Earl Stewart on Cars - 05.18.2024 - The Best of Earl on Cars with Mystery Shop of Mullinax Ford of Kissimmee, FL.

Episode Date: May 18, 2024

Earl and his team answer various caller questions and responds to incoming text messages. Earl’s female mystery shopper, Agent Lightning travels to the Orlando area to visit a local Ford dealer who claims to have no dealer fees. Earl Stewart is the owner of Earl Stewart Toyota in North Palm Beach, Florida, one of the largest Toyota dealerships in the southeastern U.S. He is also a consumer advocate who shares his knowledge spanning 50+ years about the car industry through a weekly newspaper column and radio show. Each week Earl provides his audience with valuable tips that prevent them from "getting ripped off by a car dealer". Earl has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, U.S. News and World Report, Business Week, and other major publications. He has also made numerous appearances on CNN, Fox News, CBS, and other news networks. He is frequently called upon by local and national media to comment on major trends and newsworthy events occurring in today’s rapidly changing auto industry. You can learn more by going to Earl's videos on www.youtube.com/earloncars, subscribing to his Facebook page at www.facebook.com/earloncars, and reading his blog posts at www.earloncars.com. To purchase Earl’s book, “Confessions of a Recovering Car Dealer”, go to www.earlsbook.com. This will forward to Earl’s Amazon page to complete your purchase. All proceeds from the book go to Big Dog Ranch Rescue. For more information or to adopt the dog you have seen today or any of their other dogs, please visit their website at www.bdrr.org. “Disclosure: Earl Stewart is a Toyota dealer and directly and indirectly competes with the subjects of the Mystery Shopping Reports. He honestly and accurately reports the experiences of the shoppers and does not influence their findings. As a matter of fact, based on the results of the many Mystery Shopping Reports he has conducted, there are more dealers on the Recommended Dealer List than on the Not Recommended List he maintains on www.GoodDealerBadDealerList.com”

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

And now, on with the show. Good morning, everybody. Well, we're back again. We're one short, my son, Stu, is having some dental issues. He won't be with us this morning, but we have Rick Kearney and Jonathan Cantor and Nancy Stuart and me, and we're going to fill in for him trying to compile the text, and we ask you to communicate with us as much as you can. If you heard the show before, you know how important you are, or if not you, the callers

to the show, or the texters. And we give you the numbers and the URLs and the addresses out until you go crazy, but we have to keep doing this because we're on the show for two hours from eight to ten Eastern Standard Time, and most people come in, listen. for 15, 20 minutes, and you've got lives like everybody, and you're not going to be here for two hours, probably. Those of you who do listen

to most of the show, that's great, but that's a lot of time on a Saturday morning, and we understand that, so we'll be giving you these numbers out, and I say that sincerely, you're really to make the show. We can talk and talk, and yeah, we know a lot about cars

and how to buy a car. It's a whole key to this show is how to buy a car, or lease a car, without being ripped off by a car dealer, we can help you there. But your questions help us pinpoint what you need to know. So if you have any kind of a question, the best way

to reach us is on telephone. And that's the old-fashioned telephone. [phone]. You probably want to write that down if you can, if you're not driving. Jot this number down. 877

960 9960. Now Nancy Stewart, in the studio here she's sitting right to my left she's got a laptop computer in front of her we've got Jeremy in the control room so when you call that information is transferred directly to Nancy's laptop and she will wave at us or slap us or do something to get us

stop talking and we'll take your call we prioritize the phone calls so if you want to get us oh we have a phone call already wow that's fantastic yes good morning We're off to a great start. Yeah. Good morning, John. John's calling us from Palm City.

Yes, good morning to everyone. I have a question. It's probably to Earl, but I want to give a little background. I'm all for electric cars, but the government is doing everything they can in their power now to knock off our gasoline-operated and diesel cars. An example is it's a proposal now, and it probably could go through because it doesn't need Congress approval. just like the first of May with our mortgages,

you're paying more for the person that has a poor of credit history. Some credit card companies are also doing it now for car loans. But here's the proposal, and it's in the Department of Transportation. There's a proposal. I call it a colonoscopy at a tailpipe. Oh, boy. Yes. Well, here it comes, and it's around the corner.

What it is is Earl knows he entered the car business in 1960, Earl, in your opinion, the inspection, which was authorized in the state of Florida, which was done away with, do you think there was any success in that automobile inspection? Well, it varied from state to state. If it was done properly, I think it had a positive effect. I think too often it wasn't really enforced and it wasn't really administered properly. Like any government program, you know, in theory, They make a lot of sense, but it's a filter down from the president to the states to the local authorities.

A lot is lost in the translation, and sometimes it can be just a joke. But what's your opinion, John, on that? Well, my father, I didn't live here then, but he had a Pontiac, and he had one bad tire on it. This was in the 70s, and his mechanic that he used, he said, don't worry about it. You'll have one tire that's not up to par. I'll lend you a tire. I have extra rims to go through the inspection, and then after the inspection, you know, you give the tire back to me.

So that's just one example that I knew. But in New York, it was so crooked. It's done by individual, not by the state, okay? My brother-law worked in Kennedy Airport. This was in the 80s, and he was a pilot over there, and some people were not sure if their car was going to make it for an extra $20 on the side. They would pick up your car,

somewhere in South Jamaica, they would what they call smoke your tailpipe, they would put a car that would pass, and then they would put the numbers in, and then you would be 100% correct by passing, but it's not your individual car. So I saw a lot of

underhanded, crooked business. I don't know if they still have a inspection today for pollution, but I don't know how strict they got on that, but that's what was going on when I lived in New York area. Well, I just, I I hate to sound like I'm an anti-government person, but I love our government.

I love our system and our country. But if you want to take an efficient private enterprise, they are usually twice as efficient as just about any government enterprise. That's the nature of the beast. So I agree with you, John. I think the inspections, they would work if they were properly administered, but they aren't. There's too many layers of bureaucracy between the guy at the top and the guy on 34th Street and the local area administering what the policy is supposed to be. Well, you're 100% correct, but what's scary is these things are instituted, just like May 1st with the mortgage rate, I mean, the people are paying that have good credit.

They're paying a higher rate than the one would put, and that was just passed by an executive order wasn't even approved by Congress. Congress. So these things happen so fast. And I see also a crisis also, I mean, take the gasoline, not only that the prices going up, but I see lines, especially in Costco. I see lines for gasoline in BJs and in Sam's Club. And then last month, when you were away, there was a big station, mobile station in downtown Stewart for two days that were totally out. And this isn't the hardest to it of regular gas 87 octane so I mean it's a

it's a sad situation when we get not only the price increases but then we get shortage of products and I don't know what the heck poor planning is what I call it and everything they do it's unbelievable

John Rick has a comment on that yeah remember that was there was kind of a perfect storm a couple weeks ago where and it literally was we had massive thunderstorms hit Fort Lauderdale at a time when they really weren't prepared for it

it flooded out the Port Everglades area which is where a huge majority of our fuel is brought in by ship put in the tanker trucks and shipped out all across South Florida so all of a sudden South Florida was dealing with when stations were expecting trucks

to be pulling in to deliver fuel it was two or three days before those trucks could get there. Yeah, I remember. Yes, I saw that first hand, but the scariest part is not only that the price is increasing, but by the way, the inspection, when I saw it take place in New York, a car that passed in flying colors, you're not going to believe this, was a Model A Ford, a four-cylinder Ford with no problem whatsoever to pass. They not only a safety inspection usually, but the emissions,

standing. That's amazing. Everybody was like shocked about that. Yeah. Well, the good news is when we are all electric, which will be quite a while, as you know, there won't be anything to check, really. It's going to be at least admission wise. So government's clumsy, and I always say I wouldn't want to live anywhere else than where

we live in the United States, but politicians and our legislature and our regulators, they're far from perfect. And they're never going to be perfect. That's the nature of the beast, nature of the system. But it's the best in the world. So I live with it and smile and I don't complain as much as I used to. Yes, I agree with you. But let's get going with these charging stations. Because I see so few of them, they're building so many apartments and condominiums in Florida. And I don't see any facilities around where people that live in those can plug in. It's planned. Planning is very, very poor on it,

including even, except for Stewart, I see only in a while where they have the charging station. I don't see other stations spending the money to convert for the electric. John, you're right. I think what's going to happen is we're going to have too many charging stations because with the battery technology gets up to 600 or 700-mile range on one charge. You won't need those charging stations.

We've got some callers online here, John. We're going to jump off and take another call. Thanks very much for calling you. Thank you for being there. Thanks, John. Give us a call again. Ladies and gentlemen, as I said earlier, you make the show. Give us a call.

877-960-960, or you can text us at 772-497-6530. Don't forget your anonymous feedback. We love hearing from you. Your anonymous feedback.com. We are going to go to Marty, who has been patiently holding from West Palm Beach. Good morning, Marty. Good morning. Good morning.

I have to tell you a quick story. My car finally came in after 15 months. Yay. And, well, wait a second. The yay ended fast. I got to ask Earl and Rick if they ever heard of this problem. So I went, I took it for my touch drive yesterday. And I put my seat in what I thought was my comfortable position.

I started going down U.S. 1, and I'm feeling the headrest is hitting my head while I'm driving. I said, well, this is, I said, well, it must be able to push it back or something. So I pulled over. I got out of the car and I looked, and there's no way to push it back. So I continued driving, and the whole time, of course, I unfortunately went down PGA and the bridge was up. Now I got the headrest hitting my head now for 15 minutes, and I had to keep going. So meanwhile, I took it over to my daughter's house in the gardens. I had her sit in it.

I had my son-in-law sit in it, and the headrest was hitting both of their heads. So I brought it back, and I talked to my sales, and I said, look, I've been waiting 15 months. I don't want to not buy the car, but I said I can't drive a car with the headrest hitting me. So I didn't take the deal. I didn't do anything, and I went online when I got home, and there's a complaint about Toyota either push the headrest, when they built them two forward. Oh. And other people were complaining.

So I was wondering if either Earl or Rick heard of this problem or else they deal with very short people. I haven't, but Rick would have. I have not yet. What model is this, the Camry? This was the Camry X-E hybrid. Wow, I'm going to have to watch for that because we haven't seen any complaints so far that I'm aware of.

Yeah, I'll check on that for. I can't remember exactly which cars, but I can remember having that issue in some cars. If I'm riding in a friend's car or if I got a taxi or Uber or something like that, I do remember certain situations where the headrest is very annoying and I didn't know about it in the new Toyota Camry, but I'll check on that. We'll see. We could do the problem, as you will know, on the safety item, seats are very touchy because they're very critical to safety and crashes.

And needless to say, headrests are double important. So they don't allow a dealer to change a headrest or change your seat belt or really change much anything about the way the seat is designed. And that is going to be a real problem. So I'm glad you called it to my attention, Marty. I hadn't heard about that. But we'll look into that deeply. You'll be the first guy we'll call back.

I'll probably have to wait another 15 months Oh gosh Oh God We can't do that to you I'm starting to feel guilty Yeah definitely Your salesman and the sales manager They all apologize

I said look it's not Earl Stewart Toyota's fault But when I did see it on the internet I knew that I wasn't crazy And not alone Yeah bigger problem At my 2020 that I drive now, you never even feel

the head run. You just drive it and you don't feel it. Well, if there's anything we can do, we're going to do it, so you'll hear back from us today. Yes, most definitely Marty. Thanks for bringing that to our attention. We really appreciate your call. Okay, have a good one.

You too. Bye-bye. Okay, ladies and gentlemen, from time to time, I do mention, you know, a website you can go to whatever car dealer you were dealing with, if you felt that he or she was breaking the law you can take and you can go to florida law protecting carbuyers dot com don't forget florida law protecting car buyers dot com let your voice be heard

it's the only way we can get things done 877 960 960 or you can text us at 772 497 63530 we're going to stay with the phones and bob is patiently waiting from Lake Park. Good morning, Bob. Good morning, good morning, everyone. How's your foot? It's pretty good, Bob. I've got to, I'm going to go see the orthopedic guy on Monday, and I'm hoping he gives me the green light to take this boot off. It's driving me nuts. Okay, well, I'm glad you're progressing a little bit. I got some interesting information on Mullinex.

You know, they advertise no deal of fees. Yes. and I've talked to somebody that worked there for 21 years and apparently what they do, they do have a deal of fee. And what they do is they fold it into the price of the car. So what they do

is they write the price of the car that they're going to sell it on the windshield with like a crayon. It's a one price, you know, you don't negotiate the price. That's the price of the car. But the deal of fee is embedded in that number.

That's where it's supposed to be. it's embedded it's embedded in that number so they're telling you that there is no dealer fee but it really and they just raised it it's $799 and that number and that's embedded in that number on the windshield

Bob you heard what what Rick just mentioned and the the problem with any sort of a fee whether it's a dealer fee or any kind of a phony fee they call them junk fees and there are so many other

companies and retailers that do that. I mean, rental car companies are huge on junk fees. Airlines when you buy an airline ticket, they're huge on fees. Yeah, but they show you that don't, that, what I'm saying is

they're not being a transparent. Well, no, here. It's opaque. It's hidden, it's not mentioned on the sales contract on a line item. Bob, listen to me. Even under, even under a different name. It's just embedded in the price.

Bob, listen to me. See, what you're saying is you can, a seller, a car dealer, a rental car company, a hotel chain, you can charge anything you want to. The sin and the fees are you advertise a price or you tell your customer, your potential customer, the price, and that's not the price. then you add something, dealer fee, electronic filing fee, and as I say, all the other industries that do that are wrong. Once you take anything, whether it's a phone bill or if you want to call it a dealer fee,

you can call it a German Shepherd, you call it, you name it anything you want to, and you put it in the price and you tell the customer, this is my price, then it's no longer a bad thing. All, as a matter of fact, all costs to a seller, a retailer that he has, by definition, have to be included, including his profit. So when you say Mullinix is putting their dealer fee into their price, they're putting additional profit into their price, but it's okay if they tell you that's the price. I get it, but I'm saying is, but they're using no deal of fee marketing as a hook to get you into the dealership, but it really is embedded. It is embedded. I just find it duplicitous. I think I would be better served if they just told me here. This is the price, this is our deal of fee, and show it to me. I don't mind paying the damn deal.

Well, my competition, my competition, I don't charge those fees. either, the junk fees. My competition says exactly to their customers, the customer will say to the toilet dealer their shopping, say, well, Earl Stewart doesn't charge any dealer fees. And then the salesman says, yes, he does. He includes the price that he advertises and the price that he quotes you. But don't you see that, first of all, I don't. But all my cost, if I pay a salesman commission, if I have a utility bill, if I have a lease payment, if I have a property tax, all my expenses are automatically calculated included into what I have to sell my products for, which are my Toyotas.

So you're falsely accusing Mullinix. If Molonex has something that he calls a dealer fee, which he doesn't, included in the price, but he could. He could have a big meeting and say, okay, we're going to start charging a dealer fee of $1,000. And we're going to increase the price of all our fords, $1,000. And we're going to advertise that price by an additional $1,000. That's perfectly okay. Worst case scenario, he doesn't sell very many fords because his competition beats the price. But he has to have a competitive price if he wants to stay in business.

And it's up to him to include anything he wants in that price. the sin, the illegal act comes when they tell you this is the price and they sit you down and fill off the paperwork and suddenly there's something called dealer fee, electronic filing fee, tag agency fee, they slip in on top of the price that brought you in the door, the advertised price.

You get it? I get it. Think about it. I understand. Basically, it's what you think. walking out the door. I get it. But I would prefer that, you know,

call it what it is. And if he's going to include it in the price, you know, just say so. I mean, that doesn't bother me. The fact that they advertise there's no deal of fee, but it's already embedded in the price of the cost. Go back to your source on this information

and ask him how he knows that. I mean, I know the Mullinix family. And And they've been a business. He worked there for 21 years, so I don't. Yeah, well, he worked there for 21 years. Mm-hmm.

As a salesman. So I think what would happen is when they pay a commission, if you're the salesperson, they pay you a commission. That comes off the profit of the car, right? So actually the selling price, they'll deduct, Monix will deduct all that stuff before they pay out the commission. Oh, this is a, this is a, this is a,

I'm really glad you brought that up because I hear this from other customers and Nancy says we got another call holding but I got to say this one last thing when I stopped charge I had a dealer fee 20 years ago or whatever it was

it was $495 I decided not to charge the dealer fee anymore so I had a meeting with everybody and they all were going to quit I'm crazy you can't do that we got to have that profit we got to have that I said listen let me tell you something we're going to, we're going to raise our price

and we'll advertise a price on a higher price than we do now and then we're being honest and the customer has the right to choose. So we adjusted our price to what we thought was fair. So in that sense, I was including my $495 dealer fee into my advertised price.

When the smoke settled after I raised my included, my dealer fee into my advertised price. When the smoke settled, I was still making about $200 more than before. I lost about $250 as a result of sneaking it in at the last minute. But the whole sin about hidden fees and junk fees is surprising it, springing it on your customer when they don't expect it after you basically lied to him about the price that you told him he'd sell in the car for. great question Bob I love it you you have probably helped a lot of people out there that because the the salespeople are using that against car dealers that do

legitimately not charge that fee they are including every all their all their cost and their advertised price call again Bob I'm sorry to cut you up but we got a whole bunch of people calling here okay I have just one quick thing for Rick if you have just a second okay sure yeah just a second the woman that called about her Jeep where his seat was going up and down. I looked on the Jeep form, Rick, and that's a common problem. And one person wrote in, he says, if you take the lever off, that would solve the problem. So I just thought you might want to, you know, maybe talk about that, because I see this guy, Marty's having a problem with his seat also. So, you know, it may be a design

problem with the Jeep. There's a lot of complaints about it, and apparently Marty went on and he saw there's a lot of complaints about the headrests. Okay, Bob, we'll talk about that after we take this next call. Thanks for bringing that to our attention, Bob. I think that might have been a couple of weeks ago, but we need to look into that. 877-960, or you can text us at 772-497-6530. Don't forget, ladies, I didn't mention it when we got on the air.

$50 for the first two new lady callers. $50. Give us a call. Let your voice be heard. And you can win $50. We're going to go to Bob in Delray. He's been holding. And good morning, Bob.

Hello, hello, hello. What difference is to make what it's called this profit? That's what I say. But in any event. Thank you, Rick. Last week I asked you about the screen on my Camry, and you informed me about the technical service bulletin. boy that's a great

I've been around the market I've had money cars I never knew about it and I was in the business so thank you very much for that and I did have something I wanted to ask you folks about which I forgot brain freeze

but it was see foam what do you think of that product you ever hear of it? Many times and I'm still on the fence about it because I'm not a big fan of the idea of mechanic in a can. I've just seen so many snake oil products over my years that really just do nothing.

Some of them, yes, they do serve a small purpose. But truth be told, the only real results that I've seen from any of these products is using something to clean the throttle plate on higher mileage cars. and other than that, cars that don't get a lot of highway miles, they just get, like, low city miles, they really don't get driven properly enough. You take that car out on the highway for a 35, 40 minute, a one-hour drive at highway speeds, and any carbon build-up in there is going to break down and be burned out by the engine, just by that exercise. so it's it's more a matter of varying the type of driving that you're doing with your car that you really don't even need that product if you just once in a while go out for a

Sunday drive drive out to Indian Town take your wife to dinner or to breakfast out there at the Seminole Country Inn it's a great place for a brunch and oh it's incredible and then that drive out there and back nice longs highway miles will clear out carbon buildup in your engine and you'll actually see a slight increase. Yeah, Bob, I agree with Rick on that. I think a lot of these are

advertised. People like to baby their cars, people particularly who really, really want to take care of their cars are probably more susceptible to these advertisements about a mechanic and a can, I think, is what Rick preferred to. And if you talk to some skilled

mechanics, they'll tell you the same thing. Rick, most of these things are garbage. the manufacturers of these cars, especially today, I've really got, you know, the combustion engine car, which is on the way out and EVs are on the way in. But the combustion engine cars now are at really the peak efficiency and reliability and low maintenance ever since I've been in the business. And you buy a new car today, combustion engine, you just take care of it the way the owner's manual said.

And I don't know any owner's manual of any car that says you should be buying these mechanic and the can type products i tell you to change your oil check the tires and that's just about it well i happen to i happen to agree with you on that i actually i met the owner of the company a few weeks back but um you know you to mention e v i'm about to go away and i checked out some car rents perks their price to rent the tesler is less than the half to rent a to Toyota Corolla. It's unbelievable. I mean, on a daily basis, it's like $30 compared to like $70 for a Corolla.

It's amazing. So I'm wanting to share that with you guys. Well, that's good. I didn't realize that. That is cheap. $30 from Hertz. That's good to know. Yeah.

Yeah, it's interesting. But thank you. You guys do a tremendous service. I catch you whenever I possibly can. Thank you very much for being there. Thank you, Bob. Give us a call again. You know, you talk about products.

I've fallen in love with one. It's called Ranax. Been around for a long time. Boy, what a product. If you're in a hurry and you want something done effectively, efficiently, you know, fast, fast, fast, it is a great product. Something you need to go out and pick up. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll be getting to our mystery shopping report later on in the show. That came to us from Kissimmee, and Agent Lightning did a fabulous job again.

And also we'll be talking about Earl's latest column, his blog, and that is Total Self-Driving. Teslas are not as safe to drive today. And we'll get into the sort of the meat of that. Also, ladies, $50 for the first two new lady callers. And I'm going to mention again the website that you need to go to Florida law protecting car buyers. that's Florida law protecting car buyers if you feel that the dealer that you dealt with took advantage of you if they're breaking the law your voice must be heard is the only way we can put this to rest or at least try 877 960 960 again text us at 772-4976530 now back to the recovering car dealer

you know I had an interesting phone call the other day from an elderly woman 84 years old. And she had a 12-year-old Camry that had been totaled. And thank God she wasn't hurt, but she had to buy a new car in a hurry. Our insurance company was going to reimburse her. She had good coverage. But this woman had been out of the market for 12 years. She bought that vehicle from me, actually, and had bought other cars. But she'd been out of the market. You know, when you're not in the market for a refrigerator or TV, you don't really pay too much attention when the news or the advertisements are on that. You've got a good TV, you've got a good refrigerator, and you just don't think about it. Well, she hadn't thought about cars. She had a

camera, and it was just doing fine. A low mileage, she didn't drive. She doesn't drive much. So she came into my dealership, and the salesperson told her that for a new Camry, the price would be MSRP. And she was really, really upset. I don't. know the salesman I'm gonna find out because I don't think he did a good job of explaining it so she called me and I had to explain the fact that during the past three years some crazy things that happened to the car business and I said you're really gonna have to trust me now when I tell you this that buying a car at MSRP is really a good price now I I had to I choked a little bit

when I said that because I've been selling cars been a dealer for 50 years about and if I ever sold the car in the 60s 70s 80s or 90s for MSRP we had a celebration we had a party you know we actually sold the car at MSRP and everybody would say only suckers pay sticker price and that was true so here she comes in and here we are so fortunately she she did believe me and the good the good news was her 12-year-old Camry was worth a whole lot more than she ever thought it would be. And that's a story. But I mention that because I think a lot of you,

or maybe your friends, maybe the listeners to this show, wouldn't be in that position. But you probably have friends that they're happy. They're going about their day. They're driving a 5, 6, 7, 8, 9-year-old car. Runs well. They get it taken care of properly. And you don't pay attention to the news.

I mean, you know, you don't need a car. And that's, when they come in, it's going to be sticker shock. And the worst thing about it is, if a dealer tells you the truth today and says, I'm going to give you this car at an out-the-door price for MSRP, that's one thing. But the dealers that advertise that they are discounting MSRP or selling it to MSRP, they are adding these hidden junk fees. and we talked about that earlier in the show the problem with these hidden junk fees is you don't know about them you believe the dealers advertising you believe the salesman the email you call the call the dealership up they said I'll sell you this car for that and then maybe you'll talk to two or three other deals they say this is the price so you go into the place where the lowest price and next thing you know you got $2,000 and hidden junk fees so that that's the danger. It's a nightmare. If you've been out of the market, it's a double nightmare.

So I just want to relate that story to you of this woman who is now, she's kind of happy because she's getting a lot more for her trade in that she thought she would, which almost all sets what she would have had to pay for the car, for the New Camry. Day and night situation. We're going to go back to the phones where John is holding, west palm beach good morning joan hey good morning i got a question uh is there anything other than dryer sheets uh that i can protect my uh wiring harness uh on a on a car uh i just had to bring in a vehicle to uh actually the tesla and something got underneath the hood and chewed on the wiring harness to cause a malfunction.

Oh, boy. And I'm assuming if we have, you know, like with W spraying it once a month with WD40 or lithium grease or something else other than that to keep that from happening again. The one solution that I'm aware of that I know has been proven to work, there is a special tape. I believe Honda produced it or had someone produced it for them. It's available on the internet and it basically is infused with cap Zasin, which is pepper spray. Wear gloves and eye protection, where you're using it. Wash very, very well after installing it.

Don't touch parts of your skin because this stuff is pepper spray horrible. And basically you wrap any sort of. spot of wiring you can find with it and when the rats are mice start to chew they get a mouth full of fire and they they leave it alone pretty quick but that's that's the only proven effective method that I am aware of right now that I know is 100% effective there's plenty of out there spraying them down with pepper spray or something like that but a lot of that stuff Bear in mind, anything that you aerosolize and spray in the air that could get into your AC system, be drawn in, you know, into the air in your car, you might wind up breathing that, and you could create a situation a lot worse than what you're experiencing otherwise. Right. And the spot where they chewed into the wiring harness is right underneath the hood near the hinge, right under the end.

underneath right below the windshield so i i can't do it because that's where the the air intake you know uh the the fresh air comes in at that area right that's where you'd want to wrap that tape on because the tape doesn't gas the tape won't release any odors or gashes you know anything like that it's it's infused with it to where it only affects them when they chew on it so you won't smell it or anything like that but yeah well i'm not doing the work, Tesla's doing the work and they've had the car for several days now because the whole

the whole front end hardness has to be, you know, gone through and changed. Right. John, I'm holding an Amazon page up on, for those streaming us. It's called Rodent tape and is exactly as Rick described

it. So you can buy, you can buy this on Amazon. They have several choices. This is $19. $19. $0.99 for a great big roll of Rootin tape. Yep. Well, thanks for the call. A lot of people, we hear this from time to time, our dealership, we see it all the time, and Rick's recommendation is exactly what we'll keep that from happening.

All right, great. Thank you so much. Thank you, John. Great hearing from you, John. We're going to go straight to George, who's giving us a call from Stewart. Good morning, George. Good morning. I hope you all doing well. We are. Yeah, I have a question about my breakthrough.

My brake fluid, I had it in for 70,000 miles, and I have a Honda Civic, and should I change it? It's a matter of question, actually. I would look at it first, basically. Just pop the hood, take a nice bright flashlight, shine it into that reservoir, and if the fluid's still, looks like it's kind of a yellowish straw colored fluid and it's still pretty clear. I would leave it alone. If it's dark, really, really dark, it looks muddy and looks like it's starting to get just a blackish appearance likely used motor oil, then I would consider having it flushed out and changed. Break fluid is what's called hydroscopic. It absorbs water, absorbs moisture. And that's why it's so effective for what it does. is because it keeps the water from damaging any of the components inside. So I would just give it a look. If it still looks pretty kind of yellowish straw, I'd leave it be.

George, does that answer your question? Absolutely. Thank you very much. You're all very nice people. Thank you very much, George. Thank you. You're very welcome, George. Thank you. Okay, we're going to go to Steve.

He's calling us from Boynton Beach. Good morning, Steve. Good morning. I have a question for Rick. Rick, last week, you mentioned to a caller that if the car should use premium fuel, the computer will adjust it if you put regular in. Now, the question I have is this. Years ago, I was told that if the car, when you open the gas, the door, if it says premium fuel recommended, you can put regular fuel, you can put regular fuel. in. However, I was told

if it said premium fuel required, you can only put the premium in. And I have a 22 Lexus NX-350 that says premium fuel required, and I have been putting in the 93 octane.

Is it safe to put the regular 87 octane in this car? It is safe to do it. It's just, you might notice a change in performance. If you're one of those that you enjoy driving a car to its performance levels, you know, really, really enjoy getting that car out and putting its to its bases, you might notice that it just doesn't feel as powerful. The reason being lower octane fuel, the computer is going to retard the timing, the ignition timing, to compensate for that lower octane fuel. and by doing so

it's going to affect the performance of the car so if you want to run the lower octane fuel to get the lesser price you can get away with it you might notice a change in performance the manufacturers when they do this

they're engineers when they design the car and when they rent it through the EPA in terms of emissions testing and fuel economy and all that federal stuff that has to go on the Moroni label, they used a certain type of fuel. That fuel that they used when they went through the federal emissions testing is what they are going to recommend

and what they're going to say mandatory to cover themselves. If the EPA comes back at them and says something to them about emissions or fuel economy, they can say, oh, well, the customer wasn't using the high octane. he was using another fuel, as long as they recommend it, they've covered themselves. But as Rick says, from a reality standpoint, and the huge increase in cost for a high premium, it's not going to, you're going to come out ahead of the game. Even if it hurts your gas mileage a little bit, the money you would save on the lower octane fuel would more than cover the cost of the fuel that you had to buy.

Well, my main concern, excuse me, my main concern was damage to my car. No damage. And because I used regular in my other Lexus by ES350, but when I filled up the NX, by accident, I filled the tank up with regular, and I actually noticed no difference, but I just was afraid I was going to damage the car in some way. But I can put the regular in, and it will not damage the car, avoid my warranty. Yes, that's correct. Yes. because older cars back in the 90s, there was a potential for that,

that they couldn't react as quickly, and it could possibly cause some damage. But that very rare case, and that's back in the 90s, these newer cars now, they react so quickly, there's no worries with it. And that's a great question you got, because a lot of people have that on their mind. And with gas prices so high now, and people, and the gas stations, I think, understand that. First of all, if they want to be competitive, they're going to use their regular, their lowest octane, and that has the big sign, and that's what they're advertising. But the guy that's got the car where the manufacturer says, you know, high test required, they're going to pay all the money you ask because they feel like they have to. So your question is good because a lot of people listening feel the way you do.

But the fact is, you do not hurt your car by using a lower octane. You might, as Rick said, detect a little bit of difference in performance. If that doesn't bother you, it's not going to damage your engine, and it's not going to avoid your warranty. Well, I appreciate the advice. And I want to say one other thing, Earl, many years ago I called you and spoke to you about a question I had. You saved me a lot of money. I had 2011 Lexus. warranty was up, and I keep my cars a long time. I kept that car 11 years.

But for you. And I said, you think I need you to get an extended warranty, and your words to me were, it's too good a car that won't break. And you were right. I did not get the extended warranty, and I kept it for 11 years, and I was fine. Well, that's great. I tell people also, if you're still worried, I don't recommend the extended warrant if you bought a good car like Alexis, but if you're still worried, take the monthly payment that that extended warranty they were going to charge you for that extended warranty and put it in the bank or put it in the stock market or put it you know and bonds

and just use it as an independent savings account so should you have a problem you can draw on that that'll give you more of a feeling of security but the insurance companies that sell you these extended warranties and the dealers often are the insurance companies because they have they design their own warranties, and they go to the state in Florida, they go to the state insurance commissioner's office, and they sign up as an insurance company. I have an insurance company, and let me tell you something, those

insurance companies are extremely profitable. They're making the money, not the people that are buying the insurance. I appreciate your advice. You'll be a good public service you do every week, all of you. Thank you. Thank you, Steve. Thanks for listening. It's a win-win situation, folks.

We make a great exchange. You make the show. We make the show. It's just a good thing, and we thank all of you for tuning in. 877-960-99-60, and ladies, $50 for the first two new lady callers. We are going to go to Linda, who is a first-time caller, and she's calling us from Jupiter. Welcome, Linda. Hi. Good morning.

You just won yourself $50, and after we're done talking, if you'll stay on the phone with Jeremy, who's in the control room, he can give your... contact information, and he can pass it along to me, and I'll get that check out to you. Oh, that's wonderful. Thank you so much. You're welcome, Linda. What can we do for you today? Well, I currently have a leased vehicle, and it expires in about a month, and most of my friends are telling me, and it seems to make sense that given the environment right now, it's

financially better for me to buy this vehicle. I think it's a buyout price of about $20,000 for a 2019 MKC Lincoln rather than going to lease a similar vehicle. They have interest rates that the monthly price for that would be far higher than what I'm paying right now. So I guess that's my first question. Do you agree that I should just go ahead and purchase this vehicle for now? Well, Linda, do you like the vehicle? or has it served you well? No problems. Do you enjoy driving it? Yes.

Yeah. The nice thing about a lease vehicle is you have personal experience for probably three years. You've been driving it so you know if it's a good car or not a good car. If you go on and buy another car, then there's always that big question mark. Even new cars can give you problems. But you've got a car, drive and proven. You like it. And the even better news is your option to purchase that car is below,

the market value. Cars coming online now from leases being out to the end of the lease. That option price was established before this whole pandemic and shortage of parts and skyrocketing prices. So you have a really low price on that car to buy it from the leasing company. Be careful, though, if you go through the dealer, they're going to probably try to charge you additional price on top of the option price. On your lease contract, you can see what that leasing price is. And when you exercise your option, be sure that they don't charge you anything over that option price. It's federal law, the Truth in Leasing Act, requires that you be able to buy that car for your option to purchase

at that price and not one penny more. Now, you do have to pay for sales tax, and you do have to buy a license plate, but you don't have any other charges that the dealer would pass along to you. If they do, there's a lot of lawyers in South Florida that have got a lot of money from suing dealers and even lenders who have tried to jack up the purchase option price. That was going to be my next question was regarding a phrase in there that says must pay applicable fees. But that applicable fee is not identified in the contract, which I should have seen ahead of time but did not notice. The number that you have there, the option price, the Consumer's Lease Act of 1976, I think.

It's been around for a long time, and it makes it illegal to charge anything above the purchase option price. Awesome. Finally, do I go back to the same dealer? Do I go to any Lincoln dealer? Do I go to any dealer? Do I go to any dealer? You can, with some, what make car are you leasing? It's a Lincoln. A Lincoln? I'm not sure about Lincoln. I think you, you can certainly go to any Lincoln dealer and go through him. you might even be able to go through Ford in some cases the manufacturers have changed their policy on that

used to be you had to go through the dealer some of the manufacturers are allowing you to deal directly with them but whoever you deal with just be sure that the only thing that you pay over that purchase option price is sales tax and license plate no other fees it's got to be a government fee which is the sales tax and the license plate

that's a government fee goes to the state of Florida. Nothing goes to the dealer. If he tries to charge a handling fee or a dock fee or they make up names for these fees, he's breaking the law. Awesome. Oh, I appreciate that so much, Earl. You're very welcome. I was really wondering me. So that's great.

Linda, I want to say that I want to congratulate you for being an educated consumer. There are so many women out there that, you know, just, don't look into these things and educate themselves and keep up with the news. Leasing was a good way to go at one time. As you well know, and I know, things have certainly changed out there, and your option to buy is a win-win situation, and I'm sure that you'll make sure all the eyes are dotted, and the T's are crossed, and you will just pay for your vehicle and no added fees.

Thank you so much, and like I said, stay on the line and talk to Jeremy and give them your contact information. And please spread the word, let the ladies know that they, too, can win $50, and they can let their voice be heard about anything at all. We're right here for them. I sure will, and I really appreciate your help. Thank you. Give us a call again.

We're staying with the phones, and we're going to our favorite guy, the Roadrunner, Roadrunner, Steve. Mimi. Hi, Steve. Good morning, everybody. Thanks, Dave. Good morning. Uh, last week I brought up that subject about AM radios and cars that they want to get rid of. Yeah.

Yes. Okay, well, now they got congressmen passing the bill, they don't want to get rid of it. They want that AM radio in that car, in the cars. Oh, geez. Well, it makes sense to me. It makes sense to me. Why get rid of it? I just, it's so easy to have that availability, and a lot of people like AM radio.

not a lot but it's not absolutely if you think about though every single state that you travel to when you drive across the state line the first thing they have is state road information is on an a.m. station. I never thought about that. If they were to get rid of a.m., every single state would have to put up the money to switch their stuff from AM to FM or something else. You know, let it go. I mean, it's a good thing. Stay with AM. Yeah, what's it hurt to leave it in? Yeah, because they're asking people to write to Congress and they tell them, hey, we want the AM radio.

Oh, geez. And to the guy who we just called about the Lexuses, how many Lexuses has he owned? Three or four? Yeah. Yeah. Okay, my idea is if you can afford a Lexus, you can afford premium.

I mean, I'm a poor guy. I put high test in my roadrunner. You know, Steve, I'm on, let me do a little commercial for Alexis. You know, sometimes the initial price of a vehicle is not as bad as you think about. A lot of Lexus, you'd be surprised, the fellow you're referring to as a 2011 Alexis now. He's driving in 2011. Now, that's a long time. And he told me, he says, I didn't buy a maintenance contract, extended service contract,

because you told me I bought a good car. So how much is that Lexus owner really paid for that car over the past 11 years? The depreciation is very small compared to most other cars. Lexus don't depreciate. The maintenance cost is less. The repair cost is less. So the guy that bought the Chevrolet or the guy that bought the Fiat, he might have paid thousands of dollars less. But at the end of 11 or 12 years, I wonder who really paid more.

Very true. Well, I would stick, if it says premium, stick the premium in there just to be on the face side. But a lot of these, if you take it back, oh, you didn't put this in, you didn't do that, blah, blah, you wind up losing your case. Yeah. Well, a lot of people do these things because it makes them feel better. I'm one of them really I happen to be a car dealer so that's an exception but you know if I have a product I buy a product I try to to follow the rules and even if there's a subtle reason why they tell me that's the reason people buy extended service contracts everything

you buy now whether it's on Amazon at the store anything you buy they ask you if you want the extended service contract so you feel I bought the extended service contract on my Apple phone because I felt like I should because they asked me to so I'm you know I'm a real smart when it comes to cars but I'm not real smart when it comes to other products well

one time I made a mistake of putting regular gas in my roadrunner oh good Lord I'm driving down the water I hit the gas they had ping ping ping ping ping oh no well Rick says if it does that you shouldn't do it

I know, but I made the mistake I'm putting regular in I was like I was daydreaming at the gas Oh yeah Oh boy In an hour late I just went to the gas station Yeah let me get

I gotta get high test in here I drove it And you could hear the ping going away Yeah Interesting Go to your local auto parts store And get a bottle of 104 octane boost Dump that in

That ping will be gone For that entire time Is that right That works Well but Now, we're talking old school here. We're talking an old roadrunner. We're not talking a modern car.

This is where we're talking chemistry. And basically, the 104 octane boost, it retards the burning of the fuel and increases the octane so that the fuel will burn slower in the cylinder on the higher octane or higher compression, older engines, which are your big elephantine performance engines that, the 70s, you know, which your roadrunner's got, you're running a much higher compression engine there, so you're going to want a higher octane to slow that down. So you're telling me that if the cost of that, what is it called? 104 octane boost. I see that. Yeah, but it's about $15 to $18 a can.

Oh, so it's not. It's not cheap, but it is a performance enhancer for the older cars. So what you do when you made a mistake, but you don't keep buying it and putting regular in because it costs your fortune. Oh, I see. I see. Well, it's a performance enhancement.

It is. Maybe I should drink it. It's basically it's a steroid for your gas tank. You're a who. You devil you. All right. Everybody, have a good and safe weekend. Thank you very much.

Thanks. Thanks, Steve. Thanks for me. We're making our Saturday. We love talking to you. Have a great weekend. Ladies, I'm waiting to hear from you. Do you realize that 84, 85% of women, you know, they have a whole lot to do with purchasing a vehicle or being part of the purchasing deal. The next new lady caller can win herself $50 this morning. $50. Everybody needs an extra 50 in their pocket. So give us a call. 877-960. I'm going to take a minute and thank all. all of you patient callers this morning we really have our calls coming in just they're just coming in left and right so we're going to go to john who's calling us from west palm beach and robert from twin city mike from west palm you guys hang on we'll be right with you good morning john hey good morning uh calling good i'm going to take the show back about 40 years so

Rick, you won't be able to answer because I don't think you're born yet. This is going to have to go to Earl. And talking about, speaking about octane boosting, Earl, do you remember, or did you ever experience putting moth balls in the air cleaner to raise the octane in the older cars? Wow. I really haven't. I can't remember that. I was a nut back in those days because I was a hot rod.

and I used to drag race and I was crazy but I didn't hear the mothballs Rick had you heard that that actually was one of the old wise tales

that had a little bit of validity started in this again late 60s early 70s this is when America was hot rods we were all about the hot rods

the big Chrysler elephant engines the little Chevy mouse engines the rat engines these were everybody was looking for that

extra tenth of a second. This is where Fast and Furious, where the real days were. And yeah, they were looking for every tenth of a second. Mothballs would produce a little bit of gas that was actually possibly a little flammable. So they believed it would help slow down the burn in the fuel and, again, increase the octane rating by not having quite as much oxygen available as well. So it's a weird chemistry thing they were trying. And it seemed to help a little bit on some of the cars. Absolutely. And John, if you were to ask me, I would have said yes. And I'll tell you what, back in Pittsburgh, gosh, did we use mothballs for so many different things? And maybe as Rick said, these old wives tales. But today, I realize how toxic they are. But I did use

them back then. Believe it or not, I was born in 68, and so as I was growing up, I was on the tail end of all those muscle cars. And unfortunately, at the time, when I bought my first car, I couldn't afford it, but a guy right near me was selling a 68 roadrunner with the 383 in it. And, oh, man, if I could have bought that car, but I wanted it in the worst way, but I just didn't have. the money. Interesting. All right. Thank you, John.

Well, that's it for me. All right. Thanks a lot. Thank you, John. Thanks for listening. Hey, 77-960. Or you can text us at 772-497-3-0. 497-6530.

We are going to go to Robert, who's been patiently holding from the Twin Cities. Good morning, Robert. Good morning. Welcome. we finally got rid of our snow up here in Minnesota pardon me

I got rid of our snow up here in Minnesota oh you get switched to the summer tires now huh yeah you hear me okay yeah we hear you what's on your mind what's on your mind 23

Lexus RX many half of St. Poe we've got two dealerships owned by the same owner the price over the over online from them

and they claim that they have a port charge up here like $2,000 extra over MSRP I mean we would have ports up here other than

other than Duluth what's all right what is the what is the Monroney label when you look the car is there anything on that monroney label that would indicate a legitimate charge called port charge yes it says port charge on the monroney label the window sticker the the msrp yes i didn't think

we had port charges up here i i it doesn't sound legitimate to me uh the way to be sure is all legitimate charges from the manufacturer or district would be on the official Monroney label, the window sticker that's affixed there at the plant where the car is built and has to legally remain. Now, what dealers do when they charge extra charges, like all the dealers in Florida, they put another sticker alongside the Mononi label, and they would have port charge, and they would try to make you believe it was legitimate, but it's not. So to answer your question, if it's not on the official minority label, then it's a dealer added charge, and it's not legitimate. It's not part of the recommended, suggested retail price. Could that maybe be listed on an addendum? Well, it would be, and the addendum is not, you know, the addendum is at the whim of the seller, the dealer.

And if this is, there are other distributors, what make car is this? Alexis RX. Yeah, Lincoln, that wouldn't be, yeah, that would not be legitimate. It makes no sense. If it was an import. Not a Lincoln, it's a Lexus. Oh, Alexis, okay. Lexus are manufactured.

They could be imported. Yeah, they do. I think Alexis still come in for. from japan uh but it could be the distributor for lexas adding that on but that would be part of the monroney label i also found out that these both the dealerships are owned by the same company and they're kind of naples called napleton oh you got a problem there napleton napleton uh napleton uh at least in florida is uh is one of the worst uh most deceptive non-transparent i i could think of some other attitudes that i can't say on the air but napleton

florida is uh is uh not a good place to buy a car uh but he's got a lot of good dealerships and i can't say from from knowing that he doesn't have honest dealerships uh up where you live so i would be but but just the name itself i'd be very dubious uh and i would certainly shop and compare that lexas with another a Lexus dealer. Lexus dealers, Lexus has been very good about enforcing their dealers to sell their cars without extra fees. They strongly encourage Lexus dealers not to flim flam. And most of them follow that. And if there is a fee, it's a very small fee. So if you've got a big fat port fee, I would try another Lexus dealer, especially if it's called Napleton Lexus.

It's a $2,000 fee right now. That sounds to me totally phony Go to find the next closest Lexus dealer Call them, email them And give them the information on the car you want to buy And see what they have And you're probably going to find

They don't have that port fee Okay, well, I thank you very much for the information And you have a good day now Thank you for all. Thank you, Robert. Give us a call again. We're going to go straight to Mike Who's calling us from West Palm Beach. Good morning,

Mike. Hello. Good morning and welcome. What can we do for you? Yeah, I admire Earl Stewart. The reason being is that I bought a Hyundai from him, which I since gave way as a wedding gift to my daughter who's getting married. And when I saw the car at the end of North Lake Boulevard,

of course he's got that big bullboard up there he gave me the salesman they voluntarily gave me the report on that car what do they call that way carfax problem yeah that's it right and it indicated very clearly that

the car was a one owner it was never leased at 18,000 miles on it at the time I bought it when I gave to my daughter I had 30,000 33,000 miles on it. And I want to tell you that, through all of those miles, I never touched anything on that car. And that car today still is running very, very well.

I mean, I've just thrown, you know, I've never had that experience in my life. I keep in mind, I'm a motorhead. I go back to a 1969 Corvette that I worked over myself. Heads racing done, you know, canned. I signed it out at 490 horse. we could do zero to 16

or four seconds flat, you know? So I know, I noticed and I just can't get over how great that dealership was. I paid top dollar at that time for that car, but boy, was it worth it? And they're still riding it around today.

Well, good for you. I really, I appreciate the compliment. Thanks so much. You're quite welcome. And I'll tell you what. Keep up the good work because you are very, lightning and you do learn things also and don't forget being the motorhead i am you know

sonoco blue used to be 110 octane at 399 back in the day when i had to have these things and i've been riding a holiday ever since i was 17 years old because i grew up in jersey my name is my handle is jersey mich living in west palm beach really uh-huh yeah you make a good son anyway yeah for sure best job we're in the world that's earl's favorite yeah i just want to say, Earl, you've got a great dealership going there. Thank you very much, Mike. We appreciate that. Okay.

Give us a call again, Mike. We love to talk to you. I will definitely. Jersey, Mike. Jersey, Mike. Okay. Look, I know what Earl's having for lunch. Okay.

You know something? I love breaking records. And today, today we have so many female callers, so many lady callers this morning. It's just fabulous. I've got goosebumps. I just love it. We're going to go to, actually, we've got four, we're going to have a total of four lady callers, and that is breaking records. We're going to go to Amanda.

She is a first-time caller, and she's from West Palm Beach. Good morning, Amanda. Good morning. Welcome. You won yourself $50 this morning. Awesome. Thank you so much. You stay on the line after we're done talking and give Jeremy your information, and he'll pass it alone to me, and I'll get that.

that check out to you perfect thank you so much thank you're welcome what can we do for you this morning so i have a 2011 Honda element and i was curious if it's feasible to convert the car to a hybrid or some kind of ethanol fuel um and i was also wondering what about the cost no it's you'd be talking trying to literally redesign and rebuild an entire car Pretty costly. It wouldn't even be worth the cost of it. Just on a point of interest, Amanda, it isn't a crazy idea because Toyota has taken that very tack in terms of compromise between electric vehicles. And they're talking about converting combustion engine cars over to electric vehicles and also hybrid.

They have a global way of looking at things. And we live in the United States, and we think about the way things are here, and we think that's the way things are in the world. But Toyota looks at the whole world. And if you look at India and China and the entire globe in terms of drivers, there's a huge number of combustion engine cars. And a lot of those folks out there can't afford to buy the hybrids and the electric vehicle. So Toyota is actually pursuing converting the combustion engine cars into hybrids, into, all electric, which they're going to have to show that to me

to make me believe it, but Toyota is pretty good at doing what they say they're going to do, so it isn't a crazy idea. You can't do it today. Rick is absolutely right, but Toyota is looking at it from the long view, and maybe 20 years from now when you got some places like in South America, India, and these people driving these old cars, instead of having to scrap them, they'll be able to use them as electric vehicles.

That's pretty cool. And what about ethanol exception or? I don't think that's going to cut it. I think ethanol has been on the way out for a while, and most of the manufacturers are designing their cars now where you're going to damage your car. ethanol as a fuel just doesn't have the calories the power per gallon that gasoline has and it just is so inefficient to attempt to use it that it really just doesn't work as a as a main fuel source for an automobile there's so much better uses for it and automobiles really as a whole are just better with gasoline it's almost like talking about apples and oranges Amanda

do you have any other questions I think did we answer you a question yeah I think that's it okay great don't mean to rush about we've got a lot of calls backed up so give your information to Jeremy

and please spread the word and thank you for building a platform here for the ladies our voices must be heard and it's important, and I would say that 100% of all of you are very educated in the car business and purchasing, leasing, servicing, everything. It's the 21st century, and we are part of it, a very important part of it. Have a great weekend.

Thank you, too. Thank you, guys. Good morning to Carol. Carol's calling us from Jupiter, and she is another first time. caller. Good morning, Carol. Good morning. Can you hear me? Yeah, you're light and clear. I want to tell you, you won yourself $50 this morning, and when we're done talking, give Jeremy your contact information, and he'll pass it along to me, and I'll get that check out to you. Okay, thank you, but that's not why I'm calling. I thought the other lady got it.

Well, today, Carol, I want to let you know that we're breaking records this morning. And we have a lot of lady callers, and it's just an amazing morning. So you're lucky enough to win yourself $50. Thank you. What can we do for you? I'll make it as quick as I can. I'm in my third Prius purchased from your dealership, Burrell Stewart, and I love them. I was there yesterday for service.

And from the man who greets you when you're checking in, from John Nichols, who takes care of us and the bagels we had for breakfast, it's all just, I mean, it's really a pleasure. It's not like going to the dentist at all, and I love the dealership. But I want to tell you that I read your article in the Florida Weekly about out the door. Yes. The last Prius we bought from your dealership, when we were done, because we go in as a very educated consumer, your salesman said that when he buys his next car, he wants my husband to come with him to negotiate. So what you said about out the door is very important about knowing what the car should sell for before you go in. And other than that, I listen to you every Saturday, and I always learn stuff, and I thank you so much for your, I want to say, integrity in the way you do business.

Thank you, Carol. That means a lot. I appreciate it. That's very nice. My last little question is, I have a 16 Prius. I love it. I'm driving it right now. How long before, I mean, when the battery goes, does it give you a signal,

week or does it just die? You'll start seeing check engine light come on and the codes that you'll get when you bring it in and have us check it will indicate that the battery is starting to have some issues. I've almost never seen one just

totally die from the hybrid battery. They give you probably several months warning that it's on its way out. What is the mileage and what is your how long have you had that third Prius? it's a 16

and I've got about 50,000 on it oh it's a baby yet you've got a lot of life left in that one you're under warranty also the battery's under warranty yeah yeah okay all right thank you for the good work

not a very old car at all and I just want to thank you for all of the compliments we work hard at what we do and Earl as our leader has done a remarkable job. And thank you so much. I'm proud to say that we've been on the air for, gosh, 20 years. It seems like a lifetime, but we have really bonded with a lot of our

callers, Texers, YouTubers, and we've helped a lot of people. So it's a win-win situation. I thank you for the call and give Jeremy your information. Okay. Thank you. Okay, we're going to go to Eileen who's calling us from Jensen Beach she too is a first-time caller and today's uh she's going to win $50 even though she's the fourth female caller good morning Eileen yes good morning I think to be Alexis day um calling from Jensen Beach and if you're you're looking at closer I'd be going down there uh which I might anyway I have a 2007 Lexis Sports Coup 430 hardtop convertible um great car the only thing is that the passenger side door the the hinged creek i've had an estimate of a thousand dollars to replace your thoughts your comment uh yeah that's

probably something you're going to want to have a check by a body shop uh unfortunately when those hinges start getting weak like that that's that's just something they're going to have to get done uh but for that lexas i would consider it at a pretty small price really that's a beautiful car yeah and there's not a lot of them on the road for some reason they really just didn't sell a whole lot of those but to me they oh those are beautiful cars absolutely the very few times if someone has brought one in and said, hey, I've got this weird issue. Can you take it out for a test drive for me?

It's like, oh, yes, I can. They're fun to drive. I recommend that you get probably at least three bids on that. And I don't know if you deal with your Lexus dealer, but the Lexus dealers tend to charge top dollar because the Lexus clientele can afford it. So I think I would check with maybe even a Toyota dealer or an independent

and get three bids on that cost of that replacement and that'll probably save you a lot of money. Okay, yeah. So it would be the hinge that would need to be replaced on the door. Is that what you're saying? You think they're? Yes, yes. Worth it to put the money into this car?

Yes, my opinion. And your car right now, you would probably be amazed what the value is you can check well i was going to say i if stew were here he has his book out he would be able to check it but if you wanted to call call me after the show and get me a description of the vehicle we could tell you what the current market value is but that particular car we're very knowledgeable about that because we have the same car with toyota called the Solara convertible. And those cars, they didn't build enough of them.

The owners won't sell them. They love them. They were such a high-demand good car that the value actually appreciated. And so your vehicle is definitely worth investing a few dollars in getting the hinges in your door fixed. And that car will be with you for a long time as long as you want to keep it.

and if you sell it you'll make a you'll make a profit on it and whatever shop you go to to have that hinge done i make sure to check them out make sure they've got good reviews and that you it's a good quality shop oh yeah yeah definitely i lean it sounds like as if that you have really taken care of your vehicle um i have to commend you on that like the uh salara like earl said boy what a beauty that was and it sounds like your car is equal to that and gosh do i I miss that Salera, so it's definitely worth taking care of the hinges, but as you've done before, do your homework, and you'll be sure to, you know, keep your investment solid. All right. Thank you.

And, Eileen, stay on the line and give Jeremy your contact information so he can pass it alone to me, and I can write you out a check for $50 this morning. And thank you so much for promoting this for women to call in. And we really appreciate your cheerleading. Thank you so much. Thank you, Eileen. Spread the word and help us build the platform here, had Earl on Cars and have a great weekend. Thank you.

I'll hold on. Okay, we have one more call, and that is Jeff from West Palm Beach. Good morning, Jeff. Hey, you guys. How are you? Good. We're great. Thank you for calling.

Hi, I listen to you guys every Saturday, and I have a problem. I think Earl's a man for this. I bought a 22 RAM from Arrigo, and currently it's been in the shop seven times, four times from the same problem, and I'm looking to do a Lemon Law. How does that work? Well, you have to give the dealer, Arrigo,

two chances to repair the car. The most important thing to remember about the Lemon Law is your communications with the dealer should be in writing because you want to be sure that there's no dispute when it goes to arbitration about what you did. So you need to write the dealer a letter or send him an email and specifically state the problem with your vehicle. And when it fails to repair, or do he fail to repair it right, you need to do another written communication and say you did not fix this correctly and if you don't fix it this time I'm going to invoke the lemon law you

have to be in writing with that to qualify for the lemon law after that they will take it to arbitration now the lemon law by the way is not against the dealer the lemon law is against the manufacturer so the manufacturer gets very much involved in this there's one negative side about the lemon law once you say lemon law once you invoke or you would suggest that you will invoke the lemon law, they won't talk to you anymore. The manufacturer and the dealer are advised by their legal counsel that when it comes to a legal case, everything has got to go by the book, the written law. If you have a friendly relationship with the dealer and you really think their intent is good to try to fix the car, then you

don't want to necessarily invoke the lemon law. But if you're in the individual, you're in the your rope and you just say they can't do it and they're not treating me right then you have nothing to lose the better business bureau is the last I check was the arbitrating entity for the lemon law and they'll you'll go in front of a board you'll present your case the the manufacturer will present his case maybe through the dealer and they'll and they'll make a decision if they decide in your favor, then they will refund your money less the usage to your car. So if you've driven the car for one or two years, they have an estimated life for the car, so they deduct the time you did own the car and drive it from the reimbursement that you get.

I actually, I have everything documented. I've been keeping receipts for everything. Great. And it was in this. I brought it in Monday morning. I picked it up yesterday morning. and the problem that they supposedly fixed was broken again by 3 o'clock.

Well, that's... They violated the... You're qualified to pursue the Lemon Law now, so you can use an attorney or you can do it yourself. If you need any more information, you Google it, there's a lot of information. Every Lemon Law varies from state to state.

Florida Limon Law is different than other states. But we've got a pretty good lemon law here, and it works. I mean, I've seen it personally. Toyota builds a pretty good product, and that's what our dealership is Toyota. But we have had Toyotas that just weren't right. And we would support the dealer on that and say,

look, we have the factory technician come in. We had our technician come in. We can't fix it. And sure enough, the manufacturer bought the car back. Okay. So who am I dealing with at the dealership? I would deal with as high entity as I could. Ideally, the owner, the general manager, at least the general manager.

The person you're dealing with has to be high up because otherwise you're talking legality or you're talking lawyers. And I know in my dealership, if I have a legal issue, I am always personally involved. And you should have the owner or the general manager. communicating with him directly. Okay, that's what I need to know. I do appreciate it. Well, you can call us back, and if you have any issues or bumps in the road, just let us know. We'll be glad to advise you on that. And as I say, go to Google, just Google Florida Lemon Law.

They give you the specifics, and it's important that you go by the specifics because if the dealer gets a lawyer to fight this or the manufacturer gets a lawyer to fight this, they can find a loophole. if you forgot to dot and i or cross a t that's where they'll get you not on the not on the reality of the fact that they build a bad product but they can get out of it because you didn't follow the letter of the law okay i appreciate it thanks guys you're very welcome thanks for the call again i think that what we're going to do is check with rick and we're going to see i bet you've got a whole lot of text to get to we do have a lot of texts uh and one quick note from donovan on this last copy He says, the caller should Google Lemon Law Lawyer for Florida and let the lawyer step in and handle that. Yeah, I said, I didn't know. I should have thought sometimes the legal fees are paid. And I don't know if the legal fees were paid by the Lemon Law, which would be the manufacturer,

then you should definitely have a lawyer. Yeah, because I can tell you from the one case that I actually, where I had to get a lawyer involved, it made a world of difference. Okay, well, let's start with Anne-Marie's right off the bat here. Good morning, Ann Marie. This is good morning. I was wondering about credit checks and their possible impact to credit ratings. I hope you can clarify things from a dealer's standpoint.

Do car dealers run a credit check on every customer who walks through the door? I've heard that credit ratings get dinged every time someone runs a credit check on a customer. Is this true? And lastly, what does a dealer do if they see the customer's credit files are frozen? People often freeze their credit to help minimize the chance of ID theft. They can unfreeze their credit if they want to get a loan. Thanks. Yeah, that's true. Well, you unfreeze it. That's what you would have to ask the customer to do that. As far as running credit checks, I'm not completely clear. I do know this. that if you're trying to buy a particular car and you run multiple credit checks with different dealers,

that is going to be, affect your credit to some extent. It isn't as bad as it sounds. I know that customers have said to my people at my dealership, don't run my credit because it can affect my overall credit. Running your credit is not necessarily going to affect your negative credit. I wish I could be more specific on this. But if you do it excessively, then it signals the lenders that this person is having a hard time getting a loan. And that's the reason they're going around asking for credit at various places.

If that signal is sent out, it can negatively affect your credit. It's an indication you got a problem, but to do this in a normal sense of credit checks, if you went to three Ford dealers to buy a Ford and over a period of, say, 30 days, those three credit checks would not negatively affect your credit. But if you did a lot more than that, and you were looking for Chevroletes and Ford's and Hondas and Toyotas, and you're just going nuts with credit checks, they say this buyer has got a problem. They have to figure out if it's a legitimate person

just trying to get a good price or a person with bad credit trying to have someone make a mistake. Okay, let's see this one from Bob. Good morning. The reason Congress wants to keep AM radio is probably due to so many political talk shows. Just saying,

Bob. There's always something like that behind everything that goes through Congress. There also is another quite likely reason. A.M. Radio is kind of a funny process. Amplitude modulation, which it stands for, can actually transmit extremely long distances if you have areas without buildings in the way. And that's one of the reasons that the government uses it for all of the national broadcast and alert to the people, their primary source is AM radio because it can transmit from one station hundreds of miles and even skipping off the atmosphere. When my father was little boy, my father was little boy before they had radios, if you can believe that, when they first got their radio, they would, family would gather around the AM radio

in the middle of the night, right, you know, midnight, because there was no signals in the air, and he lived in Detroit, and they could listen to Chicago with an AM radio. But with saturation we now have of signals, that doesn't happen so much anymore.

Right, but the government still loves their AM radio, so I doubt it's going away anytime soon. Let's see. Just says, morning, question for Rick. Is my engine for, can twist the oil dipstick but not withdraw it. I can't say anything about the engine right now. Usually oil dipsticks have a little rubber O-ring at the top

and that rubber O-ring dries out so when you're trying to pull it out, you're basically pulling on that rubber and it's an elastic grip that's holding on. That's why you can spin it a little bit. You may just have to kind of muscle it. kind of muscle it and just really pull on that thing to get it to pop loose, and then, of course, put some grease or oil on that O-ring and maybe even replace that O-ring, actually, to double

check and see if you've got oil in the engine still. First step I would do, make sure you've got oil in that engine. Okay, and this one from Jonathan and Wellington, how can a layperson tell the difference between a legitimate monroney label and a fake one. That's hard. The dealers are very clever. They're businesses. The manufacturer, I call them phony monorony labels.

And they go quite a... The artwork, the fonts, the type style, the colors, they do everything to counterfeit a monorny label. So they will take a dealer-installed accessory or a dealer-adendum label and they will run it through the printing press that makes it look almost exactly like a Monroney label. The Monroney label,

you really have to study carefully if it's a good copy. Now, a lot of them aren't so good, and they're pretty simple to understand, but it is a shame that the federal government lets dealers get away with that. And this one also from Jonathan, he says, this is Jonathan. I bought my 23 Corolla

at your dealership on Thursday. My fourth car purchased at your dealership. The entire experience was top-notch and painless. Marlene did an outstanding job. So you might want to find Marlene. Give her a pat on the head, say, thank you. Absolutely. I did my homework before I purchased Smart Maneuver,

before I purchased the vehicle, and saved almost $4,000 by buying from Earl Stewart Toyota. this isn't an advertisement for you I'm just telling it like it is thank you very much that's pretty nice to hear now we also have a couple others a little late on this one but that's that's we just didn't see it last week was happy mom's day miss Nancy that's from Roadrunner Steve oh thank you Roadrunner Steve thank you very much let's see this other one here we have oh there it is ah this is from From Jennifer from last week, she posted a video of that seat in her Jeep with it sinking down and she says she took it less than 48 hours after she'd adjusted it to the highest setting and the seat had shrank down and I still say that's a safety issue.

Jennifer, if you're listening, you need to get to another Jeep dealer, show them that video, show them your proof. say, hey, this is a safety concern. It is, pick time, yeah. And they need to address that and get that right. And this went in from an anonymous that simply says, Subaru is dog approved. I love those. Isn't that the truth?

Well, my own personal feelings, I've learned this. I trust my dog's instinct so much that if my dog doesn't like you, don't get too interested that I might like you because I trust my dog and if my dog likes you I'm going to like you for that. For sure. But if my dog don't like you you might want to kind of go somewhere else because I'm not going to like you. Okay. That's got a little caught

up on the text and on YouTube so far. Okay. Getting pretty late here. I think we need to get to Did you want to talk for a second about the column, or did you want to go straight to the... Very quickly on this blog that we're in Florida Weekly, Hometown News, the blog, and we'll have it on Facebook. The latest blog is total self-driving Teslas are not safe to drive anymore. Now, a lot of you folks out there think I'm in love with Elon Musk. Nancy and I have a Tesla plaid, and we've talked about autonomous.

and every time we talk about it, and we tried it, the autonomous has not been up to snuff. Elon Musk was just interviewed on CNBC, and on CNBC on Monday, he said that he thought the autonomous would be ready this year, and he personally had driven a car in San Francisco, heavy traffic in San Francisco compared to this area, for three days without ever having to override the autonomous.

us. So Nancy and I said, wow, and we just got a software download automatically into our Tesla Plaid. So we hopped to the Tesla Plaid, and we drove it up to Stewart, Florida, about a 20 mile drive. And as we got up there, a car coming toward us in the other side of the divided highway, put his turn signal on as if he were going to turn in and make a U-turn. Our Tesla plaid stopped in the passing lane of 50-mile-an-hour speed limit. We were very nearly rear-ended, I had to override the autonomous to get out of the way of the car that was going to hit me from behind. So I just want to go ahead and tell all you Tesla owners

out there, the autonomous is still not ready for prime time and it is not safe. And if you do drive with the autonomous on, be ready to override it very quickly. Yeah, and anybody that just listen to this story, you can go ahead to Erwan Cars. And you can take a look at the column that Earl wrote. Total self-driving Teslas are not safe to drive today. Or you can go to the hometown news, the Florida Weekly, and you can read the blog.

Now we are going to get to our Mystery Shopping Report, and Agent Lightning took us to Mullinex Ford in Kissimmee, Florida. Now back to the recovering car dealer. If you listen to the show earlier, and that was at the very, beginning. We had a call from Bob, I believe he was in West Palm Beach or Lake Park, maybe. He said that he had a friend that used to work for Molonex who said that Molnex does have a dealer fee, but he hides it in the price of the car. And I conversed with him about that, that that's not really a dealer fee because you can put anything you want in the price of the car

as long as you give it to the customer and allow the customer the privilege of shopping and comparing with other dealers. And I forgot to mention that it's real important, ladies and gentlemen, that you vote on the mystery shop of Mullinix Ford, and you can do that at 772-497-6530. Now back to the recovering car dealer. Okay, I'll be speaking in the first person, as if I were Agent Lightning, who was our mystery shopper, I arrived mid-morning,

and was greeted immediately upon walking through the door. And again, this is Mullinix Ford in Cassini, Florida, near Orlando. The salesman asked as someone was as, expected me to which I responded, not that I'm aware of. I'm just moving here. When he asked what I was looking for, I shared that I was in the market for a new car jokingly asked if they carried any of those. He laughed, assuring me that they had quite a few, and that I was in the right place. Well, I mentioned looking for a new car with good gas mileage and low cost. He suggested a Ford Escape. Asked if I was open to a certified used car. As you could have no.

listening to laugh from this. He said it was his job to ask. He suggested that we walk out to the lot where he had three or four escapes. During our stroll, he inquired if I plan on trading anything in, which I replied, no. He replied, why?

My response was simply life change, which prompted an understanding nod from him and laughter from both of us. Now, all salespeople will ask you if you have a trade in, and it is very important to them. If you have a trade in, then they have to think in terms of what they might allow you for it. They have to think in terms of what the trading difference would be.

It's a real important factor. So I always believe in saying I don't have a trade in, even if I do have a trade in, I recommend that. You can always say at the end of the negotiation or whatever, you say, I changed my mind. I believe I will trade my card. But don't let them know that you're trading a car from the get-go. Okay, back to the report. He suggested that we walk out to the lot where he had three or four escapes, forward escapes.

During our stroll, he inquired if I planned on trading anything in. When I replied, no, we question why. I just did that. I told him that my brother had dropped me off and then I left my license of home. He asked me where my license was, brought me to explain that I just relocated here due to a change in my life status. I think she was implying maybe a divorce and that my next job was the Department of Motor Vehicles

for a new license. Although he hadn't yet shared his name, the salesman, he suggested going back to handle my license online. Boy, he's very accommodated. However, I expressed my wish to figure out my car situation first and then proceed to the Department of Motor Vehicles. He reluctantly agreed

and led me to where the Ford escapes were parked. Explain the policy of no dealer fee or hidden fees, meaning I could simply add a 7.5% sales tax so that wouldn't have a sticker price. Now that is quite admirable, and I think it's really amazing that the caller earlier had been told that Mullanex was hiding his junk fees, hidden fees, dealer fees, in the price of the car. By definition, a junk fee, hidden fee is something that is not. in the price of the car. That is the sin. The thing that's wrong about these fees is that you don't know they're part of the price of the car. They're part of the price of the car, but it's hidden from you, and it's also part of the profit to the dealer, which is hidden from you. But you can put anything you want in the price that you quote because that gives you the buyer the right to shop

and compare. The hidden fees or junk fees take away your God-given right to shop and compare in a free market, and that's what you should have. After considering this for a moment, I expressed by desire to understand the potential monthly payment and the required down payment. He agreed to help and showed me the three different cars in stock. I selected with an MSRP of $30,495, a new, 2022. I put new in quotes because this is 2023,

but yeah, 2012 is a new car. if you haven't sold it, entitled it. For front-wheel drive, or front-wheel drive, which turned out to be a demo. Front-wheel drive? Yes. Yeah, I think it was an all-wheel drive. He pointed out that there was a manager special,

meaning it hadn't been titled yet. Now, that's the legal definition of a used car, a new car. It hasn't been titled yet. In my mind, the car's been driven, and it's a year-old, to me it's a used car, legally it's a new car. Only a manager had driven it, adding some miles, and thereby qualifying for a slight discount, he said. He shared me it would come with all

warranties, and I would be the first owner. This is true. Manufacture allows you to add to the $36,000 or $50,000, or whether the manufacturer's warranty is if it has not been titled and driven by the dealership. Seeing it that had over 2,400 miles, I sought reassurance about this new purchase status in warranty, which he affirmed. And this is accurate, by the way. Noticing a few nicks in the paint, I mentioned those to them. He said they could easily touch those up, so I agreed to proceed with the price. I'll digress a bit here to all these promises and all these agreements you have with that salesperson,

always be sure they're in writing. And when he tells you something that makes you think twice, put it in writing on the worksheet or the vehicle buyer's order, or just your own notepad and have him sign it. Verbal is an accident waiting to happen. He said, she said, anything the salesman promises you or tells you that you are not aware of, be sure he commits it to writing.

Once he inside, he asked me for information to put in the computer, promising to return shortly with a price. I interrupted to ask his name, finally, which he told me was Jack. return a few minutes later with a pricing sheet showing a top line of $299,99. That was a $496 discount from MSRP. They then added sales tax and an estimate which was $474 for a tag in registration. And that was it.

Now that's good folks. That is good. You people are thinking about voting. There is no dealer fee. And the price that he gave him is the price that he paid out the door plus tax and tag only. He said the pricing was pretty self-explanatory and simple with no extra fees like some competitors. That's accurate. He showed me a packet and encouraged me to read over it. When he asked if I had any questions, I voiced my concern about the high rates, interest rates, ask if there was any

room for negotiation given the car's mileage. He sugar said explaining that the percentage rate would adjust once they ran my credit. I agreed to this saying I would work on my driver's license, sort it out and then be in touch. And again, I digress to say, you'll always want to get an interest rate from your bank or your credit union or, for that matter, any independent bank that is not affiliated with a dealer.

You should never take the interest rate or the monthly payment ordered by a car dealer. They're usually quite high. I asked if his phone number was on the sheet, noticing that the salesperson listed was Jose, not Jack. I questioned this to be to which he respect. He was indeed the listed salesperson. They'll call him JAC, Jack, because those are his initials.

I digress again. Anytime you're talking to anybody in a car dealership, give their telephone number. Their cell phone number, not the company number. You should have that. If they hesitate for a minute, say, well, you asked for my number and I gave you my cell number, then you should reciprocate, give me your cell number.

The more numbers and the more numbers, And the more numbers of managers, and the higher up that manager is, the less likely you're going to have any arguments if there's a dispute over what the price is or what the promises were. Shell numbers of all the people you deal with. So there we have it. A Monroeney label only. I could show you what that looks like. And no addendum labels and no dealer fees. And there we have it.

It's time to vote on Mullinix Ford and Constable. semi-flora. And again, I will say this about Mullinix. They pioneered the no-dealer fee, and we had some Mullinx dealerships after they expanded and brought in outside partial owners that did charge dealer fees. I talked to the Mullinx family directly a few years ago about this, and they called the dealership that had the added the dealer fee, and they changed that. So, Molinex pioneered the no-dealer fee, the no-hidden fee, and they were, Mullinx in Fort Lauderdale actually had this before I did, and I've had my no-dealer fee for about 20 years. Molinx did that years before I did it.

So there we are. Time for the votes. We'd love to hear what you had to say. And we grade on the curve, A, B, C, D, or F. If they get an F, they do not go on our recommended list. If they get anything but an F, they go on the recommendal lift with their letter score. So the curve, meaning we find very few perfect dealers. So if they pass, according to the average dealers that we talk to,

and you give them a passing grade. Okay. All right. That's the mystery shop from Mullinix Ford in Kissimmee, folks. Get your votes in 772-49765. Now back to Rick. Well, first one, Jonathan and Wellington. I like the fact that there are no junk fees.

I'll give them a B. They might get an A if the interest rate is great. Okay. Bob from Maryland. B for Molynex Ford, upfront price, but should have been a bigger discount for 2,400 miles on the car. Wow, these guys are tough. Let's see what we got here.

All right. Joseph Kelleher. A. Negan 1. A plus deal. Steve Ward. Awesome observation. A very rare A. Tim Gillilanded Yuma. Well, that was boring. A. Give me five bucks. A. Donovan. A. Johnny Z. Fradley. A good shopping report equals A for me. Brian said Lacko, finally, a dealership that doesn't fee you to death. A, myself, I'm going to ding him a bit. I'm saying A minus, because I think Jack messed up on one thing. He should have introduced himself properly at the beginning of his encounter with Agent Lightning, and he goofed a bit there.

He should have given his name, at least said, hi, I'm Jack, or I'm Jose, and explained. they call him Jack. Okay. Other than that, there it is. Okay, folks, I'm going to go with the 2,400 miles that was already on the vehicle. And for that, I would have given them, you know, an A, but I'm giving them an A-minus. But a fabulous report. Yeah, I just really respect the Molenex dealerships and the family, and I'm going to give them an A.

They don't come any better than Molinx Ford. they have several dealerships unfortunately the family doesn't own all of them completely I think they have ownership in all of them and I'm not sure whether it's majority or not but I do know the family

I do know the dealerships we shopped them before if you're in Florida and you're going to buy a Ford you should find a Mellanix dealership they will treat you right and you should shop and compare you always shop and compare a price

even with a good dealer an honest dealer gives you an honest price but competition is your friend So go to another dealer. See if they'll beat the Althador price. Absolutely. And I want to thank everyone for joining us this morning.

What a fabulous show. What a fabulous mystery shopping report. And breaking all the records with all the females, the ladies that called, you know, I got to thank Amanda and Carol and Eileen and Amy and Sue. And, well, I want to put out a special announcement. And I just want to wish Jenny. who used to be part of the show 20 years ago.

What a special person. She is, it's her birthday. So we all wish you a very happy birthday. And gosh, you talk about the icing on the cake. That's Jenny, just so wonderful person. Have a fabulous day, Jenny. She puts up with her husband, who I hear is not a very nice guy. I didn't want to mention that.

We're talking about Jonathan, just in case you guys are curious. And he is a real nice guy. I was only kidding. We were just joking. We love Jonathan. Have a fabulous day, Jenny. Thank you all for listening to Earl Stewart on cars. We'll be right back here next week at the same time at 8 a.m. Have a wonderful weekend.