environment right now. And for any vehicle, you know, any volume, you know, any popular car, you know, you shouldn't be paying MSRP. The best thing, Joe, about the MSRP is it gives you a fixed point to measure and compare prices. When you decide on the vehicle you want, be sure that you know the MSRP. So if you're looking at a Honda cord, for example, and you live in Pompano, you might want to go down to Fort Lauderdale, check a price there, maybe come up to Southern Palm Beach County and check a price there.

But when you're comparing prices, you'll be comparing the discount from the MSRP of the exact vehicle you want. When the manufacturer's suggested retail price became mandatory by law in 1958, the reason it was the reason they formed the manufacturer's suggested retail is because car dealers could put any price they want. You know, one Honda dealer could decide back of those days to charge $5,000 over for the price and another dealer, $10,000 over. and there was there was no way for the consumer to know did I really get a discount now you measure everything with the MSRP that the manufacturer established and the dealer is supposed to remain that at that Monroney label remain attached to the car when they buy it in South Florida we found that doesn't happen so my first advice to you when you're shopping around for your Honda look at the actual MSRP Monroney label for that car chances are you'll have to ask for it because the dealer's down here put them in the trunk they throw them away they put them in the glove compartment the federal law says they must be remained a fixed to the window of the car until the car is sold and only the buyer of the car can remove the monroney label

but down in south florida papano you'll probably find there won't be a monorny label on the car ask for it okay and then if the car is being delivered to the dealer is that make a difference on there or how can you tell if it's really coming from the like the manufacturer or

the place or another dealer that it's you can look at the bernarone label and it is the you could go online to get a format profile of what the bernone label looks like you're right and being concerned because

the car dealers make up a label a counterfeit monorone label and on the show we've called it the phony monroney because it looks very similar to the monroney label that should be there same color same fonts and everything shape but if you look at the fine print you'll find that it isn't truly a monroney label but yeah it should be adhered to the window of the car and if it's not you you can write and if they give you hard time, a quick call to the Department of Motor Vehicles in Florida could cost that dealer a huge fine, even revoking his license if he's deliberately taking the Menoni label off and lying to the customers about the actual

binole label. You can also see on the Manoni label the original dealer that it was shipped to. So you can see it's got their name and address on it. So you can see if it's moved around from dealers. Like if you're shopping in South Florida and you see there is North Carolina. a destination on it you know that was dealer traded maybe driven maybe transported and there's other things you might want to look out in the car there because it's yeah it didn't get it's been moving around a little bit it's a fresh car if it has that dealer's name on it and about half the car sold in this area especially are transferred from another dealer to another dealer so the car's been driven and swap back and four sometimes four or five times you're better off to get a

fresh one that we shipped directly from Honda to that Honda dealer. Great. That's great information. Thank you. And then the last thing, I guess because I'm in Pompano, but James Lexus, do you know if they're a reputable dealer? Very. Very good. They're the largest Lexus dealer

of the world. They are the most reputable. They're owned by the Jim Moran Foundation or family. And he's the original distributor for Toyota. in the Southeast United States.

So they're a big target. Everybody knows JM Lexus, and they behave themselves quite well. I couldn't recommend any other Lexingtoner more than JM Lexus. That's where we bought our Lexuses because it was the easiest. Yes. Great, great, because they say the window sticker. So the window sticker that they put, I think I see it online,

is that the Maruni label, or is that supposed to be what that is? It wouldn't be the Marroni. label on the J.M. Lexus, I'm sure. They would not have, now they might have some addendums on top of the monorny label, but I assure you J.M. Lexus would keep the original monorny label on their windows. I don't believe, J.M. Lexus doesn't do addems. They don't add anything to it. They have a very small dealer fee, right? About $500. And there's no other junk fees in there. So it's really simple to figure out the price. There's not a lot of, like, you know, tricks in there at all, actually it's very straightforward okay so then you would when you figure out if you're looking at

the price that they're putting i don't know if the msrp and then the then you you would add the tax on that and that's probably how much or yeah the only thing that you should pay is if you calculate the um the it's well it's six percent sales tax uh seven percent but it's only on the first five thousand so it's uh you calculate the local sales tax and then the only other charge should be the if you're transferring your old tag it should be a relatively modest couple hundred dollar transfer uh fee and if you need a new tag it might be three or four hundred dollars um but you really shouldn't pay anything other than that you're not required to pay anything other than that okay so let's say you bought a new one for like 50 it says 50 some

thousand and you just had the tax yes that would be the off the door place it'd be 3,000 something change and then add another few hundred dollars for your tag and that's it well jm lexas does have a small dealer for i'm sorry yeah yeah they'll have that there'll probably be another five hundred dollars i've never understood by the way i mean i hate to be

critical of a dealer that is so reputable and good but i talked to the general manager at jm lexas i say look uh you advertise no dealer fees but you have a you have a dealer fee i say you are in

impeccable in all other remains, why don't you become perfect and not have that dealer fee? So I don't know what they think. I think the average Lexus probably sells for $70,000 or $80,000, and they're saying what difference is another $500 bucks to make? But to me, it makes a little bit of difference. If I were a buyer, I'd be, I'd want to be totally clean, not almost clean, but I, because there's nobody even close to J.M. Lexus, we still highly recommend them. Okay, okay. That's great information. I appreciate all the information again. You're very welcome. Thanks, Joe. Give us a call again. Have a great weekend. Our number here is 877-960. You can also text us at 772-4976530. When we opened a show, I talked about the Gallup Annual Honesty and Ethics Report, and I was mentioning

mechanics and how high their rating is now for honesty, transparency. And that's just really great news. But the other news was that car salespeople, they didn't fare as well. Car sales people consistently receive lower honesty and ethics ratings. So keep that all in mind. And there's nothing like an educated consumer. You can beat all the odds. and you can get yourself a great deal by being an educated consumer. We're going to go to Alexandra, and she is a first-time caller from West Palm Beach. Good morning. Welcome.

What can we do for you? Hello? Good morning, Alexander. Oh, good morning. Welcome to Earl Stewart-Lun-Cars. You've just won yourself $50 this morning by being a lot. our second new female caller and you also won yourself a subscription to consumer report and that will come with the 2025 auto edition so that should help you out in any uh that's very

exciting because i am in in the move for a new car this will help you out tremendously oh fantastic leave your leave your information uh with jeremy in our control room he'll pass it along to me and i'll take care of all that this morning oh how kind of you what can we do for you yeah i had a question i mean i'm so impressed by all your knowledge this may not be very very important to you but i've been a member of triple a for many many years oh good for you and unfortunately the last battery that they sold me um was a dud or but all Also, when they finally came, charged me $100 because I'd been having to call them so often because it was dead. It died all the time.

Then they said, oh, this is not under warranty. And I said, what? You know, I wouldn't have bought up battery if it was not under warranty. Oh, there was no gasket or something around it when I installed it. Well, I said, well, why didn't you tell me? If you have told me that, I would have gotten it a gasket or had someone put in a gasket. before I do a battery. Rick is frinkling his brow.

Something's not right here. By gasket, I'm thinking that they're trying to convince her. That that rubber thing that sits on? Well, no, she's the little felt pad that goes on the battery terminal before you put the cable connector on it. And that is the, that's the most ridiculous thing I ever heard of, that that would void a warranty. And you can make that with the lint in your pocket. Yeah, it's, it's, that little felt pad actually will do nothing for the battery unless the case or the terminal is actually cracked and it's starting to leak acid. That felt pad is supposed to catch that acid so it doesn't drip all over the place.

And that's, yeah, that's ridiculous. The battery would be jumping up all around and it was my fault. And I said, sir, I don't know anything. about batteries. That is what you are here. The battery is warranted by the battery manufacturer. Are you talking about your conversations with the person you bought the car from or the battery

manufacturer? It's a AAA service. Oh, AAA. Well, they're misinformed. What make battery is it? I can take a look. Yeah, the battery manufacturer issues a warranty, right, Rick? Well, yeah, they do, but if it's

triple A, they put their own stickers on the battery. Oh, okay. They, so it says all AAA all over it. And the other big scam that AAA will do, the tow truck drivers that come out, they tell you you need a new connector, a new terminal connector for your cable, because, oh, this was old and ratty looking. Well, let's differentiate between the guy that comes out and AAA.

Yeah, can I want, yeah, it's not, I thought that AAA contracted local, you know, companies. They do, yeah. But they have AAA on their truck or on their battery. They bring out batteries that are actually labeled AAA. Oh, I didn't know that. And they even have the AAA logo on their tow trucks. My advice is to go directly to AAA and not the people that looked at the battery and made that bad judgment. You need to call AAA directly high as you can because AAA is a good organization and they're honest.

And if you can get a hold of somebody, not the guy that looked at it, but the guy that made that decision and go to... I already called to making a complaint, but I don't think that will get me anywhere. So I think I have to go maybe just to one of the regional offices. Yes, exactly. And talk to someone there. Exactly. But the warranty is, Rick said, should not be affected. And the warranty is from the manufacturer.

if you've got what make battery did you say you had she had a check i don't think i had and i had to i had it also i went to um amco or one of those places to to check the battery and he too said it's a very bad battery so uh it could not be recharged fully yeah that unfortunately the batteries that triple a gets are usually some of the lowest quality My own personal recommendation, if you need a battery, you want to either go to a shop or get your car over to AutoZone or one of the O'Reilly's, one of the other auto parts stores, and tell them you want an interstate battery. Interstate makes some of the best quality. And the auto parts stores, nine times out of ten, they'll bring it out and install it for you even. Wow. Well, thank you so much for all this information because I felt so stupid. Well, they make you feel stupid. And I don't appreciate that because I really was ready to stop my being with AA, because after all these years of service, I thought that they could have helped me out a bit better.

Absolutely. Alexander, you sound like an educated consumer, and we appreciate your call. And please spread the word. to your friends that we are building a female audience here on, or on cars. And remember to stay on the line and give Jeremy your information so that I can, you know, get in contact with you. I really thank you for the service because often, you know, as ladies, we aren't really educated as well as the men are. And I don't know why, because we should be. And I really appreciate this program. Yes. Well, that statement you just made is really changing rapidly, but we need to have it change a little quicker.

Yeah, yep, spread the word. Thank you. 877-960-9960, or you can text us at 772-497-1930, and Rick has a comment. Just as a quick note here, Donovan, I mean, Everybody, we talk about Donovan so much. Yeah, he's phenomenal. Even he says, AAA uses their own branded batteries, so technically they would be the manufacturer in this case.

Because they are the... That's what I've been trying to say, Mr. Neiman. Yeah, great information, Rick. But it simply means that AAA would be the ones that you would have to get the warranty through. Okay. Let's keep that in mind. We are going to go to the Roadrunner,

who has been patiently holding. Good morning. Good morning, Steve. Oh, good morning, everybody. This is a question for Dr. Rick. Okay. Doc Rick. I was driving my roadrunner last Sunday morning.

All of a sudden, the car died and started up again. So I said, oh, time to get it back home. Was there any coyotes around? I'm driving it back home. The car died completely, lucky I was able to pull it on to the side, opened up the hood everything was good get back in the car the car started right up again running normal what do you think electrical coyote left what do you run for an ignition system on that electronic ignition i would be checking the ground wires to it first and make sure you got

good connection for your ground wires that you don't have a loose ground possibly and if not then i'd be suspecting the buzz box which okay for those that don't know the side that put on the side of the car that little square one okay so did the grounded wire look for the grounded wire on that box yes that's one of that's one of the first things that I look for anytime I hear of an intermittent problem I start wiggling ground wires because what'll happen is the the screw or the bolt may loosen just a little bit or maybe the wire is starting to break and you get that little wiggle and that can be enough that it throws enough resistance

that it'll shut the thing off. Okay, well, the module is like, I had the, I put in the regular Chrysler electronic ignition. Then the module went, and we put in a different one. It probably was a cheaper brand

or something, but with that. Especially if the car simply shut right off without sputtering or anything, my first thought is that's an ignition problem. because if it was fuel-related, the car would sputter and you would feel it hesitating and, like, as it's losing the fuel pressure, but for an electronic issue, the ignition, once you lose that spark, the car just shuts right off, and if it's just a loose ground, it can be quite easily started right back up because maybe that wire will just simply move back to a good spot again for a second. Yeah, because the car wasn't moving when I started it back up.

So with that. Yeah, that's the first place I'd be looking. And if the ground wires and all that are good, then it's going to be that module. Okay. That lady who called about the batteries, back in the day, remember you used to glue a penny to the battery and get all the junk off? Yeah. Well, that one, to me, that was right along with that old wife's tale of don't put a battery on a concrete floor because it'll discharge the battery. And I'm still trying to figure out how the electricity goes through the plastic case of that battery.

Never figured that one out. Yes, I know. I know. Okay. Thank you, everybody. Have a safe and good weekend. Stay well and stay happy. All right, Roadrunner, Steve.

Bye-bye. Thanks, Steve. Maybe it's the magnetic fielder on the battery. I don't know. Rick, where did the buzzbox name come from? That's, I wanted to, I know all about the buzzbox. Is that? Because I looked it up.

Oh, you did? Yeah. It's a tool, right? It's used to set the timing. It's called, it's a magneto ignition systems, right? It buzzes, if it's ready to run by you connecting it, and I don't know. It's a very old thing. I was doing the same thing you were doing.

It's an ignition control, CDI. Something like that. And it just goes on. on but buzz box but Rick will probably tell us what it really is well it the term got to be used generically basically to mean when you took a car with an old manual distributor they had the rotor and a separate coil and when you switch that over to a car that has electronic ignition then they call it a buzz box because it's electronic instead of the old mechanical oh okay it's actually the part right it's not just this tool because I keep on seeing this it's just a

generic term that the old car nuts like me would use that to mean a car that had had electronic ignition swapped in for the old mechanical okay that you're looking up on chat gbt we actually was google a i it was a i was a i though what's google i don't even people has a i so you know you're joking about that but let me tell you something uh and nancy is with me on this our lives are the three people will now live in our home. Nancy Earle and ChatGBT, GBT.T. You better give it a better name.

And I can't tell you. Oh, wait a minute. What about all your other women that are in the house? Well, that's another story. But we have, both of us have been having some medical issues. And I know a lot of people have medical issues today. Let me tell you something, we have had such great luck. Goa, for people have never heard of it,

I just feel sorry. for you if you've heard of it and you haven't gotten around to sign up sign up if you haven't signed up because if you want the the latest addition pay for it it's going to cost you a monthly charge but it is absolutely the most accurate source of information in my 84 years on this earth I'm suddenly I am Methuselah I am I am the wisest man on earth because you ask me anything and I go to chat GPT. The key is to phrase your question properly.

And you have to, the only thing you have to be smart about is you have to know how to ask the question and you will get some of the most incredibly amazing answers. So I'm talking ourselves out of business here. Rick, you know, Stu, Nancy, me, we're all stupid. compared to a chat GPD. There's something really interested, and this will creep people out

or make people want to get it, but the latest version has this a conversational mode where you can speak to it, and it's incredibly natural. You can interrupt it. You can also give it different voices, just like your phone,

so if you can do your Siri, but we could conceivably set the microphones up here, and you would ask questions, and as a matter of fact, we might want to do a show like that for just a few minutes, just for the heck of it.

It will speak to the callers. I'm telling you, it will work. Me and my brother Josh just set up, had my computer and his, and I asked a question, and they started talking to each other. We just sat there and listened to this conversation between his, his, Chetch, and mine, and it was, it was, it was, it was really revolutionary feeling. It felt like something. The other thing about, I know we're way off subject here, but you're talking about, you know, my favorite topic, Chachee-B-T, I accidentally stumbled on to, you know, I went on the, you know, I went on the, their latest one which is the they keep one oh it's a super super logical one yeah so so if you ask them a complex question uh they they're research even at quantum speed even

that takes a well is it takes a while so you'll ask him a very complicated question and then you start looking and it says i must consult my references and it goes reference one and they go to reference two of course they're reading an entire book and maybe three seconds right and then they're applying logic doing it explains what it's doing and maybe 10 minutes later they'll have 35 sources and then they will summarize it for you that's the in a relatively short time and then it keeps asking you how about a little more information on this how about whatever and that deep research they're calling it deep research and so anyway they have been able to do actually something real quick off the topic but there was really interesting as watching some i think it was a show or something like

that basically oh it was the daily show or something like they do a lot of like research on their they said or no i'm sorry it was a difference it doesn't matter but basically it accomplished what their staff does over the whole week before the show in a minute and it got it really upset the staff because they said well you're not doing this now but this is this is unavoidable unavoidable it's going to be doing that have fun with it folks it's very excited you'll enjoy it definitely and to what you said about the voice and you know asking her you know something it was very telling

it was I felt like as if that she was right in the house with me and she wouldn't stop talking she just went on and on and I was trying to deactivate you know what I had activated but everything that she said was so accurate

it was just amazing well as husband and wife will do we'll have a disagreement so rather than fight now or argue that's when we call the police you bring the We agree and disagree. Let's ask. And then whoever is saying that will fill in chat GBT.

So we let Chad ChbT settle our arguments. That's great. That's fantastic. Are you guys ready to get, and these were all featured at a lot of conferences late last year and early this year, these agents, the robots, the physical things are going to be mass produced in China this year. And they're already for sale. You guys can order it.

It doesn't know how to do anything. He gets there and it learns the walk and all that. $16,000. You can get one right now. It's from Unitry. And if you watch a video, I guarantee you're going to buy one. I don't want one in my house

because it looks like a little silver monkey that walks around and can do anything. It can do karate. You can do backflips. You can train it to unload and unload the dishwasher. I watched a video of them doing it. It doesn't come knowing how to do it. It watches you as you do it.

And then you show it, you teach it. And so this is happening. This is how Terminator started. exactly how it is, but that's why they're making them four feet tall and not six and a half feet tall. So that can be ordered right now? I mean, I've been reading about the robots. It's my fault. I started

this. It's like a bagel conversation. Down the rabbit hole. We've got to get back to Earl on cars. Time the rabbit hole. Earl on robots. Okay. Hey, listen, I'm the only alpha dog at home. Anyway, we're going to go to Marty and Marty is a

regular caller. So glad to hear from you, Marty. Good morning. Good morning Welcome Hi Hi Marty glad you're feeling better Thank you very much

Oh yeah I am We are My question is this Is the government Once they start these tariffs Is the government going to put a sticker on a car So you know

Whether there was a tariff paid In this one or this one has been in the lot Because there's some car dealers That are not honest that's a very good point I don't think they will no I think it would be too complex to figure out

but again it's very beneficial to you the consumer to know and that's a matter of fact that's a very very good question because when you go into a car dealership you'll find some cars have the tariffs included in the price

some cars don't have a tariff some cars will have a tariff, but they don't currently have a tariff and this whole tariff thing, first of all we don't know whether they're actually going to be implemented or not, and if they are implemented, we don't know whether they

will be retracted our whole auto industry, retail and manufacturing is in the state of flux. The manufacturers are confused, the dealers are confused, the consumers are confused, and

every day you tune in the news to find out what President Trump or his administration who he's talked to, the prime minister of Canada, and what they're talking about. So it's throwing the entire automotive industry into a near panic situation. Yeah, it's a real frenzy. Right now, we were talking to our Toyota rep, you know, about like the impacts. Like right, you're not going to see anything probably on Toyota's. for a little while, but it depends on if they last, it depends on how long

it goes on. Domestic manufacturers, you're not going to see it reflected in the MSRP. They're probably not going to change the invoices to the dealers, but they will drop the big incentives that they have right now. Some of them have thousands and thousands of dollars, so they drop those

that effectively raises the price overnight, and so it might look like that. Then if it does continue, because they say they're going to be permanent, and a year from now, I don't know. Maybe they will label Menroti labels or who knows, but there's what can happen. And I mean, our rep doesn't believe it's going to come with shortages because when we had the shortages in 21, 22, the entire supply chain affected everybody. So this one affects everybody differently.

Some have more, I'm looking at an Maroni label for a, for a Maserati. They're going to have a problem. only 1% North American content but the effect on pricing like you said dealers might take advantage of this if there is a slowdown using the excuse

of the inflationary effect of the tariffs we saw what happened when real other inflationary pressures did on prices and dealers just went all the way to the top and took advantage of it so yeah I think every time we go into new uncharted territory

dealers are very creative and who knows what they're going to do, how they're going to handle it. And for the consumer, Marty, there's a, you know, there's a whole lot of uncertainty out there right now. But things are going to get better. And there's so much information, you know, on chat, GBT, about these tariffs, who they will affect. I'm talking about anything from, you know, parts, car, anything and everything. So it really pays to take a look at ChatGBTBT and see what's ahead. If you look at, there's no way to look on the MSRP label is there that tells you when the dealer got their car? It does to have the dealer, which dealer got it.

It doesn't have a date on it. Doesn't have a date, okay. Marty, the terrorists are, yeah, if a part, it parts from a car, if the car is assembled, in the United States, but they got parts from Mexico, then it's subject to tariffs. The biggest effect will be from Mexico and Canada. You'd be surprised. In our dealership, I mean, we don't even think about it.

We haven't, but we get a lot of cars that are manufactured in Mexico and Canada. We never thought of Mexico and Canada is being important. When I first heard about tariffs, I'm saying, hey, we're really lucky. We're a Toyota dealership. Years and years ago, we used to get a lot of cars from Japan.

Now we don't get any cars from Japan. In fact, we export cars from the USA to Japan. So we're not really worried. Well, I forgot about Canada and I forgot about Mexico. And I forgot about the part that a lot of people that are furnishing parts to American manufacturer toiodas are manufacturing them in Mexico and Canada. And they're going back and forth. So, like, for example, like the Raft 4s, they assemble them in Ontario, Canada, but parts, components are going across the border into the United States where it's worked on it, and it goes back a few times.

A whole lot to what you said about the stamping and component plants. And you're looking at Buffalo. You're looking at Chicago. There are so many, you know, avenues to explore that it, like I said, it's just worth going to chat GBT. to clear up some confusion. Yeah, now my car was made entirely in Japan, the Crown. Yep, mm-hmm, and like the Priuses. Very unusual, yeah.

Yeah, Priuses, some corollas are, there's some, we have various that come around, but the main core Toyota vehicles are majorly produced in North America. When we were a young dealership, when we were first, began selling Toyota. 50 years ago. The cars that were, yeah, the cars that were built in Japan were far better than the ones that were built

in America. And we customers knew it. They requested Japan-built cars. Our customers say, it's just a Japan car. And they wanted to buy the Japan car. Now it's, you can't tell the difference. Hey, Earl, quick note from Donovan here. He says, Earl, the biggest effect is from Europe, Japan, and Korea.

Parts from Mexico or Canada, if they are USMCA compliant, they are not subject to the 25% tariff. Not true. What's USMC? That's the old now. not know what USMCA. It's the old NAFTA. NAFTA was changed in the last Trump administration

to the United States, Mexico, Canada agreement. And that's not true. The orders on the terrorists go supersede. They're just saying NAFTA or USMC doesn't matter anymore. Really? Okay. It's a full-on trade war. It's completely, it's not going by, if that was the case, no Toyota's would be affected.

Nothing built in Canada or Mexico would be affected because that's all part of that free trade zone. So I don't think Donovan's correct there. Well, it'll be the first time he hasn't been correct. That's a rarity, a day in history. If he's correct, then Toyota right now, my rep, we wouldn't have that conversation about what are we going to do over the next few months.

Because Toyas, that are any vehicle that's built in Mexico, they're all protecting this free trade zone. That's NAFTA. or, I'm sorry, it was changed six years ago to USMC. Yeah. All right. Well, we'll see what it does. If it happens, it's going to see how it affects all these dealerships in their sales.

Right. That's not to say the president won't turn around tomorrow and say, well, NAFT, people are the part of North America. Nobody knows what's going to happen. But as it stands, it's a permanent 25% tariff on all imported vehicles that are not manufactured. My theory on this, just for what it's worth, this is just my theory on this, is that Trump will continue along this line until he's convinced. He needs a headline. Well, until he needs to tell he's convinced that he is doing serious damage to the economy. And I think from the get-go, he's planned on negotiating.

That's what he is. He's a negotiator. He's a wheeler dealer. He's the best at doing this of anybody. And so when he has the auto manufacturers and dealers on their knees and the consumer is extremely angry, he'll cut deals with the manufacturers and take the terrace off. I think he's got people worried enough now that he is crazy, that he won't go through with this, and he'll make some backroom deals.

And lo and behold, the United States will be better off. the consumer will be better off, and we'll be back to normal. That's my optimistic, hopeful thinking. Right now, if he proceeds the way he is, we're talking a disaster to the automotive industry. And at the end of the day, you know, President Trump will say something today, and tomorrow he may say the complete opposite. So you've got to keep all that in mind. That makes it hurt.

Don't forget. Don't forget a lot of his friends have a lot of stock. and when they see the Dow come in 700 points. Is that amazing? Wow. They tell him what the hell are you doing. And that's what happened. One of the friends that tells him what to do is Elon Musk.

Right. He lost a few billion already in Texas Rock. Exactly. Unfortunately, it's not enough. Okay, well, thanks very much. All right. Okay, Marty. Have a good weekend.

glad you're both back and thank you Marty. Hey Marty, stay in touch with me like you have because I'm waiting for one of those gifts to arrive either in your doorstep or someone else. Yeah, didn't get it yet, so

you're my closest connection. Okay. Okay. Hi, right. All right, Nancy. Okay, have a good weekend. Bye-bye. Thank you. You do the same. Our number here is 877-960. You can text us at 770, We are going to stay with the phones, and, boy, I'll tell you, we've got the guys calling us this morning. We are going to go to, let me see who we have here.

We're going to go to Jim. Jim's calling us from Michigan. Welcome, Jim. Hi, this is actually Ken from Michigan. Jess? I'm the guy with the Ken, K-E-N. Oh, great. Okay, Jim.

I'm the close. Uh, I'm the guy with the Prius that, um, built in Canada. Let me see. Yes. Uh, the Prius that doesn't convert to, uh, kilometers in Canada. Yeah. Let me see if to. I remember.

Uh, yes, but, uh, I'm at 144,000 miles now. And, uh, my dealer recommends that I do an engine inverter coolant change. How did they test for the quality of the coolant, or do they just do it on miles? How many miles were on that? 144,000. Does that sound normal? Yep. Toyota Factory Recommended Maintenance calls for the coolant replacement at 150,000 miles,

and then every 50,000 after that, and they're actually playing it right, because they're being honest with you, they are following the Toyota Factory Recommendant and maintenance, which most dealers are going to try to sell you this service at like 50,000 or 100,000, they're going to try to sell it early and super often because they make a lot of money on it and it's a very easy thing to do. There's a machine that they simply hook up to your car and it actually pulls a vacuum and siphons as much of the coolant as they can get out of there and then it refills your car back up with coolant and they charge a fortune for it and yeah it's a pricey thing but at 150 that's the correct time to do it let me excuse me can't you i mean all

cars aren't created equal and all drivers aren't driving the cars the same can't you take a sample of the coolant and analyze it as to whether it really needs to be replaced um you're You could, but I wouldn't even know where to send it to have it analyzed. Okay. We, as mechanics, that's a tool that even I didn't have. And trust me, I bought a lot of tools for my career. If you just tasted it. Yeah.

I'll leave that one for you, Stu. All right, give me a call when you need me. Because, unfortunately, it tastes really good. Coolant is sweet. That's right. And that's the most dangerous part about it. Oh, it's right, glycol something or another that kills you. That's why what you don't want to do

is have it spilled on the ground because dogs or cats will drink it because it's sweet and then it kills them. You've got a talent there, Stu, for special effects. There's a job out there for you. I had one more question on brakes. Sure.

And that is on, they wanted to replace the brake pads. It's down to 3.30 seconds. But they also said that they should replace the rotors. instead of just turning them without even looking at the brakes. Then they also added an anti-squeeal kit. When you buy Toyota brake pads, they come with the new backing plate,

which is actually what the anti-squeal is. And quite often, as a mechanic, we use a little bit of, it's called disc brake grease. It's actually made by Toyota. And I'll put a little bit on the ears of the pad where it rides in the, the pad holder and I'll put some on that backing plate where the caliper is actually going to be touching the pad and what this does is it reduces the chance of harmonic vibration that can make that squealing noise when you're stepping on the brakes now for the rotors the rotors

should be measured just with a simple micrometer to determine its thickness and let me ask you this if you're driving at highway speeds say you're doing 50 60 miles an hour and you have to step on the break kind of aggressively do you feel any sort of a vibration no none at all then your rotors are probably not warped and if they if they measure them and the rotors are safe thickness still then yes they can be turned otherwise if the rotor is too thin to be safely turned you know it's been worn down then they're going to say no it's it but they should measure them first and I would say what are the measurements on those rotors and what is the minimum thickness and find that out that way? Okay, because they have rotors at 197 and a shim kit at 6470 and anti-squareel kit at 3995.

I didn't know Toyota has a separate kit. Now, the brake pads should come with the shims already already, with them the new shims okay and i'd be asking them why don't these pads have the new shims already with them because toyota factory brake pads the shims come with them that's what i thought okay well that's it for now thank you so much for your help as you have hang on the line for a second i just i checked with our expert friend on replacing goulin uh uh doctor uh you know uh chat gbt and uh he says that you can buy a coolant tester hydrometer or test strips available in auto parts stores a coolant hydrometer measures a free boil protection level test strips can

check the PHA pH and corrosion protection telling you the chemicals properties are still good so and of course you can do your own visual inspection which Rick has often said on the show a fresh cool is usually bright green, orange, pink, or yellow, depending on the type. If it looks rusty, brown, or cloudy, whereas debris, it probably needs to replace. But I knew that, but I didn't know about the test strips or the hydrometer. So that might save you an expensive coolant replacement. And your Toyota factory coolant is going to be pink for that car.

Correct. And they always top it off when you do an oil change anyhow. Oh, yes. if it's low, so it gets somewhat replenished. Yeah, it's small amounts. Correct. Thank you, Jeff. Okay, well, then I am all set for now.

Great. Getting down to the dealer in Dundee, Michigan. All right. Thank you. Thanks, Jeff. We're going to go to John in West Palm Beach. Good morning, John. Welcome.

Sorry for the hold. What can we do for you this morning? Your Johnny, sir Okay, great I've got a question I don't even know how to freeze it I've driven a bunch of cars and I've got a feeling that engineers

have ignored the inside interior well here's what I'm trying to say in today's modern car in the last 10 years you put the windows down it's hard to hear the radio I have to put the windows up to listen to the radio and I like driving with the windows down sometimes not always using air conditioning I remember though in the 60s and 70s I mean to put the windows down still hear the radio is this something that they've given up on because every car has an air conditioning

that they don't have their engineering the interior cabin to be able to hear the radio with the windows down. And what else have they done away with as far as engineering a car for conveniences that have gone away? Well, do you remember those little triangle wing windows on the front doors? uh the little triangle windows for the vent for cigarette smokers those are awesome well they'll say you turn around backwards they yeah you open that thing up and aim it just right and it would suck air right into the car to help keep you cool

without having to have the windows down and john i don't want to hurt your feelings but uh it might be because you can't hear because you're older and your hearing isn't as good as it was uh 25 or 30 years ago i you know I'm half deaf in fact I wear hearing age and uh you know none of us like to admit we're losing any of our senses but uh even me yeah even young me but you know i thought let the audio systems have an adaptive thing like when you lower it they it raises up when the wind is some some do uh salara actually was one of the first ones to have that on the convertible yeah when you lowered the top it would raise the volume of the radio uh but even donovan says to the caller it's your hearing it's not the car well you know here you know this is something this is a valid point now none of us like to say we don't do anything as well as we did

when we're younger but the fact of the matter is take it from this 84 year old guy that ain't true so at our dealership one of my favorite I don't know what it's favorite or my chronic problems as a customer we'll bring their car in for service to our Toyota dealership and we always advise them to test drive it with a technician or with the service advisor and the service advisor come back and says there's no the noise you described is it's not happening I don't I don't hear that noise and and then they call me up and complain and the first thing I think is why didn't you take the technician with you or who is Which technician did you take with you?

Anytime you have something like a smell, our smell is affected as we age, our taste, our hearing, our eyesight. So get some good eyes, good ears, good nose to double and verify your complaint and don't accept somebody that just took a test driving your car and said, your car is fine, it'll drive you crazy. Yeah, and on your radio equalizer in your vehicle, you know, you can really play with that and you can tweak it up or tweak it down.

And you can go mid-range and things work or you can hear, you know, a lot better. And with the windows down, you know, do you always want to, you know, blame it on the fact that you can't hear? How about the wind? I mean, it just drowns everything out. So take a look at the, you know, tweaking of the equalizer in your car radio. Well, it's the wind noise. It's causing all of that. Yeah.

And I just don't think the design is there anymore for, you know, people to be able to listen to the radio's with the window down. Yeah. I'd turn the radio all the way up. Yeah. Yeah. I'd really try that feature that you can boost the, mid-range as far as the speech clarity.

So also the treble, you can also tweak that, and that is definitely gonna make a difference. I've tried it. And it's not gonna make you any happier to hear this, but with technology, you know, a lot of people now are streaming. They're streaming via Bluetooth into their, either their hearing age like Nancy and I do, or they're hearing,

what do you call the iPhone? Oh, the AirPods. Air pods. You shouldn't do that in your car. Next time you're walking down the street, counts the number of young people that have a little white thing sticking in their ears. And when they get in the car, they don't care whether the windows are up or down. They're streaming directly into their AirPods.

Yeah, I forgot because the AirPods, you can put on a transparency mode where you can hear outside noises, too. However, it is illegal to wear any sort of earbuds or headphones while you're driving the car. Yeah, just trying to explain that to the cop, though. I could hear. I heard you put the siren on, man. Hey, Rick, aren't most vehicles equipped to adjust, you know, all of the features that we just, or I just talked about? Well, yeah, most radios do have equalizers.

You can go in and adjust them, and other than that, it's just, you just got to turn the volume up. Look at. Yeah, the Tesla here says immersive sound, and you got a little bar there that you can scroll. for that stuff but you still put the windows down it's hard to hear and you know it also helps

I see the audio settings and they're all there you got the sub base the base the mid and the treble exactly but I just put it on auto yeah there you go

and direct that speaker towards you direct what speaker towards me the speakers that are inside your interior to, you know, provide you with whether you're listening to a talk show, music, whatever. Make sense?

Nope, I just put it in the center so that I hear sound coming up from the backseat and the front seat. I balance it out so it's in the middle. Yeah. Okay, and the speed compensated volume, if it's available for you, that's also a great feature. Okay, well, I hope we've... We've answered your questions, and we hope to hear from you soon. Very good. Yeah, next week.

There you go. Have a great weekend, John. Okay. We're going to go to Mark. Mark is calling us, I believe, from Attica, New York. Is that correct, Mark? Ethica. Ethica.

Okay. Attica's a prison. Great. You only have a few minutes. I understand. I wanted to comment on AAA. So I, before I retired, I ran a 10-bay shop that was AAA certified auto repair, which means you have to have a 95% approval rating, you have to have an ASE Master

Tech on staff, you have to have a ASE certified service advisor and all the equipment. And so if you call AAA, we're in a touristy area. a lot of people from out of town, they would direct you to a AAA approved shop, which I wasn't the only one. There's several around. But you would call them, and then people don't realize that the tow operators are all independent. Maybe a large city might have their own AAA fleet, but almost places in the country, it's an independent toll company. So we're having a problem where people would call and say, my car is broken down, and then they'd never show up.

Yeah. Well, it turns out that the toll operator would tell them, oh, the AAA place is too expensive. You should go to this local shop. And they would divert you to some sheister local shop that would then give them a, like, a $20 payoff to bring the cars in that way. So you have to be careful when you're out of town

that you go to a AAA approved or the dealer. if you don't know, have a trusted local repair place. So the lady with a battery problem might be having a problem with the tow company. Yeah. And each AAA region has their own office, independent office. Exactly. And there's a guy there that's going to be the repair shop and tow company like supervisor. So what she needs to do is call the AAA, not the 800 number,

get the number for the local AAA office and get a hold of that guy. Yes. And maybe have him meet you at a AAA approved auto repair shop where they can test the battery and then he can make a determination. And that guy's got a lot of power. Yeah, he does. Because he can tell those tow guys, hey, you're not doing the right job. We're going to pull your AAA approval.

That's very good advice. I used to be a director of the AAA, and I was very much involved with it. And you have to go up the hierarchy sometimes to get someone that will – their wink link is just what you describe. These guys that have got the gas station that they got signed up for AAA. One of the things that I used to love about AAA, and I'm not involved with them anymore. I keep talking about it, but I haven't done it. Maybe your conversation will get me inspired to do it. But they offer their dealers, if you're a AAA-approved dealer, a third party to arbitrate disagreements between a customer and the dealer.

And sometimes I'll have a customer that is just not satisfied with what we told him about his car. And one way to convince them, especially if they're AAA members, I say, would you agree to the decision made by the American Automobile Association? They have a representative that will come out and inspect your car and give you a AAA opinion as to whether Earl Stewart or Toyota is giving you the right advice. And they always say yes. And, you know, if we're right, we're right. If we're not right, then we do what the AAA tells us to do. But that's a triple A is a good outfit, but as you say there, we clink is the guy that comes out to jumpstart your car,

let you in the car when you like yourself out. This guy might need to be replaced. And the only way that would happen is to call up the line to the regional office. Yeah, I think the one thing to remember is that tow truck operators are not technicians. That's why they're tow truck operators. That guy may even be getting paid a spiff to sell you that battery. That's right.

That's right. And the last thing I have is in the northeast here, when the air conditioning was just way too expensive to repair, I tell the customers they still had 440 air conditioning. They'd say, what's that? I'd say four windows down and 40 miles an hour. You can cool it right off. All right, thanks, guys.

Hi, great call. Thank you very much. Give us a call again. We're going to go to Frank, who's been holding from Jupiter Farms. Good morning, Mark, or Frank. Good morning, Frank. Hey, hi. Hi. A couple quick things.

One, I'm glad to hear you guys back live on the air. I also noticed that you were cooking some very nice breakfasts for Earl. I sent you a couple pictures. We just got back from a two-week cruise on Oceana. And they had a restaurant called Aquamar, very healthy. In the morning, they had, like, farmer's toast with avocado. Oh, yeah. You can have a soft-boiled egg, and this was the most unusual thing I ever saw.

This egg comes out completely whole, but no shell, and you figure, oh, it must be hard-boiled, and you put your fork into it, and out comes the liquid. I don't know how they cook it that way and get the shell off about breaking it, but that's obviously a chef. but then they put in turmeric in the juices and other it was a very very healthy part of that ship and i saw you doing about the same thing for all and i thought well congratulations you're like on the ocean of the ship but um with that that that's from that and so again with the new car i believe i told you a couple weeks ago a month ago i treated myself to um alexis x 380 down at Palm Beach

Bloods was still and surprisingly in the mail when I came home for the cruise it's setting the title for the car because we pay for it

we wrote them a check I thought everything was still electronic is that something that's kind of new that we actually get the written title now or I know if you're financing

the car of course totally it'll be holding on you can copy some titles but it's still held electronically in DMV computers oh okay I go, you know, the way I lose things, I go, great, here goes to title now.

I remember when it came out, it seemed weird to me now, but, like, here we are. I think they've been doing this from, like, 20 years, and, like, now everything is digital. Like, I don't, I don't think I ever see any paper with regard to anything financial for me anymore. I mean, I get them in the mail, but everything's handled on computer, and it's, I think, I mean, trust it now until it all comes crashing down. I think I got a paper title to my, to the, to the, to the, to the, to the, to the, yeah. Maybe it's an additional thing. but they're still stored electronically. It's no longer, I mean, maybe it's an automatic paper title now.

I wasn't aware if that was the case. Yeah, I got a paper title of my cyber truck. Okay. Yeah, one other thing about the batteries, when the lady was talking about the batteries, Costco also sell batteries. I believe they're pretty good batteries, and they'll do the insulation all, of course.

Everything in Costco's good. Yeah, Frank. I've used that, you know, buying batteries. at Costco, and I never had a problem. Yeah, and we also, way back, I had the AAA truck come out because I have AAA now for about 55 years. I mean, it's an incredible why I keep renewing it, but I do. And they came with a little battery truck, and the battery, and needed a battery, and then the

Cadillac underneath the backseat, and they did all that, and it worked out nice, and it was, the price was not too far from either Costco or Sam's Club price, so they're pretty fair, all in all. Absolutely. Keeping that AAA in your back pocket is very helpful. Well, anyway, that's about it. I'm glad to hear you guys back on the air, and the cooking that you do for Earl is fantastic. So obviously, that's why he's so healthy. She's the world's greatest cook, I'll tell you. I'm looking forward to it.

By the way, Frank, if you boil the eggs for about 13 minutes, they'll come out soft-boiled where the yolk will still be pretty liquid inside. 13 minutes. 12 to 13 minutes. boil them for about 15 to 16 you'll have a perfect hard boiled egg but when you bring them out of the hot water put them into a bowl with ice water

and let them sit in the ice water for five minutes and the shell peels right off of them depends on the altitude but we're in Florida so we have no altitude I love hearing the guys talk about cooking it's very refreshing thanks

thanks for sharing your story Frank. Did you guys get to thank Barts with your yacht? St. Barts? Oh, I did. I made it the same Barts. Earl hasn't, I don't think you ever took your boat there. I went there on a cruise. No.

Last week. Yeah, it's a fabulous, fabulous island. We just absolutely fell in love with that island. Yeah, it's pretty cool. A lot of big boats anchored up there. It is really beautiful. We've been there with the 20 group. That was a long time ago. Yeah.

Okay. Well, you have a good day. I didn't mean to take up too much time. Thanks, Frank. Always nice hearing from you. We're going to go to Howard, who is a regular caller, and thank you so much for holding. Good morning, Howard. Good morning.

I have a couple of questions. Let me start by saying, when you boil the eggs, please, put some salt in the water. That helps. Now you are a cook, Howard. Absolutely, yeah. A little bit of vinegar also. It helps prevent the eggs from cracking.

Look at it. I think we've got some competition here. That's great. We're going to turn this into the cooking show. That's right. Okay. What about olive? Oh, no, I won't talk about olive oil.

Okay, now, spark plugs. When should spark plugs be changed on my camry? 90,000 miles. What year is your Camry? 2017. You're right in the cusp. but I want to say that the 2017 should be 120,000 miles on those. They're iridium plugs, so they are a little more expensive.

And the issue you're going to have is you can pull that plug out and look at it, and it'll look perfect. But if it's got 120,000 on it, it's time to change it. Okay, so 120,000, okay, I got that. It doesn't matter what kind of driving you do. you know, if you go high-speed driving or you don't go high-speed driving, does that affect the spark block? Not really. Actually, getting your car out on the highway every so often and just letting it run on a good 30, 40-mile drive on the highway,

actually helps clean things out because you get enough heat build-up that any carbon deposits will be broken loose and burn through the engine. So it's actually a good idea. Once every couple of weeks, get out on the highway and just 30, 40-40-mile drive. drive just to give us some exercise really okay now battery terminals i used to uh unhooked the battery clean ice battery terminals and put a little uh round ring one was green and one was uh red and hook the batteries up again what happened to those little rings that they're felt rings they sell they're they're pretty useless they don't really do anything the best thing you can do for your battery is either get a can of battery terminal protector spray or even just some plain old axle

grease or in a pinch Vaseline will even work. But once you clean the top of the battery really well, put some of the grease or the spray over that terminal. And what that does is it prevents the oxygen in the air from getting to the terminal and helps prevent that corrosion from building up. So another but you don't have to remove the terminals. No. Plain old water

and a toothbrush, an old toothbrush, get right in there and scrub it clean, lots of water to rinse it off, let it dry for a little while, put some protector on it, and it's fine. You can use your wife's toothbrush, just don't tell her. Earl, I know

what you did last week. Okay, my last question, not a question, but to lubricate the channel, of your window going up and down. What I do is I spray WD40 on the channels where the window goes up and down, and I bring the windows up and down, and that seems to help. Am I doing something wrong, or is that good?

No, WD40 is pretty safe. One of the things that we found years ago was a lot of texts would use silicone spray, and if you got a little too aggressive and got too much in there, that silicone spray would actually mess up. the electric window motor but wd40 uses a different chemical it doesn't use silicone in it so it's pretty safe to use there oh okay no silicone yeah avoid silicone sprays on that part okay thank you very good thanks to the information i have a pleasure great hearing from you how we're okay we're going to go to uh i believe anne marie's text rick can get to it i did have an interesting news

news item that i've been looking forward to mentioning on the show because it reminded me of, you know, selling cars. Tesla in Canada, do you read about that? They've been cut off from, they have an EV credit like the United States does because of all the thing with the terrorists and Musk and everything like that. They ended that for Tesla, so Tesla doesn't get that in Canada. But what was really funny was the last three days of the eligibility for Tesla dealers in Canada, direct-sell dealers,

reported over 8,600 new vehicle sales over that three-day period. What? And, yeah, to get $43 million in credits. And, well, they have a charge back until they investigate where they came from. I mean, that's what it sounds like is, I mean, I don't see the dealers, four dealers, have an 8,600 vehicles between them. So unless they were just lazy and failed to report the vehicles sold over the last two years. you get that? Oh, it's, it was in New York Times. It's awesome. I'm reading this in Joloptic now,

which is one of our fan favorite places. So, yeah, so they claim that sold 18% of the company's annual sales in the last three days of the period. And it would remind me of a very long time ago, you yelling on the phone to Jason, punch them, a bunch of cars that were necessary. I'm talking 30 years ago, folks, almost 40 years ago. I was evil then. Yeah, back in the old days. a little defrauding of Mazda, I would think it was. But all car dealers do that. They report cars to get incentives. And in the old days, it was rife with fraud and all that.

And that sounds like what's going on in Canada with these Tesla dealers. Or it could have been an accounting error. Yeah. Probably not. Anyway, all right. Let's go over to Rick. He's got the text, right? Yeah, we've got to get to text.

Anonymous. feedback and we're also going to get to YouTube yeah well Amory's question today she actually sent it in yesterday I think we kind of covered it already she said good morning I'm confused about the tariffs imposed on cars and car parts can you explain how they're supposed to work and will dealers just increase the price of all cars 25% to simplify things but last week she sent in one that I think we're gonna like this one a little better she says good morning cars are getting more sophisticated to work on and fewer people are capable of fixing them how are

the increasingly complex vehicles going to be repaired in the future robots she says are the auto manufacturers going to create robots to fix the vehicles software updates are fine but you still need some type of physical labor to change tires replace cracked windshields and fix fender benders and she said what would your suggestions be on how to tackle this problem problem. Well, I mean, I'm not kidding. In the future, before this decade is out, we're going to see beginnings of automated robot agents working in fields where humans. And remember that way in the future, they're going to be total electric vehicles, which require virtually no maintenance and repair. And which leaves things like tire rotations, which we've been talking about in this show for many, many years, that, Hopefully they'll have, you know, tires that don't need to be changed,

wear down, rotated, and all that. And the cars will be manufactured then with the idea of the robot during the repairs. They'll be designed to accept robot mechanics. Yeah, I think that's kind of, that's what we're looking at in the, you know, over the horizon. And then in the year term, we're just going to see it bit by bit kind of taken over roles that humans do now. Yeah, what an amazing future. the other thing about the future will be that we don't talk about is the fact that our full autonomy is going to be bringing along using the car when you need it you won't we won't own cars and you'll you'll walk out of your grocery store you'll walk out of your home and a car will pull up and you pull out your thumb yeah and a robot car pulls out and you'll get

You'll get a luxury car, you'll get a cheap car, you'll get an in-between car, and you'll say, take me to Walgreens, and it'll drop you off a Walgreens. You get out, the car goes somewhere else. You don't know when you come back out, another car is going to pick you up. However, I still believe you're going to need humans as technicians, because you're going to have issues crop up in some of these cars that a computer simply is not going to. to be able to solve unless it's simply pulling the parts canon you have not been paying attention replacing everything yeah i've been paying attention it's not done with programming and by the way i don't think this is a good thing because what are we going to do all these people but um but i'm saying a robot would watch you it would go to the same tech schools that that they that they have set up they would

do on the computer um they're fully capable of doing anything i could be and and also they'll figure they'll diagnose it in a fraction of a second. And I'm just saying that's how I'm watching a video. This whole show I've been watching videos of robots. I'm just a little skeptical. If they're going to replace surgeons and doctors, they're going to replace mechanics. Yeah.

It's just I have seen some weird things happen on cars. Robots are going to be building robots. That would, I just wonder how well robots would be able to think outside the box. to diagnose and solve a problem. They're more capable of thinking out of the box than people are because they can just basically take the entire box, which is all the universe of knowledge, and go, where's the answer in this?

Which humans can't do that. Okay, boys. All right, let's go on to the text. We've got more texts. Okay. You got more text? Actually, that was the only ones we had on the text. Oh, perfect.

Then I can jump over to the anonymous feedback. There's been a few good ones in the last couple of days. We can't get to all of them, goes back a little bit. But here's on this, you'll like this one, Dad. As someone who works in the auto industry, you're wrong about aftermarket parts because all the aftermarket parts have DOT stickers,

meaning they meet the same requirements as OEM factory parts. I am not sure what that is, but I know that my concern with aftermarket parts are on crash parts, not on all parts on the car. So if you have a hood, or a bumper or a fender the compressibility of that can only be tested by the NHTSA or the there's a two agents right I don't remember Alan would know where you actually crashed cars into IHS yeah so my main concern is not with the

quality in terms of how good it looks or how long it'll last or anything like that it's a safety factor doors, fenders, roof, all these other things, have not been crash tested. Right. They're made to the specifications, but they are not tested. And you can't just go by the specifications. If that was the case, then you wouldn't have to crash test any cars. Right.

If you look at two cars, one that failed the trust and the other one that came through with great success, you see these pictures in consumer reports all the time, and you would never buy that car that failed the test because you would see yourself in that seat crushed to death and then the other car that passed the test, you wouldn't be touched at all. So after market parts, when you had your car repaired and your insurance company says,

I will not pay for this vendor, I will not pay if it's a part that should be crash tested, then you negotiate with the insurance company or you sue them, but you should get a safety-tested crash part when you have your car repair. And that answers the next anonymous feedback said, do you have a right to force the insurance company

to pay for the OEM replacement parts? And Earl just mentioned right there is you get a situation with these crash parts. You should raise the issue and try to negotiate and see what they can do to accommodate you. But they don't have to accommodate you. So some insurance policies or companies, don't they have some that have stipulate that they will use oil in parts? We used to litigate.

I was back during my litigation days. We were suing the hell out of the insurance companies on behalf of our customers. And we rarely lost a case. Usually the insurance company would step up with the plate. They didn't want to be put in a position of publicly and legally turning a, one of their customers down on a factory part and then have that car involved in an accident and be sued because they wouldn't put a crash test department in. So if you make a big enough fuss with the insurance company, they'll take care of you. That's right. Okay, we need to get over to

our dog of the week. We got a reading my mind. Uh-huh. Okay, we are going to go to Big Dog Ranch, not physically, but boy, what a great job. they do out there. And our, you know, dedication to Big Dog Ranch continues. They do some fantastic work. And Paco is an example. Paco comes to us from Honduras, and he certainly is enjoying the comforts of Big Dog Ranch right now. But he is looking for a forever home. So Paco is, no, he's not too big. He's about 39 pounds. And he's a mixed breed. Mid-size.

And there you go, like a car. Yeah, mid-sized. And like I said, you know, he does come from Honduras. And the adoption fee is $100. It's reduced because of the dog that we present you with. You might want to go to the website to fill out the form to adopt a dog because they definitely do a background check. Not just everyone, you know, gets a dog.

So we're going to, you got the video, Jonathan. We're going to show you a video of Paco. So sit back and enjoy. Hi, my name is CJ. This is Paco. I work at Big Dog Ranch here, and he's really good on the leash. He's really, he's potty trained. He's really sweet in the yard.

He plays good with other dogs. And he's trying to find his forever home. That was a quick video. There you go. Paco is a sweetie pie. Yeah, definitely. Then you can go to www. Big Dog Ranch Rescue.org.

And you can find other dogs on that website. And again, as I said, you can fill out the form prior to going out there. Earl, did you? Oh, I thought you were trying to get my attention. No. Okay. We are going to get to the mystery shopping report. And it's from my memory service.

me right from Holman Honda and that's a Fort Lauderdale dealership so that's a repeat no it is it's not a repeat it's one we did when we didn't show up for the show right the thing was ready to go and then we canceled the show so but it's never been read it's it's a brand new to everybody else okay I'm the only one in the room has read it uh-huh maybe yeah maybe you guys ready okay ohman Honda that's an old family by the way that's uh automotive family that's been around for a long, long time. And they've expanded considerably. I know since they used to be just in South Florida. Speaking in the first person is if I were Agent Lightning, I arrived, mid-afternoon was greeted by a salesman who noticed me looking at a civic park on the shore floor. And as I was

looking inside, he asked me if I like stick shift vehicles. I said, oh no. The average person wouldn't even know what stick shift is today, I think. I said, oh, No, thank you. Is this a stick ship? He said yes. And then I asked if I was interested in the civics. I said yes. I had one and regret ever getting rid of it. We both laughed. He then suggested we take a walk to their lot so he could show me what they have. I followed him as we were walking to the door. I said, I didn't get your name and he apologized and said he's Kevin. And he had to be every bit of seven feet tall. Amazing. I mean, that's tall. He had about five civics on the lot, and I chose this one. Got a picture of the Bernoni label on my mystery shopping report. That's a good sign. I noticed all the cars on the lot have the old-fashioned club locks on them and mentioned this to be to him.

He replied that it's getting really bad down here, so not only do our cars have lowjack, we put the club locks on them as well. It won't stop them, but the meaning of the thieves. but it will slow them down. Oh, cute, just like these, I said, I really like the car and like to see a price on it. He said, perfect.

Of course, I have to digress and say, I somehow don't think that the club locks or the lojack are all in the cars so that they won't steal the cars off their lot. I think they're on the cars so that the dealer can make extra profit by market up the lojack and the club locks. But, hey, what can I say?

I'm being negative. How soon are you planning on buying? I said, likely this week I keep hearing Black Friday specials being advertised on the radio. Kevin said all dealerships always have specials pricing. He then asked me for my information and put me in their system and then excused himself saying he'll be right back with a price. That's the old back and forth. A few minutes later, Juan, sales manager, came back with him and had the price sheet in his hand. he asked, what exactly am I trying to do today?

I'm here picking up some groceries. I was asking for directions to the grocery store. And I was going to sit down and watch a movie in your lounge. I said, well, if the price is right, I'll buy a car. He started saying something about they have a protection package. We all have heard of those protection packages. Which you call them protection rackets. Right.

And just like if you go to the McDonald's, They offer you fries. This is their upscale. I like that. That's funny. I said, well, I'm down this way and being up front with you. I was planning on stopping in a few places

on the way back up north. Back up north. Dealships, he says, put a little air in their prizes, but I'm willing to sell you this car for a great deal today. I told him, I'm being honest with him, and you and I don't want to do a lot of back-and-for, so if you just give me your best price,

I'd appreciate it. He said, perfect. He appreciates being honest with him, and he'll be right back with the price. A few minutes later, he returned with this sheet, which I have shown here, which is a typical worksheet, meaning it's not a legal document, and they can basically say or do anything on the sheet, prices, discounts, add-ons. None of it has an illegality. You waive the price or the right.

to have a contract. It's not a contract. So they can flimplan me a little bit. And then when you sign the real contract, that's where you're going to watch out. One asked me what I thought, I replied. I expected to be much closer to MSRP out the door. And he said, well, this is just my first try with you, being brutally honest. And we could go back and forth and see what's going to work. I said, I told you I was being up front with you from the beginning. I wasn't looking to do a lot of back and forth, and then I was going to shop other dealerships. He replied, give me a number here, cross out this $3,700, and tell me what you want to pay. And I said, I'm not doing that. I said, just give me a good number, and we'll go from there. He said, okay, I'll be right back with a better deal. A few minutes later, he came back with the sheet. Now, this little back and forth that we do want, virtually.

every mystery shopping report is exactly why the phenomenon that's taking place with online buying, Amazon, and some other companies, where you actually will be given out-the-door price without having to play games. That's the reason this was the beginning of the end of car dealerships as we don't have today. But they're still here and they're going to be around for a while, so boy, it goes attention. I got another worksheet here. A lot of fine print, and while he was gone, Calvin said he expected him to come back with a much more aggressive price, knowing that I said I was going to shop around. But when he returned was just a little bit less of a price, just a little bit less of a price. I looked at one and he said, okay, thank you, not interested.

Juan replied, what do you mean? I said, even Calvin thought you're going to come back with a grocery prize, and he said, well, I still have some room to work, but I'll be back in just a few minutes. I said, I don't really feel like wasting my time. I was up front with you for the beginning and frustrated with his games. He just gave me two minutes, so I said,

you're on the clock, to what you said with a pompous attitude, replied. Start your timer then. At this point, I was very bad. And I looked at Calvin and said, I'm sorry for wasting your time, but I'm leaving. I don't need this. Excuse me. I don't like that words.

I didn't see the word. Joshua had this one up. I was on a sea when they were. A fanny attitude. A fanny? And I walked out the door when I got to my car. There was a truck marked down. A dirty name parked there.

And said he would be happy to have a doctor. manager I work with us if I would just give him a chance I said no I'm not interested right now I'm too mad I'm leaving and he said he understood and apologize for want's behavior on the clock he says start a timer running but audacity of this short younger arrogance but blew my mind so agent lighting really got irritated and I actually I would prefer she played the game longer but if I had to do this every week like she does well she does get angry I wanted to address that not not her you know reacting because she's in the moment so that's what makes these good mystery

shops because she is reacting naturally yeah she came on board in 2020 um with agent thunder we had agent thunder and ancient lightning if I remember and then shortly the automobile business went bonkers and so really only in the very short period of time where she's been in this post inventory crunch back to normal thing where people they wouldn't budge so we had an anonymous feedback suggestion a request was when these packages and the protection rackets and the fees appear make that a stopping point and like any like a good customer should and and fight those a little bit negotiate with those ask for explanations and you know refuse to pay them.

I agree. As opposed to because, but in fairness, over the last several years until more recently, those things weren't negotiated. It was, hey, here's the price. That's right. Because there's only six cars on the lot. So things are different. So, yeah, we'll talk to Agent Lightning, and we will adjust the approach to get a little

bit more dig in there with the junk fees in the adons. You know, it would also be fun. And I think educational would be because she's sophisticated and smart enough to do this. when she goes into it, maybe a dealership, we say, let's see how good a price you could get. Go in there and do your very best. Right, get it down. And see how you do it.

We used to do that with, if you guys remember back in the old days, some of our longtime fans will remember Agent X. And he was not the original, but he was the original legend. And he had different personas that he would put on. One was called Larry Laydown. and that was where you accepted everything that they gave you. And the other was Brutus. He made these up, not me, where he wouldn't accept anything.

And he felt bad about Brutus's because they were unpleasant for the employees at the dealership we missed it. Well, he didn't get out of hand, but he just says, no, go back. That's not good enough. And he would really work them. So, yeah, we can adjust. We can adopt some of those. Hopefully Agent Lightning can do that. I think you can.

Yeah. You've got to be tough to do that. She's tough. No one likes a in-your-face confrontation, but you have to really get out of their face. She doesn't naturally. She's, today, I mean, she's, we had to censor her mystery shopping report. She was so upset. Oh, sounds wonderful to me.

Hey, would you say that Agent Lightning is the longest running mystery shopper? It's hard to tell. No, I don't think so because not yet. She started in late 2020, and we've been on the show. since when 2006 or 2004 or something like that. I don't know, 2003. And we had Agent Clean Sweep. I don't know if you remember that one.

And then that was the one who had brought her son with the GoPro strapped to his head. We tried to get a video on. I remember that one. That was Agent Clean Sweep. And then we had Agent X. And there was a bunch of them that kind of worked around because, you know, you can't always get.

You know, people have lives. But now, Agent Lightning has been the most consistent. So in terms of number of mystery shops, I think she's number one. I think in terms of length of time, no. I think that for me and Agent Lightning, she shows all her true colors, and she does it very well. And she's very creative. Well, she actually bought a car almost by mistake one time.

When she's there, I don't think the salespeople pick up whatsoever that she's not there to do anything. than buy a car because she gets into it. I mean, the fact that she... Listen, if you hired a mystery shopper from a temp agency, which we, you know, we used to do it for the dealership, they don't get, they don't get angry. They don't take it personally.

They're just there to collect a check. She is, she has a vast knowledge of the car business, and she has acting skills, and she's able to just go into a mode and be completely believable. That's why that's why she's so good. Very well-rounded. And it was amazing going back in history when she showed up at our front door, our home. That's right.

And the two of us just clicked. And her approach was much different than any other person who had delivered from Publix. She probably got mad at you. And that's all. We really connected. Personality is somewhat alike. She's much younger. Hey, man, she's been with us for five years now.

so it's good her record speaks for itself uh we're going to get to uh the we want to vote i'm going to i'm going to remember folks uh 772 4976530 that's where you can vote for the mystery shop and i am thinking about this shop and it's definitely it's worse than even down in that area it's below average for me it's not the worst we've seen uh i would like to give them a A D. A D. A D. Okay. Well, we got Jonathan and Palm Coast says

Monroney label posted, check. Protection package? Not interested. First try? You only get one try at me, and you blew it. Automatic F, too many games. I'll go elsewhere to find an honest dealership. And Bob says, welcome back.

I know what I'm doing today as well as every Saturday, which is listening to your show and learning from you. I have some room, too. I'm on a timer and it's an F for a rude sales manager and over here we have T-cash who says D-Minesis for deception

Tim Gilliland Destination fee, pre-delivery fee Last you'll see of me D-minus It's a haiku or something Mark H-C-minus Why do that to a customer Johnny Z-Fraidly

D but look on the bright side The battery fee was only $1.50. Hey, a cup of coffee. Well, that's actually a state fee. That is a legitimate state fee as to battery recycling fee. That is true. Yeah. Mark Smith, I give the dealership a big D.

No thank you for the game playing. Brian Siddlato, Honda dealership F, Agent Lightning, A. Myself, D minus, there. Too many games played. It was ridiculous. ridiculous if you're it's it's not only a bad report it's a stupid report because when you lose your temper with a customer you might as well fold up your tent and go home you can't afford to get angry there's so the the salesperson and the

manager too probably I got irritated to the customer because she reacted normally to their abuse and felt like Agent Lightning wasn't Polite? Hmm, for sure. There are too many games, as everyone will agree, and Agent Lightning, as usual, did a

impeccable job, and she's very good at what she does, and his sales manager, oh, geez, what can I say? So, for me, Fort Lauderdale, you're in that area, you know,

it's uh you got to wear your protective gear down there and uh i'm going to give them i'm going to give them an f i'm not going with still i'm going with a d i just uh i'd like to give them an f just to punish him but i'll i'll give them a d okay well and frank and jupiter farms says mystery shopping report f typical south florida dealership frank is angry he is Hey, real quick, there's nothing to do with this mystery shop in particular, but there is an exception to the sales tax on the fee rule, and I just confirm this. I knew this, but I never bring it up, but it came up now with the battery fee. In Florida, there is a $1.50 battery disposal fee, and there's a $5 new battery fee. It's charged by the state.

You do collect sales tax on it. The state says, so you're collecting sales tax in $6.50. So that's why we don't talk about it a lot. Yeah, because it's confusing. Yeah, it's too much, too many details. You can't even buy a Big Mac for that price. Yeah, I just want to head off any anonymous feedback saying we're wrong about that. Because we know this, it's just not a, it's such an inconsequential amount that we don't, we don't mention it.

Jonathan, do we have time for me to talk about my scary events? Okay. As you know, we, Nancy and I drive autonomous Tesla's, and Nancy's driving a plaid and I'm driving the cyber truck. And about five days ago, as we were driving in my cyber truck, leaving our home and I forgot where we're going now, but there's an unusual series of roads exiting from our home area, an S curve leading onto a relatively major highway with a bridge on one side where visibility is limited and a curve on the other side. It's a scary intersection. So when we first started driving autonomous cars, I think we probably tried using autonomous, but it didn't work in that area, so we wouldn't do it. And then as the software downloads increased and the ability of the autonomous cars increased, we began to try it.

Finally, we got to the point where we would use it, and it was working okay going out. occasionally based on the software downloads to the autonomous the plaid will react one way the cyber truck can work to react the other way and every time we get a new software download I get all excited because I'm hoping it's a one-onleap forward you run out and go driving like oh download long story short three days ago

and I really need to contact Tesla directly on this because we are going around the S-crow and there was a car coming the other way on the other lane around the other end of the S curve. And suddenly my cyber truck went over into the other lane. Oncoming? Head on to the motorcycle. I came within 20 feet.

Fortunately, because it was an S curve, we were going very slow. So we both stopped. And I was afraid of two things. I was afraid that I might have died and killed someone. and killed somebody and then I was also afraid this guy was going to come up and whip me out of the car

and beat the hell out of me because did you blame it on the car huh did you blame it on the car did you roll the window down you got to listen to the rest of the rest of it so he got on his motorcycle and came up and he was smiling and I rolled my window down

I said I'm really sorry I tried to kill you he says were you all autonomous I said yes he says I have a Tesla And I use autonomous. I thought you're going to say his bike was on autonomous. So we had a big e-haul.

Okay, that's good. I think about the whole thing. I'm lucky there. But the bottom line is that was scary as hell. And let me add this to what happened. You know, that was an unusual situation when you've got someone who's on a bike who wants to speak to you, you know, who isn't. You know, all of a sudden everybody turns like into an animal. animal on the road. We are in a crazy time and you don't know what people are capable of.

And in light, yes, of what we're going through right now, let me tell you what, there has been some scary moments in the cyber truck and in the plaid. And, I mean, there's been terrible names, middle finger, a possible attack when someone comes up to the window in the cyber truck. Well, absolutely now. I mean, forget about the, just, you know, the autonomous issue. but just they're just the presence they're getting vandalized and attacked all over the country now for political reasons yeah yeah definitely so as far as Earl talking you know about autonomous and when he uses it for me I am just not ready to turn on autonomous when I back down my driveway I can't do it there's too many variables all around me and not everyone is in tune to what you're driving and that you're driving autonomous. So you have to be respectful and take into consideration, you know, what you're up against when you decide to use autonomous. So for me, whenever I get out on the road, open road, that's when I use autonomous. And now it's a blessing I use automatic park.

It's amazing. Yes, sir. Earl, quick note here from Donovan. He says, if you disengage autopilot in that curve, you can then have the option to send a message to. to Tesla and it will send the video of the incident at the exact time. Yeah, but you have, I'll level check on, I know that's to be the case, but you have to do it right then. Right. And I was in the middle of the road and cars were behind me, cars were behind him. They have too many decisions. Typically, when I disengage for something like that, I don't have time to send the message.

Right. And obviously, you're not, your mind is thinking sending a message. Donovan, if you know another way to get the message. to them, I'd love to tell them about that. One thought I have, and I know we're running out of time, is your camera, it stored only a day's worth of stuff before that last accident. I don't know if there's a setting

if you can have the overwrite to be longer, like give yourself 30 days. That way you can access the older footage and you'll send that to Tesla maybe. Let me add this to it. When you deactivate the autonomous and you hit the accelerator, be gentle

because zero to 60 and snap the passenger's neck okay ladies and gentlemen we enjoyed your company as always you make the show stay tuned next week we'll be right back here at 8 a.m. right on the oldies channel have a wonderful weekend