Earl Stewart on Cars - 06.27.2020 - Your Calls, Texts, and Mystery Shop of Sunrise Ford - Fort Pierce

Episode Date: June 27, 2020

Earl answers various caller questions and responds to incoming text messages. Agent Thunder visits Sunrise Ford in Ft. Pierce, to see if he can purchase a 2020 Ford Edge SEL that has an attractive 0% interest rate advertised on their website. Earl Stewart is the owner of Earl Stewart Toyota in North Palm Beach, Florida, one of the largest Toyota dealerships in the southeastern U.S. He is also a consumer advocate who shares his knowledge spanning 50+ years about the car industry through a weekly newspaper column and radio show. Each week Earl provides his audience with valuable tips that prevent them from "getting ripped off by a car dealer". Earl has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, U.S. News and World Report, Business Week, and other major publications. He has also made numerous appearances on CNN, Fox News, CBS, and other news networks. He is frequently called upon by local and national media to comment on major trends and newsworthy events occurring in today’s rapidly changing auto industry. You can learn more by going to Earl's videos on www.youtube.com/earloncars, subscribing to his Facebook page at www.facebook.com/earloncars, his tweets at www.twitter.com/earloncars, and reading his blog posts at www.earloncars.com. “Disclosure: Earl Stewart is a Toyota dealer and directly and indirectly competes with the subjects of the Mystery Shopping Reports. He honestly and accurately reports the experiences of the shoppers and does not influence their findings. As a matter of fact, based on the results of the many Mystery Shopping Reports he has conducted, there are more dealers on the Recommended Dealer List than on the Not Recommended List he maintains on www.GoodDealerBadDealerList.com”

Good morning. I'm Earl Stewart. I welcome you to Earl Stewart on Cars, a live talk show all about how to buy, lease, maintain, or repair your car without being ripped off by a car dealer. With me in the studio is Nancy Stewart, my wife, co-host, and a strong consumer advocate, especially for our female business. We also have Rick Kearney, an expert on how to keep your car running right. I dare you to ask a question that Rick can't answer about the mechanics or electronics of your car. Also with us is my son, Stu Stewart. our linked to cyberspace through Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Periscope. Stu is also the Spymaster Director of our Mystery Shopping Report. He dispatches our secret shopper weekly to an unsuspecting self-forwarded dealership. And now, on with the show. Change a lot. Good Lord, we've been doing this show for 17 years, and I still marvel at the way times change, and here we are in the middle of the arguably, one of the greatest crises in human history with the COVID-19, and everything's changing.

We're flexible. That's a good thing about the human race, I guess. We are all quite flexible. We're talking more and more now about wearing face masks and other things like that, but it's part of our current history, and we'll be looking back at this, hopefully most of us, in a few years, and saying how did we get through this? But here we are. Earl Stewart on cars, we're mainly talking about how you can buy or lease a new car or use car, how you can maintain a repair one of those cars with car dealers and not be taken advantage of. We've seen an interesting, I was on the COVID thing for a second or two, and we've seen an amazing change in the way car dealers are doing business now. It's, they're adapting like everybody else is adapting to the COVID phenomenon. Car inventories are getting shorter. Prices on some used cars are going up.

The prices on new cars will be going up because of the shortage. And car dealers adapt, and they adapt a lot of ways in their advertising. They adapt in their sales tactics. They adapt in whether or not they decide to wear face masks. interesting article in the automotive news this morning about, yeah, we can hold that up for you to take a look at. The car dealers are trying to figure out, do we portray ourselves as wearing masks when you come in face masks, or do we portray ourselves as not wearing face masks? And we've talked a lot about this on the show in our mystery shopping reports, and there's two schools of thought.

We know that now. Some people think it's not a good idea to wear a mask, and some people think it is a good idea. We happen to think that it's not only a good idea, but it's the only idea. I think we side with large majorities of that, though. A large majority do, but the debate goes, and it depends on the region of the country, too. I mean, there are regions of the country where people feel one way or the other. So it's all part of what you're going to hear on the show. We love your opinion.

That's the main thing. Your calls are amazing. We have some amazing callers. We have a telephone number you can call. I say that like it's something different. I mean, we're in a digital world now, but yeah, we still got telephones, and the telephone number, I feel, I feel strange saying that. I don't ever say telephone number.

I'll say cell number, but anyway, 877-9-60-960, 877-9-696. He'd love to have you calls. I mean, it's kind of like an old-fashioned way to communicate. We can hear you, and you can hear you laugh and breathe and cough, and I don't want to hear you cough, but just, you know. And getting a little bit more digital, we go into the text. Our text is 772-4976530, 772-4976530. And, of course, we're on YouTube and Twitter and Facebook and Periscope

and all that digital stuff. We're streaming where I'm looking at my, you know, picture I got the mask on. There's people last week said, take the mask off. That's okay. We're not going to take the mask off. This is, we decided we're committed. This is what we're going to do.

And it's for each other's safety, not just for our own safety. And everybody in here, including Jonathan. And I think Michael wears a mask when he's around folks, usually. And he's far away. But you never know when someone's going to pop in and be close to. you so that's what we do rick what's going on i'm just jealous of nancy she doesn't have to worry about her glasses fogging up from your breathing is you know you breathe in your glasses fogg us exactly the new mass society exactly we hear all sorts of things uh i made a post on facebook

the other day that had it's probably close to 400 responses now huge uh posting on facebook and i talked about should i say something to somebody when i see him standing in the line next to me or or wherever it may be, and they're not where I might. Should they say anything? And there was a huge controversy about some people say, you're better up to keep your mouth shut, Earl. And that's probably true. I saw an interesting article on the etiquette of that.

They said this new etiquette that we have to deal with, and it was kind of like avoid confrontation. If someone's not giving you space, then you'd be the one to give them space and try to work some humor into it. You know, like, like, I hate these things too. And try and keep it confrontational and avoid shaming people, because I don't think that's good. As long as we're talking about that, this is the note that I'm contemplating passing out.

I'll read it. I say, I walk up to the guy or gal in Publix, and I say, six feet away, not all the way up. And I say, hello, I notice that you're not wearing a face mask. My purpose in giving you this note... Are you going to read it like that? My purpose in giving you this note is not to challenge or disparage you, but to let you know that it concerns me for my safety and others that you come close that you come close to you probably believe that individuals have the right to make personal choices as long as they don't

threaten the rights of others and I agree but I don't think you understand that you are you are infringing on my and others rights of life I underline life liberty and the pursuit of happiness by not wearing a face mask during the CD of COVID-19 pandemic please reconsider and wear a face mask when you're in public so that's what got everybody can we role play that like I'll be the free breather and anyway

love to hear from you until you start calling in I'm going to I'll go with Stu this week he's our cyber expert on mystery shops and undercover guy what's going on I don't want to keep me laboring

the issue of masks but it is becoming more and more of an issue. And we've seen it, I think it wasn't last week on our mystery shopping report, they were wearing masks. And I'm not going to give anything away, but we observed the mask-wearing or non-mask-wearing habits of this week's mystery shop, which is Sunrise Ford up in Fort Pierce. And Earl mentioned that article in the automotive news

about the car dealers, you know, having internal debates whether or not they're going to depict their employees wearing masks and their commercials. And I think it's interesting, but certainly here in Palm Beach County, you know, we're seeing a pretty big surge in the cases right now. So I think it's getting people's attention. And also in Palm Beach County this past week, they passed an order that mandates it in all public spaces. So the momentum's on that side. And it is interesting watching what's going on.

I didn't want to step on the agenda this morning, but I think there was something you were going to address that happened last week as well. And as this whole thing is unfolding, it's like it's really interesting. I mean, I don't want to, you know, trivialize it, but it's very interesting to be part of this. We don't want to turn this into a fac-mash show, but it's just a factor. It's another factor. And people are still buying cars, actually, car sales are good. So counterintuitively, people are going out and buying cars. Yeah.

And South Florida, anyway, we see the numbers. and the pace of June 2020 is not very far off the pace of June 2019. Now, that is amazing. The new and used car sales. So folks are going into car dealerships, and you've got, unfortunately, more things to worry about than a mask, and that's what we do here. And the mystery shopping report, you know,

I always like to talk about it a little bit because it's the high point of the show. We don't get until the end of the show, unfortunately. But some new folks here don't know the nuts and bolts with that. How does this happen? How do we prepare and do these Mr. Shopping reports? Well, sometimes we'll have a theme. We'll look for advertisements.

Certainly in the last couple of months or a few months with the COVID-19 thing, we watched a market change in dealership advertising. A lot of dealers are trying to take advantage of the situation. And, I mean, some of it is reasonable. Obviously, you know, when people are discussing things, like picking up vehicles and delivering for service or online sales, whether or not it's legitimate online sales or not, they're trying to adapt to a public that is, for the most part, pretty hesitant to get out and spend money. But we've seen some of the bad stuff, too.

So in the last few months, we've been looking for these ads that are taking advantage of people's fear, and we go and investigate them. And other times, like this week, we kind of had a more of an open theme. You know, we just wanted to find a type of car dealership, something that was like a family-owned one, like a kind of mom-pop store, and see how they're behaving because we've typically, we've been focusing on,

and it's hard not to because there's so many big corporate-owned car dealerships out there. We've been looking at those types. This week we changed up the theme. But anyway, do a little research. We look them up on SunBiz. We look who the owner is. We see their history, how long they've been in there. We look at their online advertising.

If there's print advertising, We try to find that. Television advertising, we try and record it, DVR it. Then we try to target car generally dealers to sell more cars, more popular cars. We don't usually shop Porsche dealers or, you know, small volume dealers. Not that we shouldn't, but we just don't have the time. We want to cover the most cars that are getting sold and to protect the most people. Yeah, and we'll occasionally go into like a small used car lot because a lot of people,

those small dealers in the aggregate represent a lot of car sales, even though an individual place might not be that much. But then we got a mystery shopping agent. He goes in there, and he pretends to be a car buyer, and he will assume a persona. He might be a big, tough guy that goes in there and tries to get the best deal, and sometimes he goes in there and just, you know, let whatever happens happens, and he's going to take advantage of it's going to happen. And we write it down.

He writes it down, and we report on everything that happens. know, to quoted dialogue to the documents that were given, and that's an accurate description of, you know, what a real consumer experience is. And by the way, I just almost forgot to mention, I was thinking, as you were discussing about off-lease-only, got some exciting news for you. Next week, we're going to have a guest on the show,

the former owner of off-lease-only.com. Off-lease-only, if you haven't heard of them, It's probably the second largest volume used car dealer in this area, not nationally, but they've got several locations. I believe they're in Orlando and a couple, two or three in this area, and they are just a phenomenon that came on suddenly and just really dominated the market. So it was originally sold to a group of people, and the former owner, they're really, the founder, and the founder, and the, did he's the one that created this model this platform that really grew amazingly we've always struggled oh you were car dealers to or in total disclosure we have a Toyota dealership and they eat our lunch and selling used

cars they're just really good at what they do anyway his name is Mark he'll be on the show next week and I think it's just very cool that a car dealer has the courage to come on and talk about things and we look forward to this So be sure to tune in the next week. You know, Nancy Stewart is my co-host. We've been doing it. She's a founder of the show with me. We started this show 17 years ago when it was only half an hour.

And she's an extremely adamant female advocate. And she talks to a lot of ladies out there. And the thing amazes me is we've actually built our female callers in texters and Facebook followers to, approximately 50%. So congratulations, Nancy. You do an amazing job. And what's going on in your mind today? Thank you very much. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Earl Stewart on Cars. We have a fantastic show ahead. Lots of information. It's all free. And we also offer the ladies, $50. The first two new lady callers, $50. You can win it this morning. I know you can use it.

So give us a call. Give us a call at 877960, or you can text us at 772-4976530, and a special good morning to our attorney general, Ashley Moody. She's helping us. I know she tunes in once in a while, and we've asked her for her help because she can change the way cars are sold. And I'm pretty sure everyone knows that Floridian spend more money on automobiles than anything except housing. Yes, except housing. And they need your protection, Ashley. I feel like we're on a first name basis, so I'll just refer to you as Ashley. We need your protection, and we're being overcharged by millions of dollars annually with hidden charges. with hidden fees, you name it, the car dealers are taking advantage of the consumer.

They're breaking the law, breaking the law, Ashley, and that's what you're there for. You're the chief law enforcement officer in the state of Florida, and you should be enforcing the law that we have, which the main thing that Nancy's referring to is in advertising a car, Florida law says you must include all charges except for government fees. You cannot add after the fact. You say the price of the car is $25,000. You can't add $2,000 in hidden fees when the person comes in to buy the car. So it's real simple.

It's black and white, actually. And you're the chief law enforcement officer. Do your duty. Yes. You represent a lot of people. And you are a top-ranking law enforcement, an enforcement officer. So go to Earl on Cars, and you can. Take a look and see how you can get in touch with her.

Shoot her out an email, give her a call. All the information is right there, Earl on Cars. And we, as Stu said, we have a fantastic mystery shopping report to get to. And don't forget, www. Your Anonymous Feedback.com. Now back to the recovering car dealer. Rick Kearney has worked for me for, what, 27 years, 25 years? 25 years.

And he is a top-notch technician. We call him an auto-computer scientist because of the high-tech cars that we're selling and servicing and repairing these days. And let me ask you this, Rick, start out, I mean, talk a little bit about what you do, but start out with how is the service department, how do service departments, technicians, you're getting in and out of cars, you're coming close to customers, service advisors. when you come to a service department, how have things changed and what do you see different about servicing, maintaining, and repairing a car during COVID? Oh, man. It's changed dramatically over the last several months. The masks, of course, a lot of guys are wearing gloves to get in and out of the cars. We have to be extra careful now because we're using steering wheel covers and covers on the gear shifter, so anywhere that we're touching,

we're touching a plastic cover. Of course, that can make it a little more tricky to make sure you're steering the car and handling the car safely. So we are very cautious about that. We also have a team of the porters that will spray disinfectants after we're done to make sure

that hopefully anything gets killed. All the technicians are watching out for each other. We're doing temperature tests. We're keeping an eye on each other, making sure we've all got masks and sharing, you know, hey, if you don't have one, we'll get you some. You know, it's really just become a new challenge. I had calls from people wanting to service their cars,

but they're nervous about coming in. And I had one call the other day, a person was going to be driving to New Jersey, and just didn't have the time to get in to have done what he had to have done. and it was a warranty item and he says if I don't get a fix now by the time I get back

it might be out of warranty excuse me we have a caller from Michigan who's been holding oh I didn't know okay let's go I'll finish that story okay Ken good morning hi good morning

and Earl you can finish your story if you want I'll finish it after we talk your priority because we love the call Oh, I think. Well, thank you. I'm the firefighter paramedic up here in Ann Arbor, Michigan that purchased the 2016 Toyota Prius that Toyota took the feature out that you can change to kilometers per hour. And after that $30,000 plus dollar purchase of Toyota, they said the only remedy to get kilometers per hour, when you, drive across the border to Canada, which was two miles away from the Detroit Auto Show, is to buy a new Prius to replace your Prius.

You folks checked into that, and I wrote to Toyota, no response. But what they just did this week was force a software update for your radio navigation system. And unfortunately, when I bought the car, they had, Toyota crippleware installed in the nav system because the navigation system would reset as you were driving, and it made it useless until they came up with a software update, which was six months later. So just this week, they forced out a mandatory software update to apparently add Amazon Alexa to the system. The problem is it has a high battery drain. on your cell phone. At least my Note 9 Samsung cell phone, and the only alternative is to buy

a new cell phone or wait for Toyota to fix their software. Toyota apparently, and your service people could probably tell me, once they force a mandatory software update, which hasn't been for a couple of years, there's no way to revert to the previous software update. You're stuck with it. And so what they can do, what Toyota has done, is they've taken features out of the nav system, such as some of the software. You can't access it anymore. And then they replace it with Amazon or some other company. Is there any remedy to that? Because you could buy a car, and then two years down the road or three years down the road, they force a software update, which can cripple your car and you're just stuck with it and the remedy is buy a new car or buy a new phone

that doesn't make sense to me can i'm going to let rick answer the technical part of this question it's largely technical but first let me say uh congratulations and how much we appreciate the firefighters and the paramedics out there frankly i don't know how you do it uh i guess yes you got a lot of courage and a lot of care about other people but uh the way you're exposing yourself now to COVID in this crisis that we're going through. The world needs more people like you, and thank you very, very much. Before I turn it over to Rick, I'll also say that we'll take this to the top in Toyota because what you are describing here is something that is just wrong.

And I've been around a long time. I've been a toilet here for 47 years. I know a lot of people in Toyota. They know me, and they know I speak my mind, and I will carry your message to the very, very top, what I'd probably like to do is get you to confirm, if you wouldn't mind, texting us a summary of what you're verbally describing here so I can have the detail when I go to toilet directly to take it to the top. This thing, by the way, about the odometer and kilometers and miles per hour, this is a, we had another complaint on this from some of the

in the Michigan area because close to the Canadian border. And they, they, they, they, they, they, You know, they finally fixed that later on after, but he got stuck with that situation. Rick, I'm going to turn it over to you now, and can you shed any light on this? Ken, what year is your Prius? This is a 2016 Toyota Prius. Hmm. And it's the one that's manufactured January or February that they said they didn't want to fix the odometer situation. And as a health care worker, it's kind of.

critical because I can't drive that vehicle safely into Canada where they need health care workers in the indigenous areas where they're hammered with COVID. By the way, I see your face masks on Facebook, and I did notice some fogging of your glasses, which means that the face mask is not fitting correctly, and the deal is unless you get a quantitative fit test, sometimes you, you You can't, you put a face mask on, but it's not really effective. You might want to consider switching over to the lower cost surgical mask, not an N95, although that would be ideal, but switching over to the surgical mask, which would fit better, and be sure to take that metal piece on the top of your mask

and bring it down around your nose so it fits tight. I just did that while you're describing, and I was, look at myself in the monitor, and you're right, and now I squeeze the band and it's not fogging my glasses anymore so thank you very much I'll look into that surgical mask okay

they're low cost they're cheap yeah I'm going to have to check on that with the Alexa thing because I wasn't aware that the 16s could have the Amazon Alexa connection as far as I'm aware

19 Camry was the first one that was getting Google CarPlay with Alexa coming next and in the 20s now CarPlay and Alexa are pretty common but for 16 I didn't know they had a

backwards compatible because as far as I'm aware the only download we can do for CarPlay even was 19s and the older ones didn't have it but no update to your radio is actually a

mandatory thing. If anyone's telling you it's mandatory, they're wrong because they're not allowed to make any adjustments to your car without your permission anyways. So you can say, no, I don't want that updated. If it's working fine, I want to leave it alone, don't touch it. Well, that's exactly what I thought. But Toyota, they forced the update. It came up on the screen saying you have a mandatory update that you must load. And if you don't load it, it's going to, knock out your nav system. So you have no choice. To me, that's the real offense there to force someone to take an update, especially when you

haven't done your homework to realize what unintended consequences that force update a cause. So they've got a liability exposure. I think they really do. I think when this gets to the top guy in Toyota, I think something

will be done. And that's the reason and I'd like you to summarize that in a text to us. Did you get our text number? Ken, do you have that written down? I do have that. Unfortunately, I took screenshots so I can also send those over to you where it says it's a mandatory update. Excellent. Well, thank you so much for your help.

Well, thank you, Ken. Again, thank you for doing what you do. You first responders are amazing people, and we won't forget it. We all really appreciate it. So stay safe yourself, please. Yes, Ken. Thank you for putting your life on the line every second of the day. Everybody here appreciates what you do.

Okay, thank you. And I'll get to work on it. Ken, you call back next week. I'll have some information for you. Thank you, Ken. Okay. Thank you, Ken. 877-960-9960.

That's 877-960-99-60. And you get text us at 772-497-65-30. That's 772-4976530. Let's try to get to some text or... Okay, yeah. I got some anonymous feedback. First, let me remind the ladies. You can win yourself $50 this morning.

Oh, yeah. Two new lady callers, give us a call. Take advantage. 877-960-9960. We'd appreciate hearing from you. If you don't have a question, give us a call and say hello. just to let us know you're listening. And I just forgot, I was writing,

I was about ready to finish up something, but I forgot what it was. You had a story that you were telling that you said you would finish. It'll come to you. Don't think about it. Exactly. It'll pop in soon. If anybody remembers, tell me what I'm talking about because I forgot.

Eli says, let it go. It must not have been too important. Okay. It will come to you. Maybe some of these will jog your memory. Okay, first one is from Your Anonymous Feedback.com. oi earl that's what it says oi earl when will you have a guest on your show thanks

well i think you already answered i know i this i have one anonymous feedbacker that has asked several times and i have to confess i didn't ask him to be the guest he asked to be the guest which is really impressive because a real car dealer a real successful big car dealer uh is going to come on the show and that is really cool and I hope the other Cardinals out there listen to it

because you're going to be surprised I'm not going to attack this man and we're going to speak like two adults respectfully of each other and we're going to listen to his opinion and I believe you'll listen to my opinion and I'm just very encouraged about that. I would say that over the years

we've been largely or mostly complimentary of off lease only we've said you know do your homework and buyer beware Well, they did threaten to sue us. We got a letter from their attorney. Yeah, but that was one little hiccup in an otherwise loving relationship. It was handled.

You know, if you keep the attorneys out of it, usually business people can work things out. Or customers in business people. The attorneys try to flame the fire. So this attorney wrote a threatening letter. And now what do I do? I've got to give it to my attorney. And then my attorney, so then they make some money to a billing hour. go up and it'll just be Mark and me and Stu and Nancy and Rick and we'll be talking and we'll be

talking like civilized people it was pretty cheap we got a letter we replied with a letter and that was the end of it was the end of it could have gotten worse okay folks we have another phone call and it is from Linda and she is calling us from North Carolina oh boy hi Linda well hello good morning Earl I hope everyone's doing going well this morning. Good morning, Linda. Well, good morning. Okay. So my question is, I've been doing extensive research, just found your information a couple weeks ago, and I was hoping to be actually trying to purchase a car the next few days since it's the end of the month and quarter. But I don't know that that's going to happen. I've got my car selected. I want, I'm trying to

to purchase like a 2018 or 19, Kia Soul plus off-lease, you know, from an individual, from a dealership, but off-leased individual-owned car from Kia. And I thought the market was going to be flooded at this point, but I'm not seeing that. You know, do you have any information on that? And then I do have a few other questions after that. Well, I think Stu and I are going to disagree on this. I think Stu is going to say that the prices are going up, and I'm going to say on the later model cars, the prices are not going up.

They're at least stable. The highly desirable cars in the $15, $16,000 range, or even $10,000 are very scarce, and those prices are going up. The off-leased cars, of course, just sold 150,000 cars to CarMax and to AutoNation. 150,000 cars. Last week, I talked about Avis selling half their fleet to another big retailer. It might have been automation. What's happening with the scarcity of new cars, those prices are really going up.

people are going to the later model used cars. If you can get a 2018 certified car, it's a great alternative to a new car. And because the rental car companies are in a lot of trouble, Hertz is in bankruptcy, and they have to raise cash to liquidating. So I don't think Stu agrees with me on that. No, I was going to say, I mean, well, you may, I mean, I'm going to agree with the first part of your point. Like, we're in our wholesale business, that's when we sell, usually older, you know, higher mileage cars, cars, we're not going to retail us personally.

Prices have gone through the roof. I mean, they have more than recovered. That's what I just said that. Yeah, yeah, and we have a huge wholesale profit based on that. And you're right, the, the, there is a hard, there's a shortage of used cars out there as well. And I think this is a function, a lot of the, just the big slowdown. There's a shortage of some. The later model cars, because, you know, there's a shortage of some.

there have been coming in off lease in great numbers, and they're coming in for rental companies, are not in short supply. So we actually had our wholesale person from the dealership saying that we could buy cars retail from Hertz for $3 to $500 over wholesale price. Retail for $3 to $500. That's a real bargain.

So Hertz was selling cars at a low price. Now they've sold, I guess, about all their cars, and they'll be coming back on the market. So Linda, without getting into a philosophical discussion here, I think you can buy a late model used car off-lease or off-rental and get a pretty good price on it. You have to shop and compare. I'd start by going to Hertz, and they may have some cars out there still advertised. Hertz is advertising cars on their rental sale, Hertzrentalsals.com, I think. and they have a rent before you buy the car.

Those aren't the ones I'm talking about. The Hertz certified car, check those prices out. You might find a Kia. I don't know if they rent Kiyas or not. But wherever you go, shop and compare, get three bids from three different dealers on the model Kia that you'd like to buy. Okay. Yeah, it seems like what I'm reading is like with individual off-lead,

that they're which that's kind of what I was you know looking towards is that right now so many of the of the people that's got those leases they are being told that they can keep them because of COVID right now and you know so I didn't know if if you happen to know when that was going to change that people were like to start, you know, have to bring them in. Yeah, Linda, that's anybody's guess. Things are changing every day. If you heard something on television or radio a month ago,

it's probably changed with respect to COVID. Nobody knows what's going on. But I think that the leasing companies are going to make that decision based on the residual value of the car. In your contract, there's a number that gives you the right, if you were leasing a car in a lessee's contract. That residual, the leasing companies, when they take that car back,

have to sell it at auction. And if they can get more at auction than the residual value, they're generally happy. They might want you to keep the car, and this is not even related to COVID, if they find out that they can't wholesale the car for what they're able to, with the residual value is.

So nobody knows the answer to your question. I do want to emphasize. I do want to emphasize not to debate anymore, but it is different all around the country in different markets. And here in this current market right now, we're having a hard time buying cars, even the later model ones on because the prices. But there is, I mean, where are you located? Greensboro, Illinois. Yes. So, I mean, their market could be totally different, and it is reaching.

Okay. So you think probably a rental would be just as good of an option then, then, I mean, yeah, off-lease rental? Yeah. Rental cars at one time had a bad reputation. They actually are well-careed for it and maintained, and either an off-rental or an off-lease is a good buy. And, Linda, this is Nancy, and I'd like to tell you that the guys have given you some great information, and most of all keep in mind that the rules are definitely changing and with your lease if it's time to take it in they're even extending that time and again i can't emphasize enough

the rules are definitely changing we're in a whole new it's a whole new ballgame now so keep your eye on things and protect yourself knowledge is power oh yeah definitely Linda, are you a first-time caller? Yes, I am. You've won yourself $50 this morning for being a first-time caller. Perfect. Perfect. Stay on the line, give your information to Mike in the control room.

That will be the only way I can send you a check. Okay. All righty. Okay, thank you. You're quite welcome. 877-960-99-16. or you can text us at 772-497-6530. Isn't this a great forum that we have?

We have so much information to share with you guys, and it's all free. And then all the information that you give us, it is just a great win-win situation. So please be part of the show. We thank you for tuning in. I know you guys have a whole lot more to do, but you stick around and you get a lot of information. So 877-960-99-60, or you can text us at 772-497-2-497-6530.

Okay, Rick's got YouTube and Stu's got a whole bunch of tech, so let's get moving. Okay. Mark Ryan from Open Iowa is asking, My regular mechanic recommended a fuel system decarbonization on my daughter's 2009 Camry was 75,000 miles. There were no engine performance issues, $210 for this service. Was it necessary? Well, Toyota does not have a recommended maintenance for doing such a service. Now, that being said, there's nothing in the recommended maintenance management, man. that Toyota provides for it.

But as a mechanic, I will say there's one small part of that service that I would recommend. And that is simply cleaning the throttle plate on the throttle body. $210, a little excessive for that. He probably went a little overboard and did some things your car really didn't need. What year was it? In 2009. Yeah, so as cars get older, the carbon will build up on the throttle plate. and it can make the car run a little bit rougher.

So cleaning that off once a year or two on the older cars. Is that in the recommended maintenance by the manufacturer? No, it is not. But it is something that's helpful, just cleaning that off. But the service should be about $35. That's all. Here's my problem, and I appreciate that, Rick, very much. But, you know, if you stick, you know, sometimes when we get too specific on things,

this is what the service advisors do when you pull. into the service department and we tell people only have done what the factory recommends in your owner's manual it's easy to remember yeah you should have an owner's manual once you start discussing and then you then we say but there are exceptions and now you're saying cleaning the throttle body is an exception so they're going to see Charlie in the service drive somewhere in the country and you can say now this is an exception this is not in your owner so who do you leave. I think the key phrase in there was there was no issues. They didn't have any performance

problems. If you were, then go, all right, what's going on? Well, maybe that would work. But just to say as a preventative measure is most likely. And that's where I'd have an issue with it. And also, I have to say that because you're a technician, you are a perfectionist and you understand things maybe too well. And you could make an intelligent choice if you were on the other end But people have to have simple rules. And I think a very good, safe, effective rule, just don't get anything done to your car that is not in the owner's manual.

And there are exceptions. Rick is absolutely right. I mean, I think it's like a repair. It's like the lender doesn't say to, you know, fix a broken part, but if something goes wrong, so if your car's not performing right, then look for the things that are going to fix it. But don't just...

Sounds good. Decarbonization. I love the word. Well, it reminds me. decarbonization. Hey, we need to do the decarbonization. It's like a detox selling somebody like a detox or some sort of a snakeball. Well, here's the one little caveat that I will throw here is that if you're from Missouri, then you should follow that simple rule because the mechanic should be able to take the air hose off, pull that throttle plate open, and show you all the black carbon on that throttle plate. And if they can show you, yes, there is a buildup there.

then I would authorize having it clean. That's true, but see, now you have to get into a confrontation, and people don't like that. True, that is the difficult part. Just like I said, well, I'm going to go up in public when somebody doesn't have a mask on. I don't want to do that. I mean, I want to do it, but I don't want to do it. People don't like confrontation.

So this pleasant-looking service advisor says, Mr. Jones, you really need to have your throttle body clean, and it's not in the owner's manual. I'll tell you that up front, but you need to trust me. So now you've got to say to Mr. Jones, Mr. Jones has got to say to the technician, well, I want you to show that to me. I want you to take that apart, so you're challenging him.

People don't like to be challenged. Anyway, we're digressing on a psychological thing. Let's get back to some text over here. Anonymous feedback. You'll like this one. Dear recovering car dealer, please drink some disinfectant. I do. I drank disinfectant every night about 5 o'clock.

It's Hendricks gin was just a little bit of removed, and it's kept me safe for many, many years. I mean, sometimes I get too safe, but I don't want to talk about that. He's become a professional shaker. A little Woodford, double-oak preserve. And he gets real close to me, so I can hear him. I highly recommend it.

Hendricks gin was just a little bit of Natalie Pratt. That's not the way you pronounce. The hint of juniper is just sublime, isn't it? Yeah, exactly. And two olive stuff with garlic. I think the garlic probably is what really does it makes me. That's true. Well, garlic is good for you.

I don't know about the gin, but garlic for sure. Oh, that's debatable. That's good for you. That garlic has really marinated a long time and all that sodium. Okay, so this is a different, well, I don't know if it's different, but it's a different wording. Hello, Earl. Are you still planning to have a guest on the show, and you address? that.

Yeah. Okay, why did dealers? If you just tuned in, I'm so excited about the guest, Mark, the former owner of all fleets-only.com, one of the largest used car dealers, certainly in Florida, and he's going to be on the show next week. So be sure to tune in. I don't know his last name. What's name is Mark?

I'll look it up. It's in my text messages. This is for Rick. Rick, would hard wiring a dash cam to the battery of my 2020 Highlander avoid any warranties? Would this also cause any issues? No, it will not. And as a matter of fact, my own dash cam, although it has the battery backup, so I run it just on the power outlet.

But yes, if you want to have it hardwired, I would recommend have a professional installer do this. You can run it directly off the fuse block inside the car, or if you want to run the wire all the way out to the battery, that can be done. Can you hard wire mine? Am I, owl dash cam? It can be, yes. Is it a huge job?

It can be quite a job, but however, your owl already has the battery backup in it, so even when your power's off on your car, your owl's got plenty of battery power to record any incidents occurring. I love my owl dash cam. My two cents is they plug into the data port, right? That's where they get power, and a lot of them like the Al cam does, correct? Oh, the Al cam goes to the data port? yes then it's got power all the time so it's i think it does or it's easily removed in other words

i think it's um if i think a hard wire if you went there and splice wires and all that and then you switch cars or when it'll loan it to your spouse or something it makes it harder more difficult if it's a plug-in one i think you find it more convenient i use the al cam well you did use the al-cam until i got a car with a tiny windshield um okay next one more anonymous feedback um earl good morning you know what i love about the show no commercials no advertisements no breaks. The show just rolls along, and I love my Saturday mornings because of it. Oh, I feel all warm inside. I also like to pass along some info. There are a few other sources out there for car buyers to glean additional information.

I can predict who they are. On YouTube, searcher Kevin Hunter, the homework guy, and Steve Lato. Both of these gentlemen's channels contain valuable car buying advice and a recurring theme that you share as well. Be informed. Knowledge is power. Got that, Nancy. Knowledge is power, and thank you. Have a great day. That's a really nice text. He just reminded me about no commercials. Here's a commercial, okay? I want you to buy this book, Confessions of a Recovering Car Dealer. And this is an amazing handbook that will tell you everything that we talk about on the show and more,

and it has everything I do in my blog. All the information you want on, and now you're thinking to yourself, you're just trying to sell your book. I am trying to sell the book, but 100% of the proceeds of everything we get back from Amazon, you can buy this on Amazon, everything Amazon sends us, total proceeds on this book, go to Big Dog Ranch Rescue. Very good, Big Dog. Now, you can go to BDRR.org.

That's the website, www.bd is in Big Dog, R, R as in Ranch Rescue. d-d-r-r-r-org. Is it dot-org? I think it is dot-org. B-D-R-R-D-R-R-D-R-R. And you can check and you pick your doggies out. And when you find your doggy, well, actually, and you can even tune in to our Facebook page

and we give a dog of the week. Nancy and I and Stu do a dog of the week. So buy a book, learn how to buy a car without being ripped up by a car dealer, and help save a dog all at the same time. There's a commercial. Great commercial. Hey, we, Earl and I are trying to decide whether or not we're going to get a puppy or we are going to get a baby, have a baby. And that's all because of Paul Nice and Oliver and, of course, Justin and Lindsay, who have Jackson.

So we've been looking at all these baby pictures and all these puppies, and we just said, wow, I wonder if we could rent something. Give us a call to 877-960-99-6. They are adorable, aren't they? And you can text us at 772-497-6-530. And ladies and gentlemen, don't forget your anonymous feedback.com. I think it Rick's got an order to YouTube. I've got a couple here, but this one, Donovan Lewis says, why do dealers feel it's okay to have the most uncomfortable buying experience,

making it feel as if you're being discriminated against because it seems like you don't belong in this high-end deal? dealer. I was in Mercedes-a-Pompano yesterday, an Auto Nation store, and it was the most uncomfortable experience I've ever had looking at a car. They didn't care I was there, told me if I don't want the car, it doesn't matter. They had multiple other buyers for the car when pointed out something they didn't say over the phone that I asked about. With everything going on today, how can car dealers still get away with, oh, this guy doesn't have Mercedes money? Then they lie about what they will pay.

for my trade based on another store that I actually called and offered me more over the phone so they held on the trade and threw a $799 dealer fee on top you know before we get into the meat of that this caller has been holding okay i want to let frank know that we know you're holding from west palm beach girls can answer this question which might be a little bit lengthy that we're going to get to your call. Frank, I'm going to make it real quick. Automation is a good store, and we recommend an automation in general,

but like every other retailer, you have rotten apples. You got a whole of a rotten apple. It wasn't just rotten, it was a stupid apple, because a lot of people that got a lot of money don't dress or act like they have a lot of money. Matter of fact, a lot of people will do that on purpose because they don't want to be targeted as a rich person that can afford to pay too much for a product.

So the salesperson you talk to, maybe the manager at AutoNation Pompano Mercedes just didn't know what they're talking about. Go to the general manager of that Auto Nation store, Pompano Mercedes, and tell them exactly what happened, and I think you're going to be pleasantly surprised.

They will sincerely apologize to you. They might even get rid of the salesmen or certainly coach him. But that's not a standard operating procedure for automation stores. Now, if we can go to Frank. You're a multitasker. Morning, Frank.

Good morning, morning. Speaking of days, my friend just got one, and I was in a flight, and every now and then, when we stop, I feel a big. And I said, what's this? And he told me that it turns off when he stops and starts when he steps on the gas. I thought they did away with that stuff. Hmm. No, that's that stop-start technology, and a lot of manufacturers are still, they still like it. Myself, I consider it annoying. I don't like it. Yeah. It works. I mean, I've run a tank of gas with it on, and I get about two miles a gallon better, honestly, and I turn it, but it's so annoying at a stop late.

It feels weird, and I'm not used to it. Maybe over years people get used to it, don't know. I bought a new car for my wife just last year, and the tech that works next to me bought one for his wife just one year later. Was it that a toy other? Absolutely. Round four. It's the round fours.

Yeah, well, I have the same car that you guys. Oh. Oh, yeah? Yeah, and the guy that shook you up a year ago, the sales were key, who told me his price. I'm sure you remember that you can you can deactivate the start stop but you have to do it every time you start the car up in the first place you can deactivate the start stop but the next time you shut the car off and restart it it's going to go back how much how much trouble is it to deactivate how long does it take just a second or two it's just a button push a button

and it tells you on the dash if it's activated or not a line will go through the start stop so it's not a bang but if you don't remember and I never remember. And so, yeah. Otherwise, it's just something you kind of got to get used to. Does that super to have that store? Yes, that's what I'm describing right now, and, you know, I'm driving this beast of a car, and I don't want my engine to ever stop.

Yeah. I know you'd drive that car, and I can't. Yeah, I've cut you off a few times on military trail, I think. Yeah, well, you wouldn't cut off a rat, for it. Oh, no, I was teasing. Especially with a title, would an Earl Stewart? Right. I slow down when I see those.

Well, anyway, that was my question. I remember Cadillac had that, and it seemed to be not working right, and I thought everybody got rid of it. No. I found it very annoying a short trip that we had last night. And also, that car doesn't have XM radio. They don't make it.

They don't put it in. That's another crazy thing. That's crazy. Yeah, I didn't know that either. That is crazy. At the front of the Stop Start thing, Frank, it's just the dumbest thing I ever heard in my life, be honest with you.

And I'm really surprised that Toyota does it. I'm surprised that anybody does it. I'd forgotten until you mentioned, Cadillac did it about 30 years ago, and they were laughed out of town. And it's not even new technology. It's old technology, and some idiot in the manufacturing division

come up with this and I don't know maybe they bought a bunch of parts and they got to use them up before they stop building them that way. Well here's a crazy part for you. It has a battery that has a lifespan that it must be replaced and the same thing with the special

starter. And they're very expensive units compared even to the normal ones. I didn't know that. But they have a recommended lifespan and at the end of that lifespan Toyota says right in their book, it's time to replace that battery and it's time to replace

that starter. What's the recommended lifespan? I'm going to look that up right now. 45 days. That is insane. Absolutely insane. Frank, I can't believe it. I just... I want to jump on the hate start stuff wagon, too. The other thing that happens, it will run your air conditioning

with your stop, but not at full efficiency. And it's been bloody hot the last few days. And when the engine goes off, the air gets noticeably warmer and you start to sweat. Yeah. Anyway. Wow. Well, Frank, thanks.

That's not far with the button that had pushed to hold a break. Mm-hmm. Same particular. Exactly. All right, Frank. Thanks for the call, Frank. You always got good stuff. I appreciate it.

Thank you. I have a good one. Love, Frank. Okay, guys. Text, too, you too. I got anonymous feedback. I got text. Here's anonymous feedback.

Why do dealerships charge extra for all-weather-floor floor mats, according to his website, carpet, and all-weather floor mats cost the same. And that is true. They are roughly the same price. Why do dealerships charge extra? Because they can, because they're trying you on. They should be priced. First of all, if it's a genuine...

There's a dirty joke about that, by the way, I can't say on the air. All right, tell me after the show. I'll tell you after the show. But I will say that if... They do it because they can. That's a punchline. Oh, yeah, yeah. Well, that's what I was going to say that.

But if these are OEM or made by the, you know, branded by the manufacturer with its or Toyota. There is an MSRP. You can compare the MS, just like a car, you can compare the MSRP of a part to another part. So look at the MSRP of the regular carpet mats and the MSRP of the all-weather. Here's some inside information for you. All parts and accessories, on average, in the industry are marked up about 40%. Now, that's pretty big. But for Cardi, it was 40% isn't enough. so they will take parts that they buy and they'll mark them up even beyond 40%. It's not unusual to have a part or an accessory

at 200% of the cost. And so manufacturers, by design, they screw the dealer because the manufacturers overcharge for parts. You can buy what we call gray market parts. They come in from areas other than the manufacturer in the United States for far less than the manufacturer will sell to a dealer.

I can buy Toyota parts that are perfectly good parts for less than Toyota will sell them to me. So it starts with the manufacturer overcharging the dealer, then the dealer overcharges you. The standard suggested retail for most manufacturers after they've overcharged a dealer is 40% over that too high price. And then the dealer does another 40%

or 140% in charge that we have products and there are products out there now with 200 and 250% markups that you're paying. So formats, anything else you buy in the way of an accessory, whether it's manufacture accessory or the dealer accessory, it's got a big fat markup. A dealer install in sections are insane. A dealer install accessory package could be a thousand percent markup. The car, you know, you fight and you struggle and you negotiate and you haggled, and you finally get yourself a good price on a car, and then here come the accessories. Bam, and that's where they get you. They get you with the financing, they get you with the accessories,

even when you get through the minefield to buy the car right. And the parts that are more likely to have these huge markups are the ones that are, there's not a lot of information out there, like they're things you don't think about all the time. regular carpet mats everybody's got them if somebody tried to charge you know $600 for regular carpet you would know but all weather mats they're rare and they seem special so there's lower information

what I'm mainly familiar with is toyo guard which is a Toyota product we don't sell it but all the other Toyota dealers do and the markup on that is how much to when you consider the whole back and the kickback MSRP 699 the true cost is around 189 or something

about what's the math on that 180 $300 markup. I don't know the percentage. Huge markup. Toyagard. Don't buy it. Attorney Ashley Moody, are you listening?

That was quite a conversation that we just shared. But that question was about floor mat, so the answer is I'm sorry. I couldn't control myself. I went off on a rant. I know I'm doing that.

And by the way, never mind, we'll drop the mat thing. Okay. Got another anonymous feedback. Can you explain, discuss, explain, tires for life programs offered by new car dealers? The procedure my Kia service department uses seems unfair slash unsafe. The tires look unsafe, but the service advisor says the measurement of the tread depth is not in the range for replacement. We know all about this.

Take it away. Yeah, very few dealers offer this. We do at our dealership, and basically it's a way, we know that if you, bring your car back to our dealership or service, which is a much higher likelihood that you'll buy another car from us, like 50% greater likelihood statistically. So we incur a large expense, which is to provide tires at no charge to all of our customers and buy new cars, our Toyotas. And we replace these through normal wear and tear when the tread in our dealership goes below 3.30 seconds.

the Department of Highway Traffic Safety says 2.30 seconds, so we try to err on the side of conservatism by just doing it any time to blow 3.30 seconds. The requirement is you have all your factory recommended maintenance. We never try to require you to do anything. And you heard me earlier in the show if you were listening, just get your factory recommended maintenance. Don't buy anything else from a dealer or a service department except what it says in your owner's manual. So if you do that, then our dealership, but we'll buy you a set of tires. We charge you to mount and balance them, our standard rate. We don't mark that up.

And it's a pretty good deal. We love it because you'd likely to buy another car from us. Actually, we don't make much money in the service department because your service is free. First two years would tell you it anyway. And our reimbursements are less than what we normally charge. So anyway, be careful. There's not too many dealers do it.

There's key a deal that you're talking about. define print find out what it's all about like anything else it's the dealer credibility and transparency and honesty any offer they make you've got to be sure you're dealing with a honest person and it's the dealer's motivation for why they're offering

that like you said see cars are requiring less and less repairs maintenance are getting dealers aren't making money if the goal is to get the car in the service department so they can overcharge for unwanted or unneeded services that's a bad reason to do it if it's like earl said just to maintain an ongoing

relationship with the customer and increase the likelihood of them repurchasing, that's okay as long as you don't take advantage of them in the service department. Exactly. Okay. Rick, you got something over here? We do. Our Le Mans is asking, what is the status of the new Venza and what additional maintenance is required of a hybrid? Well, I'll handle that first part. It's actually a little bit less maintenance because such things as belts, a lot of hybrids don't even have drive belts on them. And the brakes are going to last a lot longer. So your car is actually going to require less maintenance by being a hybrid. I keep forgetting that. A lot of folks aren't familiar with hybrids, but the reason hybrids require less braking is because you have

automatic braking by the electric motor. You take your foot off the gas, you have automatic braking and it's charging your battery at the same time. It's a tufer. And that's what's so cool about hybrids. The brakes on a hybrid will last, what, 50% longer than a regular combustion? It's quite often. Well more. Yeah. So, Stu, what's that new Venza? See, the Venzo is a weird car. It looked like a very, like, a tall station wagon, and it developed, like, a very loyal fan base, but overall, it kind of didn't do that great, but Toyota's bringing it back, and it's going to be out this summer. Totally redesign, and it's more SUV-like, only available in hybrid, and it looks a lot like one of those Lexus SUVs. So it's pretty cool. I'd say

late summer is when it comes out. Okay, more text? Oh yeah. We're done with the anonymous feedback. We have some text that came in. This is from Mark and Mark says, Good morning, gang. My 2017 Camry XLE has had a reoccurring problem with the right rear wheel air sensor. It happens, it's happened four times now. Is there any coverage after warranty is out because it's been a big issue for me? How far out does he say? I don't know if the miles, it looks like by years, they're really close. 2017 cameras. It's got to be pretty close. Yeah, well, Rick can answer that. As far as warranty

goes, if you're close on mileage, you can usually get goodwill adjustment of some kind if you're close on mileage and close in time on the warranty, but you don't get it unless you ask for it. You have to ask for it, and you have to ask the service manager or somebody up the line, because if you just ask the service advisor, they're usually too busy to want to mess with it. Yeah. Basically, for warranty, like Earl says, the Goodwill, you request that, figure anything up to about 8,000, 10,000 miles after the end of the warranty, you usually can get covered.

Yeah. Okay. I'm going to summarize several texts of coming in there, complimenting the color of my shirt and Nancy's shirt. So Nancy and I both thank you for our color. What about my shirt? You've got to mix it up a little bit. It looks like you were born in that blue shirt. I'm colorblind.

I just can't. Can't tell. Okay. I thought I had a green shirt on. A little behind it. All right, this is Jesse from Sebring. This one's for Nancy. She goes, I saw you on Facebook filling your own windshield wiper fluid

and saw you checking your towers in the dryway. Do you really do that? You saw it? Yes, she does it. I do. I'm a firm reliever and taking care of your car. That's a Pittsburgh thing. She's, she reminds me all that.

I saw her putting chains on, snow chains on the tower the other day. on silence. I'm speaking. The queen is speaking. You're not going to start talking about your barracuda, are you? If you don't behave yourself, I definitely will. That next hour, only about my barracuda.

Okay, Jesse, back to your question. Definitely. You know, there was an incident that happened, and my windshield wiper fluid ran dry, and you never want to be in that position, and it was really the weather was very inclement.

And so from that day on, I made sure that my windshield wiper fluid was always filled. So that's one aspect of my maintenance. And as far as the tires are concerned, you know, the tires, people, you know, it's the last thing that some people even think about, and your tires are so important. And once a month, they should be checked, and they should be checked when they're cold and preferably in the morning. And also, the owner's manual is a best place to go. I could give you all kinds of tips,

but the owner's manual is the best place to go. But I can tell you, if you don't take care of your tires, your tires are not going to take care of you. You're going to be replacing them. You're going to be spending more money on gas. And also a little tip. Keep that trunk, well, not empty, but kind of get some things out.

out of there that are going to drag you down and you're going to have to spend more money on gas. I hope I answered your question, Jesse. And thanks for listening and thanks for texting. We need more women giving us a text and calling us at 877-9-60-960. And I, for one, am impressed that you do that on your own. It's something. It's hot. It's unpleasant and you do it.

Maybe it's something you can't help but taking care of your own car. That's pretty good. I even detailed my car about a month ago, and it will probably be something that I won't do again. It was a whole lot harder for me this time around because I'm such a detailed person, and it must have taken where it would take me when I was younger, maybe a half hour. Gosh, I think I was at in a driveway for an hour and a half. I'll let you detail my car. It's much smaller. It's easier to do. I had the neighbors walking by saying, will you do my car?

there you go here we go this is also from jesse it's a follow-ups as a quick question is are there any issues to your vehicle if you run the AC with the windows down or is that just a myth i think that the i think rick can really answer that question but for me i don't know i'd be spending probably more money on gas uh if my windows were down and my AC was on but then again i'm an old-fashioned girl they may the cars are made so much better now maybe that's changed that's pretty much all it'll do is use a little more fuel but no it won't hurt anything okay well this is an interesting text

this is from a dealer a car dealer up in Peoria Illinois Ola her dealership is G inspired automol she had texted us a while back really impressed with the show and are doing business and we've served as an inspiration we play in Peoria we do is that a song that's an old expression you know okay will it play in Peoria oh yeah that's right it's a political thing right yeah

No, no, it's like Peoria is like the heartland, and Peoria is you have to, when you do an advertising thing or political thing, they always say, will it play in Peoria? I'm going to start using that. Okay, so this is from Ola. Ola says, good morning, sirs and ma'am. Thanks for all you do. My question, I'm looking to move to a bigger lot because of our growth. Good for you, Ola. One of the improvements I'm looking to implement in the new place to have a gas tank on site, about 48 inches in diameter and 12 feet long.

so my guys don't have to drive the cars to the gas station all the time, and that will improve our processes a lot. Do you think this is a good idea, and I know you have an opinion on this. Do you think this is a good idea? I plan to locate this on the extreme end of the lot, but not sure if you see any risk from your experience. By the way, your honesty as a

car dealer is what makes you successful, and all I can say is thank you for all you do, especially how you're leading us on for smart car dealerships. Thanks, all that. I strongly recommend against it, and gas tanks have so many regulations, environmental controls, you have liability exposure.

I'm speaking from vast experience. I've been doing this for over 50 years, and I've had different dealerships all over, and I've sold dealerships, and I've bought dealerships. And the biggest problem you have when you buy or sell a dealership, a piece of property that has a dealership on it, is environmental. and I went through a nightmare. Every time I did it, I finally gave up. I used to have my own gas station, and I used to have my own gas tanks.

And you're right, it's very convenient. You just fill it up right there. But you have all the exposure, and then you have to have the government come in, environmental. There's an Environmental Protection Act that is absolutely, totally unfair. And to summarize, without going through a long thing, which I could easily do, don't do the gas tank. Now, there is an alternative solution, and there's a gas caddy. It's an above-ground tank that you can roll around.

I can't vouch for it, you know, whether it works well, we considered it for a while, and we ended up not getting it. But in that case, you wouldn't have to deal with the EPA and a lot of the regulations. Or just the risk, if there is an accident, if there was something like that, you don't want to be poisoning the groundwater there in beautiful peor. you yeah all right steve and we got some questions on the start stop apparently that hit a nerve with the listeners and uh it's a real short one because hi ral steve from new jersey neighbor neighbor recently brought a new 110 000 Porsche that's a sedan sounds like the the uh kyan maybe uh he didn't realize that he's a start stop uh that cannot be deactivated um it's crazy and he hates it so yeah all right okay i mean like a Porsche guy cares about saving two miles

per gallon. Exactly. I mean, what is going through Porsche's mind when they do that? Rick's got a YouTube over here. It's probably the cafe standards, I bet. Yeah. Okay, it's time for us to talk about my barracuda. Okay, ladies and gentlemen, I hope you have a lot of time.

Rick has a YouTube. Hi, that's a joke. We have a caller. Oh, good. He is definitely a regular caller that I have been in touch with personally. Before we take your call, John, we want to apologize to you. Things are so crazy.

I know you understand, but I promise that Manila envelope that you left for me, I will be bringing it in. I'll take the blame. I'll bring it in. I'll bring it to the studio next week. I apologize. Good morning, John, from Palm City. Good morning to everyone. Earlier, we mentioned the advantage of a hybrid.

Very interesting about saving brakes and everything. The good news is this week, the number one selling vehicle in America, which is the Ford F-150, announced a new hybrid, coming out later this summer, and it's going to be standard with a generator in it. The generator will be an option on the gas model F-150s, but this will be coming out and available to the public at the end. of the year, a new Ford F-150 hybrid. So that's good news.

Very cool. And Rick is a truckman will tell you an advantage of a vehicle like that, especially a vehicle that's used constantly and used for construction, and the additive of a generator on it, a big factor. So I just want to mention that also. And I just want to mention that, well, we thank for this radio, but the spread of the virus is pathetic because of the fact that people are not careful, their crowds together, and their masks are not being worn, which they can't be forced.

But it's just carelessness that seems to be, especially among the young people, and the young people are getting very negligent, thinking that they're exempt from it, you know, to your virus. Nobody is. So I want to mention about the new Ford F-150 hybrid, which, you know, they're exempt from it. which I think is a big factor because it's such a number one selling vehicle. People don't know that, but that's the number one vehicle in America selling vehicle. That's a nice truck. They talk about imports that come in, and originally, if you remember, years ago it was the Honda,

number one import in America, it were all made in Japan. But I see a pathetic increase in all areas when I'm driving. of the Kia and the Hyundai. And people got to forget they actually forced originally that Honda built plants in America. But when I took that trip to the Panama

Canal, I could not believe the transport ships, all of them, that had the Korean car, Hyundai, and Kia. And I just think that they should be forced to have plants like all the other's imports

in the United States, It's multi-plants, and it's, you know, they're talking about import things with our medicines and vitamins and everything coming from all over. Well, this is a bad situation on people, and they're buying them because they're less money. They're cheaper. So I just want to bring that up. I see you on the road, it's unbelievable. It looks to me like every third car that I see is either Keir or a Hyundai. Well, John, to be fair, they're also good cars.

Now, they weren't when they first came in, but the quality of the Kia and the Hyundai, they were both being by the same manufacturer, is considerably better. In a matter of fact, in the recent JD Power Quality Survey for new cars, the Korean cars out did the Japanese cars, and that's for defects during the first 120 days or something like that. And consumer reports also gives them good quality, too.

So I agree with you on manufacturing in the United States, But the fact of the matter is, quality-wise, they're good buys. They didn't used to be, but they're giving Nissan and Honda and Toyota other competition now. I agree with you on that. But if the input tax on it would be competitive, the prize that have made and sold here in the United States, at least on an equal basis. You're right.

You're absolutely right, yeah. Well, Kia and Hyundai both do have one plant each here in the U.S. Kia's got one in Georgia, Hyundai's got one in Alabama, and comparatively Honda only has four plants total in the U.S., whereas like Mazda and Subaru, each only have one. Are you sure about Mazda? Yeah, it's showing right here, Huntsville, Alabama. Yeah, I thought they had more than that. How many does Toyota have? Now, Toyota, on the other hand, because Toyota, actually, Toyota and Mazda are together on that one plant, and Toyota has four others.

Kentucky, Indiana, Texas, and Mississippi. Interesting. Well, just keep your eye on that new Ford F-150 hybrid. Oh, man, yeah. A generator, that's so cool. That is really cool. I think it's going to have like a 700-mile range, and it's more powerful than the gas version of one than the gas version F-150.

How much power is that generator going to put out? I'd like to know. I don't know. They say you can power a work site. It'd be like, you know, if you go to the beach or you, you know, it's like a, you can plug stuff in the AC on. I'm sure, and you probably run a TV, you know, tailgating party. Right.

I mean, just a great idea. A standard generator that you get at Home Depot, you know, you're talking like 5,000 watts, that can run quite a bit. Well, this is a 7.2 kilowatt for 7,200 watts, so it's pretty substantial. You could almost run your house on that. Earl and I are thinking of getting one. You could literally almost run your house on that. There you got.

Well, you guys have a good day and stay safe and well. them ask. Yeah, definitely, John. Thanks for bringing that to our attention and to what you just said about the young people. Guess what? Miami Beach, closed. They're not even going to take a chance. Fourth of

July, closed. Yep, they closed all my favorite bars. 877-960. And you can text us at 772-497-6530. Eric's got another YouTube. Kyle's asking, is the last day of the month, the actual last day for a dealer to hit their sales bonuses, or does it go into like the third or the fourth day of the next month?

Great question. Great question. Let me answer this one. Most of the time, yeah, it's the last day of the month. However, to maximize the manufacturers reporting and to match up with the incentive period, sometimes the end of the month is on the second, third, sometimes the fourth, maybe the fifth day of the month. see almost every year in December. So in December, obviously the month ends on December 31st, and the year begins. A lot of times they carry over the incentives and the sales reporting

until the middle of the first week of January. But don't take a chance. You might want to ask them when their last day is because, you know, don't show up on January 4th. You might be out of luck amidst incentives. Yeah. But the incentives will have the date. That's how you figure it out. So there's always an expiration date on incentives, and if the incentives carry over a couple of days, then it's likely that they're carrying over that reporting. And I've got Justin asking, is it okay to ask for a third set of keys during negotiations?

That's actually a good question there. Yeah, I think it costs money for keys. They'll build it in. Yeah, and you have to be. I would get my best price first and be sure. I was happy with that, and it was completely, and then I would ask for the keys. They'll probably tell you no. Because the manufacturers overcharge the car dealer for the keyless remote.

We pay like $150 or $200, and then we market up another 40% and charge you, which is obscene. I feel so guilty that we're recommending people go to Ace Hardware or other places where you can get the remotes made for you. but when you buy a keyless remote from a car dealer, you're going to have tears in your eyes after you get through paying for it. We're overcharged and we overcharge you. And if you have smart key for your car, I'd look into the program where you can buy the warranty

that if you lose your key or they get damaged, the company will replace your keys for you. Yeah. It'll save you a whole lot of money if you happen to lose those keys because they are expensive. Yeah. But I like your suggestion, Earl, get the out-the-door

price negotiated and then anything you're going to have to get thrown in to sweeten the deal. I mean, once you have that price and you can compare that, you know, have fun with this. And then you're going to hear something. Like, Mr. Jones, I'm so sorry but you really have beat us

to death on this price and this is we've never sold the car this cheap and now you'll want a free keyless remote that costs us a lot of money. I'm so sorry. Right. But if you don't, if you do it up front, I'll say, No problem. Right, exactly.

Yeah. Now you might be surprised. You want. You want, would you like, you know, they'll give you anything to start with. All the floor mats. And they make it into the price. And then you leave and they might chase you out to your car with an extra key for you. It always happens.

Exactly. We got a text from John in California. It says, I dislike the start-stop thing on cars. My wife wants a Honda pilot. It doesn't have that feature. But, but Stu, you hit it right on the money with the AC thing. In order to get better fuel economy, when you come to a stuff, the AC doesn't run at full potential, and it sucks when we live in the desert of La Quinta, California,

where temperatures reach 105 degrees or higher. Yeah, I know, we know what it's like. We've had heat indexes here of 110 degrees in the last few days because the humidity, different kind of heat, but it's a wet heat, and it does. Don't you love hearing that? Hey, it's a dry heat. No, it's a wet heat. It's a lot of heat.

And your glasses are totally opaque. You can't see a doggone thing. And then you got a mask on your face. Oh, my God, this is terrible. All right, here's the last text that I have. Good morning. This is from Anne-Marie. Hey, Ann Marie.

Years ago, I took a hydrogeology class, and the professor said that one gallon of gasoline can contaminate up to one million gallons of groundwater. That's why there are lots of environmental regulations. Here in Florida, most of our drinking water comes from groundwater. Thanks for a great show. Yeah, we know all about that. And I actually got a buddy I went to college with.

He's a geologist, and that's what he did. He went down, he went and inspected gas stations. Wanted to make sure that the ground was suitable for, you know, installing an underground gas tank, but there's a lot of risk there. Well, I got some stories I could tell you about trying to get my property cleared for environmental, and I can't tell them now because the statute of limitations is not up yet. You know, and Errol, you really have a big one, a big story. That's okay.

You're recovering now. Absolutely. That was in West Palm Beach. Are we out of text? We're out of text for now. I'm sure. I got a telephone. like I hate it when I give you zillions of numbers and web sites, but if you're of the opinion

that people should be wearing their mask and you feel endangered when you're standing in line somewhere and someone's coughing behind you without a mask on or sneezing or whatever it may be. Palm Beach County passed an ordinance a few days ago in Palm Beach County is a $250 fine if you wear a mask into a public place. retail and establishment is a public place. And if someone is violating, they could get $250 fine in

Palm Beach County for the first offense and a $500 fine for the second offense. Now, will that be enforced? I don't know. I doubt it. But in case you're interested, the number to call to report an offender is area code 561 24 COVID-C-O-V-ID.

That's 561 area code 24 COVID C-O-V-ID, and that's 561-242-6-8-4-3. If you want to write the number down, I hate it sometimes when they give me the letters. But 561-242-6-8-4-3 and you see somebody and just say, you know, this is not right. They'll probably, I don't know what they'll do, but at least you can report

people that are violating the law. And maybe I'm ultra-sensitive. And Nancy and I, Nancy's 77. I'm 79. And I get a case of the COVID. I'm not a happy camper because I'm probably not going to make it. And I don't want someone sneezing around me. And I think that people, particularly John from Palm City mentioned, a lot of the younger people. I was in public the other day. And these young people are running around. Big smiles are happy. Dance around ran right by me. A couple of times. And I'm saying, why are they doing this? And I waited until they were out of there before I went through the checkout line. And it's just not the right thing to do. So if you want

to report, an offender on a mask, very code 561, 242, 643. And easier to remember is 561, 24, COVID. Think of 24 hours. And put that in your phone and make it a favorite so you can dial it right there on the spot. Yeah, it's a great idea. Yeah. Great idea. Five, six one, 24 COVID. 5-6-1-242-6-8-4-3 and shake them up a little bit. They probably won't get fine, but maybe somebody will call them or anyway. Yeah, they'll be getting everyone's attention, that's for sure. We're going to go to Dallas, Texas, where Justin's waiting to be heard from. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning, Justin.

Good morning. I had a question, a more general question. You know, we spend a lot of time talking about what dealerships, you know, what do wrong and what we can do to get kind of get over on the dealerships at times. And I wanted to ask your, you know, professional opinions, what do you think dealerships have gotten right in the last five to seven years? What have they gotten right? You know, not much.

They're still operating pretty much the way they did a hundred years ago. Does that sound like an exaggeration? I think we had car dealers a hundred years ago, maybe 90. So, I think so, yeah. They're stuck in the same... Was it direct factory? Like, I don't know. Like, so back in the...

They were direct factory at the very beginning. But Henry Ford, when he went mass production, they started adding a dealership. But anyway, they really don't. And I quote the Gallup annual poll on honesty and ethics and professions. You could Google that. Just Gallup G-A-L-U-P. G-A-L-U-P.

Gallup, annual poll, honesty, and ethics, professions. And the car dealers are... at the very bottom every year. And so that tells you, that poll started in 1977. So you can say for certainty, they haven't got any smarter or nicer or better in 40-some-odd years. Then you can look at popular culture. There's been car dealer jokes probably going back to the 40s. I mean, that type of thing was always a, it became a stereotype, but it was basically.

And they're getting smarter because they're more devious. The deception is subtle and clever and it's just a shame. And I know I'm ranting here, and you ask a simple question, and I'm ranting, but they are entrenched in business by the franchise systems in the 50 states. They have protected themselves through intense lobbying with national and state legislators so that they cannot be put out of business. They cannot be controlled. They have like a bubble around them, protecting them from regulators like Florida's Attorney General, Ashley Moody. They can do whatever they want. It's a wild west, and they get away with murder, not literally, I don't think, but they sure get away with a lot of stealing.

So I'll shut up, and you called me. Well, I mean, you said if there's no incentive to be better, because if you've created a bubble of protection, I mean, with, you know, here in Texas, Tesla wanted to come sell here, but the auto industry lobbied to say the only people you could buy car firms were dealership. Exactly, yeah. Tesla's a threat. And believe me, you want to get a car dealer mad. Just say the word Tesla or Elon Musk. And their blood pressure goes up. All the associations are so afraid. Because what Tesla does, established a whole new model platform, kind of like Apple did. They have a product. They sell directly to the public. And they do it politely, nicely, honestly, transparently. and when you buy a Tesla, it's a totally pleasant experience. Nancy and I almost bought a Tesla. We went in, and the shopping experience is about as good as an Apple store,

and that's a high compliment. Yeah, definitely. So the car dealers are afraid that this will become a trend, and suddenly they'll be out of business. Either that or they'll have to start being honest. I mean, what a surprise that Consumer Report really slammed Tesla, and there's been a lot of news. On the quality.

On the quality of the vehicle. I say you still get, I still say you should get one. Yeah. So anyway, I... Thank you so much for everything that you do, guys. I really appreciate watching. Well, thanks. Stay safe out there in Dallas.

And I appreciate the call. We love calls from out of state. If you could call again, sometimes we'd really appreciate it. But stay safe and take care of yourself. Yeah, take care of yourself, Justin. Texas is pretty crazy right now with that. COVID-19. 877-960-99-60, or you can text us at 772-497-6-5-30. And I believe that Stu has got some texts, and I might add that we've shut the lines down because we're going to be getting

ready for the mystery shopping report. Well, let's jump over. Turn it over to Stu. We'll jump over to Rick. But keep them coming in. If we have time at the end, we'll get to it. and also Your Anonymous Feedback.com. Don't forget that. Rick, you got my YouTube comments? Actually, a couple here. Arlemans and Donovan Lewis are both mentioning that Apple is coming up with this Keys program

by way of the iPhone. And Donovan says it's starting with BMW and Ford, Apple Car Key. But it will catch on my car play within the next three or four years. And basically, folks, what this is is your iPhone could actually be used now to unlock your car just like a remote

and obviously you'll have remote start as well. I have that on my phone right now for my Lexus and I can start the car I can lock it, I can unlock it I can check to see what the mileage is I can check to see if maintenance is required

and that's all Toyota Toyota has that and that's a Toyota app and they can do that one thing you can't do though is with the Apple thing you can actually send somebody access to use your car Let's say Nancy wanted to drive your car. You just text her use, and you don't trust Nancy. I can do that one of mine.

You can tend her a message and she can unlock it? I can make a guest person. That's even better. See, Lexis is better than the proletariat Toyota. All right, we're caught up on text, right? YouTube's everything. Before we do the mystery shopping report, I just want to say shame on Green Acres Nissan.

They've been running this ad for weeks in the newspaper. And you see the colors, I just noticed that Hertz's colors. And they're talking about as if they had this full-page ad implying that they're selling Hertz cars. And it's not true. They don't sell Hertz cars. They don't have any Hertz cars. And they're trying to attract you with Hertz's bankruptcy.

The fact of the matter is, as I said earlier, the show that CarMax and Automation, this article here says they may, they did buy 150,000 cars. CarMax and Automation bought 150,000 cars from Hertz. And we were talking earlier about from a caller about should I buy a late model off lease or off rental car. But when you see car dealers out there saying that they are slashing the prices because they got a bunch of cars from Hertz or Avis or Budget or Enterprise, they're like. lying to you. Especially in Hertz's case because Hertz is bankrupt and they have to go through a bankruptcy judge and they cannot sell a car at a distress price. They're prohibited by law.

They have to sell cars, any product, anything that they sell when you're in bankruptcy. You have to sell with the approval of a bankruptcy judge and he wants to get all the money he can for the products because he has to pay that to the creditors, which is why they're bankruptcy so shame on Green Acres Nissan this is a misleading deceptive ad and just ignored entirely with that said it's time for the mystery shopping report and we mystery shop sunrise Ford how many of you in this area remember the commercial the Sunrise Ford they had a salesperson do you remember that's too he was kind of a chubby guy and he was very funny and he had a

He had like a, just a great comic presentation. How far back are you going? Oh, not far, six, seven years. Anyway, I've always appreciated, you know, if you try to be funny on the air, TV, and you fail, it's embarrassing, and it's a negative. So for an amateur, you know, for a local business, to actually have a funny ad, and he really did.

So I just, I forgot about that until we mystery shopped, Sunrise 4th, they're in Fort Pierce? They're in Fort Pierce, yeah. We've never shopped them before. Crazy, we should have. I have to be honest, the last several weeks of mystery shops, have depressed me, they really have, maybe it's everything that's going on, we're living in very distressing times. Week after week, we keep uncovering some of the worst cardiovascular behavior and tactics,

certainly some of the most egregious stuff we've ever seen. It's getting me down, truly. This is why we split at Sunrise Ford. Sunrise Ford is an old family-owned car dealership in Fort Pierce. It was founded in 1932 when Fort Pierce was literally farmland. I mean, 1932. I went on my 20-mile hike when I was a Boy Scout from downtown of West Palm Beach to Turkey Creek in Jupiter. And when I passed, I guess, Riviera, I was basically in the woods.

woods. So that's a long time ago. Sunrise Ford has my family beat. My father started Stuart Pontiac in West Palm Beach in 1937. Sunrise Ford 1932, very cool. We were thinking that an established family-owned dealership with deep roots in the community and a sterling reputation would make for a happy mystery shopping report. That's all we want. We need it. I want something happy. We need happiness. If Sunrise Ford did well, it would break the months-long one of sorted reports. Their website was located with reasonable offers, primarily national Ford credit annual percentage rate programs.

We were impressed that qualifying information was printed very conspicuously. For example, the 0% for 84 months offer is available only on 2019 Ford F-150 pickups. Most dealers would bury that. Instead, they say available on 2019 F-150. the other deals put the fine print. This is what Southern Rice Ford did, and you can see the ad there. It's totally clear. I remember we saw the Nissan.

It's a 0% for 84 months. Then you find that it was mainly on the pathfinder. So they wouldn't, I mean, they just, it's amazing. When I saw this, I was really impressed. They posted prices on their new vehicle listings. Prices were labeled final price. Each listing clearly itemized discounts and rebates. They did not provide out-the-door prices, and their $489 dealer fee was hidden at the very bottom of the web page in the fine print.

Now, let me say this. Everybody hides it. Most dealers don't even put the amount in the fine print. They just say plus dealer fee. And $489 is got to be the world's lowest dealer fee. I think there's one other, car max, I think. Yeah, it's lower than the one we had 20 years ago. Yeah, we had $4.95.

Right. They beat us by $6. Yeah. So a very low dealer fee, only one dealer fee, and they hit it, you know. I'm not going to be critical. I mean, everything else is so good as it gets. Yeah, yeah, right. We didn't find anything crazy, no funny stuff.

We called on Agent Thunder to investigate in person. His instructions were to visit Sunrise Ford and try to buy the manager special, a new 2020 Ford Edge SEL with an MSRP of $37-180. There was a $5,434 in discounts, which included a dealer discount of $2184 and $3,250 in Ford rebates. The final price was $31,746. And this is the manager special, and I'll hold that up too. I mean, a clean ad, an honest ad, and you just don't see this.

I mean, my advice, and I say this on the show, totally ignore any car dealer advertisement without exception. In this case here, maybe not really without exception. There will be very, very few exceptions. Agent Thunder, he assumed what we call the Larry Laydown persona. This is a vulnerable. He's just walking in there and say, take advantage of me. I'm yours.

Have your way with me kind of an approach. He would pretend to be an uneducated consumer and follow the Sunrise Ford sales process and let it unflow unimpeded. Here's a report. I'm pretending like I'm agent thunder. The shore room was small and quiet inside. I entered, approached the receptionist who was wearing a face mask. Hingo.

Hallelujah. she welcomed me to Sunrise Ford asked me how she could help I said I needed a salesperson and she asked me for a minute she asked me for a minute and then made an announcement on a loudspeaker

salesperson needed Lloyd came to greet me wearing a mask smiling with his eyes and if you notice that you can really tell it's amazing how you can tell someone smiling or mad

and they have emoticons Yeah, so, you know, it's not, we learn to adapt and anything. It's just, who knows? Maybe we'll always wear masks. I like them. Yeah, ugly people like men. Exactly. I guess I have that.

You can't see the spinach in my teeth. Or ugly people are protected class. I better be careful. No, they're not. Okay. You know, I shaved my beard off three weeks ago. You never even noticed it. He asked what, Larry asked me,

Lloyd asked me, I'm Larry, he's Lloyd, I'm Larry Laydown, he's Lloyd. He asked me what brought me in. I told him the 2028 SEL I saw online. I said I hated buying cars and came to minimize Ford because of its reputation and that it's been family owned for so long. Lloyd acknowledged a compliment, assured me a lot of people don't like car shopping. It wasn't just me.

He suggested we pull the edge up on his computer to have a look and then led me to his desk. I showed Lloyd the manager's special ad on my phone, he started tapping away on the keyboard. He made small talk as he worked. He told me, forgive me, I'm just going to digress here terribly. Typing on the keyboard made me think

when I call Comcast and they have a digital voice saying and I have something to do, they ask me a question and then they have the sound of the typing on the keyboard. Sometimes they make a little musical. And it makes me feel good. It makes me feel like someone's doing something,

but it's a bot. It's a robot. It's a special effect. I told you it was a crazy. I apologize to everybody from that digression. That's okay. Anyway, I showed Lloyd the manager special ad on my phone. You started tapping away on the keyboard.

He made small talk as he worked. He told me he had worked for Sunrise Ford for 28 years. Okay, there was another solid. You tell me the next time, You talk to a salesperson to the car dealership that's been there longer than six months. I mean, the turnover at car dealerships is unbelievable. When you find a car salesman that's worked for the same dealership or a sales lady for 28 years, there's something good about that car dealership.

He said he planned never to retire because he enjoys what he does so much, and he loves his dealership, probably has a huge customer following too. Lloyd reported the car was in stock, excused himself to go find it, And a few minutes, he was back to leave me outside. We found the edge, Fort Edge. It was the exact same one that was in the ad. That's nice. That's refreshing. There was no addendum.

Okay. I'm feeling happy. Now, they had a little bitty dealer fee, but no addendum. You have to look real hard to try to find car dealers that don't have the phony Monroney markups 1,000% on stuff that cost them a 10th. of what they're trying to charge you for. Dealer installed accessories. He had no addendum.

Lloyd made through about three minutes of his presentation before we both agreed it was too hot to stay outside. So we got the car, started a test drive with the AC on Max. I sadly noted the odominer read a little over 2,000 miles. Didn't say anything to Lloyd about it. I just noticed it. Lloyd was informally pleasantly energetic. He demonstrated the navigation system.

and connected his phone to Bluetooth to show me how the infatainment system worked. Very nice. We returned to the dealership and walked back to the desk. He asked me how I wanted to pay for it. Now if you just tuned in, we're mystery shopping, we're at Sunrise Ford and Fort Pierce. Sunrise Ford and Fort Pierce.

Lloyd said the Ford has some great financing deals, but cash is fine. He asked if I needed a new tech, I said, I did, and he left to get the numbers. What's the difference between a new tag and a transfer tag approximately round numbers? I know it varies. A couple hundred dollars, maybe three hundred bucks.

Yeah. Ten minutes later, Lloyd returned with a worksheet, he took a $4,184 dollar discount off of 37-180 MSRP. He added sales tax, $608, and license and fees of 489 documentary fee, and he also threw in a $1,500 rebate. rebate. Out the door, I was at 34, 657. Out the door. That's what I could write a check for

and drive the car home. 34,000, 657. I asked Lloyd if he was willing to negotiate a better deal. He said, not so. The all night price was firm. He asked if I had a time frame to purchase in mine, and I said within a few days. He didn't seem bothered by this, handed me his business card. He told me to call him whenever I was ready. Now, again, unheard of. He didn't go to get the manager. He didn't ask if he was going to buy today at the beginning either. Exactly, exactly. And he didn't say, this price might not be good tomorrow.

I mean, this is so refreshing. Lloyd handed me the worksheet. I stood up, thanked him, and left. The price that Lloyd gave Agent Thunder, you better sit down for this one. I did that for John from Pop City. And you better hang on to your hats. I did that for myself.

This one. The price that Agent Thunder gave our shopper was actually $300 better than the online manager special. Interesting. And a very good price for the new 2020 Ford Edge as a cell. Agent Thunder did not raise the use of the 2,000 miles with Lloyd. The vehicle was identified as new on the worksheet, but we suspected it was a demo or possibly a new vehicle that was previously sold.

If any of these were the case, it would have to disclose it. 2,000 miles on odometer practically speaking is not a big deal the warranty is extended by that amount you should see to it when you and that's likely why it was the manager special it just it could have been a car that they demonstrated a lot and maybe it was dealer traded so there's lots of reasons it doesn't mean anything nefarious exactly so there you have it and i'm if you see tears in my eyes it's because i'm emotional about this uh this is by far the best i don't want to poison the well here i just hit the floor I don't want to sweeten the well.

It's a shame, by the way, that they get to use the name Sunrise Ford because you are Mr. and Mrs. Sunrise. Exactly, yeah. You know, I thought it was all very symbolic and very meaningful that we shopped this deal with, and they did well. I used to get angry at Sunnrise Ford because when I was filling out, you would understand this Facebook person, when I'm filling out the location and things like that,

and they would say you're watching or looking for, I like to say Sunrise, so I'd put in Sunrise, and Sunrise Ford will pop up. So sometimes I'd actually push the button, and say, Earl and Nancy and Jupiter and that colony looking for sunrise forward. And so, anyway, I digress again. We've got to get some grades on this. We need to, we need to.

What do we have, Stu? Wow, okay, so this is just shocking. I want to hear from Linda. That's what's what's getting to here. This is like you giving a good grade. Linda gives them a wonderful A. And I'm going to, well, I'm going to do a B plus just because you got to, They've got to feel a little sting just for even having a dealer fee.

But, yeah, a B-plus. This is a great grade, and I want to give them a round of applause to Lloyd and Sunrise Ford. If you're looking for it, Ford, drive up to Fort Pierce. Get out of Palm Beach County. I'm telling you, I wouldn't deal with Mullinix. I wouldn't deal with Wayne Acres. I wouldn't deal with Wallace. I'm telling you, you're never, you still want to shop and compare,

but you're never going to get treated nicer than you do at Sunnard's Ford. What do you say, Rick? Mark Anderson, Mark from St. Louis, says, holy cow, my first, A. Nate Ward, B, good overall, but the odometer issue worries me. Frank says, wow, what a shock to hear of Pleasant Exchange, A. Well, I've got Donovan with an A, Mark Ryan with an A, and Boris Vallivan, A. Yeah, I am so happy. And I'm agreeing with an A.

I'm impressed. Yeah, how nice? Stu, do you have any other ratings? No, I have a congratulations. Come on, guys. Send me some grades. Oh, wait, we have an A here. This is from Bob gives them an A. And Anne-Marie says,

Glad to hear they wear masks and they didn't play the usual games. How refreshing, I give them an A. And also, let's give Lloyd an A because here's Lloyd, the salesperson. I hate to say this, and we probably should go back to Southern Rice Ford, because we do that on bad reports and we do it on good reports.

But if you go back to Sunnrise Ford, you want to be sure 100% ask for Lloyd. Yeah, this is a commercial for Lloyd at Sunrise Ford. Lloyd at Sunrise Ford. He's the man to see. And Lloyd, if they ever treat you bad, I'll hire you. I need people like that. Yeah, we got guys at our dealership 28 years plus too, so you'll love it. But we're not trying to steal you.

go up to Fort Pierce on. He knows Ford like the back of his hand. He probably loves Ford, and he's totally honest, no high pressure, none of the funny business. So I'm going to give him an A-plus. This is, remember, we great on the curve, and this is, we had a Wallace Easy Pay. Yeah.

It did really, really good. And it was a salesman, too. You know, when you get the right salesman at the right dealership, you got it all. Yeah, it's easy pay. He put the brakes on that sales since they really had a Dakota airbag in it. So I'll tie them with Wallace EasyPay. So I'm the mean guy now.

I'm the guy with the crappy B-plus. All right, I feel peer pressure. I'm raising my grade to get in that. So anyway, Anna, I even want to talk to the owner. We've got some information there. I'm going to personally call him her. Great idea. I'm a piece like, of course it would be a woman, right?

Of course. A woman dealer that knows how to treat their customer. I'm going to call her. I'll let Nancy call her. Now, woman to woman, and Nancy will tell her how amazing her dealership is, and we're going to try to steer as much business as we can. If you want to buy a Ford, Sunrise Ford, ask for Lloyd, and you'll get a good deal.

And the advertisement will actually be what the car sells for. Exactly. In this case, $300 less. The owner is Mary Jo Tierney, and she runs a Class Act dealership. Yeah, I just told her last name. T-I-E-R-N-E-Y, Mary-Joe, Tierney. Mary Jo, Tony. Mary Jo, okay, Mary Jo, I'm giving Lloyd an A-plus. You talk about no pressure, and I'm also giving the dealership A-plus because of the mask.

How refreshing was this one? Frank, you hit the nail on the head. Frank just texted, gives him an A. So it's very refreshing. And I've got Wayne with a B-plus, Minne Geisler with an A, and Rick Pettinger with an A. it's cross the board everybody loves it I feel happy now you know

you're doing the happy dance we do the mystery shopping report at the end of the show and it kind of tends to I have fun throughout the whole show and usually have the mystery shopping report I get depressed so now I'm

dancing on clouds just set the tone for your Saturday you're doing the dancing you're doing the happy dance happy dance yeah okay folks Jonathan how much time do we have left Oh, boy, two hands.

There's a lot of time. Okay, let's go over to the designated talker. The recovering hard dealer. I do have something I wanted to cover here that I carry this around with me in the briefcase every time I come in because I always want to talk about it, but we usually never have time to talk about it. And there's something called the Federal Trade Commission that has some rules.

And these rules, we talk about dealer fees being abused, and we get on Ashley Moody. You know, the dealer fee must be hidden fees that have got to be included in the advertised price. When you advertise, and this is from the Federal Trade Commission, these are the feds, these are the guys that can do anything they want to. And the federal law requires that the law requires clear and conspicuous disclosures. Now think about that, clear and conspicuous disclosures. Now, that's what Sunrise Ford did. They had 0% for 84 months, and clearly and conspicuously, they said, this is for 2019 Ford's, not for 2040 fords. And it was clearly inconspicuously.

Now, no other car dealer that we can think of off the top of our head right now does that. and so that's the federal law it has to do even with radio and you can listen to this radio station or any radio station and you see a car you listen to a car ad and you hear somebody go

blubblblah blibblah blibbblibbblibbblibb oh I hate it and they do it on television and the fine print they do it audio on radio it is not clear and conspicuous basically they say they were saying fine print

is illegal if it modifies the price or payment that you're advertising. If you're saying to somebody you can buy this product for $1,000 and you have a $100 fee or anything else, you have to say $1,000 and then you have to say, plus $100 because this is for my retirement funder, whatever you're going to make up. You can charge them anything you want to over the $1,000 as long as it's clearly

and conspicuously advertised. So, you know, we're having a hard enough time getting hold of Ashley Moody for me to get hold of the Federal Trade Commission. Forget about it. Ain't going to happen.com. Is that Pete Navarro? I just wish we had some

lawyers out there or we had some federal agents out there that would help. Yeah, I don't know what... Absent enforcement, every fine print should just read, not really. Yeah. You might as well go an asterisk, not really.

Yeah, and I see... Not really. I can see car dealers and other retailers doing it, but I don't understand why prestigious companies like Toyota, Honda, how about Apple? Does Apple do that... What?

Do they have clearing and speculative disclosures prices when they advertise their iPhone? But Jonathan's nodding his ad. They probably do, yeah. Yeah, I don't think there's, but I can't think of anything other than if they, I mean, the most fine print I've seen in Apple is like when they offer like the zero interest on the Apple card and things like that. But it's pretty straightforward with that.

Yeah, here, this ad I held up earlier, this is the Green Acres Nissan ad. It's a rip-off ad implying they'll sell you Hertz cars and huge discounts. Here's their disclosure at the bottom of the, on the ad. everything. You could never read this, and you would never find it. It's down at the bottom. Conspicuous, by the way, means it has to be proximity to the payment. Show them an example of conspicuous. Where's magnifying glass. Sunrise Ford, available in 2019 Ford's.

Yeah. That's usually a hidden bit of information. Yeah. Let me see here. Oh, yeah, right here. There's the definition of conspicuous. We were conspicuous right there. so again

maybe we are making a dance I wonder if sunrise we never shopped them before I wonder if they were always as honest boy it's a great day I'm not going to embarrass that we haven't I mean it's a family store they've been around for a long time they probably have I think it's probably more damaging

to ignore a dangerous store than a good one well we can't take credit for it I like to think that we're helping to clear up dodge I'm happy I'm excited Jonathan, I have to ask you, how would you rate Sunrise Fort? This is, we've made history. He's saying with an A. No shenanigans.

Jonathan gives them an A. Everybody, happy, happy. Well, we're running out of things to talk about. We don't have any texts. We don't have any YouTubes. We've got three minutes to go. I guess it's time for another commercial. That's what you do to fill in.

So, Confessions of Recovering Car Dealer, a handbook that can tell you or your loved ones or anybody you know that's looking to buy or leaves a car, how not to get ripped off by a car dealer. And you can buy it on Amazon, just go to Amazon and type in Confessions of Recovering Car Dealer. And it's going to cost you about, what are they cost now, about $19. $19. About $19. And all that money goes to, after Amazon takes their cut. But all the money we get from the sale.

We don't keep a penny. We don't keep a penny. 100% of proceeds go to Big Dog Ranch Rescue. By the way, please order a book. I mean, they come in bursts. Like with spurts, we'll get some ordering. It's been about two weeks since we've got an Amazon order. So let's get it going.

And the picture on the back, by the way, is particularly flattering. Yeah, it's a handsome man right there. And Stu wrote the foreword, by the way. And for the book, he was very, very, very complimentary of his old man. And I appreciate that very much. And we got some good pictures in there, too. Yeah, great pictures. I only proof read that about 7,000 times.

Historical pictures. Yeah. We have some old pictures here of, I got one in here where I'm really, oh, here's one of me. They're playing the theme music now. Yeah, theme music. They're going to drag you off the stage. Okay, bye, bye, everybody. Hey, everyone, thanks for tuning in to Errol on Cars.

We'll see you right back here next week. Have a wonderful weekend. Stay safe. Thank you.