Earl Stewart on Cars - 05.02.2020 - Your Calls, Texts, and Mystery Shop of Bev Smith Toyota

Episode Date: May 2, 2020

Earl answers various caller questions and responds to incoming text messages. Agent Thunder visits Bev Smith Toyota in Ft. Pierce to see if he can purchase a new Toyota Camry at a very attractive financing offer seen in their television ad. 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. “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. 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.

Well, good morning, everybody. I really appreciate you tuning us in, and this very historic. historic in a negative way, time of our lives. And welcome to all the new folks out there that haven't heard Earl Sterling Cars before. You'll see me moving my mask up and down if you're streaming us on video. And it's a difficult thing for us to get used to. We have our masks in the studio, and I will be wearing it as much as I can. It's a show for you new folks, all about how not to.

to be ripped off, taken advantage of by a car dealer. And during this corona crisis, this coronavirus crisis we're going through, we're seeing some very, very mean-spirited and deceptive advertising. You wonder who's buying cars out there. Actually, there are still people buying cars, where car sales are off 40 to 50% from what they normally are, but there's still a lot of people out there buying cars.

People need their cars. In Florida, for example, this trail is being broadcast from Florida. And without a car in Florida, if you have a job, you have to go to school to the doctor, the pharmacy, you're pretty much out of luck. And even Uber and Lyft are not an option viable today because of the threat. A lot of people, there are a lot of unemployed Uber and Lyft drivers, unfortunately, during this coronavirus thing. So when you have to go out and either have your car fixed or buy a newer used car, you have to be especially careful during this period of time. And our mystery shopping report today, and we'll get to that towards the end of the show, is a particularly egregious act by a car dealer in South Florida,

who is trying to trick you into believing that you can have some benefits, some incentives to buy that you can't get. And it's something you have to be. You always had to be careful about buying, leasing, maintaining, or repairing your car, But it's especially, especially scary right now to buy a car. We'll talk about things you can do to perfect the purchase. There are ways, even today, that you'll be able to buy a car and absolutely be guaranteed that you're not going to have a problem.

If you listen carefully, take some notes, or even go to our website or our blog site, which is earl-oncars.com. We have a lot of information there too. We rely on your calls, and I know you have calls out there, and you have texts for those who prefer not to call men. We prioritize our calls because we love to have the phone calls. And in just a minute I'll introduce Nancy Stewart, my co-host, and she will tell you about a very, very special offer for our first-time female callers.

We're trying to build an audience of ladies to call. We're almost at 50-50, and we want to be at least at 50-50. And the Senate that Nancy will describe in a couple of minutes to you, I think we'll really motivate some of you. Ladies that haven't called the show before, our call in number is 877-960-99-60. Now, I ask you to please take a second to write this down. Make a note of it.

The show will be on for two hours. We're on until 10 a.m. this morning. That's Eastern time. and for those two hours, I don't know how much you'll be listing, maybe 10, 15 minutes, maybe the whole show. But if you don't have a question now, you will. So if you write this number down, 877-960-99-60, 877-960-9-60, write it down.

Because something will come up. Somebody will say something, Rick or Stu, my son. Rick is a certified master diagnostic technician. knows everything there is to know about cars. Sue is our spymaster. He's in charge of our mystery shopping operation. And if you have a question for Stu, Rick, or Nancy or me, 877-960, and the text number,

this is for the folks that, well, you're not, maybe you just want to get the question answered, but you're not in a hurry. We try to get them pretty quickly, but if we don't, we will by the end of the show. Text number is 772-497-6530. That's 772-497-6530. And we build a backlog of text, actually,

so every now and then I look up at Stu or I look over at Rick, and he's our YouTube monitor, so we're on, you know, YouTube.com for slash Earl and Cars. YouTube.com for slash Rowland Cars. We're on Facebook.com, 4.slash Earl and Cars. And so we've got a lot of ways we're out there, we're even on Twitter. So it's almost impossible not to find it somewhere in cyberspace.

Again, that text number is 772-4976530. 772-497-6-5-30. Now, let me introduce Nancy Stewart. Most of you know Nancy very well. She's been with me for 17-plus years. We started the show together, doing a half-an-hour show, just the two of us and we expanded it to an hour and now here we are two hours

and we got Stu and we got Rick and we got a nice gang here in the studio Nancy I know that the audience would love to hear if there were ladies and they haven't called the show before what are we going to incentivize them with excuse me you know I can't go without mentioning Jonathan

an interesting story that goes with him is that he was once a caller many, many, many, many years ago. And he invented the word shenanigans every time he listened to our show. And he is definitely a great asset as the rest of the crew here. We wouldn't be able to do the show without them. I'm hoping that we can all spread some positive energy to all of you, not only to inform you, but to entertain you. And we sure have a whole lot to get to ladies first. We have $50 for the first two new lady callers this morning. I know you can use that $50 for the first two lady callers. Give us a call at 877-9-60-960. And, you know, I can't go

without mentioning Earl's latest column. Boy, I'll tell you what, it does fit the moment, the occasion in the pandemic that we're going through. And so many of the these car dealers that are taking advantage of, well, a lot of vulnerable, desperate people. So remember that you can go to Erlon Cars and you can read all of his columns. But this morning, I want to advise you to read something that's extremely important, a tool for an out-the-door price from a car dealer. It's worth its weight in gold. So we also have our mystery shopping report coming up, and boy, I'll tell you what, you talk about a doozy, a lot of shenanigans, mystery shop of Bev Smith, Toyota, of Fort Pierce.

So I hope that an angry consumer doesn't catch up with those people that are employed at Bev Smith that are taking advantage of a lot of innocent, desperate people. So stay tuned, folks. We got a great show coming up. Give us a call at 877-960-99-60. Or, as they're all said, you can text us if you're a little shy at 772-497-6530. And don't forget, www. Your Anonymous Feedback.com.

Back to the recovering car dealer. Well, I hear from Stu next. Stu is my son, as I said earlier. He's also the general manager of our Toyota dealership, which we try not to talk about on the air because people think we're here self-serving to sell cars to you. And this is definitely not any kind of infomercial. We acknowledge the fact that there are a lot of good cars out there. Some of them better than Toyota, some models, and some of them.

We recommend Hondas. We recommend you buy whatever cars suggested on consumer. report. We're not here to try to, but what it does give us the advantage of being active car dealers is we're in the trenches all the time, and Stu is a general manager of the dealership, so he's really in the trenches, and he sees the business day by day, and this gives us ammunition to help you because we see what's going on. He's also our spymaster general, he'll be called him, because he controls the mystery shopping report. So, Stu, what do you got in store for us today.

Well, what I got on my mind is what you already addressed, and that was the lengths that dealers are going to now in a time of crisis to innovate and come up with brilliant, brilliant come-ons and new tricks to lure

our consumers in. It definitely makes my job a lot easier with the mystery shopping report, because I'll be honest with you, I was wondering if we're going to run out of you know, ruses to uncover, and new ones are being developed every single day. This has brought out some very, very crazy stuff. Yeah, some stuff I haven't seen in years. I mean, literally since the early 2000s. And, you know, it's kind of funny down in

South Florida, which is still under the restrictions, the lockdown, Miami-Dade County, Broward County, and Palm Beach County. The irony of that is that business is actually picking up in those counties. Even our dealership, we started off in the lockdown, I mean, completely devastating. by the drop-off in business. Scary, scary. And we were one of the last ones to start to pick up, but a lot of the dealers down in Broward County and Miami-David County had months,

I mean, business last month. That was, you know, very similar to a normal month. That was in a middle of a pandemic. So knowing that, just realized that the, a lot of shenanigans are still going on. The business isn't as horrible as ever been anticipated, but I think it's given a, giving them an excuse to play really dirty.

And also, you mentioned about, you know, owning a car dealership, it really does pain me to do a mystery shop like we did this week because it is a Toyota dealership. We don't compete directly with them, so it doesn't give us much of an advantage to say anything potentially negative about them. It was just so egregious, and for people living on the Treasure Coast,

you have to hear this mystery shopping report. I mean, if anything, if Boas St. would listen to this and just stop doing what you're doing right now. You're going to hurt yourself in the long run. So we're doing them a favor, too. Absolutely. Well, let's hear from Rick Kearney, as I said earlier. We call him a computer scientist, although computer scientists used to call him years ago a mechanic.

Did we ever call you a grease monkey? I don't think we did that. You did once. No. And then he's evolved. And we've all evolved. This whole world of ours has become highly. sophisticated and technical and it's far more difficult to diagnose and I won't say it's

harder to repair the vehicles but you have to know what you're doing to do a proper diagnosis today and if you've got a modern car and car bought within the past what's modern past 10 years past five years you know maybe the past year I mean the technology is evolving so fast that you can't remember the days when you could pop the hood and look under there and say oh that's what's wrong with the car yeah you pop the hood now you're looking at a giant monolith uh module uh two or three modules very dense and what's underneath it so um if you have to get your car fixed if you have some symptoms now you have it's difficult you don't want to drive into a car dealership and you don't want to have to be exposed and what do you do if you got your car you got a problem

with your car uh rick what would you suggest to the folks out there some of them are quarantined Some of them are just dubious about having to sit in a customer lounge and a customer car dealership. What are they supposed to do? Things are really weird right now. And I mean weird with a capital W. One of the biggest things that we see with customer cars lately is the customers don't always know how to operate a lot of the features. Well, just a couple months ago, I'd walk out, hop in the car with the customer. explain how the system works, how to pair their cell phone, how to make the navigation system

work, how to get the automatic air conditioning set the way they want it, the controls for their garage door, all these different things and understanding how the different braking systems operate. The cruise control now with radar crews and the pre-collision systems, all the safety features on these cars and now we don't dare do that not only not that i'm so much worried about it because i figure hey with all the chemicals and abuse that my body is taken i doubt covid can survive in me but you know from a customer standpoint they really don't want another person in their vehicle in that close space and i understand that you know we try wearing the masks and we wear gloves all the time you know when i'm working we're kind of

constantly switching them up like that, but it just, it's, it's created an incredible new challenge to try to figure out how we're going to handle this situation for the next few months. And yet our workload- We're doing a lot of pickup and delivery now, aren't you're picking up and delivering a lot? And so we still have people bringing their cars in, but a lot of people are taking advantage of the pick-up and delivery. A lot of car dealers are doing that, and I think that's a real help. Absolutely. And like right now, one of the best things that I tell folks, if you have a problem with your car that is something that just seems kind of oddballs, that it's hard to describe, you've got a weird noise or a weird vibration or something.

As crazy as this sounds, have someone get a cell phone and ride with you, someone that you can have safely in your car, and record a video with audio of that situation as it's going on. especially noises. It's incredible the number of times that I've been able to solve a problem with the noise or at least give me some ammunition to somewhere to start by having a recording of that noise. And it's great what that does for us. Great tips, Rick.

And if you have something in mind now, we're here until 10 o'clock this morning, Eastern Time, give Rick a call at 877-960-99-60, that's 8. 7-7-960 and you can describe your problem. Rick is liable to be able to give you a good diagnosis right over the air. You can see him on Facebook. You can see him on YouTube. He's monitoring of YouTube posts directly.

So if you're on YouTube, post something directly to Rick, anything about the mechanics of the car, things that you'd otherwise have to go to a repair shop, either a dealer or independent, you can call Rick. And I guarantee you we have a, we kid Rick, we have a, sometimes we challenge people to stump Rick and we give them a prize. It's very rare that you'll find anything about an automobile, any make-year model mechanically or I always say computerized down as opposed to mechanically, electronically, that Rick can't figure out. So give them a call at 877-960-99-60 or text us at 772-497-6-5-30 at 772-497-6-5-30. And I know what Nancy's thinking right now.

I always forget to give out that you know what. www. Your Anonymous Feedback.com. Exactly. When my cell phone's going crazy, I'm listening to you from last week doing the sunrise. Okay, folks, we're going to go to our first caller, and she is from West Palm Beach, and it's Lorraine. Good morning, Lorraine. Good morning.

Are you a first-time caller? Yes, I am. You just won yourself $50, Lorraine. Awesome. Great. You stay on the line. Give me your contact information. Well, you can give a mic in the control room.

your contact information, and I can make sure that you get that $50 check. What can we do for you this morning? You're welcome. I am on my ride to work and join the music. Well, fantastic. I'm glad we can help out. Do you have any questions for us about your car or how to repair or maintain it or maybe buy another one?

Anything on your mind about car dealers? Not today. Okay. Well, thank you so much, Lurie. Lorraine, and call in again and look in the mailbox that $50 check will be there in just a couple of days. Yes, absolutely. And stay on the line, and Michael get your contact information so you don't have to give it out over the air. Lorraine, we really appreciate you tuning in to Earl Stewart on Cars and hope that you will spread the word.

I love hearing from the ladies because the show is for them also, and we need to build a platform here for them. So you have a wonderful day. Thanks again for calling. Thank you. And believe it or not, I bought my first car from Earl's store. Oh, well, thank you very much. Very good. Thank you, Lorraine.

Okay. Stay safe. Have a great weekend. Remember, ladies and gentlemen, www. www. Your Anonymous Feedback.com. We love hearing from you. And that number is 877-960-99-60. Okay.

How are we doing on text? I know we got some anonymous feedbacks. We got a few coming in. We can start with anonymous feedback. I think there was one that came in during the week after our last show for Rick, and you forward it to Rick, and I think it was the question about the car sitting unused for too long.

I'll read it again out on the air. It says, my dad once told me that when your car has been sitting unused for a long period of time, your fuel tank will build up condensation, which mixes with your gas and creates poor acceleration and performance. when you go to use it. He recommended that I should have my tank fully topped off while it is sitting idle. Do you agree with his suggestion? That's actually pretty true, especially in Florida, with our high humidity.

Summertime, I'm sure you guys know it. You walk outside and boom, wet blanket. Well, in the modern emission systems with your fuel tank, the government requires that your fuel tank actually be in a state of a vacuum. and it's sealed as tight as it can. But, of course, they never always work like they should. So what happens is instead of letting gasoline vapors escape out into the atmosphere, which is bad for the emissions, it will actually create a vacuum and draw air in. And it's drawing in that moist air. The water, of course, can collect as condensation,

but we do have one little advantage. I'm sure you've all seen those stickers on. the fuel about ethanol in your fuel, ethanol alcohol. Yeah. Well, alcohol actually acts as a catalyst to water and can allow water. It'll absorb the water into the alcohol, mix it, and then it can actually act as a catalyst and allow it to mix with the gasoline to then be burned. So the water vapor, of course, will simply pass through the engine without really doing

anything as your engine's running. Rick, I heard the term topped off, and I always think I hear topped off. I used to, until you corrected me, I used to always fill my gas tank up, and then when the pump automatically shut off, I was squeezed a little bit until it came running out of the top, and I don't think I was doing the right thing, was I? Yeah, that's actually two separate situations. The first one is by topping off, their meaning just fill the tank normally. In other words, until the pump shuts off the first time, at that point you should stop.

Don't put any more fuel in the car because if you try to do the old school top off where you fill it all the way up to tube, liquid fuel can get into those emissions tubes and into the charcoal canister. And when it collects in that charcoal canister, it creates havoc. Your car will not run right because instead of letting just vapors come up into the engine, engine, it's actually sucking liquid fuel in there, and it can begin, the liquid fuel can actually break down the insides of that charcoal canister and have charcoal coming up into your engine. I got lucky, because I used to do it all the time.

Yeah, I did it when you didn't know when you're going to get enough money to fill up your tank again. Right. And now these systems have become so much more sensitive because, of course, every time the manufacturers reach a certain level of emission standards, the government comes along and says, now you've got to do even better and so they keep trying but it makes these systems so very sensitive

believe it or not a pinhole that you wouldn't even be able to see in a vacuum hose can cause a car to fail its emissions testing and it will trigger a check engine light well okay you're getting back to the text

we have anything coming in now okay I think that we're going to go to Susan who's giving us a call from Hope's end good morning Susan good morning Are you a first-time caller? Yes, I am a first-time caller. Well, congratulations. You just won yourself $50.

Oh, thank you so much. I really appreciate that. Oh, you're quite welcome. And if you stay on the line and give our guy in the control room your contact information, I'll get that checkout to you this week. Okay, thank you. Thank you for calling. What can we do for you? I have a question for Rick. It's in reference to my air conditioner. I have a 2016. corolla and the air conditioner will run cold depending on what the temperature is outside but if it's really hot outside i can't get it to blow cold but if it's like in the morning it will blow cold i just wanted to find out what that could be wrong with it most likely you've got just a tiny

little bit of a leak somewhere and have lost a little bit of that AC charge one of the other things that has happened with modern cars as the air conditioning have gotten more efficient and they've made things a lot smaller, there's a whole lot less Fri-on in that system. Or it's actually R-134 now. But Fri-on's like a general term that we use, even though it's a trade name. It's kind of like Kleenex. But there's such a small amount in there now that even the tiniest little bit of a leak that loses only a little bit can cause your system not to blow cold during the real heat of the day. So what you might want to do, just the inexpensive check first, is find a reputable shop

and ask them to recover, evacuate, and recharge the system to where they're sucking everything down, drawing a good solid vacuum on it, and recharging it with fresh, clean refrigerant, and then drive it for a while and see how long that lasts. If it stays good for a year and a half, two years, I wouldn't do anything else. If it lasts only about a month and then it starts seeming like getting warm, then I would definitely go for a leak test, find out where you've got that small leak and see about getting it repaired. Okay, because I noticed out of one of the vents that will blow colder than the other vent also.

Is that anything related to that? Absolutely. That's almost one of the direct signs that we use that means that you're just a little bit low on Fri-on. Okay. That's good to know. I'm taking my car to Earl Stewart this morning to get the oil chain, so I'll have them look at it there. Well, thank you very much, Susan.

Any other questions? No, that's it. Thank you so much, and I really appreciate all you do. I love your dealership. Thank you, Sue. Thank you. Stay on the line now, so you get that information. Nancy will send you the check.

I want to thank you, Susan, for helping us build a platform here for the ladies at Earl Stewart on cars. Oh, you're welcome. And thank you for everything and spreading the word and letting the other ladies know. They, too, are very important to the show. So hope to hear from you soon. Keep listening. Oh, thank you.

You're welcome. Okay, let's get back to the text. All right. Earl, your dealership is in one of the three counties that remain under the lockdown. How does this affect your ability to compete with dealers in counties whose restrictions have been lifted? Well, it's, of course, in South Florida, most of our... There never was any competition. Most of the car dealerships in South Florida are in the same boat.

Matter of fact, the restrictions will probably be lifted sooner in Palm Beach County than in Dayton-Broward. It's just a question of... To answer your question, really, we haven't had a problem. It's almost a psychological problem for... people even after they lift the restrictions the question remains who's going to be coming out anyway this is a unprecedented in human history I think we're going to see it a long long time before business totally returns to normal but as Stu said earlier we're already seeing people who are becoming more

custom the initial shock is starting to subside people you see on television are demonstrating to go back to work to open restaurants to open other things and so everybody's getting itchy. It's not necessarily a good idea, but it's a human thing that's happening. So for the retail people, I think the business will be getting better in Palm Beach County and South Florida pretty steadily. How far back will it ever get back to 100% pre-coronavirus? Well, it will eventually, but how long will it take? I don't think anybody can answer that. Okay. All right. We have a text says, good morning, gentlemen, and pretty miss. Ms. Nancy Stewart.

Even with that mascot answer, you look terrific. Oh, I think that must be voiced to text. Even with that mascot answer, I think that meant with that mask on, you look terrific. This is your ex-UPS driver, Buck, and your ex-home Depot person. My question is, if I were to buy a used Prius from you, and it has 90,000 miles on it, I know the battery warranty is 100,000, how would that be worked out if I were to buy a vehicle from you? Thank you. I haven't been listening to you guys, and I'm glad I came across you on my phone.

Well, I think the Prius battery is the texter saying that he has 90,000 miles on a Prius battery, and he would trade it in? He wants to know if he bought a used Prius with 90,000 miles on it. He would only have 10,000 miles remaining on the hybrid battery. He wanted to know how that would be worked out. I'd be very nervous about buying one that had 90,000 miles on it. You can get lucky, and you could drive that car for another 100,000, or you could get very unlucky, and it would go out at 101,000 miles, in which case you'd have to argue to have the battery replaced.

Practically speaking, Toyota has been very generous, and I think a lot of the manufacturers, when you're very close to having a battery that goes out of warranty, but you can't bank on it. it doesn't necessarily happen you don't want to look into the cost of a rebuilt battery remanufactured battery because that would be less than a new battery what are they going for now rick what is the cost of a installed in the car a hybrid battery on a say the gen 3 Prius they're running around 3,500 to 4,000 dollars excuse me Rick but has a sorry about that

Has the price really gone down from the very beginning? I remember it being so much more for the used and for the brand, brand new battery. In 2001, when the Prius first hit the shores here, that battery was $10,000 just for the battery. Okay. That's what I thought. So I just wanted, Brock, I wouldn't worry about it because they've increased the hybrid battery warranty to 150,000 miles. Oh. And it's 10 years and 150,000 miles, whatever comes first. $150,000?

Yep. Wow. Hey, Ernest, thanks for listening to the show. We really appreciate you. 877-960-99-60, and you can text us at 772-497-6-5-30. We're going to go to Maggie and Jensen Beach. Good morning, Maggie. Good morning.

Welcome to the show. Thank you. I bought a lease. And it's, I need to turn it in, but I need to turn in early. And I'm trying to figure out a way to not get crucified. Well, Maggie, one thing you might. Maggie, one thing you might be, that you might be interested in, is that you can generally get an extension on the lease.

If you're nervous about driving around during this coronavirus epidemic, or shopping for a car to buy or lease, or just bringing it back in to return it to a dealer physically. All the leasing companies now are giving extensions. And a 30-day extension is almost automatic. You could get a 60 or 90-day. My recommendation would be that you consider that, and that way it will give you more time to evaluate your options.

You might want to maybe exercise your options. option to purchase your car. There's a lease option purchase that's a possible good buy for you. There's also you might want to buy a car instead of lease it. You might want to change to a different make car. So instead of having to appeal the pressure to get it back in on the day your lease ends, get a extension for 30, 60 or 90 days and you have more time to think about it. Thank you. I'm definitely going to get another cost. I had a really bad experience with the car dealership I bought this from, or I leased it from, and I definitely want to go to another dealership, another kind of car, because it was horrible.

Yeah. But now I'm kind of stuck with it for temporarily because of, you know, it's a lease. And I've had so many problems with this car. It's a Hyundai, Banafe, and it's just been the worst car I've ever owned. I've leased cars for years, but I'm going to turn this car in or buy it out and sell it and buy a used car, you know, off-lease, one time off-lease just because I've had enough. I never want to lease again. Well, Maggie, I don't blame you. And even though you're not happy with a car, it's a matter of how you feel, if you feel comfortable. If you feel comfortable about car shopping, the best way to do it is online. Car dealers are delivering cars now to...

their customers and when they buy them, and they're even offering delivery to try out cars to demonstrate. It's a little awkward. If you're buying a used car, you really have to drive the car carefully, inspect it, have been inspected by a mechanic. You want to be able to check it out with CarMax, Carfax, I mean, and be sure that the car is in good shape, doesn't have any outstanding recalls. There's a lot of due diligence and work you have to do to buy the right used car and if I were in your shoes you've been driving you you've been leasing that car for about three years i would guess you know i'd i'd lease it i'd lease it for another 30 days anyway so i could do my homework for consumer reports check online that way you don't have to venture outside and

expose yourself to this coronavirus until you're good and ready and prepared okay Are you a first-time caller, Maggie? Yes. Listen, Nancy has a pleasant surprise for you. Maggie, you just won yourself $50 this morning. We're so excited. We normally have the first two lady callers, but ironically, we have three lady callers,

consecutive calls. So all we have heard from this morning is the ladies. So I thank you for that. You're helping to build a platform for the ladies out there. And you have one yourself, $50. And if you stay on the line, you can give Mike in our control room your contact information. And I can get that checkout to you this week. And you know, Maggie, before you go, it's an amazing time to purchase a vehicle.

I can't emphasize that anymore. And you can either get taken advantage of or you can find yourself a fantastic deal. And I would suggest that you go to Earl on Cars and that you read his latest column. And that name of that column is a tool for an out-the-door price from a car dealer. And I created an affidavit for you to take a look at and for you to use. And you definitely will be guaranteed an out-the-door price. No shenanigans, nothing, out-the-door price. So take advantage of that, Maggie, and keep on listening.

thank you i will thank you have a great day okay so first of all i'd like to say maggie you have an excellent name that's my daughter's name yes and also earl's advice about getting an extension on your lease that's good advice in any time not just during the coronavirus pandemic a lot of people feel pressured to make a decision too quickly because their lease is ending and they think they got to turn the car in i think every manufacturer every lease company allows you to extend it And usually it's about, you can do up to 90 days, I believe, without any issues, and then possibly beyond that. So don't ever feel pressure just because your lease contracts come into an end. You know, that's great information, Sue.

I got a text from Jennifer, and that's exactly where she is right now. The dealership is pressure. They said you have to come in. You've got to get that taken care of, and you've got to take care of it right now, because your lease is up. Exactly. And we've got to move forward, and she's afraid they're going to take advantage. over. Yeah, all the dealers, they get notified. They have a list of customers who are coming close to the end of their lease, and that's when the marketing effort begins. So you'll have

not only will you have the manufacturer starting to solicit, you'll have the dealer, the salesperson, automatic emails, personal emails. I'm sure if you have released a car before, this is very familiar to you. So don't let the pressure get to you. Take your time, and if you have to extend it. Yeah, and Jennifer, if you didn't hear all the information that's due just shared with the audience, you can always listen to our show later. And jot down whatever you need as far as information, but like Stu said, don't let them pressure you. You've got your rights.

Well, we have a text here. Yeah. Here's a good question. It says, when is the best time to bring up down payment? And is it really lowering the cost of the car? I'll let Earl get into that, but it's kind of funny because I've seen, we've seen on the show, car dealer ads, they'll have a price. It'll be a really, really low price, and it will say includes $5,000 customer cash.

so they're actually advertising the price after you've given them the money. The quick answer is no, it doesn't lower the cost of the car. There's another interesting dimension to down payments. Dealers like big fat down payments, especially dealers that are trying to charge you a whole lot of money for the car. Not only does a down payment make the monthly payment sound low

if they hide it in the fine print, but the more down payment they can get out of the buyer, the more profit they can make on the car because the lender will only finance a certain amount over the actual, you know, ACP, actual cash value, the wholesale value of a used car or the invoice value of a new car. And back in the old days,

there used to be commission plans based on not just how many cars you sold or how big a profit, but on the amount of a down payment. If you can drag out an extra thousand or $2,000 from a customer to put down, Then you can get the lender to finance more and more and more. And all you're doing then when you're coming out, in addition to maybe lowering your payment, you actually may be raising your payment because the dealer is going to be actually able to make an next $2,000 or $3,000.

The more you put down, the more the dealer can make. They can sell you more stuff in F&I, and that's the goal. The car dealers will actually pay huge cash, not back in the old days, they still do this, $500 for the biggest down payment of the day. And that turns them to very, very, very, aggressive salespeople for that. It's almost counterintuitive because we're raised to say, you know, you shouldn't finance a lot of money and borrow a lot of money. You should pay cash if you can. And then you should, if you are going to finance it, like when you buy a house, you should

put down 20% or 30%. That was the Puritan kind of a Scottish, really prudent. You're going to be financially responsible. And the car dealers will use that. But actually, if you, insist on putting down no down payment and you're going to finance the car, you have at least one safety stop in there because a lender is very likely not going to finance very, very much profit for the dealer. They're going to limit the amount of profit the dealer can make. Neither a lender nor a borrower be. Oh, yes.

Early. Don't do that. Actually, that gave me a thought. There are people who want to put a big down payment, and that's fine. You know, you lower the amount that you're actually borrowing, pay off the car quicker. But you kind of make yourself a target. If you go in there and you're buying a $25,000 car and you only want to finance $10,000 or $15,000, the bank will loan as much money as there's no limit on that car. So that will, the F&I manager will know right then that this is a ripe target.

Exactly. Everything on that F&I menu that they have, you could buy. Well, they can fit it into the loan. Exactly. Okay. How are we doing? Okay. We're going to go to our favorite caller.

and that is John from Palm City. Good morning, John. Good morning to everyone. I hope you're staying safe. We are. Earl's best advice last month, absolute best advice given, is never pay MSRP

for the first or the last of any series of cars. I can give you at least a dozen examples, and Earl did give a good example of the Supra Toyota that went for over a million, but nobody's mentioned in January 2020 of this year, and Rick probably, I mean, Earl probably knows who the guy is Rick Hendricks.

He's an order dealer. He's a NASCAR team owner. He paid sit down for this one at Barrett Jackson, January 2020, the first body number one, 20-20 Corvette Stingray, $3 million. Oh! Unbelievable. I tell people this, they say no. Can't be.

Three million. Did he do that for charity, or is that his personal car? Yes, he did it. He did it for charity. He did it for a boy's charity in Michigan, which was a good cause. Yeah. But the price was still $3 million. That's insane.

So I want to just briefly give you what Earl was saying about a first in a lap. I was just thought of high school in 53 when Corvette came out, the first Corvette. okay it was 3498 it was a bomb 300 of them they couldn't even sell them they couldn't really give away

they were all white they had a red interior and a black top the quality was unbelievably bad on it the fiberglass they were made they hand-built in Flint

Michigan they really could not dealers didn't want to take them and if they did so they had to refinish them they were built so bad and that was the first But to begin with, it was a mistake as far as a six-cylinder engine in it.

And the only thing they were going to discontinue that made it cheaper in 54, it looked a very similar car. They gave more choices of colors. But what helped them, in 55, they put the V8 in it, and they didn't want to discontinue it because Ford came out in a T-bird. But I can give you so many examples, especially in a Corvette field, my friend Danny, who I just lost recently, through the virus.

he had the last of the 82, that's the last body style, collector edition. But he was smart. He didn't buy it new. He got it used and got a fabulous deal on it. But it's one car after the other, I mean, the worst disgrace was in 76

right here in Delray Beach, the caddy dealer, a oil Cadillac. They said it was the last El Dorado, which was baloney, because in 85 they came out with a convertible again. And people went crazy. For a car that was listing for 14,000. The price, especially for the last collector editions,

were going as high as $35,000. So never, again, Earl's advice on any car. I don't care what it is. Never, never pay above the MSRP price on it or for a last edition. That's right. Don't get too excited. Thank you, John. It's where a motion takes over common sense.

This thing rocks you to hear $3 million for a number one. and they were pushing this Corvette advertising because of the mid-engine, and they weren't making it, actually, then, until February in their plant in Kentucky. But that was a body number one, and I'm sure Earl knows the guy's name. He did pay $3 million for it. Yeah, he's got a lot of dealerships. He's one of the largest independently, privately-owned dealership chains. Must have 50 dealerships, I guess.

well it's unbelievable the numbers and also in a Toyota Super over one million dollars those days have ended you see them well thank you John you sound good you sound healthy uh we're glad you're okay I'm terribly sorry about your friend and uh we appreciate you call the show we are sorry and hey John on a more fun side of the show you know I think I'm going to start a list of sayings from some of our regular listeners i mean in the very beginning it was just jonathan at the top of the list with the word shenanigans but um you uh say i i want to get this right now because i'm writing

this done i'm going to start an official list sit down for this one or is it yes you better famous with me okay you bet or is it you better sit down with this for this one i usually sit down for this one okay sounds real good john john Have a wonderful weekend, and thanks for not only being a listener, but a friend. Thank you very much. You're welcome. We'll look forward to this really important report, because I could tell you more about the dealers in Treasure Coast, but I'm not going to go in any details.

Well, sit down for it. Okay, John. You better sit down for this one. It's a doozy. Thank you. Give us a call toll-free at 877-960-9-9-870. 960 or you can text us at 772-4976530 and we really hope we hear from you at www. www. Your Anonymous Feedback.com and I think we're going to go back to Stu.

Sure. We have some anonymous feedback coming in. Hello. When does a dealership consider a car as delivered, i.e. when all the paperwork has been signed, the keys handed over, the car's been driven off the lot. Well, it's when all the paperwork is signed and the car is driven off the lot. So if you drive off the car without signing the paperwork, it's not delivered. I'm trying to be funny. Well, it's, you know, your attorneys out there, you can call in on this one. I think you legally have bought a car when you sign all the paperwork. I think that there, you, you cinch the deal. It's like added difficulty of backing out once you take delivery. It's called consideration. that's a legal term and actually consideration is monetary but there's also the assumption of a consummated deal

when you physically take delivery of the product whether it's you know whether you bought a product at the washer and dryer and it's delivered to your home or a car that you drive home but your attorney will always advise you if you have any doubt in your mind even if you were foolish enough to sign the papers don't ever drive at home but you will find the car dealers will actually drive at home for two reasons number one uh when you drive at home you are emotionally attached to the car they call it puppy dogging because when you take the car home it's like buying a puppy you fall in love and you show it to your kids and and your and everybody sees a little baby puppy and who's going to take a puppy back to the the store nobody and your car is like your puppy so they puppy dog the car you take it home

And then there's a legal consideration. In fact, it's very difficult because now the dealer can argue, well, you put miles on the car. We don't know how you drove it or where you drove it. And why should I take the car back? So don't ever be spotted. Don't ever be puppy dog. If you take that car home, you bought a car. You're not going to get out of the deal. Then you have social pressure to keep it, too, because you pull in the driveway. The guy goes, hey, Bob, nice new car. And then next morning it's gone. Maybe they think that you thought you couldn't afford it. It's embarrassing. You don't want to do that. Isn't that kind of what happened to you and Oreo?

I got puppy dog with the cutest puppy dog the planet has ever seen. You brought Oreo home and everybody loved him. You couldn't take them back. Right. It's also just harder. I mean, like, if you sign the contract and don't take the car home, and then you say, listen, something came up, you didn't want to, you don't want to do it. But Oreo came from where?

Big Dog Ranch Rescue, and I adopted her in the summer of 2016, all based on a cute picture that I saw on B-D-R-R.org. Hold up the book. And Stu mentioning and Earl, Big Dog Ranch, I have to spread the news about Earl's book if you haven't heard of it. And it's called Confessions of a Recovering Car Dealer. And guess what, folks? Not only are you going to absorb a lot of information, and it's going to save you so much time.

It really is, and it's going to save you a whole lot of money. so take a look at confessions of a recovering car dealer and remember 100% of the proceeds it goes to big dog ranch rescue and it is a fantastic read and with all the time that well some of us have on our hands during this pandemic it's something to pick up and you can go to amazon and do just that okay i just texted earl a picture of oreo the the one that got me this is what hooked me in on your text. But I'll read this while he's pulling up the picture on his phone. This is from Your Anonymous Feedback.com. It says, hi, have any of you heard of Kevin Hunter, aka the homework guy? He's got a YouTube channel on how not to be taken advantage of when buying a car. He is a former car salesman. I think he'd make a great guest on the show. You know what? We've been talking about getting guests more and more often, and occasionally we've had him. I will go to his YouTube channel, put him a message, and give him the phone number.

maybe he'll call in. Oh, that'd be great. You find Oreo's picture? I did, yeah. Here it is right here. Can you deny that is not the cutest thing? Is that a cutie pie or is that a cutie pie? She's still just as cute, but she weighs about 10 pounds more.

Does she? Well, keep holding, I don't have it. I want to take a look at Oreo. I haven't seen her in a long time. There's a little delay with that. You'll see it in a... I hardly ever have been bitten by a dog, but Oreo bit me. And Sue was showing me his new dog, and I said,

come here, Oreo, come here, and he jumped up and put me on the leg. I shouldn't have told her about you. That was the problem. Okay. I guess we'll just keep plowing through these anonymous feedbacks. It says, hi. Is there any downside to buying a car demo instead of a non-demo car? Hey, before we answer that question, Robert has been holding, and I want to thank you for your patience, Robert. Robert's calling from Jensen Beach. Good morning. Good morning. Thank you for waiting.

No problem. I just want to talk about how I think that new car dealers eventually are going to be a thing of the past. I think their days are numbered. I think you're right. Well, we agree on that. Robert, tell us why do you believe that? What are your reasons? Well, I see a lot of the new electric car companies coming up, all startup companies.

And you buy direct from the factory. and if they say the car you buy from the factory breaks down I could see them having a national set of texts that just travel all over the country to fix them yeah now they don't have

they're not going to have the overhead that a new car dealership has typically how much is an FPL bill for a new car dealership for a month gosh you Osse who could tell you exactly about we're on $12,000 a month that's a big nut to crack every month

and do you Do you own the land that the dealership is on? Or who owns that property? We own the land. Yes. Yeah. Well, now you've got to pay taxes on that land. Exactly.

Yeah, the overhead for a giant brick and mortar. And you're talking about just not car dealerships, but you're talking about a lot of, you see, we're Macy's and Target and a lot of the brick and mortar stores, pennies, is just about ready to close up entirely. So, yeah, the overhead is such an online buying, and even, as you say, online repairing. It's funny you should call about this subject, Robert,

because I had a call from an author. His name is Brian Deere, D-E-A-R. Look for his book. He's writing a book on this very subject, and he's in New Mexico, and he was telling me about the strong, strong lobbying by the car dealers and the dealer associations in New Mexico

to keep Tesla out entirely. Tesla stores in New Mexico are not allowed in Florida. We have Tesla stores, but you still have to buy the car online, but you can go into the store, and you can select your car, and you can have your car serviced at a Tesla store in Florida. But the dealers are afraid of the Tesla model for the very reason you cite. They're afraid that the dealership, franchise dealers, will be a thing of the past,

and General Motors and Ford and Honda and Toyota will be selling direct just like Apple sells in their Apple stores and it's going to happen. It's just a question of how much longer. Absolutely. There's a future. Plus, another thing, too, buying a new car is not a fun day. And when I mean that, it's an all-day affair.

By the time you're done, you're physically and mentally exhausted. Yes, you leave with a shining new car, but it's not a fun day. rather go to the dentist to get my teeth clean personally. Well, I have a blogger article call, would you rather have a root canal or buy a new car? And you're I don't know about a root canal,

but I don't like my teeth clean. Well, Robert, thanks very much for the call. You and I see eye at eye on that one. You're entirely right. You said you would buy a car in one day. You're a better man than most because it takes a long while. I mean, you get beat up a lot. They play the

games with you. And And sometimes you're just mentally, emotionally, emotionally, and physically exhausted. You wiped out. Yeah. You wiped out. Yeah. Well, enjoy your run. You had a heck of a good run.

Thanks, Robert. All right. Have a good one. Take care. Thank you. Thank you for listening. 877-960-960. Or you can text us at 772-497-6530.

We'd love to hear from you this morning. And also, www. Your Anonymous Feedback. dot com. That's real important. I haven't heard any anonymous feedback, Stu. Oh, yeah. We've been going through them. I've got the next one lined up ready for us. Oh, great. Wanted to know, is there any downside to buying a demo car instead of a non-demo car? Is it true you can get a better deal on a demo than a non-demo? Thanks. Keep up the good work.

Sturdy can answer that better than I can. Well, you should be able to get a better deal on a demo car. Unfortunately, that's not always the case. Demo car is a car that is used by employees of the dealership. They used to be used almost by every salesperson. It was ostensibly a way for them to demonstrate the car out on the road to show their neighbors, their friends, get the car out there and try and drive some business. That's kind of fallen out of favor because it's pretty expensive. It also increased your insurance cost.

If you're a dealer and you let every employee drive a car, then it's going to cost you more money in insurance. However, usually the managers, the owner of the dealership might drive one, and they'll put miles on the car and they'll try to bring it back in and sell it. they need to disclose that as a demo, and they should treat it as a used car. While they carry that car in stock, their car is depreciating as it's being driven. Miles are being put on it, and you should get a price comparable to a used vehicle of the same model year in similar miles. But that's not always the case. They'll push that it's a new car.

They'll let you know that you're the first owner of the car, and technically, that's true. It has never been titled before. So it's technically a new car, but it's effectively a used car that you're buying. So if you're negotiating for that car to buy a demo car, insist on a big discount. You better be paying considerably less than what you'd pay for a new car with no miles on it. Exactly. And I just steer away from it in general. I look back over the years selling demonstrators, and I see dealers that charge everything they call a demonstrator.

It's whether the boss's wife drives the car or whether it's a rental car. whether, and oftentimes you'll buy a new car that has as many miles on it as a demonstrator because cars are dealer-traded, swapped from different parts of the states, even out-of-state, and it isn't uncommon to have a new car with 300 miles on it. So I'd watch out for the specials on demos.

I'd focus on buying a new vehicle, and I'd negotiate my best price on that new vehicle, getting competitive prices from at least two or three other dealers and then if they want to sell me a demo if they have a demo that's just like the new one I want and it's a thousand dollars less than the price I negotiated on the new one

I might buy the demo but don't start start with a new car and then move to the demo just for comparison purposes what I don't understand is how dealers or even customers get starstruck by who drives it I've been said this was driven by the dealer

himself like that makes it a better car to drive. Now, maybe compared to a salesperson, they might think that he's older, more responsible, and not would treat the car better. But it reminds me of a Seinfeld episode where George Costanza bought a car because he was told that John Voight used to owner it. And that somehow made that the piece of junk that he bought more appealing. So, you know, don't get starstruck. And you might want to pull up the topic, the idea of a demo, let's say you get to a point and you cannot come to a price on a new car. You might ask the question. And you might ask the question, And do you have any, you know, demos or demonstrators with low miles that I could get a better deal on and see if you can go lower than the lowest price you can get?

But like you said, look at it as a used car. You know, there was a time whenever, I'll say back maybe 10, 15 years ago that there were rental cars. And I was one of the people that purchased one. And I saved a lot of money. But as you pointed out earlier, who drove the car? Who beat it up? Did they take care of it? What do you advise the audience as far as those rental cars?

And are they still out there for purchase? Yeah, I would treat it like you're buying an end-use car. You have to look at the vehicle history reports, like at Carfax. And if you can have an independent mechanic or take it to a dealer that you trust, it would do a free inspection or a very inexpensive inspection for you. you had people to beat the hell out of rental cars. Some people do it intentionally because they maybe have aggressive personalities and they've just been itching but they don't want to do it to their own car.

So just be careful. You know, treat it as a used car. The thing is the same assorted history could be on any used car that you buy. So somebody could have abused it while they owned it. But I would recommend if you are going to buy a rental car to go to a rental company. And I've seen, we've experienced Hertz and Avis and National and Enterprise and all the rental car companies is far more sophisticated and civilized to buy a car from a rental company than the car dealer. And if you go in, it's one price. Most of them don't have dealer fees.

It's more of a professional sort of a non-baden switch kind of a deal. So if you're buying a rental car from a dealer, then you're right back in the swing of it. You have to be extra careful. Yeah. I went to Enterprise, and I'll tell you, it was a great deal. The car smelled good. There wasn't any smell of cigarettes, and it was a great deal back then, but it was many years ago. 877960, where you can text us at 772-497-6530.

I can't mention it enough. www. Your Anonymous Feedback.com. We want to hear the truth. We want to hear the facts. What about YouTube? We're going to YouTube's at all? We've been having a little, a few technical issues where YouTube has kind of gone up and down.

Oh, boy. Okay. The Internet's not been nice to us today. Skynet is just... Oh, I thought that was just me. Okay, folks, we're going to go to Howard, who is a regular caller. Thank you for your patience, Howard. Howard?

Howard, do we still got you with us? Yeah. I think you have me. I think you have me. Yeah. Okay, I just want to, I could just commend you on your, Arnold Stewart, Toyota, dealership, keeping us safe, keeping distances, and watching out for us. And now that I'm finished with the infomercial, let me ask my question.

Okay. Okay. My question is this. I saw a gentleman digging in my car. I'm in the blobs, and he was digging. And then I noticed he had some wires. And he was facing these wires together. And I asked him, I said, what are you doing? He says, well, I'm setting up a charger, charge of ports for my Tesla. And so I said to him, but I heard that you can't do. You have to have professional. He said, I'm a professional. I'm an engineer, but I'm going to have someone approve it at the end. And then I asked him a couple of questions. He says that anybody could use this charger to charge you up. He says, not only for me, it's going to be common grounds. People will be able to use it.

So I don't understand, but I didn't ask him who pays for it. And if everybody uses it, there's a meter, I guess. and who's going to pay for this? So can you answer that question? Boy, I hope Rick can, because I can't. I'd be very careful. If I had an expensive car like a Tesla, I'd want to probably have,

I would think you could void the warranty very simply without an approved charger, and if Tesla probably is very careful about what chargers, they do approve, a homemade charger is probably something can void his warranty, even if it did work. What do you think, Rick? I'd agree wholeheartedly with that one.

I'd be very careful about it. And if someone's putting something in on your common grounds in a community, I'd be letting your community, HOA or your homeowners association, whoever's in charge there, somebody needs to be checking that out, make sure safety issues are being followed and that everything's being done properly. And obviously it's going to get charged back to that association. you know whoever pays for the common lighting and everything so for that side i'd be rather nervous about it you're howard about the association association approved it and uh the only stipulation is

that a professional has to come in uh from the city of jupiter and uh approve it so uh that's that you know that sounds like it's legitimate okay what do you think rick well if they if they if gets approval by the engineers and by the city, then I would say if you got an electric car, I'd go with it. I mean, same thing as the chargers that you use at the city library or any other place you go. But Howard, if I lived in that community like you, and I knew that they were opening up the common power source that you pay for, all the people that live there, paying for

that in the common area of maintenance, you're probably paying a couple thousand dollars a month or $1,000 a month or something like that, and you're paying for some guy charging his Tesla. You know, when you charge a Tesla battery, you're using up quite a bit of power, multiply that by the number of other people using it. I would, I'd register a complaint with the president of the association myself. I'm going to bring it up.

Good thing I'm speaking to you, because I had no idea. I'm not an engineer. I had no idea. I thought it was, you know, I thought it was a minimal charge, but now I'm learning that it takes quite a bit of power to power up something like a Tesla. Exactly, yeah. I never heard that before.

The other thing I was going to mention, you might mention the guy, the value of that Tesla is about half the battery. In other words, if he paid $50,000 for that Tesla, the battery itself is about $25,000. So if he blows that battery up, he's got himself a very expensive repair. It's not like a hybrid battery, even though they're expensive.

Not nearly the expensive is the huge battery they have in all-electric vehicles. Okay, now, does Toyota put out anything close to a Tesla, or will they in the future put anything out close to a Tesla? They will. Right now, well, Toyota committed to, they call it electrification, so that means some version of electrification, whether it's hybrid, all-electric, and it's going to be on every model, and it's going to be over time over the next, you know, five, six years. The closest thing they have now are these plug-in versions, which is a half-step between a pure electric and a hybrid vehicle.

So you can, you plug it in. You'll have something like 25 miles of driving range in all-electric at normal speeds. That's great. I actually drove one for a while, and my son drives a Prius Prime, which is a plug-in. And based on our distance of our daily commutes, we don't really. ever use gas. And it's nice for a longer trip. The next step is these longer range batteries. And Toyota kind of stumbled in the beginning as they started to put their effort into the hybrid fuel cell technology. But they've pivoted and they're going back to a whole electric

vehicle as well. So we'll see more of those coming out. I'm as anxious as anybody else. I would love to drive an electric vehicle. That's not Tesla. Rick had a point. Well, there's also, we had the electric rev for quite a while. Yeah, that was back in California. Wasn't that back in like the early 2000s or even late 90s? The first versions were that were in California in 2000s, but now they've still got them even now, the newest ones.

And so Toyota is working on full electric vehicles as well. What's the range on the newer Rav? The best I know, they were running about 200 to 250 miles on a charge. Like a lower level of Tesla. Cool.

Well, thanks, Howard. That's something I've never heard before, so let me know what the association says if you complain about paying for your friend's Tesla charge. Yeah, I'll call you up on the next show, okay? Thank you. You have a good day, and keep safe. Thanks, Howard. Thanks, Howard.

I wonder if that resident is going to rent out that charger. He's going to supplement his income. The cool things with the electric vehicles, there's a, it's called plug point. I think it's the name of it. I might have gotten that wrong. It's just an app, and you can locate any charging station, SharePoint. and you can locate any charging station anywhere in the United States with the app and there's an account because I wondered about that in the future

because we have some electric charging stations at our dealership and right now they're available to anybody at some point when there is enough electric vehicles on the road it will have an impact on your electric bill and there is a small charge in pennies but it adds up so basically it it covers what you lose by giving away electricity The cool thing about charging your electric vehicle is that you typically charge it at night. You put it in and plug it in at night. And at night is when you have minimal power demand.

So there's a huge savings to the power production of any community or state when you're able to use that power that's not used before at night. And you have to run your generators or whatever it is that's producing the power to be able to run them continuously more so. then peaking during the day and dying off at night, if you have a bunch of electric vehicles being charged at night, it'll tend to even things off. On the other hand, you could come where it's the other way around

where you're with huge demand at night because all electric vehicles are being charged and you'd be right back where you started from. But it's an interesting problem. Yeah. All right. We have a text says, good morning. Everyone glad to see you guys are all doing well, watching you live on YouTube.

Just wanted to know if you guys found out anything on the topic that you mentioned a few weeks ago, and that was on the CarShield. They didn't remember the name of it, but I do remember. It was the warranty, the thing that we're seeing commercials on for CarShield. It's an after-market extended warranty. And yes, I did look it up, and I do have, I advise caution with CarShield. So extended warranty is a really service contracts. They're not an actual warranty.

Just you pay to have an insurance product to fix things if your car breaks down. And the best warranty offered by car shields called their diamond policy. And by the way, just really quick, if you're in Florida and you buy an extended warranty, that's considered an insurance product and is regulated by the state insurance commission. And they have to set a price. They can't haggle with you on the price. So the prices are registered with the state. So that's good news in Florida.

That way you can compare apples to apples. But this is an exclusionary warranty, which is not weird. But when you read the things that it excludes, I would advise, and I don't know the price because I did not want to give them my phone number, email address, and be hounded for the rest of my life. But it excludes things such as LED lights, tail light assemblies, keyless entry pad and transmitters, compact disc players, battery cables, distributor caps, catalytic converters, hoses, belts, wipelids, that's all standard.

But it looked like a lot of things that we don't normally see in an exclusionary warranty. So it looks like it's not covering things that you would expect to be covered by a car warranty. And also, if you notice fine print, I looked at it. I made a point of looking carefully, and CarShield is illegal to be sold in several states. California and about a half dozen other states. It's not available for sale, and they do that because what they're charging you for is probably $2,000 or $3,000 for a warranty or extended service contract that you'd never be able to use.

Yeah, there you go. Okay, we have YouTube. Well, we've got a couple actually that have just popped up. The first one I'll go with is Donovan Lewis says, he says in most places, though, it's not cheaper to charge at night. Rate, reduced times have actually gone away. to a fixed per kilowatt hour price. And that actually goes along with a lot of the idea that a lot more people now

are almost becoming night owls with the Internet, and it's becoming a worldwide Internet community. Well, I don't think Internet has that much power demand, but I think that it depends on the region. I mean, you have regions where there's a huge amount. Let's take a manufacturing area where the manufacturing is done typically during the day. So when you have a lot of machines and things that are drawn, on a huge amount of power and at night things calm down.

FP&L has a reduced rate for evening. Yeah, so region by reason, my guess would be California because they jumped on the electric bandwagon early, the hybrid bandwagon, and then the electric incentivized it and require a lot of manufacturers to provide these cars. My guess would be that there's probably a large draw in power in California, but when it started out, it wasn't so.

Yeah. Yeah, they call it time of, time of use rate, that's what FPNL calls it. Yeah. And Kit Kat makes a really interesting point here. Says, have you guys seen Michael Moore's new documentary that shows all the electric green technology, especially all electric cars? It shows how dirty the green technology is and that it's polluting the heck out of

South America with the digging of the lithium. And that high mile per gallon cars are actually cleaner than electric cars. in the overall sense. Yeah, I heard that on CNBC, actually, and I was surprised because Michael Moore is generally considered to be one from the far left and some of his views on capitalism and so on and so forth were suspect based on political bias.

But now he's taken a position that is something you'd expect from the extreme right. So whether he's right or wrong, I think I'd love to watch that video, because for a person who normally assume would think that they would praise green efforts, now he's saying that the green efforts actually are polluting the planet more than the gas and oil, which everyone assumed was the main villain and all this thing. So, yeah, Michael Moore video, I'll probably Google that and check it out.

And the next one I have here is Kyle Smelts is asking, is the 10-year 150,000-mile Toyota Hybrid Battery warranty only for 2020, 20 vehicles than newer? They increased it last year, I think. So I'm going to, don't kill me if I'm wrong. I think it's 2019 and up. Okay. And that got us caught up here.

Very good. And I'm going to research that because I'm starting to question myself. I think they might have done some retroactive warranty on that. So when I have a moment, I'll Google it. Okay. Okay. This is a text says, good morning. I hope everyone is well.

A couple of questions. With how bad this pandemic is, I'm surprised the car deals I've seen aren't more aggressive. Zero percent and 90-day deferment is nice, but they are already doing 0.9% 1.9 with 90-day deferment. Do you think the deals will get better next month? And will the new car deals be better in four to six months? I just want to address on the, there's low interest rate promotions. Some manufacturers are offering the 0% for seven years, the 84 months.

So that is, the question is, is that actually better? And we can debate that, and I'm sure Earl has some thoughts on it. But you're absolutely right. Low interest rates have been low since the great recession, and seeing 1.9% financing on certain models is really common, even on high-volume things like Toytas and Hondas. One of the things that Toyota did with the 90-day deferment is they opened it up to all credit tiers. It used to be you could get 90-day deferment if you're in the top credit tier.

now they've taken down to the level four, tier four, so now they've expanded that. But I'll let Earl talk about the low interest rates for long terms. Yeah, the incentives are not as good as they appear to be. And, you know, 0% used to be a really good deal, but now because the interest rates are so low, it's really not that a good deal. You have to do your arithmetic. You have to really sit down with a pencil and paper and a calculator and decide whether the cash rebate that usually is offered as an alternative to the low interest is better for you.

If you're financing more money for a longer period of time, the lower interest rate 0% could be the better way to go. If you don't want to 84 months, which you're crazy if you do, I think, you know, six months or six years is bad enough. Five years is a test. What was the typical term back when you first became a dealer? What was the term? It was 24 months. If you were crazy, you went 36 months. And a lot of people did 12 months.

The cars last longer. The cars are more reliable. Interest rates are lower. So it's not a black and white issue. You can't just say a low interest rate offering for a long term is good or bad. It depends on you, your driving habits, the car you buy, and how much down payments you'll want to put down. You just have to do a what-if scenario. what if I do zero down for 72 months at zero percent or what if I do five thousand dollars down for five years

it's complicated buying a car now and the car dealers will use that to their advantage when you see the zero percent financing and you see the no down payment or whatever they're advertising you got to see the fine print and our mr shopping report this afternoon coming up very shortly you will see what can happen to you if you don't read the fine print. The offers you see it on TV, read it in the newspaper or see it online, is not the truth. You can almost, and I'd almost say positively assume, every car ad is a lie. Even the manufacturer's car ads are lies. And people out there saying, now, Earl, you've really gone crazy. I call it a lie when you make an offer for a price or a monthly payment or a down payment

or a percent interest and the offer is contradicted in the fine print. Now you can say well legally that's not a lie and maybe you're right but morally it is a lie. Every car advertisement they're not telling you the truth. Basically the fine print can be translated as

not really. So it's $10,000 off. Not really. Absolutely. And folks you know knowledge is power and I mentioned Earl's book earlier, Confessions of a Recovering Car Dealer. I'll tell you what, like I said earlier, there is so much information in there that will help you. And you'll be helping out our fuzzy little friends out at Big Dog Ranch Rescue because 100% of the proceeds goes right to them.

And I can't mention Consumer Report enough. It's my favorite book is Confessions of a Recovering Car Dealer, But I'll tell you what, a home should not be without consumer reports. There is so much information in there, especially now with the pandemic, to answer all of your questions. And that includes keeping your car clean and so much more information. If you didn't jot that number down or if you just tuned in, you're listening to Earl Stewart on cars. And that number where you can reach us is 877-960-99-6. or if you're a little shy, give us a text.

772-4976530. And don't forget, your anonymous feedback.com. We're going to go to Warren. Oops, we lost them. Hey, Warren, if you're listening, give us a call back. You know, I was thinking about the 84-month thing. I think just as general, I mean, I could be wrong. I just think it's a general rule of thumb because we can't predict the future.

if there's a choice between a big rebate and a low interest rate they come the car manufacturers they're not stupid they're not just going to like give this giant I mean it's effectively the same amount you know cost to them

you can't predict the future I'd take the cash rebate any day because once you do that on day one you realize the full benefit of that incentive if you get 84 months and you trade it in two years or three years I hate to say positively and I agree with you 90% but if you're

buying an expensive vehicle, and let's say you're buying a $60,000, $90,000 vehicle, and you finance it $90,000 for seven years for 0%. It has to be one whopper of a rebate to offset the advantage. If you're going to keep the vehicle that long, and there are people out there that keep their vehicles, and they plan on it. They don't put a lot of miles on it, and they keep them for six, seven years. but that's such a small percent I mean, most cars are on $30,000.

I agree. I love a rebate. I'm the rebate girl, ass girl. I am relentless. Okay, we are going to go to Warren, who's calling us from Pompano, you know, Warren's calling us from Pompano Beach. Good morning.

How are you, Warren? Hi, how are you doing? We're going to. Hey, hey, you know, I'm up to you stuck in northern New Jersey and I think I called you last week. and they're not selling any cars. There's nothing here, so I'm looking at maybe June or July or buying one. But I just wanted to make a statement, though, about buying online.

Have it to a relative of mine. This is one of the pitfalls. He's a techie kid, and he said he bought everything online, everything he buys online. He bought a car, a very expensive car online, and then when he got to pick up the car, he didn't realize it when he got home, it was missing one of the things he wanted on the car. and it was too late. And I just wanted to say that you've got to be careful when you buy these things online because you never know unless you're 100% sure exactly what's in the car.

Sure. You're absolutely right now. There's also, I don't know the New Jersey law, but in Florida and different states have laws about being able to back out of a deal when it's consummated at your home. If they deliver the car to your home and you buy the car online, And there are a lot of products that you have 72 hours or three days in Florida to return it, not so with an automobile. And a lot of people think that they have a right, they call a right of rescission to back out of the deal in three days after a home sale.

And that was originally put into place to protect people from, you know, back in the day, the Enslide Caputia salesman or the Fuller Brushman. They don't have those anymore, but not many people are selling cars directly to people at homes. But if you buy a car and the car is bought online and they deliver to your home, it's a done deal. You cannot back out of the sale. Well, yeah, and also because when he called up and he called up and he realized what was missing, it was a couple of years ago. And he wanted, the car came with a backup camera, but at that point it was extra. You know, but he ordered the backup camera. and when it didn't have it, he didn't realize or didn't look at it or whatever,

when he called up, you know, they said, well, here's the paperwork. You order Model 7271, but it's Model 7271A with the backup camera. You're buying good luck. Yeah. And, you know, he had to put it in and cost him $700 or whatever on it. Yeah. The other point that I wanted to make was a friend of mine just bought a car in Tampa. him. He bought a used Cadillac for $28,000. Actually, it was $32 because he traded in an old one.

It had 9,000 miles, two years old. So either of that fantastic deal. Because the car is like a $55,000 car, and the dealer was just happy to consummate a deal. So I don't know if it's a good deal or not, but it sounds like a pretty good deal to me. So just to prove your point that you can get some pretty good deals now if you look for it. Warren, you're right. I always advocate. buying a good used car. The trick is to be sure you're getting a good used car. And if you do your homework, it's far better value than a new car. You get a two or three-year-old Cadillac, low mileage, good Carfax report, hasn't been any kind of an accident. It's a much better value. Three, four years from now when you want to trade that back in, the depreciation is nominal

compared to the depreciation if you had bought the new Cadillac. yeah he the car was in i don't know what the story was it's some little old lady from pasadena or whatever uh you know nice yeah one of those things but it was from the was from a dealer was from a catalect dealer he showed him the car factory report

uh he took it to you know he said he could take it to a mechanic he actually didn't say it was never in an accident you know it was uh you know complete new car whatever the reasons were why it was turned in i i don't really know but when he said he's getting it i think he gave a good deal. Like I said, they gained four for the old car.

So it cost them $28,000 plus it had a warranty, not just a power train warranty, had a warranty for like three more years on them, which most from the manufacturer that goes to like 75 or 80,000 miles on it. You know, all the major stuff. So I said, I don't think you could get a better deal than that anywhere. That's a great body. It sounds pretty good to me. But because, again, he went to the dealer, and the dealer was like just wanted to make a deal

to move some cars. because, you know, nobody was coming in on it. So I said, and what's 9,000 miles on a car? It's nothing. Yeah. Now, you're absolutely right, Warren. It takes a little more work. You've got to be sharper, but if you're willing to do the work

and you're sharp and careful, use cars far better value than a new car. Yeah, and I just want to think your show is great. And when I'm going to buy a car, I'm going to, you know, all your tips you give are really come in handy. And I tell a lot of people, you know, you know, some of the things, tips are great. Some people listen. Some people don't, you know, but what can you do? But it's a really fun show. I really

enjoy listening to you guys. Well, thanks, Warren. Please call again and stay safe out there. You got it. Thank you very much. Thank you, Warren. Thanks for bringing up that great point, because there are a lot of people who do listen and some that don't. And like I always say, knowledge is power.

And we're here to try to help all of the consumers. 877-960. where you can text us at 772-497-6-5-30. Now back to the recovering car dealer. I think it works on YouTube. We do. Donovan has got a statement here. He says, I've seen many car dealers not really reducing the prices of their cars,

but they're paying much less for the used cars. Excuse me. They say your car is worth nothing, but their car did not drop in value. Not fair. I wasn't paying attention. I confess. I think this one goes back to your statements, Earl, where when you encounter a dealer like that, walk away and just find a different dealer. Because right now, I think, like you've said, a lot of the dealers are up in arms.

They don't really know where things are going. And things are very uncertain right now. You can go into a dealership. And if they have 10 salesmen or a hundred salesman, there's some rotten apples probably. And you get people that are just, you don't like them, you don't agree with them, you think they're taking advantage of you. If you have the courage, a lot of people don't want to be offensive, just say, I'd like to go to the manager, say I'd like another salesperson. People should deal with people they feel comfortable with. I mean, if you're female, maybe you feel more comfortable talking to another woman.

if you're a young person maybe you want a young person you're in the driver's seat when you go into a car dealership you have control they're going to try to take control and one of the best ways to keep control and take control is insist on getting a salesperson that you feel comfortable with

and there are in every sales in every dealers some of the most crooked dealers there are a few salespeople in there they really care and they are uncomfortable they're there because they need the job and they got to feed their family, but they will treat you honestly within that environment, even though the dealership itself is one you wouldn't want to normally deal with.

Now, that's some great advice. Yeah, Stu. Okay. I got a text from Anne-Marie, long-time listener, long-time texter, and we met her in person once. Good morning. Most of us are not driving as much as we used to because we're sheltering in place. When it comes time to trade our cars in,

they will have lower mileage than usual, assuming sheltering lasts a four-a-one. while. Will cars have a better value when it comes to trade, when it comes time to trade them? Thanks. And she's glad to see we're all fine. Thanks, Sam, Marie. Absolutely. Lower mileage car is worth more, but I'd caution that it's relative to other cars. So it's supply and demand, too. When these cars come back and people are getting back into the buying cycle, they'll be coming back a large amount at one time. So supply and demand, although it will be all set by the that has lower mileage.

Unless everybody's cars has less miles. That's true. So it is relative. Okay. Let's see. Excuse me, Stu. You know, while I'm thinking about it, I want to give a shout out

from all of us here at Earl Stewart on cars to Tina. I want to let you know that we really miss you. And we hope that all is well with you. And, well, maybe next week we'll hear from you. And thank you to Anne-Marie for always texting us every week. Tina Benita, Tina from Benita Springs, right?

Yes, Benita Springs. We've had several requests for her calls from texters and anonymous feedback people. Let us know how you're doing, Tina. Okay, we have Steve in New Jersey says he just want to say thanks. He incorporated much of Nancy's affidavit. He used that to send that out. RFQs, he called those. That stands for requests for quotes.

He sent out multiple RFQs to several dealers over the internet, which means he emailed them. Mostly, the dealers gave me true out-the-door quotes, although a few included incentives I didn't qualify for. Surprise. With information provided by you, I was able to easily identify the dealers who provided true out-the-door quotes. My buying process was made easy by your guidance.

Also, I'm certain that I got a decent O-T-D price that's out-the-door, and equally important to me, I bought it from a very reputable dealer. Thanks again. Thanks, DeFle- That's really cool. It's got to make you feel good, doesn't it, don't it, don't you? I like that.

I really do, you know? because it's been a long time since, well, anyone has just walked into a dealership and walked out with the price that they quoted. I mean, it's easy, easy, you know, and you can go to Erlon Cars and you can download that affidavit, and it is a great tool for an honest price from a car dealer. You know what, we're going to try the same thing. Let's do that. It'll be kind of like a supplemental shopping report.

We'll go out and we'll send the affidavit. it email it to various dealerships and we'll see what percentage respond and how they respond it'll be very interesting i'm so happy that someone had success in doing that yeah i'll dress up i'll go out i'll dress up i'll have a special outfit and i'll have my tool for an honest price and we'll see where it goes put on like a like a fake mustache and sunglasses and the whole the whole kitten caboodle all right we have a few we're getting close I think it's a long mystery shopping report we do have a few texts and we do have some anonymous feedback probably have time on my end for maybe one more do you want to go for a one critical of us or we want we run around the

video too so what why do we do the video and the report and then we'll get to the text hopefully after we get through the report let's do that and folks you can read to this mystery shopper report and I want to tell you you're going to be blown away And please rate the Mystery Shopping Report. Your, you know, your rating is very important to us at 772-497-6530. Okay, Jonathan, can we get the report, the YouTube up? While we're putting this YouTube up, we're going to tell you that we're mystery shopping best Smith Toyota in Fort Pierce.

And this is the TV advertisement that the mystery shopper responded to. to and I want you to tell us or mentally think what you would your impression would be from this television advertisement from best Smith Toyota in Fort Pierce Florida wink at me when we get the YouTube up are you ready for savings now is the best time to buy at bev Smith Toyota drive our most popular models with zero percent financing for 84 months or make no payments for six months. Plus, you get a lifetime warranty and we'll pay off your trade.

Shop 24-7 at BevSmith-Toyota.com. We'll even deliver the vehicle to you. At BestMittota, Fort Pierce, where who you turn is different. Bev Smith Toyota's where the savings are at. Oh, man. I got to hear that again. Jonathan, can you run that again?

Or is that going to be? Are you ready for some savings? I'm getting up. Is that Frank singing this, or is that? Frank Gonzales? Frank Gonzalez. With zero percent financing for 84 months or make no payments for six months. Plus, you get a lifetime warranty and will pay off your trade.

Shop 24-7 at BevSmith-Toyota.com. We'll even deliver the vehicle to you. At BestMittota for a person. Yeah, see? Yeah, that's different. Best Smith Toyota's with the savings are at. You got a sharp ear? Yeah, I'm not in the country.

I forgot. That's the Monday Night Football guy. Who's the singer there? Is that Charlie Daniel? It's not Charlie Daniels. Uh, that's. Hank Williams. Hank Williams, Jr.

Hank Williams, Jr. Yeah, Frank, you sound a lot like Hank Williams Jr. You just saw this ad. You've got something in your mind, and this is our Agent Thunder that's going to do this. Mr. Schump, responding like you would sounds pretty good, right? I mean, 84 months, 0%. Man, if you haven't noticed a deluge of car dealer advertising on TV, you must be quarantining in a cave. I can't remember a time when the airwaves were more crowded with cars.

It's surprising to me. I mean, it costs money, but there's a discount, and maybe that's the reason. Car dealerships in Florida are considered essential businesses, and during the lockdowns, they're permitted to stay open. Dealers are scrambling to find ways to minimize their losses from the pandemic and devising innovative schemes to attract customers. TV stations and other media outlets are also essential businesses, and have suffered enormous losses in advertising revenues, thousands of businesses,

close their doors and cancel their advertising. The media is also suffering from an effective suspension of the 2020 election. 2020 was supposed to be a banner year for the advertising business with billions, with a B, billions of dollars being spent by candidates for all offices from city council to the U.S. presidency. With most of the nation locked down, the volume of political ads have dwindled. Desperate for sales media advertising departments are, slashing rates to attract advertisers. We talked with our dealership and got huge discounts in advertising rates.

It's very welcome to us and other car dealers. Funny how it all works out. So with cheap ad rates and car dealers fighting for survival, we get a perfect storm of deceptive bait-and-switch advertising. We've never seen anything like this, and we probably, well, knock on wood. We probably will never see it again. I just said hopefully. Hopefully, yeah.

A common theme we're seeing in these ads, regardless of the manufacturer, is 0% for 84 months. Man, that's seven years. Seven years. No payments for six months. We're getting close to mortgage territory here. And people are thinking, hey, I lost my job, but the pandemic will be over. In six months, I'll be back in the saddle again. What a perfect deal.

I can buy this car, finance it for seven years, don't have to make a payment for six months. I'll have my job back, and the dealers believe that you're going to flock in and jump on this. Sign me up. So you've got to decide, and Stu and I talked about this earlier. Is 84 a month really a good idea? 99% of the time, no. It can be, but you just don't want to lock yourself in for seven years. You are many years into that seven years before you're even at break-even, and what they call upside-down.

equity. You're locking yourself in and you change your mind. A new model comes out. You want to buy maybe important safety features. You're locked in. You're upside down and you're impossible to trade. Maybe you didn't buy gap insurance and you get into an accident and then you're screwed. Then you're in trouble. Our investigation this week was centered on a dealer ad put out on TV and online by Best Smith, Toyota, and Fort Pierce. If you're listening in South Florida, you're probably familiar with Best Smith Toyota spokesman. General manager, Frank Gonzalez. He's also a part owner. Nick Smith is the owner, I believe, unless he sold out completely to Frank. Beth Smith was his father, so it's called Best Smith Toyota,

but Nick Smith, I believe, is the majority owner, and Frank Gonzalez is a minority owner, but he's also, he runs the store. Best Smith Toyos' online ad for 0% APR for 84-a-month is headline. Best Smith, Toyota, stimulus. We want to help. You get that? Best Smith, Toyota, Steminist, we want to help. He's saying, we're helping you during this pandemic. Oh, boy. www. www. Ain't going to happen.com.

I know how this ends. Yes. Spoiler alert. It doesn't. It goes on, this advertisement with you heard or saw on television, if you're streaming. And they have it online, reproduced right on their website. Yeah, right. So you can go online and look at it.

It goes, and here we are. I'm a toilet dealer, and I'm asking you to listen to my comments. competitions advertisement, okay? It goes on to proclaim, just announced, zero percent APR financing for 84 months, get a check for up to $5,000 when you buy, make no payments for six months when you buy or lease, get a $25 Walmart or a Lowe's gift card with any test drive, and you can even have us bring the car. It's a home test drive. You don't have to come in, $25. bucks. Before the ad, there was a thick block of the

smallest, most illegible mind-numbing fine print I've ever seen. The text was in all caps white over dark red. And if you have ever looked at white over dark red, you can't, your eyes just run. It's really thin. It's not a bold

it's like, yeah. Yeah. You can't even read it on the TV screen and if you could read it, it's not up there long enough to be able to absorb. It's invisible. It It should be, it is against a law. Offers on select model, here's what it says, I'm going to read it to you.

This is a fine print you can't read. Offers on select model with approved credit, example, vehicle new 2019. 2019, not a current model, Toyota, Sequoia, big markup, MDL. That's the model number there. Yeah, I know, hashtag 7919, MSRP, 585, 885,

cashback in lieu of all incentives and rebates. So for retail new Toyota contracts, first three months deferred through SET. That doesn't mean you don't make the payments, but they're deferred. In three months, you've got to make all the payments. Next three months paid for by Best Smith Toyota up to $1,500. What that means, he increased the price of the car.

So he could take that and use it to defer your payments. So it's not deferring him at all. You're still making the payments. but you're making them when you buy the car. Interest accrues during deferrals. I just said that. And so you're paying interest during the deferral, even though you don't get the money out of pocket.

For lease, new Toyota contract, six months covered by Best Smith Toyota, up to $3,000. Gift cards provided by Best Smith Toyota for new and used car test drives. One per household, prior test drives, excluded. Finance offer available. Listen to this, folks. As John from Palm City would say, better sit down for this one.

Here is the fly in the ointment. Finance offer available through Space Coast Credit Union for first responders and medical field employees only. Folks, this is just not just illegal, it's just cruel. It's nasty.

They are taking a special offer for the heroes out there. who are exposing themselves to the COVID-19 virus, the first responders, the doctors, the nurses, the ER attendants, the people that are out there risking their lives. The Space Coast Credit Union is offering them this marvelous deal of 84 months, 0%, legitimately, to those first responders.

Best Smith Toyota is hiding that fact in the fine print to get you to come in on this advertisement. So if you have perfect vision and on a microscope, You'll be able to spot the catch. I think he skipped the rest of it. Oh, I did. Yeah, okay, I'm sorry. These charges, oh, this is a, these charges represent cost and profit to the dealer. Oh, I missed the dealer fee.

Yeah, all offers exclude. All offers exclude. Tax tag, title registration, $8.50 dollar fee. And they, then there's a dealer fee disclosure, which says they represent profit of the dealer for items such as inspecting, cleaning, and adjusting the vehicle. And by the way, Toyota reimburse. them for inspecting cleaning and adjusting the vehicle and so they're trying to double-dip you with a phony dealer fee a hidden fee and the offer expires on May 4th.

So if you have perfect vision, I'll show this on camera you can see what the fine print looks like. You can't read it especially on television or online for a video. You can't read it. I can't read it here and I've got a snapshot. If you have perfect vision on a microscope you have the spot the catch actually there are several catches, the big one has to do with the offer of 0% for 84 months. To get that, you have to get a membership in the Space Coast Credit Union. And you probably pay for it and be a first responder or an employee in the medical field. I think it's great that there are special offers for the brave women and men who are fighting the war against COVID-19. This ad was meant

for those folks. This ad is meant to fool everyone into believing they can get 0% for 84 months, the only reference to first responders and health care workers is buried in the, I'm going to call it invisible print. It's not just fine print. It's totally invisible. Frank, of course, is asking, did the fine print mention you must also have a three-legged dog named Skippy? I don't think so. Might as well. But maybe next to it. Sorry, I had to bring that one. Well, you know we had a bait and switch on our hands, but the question that remained how the dealer would explain to his customer that the deal was not real. Thunder was activated and I'm going to be Agent Thunder speaking in the first person.

I pulled in the parking lot of Bell Smith Toyota in the early afternoon. I walked around the showroom for a few minutes, hoping to attract a salesperson. Then I entered the showroom after no one came out to greet me. They were not busy inside. I asked the receptions to find someone to help me and she summoned Greg. Greg offered me an elbow and the, what do we call it, the COVID-19 bump. I could tell he was smiling behind his mask. He asked me what brought me in. I said I was there to get a Camry. I told him I wanted to do the 0% for 84-month deal.

Greg replied with an enthusiastic, perfect. Then he led me to a seat of the desk and asked me to collect the information. He entered everything I told him into the computer, asked for my driver's license. He left me for several minutes as he made copies of my driver's license, then returned and asked how much money I planned to. to put down. We talked about how much I could use as a down payment for a while, then settled on $3,000. Then he took me, began to ask me questions about what kind of Camry I wanted to get. Then this took another 20 minutes. I mean, it's a lot of time, a lot of time, of my time,

as a buyer, purportedly, we landed on a new 2020-2020 Camry, S.E. and White. Greg said he'd like to go find the car that we could test drive, then offer to. me some very interesting information. Here it comes. He said, I do need to inform you that in order to qualify for the 0% ad, you have to be in the medical field.

I mean, that's pretty low key. He didn't look, he wasn't crying, he didn't look fearful, he just looked in the eye and told me. I acted surprised, and I responded, You do? Greg replied, yes, it's in the

ad. You didn't see it? I mean, I mean, what a brazen. What a brazen. I have to swallow my profanities here because I'd like to say something about what Greg is to be able to take that kind of an attitude and not, you know, break into a laugh or start to cry. I said it must have been in the fine print.

He chuckled and said I'd be better off financing for a shorter term. Then he asked me how my credit was. I said it was very good. Greg stood up, said he'd be back with the keys. Went to look at the car, a new 2020-C-C-CAMRI-S-R-P-27-897. Greg gave an expert walk-around presentation. I declined the test drive. Back inside the shoreroom, we sat down to talk turkey. Greg asked me if I'd shopped around. I said I hadn't, but I appreciated Beth Smith's reputation. and I had recommendation from friends to go there.

He wouldn't know if I was taking it home that day. They all asked that. I said yes, but I'd need to head home first and then come back around 5 o'clock. Greg asked why I needed to leave. They don't like it when you leave. I said it was personal. And I asked there was a problem.

I said, I had some personal things to do, but if you could get me the numbers now, I could rush home and I'd come back within the hour. Greg said he needed to check with his boss and left. A few minutes later, returning with the sales manager. The manager said, and I'm paraphrasing, Hi, Mr. will call it a blank. Don't want to give my real name.

Greg has filled me in on your needs and time constraints today, and I was hoping we can do a good job. We could earn your business. I want to show, I want to shield what we can do for you and what we like, what we can, any way we can earn your business today. They want to always sell the car now. Don't want you to go home and think about it. Don't want it's your competitive shop.

When you have time to think about it, the glow wears off. They want to do the deal immediately. I repeated what I had told Craig about coming in in about an hour. The manager sat down and put a worksheet on the desk. He said he had scenarios for $2,000, $4,000 and $6,000 down payment for terms of $72, $75, and 84 months. He said that although I did not qualify, with a zero percent, I would still be given a good interest rate.

Then we looked at the price breakdown. He said the market value price was 29, 892. There we go. Market value price. Not sticker, not MSRP. You know what the MSRP was? 27, 897. Okay, so they jumped up the price with the best Smith list, what he calls market list. To help me, he was giving me a $1,500 discount. I mean, he actually sounded like he was doing me a favor. Then he added $989. That was actually, I think it was $998, wasn't it? And 50 cents, delivery service fee. Then a $512.40 for the tag fee in sales tax.

Out the door, my total price came to $31,672.62. The manager began to pressure me to take delivery right then again. I said I needed to go by promise to come back he offered to take another $500 off $500 if I did it then I refused to continue to push

very aggressive we haven't seen this kind of aggression in a long time it was annoying and made me feel uncomfortable I asked the manager if he was questioning my honesty by me saying I'm coming back he said he wasn't then asked me to give him a deposit

I mean, a real bulldog Give me a deposit To hold the price I declined And he finally, finally relented The manager left, Greg apologized I guess for the manager Asking me to commit At a time to return, I laughed

And thanked him and I left. Wow. I mean, I talk about emotional exhaustion After being pushed through that It's pretty bad. We knew what the catch was before we came in But the treatment that Nature and Thunder received was very troublesome. Greg only revealed the qualification for the 0% after spending half an hour at least

of discussion before he told me the truth about the advertisement. What a waste of my time. And he could have revealed this earlier, but I'm sure he was instructed not to do so. Agent Thunder told him, hello, I'm here for the 84%. He should have said, are you a medical responder? He wanted me to invest my time and, I suppose, build some inertia where I was just too tired to fight. He didn't want to tell me right away. The market value price, by the way, was almost $2,000 over the actual sticker, MSRP. They were gracious enough to give a $1,500 discount after they raised the price $2,000. That was a sarcastic gracious, by the way.

Yeah, but then they added $9.89.50. and the 512 tag fee was also inflated. The effective sale price, which includes the dealer fee, was about $1,400 over MSRP. I mean, it's bad enough to lie to me to get me to come in. If they'd given me a good deal higher than the lie, it could be somewhat understandable, but to lie to get me in and then try to lay me away

with a price over sticker price. that's unconscionable Asian Thunder's Althador price was 31,617 a good deal for that car would be an outdoor price of about 25,000 so he's

selling the car for $6,000 higher than what would be considered a fair good price if Agent Thunder actually bought that car Best Smith Toyota would have made a profit of ready for this John for Palm City

you better sit down for this Best Smith Toyota would have made $7,200 on this car. And believe me, folks, Toyota dealers don't make that kind of money when they saw the Camry. They're lucky if they make $1,000 or $500. $7,000, $200 profit, $7,200 profit on that car. And this is before any F&I profit, which is where they make most of their money,

you figure another $2,000 or $3,000 in the F9. You'd be pushing $10,000 profit on the sale if someone had fallen for this sort of thing. So there we are, probably one of the worst I've seen in a long time shopping reports. We've got the votes coming in, I hope. We'd like to go around the table here. Rick, you want to start with any votes?

I'm going with the flat F. Unfortunately, YouTube again, we are just dropping up and down like a yo-yo. Apologues to you. We're working on it, folks. this Pantworth thing has been a problem. Stu, what about text votes? We'll start off with Linda on Facebook

who gives them a huge, big fat F, and then we have Lee with an F, Georgia with an F, Melanie, if an F, Linda with a huge F, and I am concurring F. Yeah, it's...

School's out, but I'm giving them an F. Nancy, aka the Black Widow. Yeah. What did I say to you this morning when we were on our way to the show. I said you can't say that on the air because about this. Okay. That was the first thing. And what did I ask you for after I finished reading the mystery shop? A barf bag. Thank you very much. You know, sometimes you just wish that you could do what

you really wanted to do. And this afternoon, I would love to take a ride to Fort Pierce alone. By the way, Amory texted, and she just wants to know what's lower than an F. I think that's Expulsion. Exactly. Thank you. I like that. Expulsion, that's good. You're expelled, Bebeth Smith Toyota. And whenever I arrive at Beb Smith Toyota in Fort Pierce, I think that whenever I was finished, they would need a medical field.

And, well, I'd do them more damage than $7,200. That's what Agent Thunder should have told them. You're going to need a medical professional. You're going to need a first responder. just absolutely whenever you think that someone can't well just knock you over with a feather here we are Bev Smith Toyota I'm normally you know I'm kind of fancy I'm antsy about giving another Toyota dealer in F because people accuse of being prejudice because we're competitors we're not actually competitors by the way pork bears is so far

north they're not really part of our market but even if they were part of the market I just feel nervous about I don't like to be perceived as being biased I don't feel biased at all this is an F I agree with Ann Marie Bessmoff Toyota should be expelled it's just to take advantage of people's fear during this COVID-19 and also to insult the first responders this is an offer meant for the brave men and women out there in the emergency rooms who are risking their lives and dying by the way and the Space Coast Credit Union was nice enough to give them a real special deal to take that special deal hide it in the fine print to get suckers

in so they can take advantage of them and make a $10,000 profit on a car is unconscionable and I'm going to make an appeal on the air right now to Ashley Moody is that our AG's name Ashley Moody who has come after other car dealers used car dealers Ashley Moody this is a new car dealer protected by auto manufacturers, protected by the Florida Automobile Deal Association, a strong lobbying who helped get you elected. I think that you should fine. I think you should cite them. I think you should expose what they've done. You're the attorney general. You're the chief law enforcement officer in Florida. And if you don't go after Best Smith Toyota, and we can send you the facts. We have them right now. You can go online and check it yourself. It's not just

on television. This advertisement is online. Advertising 0% for 84 months only available if you're a first responder by the Space Coast Credit Union and telling the public out there that they qualify. If you don't cite them as Attorney General, your derelict and your duty is the Attorney General of the State of Florida. Well said. Ladies and gentlemen, we have about two minutes left and oh i find a driver for me you don't have to take me up to four pears does that be my grandfather's going with me he carries tools okey dokey that's terrifying we thank you all for joining us uh what a great show uh we want to ask you to join us again next week right here earl stewart on cars same time and have a wonderful weekend and stay safe