Earl Stewart on Cars - 05.01.2021 - Your Calls, Texts, and Mystery Shop of Napleton North Palm Hyundai

Episode Date: May 1, 2021

Earl and his team answer various caller questions and responds to incoming text messages. Earl’s female mystery shopper, Agent Lightning visits Napleton North Palm Hyundai to see if she can get the advertised $99 per month lease price on a 2021 Hyundai Elantra SE. Earl Stewart is the owner of Earl Stewart Toyota in North Palm Beach, Florida, one of the largest Toyota dealerships in the southeastern U.S. He is also a consumer advocate who shares his knowledge spanning 50+ years about the car industry through a weekly newspaper column and radio show. Each week Earl provides his audience with valuable tips that prevent them from "getting ripped off by a car dealer". Earl has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, U.S. News and World Report, Business Week, and other major publications. He has also made numerous appearances on CNN, Fox News, CBS, and other news networks. He is frequently called upon by local and national media to comment on major trends and newsworthy events occurring in today’s rapidly changing auto industry. You can learn more by going to Earl's videos on www.youtube.com/earloncars, subscribing to his Facebook page at www.facebook.com/earloncars, his tweets at www.twitter.com/earloncars, and reading his blog posts at www.earloncars.com. Sign up to become one of Earl's Vigilantes and help others in your community to avoid getting ripped off by a car dealer. Go to www.earlsvigilantes.com for more information. “Disclosure: Earl Stewart is a Toyota dealer and directly and indirectly competes with the subjects of the Mystery Shopping Reports. He honestly and accurately reports the experiences of the shoppers and does not influence their findings. As a matter of fact, based on the results of the many Mystery Shopping Reports he has conducted, there are more dealers on the Recommended Dealer List than on the Not Recommended List he maintains on www.GoodDealerBadDealerList.com.

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

I'm smiling. This is the first time in a year at Earl Stewart on cars that we haven't worn our mask. So you lucky streamers, you can see my beautiful face and my beautiful wife, Nancy Stewart's face, and Stu Stewart and Rick Kearney. Jonathan's behind the scenes, but he's beautiful, too. And I can't tell you how good it is to have the mask off. We're all vaccinated in the studio, and that's one of the benefits of getting the vaccination. I'm not going to do a vaccination commercial. I know that can be controversial, but it feels good.

And you can hear us better, too, I hope. Maybe that's a good thing, I don't know. I hope so. At any rate, as the recorded introduction said, probably muffled. No, I recorded it without the mask. So you could hear me then. Maybe you hear me a little better now. We're a show, unlike any other on radio, or for that matter, TV, as far as I know, or online.

We actually tell the truth about how automobiles are. retail and how they are leased and sold and maintained and repaired we do mystery shopping reports of the dealers we've been doing this on the show for about 20 years we've we've mystery shopped hundreds and hundreds of dealers we have a particularly i'm not going to tell you what was really good or really bad but it was an extreme mystery shopping report that we conducted yesterday and i promise you will be entertained and interested in our mystery shopping report. We're going through some very exciting times, as you know. The pandemic in most places in the country seems to be winding up a little bit.

The COVID rate of growth has dropped down, but the effects of this whole COVID phenomenon has have lingered. And one of them is a shortage of automobiles new and used we've been talking about that on the show for weeks and it's just now coming to the forefront in the in the national news and newspapers and the media they're talking about it but it's a mine you always say it's a minefield out there when you buy a car today with a high shortage of new and used cars it's even worse because the car dealers can't

get enough cars so they can charge anything they want and they're doing exactly that our car prices are have never been higher used car or new car so we tell you to be careful oh we've always always told you to be careful now frankly if you could delay buying a car if you don't have to buy a car it might not be a bad idea because even the dealer that treats you honestly is going to charge you more than he charged you a year ago. And it's all supply and demand, it's economics. Remember, the manufacturer suggested retail price on a new car is just that. It's almost meaningless.

Most car dealers have their own suggested price that they pretend to be the manufacturers. It's a, I call it a phony Monroey. But even with the MSRP or phony Monroney, car dealers charge you everything they can get when you walk in the door. Everybody that walks into a car dealership pays a different price.

The smart, informed, educated consumers, they can really get some good prices. Those that aren't can absolutely pay horrendous prices. Thousands of dollars over MSRP. I've seen women and men that were not prepared exploited to the tune of 10,000 and higher profits to the dealer well over MSRP.

So be careful and listen to the show, spread the word. You can call us to the show. The heartbeat of our show is you. Your questions stimulate us. We learn from you. Hopefully you learn from us. Our call-in number is 877-960-99-60. 877-960-9960 you can text us get a lot of text we build a text bank you know we if we don't get to the text

we usually get to all of them by the end of the show with the phone calls we try to get to them right away the text number is 772 497-6530 772 272-7272-492 497-97-97-6-5-30 And strangely enough, our most popular input now, rather than text, we get the anonymous feedback. It's a URL, it's a link, you go to Your Anonymous Feedback, Your Anonymous Feedback.com. Totally confidential. We don't know who you are, where you are, anything about you. All we know is what you want to tell us or ask us or accuse us of. And we get a lot of really good constructive criticism and new stuff that we don't get. It's become a popular line of communication, not because of the anonymity.

I'm not sure why. But anyway, youranonymousfeedback.com. Love to hear from you. As I say, we prioritize phone calls. We try not to keep you holding. Nancy Stewart, my co-host, she watches that phone very carefully, and her job is to interrupt me when I'm babbling or Stuart, Rick, we all have a tendency sometimes to carry on.

That phone rings when you're on the other end. We want to put your phone call through. Prioritize phone calls. And speaking of priorities, we prioritize female phone callers thanks to Nancy Stewart, my co-host. And she is a, well, she's a hero. for the women out there. She's trying to focus on having greater participation in the show by women because you buy at least half of the cars. And the ones you don't buy, you influence

the purchase of. You're very important to the economy of this country, the automotive industry. And we need to hear from you more. Men, I guess they like to talk more. I don't know what it is. We get a lot of male callers. We need more female callers. And I'm going to ask Nancy to tell you, about a very special offer for the first two female callers. Nancy? I'll do that in just a second, but back to your topic about what you mentioned when we opened. Would you agree that with chip shortages and the interest rates that have soared? And, of course, with all that comes a shortage, whether it be used or new.

Would you say that that just about wraps up, you know, the situation for now? and that it is only temporary, shall we say. Now, those interest rates on people with bad credit is absolutely obscene and it's embarrassing what people with marginal or bad credit have to pay. Yeah. You know, I was reading about the F-150, and you know how popular trucks are, and an average of $492 for a payment, monthly payment, although a used Toyota Corolla is $295 a month.

So there are some variations out there, and ladies and gentlemen, knowledge is power. This is Nancy Stewart, and I'm inviting you to give us a call this morning at 877960. Or you can text us. 772-4976530. And ladies, you know, we offer you something. very special on Saturday morning because you are a very important part of the show. $50 for the first two new lady callers and take advantage of that. We've got a whole lot of time.

Call us question, comment, your opinion, 877-960, I'm sure all of you could use $50 this morning. For now, we're going to go to the phones and we've got. roadrunner steve giving us a call he's a regular caller and we enjoy his company is from boyton beach good morning steve uh if i change my name to roadrunner stephanie do i get the fifty dollars how you doing this morning good okay i got a problem with my 2003 Chevy malabo okay it's about pass lock vest system uh when i go in to start the car the car won't start and the death system is flashing i called my mechanic about this and it was also in my owner's manual after attempted to start the engine

if the death system light flashes or stays on wait 10 minutes with the key in on until the light goes off Then turn the ignition to off before attempted to start the engine again. And then it starts. Anybody ever calling about this? Rick? Not that I have heard, but my first thought is that there's probably something going on with that immobilizer system. Basically, that's the one where you've got the little chip in your key, and it has to be programmed to the car in order for the car to start.

um oh the cost starts this just happens you know when you're least expected you know when you got groceries in the car you want to go home yeah and it's always the worst time it never happens at a convenient time uh yeah it's probably something going on with the transmission when you're putting the key in the the transmission of the electrical signal that is not the transmission in the car but when you're putting the key in apparently that signal that it's sending the computer's not recognizing is getting a degraded signal. That's why you're having to leave it on for that 10 minutes. It kind of gives it a chance to update and let it recuperate its signal. But I would say there's probably something going on with the computer that controls that system or maybe the wiring to it.

With a diagnostic check at Chevrolet, General Motors, Yes, I went there. $9 to $1,200. Oh, man. Eush. Well, 2003, Malibu, I would have to wonder, you know, do you really want to put that kind of money into that system? I mean, it's... I'm going out today to look for a car.

Joe, my question is, I called up Chevrolet, right? They had a phone number in the book. Yep. And I asked, this is a recall. He said, no, well, suppose you're driving down the hallway and the car thinks it's being stolen and shuts off. Steve, let me just say this. The only good news I can give you is your 2003 Malibu is worth more

than it's been in a long time. There's a high demand now even for older cars. Now, the bad news is if you want to buy a later model used car, that's going to cost you more too. But it is a good trade-in now. You will be able to get more money than you would of a year ago,

which you can rarely say that about a car. I'm thinking of selling it for $2,000. Yeah, you might get more for it, especially if the air's blowing cold. Oh, yeah, the air's blowing cold. Oh, yeah, I always keep the car service. New belts, new AC, I had a fuel pump in, new AC compressor in. Yeah. Cold air conditioning at the beginning of summer in Florida, it's a gold mine.

Oh, it's a gold mine. Oh, okay. That's what they said about my three X-Ys. Oh, she's cheaper. Well, yeah She got the gold You got Well, we won't even go there

Yeah, we know what we got But I went on YouTube And they show you how to fix that problem They show you just pop off the plastic That's around the ignition key And then pop off the cover Where the radio is Take off two bolts

Push the ignition switch through there Cut two wires and put a toggle switch on there and it deters the death deterrent. And it costs like $30. Yeah, I don't know as I'd want to try that one, because if it messes up that computer,

then your car don't move anymore. Yeah, right. But I don't know how Chevrolet, everybody complained on YouTube. This is the worst thing they ever did with this death system with that. Yeah. Well, now that you've got the diagnosis, you might want to take it to an independent mechanic who will give you a better price.

He wouldn't touch it. He said he's not going to touch it. I see. Well, I think the best idea is because it's an intermittent problem, you can trick a dealer, trade it in, get more money you normally wouldn't, let him find out it's got a problem. Yeah, well, you know, I would have a guilty conscience

if they don't find a problem somebody's driving it. You know what I mean? Well, you've got to decide that. If you want to be more honest than the dealer, then you can't do that. If you want to do what the dealer would do to you anyway, go ahead and see if you can't get a big trade in.

At least one advantage, it will not shut the car off. The system only prevents it from starting, but it will not shut it off. Yeah, but I still wouldn't trust. Well, it did die on me when I was driving. Lucky I was at a red light. That would be some other situation. Yeah.

Steve, let me know. how it works out. It's all you, you have a problem that's not untypical. And call us next week and let us know how you did as far as getting that traded in. I think you're right not to try to fix it. It's the car's too old and the

current value isn't worth it. So shop around, try to get a good deal, and call us back. Okay, well, if anybody else has this problem, it's not only Chevys, it's with some, a lot of GM cars don't know what she is. I think 2001 or 2006. So if anybody, everybody else had this problem. Let him call in his way to listen.

Very good. With that. Okay. Everybody, have a good day. You too, Steve. Take care. Bye-bye. Hey, 77-960. Or you can text us, 772-497-6530. Don't forget, ladies, I extended an invitation to you when we opened a show for the first two new lady callers. They can win $50 this morning by sharing, you know, their visit into the dealership, or, you know, you may have decided to, you know, stay right at home and go to your PC where it's safe. And, you know, you can be protected.

They won't even, the dealerships don't even know whether you're a male or a female. And share that with us, whether you went into the dealership or you just went to the Internet, to purchase your car, or if you had a service situation this week, we'd love to hear from you, ladies, $50 for the first two new lady callers. Now back to the recovering car dealer. Well, I think we've looked at everybody except Stu. We've seen Rick, and if you're streaming us, you've seen Nancy and me. Here's my handsome son.

He's also in charge of our mystery shopping report. Oh, he's dashing. Dashing. You know, I had to trim my beard for the first time in a year. It was tough. No, I'm kidding. You're looking good. Thank you very much.

Yeah, we went back to an old standard target for mystery shop. It was a Napleton dealership, and it was Napleton's North Lake Hyundai. Not going to give anything away about what happened, but it was a good one. I'm telling you, like, when we were trying to pick out the target for this week and Napleton came up, that's kind of like, you know, we've done that. Why? We know it's going to happen, and it hasn't been that long since we went, But I went back, looked through the records, and we've been to a few about, when we were concentrating on the Takata airbag recall, we did a lot of those mystery shops that focused specifically on whether or not a dealer would sell a used car with the Takata airbag recall.

And we were kind of, we weren't really paying attention to the sales practices that most people encounter it when they go there. So we went back to our trusted methodology, and we uncovered some good stuff. So stick around to around 930. We might have to start before 930 because it's a pretty long mystery shop. A lot of things happen. It involved three different buyers orders, a lot of different people, and a bunch of other stuff. Ten pages to the report. Practically.

I don't remember what the file size was. I always get nervous when they're big. I'll send a 12 megabyte file to you. Anyway, but it's a good one, and I'm looking forward to hearing you read it. That's a great thing about having a female shopper. We have a new shopper, Asia Lightning, and I don't believe she's done Napleson. She has. I know she did Napleton, Chrysler Dodge Jeep.

A different, yeah, yeah. On North Lake Boulevard, but I think this one's across the street or next door or something like that. But she does a good job. Well, let's take a look at the other here. Do we have any text over there? We should get started on. I want to kick it off with Amory's inaugural kickoff text. Amory says, good morning.

One of the most common complaints about electric cars is that they're so quiet, you don't hear them coming. There's been speculation that manufacturers ought to have some sort of audio device to generate a sound that could warn pedestrians of an oncoming electric vehicles what are your suggestions what the sound should be now i can tell you um i think we'll probably have an opportunity to come up suggestions for sounds but a lot of electric vehicles already have this and as a matter of fact it's the law and i think about 10 years ago a congress passed a law requiring all electric vehicles over 8 over 18.6 miles per hour to emit a sound to a warm pedestrians and it was supposed to go into effect in September of last year and it got a six-month

extension so it was extended until March 1st a month and a half or a month ago and two months ago and so I think all new vehicles built have to have this already a lot of them do I know that like the electric leaf does I know my my daughter's the Rav4 hybrid in reverse when it's all in electric mode it makes a horrible hellhounds howling sound but it's It will alert you. Can you turn it off? I take offense at that. To me, it almost sounds like a chorus of angels.

You could say a chorus of demon angels. It's from a horror movie. It's like, it's awesome in the shop where it echoes through the wall. Is it the illegal to turn it off or can't it be turned off? I think you can. I have not looked in customizable features because so far nobody's asked if we can turn it off. But all of the new hybrids now, when you put them in reverse, They will make that wailing sound.

Now, as far as Emory's ideas for sounds, I think there is a whole, as long as I think the requirements is it has to be over a certain decibel. I can imagine making it sound like an old-fashioned, like chitty-chitty-bang or just funny noises. I don't know. I want the sound effect for George Jetson's little spacecraft. I think they have a lot of fun with that.

So, yeah, Emery, you're thinking, and I think everybody's got electric vehicles on the brain. I know I do because starting on Monday I'm going to be, I'm going to try driving to Tesla for a little while and see what that's like. We have a used one coming in. So, um, very exciting. Um, the world is changing. And yeah, these technological solutions, uh, some of them have been discovered or implemented. Some we don't know yet because a lot of, a lot's going to change in the world.

All right. Uh, jump over to, uh, another text. There's no name on this one that says, my dad was a used car manager at a Ford dealership in the 1980s. He told me and my sisters about how they would take bad cars to the auction, but do cheap temporary fixes, like charging the AC with Frion that would fool buyers at the auctions. They'd buy them and presumably pass these bad cars along to other dealers and customers. Does this sort of thing still go on? Yeah. Well, actually, there's very little of it goes on because you can protest.

See, a lot of cars are sold online now, and they've had a surprising number of used cars at auction. are bought in line. So the buyers have to have total confidence that they can't have that happen. But you're right, it used to happen. And in normal auctions in the past, it was common practice. Everybody did it, including my dealership. I mean, it was called buyer beware at the auction. We're all in the business. We're professionals. We have the right to inspect the car before it goes to the auction block. If you want to be careless and don't inspect it, you're a professional too bad, but it's changed now with the online. You can back out of a purchase if the defect has not been disclosed. So the biggest auction in the country is Mannheim, and they're everywhere, and I would say most of the transactions happen at a Mannheim auction.

There's some other auctions, too. They're smaller, but most of them happen through there, and Mannheim requires a condition report. And so you have to report any issues. if there is an issue after you've reported a clean car, they have recourse and they can return the car and get a refund. If you announce the car under the red light, you can say, this car's got problems, and then they don't really have recourse, but then you're giving a red flag, a red light to indicate there's a problem there.

So it's harder. Now, there's a lot of other wholesale sales that go on that don't involve the auctions, and that's when dealers sell to private wholesalers off their lot. In that case, they don't necessarily have those protections, and a wholesaler could buy a car with the coolant charged in an air conditioning, and it will run out in a week or a few days, and that's still a danger, but most of them go through. It's a good question to ask your dealer. It's like, where did you get this car? I would be concerned if it wasn't a trade-in or bought at the auction, if they said it would bought from some random wholesaler, buyer-beware. And a lot of states have very loose title laws, so you can have a flood car or a total car.

They wash the title in most states, like Florida, if you have a car that's in the flood or damage totaled, it has to shift on the title. In Mississippi, that's not the case. New Jersey, that's not the case. So, Steve's absolutely right. Find out what state they came through and be sure it has a good title law. I'm sorry I interrupted you, Nancy. Oh, that's okay. Ladies and gentlemen, 877-960, 99-60, I repeat that number for the ladies because you can win yourself $50 this morning.

the first two new lady callers and i want to thank john for holding he's calling us from palm city good morning john good morning to the entire crew this morning i have more oil on my mind and i have a question for rick we discussed on this show that engine oil sits in the crank case and it still gets contaminated we still have to change quite often especially now we don't use the car now i want to ask rick i have to have six quarts that my brother-in-law gave me from 2013. I have

no idea what the date is on it, but it's 10.30 oil, but it's sealed in plastic containers. Would that oil still be good, or does it have a shelf life on it, or could it still be used? It's sealed plastic containers,

and I don't know how old it is, but would it still be good if somebody used it? Great question. I have no idea. Rick? safe to use. Since it has not been exposed to the atmosphere, it has not been contaminated by any moisture or water content, so it's perfectly safe. I was going to say that oil's been on the ground for millions of years, but we add a lot of stuff to that oil before it gets into the can of the bottle, but you're saying even the additives that are in there are perfectly stable

and are not going to deteriorate. Correct. Maybe I suppose it should say, but I see his name on it might be a collector's item. But let me tell you something about oil. A lot of oil change or mechanics, they run specials on oil. Actually, I would only use synthetic oil because it's not only better

lubrication, but it lasts longer. And here's the gimmick that they have. They have the price, but if you read between the lines, it says synthetic oil, synthetic additive oil. In other words, it's a mixture

of synthetic oil. It's not pure synthetic oil. So naturally the price could be lower and it's a come on to get you in because you see the word synthetic. Now I make my mechanic use only mobile one full synthetic oil. And would Rick say there is a difference between synthetic blend and just plain synthetic? Well, I mean, I'll throw this in there because I also have a question for Rick. Am I correct that synthetic oil is actually fossil oil. It's not actually a chemical compound made artificially. It's processed differently than fossil oil. So we kind of mislead people when we say fossil oil because synthetic oil is fossil oil, but it's just processed differently. Exactly correct. And the synthetic blend simply means

that it's been processed about halfway, we'll call it. It gets pretty technical. I'm I wouldn't even try to go into it here, but it's basically, imagine it like gasoline. You've got the low grade, the mid-grade, and the high-grade, but you have more of an option as which ones you want to use with the oil. Well, I, myself, I always feel that you get what you pay for, and that's why I insist on the mobile one full synthetic oil. But there's one other thing I want to say about oil. I never thought that there was really bad oil could be out there.

But there's a class action settlement that's going to be a judge is going to decide on it June 22nd. And it concerns an outfit a dollar store, which is dollar general. And it's oil that they sold 1030, 1040, and SAE 30 from September 2010 to December 31st, 27th. This is a large amount of money that's been set aside. You have to register if you have receipts or can prove that you bought it. The judge is going to decide it actually has damages to cars 1988 or older. They don't say what the damage is. It depends on the mileage of the car and, you know, condition.

And it's interesting because I didn't think that they could actually put a bad oil out on the market it must be very serious because they're talking about engine damage but on a settlement some people may only receive the amount that they paid for the oil from 2010 to 2017 when Rick cared to

make a statement on that what kind of damage can the actual motor oil that's approved by SAE you know what those weights 30 and 40 could do to an engine first I've heard of it Rick have you heard of it I have not actually it's a

knew it on me, but however, inferior oil or oil that is processed improperly, I could certainly see how it could break down and lose some of its properties and allow damage to occur in an engine because you've got to imagine, you know, the inside of an engine is a very harsh environment. You've got these massive spinning metal parts that are traveling at extremely high velocities, massive amounts of heat and the abuse of explosions across. right in the cylinders above it. So, yeah, I could see that causing damage if the oil wasn't up to snuff. Well, if anybody's concerned for the seven years, there's a website.

It's DG Motor Oil Settlement.com, and you have to register to be in on this class action lawsuit. There's also an 833 number 326-0769. So I don't know how many people are concerned. concern, but it's from dollar general, you know, dollar stores. John, give us that number again, will you please? Okay, 833-3-3-2-6-0-7-69, and the website is DGMotorail settlement.com. And there could be a lot of money involved, especially if there's damage to people's engines. Thank you, John.

It's very interesting. I haven't heard of it, but that'd be. be a terrible thing. It's not a very good PR for the dollar store either, the dollar general, that they would sell something like us. You probably paid a dollar a can for it, and maybe you got what you deserve. Like you said, John, you shouldn't be stingy about buying the best oil for your car, and maybe that's a lesson to learn.

Well, as I said earlier, you get what you're paid for. Yeah, exactly. Very true. Thank you, John. A great call. Hey, John. Thanks for the letter. that you've sent out this past week in the...

We can understand. Thank you. Okay, let's remind the gals again. We're looking for those first-time lady callers. Yes, we definitely are. We have a whole lot of time. Give us a call toll-free. A-77-960-$99-60, $50 for the first two new lady-callers.

And also let me mention Earl's Vigilantees. Sometimes we don't mention it as often as we should, but you too can join Earl's vigilantes. Help us out. You don't have to know how to take an engine apart, but just get out there and volunteer and not only help us, but help the people in your community. And there's still a whole lot of, well, dealers out there that are taking advantage of the consumer. So earlsvigilantes.com, or you can go to Earl on Cars. Get the information. We have hats and pins and some other items to wow you with.

So take advantage of that. I have a question for all of you. How many of you bought, you know, a vehicle from the, you know, you went to the digital age approach, and were you able to get, you know, maneuver your way through that easily? And the reason I ask is because we have, you know, we have another suggestion for everyone, and that is that you become a volunteer, and it's called online assisting for the seniors. And, you know, in this digital age, it's sometimes a little complicated.

So check that out at Earl and Cars. Again, that number is 877-960-9960, or you can text us. 772-497-653-0. Don't forget your anonymous feedback. Take advantage of that and express yourself. We're going to go back to the phones where Marty is holding. Good morning, Marty. Hi.

Excuse me, good morning. I have a question. I know you're advocates of online buying. But if you ask for a price on a lease, no trade involved, so you don't have to see a car, and you give a person a price, is that your final price in your case? Marty, it can be, and I think the beauty of online shopping is because you make it clear that you want the Alphidor price. you want their best price and you're going to compare. Let's the dealership that you're dealing online with know

that the purpose for you dealing online is for shopping and comparing and going for the best price. That way, they know if they don't give you their best price, they'll never hear from me again. And remember, when you get a lease price, you have to get more than just the payment. You have to get all the things that can affect the payment, And that would be mainly, is there a down payment?

Virtually every lease that you see advertised requires a very large down payment hidden in the fine print. The TV ads, the radio ads, the newspaper, the online, there's always, I haven't ever seen a lease ad that did not have a down payment. Remember, leases don't necessarily have to have a down payment. When leasing first became popular, there wasn't a down payment. That was one of the reasons people leased because it required no cash out of pocket. And then it became a way to bait and switch and get you in the door. So do your online shopping. I want your out-the-door price.

I want your monthly payment. I want the down payment. I want anything that's added. I want a monthly payment that I can start making without any cash out of pocket. And nail the term down. Leases can be anywhere from six months, 12 months, 24 months. months out to as long as you want so typical lease was 36 months so if you want a 36 month lease no down payment and what's the monthly payment and let them know you're

going to shop and compare okay now another question I have to you now I know usually on a lease you have to make whatever payment you agree on you have to make the first month's payment and then you got other than an Apleton type place you got all these you let's say the license plate and uh registration and all that stuff how much is a fair would you say is a fair in addition to the first payment uh that they're not trying to shaft is marty this is stew are you uh are you are you talking about a zero down payment lease if if no down no down okay yeah i'll let uh stew get on just for a second to quickly answer your question you shouldn't get into the tag and tax

and additional fees because then you're playing their game. All you're going to get is a monthly payment. Now if they want to be adding big fat fees in there and if they want to exaggerate the cost of the tax and tag let them do it because

you're going to take that monthly payment and the down payment and you're going to shop it with two or three other dealers. So once you start saying how much is this fee how much is that fee, then it becomes confusing and it allows them to slip things in on you stick to one thing you can lease a car it's the term the length of the lease the down payment and the monthly payment that's all you care

about and out of pocket how much of cash you're going to have to write a check for yeah out of pocket you you want zero out of pocket well as soon right that's better than talk of down payment that is better because they can like earl said they can roll that stuff in but just answer the question um yes the first payment is always due at the first in the first month right when you sign in that can be rolled into the payment the other thing is a tag and registration fee you shouldn't be spending more than 175 bucks on that on a lease that's the max and then if there is no down payment there is no sales tax do if a down if you do if you do give a down payment sales tax that your county rate is charged to the amount that you put

down because all that is is like prepaying payments in a way so but if you have no down payment it should just be $175 or less and your first payment on the I saw I don't know if it's a national ad but if you go on your website and you look at a lease and in the fine print of your lease it says right these are $23 a month that is in there for an acquisition fee and it says that is not negotiable I don't know if that's for you or for everybody that's for the that's for the that's for the least company and the ads that you typically see for leases they're put out by the regional distributors for example in our case in Toyota's case Southeast Toyota puts out a regional special for leases and they advertise that and that's the same special that everybody has but even in the Southeast Toyota's finance leases they will still have a down payment typically around $2,500 down or $3,000 down morning the manufacturers and the leasing companies advertising is as

deceptive as many of the dealers. All the manufacturers, all the leasing companies in their advertisements advertise big down payments. And it's stupid. I mean, it just, why do you tell somebody they can lease a car for $199 a month? And the fine print, which you can't read, they require $5,000 or $10,000 down payment. And the manufacturers do that too. So you can't pay any attention to an advertisement by either a manufacturer or dealer. You have to do your online shopping just as you said. And also the acquisition fee that you're talking about that is charged by the leasing company. It's another way for them to make profit. It's the leasing company's dealer fee. And the dealers also participate in that. They get a portion of that acquisition fee.

so so just the bottom line is just to get to the final answer and I don't want to bother you too much you're saying that your payment should only be say plus maybe $175 first payment with nothing down if you want to get a true what they say sign and drive

or no money down lease the only things are required is to register the car everything else the dealer fees, the down payment, all this stuff, it's dictated by the dealership. What we're all saying is a great idea. You just say, give me a zero out-of-pocket lease and have everybody do that.

And then later on, once you get the lowest one of those, and if you wanted to lower that payment somehow and put down $1,500 or $200 just to get into a budget, then you can apply that to those payments. But it's kind of like getting a bottom line out-the-door price. Roll everything in their first payment, tag, tax, whatever you want to do, but I'm going to go with the lowest payment.

and then call us to make sure that lowest payment is really low. Myr, thanks for the call. We've got two callers holding, and your question is the best question we've had in a long time because leasing is where the dealers are making their big money. And if you do what we advise you to do, it will save a lot of people because if they're listening. That's the only way to lease a car.

Thanks for the call. Thanks, Marty. Give us a call again, and let us know the outcome. I want to thank Richard from Connecticut, who's been holding for a while. Good morning, Richard. Welcome to Earl Stewart-on-Cars. Hi, good morning. I just want to say before I start, your show is the best show on YouTube,

and we really appreciate your show every Saturday. Thank you. So I want to talk to Earl about the work. experience I've ever had walking into a car dealership in 35 years of buying a car. Wow. You have our attention. So this past Sunday, I'm looking to purchase an Accura RDX. It was a used RDX, 2018 for $27,000 listed.

When I got there, I spoke to the salesman, took the car for a test drive. Then when we got done, we came back to his office and I said, I would like to know what the out-of-door prices. At that point, he tried to sell me a loan. He tried to sell me all the extras. I said, write it all down, but bottom line is I'd like to know what you're out-of-door prices. So before all this happened, I did my research and looked at other 2018s and it was the navigation package, the top rate package of the

RDX and got several amounts of what other dealerships were willing to pay. And he said to me that there were one price only, non-negotiable. we do this because we're the best price in the state of Connecticut and he came back and showed me the piece of paper I took a look at it and I said to him that when I looked at it that I'm very uncomfortable that's the word I used with the out-of-door price at that point the salesperson that I found out

through asking and talking to him during our drive-thru, had about six months of time on the job, said to me, stood up, said to me, well, that's the final price. And I actually got up, and I actually shook his hand. He didn't even acknowledge me, shook his hand and said, thank you, and I walked out the door. Good for you.

At that point, Earl, I didn't talk to a sales manager. I didn't talk to a general manager. I talked to, he did not have me talk to anyone, and I walked out the door a very unhappy customer. I just don't understand, Earl, that that person didn't even say to me, what price are you comfortable with? It was like, nope, that's the deal, and you're out of here.

Yeah. Well, at least afforded you the opportunity to go where you could get a better price and a lot of dealerships they'll keep you there for two or three hours and torture you and then you finally

go home. So at least you were relatively unbeat up and able to walk out on your own. If you listen to our Mr. Jobman report at the end of the show, after going through that experience, a lot of people who probably would have to be carried out of the dealership. But you're an educated consumer, and you understand what you needed to do,

and you knew what the best price was, and they didn't have it, and you walked, and you will find that at 2018 Accura RDX at a good price. I'm confident. All right, well, thank you. I just wanted to bring that up. And the other kind of push that he tried to use. use on me is halfway through the sales pitch on the call he said to me that at 2 o'clock he has a customer coming in so he might be between me and the customer and basically when I walked out

there was one customer in the building and they were with another salesperson so it was just another it was just another tactic to try to get me to buy the car. But unfortunately, I walked out a very unhappy customer and ended up missing the appointment that I had for the other two cars, but it is what it is, and those things happen. I have a feeling that salesman won't be there much longer than six months. I have a feeling he's not selling very many cars. But thanks for sharing that with us, Richard,

and I really appreciate that, and thanks for the compliment. on the show and spread the word in connecticut great call richard richard keep doing great work richard i have a question for you how'd you feel whenever you walked out you just walked away that must have been a pretty good feeling i i you know the thing is the key thing is i wasn't when they offered me the out of door price let's say that the out of door price was 27 000 i wasn't looking to say to them all of you i was willing to buy the car for 2020,000, I had an offer that was lower. It was only $700 lower, but he never gave me the opportunity to even present it to him.

So that's the reason why I was very unhappy, and I was not able to talk to his boss or his boss's boss. In 35 years of buying cars, I've always gone when I've dealt with a salesperson, the first thing they do is the introduce me to the sales manager or the general manager. This guy didn't do nothing. That was that. Well, he's a bad salesman. It's a sign of respect to an introduce customer to your manager. It's just even if you're not going to try to push them to buy,

it's always a sign of respect to introduce your customer to the manager. And you're absolutely right, Richard. Thanks again. I appreciate your call. And thank you very much. You're welcome. Keep the good work up. It's a great show.

Thank you. Thank you so much. Only here you can hear these great calls. We share a lot of information with you. Most of all, it's a whole lot of honesty, transparency, and we can lead you in the right direction, or you can lead us in the right direction because you are an important part of the show.

Give us a call. Ladies, $50 for the first two new lady callers, 877-960. 9960. Don't forget your anonymous feedback. Take advantage of that. Your Anonymousfeetback.com and also you can text us at

772-497-6530. Now back to the recovering car dealer. Let's go back to the text. Rick's got to YouTube. We do. We got a couple here. This is a little long, but I'll go through a quick on this. Donovan says Tesla this week announced

in quarter one. They sold every car they could make of 185,000, and that's with only having two models being produced from two factories. Sandy Monroe, a famous EV engineer with a popular YouTube channel, says this week Tesla is 10 years ahead of everyone else in the engineering, motors, battery tech, and infrastructure, and says that the Ford Mustang Mock-E is the closest car, but that Chinese EV makers, electric vehicle makers, like Neo and X-Peng, are where the real future is, not with the traditional OEMs or normal car makers. Why do you think it's taking the traditional car makers so long to get their heads

wrapped around something that Tesla's been doing for a decade? And he says, once the Chinese EV makers get into North America, it's going to be very hard for the traditional car makers to push in the market and get a share. That's an interesting comment. I heard the other day that Tesla was, as a matter of fact, I heard it from a Chinese correspondent that is live from China on CNBC. And they're having a problem because the Chinese prefer the Tesla. They say the Tesla over the Chinese EV is far easier to operate, more user-friendly. They prefer it.

It's a consumer choice by the Chinese. And the worry was that Tesla's stock would suffer because the Chinese are huge buyers of Tesla's. And if the Chinese government gets mad at Elon Musk and Tesla because they're stealing business from the Chinese EV manufacturers, they could slap them with some penalties and maybe restrict them or even a tariff. Man, they can't make everything.

and Ernesto says good morning I've heard the Toyota Grand Highlander is going to replace the Sequoia. Is that true? The Grand Highlander? I've never heard that. You probably find out before we do. Toyota doesn't tell the dealers before they leak it to the news. Happens all the time. The Grand Highlander, that's a very prestigious sounding name.

It does. It's like a Grand Cherokee. I doubt it. I doubt, I bet I will look at it. up where we are Toyota dealers and we don't even know what a Grand Highlander is thank you we're not kidding when we say we can be informed by our callers there is okay showing up online that Toyota has teased a electrified three-row SUV that looks like a Highlander this thing doesn't look like a Sequoia so I don't I don't well that Toyota's gonna make a behemoth that's the one that's in conjunction with Subaru right no no this another one no this is electrified so it could be a hybrid

we don't know. And it's also, and this is in India. So this is, I'll keep looking, but I don't know. I don't think so. Okay. Another text? Yeah. Do you got some more? I got one last one from Nagan. He says, Nancy's a very pretty lady, loves to see us with our mask now, says, Mr. Earle's a lucky man. And then he goes on to ask a question. He says, if someone buys a new car and on their way home from the dealership, involved in an automobile accident, does that fall under the dealership's insurance? He says, I typically don't call my insurance to add the car until the next day. Just wondering, I'm sure that Earl's had stories about people driving home in their brand new car and having an accident. I don't remember one, but it probably has happened, and it would be the buyer's responsibility.

Once the title, once the transaction takes place, the dealer has no more. liability so be sure to verify your insurance you can do it on the phone and a matter of fact a responsible dealer would do that for you yeah you should definitely do that that's always best practices um we've had situations where just because this is our business we're like you're supposed to get your car insured we've had people that didn't do that at the dealership and then got in a situation when they got pulled over and they got mad at us and then you know it's now we are way more proactive after complaints like that to make sure people know it is their responsibility to ensure their car and a good salesperson and finance person will guide them through that process.

Of course, once you drive off. In our case, our money back, unconditional guarantee would take care of them. That's why we're the only dealership where that wouldn't apply, yes, it's our problem if you wrecked the car. Once you drive off the lot. I shouldn't have said that live on the air maybe. You've been saying it for 20 years. Yeah. Forget about it.

Once you drive off the lot, it becomes your responsibility. Ladies and gentlemen, did you hear this question, excuse me, this statement this past week when you went on shopping, I'm sorry, but we just sold that car. But we have others. Give us a call. Toll free at 877-960, or you can text us at 772-497-6-9-30. Anybody tired of hearing me talk about the ladies?

Ladies, ladies, ladies, ladies. $50 for the first two new lady callers. I know you're out there. Give me a call. Now back to some more texting. Yeah. We've got a text here. This is a real world experience. Wait a minute. The hand is up. I'm going to interrupt you.

We had a call coming in. We are going to go to... We got somebody. The Colonel? Colonel. Palm Beach Gardens. All right. Good morning. Good morning, all.

Welcome. Hi, welcome. Thank you very much. I got a question for Rick. One thing, I know that when I was having to partake of a smoke outside there on U.S. 1 outside the body shop, that there was a brand new vendor about eight years ago that I had just spoken with a lady that was leaving and pulled out of the parking lot and got side wiped right on U.S. 1 in front of 7-Eleven. So she didn't get barely 100 to 200 yards before she ran. director Brandi Venza. Wow.

Just memories of Earl Stewart, Toyota. Good thing it happened in front of the body shop. Yeah, yeah, we got her right back in. You just walked out there and drove it back in. Well, no, the tow truck had to bring it around the back. It wasn't drivable, yeah. So, anyway, I have

you know, 2017 Camry, and Rick, I need just a ballpark, a high ballpark. I, because of my situation, I can no longer drive, but I have a driver in the house that loves to race to red light for some stupid reason, and she's heavy on the brakes. So she's getting her income tax return, and I told her, hey, the next break job is on you. Actually, I believe this is the first break job. It's got, right, 38,000 miles, and we're going to take the break job out of her income tax. So the question is, on the high end, to do a break job at about 38,000 miles, what kind of cost is that to the car owner? About $300. Yeah, I was figuring maybe $3.80.

I think I'll go with a $3.85, you know, with tax and aggravation and all that in there. Well, you've also got to get transported to and from the dealership, and you've got to get lunch while you're there. there waiting, brass rings right down the road. So I'd make it more like 4.25. That's a lot at the brass ring. Maybe 4.50. I digress. If you have beer. All right, gang, well, thank you

very much that the money's coming to me today so I wanted to make sure of exactly how much to ask for. I'm all for teaching the young. There you go. Mark's not that young. Yeah, and you know, it's weird. It's a

37-year-old youngster, so this is a good way to teach a lesson that you coast. You know, the best way to save gas is when you see that light turned red, let off the accelerator.

Don't let the car do the slowing down and not necessarily the brakes. Absolutely. All right, Ken, you have a nice weekend, and we'll see you tomorrow morning. Thank you, Brian. Thank you. It's great hearing from you. That's a good plug for the brass ring there, Rick. Yeah, I was going to say

that was a great plug. Their food is awesome. Are you in the mood for the best hamburger and wings and the coldest beer in town? Head on down to the brass ring today. Have lunch. Stop it. We recommend it. Survementians also good, too.

Who's going to make a run for me? I'm really hungry. I work about 100 yards from the brass ring, so just give me a call. Okay, I'm happy. We are going to go to our first female caller. Yay! And her name is Rebecca from Jupiter. Good morning.

Rebecca? About time, Rebecca. Hi. I've always said all these years, if I'm ever going to buy a car, I'm going to go to Earl Stewart. Oh, bless your heart. I've lived in Jensen for about 35 years now, but for probably over 20. I've said if I'm going to get a car, I'm going to get it from Earl Stewart because such a, the reputation that I'm looking for, I mean, I get sick going to car dealers and just wondering if I'm getting ripped. I can't even, I can't even do it, you know. I'll send her a hundred dollars. So this is the thing here now. Like I live in Jensen.

You know, my car has been fine. I barely leave town. But now my husband, he's a Vietnam veteran, and we've got some not-so-good news on his health. And we're having to make now a list a mile long of the different appointments down to the VA in West Palm. So I really need to make sure that my car is very reliable. I had inherited just a small little Kia from my dad when he passed away so that's been good enough to get me around here

but it's not good enough I feel to rely on all the time now but I'm looking for I've been recommended to stick with like a two-year-old vehicle I'm looking for something like what would you suggest like I've heard the RAV for

or you know I need something that if we have to evacuate for a hurricane we can throw the cat carrier and the dog carrier and maybe even Possibly a wheelchair is going to have to be involved eventually. But I heard that you also give veterans discounts maybe. And I've been one in the job room there. What do you suggest?

Right now, my wife is driving at 2019 RAV-4. And because she has trouble with her knees and can't walk very well, she has one of those little four-wheel electric scooter that you sit on and, you know, an electric thing to get around. Right. and it breaks down into pieces. It fits very nicely in the back of the RAV, even with the back seats up. But it is just a little bit snug getting it in there, but it will fit in nicely. A manual wheelchair might be a little tighter.

If you're going to look at one of those, you might need to step up to something the size of a Highlander. But otherwise, that RAV is a fantastic vehicle for that. And like I said, that little electric scooter that comes down into four different components fits beautifully in the back. Okay. And I think, Rebecca, I think you really like the rev. And, you know, it sounds like you have your hands full. And, gosh, you've got to say to yourself, it's the 21st century, you think that you

wouldn't have to spend that mental energy on such silliness whenever you're going to go purchase a car or for you to say. I know, we just want, you know, the best deal and a reliable and, and, um, Rebecca, and because we're not a commercial, I have to tell you that the Honda CRV is a great vehicle. I have a very good mechanic. I take my key in and get it serviced all the time. And when I talk to him, he said, get a Toyota or get a Honda? He said, first get a Toyota.

He said, first Toyota, he said, but the Honda is really good, too. So do you usually have some couple-year-old Honda, CR? We try, but right now is a kind of tough time if you've been listening to the show. Yeah. Inventories are really low. But at most Honda dealerships and Toyota dealerships, there are people who are trading in vehicles. And, yeah, we typically see Hondas at our dealership, and I'm sure Edmorse Honda get some Ravours over there. And it's best to look at it's tough. Use auto trader and expand your search out from just a local area as far as you're willing to consider.

I know, I was going to drive, you know, because I live in Jensen's, I said, well, tomorrow, I guess I'll drive and go to Stewart there and go to the different dealers and... I'd start online. I would save gas and time and all the horrors that you describe when you go into a car dealership. You can get a lot of information. What we're noticing here on the show is, like, when we do these mystery shops, now take this with a grain of salt, most of the dealerships are doing a one-price thing on their used cars. we've had a hard time getting them to negotiate with our mystery shoppers so you can get an idea of what you'd be paying but just bear in mind even up in the Treasure Coast you're going to look at big dealer fees

on the used cars just as well as new cars but yeah use online tools auto trader is probably the easiest and the best just to see what's out there and when you set a two-year-old car you're right in the sweet spot that's where you kind of get the best value the car has already depreciated down that depreciation curve kind of flattens out a little bit after the first year or so and and so you're you let the original owner take the big grunt that's the old cliche but it's true and so i guess so a 2019 2018 or even a 2020 is something that you can you should take a look at right i think so we have to go down to the VA today so um you're like on route one like kind of like in north palm riviera beach area

Yeah, if you're at the VA, you would just shoot a blue heron up to US1 and then head north. And on the way, you'll pass a couple of dealerships right on the corner at Morse Honda. There's a Kia dealership right there on the, I think, or is it Nissan? What do you think of Hyundai's and Kia? I know that you're a Toyota guy, but I hate them. No, no, no, that's not true. They had a bad rescue. I was just like...

No, no, no, you should consider them. And another thing is also, I've been stealing Earl's consumer reports, for about 15 years and I finally got my own because he didn't have the premium package there's there's a there's upgrade so like I think it was like 50 bucks or something like that and look at the cars and they actually will rate the use cars as well so you can say I want to look at a 2018 or 2019 CRV or a Hyundai or a Tucson so there's like you two songs they used to have a bad reputation the RAV or about comparable to each other as far as quality and reliability

yes there's a lot of great choice out there Rebecca and I'll tell you what the most comfortable place to go safe place to go is the internet just like Stu said and there you can remain anonymous there you can look for you know what your needs are and you can take your time and you don't have to put up with all this silliness as I put it and like I said there's a lot of Honda Honda is a great competition for us there's like I said there's a lot of great cars out there Rebecca are you a cost member?

Costco? No. Yeah. They might even consider joining it $65 bucks, and they have good prices on new and used cars. Really? Costco, huh? Yeah. They have recommended dealers in every zip code area, and the best deal is on a new car.

You get a fair deal on a used car, not as good as the new car prices, but at least you're not going to be taken advantage of. if you decide to buy you's car and go through a Costco dealer. Yeah. Also another avenue of information, Earl and I use it daily, and that is the Consumer Reports, and there's so much information that you can find. Yeah, I got out my little Consumer Reports book last night, and I'm looking, and I said, okay, you know, it's time to get one, better get, you know, better get serious here, you know.

A lot of people have called me about the April edition. which, you know, they really zero in on best-use cars under $20,000. Yeah. So there's a lot to do out there. There's a lot of choices, but to stay in control. And another feature that I think that it sounds from your conversation that you really need is comfort. The comfort is major. And, you know, once you drive off, you know, it's yours.

Yeah. So it's something to take your time and consider. And it sounds like as if that you're... I'm scared off by all the new technology. I'm like, am I going to... Is it like driving like a computer on wheels nowadays where you have to learn so much? Yeah. Wherever you buy, just be sure that you have...

Before you sign on the dotted line, be sure you have an informed person, salesperson or service person, that goes over the technicalities and push every button, throw every switch, point to everything you don't understand, and give as good education as you can before they drive at home. Because when you drive at home, you might be in trouble. They're not going to pay as much attention to you as before you sign on the dotted line. That's true. Yeah, great advice.

Rebecca, I hope we answered all your questions, and I hope you stay in touch with us. Yeah, maybe I'll go and buy your place today after his appointment down there today. We'll go buy your dealership and see what you have there. Okay, very good. Rebecca, I'm going to send you out $50. You are a first-time winner, and you can email me, and I can get your information, and I can get you a check, and I'll mail it out this week. Okay, great. Stay on the line with our control room.

Okay. All right. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. 877-960-99-60, or you can text us at 7-7-7-2. to six nine seven six excuse me seven can anyone hear me no we do yeah what are you doing here is this motion is this motion oh my goodness i'm i'm actually recognized yeah we recognize

how are you guys doing this morning welcome we feel free this morning we have no mask on her face thank you thank you thank you thank you well it was a really a pleasure to talk to you guys and thank you for being on the air and helping us in income boots. You're quite welcome. We don't know much about anything, but that's the way the world works. So thank you for reaching out to us. Now, I'd love to get to my situation, which leads to my question. Just to recap, I have at least 2019 Cherokee Jeep, which I least,

from Schumacher. They've been very nice all along. And my lease is about to terminate on October 20 of this year. One of the first monkey wrench that got me going on this was the fact that in three weeks going up to New York till October, where the car will sit in my garage, collecting dust, having to pay a monthly lease fee, which is not bad. It's the 350. $314.88, $315,000, sitting here, as I said, with almost just about 19,000 miles, and it will have 19,000 miles when I come back in October, and the lease ends. It makes it a cream puff condition. So all these, that's what got me going.

Maybe I should trade it in early, get a better deal. It's a great deal. So I first went to CarMax to see how much they're going to offer me. They offered me $23,000 on this. spot, which I couldn't do because I need the car till May 20th is when I leave to New York. So we could not do a deal, but I got a starting point. After that, I went to Kelly's Blue Book, entered my thing, all my information. Kelly's Blue Book told me that my car's worth $23,785, at which point three dealers immediately

called me. They picked up on the fact that somehow they're Kelly's Blue Book. me Kelly's blue work on the spot, and then one dealer in office to be up to $1,500 more, all contingent upon inspection, of course. It makes sense. So now I have said, hmm, I got some hotci-tazzi on my hand. What's going on here? Everybody wants my thing, so maybe I should not let it go so fast.

Yeah, you're right. Maybe it's worth keeping it for $315,000 to sit in the garage for five, six months. And then I heard the news about the chip makers and the assembly lines being held up and everything is going to start going up and nobody can get new cars. Now, the prices of the used ones are shooting up. So what am I doing? Wait a minute. Okay. You're having fun.

Change of strategy. I'm almost there with me for a minute. I think that development is very interesting for anyone who listens. I'm learning. Let everybody learn. But so finally, it brought me to another and, another situation of thinking, and this is where I am today, I said, hey, let me look at my residual price.

So I go to my lease contract, and I'm looking at it as we're talking, and the residual price is 20,000, 956, and 20 cents, almost 21,000. Just out of curiosity, I decided to call the lease company, which is ally financial. And as I told you last week, I wanted to buy it from them initially. They said, no, Florida law. You've got to go through the dealer, which, by the way, got me going, if you recall, last week. So I called several times. I'm a little persistent.

And finally, they were all nights every time, but finally I got a gentleman who really knew what he was talking about. And I said, to him, listen, do me a favor. Look up for me the residual price. And at the time, I didn't have a copy of the contract. the deal never gave you to me. He says, it should be in your contract. I said, I don't have a contract. Do me a favor. Would you look it up for me? Very interesting. I did, at this point, which couple of days ago, I did not have the lease contract. So he's doing me a favor. He's nice. He says, your residual value is 20,165.

Whoa. I said, that's a great deal. So I said, do me a favor. Send me a copy of the lease contract. So he sent to me in the email. I printed it out. I'm looking at it. So even though, and the lease says to me residual is 20,0009 5620, but the guy, a nice guy

in an ally told me 20,000165. Somebody attacked on $800. Yeah. I wonder who's playing in the kitchen. That's obviously. That's amazing.

Somebody, yeah, so again, somebody, now this lease is titled on top, Ally something, Eli, quick lease. It's their lease, and they think their lease price residuals is different than what's on their contract, and that is one for the books. I got to hand it to you, I have not heard this before. That is, I've heard the dealers play games. I'm telling you two things you haven't heard before.

One last week and one this week. What a pride. Yeah, go ahead. I'm sorry. No, I just love, I love your comments because you're extremely smart. You're extremely astute. You're the consumer expert that we're trying to create out there, and you're really digging up some strange things. Here you have a leasing company, a nationally known leasing company traded on the stock exchange that is,

actually deceiving their customers. You know, I'll bet you there are a lot of lawyers out there thinking class action right now. As I told you last week, sign me up. Well, we're working on it. And I mean it. I mean it. You know, when wrong is done, I'm, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm saying to myself now, now, Earl, you've been embedded in this industry. So you know a thing or two.

And I'm a little surprised that this you didn't know about. But apparently there are two, apparently two residual prices. One is an in-price, in quote-unquote, which is the lower price, that the guy quoted to me from Ally on the phone, 20,000, 165. And then there's a price number two, which is jacked up, which is what's written on the lease contract, which is still an ally contract, a jacked up price where about $800 is taxed on. I don't know where that $800 who's pocketing it or who's splitting it,

but something is happening and we, the poor schnucks, are paying for it. There is a lease disposition fee, but they normally don't pre-added into the residual. The residual is, by definition, legally, one number. And for them to have two different numbers, one on the computer at Allied headquarters and the other one on their contract, that's deception. I don't care what their reasoning is. It's deception. And you ferreted it out very cleverly,

but they're doing this to all their customers. I don't think they're picking on you. Absolutely. And not that I found it out by smarts. I will not take credit for that for smarts, but I'll take credit for being at the right place, at the right time with the right incident, just because I did not happen to have the lease contract,

and he was extra nice. The previous people that I called an ally, like four, five of them, didn't want to disclose anything. They refused to disclose any amount because they don't want to deal with me. Go through the dealer. But this guy was, you know,

we struck up a little of a friendship and my usual corny jokes. I don't know. Don't be surprised if you get some calls from lawyers that listen to the show. They're salivating as we speak. Wonderful. Bring them on, baby.

let me finish the story because it goes till yesterday so hear me out this is very interesting so i said um so i said to do me a favor send me a copy of the lease he says no problem right away and uh while he's sending me the copy i in parallel i'm calling the dealer and i'm talking to one of the gentlemen there i have his name i'm not disclosed at this time but if necessary i will in writing. So I said, no, do me a favor. I don't have a lease copy, but I think Ally is going to send it to me. But in the meanwhile, would you tell me what is my residual value? So he says, yeah, I'm going to go look it up. And he tells me the same number that is ended up on my lease contract, which is $20,095620. Okay, that drives, even though the two numbers

are different from, you know, the contract as we just spoke. So I'm thinking, I'm thinking, what do I want to do. What do I want to do? Now, I got six, five, six months to go till October. Do I want to get rid of it now? So I'm thinking, and finally yesterday, I said, you know what? What if I trade the car, I take it back early, and I try to get a brand new car, the same type. I love the car, the Jeep Cherokee, 19,000 miles. It's a cream puff. It's attractive. These three dealers want it. Let me call, so I call Schumacher, and I get a very nice guy named after. We're a nice guy. And I tell him the whole situation. I said, Arthur, if I come in today with my car, I'm leaving in three weeks to Florida.

You're going to get yourself a car and do a trade in. You get me a new car and I'll give you this car and we'll work out the paperwork. And I want the same, hopefully the same rate, 3.15 a month. He says, of course, I don't blame you. Let's see what we can do. Give me the numbers. I give him the numbers and I give him the residual. He looks me up.

calls me back in five minutes listen to this he says no go I said what do you mean no go he says we called up ally because we have to purchase

the car from ally if you do a trading with a new for a new lease we have to buy the car from ally even though the price in the lease says 20,000 95620

that's the price to you but not ally has to sell the price to us. And because of what's going on in the market with the shortage, they want from us, from Schumacher, $25,600. So in order for us to get your car, you can possibly buy it for $20,000, as it stated in the lease contract, which was an estimated price, which was estimated three years ago when you first released the car. They never expected this mayhem to go one with the shortage of the cars.

They jacked up the price now, and you can buy it probably for $20,000, as stated in the lease contract. We cannot. We have to pay $25,600, so it doesn't pay for us to buy the car. Yeah, exactly. We can't buy the car. We can't do a deal.

That's because you have to make the rest of the lease payments, and they know that, and they're just tacking the other lease payments. The rest of the lease payments is $1,500. It's $3.15 times five months. Yeah. Although, they're, they have you, because they don't think you're going to go out and exercise that.

And you don't know if in October the car will be worth as much as it is now. It probably will be. It'll probably be worth more. But it's a gamble. If you want to cash in now, you have to do it, and you can't do it because you owe those lease payments. So it's something they're just probably gambling on you not doing and waiting until October. I think I'd wait. I think you're going to get more than to 21 or 23,000 in October.

I think the shortage by October will be acute and that price will be higher. I think you're in the catbird seat, and you should just wait it out, let your car sit in the garage, and every day it's getting worth more money. Well, I'm going to count the money every day. I don't say the garage. A cup of coffee, just to feel better. I don't think you're going to be able to top this experience. but you're an amazing guy.

I hope you can call in next week with something. I'd love to. Listen, thanks. You should take your show on the road, you're quite the comedian and negotiator and everything in between.

Well, I try to laugh at life. I'm 75 years old, and, you know, I try to look at the half glass that's full, but one thing I'll tell you now that you mention it, I go swimming here, and I'll pool every day. We go at the same time, and I'm, every day, they know, what's the new joke for today?

So I get him going, you know. Did you say you look at the glasses half full? That's right. Yeah, that's what I say, but Earl makes fun of me because I have that accent. I think I detected that when you said the same thing just now. That's what happens when you're from up north. Okay, Mojure, thank you so much.

What a enlightening call. And you certainly are an informed consumer. We enjoyed your company this morning. I enjoy being with you guys, and God willing, next week. Thank you so much. We're looking forward to it. 877-960, 9960, and ladies, I have $50 for a second female caller, and I'm looking forward to it.

I think we're going to have two this morning. I can feel it in my bones. They're running out of time, though. $50. Yes, as Stu said, we are running out of time. The mystery shopping report is going to be coming up, so ladies, jump on the phone, give us a call at 877-960-90-60. We have a great mystery shopping report coming up from Napleton, North Home, Hyundai.

And you can always count on something extremely interesting. So stay tuned for that. Now back to Stu. Understatement. Understatement of the week. I bet. But, yeah. We have a text here.

This is kind of a real-world shopping experience. If somebody who went to Palm Beach, Mazda and tried to buy a car, I got the hand went up again. What's going on? We're going to have to go back to the phones. Mike is holding. Good morning, Mike. Mike's calling us from Wellington. Good morning.

Good morning. Can we help you? Good morning. How are you? Great. Yes, I had a question. Actually, you were talking about the fellow who had the lease and he had a lease and he had five or six months to go.

Couldn't he just pay those five or six months right now and then buy the car right now? Yes, he could. Sell the cost for a profit. Yes, he could do that. And he's gambling a little bit that the price will go up.

You can't guarantee the price will go up. I'm thinking it will. The way this economy is going with a microchip shortage is chronic. supply and demand is working in his favor. And here we are in the May already.

October is not that far. My guess is. And if I were, if I were motion, I would gamble and wait for it, wait until October, exercise the residual value purchase price and not have to make any more payments. I think that car is going up in value every day. Right. That's a good possibility. my only concern was that he was thinking of getting rid of the car

so that he can buy a car in October rather than have the car sit for five months and so that would just be another disposition but you guys are great I love listening to you I get so much information and I'm happy to talk to you thank you so much well thanks for the call please call again next week appreciate you Mike okay we are turning off the phones and we are going to go back to text

Trying to read this one text for the whole show. All right, let's see here. As I said, a listener went to Palm Beach Mazda and tried to buy a Mazda 3 and went through this very similar experience to our mystery shoppers. Went online, saw the online price. It looked like a firm price. Jonathan has the pictures.

I don't know if you can get them up on screen fast enough. But there was an internet price of 29, 524. He went into the dealership, went through the whole rigamarole, the whole rough and tumble thing, and wound up with the price of $36,071 before the $1,000 dock fee, hidden fee, and also $522 in non-tax fees. Well, those are legit. Apparently, they added a bunch of stuff on there, including this sounds like an old soul song, Crystal Fusion. Or is that Crystal Blue Persuasion, I think.

Crystal Blue persuasion is always added, unwanted, resist always added. Both those were $500, $270 for Winded Tint, and they just jacked up this price on them. By the way, they did demonstrate what the crystal blue persuasion was. It was Rainex. They showed them, they squirted the water on the windshield, and they show how beat it off. Aren't you too young to remember that song? I'm not too young to remember that song. And Rick's going to tell me, how much is a bottle of Rainex cost?

No, I just want to know Where can I get a job Putting that Crystal Fusion on for $500 for putting on Ranax? Trust me, you're not getting a very big cut of that You'll probably get $5 bucks So that's that Oh, well

Let's see, we have another one here Too bad Interesting question is Negotiating for a car More difficult than it was 20 or 30 years ago What do you think? No, I think it's easier It's unfortunately

For the uneducated, for the naive for the careless. It's a nightmare. In fact, actually, if you're really naive, it's not a problem, but only just go in and pay all the money and you're happy. You know, back when I was evil and back when I was first a dealer and my goal in life was to make as much money off of every person that came in the front door, particularly the ones that weren't very sharp. Back in those days, we had a little saying that the person that haggles and argues about the price, is usually the most difficult customer and most unhappy customer later on. We used to say back then that the person that comes in and pays us all the money we ask is very happy with the car.

We're nice to them. He's nice to us. It's a love fest. And that's the kind of naive look at the world that car dealers have today. And I was there. I've been there and I've done that. But, no, it's easier if you have the Internet, the greatest tool of all time. You have auto buying programs like Costco and Consumer Reports and True Car. And you have Earl Stewart on cars. And you have a huge wealth of advice, Kaleigh Blue Book, Edmonds.

30 years ago, you were on your own. Yeah. If you take, years ago, you got to take advantage of you just didn't know it. Is that better? I don't think so. It's like an arms race between consumers and car dealers. And I think the consumers are starting to win finally. I mean, as the consumers became more educated dealers started trying trickier things like these addendums and all this sort of stuff, and then the consumers get a little bit better.

And then we came along, and we just leveled the playing field for the consumer. I like to think so. What kind of maintenance, here's a text, what kind of maintenance is required on electric vehicles? Like I said, everybody's got electrical vehicles on the brand. I know there isn't any oil to be changed, but don't the axles need greasing? Maybe. I looked that up, by the way. I was just curious because, like I said, come Monday, I'll be driving to Tesla for a little while.

I looked up Tesla's recommended maintenance, and here's what it is real quick. Every two years, replace the cabin air filter. There is a high HEPA filter that they have, and they recommend changing every three years. They recommend rotating the tires every 6,250 miles, every 2 years, check the brake fluid and an air conditioning service every four years, and every six years for Model 3. And then if you live in a cold area, they recommend lubricating the brake calipers every 12 months. Other than that, they list no other required maintenance. People don't talk about that, but that's really one of the greatest things about electric vehicles

This is the fact that they're a very simple machine, very little. There's no moving parts except the tires. And so you can see what the low cost of operation is not just the fact that you use electricity instead of gasoline because you don't have to maintain the car. Yeah, and the only maintenance costs are cheaper repair costs, I would imagine there's just less things to break. You don't have transmissions, engines, pistons, all the other moving clanging, banging, oiled parts. This is kind of like, it almost seems like

terribly prehistoric and primitive to me now when you think about it. Real quick, a couple of anonymous feedback when we get to the mystery shopping report. Here's an anonymous fee who says, please set a limit on caller's time. It doesn't help your show. Think of all your listeners waiting. They call back week after

week and wasting my time. Well, we try, you know, if we have a good topic. You know, you hit on one of the most difficult things. We talk about it all the time. We talk about our time because we get carried away individually. And it's hard. I don't like to be rude to anybody.

Occasionally you have someone that's on for a long time. This is extremely articulate and interesting and entertaining. For example, most of the call, he was on the phone for a long time. But no one wanted to cut him short because everything that came out of his mouth was interesting or entertaining. And occasionally, we get somebody that's not so interesting and entertaining, but we don't like to be rude to anybody. And it's a problem.

I mean, we have to deal with it. We have to deal with each other. People get mad at me because I cut Rick off or I cut Stu off. I show her own my watch all the time. Yeah, so we're conscious that anything anybody has to say, I'm doing it right now, isn't interesting to other people. And we have to, it's like an orchestra. We have to conduct it. It's quite a balancing act for everyone that's listening right now.

And truly, it definitely is a balancing act. and we truly try to get, you know, each and every one of you on the air, and we do the best that we certainly can. But let me tell you what, you are an important part of the show. Our listeners, our callers, our texters, we take, I take the time, and I haven't done it yet during this show, to thank you all for being a big part of Earl Stewart on Cars. And we'll work on your suggestion of this balancing act

that we need to fine tune. All right, I got one more, and it's anonymous feedback, and I read it because I'm going to probably crack up on a reading. It was anonymous feedback. I don't know if there's a real question in here, but it's entertaining. Hi, Earl, I just wanted to tell you about the dream I had the other night. I dreamt I was at your car dealership trying to buy a car, and a salesman was treating me with old-school tactics.

He was bullying me and laughing with the other salesman trying to get over me on the price of a new car. The salesman in my dream referred to, himself as Stu Stewart. Although he was way shorter than the real Stu Stewart and younger with long hair, in my dream, the long-haired stew store walked away and was laughing with his buddy saying, there's nothing I can do about the price of this car. I then told the whole group of salesmen laughing that I was going right over to call the owner Earl Stewart. All the salesman including the long-haired Stu Stewart then got a very worried look on their face. That's exactly

the face it would make. And then I woke up. I just thought I'd share that. with you. Thank you for sharing that with you. That's great. I think it's really cool that people dream about our car dealership. Yeah. I do. That's all the time. That's what happens when you have a late night meal. It's right. Exactly. All right. Let's turn it over to Earl and the mystery shopping report. Okay. Napleton, North Palm, Hyundai. Hang on to your seats. Hang on to your hats. Mystery Shop. Napleton, North, Napleton, the infamous, Napleton, North Palm, Hyundai. Last year, we mystery shoped Naples, North Palm, Hyundai during our Takata Airbag investigations. They failed the Takata test, and we uncovered over $5,200 hidden bonus fees and unwanted add-ons.

But the last time we ran a sales tactic mystery shop on Napland-North Palm Hyundai was all the way back in April of 2019. They didn't do so well then either. Bates and Switch with a sale price $6,000 higher than the online advertised price. Napleson has four dealerships listed on Good Dealer Bad Dealer List.com. You can find that on Earl and Cars.com, and we list all the recommended dealers on the ones we don't recommend. All four of the Naplesons have F. Don't buy grades. So we didn't exactly have high hopes for a better experience with Agent Lightning this week. We joke around about the Naples on this show and use their dealerships as examples of the worst of the car.

business has to offer. All this is based on real-world experiences of at least a half-dozen mystery shops all over the last 18 years. And all that time, and we've given ample opportunities to learn and grow, Naples and Steelerships have earned the reputation as a rough and tumble place to buy a car, fraught with risk for car buyers. In a way, we feel like we're failing here because you would think... It improves some. You would think that at least either they would sue us or send us an anonymous feedback or worse

but just to continue a business as usual is baffling I think the dealer reaction is just like ignore Earl just stop don't provoke them they're probably smart yeah they're probably smart

and all that time and given out of and we keep giving Naples chances to get right by going back again and again this is what we're doing this week sending Agent Lightning our female shopper to investigate their sales defects. Asia Lightning found an online ad that offered a

2021 new 2021 Hyundai Launcher SCE for sale with payment of just $99 a month. That's $99 a month. Can I just say this if you see any ad for any new car for $99 a month? Laugh and move on. laugh ignore it just think it works folks I'm telling you you can go on TV anytime

you can go online anytime you go on anywhere and you'll find a $99 a month what is there magical it's not even 100 I mean it was $1.99 there is inflation they were using $99 a month in the 60s in the 60s

that was a great car payment back then. Car dealers upgrade. Go to 199. It's almost believable. When you see that, just imagine Earl's voice in your head saying, ain't going to happen.com. Ain't going to happen.com. So, you know, I'm

serious. I'm serious. You'll find one if you look for it, and this is the one we found. The ad browse, okay, $99 for a lease, that's usually the catch. That's usually the hook. It's a lease. But this one said

or a finance purchase. You can lease it or you can buy it. $99 a month. And they come in. They wouldn't run the ad if people didn't come in. And she couldn't read the fine print. There was a big block of fine print,

but it was blurry. She blew it up, couldn't do it. Yeah. Here's a report. I'm able to Zed for $99 on a new 2021. It says 202 in my script here. My computer. I know it couldn't be a 202. I had a form to request

more information. I filled it out to get the ball rolling. Okay. My printer printed on on both sides today. It's like a book. I like it. It's very, very environmentally friendly of you. Within a few minutes, I received an email from Gabrella, a visual marketing specialist with an embedded welcome video. Gabriela was a personal young woman who thanked me for choosing in Portland and advised me that was a great experience I was about to have. I left as I typed that. Yeah, I emailed this message to Gabriela.

And she says, re-high, here's a video of your vehicle, me. And this is me talking to Gabriela Esperon at Napalton North yesterday at 404 p.m. I requested the pricing and the online special for $99 a month for 84 months. Can you email me the breakdown of that, please? So I'm asking Gabriela to break down. What is the information on that $99 a month? Never got a reply. Surprise, surprise, surprise.

So I decided to just head over to the dealership. I was annoyed that my email went unanswered, and I decided to incorporate this frustration into my shopper's persona. I walked into the showroom, was greeted by a man named Jimmy. He asked what he could do for me. I told him I was trying to buy in a launcher SCE online, but he didn't seem to be.

but I didn't seem to begin anywhere. Jimmy listened, then told me that he had an appointment coming in and he'd find someone else to help me. I waited for five minutes before Jimmy returned to say he couldn't find anyone to help me. He said he could just get started before his people came in. I speculate, oh, they came in on the $99 ad? I ain't going to talk to him.

Jimmy led me to a desk, took out on all the information. I told him I was helping my son to buy his first car. and he said he'd chosen the Lantra SCE because it was economical. Jimmy complimented my son, good sense, misspelled compliment, and said that during a car, that buying a car was the best way for a young person to build credit. Did you just say I misspelled compliment? No, you said it later on, and in my brain, I had a short in my brain. Later on in the advert and the email, they misspelled compliment.

Jimmy warned me that their inventory was very low and told me about how they struggled to get cars to sell. He said they were warned that it was going to get worse, too. Well, that's the only true thing you'll hear from Jimmy. Savor that moment. Yeah, right. Jimmy's appointment showed up, so he left to try again to get a salesperson for me. He was back in a few minutes with a very young salesperson named Niles.

Niles sat down and reviewed what Jimmy entered to under the computer, acknowledged that I wanted to say, the 2012 Lancho L.A. but said he wasn't sure if they even had any in stock. He went on to tell me the same thing about the inventory shortage.

He would need to speak with the manager to find out if he had any elantras that would work. Nals was gone for a while. I forgot to time him. When he returned, he had a story for me. There was only one in launcher as he left in stock. It was in service.

Since it was the end of the month, as boss said, he'd do his absolute best to get as close to the deal in the ad as he could on the next model up, the Alontera SEL. I agreed reluctantly to consider it. I said it might be nice to surprise my son with a nicer trim level. We went outside to drive one. We found the intense blue. I like that name. Intense. Blue the launcher on the lot had an MSRP, 23,180.

He also had a big fat addendum label, and the addendum label added another $2741 to the MSRP. Napleton's list price, the phony-minrooney, was $25,291. It was a weird addendum that combined free services, and this is where they misspelled complementary, like free appraisals, multipoint inspections with charges for $199 nitrogen, Nitrofil, and the interior protection baggage. Listen to this, $1495, $1,495. Interestingly, Naples Adendum also had a disclaimer on it that indicated that all that stuff was optional.

My son had a vulgar word in there that I didn't use. I think it's FCC. Crap is not that bad. I won't use the other one. We returned, although she was later in the report. But not by me. We returned from an uneventful test drive, and while we walked across a lot, two nearby men,

were speaking, laughing, here it comes, and cursing a loudly, lovely atmosphere. One of the men embarrassed by his language, uttering the word I just mentioned before, that I wouldn't say, apologize. He said he was Louis, and he ran the place

Hey I run the place My name's Louis He says he's got I give you next year Free Maintenance Because I said something really stupid He said the S-Wolder Yeah

But I'm going to give you a one year free maintenance That really cost them But you got to buy a car I'm not going to apologize But if you buy the car I'll give you a free maintenance Yeah He said he was sorry

Okay Niles confirmed That Louis was indeed the boss the big boss The big boss is Ed Nableton He couldn't be the big boss But he's the large He's the large

And he would take care of me I said that's good Because I was already turned off By the all the extras That were on the little sticker We sat down at the desk And Niles left after 10 minutes He returned as if he could see the ad

I was talking about I pulled up their website on my phone Founding ad Showed it to him He was trying to read the phone find print, but he couldn't on his own ad. He tried picking and zooming, pitching and zooming, but the print

just got bluerier. That's the way they designed it. He gave up, returned to his manager. He came back with a worksheet. The right side itemized a cash purchase. The left side displayed a grid with payment options. Knowing the options were a $99 payment. Not even close. Surprise, surprise. surprise, surprise. The top line was MSRP 23-180. They took off a $2782 discount, but wait,

they started adding. The first was a shocker. This is a shocker. I hope the feds are listening. This is a violation of federal law. I'm talking FBI. $1,05 for freight. Hmm. We checked on day's freight charge, manufacturers' freight charge, 1,05 was already included in the $23,000, $180 MSRP, and the invoice. In other words, you've already been charged once for the $1,05 in freight, and Napleton, Hyundai, is charging you again. Double dipping. They added $3.99 for shadow mark, whatever that is, 2499. 25, 2,495 for a xylon silver level and $459 for window tent. That must be some tent.

It's so dark. It's so good you can't even see outside. And you can't see inside or outside. And then they charge your $499 to take the tent off. Well, I thought for that price it would be the tent that it goes clear at night and only darkens during the day. What do they call those? Wait, they say, there's more. They saved the best for last.

They included, listen to this. Oh, you skipped all the dealer fee stuff, too. Oh, dealer fee, oh, my lord. Listen to this. 899 dealer services, $1.29-E-tag fee, $149 private tag fee, and $199 doc fee. I didn't even add those up.

And then beyond that, $2,571 for an extended warranty. And hard to believe. I mean, you just don't have to see a warranty add-in-on. And in total, Naples, Palm Beach Hyundai added $8,335 an unwarranted add-ons and bogus hidden fees. A new record. Yeah. A new record. I told Miles that this was nowhere near.

for $99 a month and I want to say that Niles would say listen you were dumb enough to believe you could buy a new car for $99 I figured you were dumb enough to pay $8,000 and extra fees

and Niles didn't say that I told him that this was not going to work I was mad and told them I already said I didn't want these add-ons I said I only had $4,000 to put down And the only fee I felt I should have to pay is the official fee for a new tag. His best payment was $356 was $7,000 down in 84 months.

Man. It's crazy. Man. Did you skip it on me or was that? That was back. You skipped that. Yeah, I missed that. Okay, thank you.

So Niles Rowan and Ballpoint Fan, new tag, $4,000 down $100 a month. Then he added me to initial the paper, so he could take of the boss, see what he could do. Nels came back 12 minutes later and exclaimed he found the catch. I found it. I found how we're trying to screw you. I found our catch. I didn't know what the screw was. And I finally talked to Niles or I talked to who talked to, will he? No, no, no.

You'll find out who he talked to in a second. Anyway, yeah. So anyway, you need $10,000 down. I said that doesn't make me feel any better. I only had $4,000 and the ad was still terribly misleading. Then I asked him if $10,000 got the payment down, to $100, wouldn't $5,000 give me to $200? Miles thought about it.

Yeah, I guess so. I said, if I came up with another $1,000, I could get $200 payment. Niles asked me to signs the paper again, and went back to the boss. Return with another worksheet. This time they left out the Xylon, whatever that is, and the extended warranty, but included everything else, included instead of an 8305, there was a jamming on you. They added 3239 in bogus fees and then wanted to add-honds. Also, there were nowhere near the $200 payment.

I'd already bump myself up to $5,000 down. My payment was $298.54, it's called $300. And I came in on $99 a month at. I told Niles this won't work. I really stretched to get to $200. My son and I could not afford $300 a month. Nile suggested they agreed to split the difference with him, and he'd go back on his boss and play the game and fight for me.

I said I was running out of time, didn't want to play games. Niles left, returned in a minute with Eddie. Okay. We got Louis, we got Eddie, we got Niles. Louis's the big boss. He says bad things and swears in front of women. He recognized me as the one who overheard Louis yelling. The S word.

The S word. He said, I was a favorite customer of the day, and he was going to beat me up. He's going to beat Louis up. He was going to beat Louis up. I don't think he should beat Louis up. Louis is the big guy. He's the ad man. I can get a better deal.

I said I didn't have any more time. I needed to get to work. I had to stop per gas at Costco first. And he lit up. I asked if I was a Costco member. I said I was. Eddie asked Niles if he checked the Costco price on that elantra. There we go.

Okay. So they even, even Naples them and those about Costco. My Costco car pulled off the Costco on the side program and in my info. Niles printed a Costco pricing sheet. The price was 21,713. And it was interesting how they arrived at that. They discounted the MSRP by 2362.

Then they added $8.95 for the Naples experience. and then they took off $1,700 saving on dealer-installed items. This brought the price to 21-173. She indicated that the $899 dealer fee wasn't included in the price. But it looked like the $7,900 was there to offset both the dealer-installed items and dealer fee. Bottom line, it was a better price, but it was $460 higher than the Costco price. So good thing, and listen to this. than the fiasco that we're going through here in Naples and Hyundai.

If you're buying a car on the Costco Auto Program, you have Costco to back you up. If the price they give you is not on the Costco members' price sheet, which you should demand to see. If it isn't that price, then you can call Costco, and they will call the dealer, and they will make the dealer comply, or else they'll cancel the dealer from the program. and the dealer would not want that so they wouldn't meet the price. So after this carnage of obscene,

ridiculous salesmanship on the part of Naples and Hyundai, we got one nugget out of this, Costco member only program. It's worth a $65 membership fee, even if you're not a Costco member. Anyway,

Eddie tried to switch me again. I said no, and we walked out, and arguably about the worst experience we've had as long as I can remember and there we are and I guess it's time to vote and I don't even need to ask

but we will honor you to hear your opinion we always like to read the the grades so we have Linda says vote vote vote I vote a huge fat F Martha on Facebook gives them an F-minus Jonathan and Wellington's says let's make this easy

F. Mark says a grade lower than F, like a G or an H. It isn't fair to the people who give Fs to before to give Naples. Right. Well, it affects the curve. It does. The more Fs, the lower the whole

they bring the whole thing down. And I think, who gives him this, is Bob gives them I'm advertising my grade as a D minus, but switching it to an F and sending it this twice, like the freight charge. I think he just double dipped his F. Thanks, Bob. I've got Ernesto with an F minus, Andy F, Mark from St. Louis, F, F, snuck in a second F, although it was already in the invoice.

We've got two thinking alike here. And for me, it's worse than an F, it's a zero. Yeah. I was wondering how I'd praise that. You know, what a train wreck. Good Lord, I think I'm going to throw up. these people ought to be horse whipped my hat is off to our female shopper

what a job she did absolutely without a doubt to get through muddle through this bolt to get through this mess my congratulations to you for a fantastic job

did I grade them did I give them a Z you don't have to say anything a minus or We know where you're going with this thing. Or a pee or a key or you do know where I'm going. Yeah. You know, I appeal to someone that knows Ed Naples and he lives locally.

Someone else called him in. I don't have his number. I don't have his home number or his cell number. But anybody knows the man. Tell him that what happened on the show, tell him he either are the Sue us or he ought to clean up his act and get some managers in there that at least are going to be. be legal in the way they treat their customers, but we're on live radio, and this is going out in the airwaves, and I think somehow, if you're a friend, call them up, say, you need to go to earluncars.com, go to the archives, and listen to the radio show, Mystery Shopping Report,

and hear what happened at your Hyundai dealership. And do you care? Great idea. Okay. I think we're out of time. time, are we? Yeah. You know, I got a little bit of time after the show, and, well, I know Ed. I know Ed's a dress, and I'm going to pop over, have some coffee, talk to him, and I'm going to take this mystery shopping report with me. Hand deliver it. And a baseball bat. Oh, no. We got a couple minutes left. Well, with a statement like that, ladies and gentlemen, you know I'm always looking out for you, number one. Stay tuned next week. We'll be right back here,

Saturday morning. We thank all of you for joining us today. You do make up a great, great part of the show. Have a great weekend. Let's come.