Earl Stewart on Cars - 04.13.2024 - Your Calls, Texts, and Mystery Shop of Napleton Kia of West Palm Beach

Episode Date: April 13, 2024

Earl and his team answer various caller questions and responds to incoming text messages. Earl’s female mystery shopper, Agent Lightning visits a local Kia dealer to see how much over sticker they will charge for the high demand 2024 Kia Telluride SUV on their car lot. Earl Stewart is the owner of Earl Stewart Toyota in North Palm Beach, Florida, one of the largest Toyota dealerships in the southeastern U.S. He is also a consumer advocate who shares his knowledge spanning 50+ years about the car industry through a weekly newspaper column and radio show. Each week Earl provides his audience with valuable tips that prevent them from "getting ripped off by a car dealer". Earl has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, U.S. News and World Report, Business Week, and other major publications. He has also made numerous appearances on CNN, Fox News, CBS, and other news networks. He is frequently called upon by local and national media to comment on major trends and newsworthy events occurring in today’s rapidly changing auto industry. You can learn more by going to Earl's videos on www.youtube.com/earloncars, subscribing to his Facebook page at www.facebook.com/earloncars, 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”

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

Good morning, everybody. Well, here we are in South Florida. Crisp cool morning. Beautiful sunshine out there. And we're here to talk to you again about how not to get ripped off by a car dealer. whether you service the car, buy the car, maintain the car. It's kind of a scary experience. Gallup annual poll on honesty and ethics and professions ranks car dealers right down at the bottom.

And it's been that way for the past 50 years. Gallup poll's been doing that for about 50 years on this particular test. So you're used to it. If you bought a car before, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Or maybe you're lucky. Maybe you found yourself an honest dealer out. there. There are honest dealers, transparent dealers out there. Unfortunately, most of them are not. And that's what we do for the past 20 years. Nancy Stewart and myself founded this show

20-some-odd years ago. It was a half-hour show then. It was on Thursdays, I think, and a little radio station called Sea View. Actually, the same location. Radio stations changed hands, but we're still here. And we've moved from Thursday to Saturday. We've moved to two hours of live talk radio to tell you, advise you, listen to you, and I should underline listen to you because your calls are extraordinarily important. If you've listened to the show before, you probably learn a lot more from the callers and the comments than you do from what we have to say here. So if you got a pencil handy, please write this number down. It's really important. 877-960-9960. I sometimes think I dream about that number. I probably do dream

about that number. I say it so often, but most people haven't heard it, and so that's the reason I repeat it. And for you regular listeners, excuse me, it's probably as boring to you as it is to me, but it's important. So 877-960-99-60. Now when you call that number, we've got five lines going into the studio here in North Palm Beach, Florida. And we reach all over, by the way. We're streaming all over the world. So this is not just a local show. Used to be, but no more.

So when you call 877-960-960, Nancy Stewart, sitting to my left, has got a laptop computer, and she sees that call because it goes to our switchboard. Jeremy is in the control room. And Nancy will tap me on the shoulder or Rick on the shoulder. She can't reach Rick, but figuratively she will tap him. And Stu Stewart, my son, who is in the studio or will be shortly. And we will stop what we're saying because we want to listen to the calls. And we've got a limited number of lines.

My apologies, a few of you from time to time have not been able to get through. but we we try really really hard sometimes we get on a subject that we don't get off it fast enough but we are trying our best to prioritize the call and if you can't call now I don't expect everybody to be calling the same time hey we're here for two hours and tune in in 15 20 minutes or two and an hour and a half we're still got to be here most people only listen to the show for 10 or 15 minutes and so you write it down and maybe on your notepad on your hand wherever you can write it or maybe you got a good memory 877 960 9960 we love to hear stories oh I just got tapped on the shoulder we love to hear from our callers

we're going to go to John from Palm City good morning John morning I need help from Rick Rick, I have two questions. One is a problem. Alexis RX. 350. I just changed out the battery. I put a new battery in from Consumers Reports. Napa 24F. Shortly after, I put the battery back in and hooked up,

when I turn the ignition on now, I get like a scratching noise. It almost sounds like from the radio, but the radio is off. now again that's another problem I press the button for the radio and it lights up but it doesn't work and that has a scratchy noise

when I press the button it's the same type of noise it's like a scratch and it sounds like it's coming from a loudspeaker and it constantly does it every time that I started up can you tell me what you might think that is my first thought right off the bat

is the amplifier Probably coincidental that it occurred right when you put a new battery in, but I would think it's going to be the amplifier for that radio system. What yours, the Lexus? It's a 208 with 97,000 miles. 2008, yeah, pretty certain those had the separate amp, and I would almost bet cash money right now that the amplifier is going to be the issue. Okay, I lost my mechanic the end of the last month, so I only have one choice. I'll be clear to, even though I lift a distance, to bring the car in to you. And the second question I have to you is the spare tire, which is in the rear of it,

and you jack it up on a cable. Now, factory tool that comes with it is a socket, and it takes forever, because it's a limited space and you have like an iron to turn it. I try to buy a metric socket doesn't fit it. A standard size socket doesn't fit it. Is there any particular socket that's sold that fits that nut where you jacked the bare tire up and down? There is a way.

Now, did you look closely at that nut? Yes. Did you notice that it's not. a six-sided piece it's only five-sided yeah that can't find a socket to fit it what do I do I believe it is a 22 millimeter 12-point socket okay that will fit on to that if it's a little funny because you're you're you're actually having to kind of jury-rig it because it's a five-sided piece it's it's Pentagon not hexagon so you're actually having to kind of slip it on there but a 12-sided

22 millimeter I might be 23 because I haven't had to use one of those in quite a while but I'm pretty certain it's 22 millimeter we'll slip on there and then you can use a regular ratchet instead of trying to use that goofy hook thing and crank it which is what the factory tools have you doing that takes forever too uh-huh okay Yeah, John, I'm looking in Amazon now. They have a whole bunch of five-point transformer socket wrenches available with one-day delivery. Okay, they might have one available there for it, yeah.

Five point on a 22, okay, either 22 or 23 millimeter. Yeah. That's a great help because that drives me crazy because I have to take that spare down in order to do the tire pressure. and I usually put up as much as I can in it but I hate to go through that procedure and I always worry for some reason that that cable when I make it too tight would break no possibility of that right

it's almost impossible to break that cable because it's got a mechanism in there that when it gets snugged up you'll feel it when it hits the top and then you can kind of reach under there and give the tire a wiggle to make sure that it's seated properly that way you don't have it bouncing around when you're driving down the road

because it might catch at one point and not be all the way up so when you get it, it feels like it's up reach under and then give it a shake to make sure it's seated properly and if it wobbles a bit give it another shake and then tighten it up some more and it'll come right up into place.

Did they still use that nightmare system on the new Toyotas, too any SUVs? Most of them now are the tires inside the car. Oh, okay. All right. Okay. Well, thank you very much for your information. And there's only one people that I know can take care of this scratching problem. And I'm going to make an appointment to bring the car into you. All right. There you go. Thanks, Jonathan. It was great hearing from you. You're going to love the mystery shopping report. We'll talk later. Mindy, are you still there? Good morning, Mindy. Hi, good morning. First of all, first time, long time. My husband and I listen to you every weekend. Quick question. First of all, let me say, Mindy, I want to thank you for calling and being a first time caller.

And for that, you win yourself $50 this morning as a first time caller. And if you'll stay on the line when we're finished talking, you can speak to Jeremy. he'll take your contact information and pass it along to me. Awesome. What can we do for you, Mindy? I have a 2021-Hundonata that my lease is up and I'd like to buy it. And I got to buy out numbers. It's 15-8. But I just don't want to be sidelined or sidetracked at the dealership

with more fees added on to it. How do I go about that? Well, Mindy, that's something we get asked a lot on the show. And for a long time, the dealers were getting away with adding fees. There's been a number of lawsuits, and there's been a number of Federal Trade Commission fines for people, dealers that were charging extra fees. There's a leasing act. It's a federal leasing act of 1976, way way back, that says it is the law.

that the purchase option price and lease must be exactly as stated in the lease with no additional cost. The dealers, especially in South Florida, but really all over the country, have been sneaking in fees, delivery fees, administrative fees, and all the junk fees that they typically use when they sell cars, but adding to the cost of you exercising your purchase, it's illegal for them to do that. So my suggestion is, clarify this with your deal. you probably would like to return to your dealer, although you don't have to, you can return it to any dealer of that franchise make, and sometimes you can even return them directly to the

leasing company. But clarify with whomever you're going to return your vehicle, your lease vehicle, of the exact price. Now, you are going to have to pay for government fees if you're going to have to put a new tag and register it because now the lease car is registered of the name of leasing company. But government fees. only, no other fees should be added to that purchase option price. Okay, very good. Hey, Mindy, I want to thank you again, and I want to, you know, let you know that you are, you know, in a great position to purchase that lease and remember government fees only.

I certainly will. Thank you. You do your homework before you go in, and you're in the buyer's seat. Thank you, Mindy. Thank you so much. You're welcome. give us a call again and please spread the word that we want to build a platform here for the ladies they too are very important in this industry as a matter of fact they have some real financial power our number here is 877 960 9960 and you can also text us at 772-4976530 and you can take advantage of your anonymous feedback dot com Back to the recovering car dealer.

Yeah, I didn't mention any of our other numbers, but we really got a good start on the phone number. For you folks that are a little nervous about being on live radio like we used to be, it's kind of scary, you know, because if you say something you shouldn't say, you could get in trouble. And sometimes you get fined, and sometimes you can get fired. Nancy and I were fired several years ago from the other radio station. Decade and a half ago.

So, live radio scary, if you don't want to be on live radio, text us at 772-4976530. That's 772-4976530. My son, Stu, you might have just heard him there. He monitors our text. He also monitors our anonymous feedback line, which I do. That's my personal favorite because I know how important privacy is to a lot of us. And you can go online to Your AnonymousFeedback.com. Youranonymousfeetback.com.

Go online and you can pose any question, comment, insult, a threat. We don't know who you are. It's like calling the police anonymous. A lot of people, they don't like to report crimes because they're afraid they'll get involved and they'll have to go to court and they just want to do their duty without having to have their lives.

disrupted so they have anonymous numbers you can call the police this is just like that it's just as safe your anonymous feedback.com sometimes car dealers use that because they don't like us very much as you can understand why and but we like everybody to use it so that's another way to get any we're also on Facebook facebook.com forward slash earl on cars and our biggest biggest source is on YouTube. I mean YouTube is huge. I don't need to tell you that. YouTube.com forward slash Earl on cars. Just remember that Earl on cars. Feedback, anonymousfeedback.com. Any way you want to reach us, we'd love to hear from you. And Rick Kearney, who you heard earlier,

if you were tuned in, who is our certified diagnostic master technician, he monitors YouTube.com forward slash hurlun cars and boy do we have a whole bunch of guys and gals that uh watch that uh youtube channel and they give us some of the most intelligent comments and suggestions so thanks all you YouTubers out there and join the cadre of the Rick Kearney followers on YouTube.com okay guys uh text YouTube amory's been waiting here since before we got here this morning Oh, excuse me, Stu. You know, I want to point out to everyone listening. Hopefully a few people from last week are listening. My apology is that I couldn't. We ran out of time. We couldn't get to your calls.

I received a few calls from the ladies. Please be persistent. Keep trying, and you will get through. Stu. All right. Amri texted us before the show. Good morning, she says. I have a confession to make of a 20. 2013 Camry XLE that has always been dependable, and I'm planning on keeping it. But another car has caught my eye. Rhetorical question, is 72 old to buy a midlife crisis car? No, Henry, it is not.

I have the option to buy a one owner, properly maintained 1997 BMW Z3, Atlanta Blue Convertible. This looks just like the car James Bond drove in the movie Golden Eye. But the Z3 I'm looking at has a tape player instead of Bond Stinger missiles. Sorry to say that James Bond is not on the list of available accessories. Don't worry, I'll probably come to my census soon, but one can dream. Here are my questions for the week. What qualifies a car to be an antique? Is it the age of the car or the popularity of the model, or is it something else that gives the car an antique designation?

Thanks. And she adds that she can dream. It's the age of the car, I think it varies by state. Florida is 30 years. 30 years in Florida. So you're getting close on that Z3. just a few more years so it's 30 years

we'll put you back when in 1994 but Amory if you buy a BMW you're dead to us stop what's your opinion on BMW explore experiment

and do whatever suit your fancy Amory and if you buy it three more years it'll be an antique Earl what's your opinion on BMWs they're coming on pretty strong you know you can't have

a fixed opinion on any make anymore. And BMW is going after Mercedes and Audi and the rest of them. So it's good for the buyers. BMW is a good car. I mean, the new BMW and the used BMW are two entirely different things. Because of the warranty is a good warranty and you buy a new car. And most people that buy these new BMWs keep the car for two, three, or four years, then they trade it.

So they never experienced the problems. The used BMW have to be careful about. I've got my used car, my consumer reports, annual used car buyer's guide out here. And I would, if I, if Ann Murray, if you're listening, I would look that up. They have all the best and the worst used cars listed, and that would be a pretty good guide. But she wants one that is nearly 30 years old. Well, it could be a good buyer. Now, if it's taken care of properly,

yeah, it'd probably be an awesome car to drive. There was a time, and I think Rick was thinking back a long time ago, because he's been with me for a long time, there were times when to touch a luxury European car that was more than, let's just say, out of warranty, you wouldn't do it. I mean, I would almost have a heart attack if I saw a jaguar being traded in on my used car lot. It was worse than a motorcycle.

And I had a rule. No jaguars, no motorcycles. And then things changed. Times changed. When the Europeans got up, the Japanese got up, the motorcycle crawls is better. The Koreans were a big, that was a big surprise. Exactly. I mean, we used to make fun of Kias and Hyundai's.

And now we're worried about them. The only one that we still make fun is what's the Yuga. The Yugo. Yeah, you can't because they're out of business. You want to hear a funny coincidence. this week. I hope it's okay for the radio. So Ford recalled about 22,000 Ford Broncos

this past week on the same day that the Jews passed away and that OJ died. Oh, that's right. Is that right? It's just a coincidence. Wow. It was, yeah, everybody remembers the 1994 chase in the Fort Bronco. I don't forget that. That was quite something.

Yeah. Who can forget that? We're going to go back to the phones and we're going to talk to Doug and Doug is calling us from Boca. Good morning, Doug. Good morning Good morning, Doug Ellis says meow Meow So I was going to say

I was at your dealership This week And they're always nice I mean Very, very nice place to go to Well, thanks for making that long trip, Doug I know it's no fun on 995 That's probably what you have to take

Appreciate the long trip you make Yeah, I I don't have a Honda anymore. It's weird. What can we do for you, Doug? I was just calling about my car. It says it needs premium gas, and I wanted to know if I could use cheaper gas on it.

Probably not, because it's a three-cylinder high compression, and I'm just... What do you think, Rick? Which car is this? Is this the G.R. Corolla? G.R. Corolla circuit, yeah. Put the high test in. With that particular car,

because it is a very specialized, I mean, it's basically it's a factory-made race car. I would step to the higher test. Yeah, I would use premium fuel. Especially for the performance. Yeah, I mean, you're talking. This is a very, very low production. G.R. Corolla.

Yeah, if it was a rental Malibu, I would say, go ahead, put the cheap gas in it. You want to use the premium fuel in that one. Keep that car right and, you know, make sure you save every. I would even save my fuel receipts to be able to show that you ran premium all the time in that car. And that car will hold its value incredible. It's, in five years, you could probably sell it for more than what you paid for it brand new. just by keeping up on the maintenance and keeping everything exactly right on that car.

And following that owner's manual, Doug, is, you know, the way to go. Do you have any other questions? Just one more. So the oil chain says 5,000 miles, but someone told me it was even more than that. So I'm just trying to make sure I bring it in when it's time to do the oil change. Yeah, again, I'd go to that book in the glove compartment.

That's what Nancy said. that has your factory recommended maintenance, and follow that right to the letter. Oh, you mean, it's not 10,000, well? No, not on the GAR Corolla. Dog, do you have any other questions? No, I have a great day and happy Saturday. All right.

Enjoy that, GAR. Thanks, Doug. Thanks for calling. Our number here is 877-960. You can also text us at 772-4976530. Don't forget your anonymous Feedback.com. We're going to go back to Stu. where he has some text to share with us. And then we're going to go to Rick.

Well, let's go over to Rick, because I only had the one text from Anne-Marie. Okay. Rick, what do you have for us? Well, we do have Johnny Z. Freidly asking, have we heard any word on the redesigned GR-86 for 2025? No, we just know there is going to be a redesign. Right? At this point, generally speaking, and I get a lot of questions, and I'm sure everybody, in this room gets a lot of questions about the next model that's coming up and often um you guys know

as much as we do a lot of the information out there is in the press it's leaked and things like that and uh and all manufacturers do this it creates anticipation and they do it on pokers yeah i mean they probably have the completed things sitting there with pictures and the brochure is ready to go but um we don't know it's like um sometimes we get peaks at things um they have an annual dealer convention every year and they'll show some of the cars. I got to see some of them last year, but they didn't show the GR-86. I just said that sarcastically that the manufacturers do that in purpose. As I thought about it, what better way to get free publicity. If you have something that no one has seen and you have the press anxious to get and say, listen, I'll give you an exclusive

on this. I'm going to tell you something about a truck. We haven't even told our dealers yet. we've been in the business a long time, and year after year, our customers will call up and say, hey, did you see the picture in this magazine? Send it to me, please. And we haven't seen it. And we sell the damn things. And I think that is premeditated. What a great way to get to work out on a new model.

Great information, guys. We're going to go back to the phones, and we're going to talk to Debra. She's the first time caller. And good morning. Deborah's calling us from Palm Beach Gardens. Good morning. Good morning, Deborah. You just won yourself $50 for being the second new female caller.

If you'll stay on the line when we're done talking, you can give your information to Jeremy, and he'll pass it alone to me, and I'll get that checkout to you. Oh, that sounds great. Thank you. And most of all, Deborah, I have to ask you, please spread the word right here on Earl Stewart on cars that the ladies are a very important part of the show. And sometimes I don't always get to them because we do have our regular callers that call in early in the morning.

At any rate, spread the word and help us build the platform. Deborah, what can we do for you this morning? Well, I have a question. I have a 2016 Kia, and we put on about 2,000 miles per season because we leave the car down here when we go back to mass and we run synthetic oil. Should I change that oil and filter year to year

even though we only put on the 2,000 miles? It's usually recommended to change it yearly. One of the factors we have in Florida with our extremely high humidity that we get is that water vapor gets in to that engine. It gets in everywhere. So a car that just sits a lot, it's going to have water vapor getting into that motor and condensing inside it. And it can cause little bits of corrosion.

So the oil, of course, is what's going to clean that out. And part of the oil's purpose is to help remove dirt from the engine dirt, rust, anything like that. The main thing is to check your owner's manual and do exactly what Kia tells you to do. So if Kia tells you to change it every $10,000 or $5,000, don't do it any less frequently than that. Deborah, up until now, have you referred to the owner's manual often? I really, yeah, it wasn't a great while, but not... Okay. Sorry to interrupt you.

That's a typical answer from just about anybody, but that is a Bible. for you to refer to it definitely is your owner's manual will take you far absolutely when you hesitate you know you can ask uh everybody uh that you know but the owner's manual is the way to go okay even though it's 2 000 and under 5 000 that was what we wanted to know right the manual the manual does save 5 000 though well then that's course you should do that that's exactly the you know the direction you know that I I would go in so the answer is no that so don't change it doesn't list a a time along with it no no no okay then the problem we're gone from October to I mean we come back in

October we leave in May so the car sits and then we come back in force from October to May so Deborah, is your key, is it a 2.4 or a 2.0? I think it's 2.4. Okay, that's an interval is every 7,500 miles for a 2016, 2.4. Oh, oh, wow. I hope that, I hope we helped you, on, Deborah. Yes, it is.

That's enlightening, you know, 7,500 miles. And as you said, you have a Kia, and it is the 2.4, right? Yes. Okay, and it's a 2016. So there you go. Very good. Thank you so much. Oh, thank you.

Okay, we're going to go to Barbara. And Barbara's called before, and she continues to call, and we thank her for that. Good morning, Barbara. Oh, good morning. I'm sorry I didn't call you at 8 o'clock. But I tried to get through last week, and you told me to call this morning, and I just want to let you know that my husband and I have bought two cars from those people. Thank you.

Your service people are the greatest people in the world. Thank you. And we have events about the 2013, and my husband passed away in November, so I'm not getting a new car, and I have 116,000 miles on it, and never had anything long with it. We had the tire program. We replaced the battery and the brakes, and that's about it. You know, Barbara, I really want to thank you for calling back.

I apologize you couldn't get through last week, and you and several other ladies couldn't get through. So thank you for calling back. Okay, well, I just have wonderful accolades for your dealership, and it takes me almost 45 minutes to get there, but I am still doing it. Bless your heart. We appreciate that, Barb.

Okay, thank you. You're welcome. 877-960. And you can text us at 772-497-6530. And I'm going to check with Stu and see if we have any anonymous feedbacks. On check-in. We haven't addressed that for a while. I've got one from Donovan here.

That might be interesting. We're going to go. to Howard, who's been holding first. Good morning, Howard. I hope you all fine, beautiful day today, as usual. I have a couple of questions for Rick. I'm down a half a quarter of oil. Should I put another half in there?

Or should I just run it the way it is, half a quart short? I would go ahead and top it up. Okay, because a lot of people say don't top it up but I think you're correct because I like the car to run at all capacities full, so I'm going to thank you advice. Another thing, the antifree is what happened to antifree, the coolant. I'm from New York, so I say

anti-free. The coolant is down a little bit. Now, I added water at one time. So what I want to do is I don't want to put the mix in because because I added water. Can I buy the 100% coolant without the water? Is that a possibility? If you can find it. Because it, remember, it used to be we'd buy coolant or antifreeze. Basically, it's the same chemical, but you would buy it in a gallon jug, and then you had to mix it with water to get that 50-50 mix. and it got so complicated that a lot of companies just finally just said enough, just make it pre-mixed to where it's at the proper level of where it should be and just use this, pour it straight in, and you're fine.

And so they all went to that. It's getting pretty hard now to find the concentrated coolant that you don't have to mix with water or that you do have to mix with water to put in there. So you may be better off just to get the 50-50, you know, pre-mixed. You know, it's amazing, Howard, you know, we talk about your owner's manual and we talk about chat GPT, we talk about Google. There's so many ways for you to obtain the information that you need, but we are happy that you decide to call us and speak to a real person.

I'm speaking to the number one person, Rick. There you go. He is definitely the number one person, and I'm sure he appreciates that. Okay, Howard, I got the lines lit up. Do you have any other questions? Best question. What's the best time to make an appointment to do work in your dealers? Sundays are usually slower.

If it's routine maintenance work, that'd be a good way to get in and out faster. Sunday? that's incredible I had no idea that's great information nobody knows I'm making a point thanks for asking Howard aren't open all day Sunday but we are and we it's a little calmer around there on Sundays in the weekdays what are your hours on Sundays 9 to 5 9 to 5 9 to 5 I had a discussion with my wife recently says you open on Sunday and I go you're kidding me we don't talk about it all right okay thank you very much thanks Howard and if you

want to catch me on Saturday? I can sell you a new car. Thanks for asking. We'll talk to you later. 877-960-99-60, and if you think I'm talking fast this Saturday, guess what? I am. We are going to get to all the calls that we should get to because so many people talked to me last week. Why didn't you take my call. Actually, you can text also, and you can do that at 772-497-6530, and I know I'm, you know, repeating the number quickly, but I'll repeat it quickly or try to slow down a little bit as the calls come in. We're going to go to Frank, and Frank is calling us from Jupiter Farms. Good morning, Frank. Well, good morning. I'll try and talk fast. What can we do for you, Frank? First off, do you ever watch the rocket launches from your house over the beach?

From time to time, yeah. Yeah. I saw one last night, and I was thinking, you guys, it was such a perfect view from the farms. For where you are, it's been even more incredible. There's amazing. There's so many going on now. We, be honest with you, we used to watch them all the time because they were very few. Now, there's one or two every week, so we do catch some of them.

Yeah. Okay. Well, on a quick, back to the car thing. You're going to find this interesting. I heard you all talk about the new Poyard Crown, and, and, not that, I mean, Nancy might be waiting for one. No, and I have a crime, and I'm waiting for you. Okay, well, okay, checkers, now it's time to be crowned. Okay, oh, I'm so sorry.

So yesterday, I decided to do a little mystery shopping report for you guys. Oh, my goodness, I should be paid for this. I went to Fort Pierce, Bev Smith, Toyota. What a three-ring circus. I've never been myself. I got there. Well, before I went there, I called, and I said, do you have all these markets and add, oh, no, we just have a dealer fee, and we might be able to, you know, work that out somehow.

Just a $9,000 or $900 deal fee. So I went up there. And they said, just sticker price, you know, just that. Well, they got a separate sticker. They got a whole new Maroni label on. the right side versus a real one that has another ten thousand dollars of add-ons almost ten thousand dollars the crown went from forty to forty nine thousand it was a black uh not a black it was a heavy metal which is an interesting color still fabric seats did you ever speak

to the person that you spoke to on the phone to ask them about this slight discrepancy you encountered yes they have fired her oh that's for sure her name was i mean and you know probably they play back the safe and go, don't tell these people that. So anyway, we went for a test drive. It was a nice test drive. We'll go admit the safe one, all right turns, and then it's time.

And have you ever been to, like, there's not time shares anymore? Vacantia rentals where they have all these little tables set up. Well, by the way, their dealerships under construction. So you're now in a trailer. Or you go out and you put a potty if you need to use the restroom. I mean, it's a, although they do have a huge flag to show where it is. Anyway, all these people,

around there at the tables with the salesman and i'm listening i'm going oh my goodness i saw one lady it was by herself i said you aren't really buying your car without someone who's oh i'm all right these are good people i go oh i'm going to you're sending people home out of their showroom get out of here really get out of here well when i stopped when i came there i said i brought them a tray of cupcakes both red velvet and orange or carrot cakes and chocolate and the guy said what's this for is a whole big box that this is to sweeten the deal And they took my Mercedes in for trade-in to a price of my trade-in. 2012, low-mileage, beetlehold E-350, and lunar blue metallic.

It's fabulous, all new tires. Anyway, so then they started the negotiating stuff, and it was unbelievable. It is. It's definitely worth talking about. And, you know, when we first took your call, you alluded to the fact that you should get paid for this. Let me tell you what, Frank, you can do everyone a big favor in your neighborhood, everywhere, because you know so much, Frank, you can share it. And you can do that by going to Earlsvigilantes.

Earlsvigilantes.com. And you can help out not only the people in your neighborhood, but so many others. And you don't have to know how to take an engine apart, but you can benefit with a knowledge that you have for others, with others. Frank, I thank you for calling. I know you're busy today, so we'll be quick about it, but you all have a good day, and we'll talk to you next week when maybe it slows down a little bit.

I hope so. Thanks, Frank. 877960-9960. You can text us at 772-4976530. And don't forget your anonymous Feedback.com. We definitely enjoy hearing from everyone who goes to your anonymous feedback.com. Hopefully we have received your message

and whomever has taken advantage of your anonymous feedback this morning. Stu will be getting to that momentarily. We're going to go to John, and he's calling us from West Palm Beach. Good morning. Good morning, John. What can we do for you?

A little background. My dad bought a car from you guys at Pontiac in 1952. Oh, wow, that's a long time ago. And it burned in the fire you had. Do you remember? Do you know about that? Well, my dad does, Earl does. Can I give you a quick story about that?

I was having breakfast with my mother and father on that day, and the phone rang, we had old-fashioned phones then. And my father got up from the breakfast table, answer the phone and then he turned white and then he dropped the phone and I said what's wrong dad and he walked over to the bar and he took a bottle of bourbon and poured himself a shot threw it back walked out the door my mother was yelling at him Earl his name was Earl too what are you doing and he just walked out got in the car drove down and the dealership had burned down that day we have a lot of pictures of it we have um some

pretty incredible pictures you can see the carefree through the rubble on south dixie there um yeah that was a big event for us yeah yeah it was very interesting uh i bought a car from you guys downtown i bought a transam at one time and now we own a highlander but i want to compliment you guys i called up and said i'm looking for a car and a couple of people responded to me online and asked me to call and I'm looking for a red highlander from my wife because he liked red. And you guys were very responsive and I appreciate everything you've done. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, thank you so much, John. You know, isn't it amazing just when you think that someone is not listening, they are indeed, and they respond and they get back to you.

And that's a warm and fuzzy feeling. I'm waiting for a red highlander for my wife. Not a new one. I don't want a new one. I don't like the four cylinders. You got to have red? 19 or 20 or a 21. Okay.

You got to have red? It's got to be red. It's for my big boss. That's right. There you go. Okay, John. Thank you so much for calling. Thank you so much for your service.

I appreciate it. Have a great day. Thank you. You're welcome. 877-960-99-60. You can text us at 772-4976530. We're going to go to Stu, and I was asked a question earlier about your anonymous feedback.com. Have you received any?

Yes, I have. Actually, I think I might have gotten on my junk, but Earl passed it along to me. He says, hello, pushing electric vehicles on the U.S. consumers causing these corporations to lose billions. of dollars and in turn cause bankruptcies and going out of business. Let's wait until we have the infrastructure before requiring people to switch to electric cars. As we all know, where the power comes from to make electricity to power the electric cars comes from coal-fired power plants. So how are we helping the environment?

I'm going to turn that over to Earl, but I do want to say I was looking at the consumption of all energy types. and globally the coal use is going up slightly because of China. But in the United States, it's a small portion and we're almost at 50% renewables in the countries in the United States right now. Well, he makes a good point.

Here's an automotive news article this week. I'm holding it up. So far in the first quarter, the first three months of 2024, we, the taxpayers, have paid car dealers $580 million to subsidize the sale of electric vehicles. Now that's just in three months. So the anonymous feedbacker has got a good point.

I think sometimes government, and maybe more often than not, government, pushes too hard on something that's a popular idea. And they try to push something that sounds good on paper. So it's true. It turns out that the push toward electric vehicles was too much, too fast, too early. And hybrids, which had been around for 25 years or 30 years, is now the name of the game. So you can't force the American public to buy something that they don't want to buy. And I think the government's going on.

I agree with the anonymous feedbacker on that. Rick? Donovan just put a post here. He says, Tesla this week filed permits to build the world's largest supercharger site just north of us in Yeha Junction. The site will be just off the turnpike and host 200 charging posts. Put a few of those. We've got a few more of them. He says it's very impressive and shows how quickly things are changing if they need a site with 200 charges at it. It says, Earl, we have given the auto industry the amount of money, but we also have given the industry about 25% of that amount for the same time period. I believe on your, the

article that the article you just read from. He says, Earl, we have given the auto industry that amount of money, but we've also given the oil industry about 25 times that amount for the same time period. Well, yeah. This is, again, Again, government interference, and I don't, I think the government more often than not overdoes what they're trying to do. You've got to remember the politicians, when they make these decisions, they're trying to get reelected. Now, if I'm being cynical, yeah, I'm being cynical, but I believe I'm being truthful. The first rule in politics is to get reelected. And on the other, when you think about it, if you're smart and you're a good politician,

I guess we want you to get re-elected. The question is, how far do you want to go? And I think that by telling your potential voters or your base what they want to hear instead of the truth is, is where the rub is. This is why we end up paying more taxes than we should. So there's two sides to the story. I think electric vehicles are definitely going to be around, and in 25 years you will not be driving anything except an electric vehicle. But 25 years is a long time. now and then it's going to be hybrids, and I think to push and pay, what did I say, $580 million

in the first quarter to the dealers, not the buyers. It's supposed to be passed along to the buyers, but when you give a dealer the subsidy on an electric vehicle, then the games begin. And the dealer steals some of that money, pardon the expression, and increases his profit on the car. He uses the rebates on electric vehicles to enhance his profit. So it's a messy soup out there, and what will happen will happen, and what will happen will be all EVs for 25 years and all hybrids between now and then.

Hey, it always is messy. Our number here is 877-960. You can text us at 772-497-6530. You know who really wants the EV industry to take off the doggies? Guess why? Because you can put your car in a doggy mode. Yeah. So that leads me to our dog of the week.

I didn't mention that earlier, but we do have a dog of the week. And we certainly hope that Connie got adopted last week, and she was a retriever. That's great. And who was it the called in last week who was going to check on Connie? Jersey Mike. Jersey Mike, regular caller. Hopefully he was able to pick up Connie if she wasn't adopted. But moving along here, our dog of the week is Millie.

And Millie is a mixed breed. And she is, as I said, she, she's a female. She's two years old. And we'll talk more about her later on in the show. you'll be able to see a video at about 930. Again, that number is 877960-960, and you can text us at 772-49-6-5-3-0. We're going to go back to Stu. Okay, we do have some more anonymous feedback that came in that I just found.

You've got to find that folder there. Here we go. I bought two of my last vehicles. I bought both of my last two vehicles using the Costco program, obviously. I knew going in the dealer wasn't going to make a deal without making any profit, and that's okay because I feel I got a nice deal both times. I found on both occasions, after doing a lot of research in my local area with using Edmonds and KB and others, that I got a very fair deal and actually paid less than others in my area paid for the same vehicle.

A fair deal is fine with me, mutually beneficial to me and the dealer. Okay. Here's one that sounds like a commercial, but I'm going to read it anyway. My last two vehicles, this is from somebody completely anonymous, I swear. My last two vehicles were purchased from EST, that's Rolls to Toyota. And even though I have moved out west, any future purchase will be from his dealership as well, not one single junk fee in the contract on either vehicle. My 23 Tacoma was priced tax and $42 for the DMV.

My 21 Rav4 was the same except for $400 for the DMV because I came from out of state. No junk fees, period. I challenge any dealer to be that honest with their customers. And that was, like I said, a very nice thing. Okay, and here's the last one. Roger Penske owns Palm Beach Toyota. I think he's just a large shareholder, right? He's not the actual...

Oh, yeah, he's 30%. It's a public company. Yeah, he is one of the only... of Pombie's Toyota. When I'm ready to buy a Toyota vehicle or lease, it'll be from Earl Stewart Toyota. I have leased four V-A-W vehicles from Schumacher VW in West Palm Beach. I will not lease another VW from Schumacher again. The time for a change is coming soon by the end of the year 2024. I'm ready for a better vehicle known as a Toyota. I'm a member and judge with the NCRS, the National Corvette Restorer Society, and I used to restore my own Corvette

sting raise and since I was 15 years old as a hobby and I would know personally the quality of Lexis as my parents are now owning their third Lexus automobile Toyota Lexus builds a great quality reliable automobile yes they do thank you very much Mr. Anonymous all right on over to Rick if you got to indicate back we're going to go back to the phones and then I'll get I'll get to Rick we're going to talk to Tricia and Tricia's calling us from Boka welcome back Tricia Yes, thank you from memory. Tire, Tricia. That's my name. Tricia. Tricia, Tricia, the tire girl. But we're never tired of you.

We love talking to you, Tricia. Oh, that's funny, that's funny. But this time it's not about tires. First of all, I want to tell you there's a lot of static coming in on the radio. It's other radio stations. I don't know what's going on in the stratosphere, but there's a lot of static coming in the radio. but there's a lot of interference. We're at a solar maximum right now.

It could be solar activity. Oh, probably that's it because, I mean, now I can hear you very clearly. Okay, so here's my very unusual situation that happened yesterday. All of a sudden, I went to deliver something to charity. My key did not go in the keyhole. it only went halfway in. Of course, I'm stuck. The wheel is locked.

I'm, you know, trying to call. I'm calling a tow truck, maybe to tow at home. Luckily, you know, the surface never went through. So I'm waiting, waiting, waiting. Two hours, several hours. I say, well, another truck won't get there until 9.30. I'm sitting out there in front of this store. until 5.30, a lot of people trying to help was very nice. The key would not go in the ignition,

only halfway. I even had a second key, my neighbor brought me, did not go in the ignition. Finally, I had an epiphany. Well, let me call a mobile, you know, car service that does keys. Finally, I have this after four hours. I would have been sitting out there all night. what he did was he used something that looked like a lock pick. He sprayed it, of course, with a lubricant. Slim Jim. Jammed in the key lock. I don't know what the hell he did, but he kept, you know, loosening it up.

Finally, the key went in. The car still didn't. The key still didn't turn. He kept working at it, working on it. Finally, it did. What the heck was that all about? Rust. Now, this is the ignition cylinder, right?

Correct. Yeah. Wow. I would have to say something, it must have gotten some dirt or debris got in there, something that was interfering with those little pin plates that actually move up and down when you put the key in the ignition. and I would highly, highly recommend replacing that ignition cylinder. Unfortunately, you'd wind up having to use two keys at that point,

one for the door, one for the ignition, unless you replaced all the locks on the car in one shot. But I would replace that ignition cylinder so it doesn't happen and you don't get stuck again. Well, and you know that's going to be very expensive. expensive. I was kind of, this guy was nice, they're honest. He fixed it rather than saying, okay, you need a whole new cylinder and two more keys. You know, that's a $500 job. You know, this mobile service only costs me $157. But I'm hoping I don't have to replace that cylinder and get two more keys. Well, the reason, the reason I say it is it's very, very possible. possible that whatever was in there and caused that, it's not, I don't think it's very likely

that it came out because knowing how key cylinders are designed, it's not like something's going to fall out of it if it was debris. How about spraying some WD40 in there? Well, a little bit of WD40 can help to loosen it up, but, are you tried that? Yes, that's what he did. Oh, that's what I did before with the neighbor. I did that before. and then when he came there, he even put more in.

Right. But he jammed in some sort of... Hey, Trisha, did he use... Trisha, did he use that red straw that comes with the WD? No, no, he just had some sort of spray that he had in his toolbox and sprayed it in there.

You agreed with us that he had WD, WD40, correct? Well, it wasn't called WD40, Okay, so did he use the other silicone spray? I don't know. I forget the name of it, but yes, he did. There's lots of lubricant sprays out there, but. But there's two good ones. Well, W.D40 isn't silicon.

Are you disagree with me? Yeah, my only concern is that whatever caused that key cylinder to jam up, it could happen again and just I would myself if it were like my wife's car I'd be spending the money and I'd be replacing that key cylinder I mean just to make sure look you know how long is this guarantee I'm not spending another 150 bucks if this happens within a week again right so but I just how could I mean what kind of dirt could get in there so a key would only go in half way it's an it's amazing uh trisha the amount of debris everything that's airborne uh i don't know whether it could even even a little bit of pocket lint that was stuck on the key anything and when you pushed it in it pushed in there basically what what's in there there's there's little metal plates with very tiny springs and they

have to move up and down in slots. So anything you could get in and jam one of those up, it could cause havoc in them. Yeah, definitely, Tricia. You know, Tricia, we're going to have to wrap up this call, but I just want to compliment you. You know, you have learned so much and you've shared so much information with us. There are so many women out there that would love to hear from you. And by joining Earl's vigilantes, you can, you can, You can really help a lot of women and men in your neighborhood. And like I said earlier to one of our callers, you don't have to know how to take an engine apart to do this,

but you'd be a great asset because you're so knowledgeable. You've shared so much with us. Well, I would never get as knowledgeable as you guys, but that's why I call and listen every Saturday. Yeah, and that's what I'm not. suggesting you know so much and then you call in and then you listen so much so by joining Earl's vigilantes you'd be a great asset so I'm just putting that out there Trish thank you it is great hearing from you stay in touch all of your

questions are always interesting hey 7-7-960 you can text us at 77249-9-6 and don't forget your anonymous feedback take advantage of that too and speaking of jersey mike jersey mike is on the line right now and he is calling us as usual from westbound beach good morning how are you mike good morning yes good morning folks you're doing a great show i listen to you every week and everybody else should do the same thing if they want to be wise about how to handle their there you go Thanks, okay, because those cars are a big headache today. I've got a 55 Chevy here, okay?

So I bought, when I was a kid, I could have bought it for about $350. I paid $22,000 for it. So when I go to sleep at night, it's depreciation I make money on it, because that's the way old cars are. I got a 95 that's going to be 30 years old in 25, kind of like Sedan DeVille. So old cars work reliably. New cars, I think, there's something going on.

there with regard to the manufacturers that make these cars not necessarily very reliable. Hey, Mike, could you turn down your radio a little bit? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm sorry about that. Let me just turn it off, okay? Hold on one second. One moment, please. Just a moment. Hey, Mike. Hey, thanks, Mike. Now we can hear you pretty clearly. Yeah, sorry about that feedback. What I was saying is I have a friend who has a BMW. I know he talked to you about that. I told him to give you a call this morning. And I'm going to ask the question I told him to ask you. He's put about $11,000 into this car in repairs. He's basically broke because of what he's put into this car. Very cold last week, I think. Yeah, 2018 X3. Now, is there a way in which

which we can determine whether that phenomenon was rolled back, because, you know, somebody can detail a car out and make it look brand new. I know I've been done that many, many times. Because the car does look brand new, but he has had all... He's had rubber fall off of the tires.

He has to replace all the tires. He had a water pump problem. They put a plastic one in instead of a stainless steel one, even though I told him to go to Rock Auto and get it for $3.75. He paid $895 for at the dealership. and it's one of the ones that you finally blacklisted over here in West Palm Beach on military trail. That's southeast here, exotic foreign cars.

But anyway, is there a way to find out whether that Spanamo has been rolled back? Because then I figured he would at that point have a good case. It's difficult to prove. There's a paper trail of a car, and of course, that's the service. And if you want to do some detective work, you can go back and check. the services, and the mileage is always noted on the service. So if you see a discrepancy there,

it goes on for service in October, and then six months later it comes back in, and the odometer has less miles on it than the last service. Carfax has a record of the service on these cars, and if you want to dig in, you can try to find. I will say

this, only a professional would be able to do something on an odometer today, even on a and that's been true for a few years used to be anybody could set back an odometer and that was routine but today it's difficult

to do so I would do a Carfax check and I would go back and check and check the you can also check the ownership the odometers take a car go back and then you'll see something

strange if they have set the odometer back in the paperwork good thank you for that information. Let me say something about that. Hey, Mike, before you say anything, let me ask you this. Did you get into adopt Connie last week? That's what I wanted

to go to. Thank you. You're reading my mind. You guys are great. That's what I do. That was what I was going to say. I went out and spent the whole morning there. Oh, how nice. And I'll leave it this way. I've already adopted a dog beer. I've given them substantial

monies to the veterans unit over there. because I'm a veteran. In the past, you know, got me a brick that never went in, okay? But that's okay. The point simply is I didn't adopt Connie, and I wanted to, and I spent four hours there. Let me tell you what I concluded. I'm going to the West Palm Beach Pound, and I'm going to rescue a dog there.

Even though I already rescued one there before for my friend, which was a nice thing for me to do, And it's a great dog. He's a sister of my boxer that I have. So they, you know, they're partners in life. They have a lot of fun. I laugh a lot when they wrestle with each other and all that. But I'm telling you this. I don't want to sound like I'm bad-mouthed big dog ranch

because they are no kill, and Peggy Adams is different, and there's lots of other different places that are killed shelters. But the point is I was very disappointed after the spending four hours to get Connie for hours, not just for two hours or not, four hours, and they said, sorry, but you can't adopt them. Why? Do you think of your reason? Yes, I know why.

Because I went there with my dog to do a meet and greet. That is my first dog, which is three years old. It's a boxer, full-grown, 100-pounder, big guy. And he's not neutered. Oh. They would not let me, they would not let me take, and Connie was a dog that really needed a lot of love. I mean, it was a really poor dog with regard to how he was treated. I mean, it was very, very, you know, but, but, you know, I was with the dog at first for a while, okay, and I could see,

because I've been doing it since the year 2000, okay? So for 24 years, I've been doing, and I've got dogs all my whole life because I was nine years old. The point is, you know, I know how to do this. I know how to take a dog that's fearful and very distraught, and I know how to bring him around, okay? And I've got a beautiful big backyard here in West Palm Beach. That's all right. Yeah. So, Mike, let me ask you this question real quick because we're running out of time.

Are you saying that you went in to get Connie? and of course Connie is a female and you took your dog in who isn't neutered correct okay exactly the reason why okay do you think that that is what the problem was oh he doesn't know after being there for four hours we'll look into that I I'm a little puzzled on that myself I do know this at Big Dog Ranks they neuter all the dogs and the male and the females are neutered and that's a part of the program His dog isn't neutered. He took, he brought the dog.

Carol, would you like to have been neutered yourself when you were a teenager? Well, I hear you. I understand. And that's, we'll do it. We can start another show on that one. Yeah, we're going to say that for another show, Mike. Hey, listen, Mike, it's always fantastic talking to you. Unfortunately, I have to cut you off.

I've got three phone calls. Thank you for taking my call. I appreciate it. You're welcome. Thanks for sharing that story with us. We're going to look into it. are going to go to uh john who's calling us from west palm beach uh dan uh and others i will get to you quickly john good morning hey john from west palm beach is that you're talking to you good morning

hey good morning uh hey you were talking about the odometers being rolled back in that it takes professional yeah i did i did the opposite 2003 avalon um i went to go change out the information board because all the lights, the little lights that light up that information board were burned out. And I went to the, you pick, you pull, found Avalon, wasn't even thinking about it, pulled out that information board, you know, that whole ziometer and the computer. Well, our car only had 50,000 miles. When I put the new one in, all the lights lit up, and guess what? I now have 150,000 miles. Whoa.

Oh, boy. I've never heard of it going the other way. That does. Yeah, well, that's because I pulled the wrong. You just cost yourself $3,000. Wow. That's crazy. And what happened was, I didn't think to save the old one.

And then, and I tossed it out, you know. So now I'm, and, uh. Boy, that's a story. Yeah, the, uh, but when I went to go, uh, The last time on the title, now it says, you know, when they ask you how many miles are on the car. Two miles on the miles. Now, if I go to resell it, it's going to be... TMU.

Yeah. The mileage won't be correct in that. Yeah. You can try driving it backwards for a lot. Holy moly. No, you put it on a jack, and then you reverse it. Yeah, it's not going to be... Yeah, I bought the car for like $2,000.

Yeah, it's not a huge. huge impact. That's crazy. I thought it was crazy whenever I went to see Ferris Bueller's day off. But your story is crazy. Wow. Went in the other direction. So that's a warning to the wise.

Please check it before you install it. Yeah. Yeah. And the warning to the, you know, like the guy was asking about rolling back the automata. I don't know about the BMWs, but if you change, and I don't know how they're system works, but if they change out the instrument panel and it has the built-in odometer, they could, you know, find one that has very low miles.

Well, that goes on, that goes on the title. See, anything like that has to be revealed on the title by law. So, you know, you can still do it, and it's still done, but it's very difficult. Back in the old days, it was routine. When I started the business, we had a guy named Ed Zuck would come by. my father's Pontiac dealership every week and we would say we want this one roll back

a thousand, that 10,000 that one there are 5,000 and he'd spend the afternoon there roll back 25 or 30 odometer and it was just like the guy that washed the cars and fixed the tires we also set back the odometer that odometer doesn't look great

when you'd fix that from and I'm telling you the truth statute of limitations is up so they can't get me on that but that was about 50 years ago back in the day that Rick, real quick, if somebody's getting a component like that, is there way to hook power to that to see what it says?

Like, can you, like, take a little, like, a little battery thing just to light up the thing so you could read it? Yeah, we actually would be able to do that. Yeah. A great story. Because if somebody's, like, buying their own parts, you know, like John. Hey, guys, I'm going to have to jump in. We're going to move it along. All right, John.

I've got to jump in. I got calls backed up. John, thanks for sharing. You're welcome. See you later. Call you next week. All right, bye. Give us a call next Saturday.

877960-90-60, Texas at 772-4976530, and your anonymous feedback.com. Take advantage of that. Dan, thanks so much for your patience and everyone else that's holding. Dan calls us from Coral Springs. Good morning, Dan. Good morning, Nancy. Thank you for taking my call, and good morning to everyone there. Thank you.

So last week, I went ahead and had my oil change done at my Toyota dealership here in Broward. And, of course, they're going to do the multipoint inspection check. Well, you know, they always do that when they have my oil change. And so the service tech came back to me and said, we came, during our inspection, we found out that your left axle, your left front axle is leaking a little grease. and so we recommend that it gets, you know, fixed. And my first two questions was, how much is it going to cost and how long would it take to get done? And so he quoted me a price, and then, you know, it was over $600 to get it done.

And then I asked, well, how long, you know, how long is it going to take me? He says, well, usually something like that would be two hours, but since we already have it in a lift since we did your oil change, we can probably get it done within the hour. And it says, well, I'm on my way to work. and first of all, you know, I don't have the time right this morning, nor do I have the money right now. And so I left, and it says, all right, thank you for letting me know.

But then I get an email with the recommended replacement. So my question was a couple questions. Number one, you know, I'm going by somebody's word. I don't know how honest they are at the dealership to say that they found a little grease on my left front axle. So if that being the case, I don't know if I could truly trust the person who came over. but then how much would it cost for me to go to a different place to get a second opinion to have somebody to look at the actual and see if it in fact is leaking grease?

Probably most places for something that would be very obvious like that, if they're looking to get your business, they'll throw it up in the air and look at it for free for you because they're going to hope to sell you the job while you're there. They won't charge your diagnostic fee just to look at something like that. that and figure 150 bucks for the axle and about 300 labor to install it all right so that's 450 and they charge you know and they were quoting me like 670 and that's going to depend on where they get the axle but most places you can get an aftermarket axle for about 150 bucks yeah that would be for like an independent shop

Right. And so, and then, so my other question was, if it is, in fact, a little grief, how dangerous is it for me to keep continued driving? You know, it's been a week I've been driving like this. Could I go several weeks, a month or two, or is that something that I can wait longer? You could wait almost infinity on it. Eventually, you're going to start hearing some noise from the axle. The quick trick is find an empty parking lot, turn the steering wheel all the way to one side, side, drive in a circle slightly accelerating, forwards and backwards, and then do it the other direction. If you hear like a click, click, click, click, click noise when you start accelerating, it's time for a new axle. That means the grease is out and that axle's getting where?

So the answer is don't do anything for a while. It's not going to be a problem. Do the test that Rick suggested, but you know, why rush in there and have the work done when you might never have to have it done. Yeah, and sometimes a little bit of grease will seep out past the boot and it'll make a little bit of a mess, but it's not, there's so much grease packed in there that it's really not going to affect it anyways. I know I sound like I'm a very anti-cardi, or I guess I am, but, you know, when you go into almost any

repair shop, car dealers and independents, these people are, that's where they make their money. They're paid on commission. They see something leaking. They're going to make the most of it. You know, they're going to, in a way, maybe they should because it could be serious.

But depending on your state of mind and if you're a nervous guy, maybe you want to have it fixed. But my guess would be a 90% chance you'll never have to have that fixed. And the 10% where you could have to have it fixed could be a problem for you. You could be stuck somewhere and then you have a problem. But if I were you, I gamble

on it and wait till it failed the Rick test by going into the parking lot and make it the hard turn one way than the other way and listen for the click, click, click. I appreciate your stage advice. And just like my grandfather says, you know, a surgeon only makes money when he makes when he does surgery yeah and and two times out of three when you ask for a second opinion from a doctor it's different than the first doctor that's the reason the insurance companies require second opinions great all right listen i appreciate i know you guys are short on time thank you very much i really appreciate it and thank you for the work that you guys do thank you dan thanks for being part of the show uh we're going to go to stew or rick whichever one of you

I got a few that came in. We have one here. It says, hi, I read that a large amount of unsold Chinese EVs have turned some sea ports in Europe into parking lots. This is hampering the import export of cars from other brands. In addition, the Chinese government is heavily subsidizing their EV makers and enabling them to sell cost at break-even or less. B.Y.D. wants to build in Mexico and import or export into the USA. And Toyota, GM, Ford, and even Tesla survived this unfair trade practice. Well, we have tariffs.

We have a, isn't it a 25% current tariff on Chinese vehicles? Yeah, a huge tariff. B.D, here's what I think about BYD. Nancy and I really follow Warren Buffett. I mean, I think everybody loves Warren Buffett. He's one of the richest men in the world. He's one of the nicest people in the world. He's one of the fairest people.

I mean, there are very few people. He bought B.YD stock 10 years ago. All they did was make batteries. And according to Warren Buffett, they're an amazing company. They have an amazing CEO owner, part owner. He founded the company. And so it's a good company. Now, if they're backed up on electric vehicles, I believe that.

I think we have overdone this electric vehicle thing. People got over-excited, and it's not going to happen as fast as a lot of people predicted. But BYD is a great company. I buy stock in it today. I think that in the long run, they will be one of the survivors like Tesla. I think a lot, Ford, General Motors, Stalach, land is a lot of American companies, Hyundai, Korean companies, Japanese companies, might not make it in the EV business. But when the smoke settles, I can guarantee a B.YD will be around

and so will Tesla. Yeah. And I think they're going to teach the world something about how to get the cost down on EVs. I mean, it might be done, I know, you know, underhandedly with subsidies, but they're also, Chinese are experts at producing at scale and getting costs down. Frank texted us something I thought it was very interesting I wanted to read it as something he left out from when he...

Jupiter Farms? Yes, Frank and Jupiter Farms who mystery shopped the dealership the Toyota Crown he says the one item that I wanted to bring up about yesterday's shopping report

the sales manager asked why I wouldn't buy the crown yesterday and my reply was that I needed to bring my wife his reply was be a man, buy the car today you don't need her permission

Oh, word. Anyway, he was interested in Nancy's reply. Needs to say, he was shocked at the attitude. And I'm too the second I read that. That's a clumsy attempt at brotherhood. You don't hear that too often. They usually go after the woman. You know, they definitely.

That's like an episode out of Mad Men. And, yeah. I wonder, was the sales manager? Was she a woman? That would be really, really a reversal of roles. Yeah, definitely it was. But I don't have a comment, quite honestly. I just, it just, it leaves you speechless because anything's possible today.

And for you sharing, you can come in and get that crown. Don't forget. It's right there. It's on the lot. It's black. It's beautiful. It's waiting for you. It has your name on it.

Nancy, you sound like, what a great pitch person. I'm all caught up. Rick, anything over there? Well, I've got one in from Donovan here. He says, the tariffs are not going to do anything. The Volvo EX30 is an EV made in China, and they can import it into the U.S. for $35,000 and still make a profit on the vehicle with the tariff. BYD will be the largest automaker in the world before the end of the decade. Yeah, Donald was on top of things, as usual, and I've never heard of the company.

until a few months ago. So it's... We love you, Donovan. Okay. Let's see. We did have an earlier one from Donovan. I wanted to bring this one, because Earl, I think you might be interested in hearing. He says, why would a finance manager tell someone to not pay off a vehicle in the first 90 days?

He says, I was with a friend who purchased a car this week, and finance told him, There was a pre-payment penalty for the first 90 days, but I could not find it in the contract at all. This seems like a scam so they don't have a charge back. It is a scam. There's always a prepayment penalty. It's less, you know, the longer you wait, but you can pay the car off anytime you want to. But in many cases, the products, the F&I people call them, the maintenance contracts, the extended warranties the gap insurance there are a number of products that are sold in the

finance and insurance office that the dealers make large profits on and they can only be canceled during the first 90 days so the Commission that the F and I manager made on that gap insurance and the maintenance contract and the extended service and who knows what else they sold this this customer if they don't if they don't cancel it with a days, he still gets his commission. Right. They take them away. It's different in dealerships,

but the salespeople in finance are protected for a brief period of time. Actually, I mean, after a period of time, they're protected. Up in that first period of time, if somebody is overly aggressively selling things or forcing things on people, they'll get a lot of these cancellations

and chargebacks. But sometimes you'll want a cancel it, and you'll call the dealership, and you can't get hold of the finance manager and he doesn't return his phone calls and people just don't want to call back well the reason they don't want to call back is they want to lock in that commission and they don't want to have they have to give your money back and it's such a silly thing to do because it won't work eventually you're going to get you cancel your product okay um anything else over there uh one other this one just in from guy larrabee he says b yd has all new factories

great technology, et cetera. I've seen their cars in Europe. Their cars compared to Toyota. American manufacturers should be scared. Well, it's good. See, the people that hate Chinese cars or hate German cars or hate whatever cars, here's the thing.

Competition is your friend. And if all the cars you bought had to be manufactured of the United States by American companies, you might be able to wave your flag and feel real good about being an American, but you'd be paying about twice as much for your car. Because competition is what keeps the prices down and keeps the quality up. Where do you think General Motors, what sort of cars do you think General Motors and Ford and Chrysler

would be building today if Toyota had never come into the country? And what do you think your fuel economy would be and the quality of your car would be? America got way, way behind the times and they were building these huge, and I'm speaking from experience because I was selling Pontiacs in the 60s and I was also selling Toyota's in the 70s. And when I saw what Toyota was building and I'm selling Pontiacs, in a way I didn't like it because I used to make a fortune in my Pontiac Service Department because they broke like crazy. And in the Toyota dealership, I couldn't make any money in the service department

because the quality was so good, relatively speaking. So it didn't take Toyota long to get General Motors' attention and Fords and Chrysler's. And they started building better cars, higher quality, better fuel economy. And the same with China. China will be a competitor, and they will force the world to get better. And when the world gets better, you buy better cars and a cheaper price. Absolutely. Okay, guys, you got anything else for me? Okay, I'm going to mention something

here about Nissan that Earl and I were talking about. It appeared, the article appeared in the automotive news, and Nissan's asking dealers to adopt a standard platform online buying.

And it's definitely, I was going to say it's more or less like, but it's Definitely just like Amazon style. Yeah, right now all dealers have different platforms and your online experience with one Nissan dealer is different than all the other Nissan dealers. Here you have a standard platform like Amazon.

Hey, you can buy the car, you can finance the car, you can do anything, and they'll deliver the car to it, just like Amazon. And if need be it, the only reason why you need to go to the dealership would be to test drive it. Yeah, you've got to do that. So it's becoming easier and easier. I see by, do you have anything else to say, Earl, on that subject?

No, just that I'm glad to see the manufacturers doing something intelligent in response to Amazon. And instead of fighting it, they realize that the educated consumer of the 21st century is going to demand a ability to buy a car online, finance the car, and get an out-the-door price. so they can shop and compare with several different dealers. So Nissan is accepting that. And I think if all the manufacturers did the same thing, Amazon wouldn't be a problem. They wouldn't be a threat. If the manufacturers and the dealers provided a clean,

transparent way to buy a car online and shop and compare prices, Amazon would quit selling cars. They wouldn't be able to. Yeah, absolutely. and that's great information. I'll share with you just for a second and then we're going to move to the dog of the week. It was amazing that I was reading

in the automotive news that the car industry was compared with cocoa. No, chocolate, yeah. They're talking about chocolate. They're talking about cocoa. They're talking about prices soaring on chocolate. But guess what? Everybody's still buying chocolate.

they love chocolate and they got to have chocolate like they have to have cars so we're paying more for tires we're paying more for for cars whether they're new whether they're used and guess what use cars i want to tell you if if your credit rating is low you are really going to be taking advantage of big time okay i need another show to talk about that we're going to go to the uh to talk about big dog ranch and you know of course we have a dog of the week and her name is milly and she's two years old she's a mixed breed and she came to big dog ranch and uh here there she is isn't she cute and of course you know the big dog ranch is um is the largest cage-free uh ranch and uh no kill in uh in the united states and uh we have a video uh that uh john

Jonathan can take us to. Hi, my name is Susan. I'm here at Big Dog Ranch Rescue. And this is my friend Millie. She's a two and a half year old mixed breed dog, which was rescued from a high-kill shelter in northern Florida, where we brought her here to the ranch, as she seems to be highly adoptable.

She's a beautiful dog. She's full-grown at 53 pounds. She has roommates, so she gets along with other dogs. She likes toys, she likes to go for walks, and she would love nothing more than to have a family of her own. She would probably do well in a household with kids. Somebody to love on her, she likes to give kisses. No, not now?

Okay. Beautiful dog. Come see Millie today and give her a chance. Yeah, perfect weather, too, to go out to Big Dog Ranch. And Stu always reminds us that the fees are paid by us, and that is a $200 savings. Yeah, and looking at this dog, so for our terrestrial audience who are not streaming the video, I would say this is a medium-sized, 50-pound compact. Looks kind of like a...

A blue healer. Huh? A blue healer. A blue healer? Blue healer is another name for the Australian Cattle Dog. Oh, I didn't know that was another name for it. It kind of looks like that. So it's like an energetic, great fun dog to have.

But like Nancy says, we'll take care of the adoption fees if you go through us. But this is a great time to go out with the weather. Oh, yeah. Perfect weather. We went out there. I remember all of us, we did a video shoot out there one time. It was in February. It was really cold.

Yeah. It was perfect. That's a perfect time. to go out there. Also, I want to remind everyone of Earl's book, and that's Confessions of a Recovering Car Dealer. And the reason it's important is because the proceeds that go straight to Big Dog Ranch. Straight to Big Dog Ranch. You hear that dog we have in the studio? Yeah. Hasn't it Fredder. Thank goodness. It doesn't have fleas. So at any rate, go to Amazon.

on, you can purchase Earl's book, Confessions of a Recovering Car Dealer, and believe me, it's something that we always refer to. We have it in our bookcase, and it just doesn't go out of style. You can get information from that book, and that book was written how long ago, oh boy, I don't even want to think. Think about it. Or is it 2012? I'm aging as we speak. Yeah. And the book, like I said, all proceeds go to Big Dog Ranch. You can go to RON cars, purchase it. You can go to Amazon, purchase the book. So run out to Big Dog Ranch, and you can take a look at Millie, and Jersey Mike let us know that Connie is still out there and so many other dogs. If you can't,

if you can't get out there, you can go to their website, and you can take a look at all their dogs, and that is Big Dog Ranch Rescue. That's big dog ranch rescue.org. So take advantage of that also. We are going to, we're running out of time. We've got a great mystery shopping report, and the mystery shopping report is from Napleton, Kia. So sit down, everyone, and enjoy the ride.

Now back to the recovering car dealer. I'm going to say one more thing about Big Dog. Granchardshire. We had a call earlier that was complaining about the fact that the dogs were neutered. He felt that a lot of people have that feeling because we think of our dogs as humans and that's a good thing. But you have to understand the fact that it is the overpopulation of dogs is a terrible

thing. And that's what happens when you don't neuter the dogs. And I have a little difficulty with that until I think about it. You have to think about it. You can't get emotional about it. There are dogs that are being turned loose. There are dogs that are being drowned. They're dogs that are being – we have an overpopulation of dogs. And the reason that we have the big dog branches of the world, and there aren't many of those,

but the reason we have the dog pound and the reason we have the shelters is because we have to – we're – dogs are running around the streets starving the death we have to do something about that Big Dog Ranch feels very strong about making it they're actually trying to make it a law in Florida to neuter your dog before you can own a dog I don't know how far you want to go with this

but they do neuter all the dogs that come out to a big dog ranch I think it's a good thing if you look at it in the in a neural focus, you can get upset about it. Yeah, I don't think it's a controversial thing. And then Mike might have aversion to it. Well, it's controversial where Big Dog Ranch has been lobbying on this for years and years,

spending a lot of money in the Florida legislature, and they won't go for it. So they've tried to get the law passed, and the Florida legislators do not want to do that. So there is prejudice out there. But most of the shelters, I think, that try and do that. that is to neuterum. You know, it only makes sense, you know, why have all these dogs just wandering the street and hungry and abused? Making love all over the place.

Yeah. Making dog babies. Yeah. Every, everywhere. So at any rate, Jersey, Mike, I hope you're still listening. And Stu, he's a funny one. I'm sorry. I kind of flew over that.

I have an appointment coming up for my dog for his pre-surgery. he's getting neutered and I held off on him because he's a large dog and there's some new science came and which one is that? Wally Wally Wally. And Wally took that big trip. Oh yeah? Yeah, yeah. Wally went. Saw the eclipse. Yeah, he went to

see the eclipse with his buddy the other crazy dog. Anyway, Agent Lightning did another fabulous job and we so appreciate her and her talents and speaking of talents we appreciate

to his talents in writing what a creative writing he has also on the mystery shop of Napleton, Kia. And you can vote on the mystery shop at 772-4976530. Now back to the recovering car dealer.

Okay, Agent Lighting. I am Agent Lighting. I arrived mid-morning and no one was sitting at the front desk, so I wandered around the sales floor for a few minutes. Eventually, a salesman approached me. Can I help you, yes? I'm interested in the telluride. I replied pointing to a blue one on the floor.

Is this a new color? Now you're putting me on the spotty charcoal. Let's look at the window sticker. After a moment he added, it may be new to the 2024 telluride line, but I'm not sure. Well, I really like it, I exclaimed. There was a Monroney label where it belonged, stuck with the original factory at easy to a rear window. Now, we make a big deal out of this because this happened in South Florida.

It also happened at an IKEA dealership, and it happened at a Napier dealership. So in the rest of the country, it is unusual to find monorone labels where they're supposed to be by federal law. But in South Florida, usually you don't find a monorone label where the law says it should be. So kudos right now to this particular dealership, which is unusual, as I say it. He spent the next salesperson member referred to now, spent the next 10 to 15 minutes sharing all the safety features. That's a good thing that the TellyRite offers. The higher-end models even have an alert for motorcycles, bicycles, and pedestrians, he informed me. So everything's getting safer.

Do you have an outside that I could see, one outside that I could see in drive? I asked, let's go to my desk and I'll see. He should just then stop and apologized. I'm so sorry, I didn't introduce myself, forget your name. My name is Atilio. Went over to his desk, he looked at the inventory. I had the exact same one outside. Let's go look.

He grabbed the keys. It may be in the back. You're welcome to walk with me, or I can go and get it and bring it here for you. So once again, in week after week, we found cars that Agent Lightning was looking for was not only available, but there were the colors you wanted. There was more than one to choose from. Sometimes there was a very large number to choose from. So the inventories are up.

It's becoming a buyer's market, reversing from what was strictly a seller's market. And this is good for you, the consumer. Okay, back to the shopping report I opted to go out for a walk and look at the car outside We walked all the way to the back of the lot Where the car was parked in the middle of a pack Sure enough, it was an exact match with identical MSRP So here we got a whole bunch of teller rides

Tillio opened it up and had me get into the driver's seat Started up To move it out he would have had to move at least three maybe four cars So, oversupply. We have, as I say, right now, the manufacturers are getting worried because the dealers are slowing down their ordering. They're incentivizing, buying cars. They're going back to the infamous stair-step financing. So it's really an all-time high inventory that we're seeing for most manufacturers, not all of them, but most.

He scratched his head, Atelier, you didn't drive it. And I said, are there going to be any surprise markups? I pressed letting him know I'm looking for these for quite some time. He laughed. He probably know more about them than I do. Back inside of the desk, he gathered all the usual information from me. Then he excused himself to talk to his sales manager. He was only gone for about four minutes, returned with a Napleton sales worksheet.

Yes, I did say Napleton. So I know for your regular listeners, you're not believing that this is a Napleton dealers. But it is. The top line was MSRP, $49,175. They added $149 private tag fee. They added agency fee, a $129 e-tag filing fee, $1,09-Dag filing fee, $1,098 doc fee. service fee before sales tax and a $450 tag fee, which is probably pretty much legitimate. That's $1,376 worth of nonsense.

Bottom line price was $54,451.651.62. I said nothing for a moment and said, it felt like I was creeping out of my budget. I mentioned another telleride online for less money. it was priced around 47,000. I showed him the ad on my phone and the deal. 47,875 MSRP discounted to 47,396. So here again we're seeing MSRP being discounted. Didn't see that six months ago.

Without missing a beat, until I'll ask eagerly, if I could get this one for you at that price, will you buy right now? That's SOP, right? I mean, if I give you this price, will you buy right now? Looking for commitment, that's old school. I laughed, well, as much as I want to say, yes, I need to talk it over with my spouse.

He said he's cool with that and said he needed to, he too needed to talk to his boss, Sammy, and left. And then's later, returned to ask if I was ready to call my husband. Sammy said he'll step away and give you some space. unfortunately referring to my husband he's in a position where he cannot take a phone call and he works until three to four in the morning Atilio said this deal won't last that long you get the pressure turning up the pressure

deal won't last that long the manager's staying late for you to start to weekend off with a sale and is honoring the online price he then turned over another worksheet this one didn't match the advertised price but the selling price was identical to MSRP of the advertised telluride before they added the $1,376 in junk fees. I said it was great to see them try for me, but I was clear my husband played an equal

role in the decision. I thanked him for his time and asked for his business card. I've been here since December, salesman Atelier was saying, and I still don't have my own cards pretty sloppy six months now there's this December they haven't given in his cards yet but I'll write my number down for you what he always said he has that he works until 7 p.m. and emphasize that this deal is only good for today every time I say this it's laughable and of course you regular listeners know you new listeners I address when I say it's just old school high pressure for

you to make a decision that you don't want to make. You're talking about a $40,000 or $50,000 product, and they're asking you to get this quote-unquote low price, which is not really a low price. You have to buy it now. And they don't even want you to talk to your partner about it. You don't want to think about it. And there can only be one reason for that,

and you all know, your regular listeners, it's ulterior. Salesman then asked me to follow him over to meet Sammy. his sales manager, we walked over to his office, and Sammy greeted me with a big smile. What can I do to earn your business right this minute? Now, you've got to buy now. I needed to talk to my husband because there's no way I can make a purchase this big without talking to him first, I said firmly. He understood to urge, hurry back, this is only good for today. I think that just last month, they were still going for $5,000 over MSRP.

Which was probably true. I mean, I thanked them both and left. So there you have it. And I repeat, your regular list, this is a Napleton dealership. And, of course, you know, Napleton is infamous. I started to say in South Florida, he's infamous all over the United States. Federal Trade Commission's all over Napleton. He's been fine many times.

And his dealerships typically are the worst or the worst. So we grade on the curve. And I say that because just because it's a Napleson dealership, you have to look at this, relatively speaking. You have to ask yourself, certainly for an average car dealership, is that below average? And we both know that for a Napleton dealership, that's not below average.

So think about that. C is average. A is very rare. D or F is, you know, very rare. Exactly. And after, I'll share this story with the audience. Oh, I forgot, yeah. You and I, you know, ironically, we were at carmines and we were having lunch.

And while we were waiting for lunch. Yesterday. Yesterday, yeah. And while we were waiting for lunch, I had some material on the table. I was looking at the Camry, X-L-E, whatever. Anyway, Elano walked up to me, and she said to me, oh, she says, are you going to buy a car? I says, no, I says, but I can sell a car. And she just smiled at me.

And, oh, she said, I just bought a car. She said, I wished I would have met you last month. And I says, oh, really? And so she shared her story with us about Napleton. Napleton. Naples and, yeah, ironically. And, you know, it was a sad story. story. The stories are more, how can I say, you know, you get more emotional when someone

walks up to you, especially this young girl from Romania. She was here. She was working very hard. She shared her story with us as to how she was taken advantage of. She looked at me and she said, I'll be paying for the car for the rest of my life. She said, they They overtarched her by $7,000. She went into all these details, and your heart just went out to her. And like I said, there's so many people that pass the doors of Napleton. And if it sounds like I'm bashing Napleton, I am indeed. And guess what?

There's only a few words that I can use on the air without being, you know, Well, I think I said bleeped. I think Jonathan has a dump a button over there or he'll just come over and knock me off the stool. But at any right, Napleton, how in the world

can you sleep at night? How can any of you sleep at night and do what you do to the consumer taking advantage of people that, you know. Well, don't prejudice this mystery shopping report, and I remember You know, we grade on the curve. That, and you'll see that I do grade on the curve.

And this Napleton report, this mystery shopping report, I'm looking at, I have to look at it three times, mystery shop of Napleton Kia, because this mystery shop, I cannot believe. This is better than any mystery shop that I've read. But back to Elena. From Mapleton, Gio. From the dealership, yeah.

And it's not better in Mullinix. Yeah, I thought it was pretty remarkable. I mean, what I noticed, first of all, there was not a bevy of dealer-installed equipment. I'm wondering if that has anything to do with the punishment. Maybe it's taking this long to trickle down to the stores. Moroni label on the window. On the window.

And no addendum. and no addendum items, it really felt like a, like a, just like a normal, like a shop. I don't think it was great. I mean, there was pressure, it was bothersome, and they still have the fees in there. But, you know, price-wise, it's not really out of line.

I mean, it's high because you're over and Ms. Rippey, but, and a lot of things were under it. But what it could have been, wow, if I put it on a curve of Napleton dealerships, it gets an A-plus. If it was on the curve of all Napleton dealerships, it would be an A plus, but it's not. It's on the curve of all South Florida metro dealerships. So I'm going to give them a C.

It's a C for Napleton. That's amazing. Oh, boy. Okay. Well, we've got Joseph Kelleher says D plus without the junk fees would have been higher. Tom Steckle says, Napleton, the quintessential ever. I feel badly every time I see one of their cars on the road. Cliff's picks, junk fees, great for an upside-down buyer, but not this shopper, D.

There's plenty of upside-down buyers great for the repo man. Tim Gilliland, junk fees equal D, and that's good for today and the foreseeable future. Johnny Z. Fradley, they're getting a little better, D-minus. Scott H. Senior, D, too much pressure and junk fees. Brian said Latko, with an oversupply of vehicles, they can do better. Don't like the pressure to buy right now. I'll give them a D. Cram 1624 says, he wants to know what's happening with the cars legislation.

My own grade on it, I'm going to say, I'm a little heavy on the junk fees and had a little pressured in, but I'm still going to say a C. I think middle of the road, I didn't see anything unreasonable, and Attila seemed to go out of his way to try to be really helpful, wanted to get her a test drive in it, and he really knew the product well, apparently. So, you know, I just had a flashback. The CARS legislation made me think about the Federal Trade Commission, and as I was thinking about that. I'm having regular conversations now with the Federal Trade Commission and my corporate attorney because we are filing an amicus brief with the circuit court in Texas to get the CARS legislation back on course to become law with the Federal Trade Commission. And in my conversations with the Federal Trade Commission attorneys, I've chided them a little bit about Napleton.

And I said, you know, I really hope we can get this car's legislation passed, but what good are regulations if they're not enforced? And I said, the worst car dealer that we ever mystery shop is Mapleton. And I'm speaking now to the Federal Trade Commission attorney. I said, and you have regulations right now that he regularly breaks. You have gone out and you find them at dealerships in other states. and his other dealerships that you haven't find them on, and even the ones you find them on, are ignoring, I said, you just don't have the team of the staff

to enforce the regulations you pass. So I wonder if I go to that attorney, and he says we will be talking more to the Napalton people. So maybe the Federal Trade Commission is turning up the heat on Naples. I don't know. Yeah, it was one of the dealerships down here was part of those fines, and we shopped them afterwards,

and they were still doing it. They were, yeah, but it kind of gives you goosebumps. You know, it does give you goosebumps what Earl is trying to achieve. And cracking down on these junk fees is going to take some time. It's going to take definitely a lot of effort and a lot of patience. Ladies and gentlemen, I am going to give Napleton reluctantly C-minus. don't give them a C I just

I'm torn well like we can say they have a C for this for this shop but I don't know if I can comfortable saying that it's on the recommended dealer list I mean that's there's a history you don't just suddenly one you know one shop doesn't do it

we could give them a C and people can judge it on that but they're not record we definitely got to go back we definitely got to go back yeah yeah so not on the recommended list but a good but a good report yeah and you can go to you can is everyone done voting yeah I think so okay um you can go to a good dealer bad dealers dot com and you can check out all of the dealers uh and I believe that we are I'm trying to see Jonathan we have three minutes left is there something you'd like to mention Earl no just the fact

this particular shop with the coincidence of the waiter's assistant that we had at lunch the other day that was taken advantage of by this dealership is the vigilantes, Earl's vigilantes. These type of people, I mean, she's from Romania, she's here probably on a green card. How much money do you make as a waiter's assistant in a restaurant? and they took advantage of her and oversold her and she's got payments she can't afford. The car might be repossessed. These victims are the ones that don't listen to Earl on cars

and they don't read the consumer advice. You need to find people like this in your neighborhood, friends or friends, whoever, and help them. So please consider Earl's vigilantes. Yeah, I second the motion, Earl's vigilantes. We are out of time. thank you everyone for being part of the show you are an important part of the show texters the YouTubers the callers the listeners all of you stay tuned next week

we'll be right back here at 8 a.m. on the oldies channel have a great weekend