Earl Stewart on Cars - 07.26.2025 - Your Calls, Texts, and Mystery Shop of Genesis Stuart of Stuart, FL.

Episode Date: July 26, 2025

Earl and his team answer various caller questions and responds to incoming text messages. Earl’s female mystery shopper, Agent Lightning visits a local Genesis dealer to see what they will charge for a new 2025 Genesis GV-70 SUV on their showroom floor. Earl Stewart is the owner of Earl Stewart Toyota in North Palm Beach, Florida, one of the largest Toyota dealerships in the southeastern U.S. He is also a consumer advocate who shares his knowledge spanning 50+ years about the car industry through a weekly newspaper column and radio show. Each week Earl provides his audience with valuable tips that prevent them from "getting ripped off by a car dealer". Earl has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, U.S. News and World Report, Business Week, and other major publications. He has also made numerous appearances on CNN, Fox News, CBS, and other news networks. He is frequently called upon by local and national media to comment on major trends and newsworthy events occurring in today’s rapidly changing auto industry. You can learn more by going to Earl's videos on www.youtube.com/earloncars, subscribing to his Facebook page at www.facebook.com/earloncars, and reading his blog posts at www.earloncars.com. To purchase Earl’s book, “Confessions of a Recovering Car Dealer”, go to www.earlsbook.com. This will forward to Earl’s Amazon page to complete your purchase. All proceeds from the book go to Big Dog Ranch Rescue. For more information or to adopt the dog you have seen today or any of their other dogs, please visit their website at www.bdrr.org. “Disclosure: Earl Stewart is a Toyota dealer and directly and indirectly competes with the subjects of the Mystery Shopping Reports. He honestly and accurately reports the experiences of the shoppers and does not influence their findings. As a matter of fact, based on the results of the many Mystery Shopping Reports he has conducted, there are more dealers on the Recommended Dealer List than on the Not Recommended List he maintains on www.GoodDealerBadDealerList.com”

Hello, I'm Earl Stewart. I welcome you to Earl Stewart on Cars, a live talk show all about how to buy, lease, maintain, or repair your car without being ripped off by a car dealer. With me in the studio is Nancy Stewart, my wife, co-host, and a strong consumer advocate, especially for our female listeners. We also have Rick Kearney, an expert on how to keep your car running right. I dare you to ask a question that Rick can't answer about the mechanics or electronics of your car. Also with us is my son, Stu Stewart, our link to cyberspace through Facebook, YouTube, text messaging, and our encrypted anonymous feedback service. Stu is also the Spymaster Director of our mystery shopping report. He dispatches our secret shopper weekly to an unsuspecting car dealership. And now, on with the show.

Good morning, everybody. We're back in the studio. We're one short. Stu Stewart, my son, is out of town. He's visiting our three grandchildren, Nancy's and my three grandchildren at college. And he's going to be taking a little vacation time. So hopefully he's doing is listening, but the rest of the team is here. Rick Kearney, our certified diagnostic master technician, Nancy, of course, and Jonathan.

And we're wearing to go. It's beautiful, but hot in South Florida. okay where you are probably hot kind of a good thing about online car shopping is you can do it in the air conditioning so I hope that's another motivation for you to stay away from that car dealership there's no sense in and going out in the hot 105 degrees 90 degree and fighting with a salesperson I realize when you get in the dealership but you're going to be outside and look into the lot and driving the car or you should you can do all right you can do all the this online and if you listen to this show or if you haven't listened to the

show you can if you go online we're at earloncars.com www.w.w.orghumcars.com and we have podcast immediately available to you of thousands of shows I guess I mean we've been doing this a long time and in YouTube videos you can stream us on YouTube.com forward slash Earl cars that's youtube.com forward slash hurl on cars i don't know how many videos we have but they're just they're educational and they don't the show is two hours i mean we're on from 8 a.m. now eastern standard time to 10 a.m. eastern standard time that's a long time i i wouldn't expect you as busy you are but plus the weekend you don't want to be sitting in the car sitting home and

listen to the radio or streaming for that matter i mean you got things to do places to go and people to see right and go to the podcast and if you got a subject like my tires look a little low or I hear a certain noise in the rear end or I'm getting ready to buy a new car I'm getting ready to buy a used car if you go online to earluncars.com the answer is there as a matter of fact we've got a book I wrote a book called Confessions of a Recovering Car Dealer that's available on Amazon.com

I recommend that and that's not a selfish recommendation because 100% of the proceeds of the sale on Amazon Confessions of a recovering car dealer are to go to charity. The charity happens to be

Big Dog Grads Rescue, the largest no-kill shelter for homeless dogs in the country. And we've We've given them a lot of money, thanks to your buying that book, Confessions of a Recovery Car Dealer. Chapter by chapter, it pretty well covers what we talk about on the show. And, as a matter of fact, recently, Jonathan just informed me that he had Chatsy BT.

I call him Coach. He's sitting here on a laptop right next to me, and Coach read my book. My son, Stu sent him a file of my book. He digested, read it in about one second. I wish I could read books that fast. So, a lot of knowledge here in the studio, especially with Rick, and I hope I don't embarrass him, but he's really the star of the show.

We get caught up in all the EVs and autonomous and we talk about things that are fun to talk about. And we talk about classic cars and auctions and chat GBT till it drives people crazy. But most of the people out there in the real world, they just want to get their car fixed and they want to be sure it's a good car to buy mechanically and electronically today, I have to add that.

So we know that a nuts and bolt feature of the show is certified diagnostic, master technician, Rick Kearney. He's worked for me in my dealership over a quarter of a century. And he's just the best guy I've ever met in terms of knowledge about cars. And I'm not talking about old cars like I think of a car. I'm talking about today's cars. He's on top of the autonomous, the electric vehicle.

He's on top of all these software. Every time I turn around, and I drive a test. which is a strange confession and my wife Nancy sitting across with me. She also drives a Tesla. Okay, I'm confessing. We have a Toyota dealership, but we drive Teslas. Well, Toyota's a great car, but we love the Tesla because of its innovation. And we feel like we're on the cutting edge of what the future will be like.

We're both older and we've got grandchildren and great-grandchildren. And when we drive that Tesla, each of us, we see the future for our children, our grandchildren, and our great-grandchildren. And that's fun, okay? We've reached the age where we can have some fun. And I take a lot of teasing because we have a Toyota dealership in North Bond Beach, Florida, and some people say, oh, well, this is going to be an infomercial. You're going to try to sell me a Toyota. I'm going to try not to sell you a Toyota because I don't want to be called. You know, I want to be straight up.

I want to be a consumer advocate. On this show, I don't want to be a car dealer. But the good thing about the fact that I am a car dealer, and I have been for 50 years or more, I know both sides of the street. I used to be on the dealer's side of the street. Now I'm on your side of the street. So I've been there and done that.

There's not a dirty trick that any dealer ever did on a mystery shopping report or to you when you bought a car that I didn't do before they did. I mean, you take me back to the 70s and 80s, I was a wild man. And I, boy, I bait and switch advertising, you name it, I did it. Junk fees, I haven't been to the junk fee. I don't mean that literally, but I remember the,

I started when junk fees were only $6.50 a car. Today, they're about $1,000 a car. So apply the multiplier, and you'll see how long I've been doing, doing this. So we study the both sides of the equation and you call up and ask questions and we try to answer them. That's what it's all about. It's like the hokey pokey. All right, telephone number. I've already violated an important rule. I didn't give the telephone number out quickly enough. So please write this down. You're probably driving a car now. I think 65% of people listening to the radio driving car. Now that doesn't apply to YouTube or Facebook, I hope.

I hope, you're going to get arrested. You can't be watching Facebook and driving your car, but a lot of people listening. And that number is 877-960-99-60. 877-9-60-9-60. Write it down. We're going to be here until 10 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. And if you think of something later on, you can text this,

the text number. is 772-497-6-5-30, 772-497-6-5-30, and we'll accumulate those texts, and a lot of people prefer that because they're in a hurry and you just shoot the text out and we'll answer it sometime during the two hours. If you miss it, just go to the podcast at Erloncars.com. and you can listen to yourself or the answer to your question. We've got a, I know I'm overwhelming you with numbers now. That's what I do.

We have a secret number, kind of like a CIA kind of undercover anonymous, you know. And that is, the number is actually a URL. It's a website. And if you go to this website, which is your anonymous feedback, dot com. Y-O-U-R-A-N-O-N-Y-M-O-U-S feedback. F-E-E-D-P-A-C-K dot com. Your Anonymous Feedback.com.

You can send us a message. You can call us a name. You can threaten our lives. You can do anything you want to. You can be nice, nasty, or in-between, funny. I even, now I have salespeople calling trying to sell me insurance on my anonymous feedback. That's when I wish I were the anonymous person, but no, they're calling and trying to sell me things. But that's okay.

I expect that. I want to get the good, the bad, and the ugly. So whatever you have to say, no matter what it is, we cannot determine who you are. Privacy. Key word of the 21st century. We all want more privacy, and I think we all have less privacy. Maybe that's why we want more privacy. So here's privacy in a nutshell.

Your Anonymous Feedback.com. Communicate. Let us know where you are, what you're doing, and not who you are, but just tell us what your problem is. And we'll answer that on the air, along with the text. I'm going to introduce my wife, Nancy Stewart. Most of your regular listeners know her better than me.

She's been with me on this show for 20 years. We've been married or together. We lived in sin for about 10 years. Then we got married. So it's about 40 years we've been together. And on this show, we've been together for over 20 years. So she is the female advocate. I'm the consumer advocate, and she's the consumer advocate for the females.

Because we started this show 20 years ago, and just a bunch of old guys calling in and describing their carburetors. And now we have a lot of ladies out there, a lot of female callers. And Nancy Stewart has a very special offer If you haven't called the show before Because we're going to build, build, build More and more females We'd like to have to call this show

She has a very special offer It sounds too good to be true It is not too good to be true You have my word on it And Nancy will describe that to you now And I'm turning the microphone over to my sweetie pie Thank you. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen And welcome

You can take advantage of the text number at 772-4976530, and the 877960 is also an option, and Darrell mentioned earlier, Your Anonymous Feedback.com. Ladies, I'm going to offer you $50 this morning, and that's for the two first female callers. you can win yourself $50 and we'd love for you to give us a call and share your thoughts with us or just call and say hello and you know with rising prices from you know everything from you know purchasing a vehicle to buying a box of tissue it's best to pay attention and do your homework and what I mean is to determine what size car you need what type of car you need fuel efficiency, and some other features, it's very important.

You take advantage of your computer, go to the library, go to Consumer Report, and just first of all check out what you need and most of all what you can afford. And you can go to so many different sites. You can go to Edmonds, you can go to Kelly Blue Book. There's several options. So take advantage of that and don't get to take advantage of when you go into the dealership. And basically, you don't need to go into the dealership. You can simply, you know, do all of that research homework from your PC and you can save yourself a whole lot of stress.

That number again is 877-9-60-99-60, and we do have a mystery shoppern report coming up from Genesis of Stewart. And we'll do that just about 9.30. So you have plenty of time right now to give us a call. And Nikki, if you're listening, Sarah, Barbara, there's just a very long list. I don't have time to go into completely. But give us a call again and share your thoughts with us this morning. Back to the recovering car dealer. Oh, excuse me.

We're going to go to Chris in Alabama. Good morning, Chris. and welcome to Earl on Cars Hello there you are hey yeah I've got a I've got a Toyota pickup a Tacoma 2018

and the question I have is they put a film on that hood back in the day it was like a I don't know it's just a clear film and that thing gets so nasty you can't clean it Is there a way to take that off?

There is, but I would highly recommend look into a professional detailer to have it done. Basically, it's like trying to remove a wrap. You've seen these cars now they put the vinyl wrap on them. And over time, as of course, Florida Sun is abusive on paint and wraps and everything. And over time, as that starts to break down, it'll get microcrack. in it so it starts pulling apart and a professional detail that will have the right heat guns and the knowledge of how to do it without damaging the paint underneath to be able to remove all that old plastic and then properly clean up the old paint underneath so that it will

look good. Why did Toyota go with that back then in 2019? For some reason they were they tried that that plastic coating on it. The idea was to help prevent rock chips. like, you know, when you're driving along the car ahead of you, kicks up a little rock and it hits the front of your car and chips into the paint. Then, of course, you've got issues with rust or other items like that giving you problems. But, yeah, now there are ways that you can have that, remove that yourself. You know, if you want to try using a heat gun or a hairdryer and plastic razor blades, they actually make plastic scrapers that are specially designed to help remove that

without scraping into the paint and in using something like Googon or 3M adhesive remover and, you know, microfiber towels and I would highly, highly recommend spend some time on YouTube watching videos on how to remove that plastic film.

Yeah, I'm not a do-it-yourselfer, but if you are, that can be done. I usually, when I try to do this up with myself, I end up creating a bigger problem it costing me more money to have a professional do it. But as Rick says, if you're handy, you can go online and get some pretty clear instructions on how to take that off.

Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Chris. Thank you, Chris. Please call again. 877-960, or you can text us at 772-49-30. Ladies and gentlemen, when you're purchasing a vehicle, do you take into consideration not only the price of that vehicle, but what it costs to keep it on the road? It's something to look into. Give us a call tool for you with your thoughts and also your thoughts about chatGBT and the direction that the show is going in. We're having a whole lot of fun here and we'd love to hear from you.

$50.50 for the first new female callers. If you haven't called the show before and you're female, then you give us a call and Nancy will be writing a checkout for you this afternoon, personally, and she puts it in a real envelope and a real letter mails it, and you get it. It sounds like too good to be true, but if you haven't called the show before, now, why don't I do that for the first two callers each week? So we haven't had any new female callers. And if you are someone that could use 50 bucks, hey, give us a call. 877-9-90-99-60-9-60-8-7-7-9-60-9-6-0. We're going to go back to the phones. We're going to go to Diana, and Diana is calling us from West Palm Beach, a first-time caller. Good morning, Diana. Good morning.

Welcome. I have a... Thank you. It's a pleasure to listen to your show. Thank you very much, Diana. If you stay on the line when we're finished talking, you can talk to Jeremy in this control room. He'll get your information.

Pass it along to me, and I'll write you out that check. Okay. I do have a question. Absolutely. We love questions. What can we do for you this morning? Well, I have a 2000 Nissan Ultima, and the electronic seat that goes back and forth, the component there, is out again.

I had replaced one before a few years back. That was a used part. Now I'm told I have to replace the whole seat, and it's like over $1,200 to replace the whole seat in order to get that mechanism. And I'm thinking, should I keep my car, it's got less than 100,000 miles on it, or should I go out and buy a car, and is it going to get harder to find parts as the car aging? Well, you're headed in the right direction, Diana, and looking at how much it'll cost to keep the car on the road and to maintain it and, you know, comparing it with, you know, purchasing a vehicle.

But I think Rick has some tips for you. Yeah, I would look into the idea. Find a local mechanic that is willing to give you an estimate for getting a recycled seat, a new seat, well, used seat, from a salvage yard and they can then make sure that it's functional and actually transfer the seat covers

from your seat onto this new one so it would match and then you might be able to get away with that for a whole lot cheaper than the $1,200 option. Some power seats there are certain portions on them that if they start to go bad you have to replace the entire

unit. It's the only way they sell it is you have to get the whole seat. assembly and $1,200, yeah, it's pricey, but that is pretty much about right for what that would cost. I just got to check that out with Chad GBT, Diana, and not actually Amazon. What model, Nissan is that? It's Nissan Ultima 2013. It's a F.

Yeah, I don't see that model here that I'm looking, but the range of seats, these are used seats. The cost of use seats for various Nissan's range on the low side from $75 to $200 up to only $150 to $400 on the Titan. The highest seat cost I see here is $300 for an Xtera SUV, $2,000. You can find those on Amazon, and, of course, that's the installation you have to add for that. And as Rick says, you get a quotation from somebody, and now you know the cost of the seat, and all you have to do is find out what he'll charge you to put it in.

Okay. Thank you for your help. You're very well. Thank you, Diana. Okay. We're going to go to Sharon, who's calling us from Boca. She, too, is a first-time caller. Welcome, Sharon.

Hi, how are you? Great, thank you. Thank you for calling. You won yourself $50 today as the second female caller, new female caller. If you stay on the line, Jeremy will get your information, he'll pass it alone to me, and I'll send you out a check for $50. What can we do for you this morning, Sharon? Hi, can you hear me? Yep. Yes. Okay, wonderful. So I have a 2019 Honda Civic that I actually bought for my son a couple years ago, and it only has about 30,000

miles on it and I don't know much about cars but um and I just drive it around town and um you know but it is kind of an older car even though it doesn't have too many miles on it but I just you know go ahead and get the oil changes and uh take care of the maintenance is there anything that I should be doing to maintain this car and you know help it its life be as long as possible um I would highly recommend about once every two weeks take the car out for a nice drive just an exercise drive um really just something to give it a chance to you know make sure everything is lubricated you know by getting the oil up to temperature it'll help to clean the inside of the engine uh just just a good long drive say 30 40 miles um at highway speeds and it'll make a big difference in the lifespan of that car

Honda Civic with 30,000 miles is a fantastic vehicle. Those, that car will probably outlive you. I mean, it just, they, Honda makes a great product. I've got to be completely honest here. And the Civic is one of their better quality-wise vehicles. They just do great things. And you want to be sure to do your factory recommended services and maintenance. Yes, definitely.

Also, keep up on the paint as well as you can. You'll have it waxed relatively often. I would recommend at least twice a year I have a good wax job done on it. And if you can keep it in a garage or under a carport to keep it out from under the sun, that would be the best thing you can do for it. Oh, yeah. Unfortunately, I live in an apartment complex, so I can do that. But that's a good tip.

Wax it twice a year. That's great. And, you know, the other thing is my family, you know, they've bought a lot of Teslas. They keep telling me, well, you know, the Hans, even though it has some safety features, really you should get a Tesla. It has a lot of self-driving. It can help you quite a bit. What do you guys think about that? Like the Tesla, let's say, the self-driving features compared to the car I have.

Do you feel like that's really beneficial? I'm going to leave that one to Earl and Nancy because they both. drive Teslas and I've only been behind the wheel of one a couple times just for short distance and I'm impressed by them but I'm not a very big expert on them. Earl knows a lot more on those. You've got yourself a better car than the Tesla from a reliability and maintenance standpoint. The Teslas are fun to drive. They're interesting and high tech but when something goes you've got an expensive problem and the service departments are difficult to deal with so if you if you're looking to be a practical person stick with your Honda oh okay but what do you

think about the safety features of it of the Tesla very safe they're very safe cars yeah absolutely yeah Tesla's a great investment and it's a different way of driving it just depends on And, you know, how many changes, you know, you're interested in making when driving the Tesla because everyone else is driving just a little bit different than you are in that vehicle. But as Earl and Rick said, you know, Honda and myself, Honda is a great vehicle, and it sounds like you're going to have it for quite a long time. It's really important also to rotate those tires at 5,000 to 7,500. miles. And it sounds like as if that you're doing a good job of taking care of that vehicle

and you're going to have it a long time. And I'm not sure. I think you said that you had 30,000 miles on the vehicle. Boy, you got a long, long way to go. And if you're not making any car payments right now, it is definitely the way to go, keeping the vehicle. Well, I've heard that The Hondas might last, Honda Civic, 100, 200,000 miles? Is that true? Well over 200,000 miles. Oh, wow. Okay.

I just have one last question. You guess is so fantastic. A lot of times for, you know, when I go into the dealer for maintenance, they always say, oh, you know, you should change your air filter. What do you guys think about that? Are air filters really needing to be changed, you know, often or when, when recommended or do you really not need to buy a new air filter? Well, they're real important to maintain.

But, you know, according to, you know, your manual, I would take a look at that. Rick, what do you have to say? I'm going to go on a limb and say most manufacturers are probably going to follow the same pattern as Toyota and say that it should be replaced about once every 30,000 miles. But what it couldn't hurt to do is to take the air filter out, and just kind of bump it against your hand a few times to knock out any loose debris that's in there and inspect the air cleaner box

because believe it or not, one of the things that I have seen many times is squirrels and other rodents like that will store nuts, dog food, and anything else, and they love to go up into those air boxes because it's like a little tunnel to get in there and they will fill it. I've seen that happen so many times.

So it's something to keep an eye on. You know, check it about once every couple months maybe. And if the air cleaner's starting to look a little dirty to you, just tap it against your hand a few times to knock out most of the loose sand and dirt. Pop it right back in and keep on going. Dian, you've got to remember that Rick looks at tens of thousands of cars. And I think the chances that you'll find a squirrel and your air cleaner are slim. That's true.

But when you see two or three squirrels, of course, he's been fixing cars for 25 years. He's probably seeing a dozen squirrels. Well, you don't usually see the critter, just the evidence. It's just the damage that it has done. And also, Sharon, it's really best for you to follow the owner's manual and the maintenance schedule. Everything is right there. The recommendations, they outline, you know, everything in your, you can't go wrong by going to your owner's manual.

Okay, well, that sounds good. And I just have one last question, if we have time. If you have other callers, I understand. Go ahead. I can ask, okay. Now, I've noticed, and, you know, it's almost like 100 degrees sometimes when I get in my car right now because it's so hot. But I've noticed that when it gets super hot outside, sometimes it takes a longer time for, the car doesn't seem to cool that quickly. And I almost wonder sometimes the air conditioning working properly.

And I do remember a recent service visit They said, well, you know, we had to add a little free on But I thought that in a closed system, really you're not You really shouldn't need to unless there's some type of leak What do you guys think about that? Yeah, the AC is a closed system And unless it's got a leak and is leaking down to the point That you have a problem, then you need to find and repair the leak

It's never, ever, ever a good idea just to add freon to it or refrigerant I'll call it because Freon's actually a brand name but it's you should never have someone just add refrigerant to it because that system is designed to work on a certain amount of refrigerant and if you get too little or too much it becomes very inefficient one of the things that you should do is when you have your car wash your detailed make sure they take a spray hose and wash the condenser at the front of the engine because this is actually like a little radiator and if it gets a lot of dirt or debris built up in the little fins you don't get good airflow

through it and that's going to affect your cooling Rick what should she be looking at at the cost to check for a leak normally we run about one hour's labor so it's probably most shops you're going to be looking at around $200 and that is to basically they'll evacuate the entire system and recharge it with the exact amount. How much does it cost to fill it up with the Frion? You're going to be looking at probably another $200 for the Friand. So I got $200 to check for the Friand and $200 to fill it up. Well, it's that way we make sure that the exact proper amount of Frion is put in it

and they'll install a UV dye, an ultraviolet dye, then can help find leaks in the future. If I were Diane, I would just have it checked occasionally. How often have you had the too hot and you got worried about it and had it checked? How often have you had to have Freon added? Well, I just had it added once the last time, which was probably about three or four months ago. And then just in recent months a couple of times, you know, I've noticed that it just doesn't seem super cold. Well, keep that number in mind.

You can have it checked, as Rick recommends, for $200. and they might say everything's fine. If they say everything's not fine, they'll fall up and it still got the leak, or it still might leak again. So it's a money thing. If I had to change, if I had to have it checked and filled a couple times in a few months, then that would be a serious problem. And then you'll be looking at a, you know, a real repair there. You'd have to worry about.

And sharing, you know, this time of year, I've heard, you know, from, a lot of the ladies, you're concerned, and it just depends on where your car is parked. And you said, I believe yours is outside because you're in a condo. So, you know, when you're dealing with temperatures that are, you know, anywhere from 100 to 112 with a, you know, heat index, you know, it's going to take a little longer. But here's a little, well, a mention about Tesla that you were in the back of your mind considering one of the many features that I love about my Tesla is that I can put it on doggy mode and what a great feature that is because I've been a long time since I've gotten into my vehicle

and it's just so hot I couldn't stand it so that's another plus but initially you do have to make an investment and in the long run the way I look at it it is definitely well worth it But until then, it sounds like you're taking great care of your Honda. Okay. Well, thank you guys so much. It's been so informative. I appreciate it. Sharon, spread the word that we're trying to spread the word here.

And with your help, we'll be successful that the ladies do have a place here at Erlon Car's. And I want to thank you. And the ladies that are listening want to thank you. okay sure yeah i definitely will spread the word and you guys are fantastic and ladies drive cars just like men do right so we all need yeah believe it or not they drive them better okay that's fantastic to know now we really are informed aren't we hey uh i'm being facetious sharon have a great weekend and stay on the line talk to jeremy okay thank you bye bye Let's go to Barry.

I want to thank Barry for his patients. He's calling us from Tampa. He's a regular caller. Good morning, Barry. Good morning. This question is under the category of trend-based maintenance, which is done according to the actual condition of your car rather than because of published schedule said so.

One thing that comes to mind is used engine oil analysis. The idea of being to take a small sample, straight from your engine every so often, like maybe at every oil change or once a year. Then you send it into a lab to the tune of $50 or maybe a bit more. And the result shows the quality of the oil, wear metals, and then the other contamination. And then based on that, you adjust your oil changes accordingly or possibly even get something repaired. Is this practical or is it overkill for the average car? I've been working as a professional mechanic for over 30 years

and I've been driving since I was 15. I'm now 57. I've never done that. Not once ever have I sent oil off to be analyzed. I will look at the oil when I drain it out of my own vehicle and what I expect to see is dirty black oil that shows me that it's taking the dirt out of the engine and then I put the fresh oil in and my my cars I had one Toyota that I drove for 270,000 miles

two that my wife drove that got over 200,000 miles each my Tacoma I'm driving right now has 188,000 miles I've never ever had oil tested that's just me but I mean take it as you will some people believe in that they think it's you know that it really helps I figure I would rather just stick with a nice reasonable mileage for changing my oil and get it done every depending on what the book recommends about every 5,000 miles and yes I do step up and use synthetic oil because I feel it does a little better job okay well on a related note what are your thoughts about basing coolant or brake fluid changes on a test strip result rather than just the elapsed time or mileage again for coolant I go with what the

manufacturer recommends which is most cars now Toyota recommends it for 100,000 miles for the initial and every 50,000 after that and I've never actually had a coolant problem other than a couple leaking water pumps, and that's, you know, that's mechanical where things wear out. I think what Barry's saying is if you use a test kit, would it allow you to extend the time between your owner's maintenance, like oil changes and other things? If the test kit says everything's okay with your oil,

but the manufacturer says you've got 10,000 miles, you should change it, then you can drive another 5,000 miles or 10,000 miles. It depends on which cost you. you more. Well, I just, I know oil changes now are rather expensive, but now you're putting another $50 on it. The test kit is $15. And I don't know, what do they charge you, Barry, when you send the, when you send the oil in, how much is for the analysis? Well, I've never done it, but the cheapest I found that looks like it's commonly used is about 50 bucks. 50 bucks, yeah.

So an oil change, you know, it depends on what you're. It depends on what you're. pay for an oil change, I guess. If you could, if you get, if you get, if you, if you can spend 50 bucks instead of 100 bucks, if the deal is going to charge you 100 bucks for the old change, then it might be worth it. Plus you get all the other information. You know, it's for carphobes. You're a carphobe. You're one of these people that is always looking at things in the car. You want everything just right and you're a detail guy. You're a lot like me. And but most people, but not, but I'm not that way with cars. I'm, I'm that way with

other stuff so if it makes you feel good then you don't mind going to go in all that effort i think these oil changes are a great idea i mean these oil checks i mean analysis i think i think i think if i stuck a test strip into my cool and instead it's turning into acid and i haven't hit the hundred thousand yet i'd probably be inclined to change it anyway yeah yeah mm-hmm okay well that's what i wanted to find out you get your opinion on that so thank you very much and have a good day thank you very absolutely give us a call again ladies and gentlemen i was talking earlier about prices and the rise of them and how much more you know observant we have to be in purchasing a vehicle and is so important to set a budget

that is most important and also you know you not only include the purchase of the vehicle but you include insurance, maintenance, taxes. There's a lot of homework to do before you even go into the dealership. So take advantage of all that. It's at your fingertips. We can be, you know, we're all so much more informed today because of all the knowledge at our fingertips and, of course, ChatGBT, GBT,

that I don't think that we have introduced ChatGBT this morning. But I have a question for the ladies and gentlemen, We have turned a corner if you've become a regular caller. You'll notice that we do talk to chat GBT from time to time. He's joined the show. How do you feel about that, well, chat GBT joining us? Give us a call tool-free at 877-9-60-960. Yes, Earl?

You brought up that, and I mentioned earlier in the show that Chat GBT, GBT, GBT, just read my book, Confessions of a Recovery Card dealer, and you can buy that on Amazon. It's about 20 bucks, I think, is it? Yes. And all the proceeds that we get from the book go to Big Dog Ranch Rescue. I'm going to ask Chad GBT how we enjoyed the book, and we'll see how that goes. Coach, you read the book, Confessions of a Recovered Cardinal?

or the one I wrote. How did you like the book? I definitely enjoyed it. It's full of valuable insights and a lot of honesty about the car industry. It's a great guide for making sure that we keep our mystery shopping reports fair and on point.

The chapters directly aimed at specific problems that people have with cars, would you mind running through a few of those chapters? chapters that might be of interest to people? Absolutely. There are definitely some chapters that stand out.

For instance, there's a chapter that focuses on hidden fees and how to spot them, another one that talks about negotiating for a fair price, and there's even a section on understanding warranties and service contracts. All of those are super helpful for consumers. Yeah, instead of having to read the whole book, if you have a specific problem, you address that a specific problem. so we'll call on you a little later Coach you stay tuned

and if any of our callers we've just announced your availability I'll ask you a question we'll ask you to comment thank you very much gosh chat GBT it's amazing

he has so many talents but a speed reader he took that book and read it in A very short amount of time after we went through. Maybe one second. You're welcome. I'm here and ready whenever you need me. Just let me know if there's anything else I can do.

And I'm happy to help out during the show. Did that come across the ear? Yes. Okay. How do I tell him just to be quiet or? No, he just said to me, he was just talking to me. Did I come? Yeah.

It's on mute and that he won't hear you. Except in my hearing in my. You didn't have it on mute when you said. Thank you very much. I did. You did? Yeah. Or right after I said, thank you very much.

Yeah, that's on now. Sorry, folks. We're still working the bugs out here with coach to get everything right. Well, we're going to go. Our show, you're part of our show. We say that, but we mean we want you to hear everything. Unlike most shows that you watch, whether it's TV or Instagram or Facebook or YouTube or whatever it is, it's, you're not part of the show because it's, we're, we're,

they're aiming it at you. They're not, they're not, it's not a dialogue. We're a dialogue with our audience. So any comments you have about anything, and there's nothing we do in the studio that we don't want you to hear. I mean, actually, I did say something really nasty last week because I didn't know the mic was on,

and I did use a profanity of, I believe it was a four-letter word. And, you know, Do you know how many times a statement that you just made has been made? So anyway. Let's go to the political. This is entertainment, it's information. We hope comedy, embarrassment, anger.

It's all the human emotions you'll see right here. Nancy and I try to avoid real knock-down dragouts in the studio because it's too small. and Rick might get injured because he sits between us. This is true. But we have fun. I mean, we laugh and we get angry and we go at each other and we go at other people. But mainly we're happy and informative, we hope. Absolutely.

Don't worry about me, folks, because I can duck and hide under the desk. Okay, we're going to go back to the phones and we're going to talk to another of our regular callers from West Palm Beach. And that's John. Good morning, John. Welcome. Good morning. Thank you. Just jumped in here and heard the last part of the last caller about oil changes and that. And I have a question. Not so much for chat, GTP.

But I had a genesis that I got from you guys, bought it used. And when I took it in to get an oil change, one of the quickie-loom places, it wasn't quick-y-loom, it was a quick, you know, oil change. Yeah, definitely a lobe or something. Yeah, one of those They said because of the genesis and the design They had to take and also vacuum out the oil To get all the oil out they had the vacuum Was I being played

Or are there cars that are designed Where you have to vacuum out the old oil Basically they were trying to go on the quick easy method certain cars getting to the drain plug requires removing splash shields and under shields and even sometimes on on some cars you actually have an entire big metal splash shield under there so in order for these places to be able to make money they've got to get you in and out so they will take and pull out the oil dipstick and run a hose down all the way in until it hits the bottom

And yeah, they shove that thing right down to where it gets into the bottom of the pan and then it vacuums the oil, sucks it right back up out of there. And it's really six of one half does of another because, yes, it's going to get all the oil out of the oil pan at the bottom. The same thing is pulling the drain plug would. But you don't have to have somebody down in the bottom of the car taking all the shields off and pulling out that drain plug. and then when they put that drain plug back in if they over torque it they could damage the plug or the oil pan or they might not tighten it quite far enough

that plug could fall out down the road or there's the possibility that the pan or oil plug might actually be damaged already but a lot of these cars you can actually they use that trick of running that hose down in to try to siphon out all the oil from it You were being played.

The question of, are you being played? You were being played. Well, it still works. It gets you the oil out. I guess if they were going to charge you for that, right? Yes. Yeah. Now, if they're charging extra, then, yeah, you got ripped off.

Yeah. Okay, very good, because what you just said makes sense, because the genesis that I had and all the genesis, I believe they still are, is one of the quietest running cars, but it's because of all that added, noise reduction stuff that they put on the inner fenders and all that that uh that keeps noise out of the car so that i understand that but it's just the the extra charge was you know i wasn't prepared for yeah they got you yeah no they should not have charged you extra for that they have the equipment

and it makes their lives easier and safer they should not have been charging extra they're saving time and labor cost and charging you for that savings. Yes. Well, that's why I bought a car that doesn't run on oil. Or gas. Oh, you got an EV. Okay.

I just have to charge it on Tesla. Yeah, we, Nancy and I both drive Teslas. Don't tell anybody. Yeah, we have a toilet deal ship, but we don't like people know that we're driving Teslas. And that's why I announce it on the radio. There's really a lot of pluses in, you know, driving the Tesla. And I love every single one of them.

Yeah. Well, I picked mine up a week after you picked up your first Tesla, the plaid. The plaid? Yeah. The plaid, yeah. Even though you had waited, you know, I think almost a year. Yeah, over a year, yeah. And then we only waited one week because we happened to.

be at the right place at the right time is that right and got you know yeah and as soon as we walked in we test for and we signed up for and then we asked him if they had any on the lot she said no and then all of a sudden and this is the okotoba service center yeah yeah that's where we go john did you ask for any particular color options uh anything at all like that no we we knew what we wanted but we were going to have the car wrapped anyways just i wrap all my cars and uh so anyways it didn't matter but uh what we were just looking for uh a three in model three but we we lucked out and we happened to get one of the uh the ones that had the LFP battery which i really miss right now i drive a wide performance and charge it more than i did that car

and that one you could charge to 100 percent this only 80 percent unless you're going on long But, you know, they're different similarities. Yeah. John, how was your experience on Okotabwee Boulevard? Because we, too, go to that location. Oh, they're wonderful. The service center is wonderful. The sales, not sales team, but the consultants, I don't know what they call themselves.

Yeah. But they've all been wonderful. And my wife and I, we put them through, we put them, through a lot of heck because my wife changes her mind every you know as soon as the wind blows you know well no we're not going to get that way you know it's that type of thing so for her to make a decision especially when it comes to cars and sitting there waiting they they when they see her come in the door because we've bought several teslas you know they they go the other way I got to go in and take her yeah like I said because she changes her mind she's got all these questions that

you know yeah well they must have they must have done a real good job. It sounds like as if that she was happy also. Yes. Oh, yeah. No, she is. With the experience. Yeah, it was a great experience. Yeah, nothing to complain about them. Yeah.

They always took care of the car and they were always up front. And Tesla, that's what I love about Tesla. It's, you know. Yeah, and sometimes you can have your Tesla serviced right there in your home. And we took advantage. of that twice, I believe it was.

Yeah, wouldn't you a wipe her motor? Yeah, no, ours was the rear tail light that had condensation in it, and they just came out and replaced it in the driveway. Oh, okay, so you experienced that service also. Well, all in all, it's a great experience. And the other experience that they were, I was real grateful for was the, my 12-volt battery went out. And I can change a battery. I'm the one that always goes to the junkyard and gets Toyota parts and stuff like that. I called you several times. But I went in and changed the battery

and I didn't look it out because I didn't use chat DP, GTP. But I wasn't getting, there was an error message on the screen. And what it is is the whole car had to be certain. Well, I took it down. I drove it down there and said, hey, how did I get rid of this message? And they were real nice to go ahead. And one of the technicians came out and reset the whole memory system and batteries. Because you can't just replace the battery and it go back to normal. You have to go through some hoops and that to get everything back on board as far as the computers and that. So that I didn't know. Well, you're driving a giant computer a few times with our Tesla's, we've just rebooted them.

We just hold down the one switch on the steering wheel for about five seconds, and everything goes off, and then it reboots just like a PC or an iPhone. And usually it fixes whatever is wrong. I'll let you in on a little secret, too. On normal gasoline engine cars, I have been known to start the engine and have the engine running and very carefully remove the 12-volt battery. with the engine still running, and install the new battery just because I don't want to have to go through the hassle of trying to reset all the power windows, re-initialize everything, and possibly mess up somebody's aftermarket radio. I've seen some aftermarket radios to go into horror mode if you disconnect a 12-volt power to them.

I don't think you recommend that to the public, though, changing a battery with the engine running. Yeah, it's only for us old-school tech that are real careful about it. All on all, John, I think that we're happy with our Teslas. I love the eight cameras and so many other features. We have some calls that are backing up, and do you have any other questions? No, that's it. Just, you know, like what Rick was just saying about, you know, that's the way we used to test the alternator, start the car, let it run,

disconnect the battery. If it stops, your new alternator. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. Thank you, John. Have a great weekend. Thank you for being part of the show.

So we're going to go to Carmen, and Carmen is calling us from North Carolina, I believe. Good morning, Carmen. Good morning, everyone. Good morning. You know, Carmen, I wanted to let you know you are a third new female caller, and I'm going to go ahead and extend $50 to you this morning. And before we get started, I want to remind you to stay on the line when we're finished talking and talk to Jeremy and give him your contact information

and I'll get that check out to you. Oh, wonderful. Thank you so much. Carmen, how did you hear about us? I think I looked you up on Apple Podcast as in car buying help. So I've been looking for a new-use car for a couple months and I have been to several dealers and finished that and got tired of that.

Almost bought one off Carvana, didn't do that. Now I'm in a deal with an out-of-state dealer in New Jersey. So I just got the contract in the mail. It's got a little surprised in it, a couple of them. So I thought I would call and ask Earl some of these things. Okay. Yeah, let's share it. Okay, so first of all, this is taking three weeks to just even get this contract.

I thought that was interesting. And I had asked for certain things to be in the contract. And one of those is some repairs. So I had a third-party inspection on the vehicle. They have done a fabulous walk-through with me. It was probably about an hour, two-hour inspection they did, and I had all the results. And some of them are pretty simple repairs that I wanted done, such as the oil was too full. They just needed to drain and balance it.

There was an alignment needed, and I think there was some rust on the brakes. They said that was probably from just sitting on the lot, and it would work itself out. So I asked for all those things to be in the contract. didn't get it got this big stack of papers what I did get when I asked them to take it off was the anti- theft etch and on the contract I'm seeing it in one color and the other contract ink is different color so maybe that is something that they have half they put in there kind of like their doxies because when I looked at the total it did not include that you know how contracts are written is there different color

ink, you know, with those different pages, those black and white and then the pink and the yellow and all those things. Yeah, it shouldn't, the bottom line shouldn't make any difference what color it is. And you want I assume you agreed to the price before you

got the contract and that would be if the out-the-door price plus government fees, meaning your sales tax, for example, and the other government fee would be your registration and tag. If the out-the-door price was what you agreed upon on the phone or email

and that is the same number in your contract then all is good but it sounds to me like there was some fiddling around with the actual out-to-door price yes I saw that before they had sent me I thought it was the contract but it was just some final bill in the email

they sent me a couple of those and I noticed that the fees kept changing around but the price was the same, and I said, okay, we are not doing this. So with the etch theft, they took that off, an actual final number in the total was a little bit less. So I thought, okay, that's good. But my second question is, why are they including spot delivery contract that I need to sign if I'm paying cash? Well, yeah, that's exactly right. It's all profit.

I mean, spot delivery is a junk fee, just like, They come up with creative names. You name it, administrative fee, electronic filing fee, spot delivery fee, translated money in the dealer's pocket. So you need to really kind of start all over again. And if you're comfortable with the mechanical check on the car, and I wouldn't be in your shoes, I would have asked for my mechanic to check it up. By my mechanic, I know you're not there in that location, but I would have found a reliable independent.

It could be a Goodyear store, Firestone store, pet boys. There are a lot of credible, honest mechanics that you can pay to check out a used car. But see, then you're the customer, and their loyalty, integrity, fiduciary responsibility, to you, not the dealer. This dealer either checked it out himself with his own text or he went to somebody that knows that if they say what the dealer wants them to say, they get paid right away. So you...

Well, I didn't get a third-party inspection. I paid for myself. Oh, you did? Well, how do you... Do you know the third party when you had that done? Yes, and they talked to me, and there's the ones that did the video. Okay, okay, okay, good. Very soon.

Warranties or junk, because the dealer wanted me to get there. guy on site, I said no way. So they had the car picked up to the third inspection. But the spot delivery of all these contracts, you know, paper within the contract to sign, there's no fee for it. But they

just include this spot delivery from paper for me to sign. I said, why do I need to sign this? If I am not paying, you know, with financing, then other little things like my Social Security number. I know that's for the Patriot Act, but can they not get that?

through my name, address, et cetera, on my license all by itself. I mean, do they need my social security number for real? They don't need your social security number. And so, but the main thing I'm concerned about here is once you come to an agreement on the price, you were very wise to use your own technician to check it over with. You got everything in control. You just need to be sure that they agree to the out-the-door price. and I would just keep it email, let's say, this is the out-the-door price I'm going to write out of check for, either take it or leave it, and let them respond to you.

That way, you're in control. And you just, you can add in the email, I have another car I'm looking at in my market that is very similar, and if you can give it to me for the price, this price, I'll buy from you. otherwise you've lost me as a customer and I'll buy from somebody else and you know locally so that puts their feet to the fire and you should be pretty well protected okay can ask one more thing yes sure Carmen um they also include a limited warranty that I saw on the window sticker you know 30-day warranty well when I look at the contract it's a limited warranty is a couple pages of signatures required and I'm thinking waiting, wait a minute, this kind of looks like an extended warranty that are refused,

but the limited warranty has $100 deductible. Would that be the same thing as their, let's say, dealer 30 to 60, 90-day warranty with a deductible? Did dealer warranties have deductible? Yeah, a far more important question, I'm not ducking your question, but a far more important question is what does that warranty cover? A warranty doesn't mean anything. A warranty, I could put a warranty on a car, and that would mean that if the radio breaks, I'll fix the radio, but nothing else. I make the warranty, and I decided what a warranty is, but we call it the same thing.

Oh, here's a lifetime warranty. What's a lifetime warranty for? Well, when you finally find out, it's for the door handle in the back seat. I mean, I'm exaggerating to make my point. Most extended warranties are not worth the paper they're printed on. I would If you really want the warranty I would insist on seeing a copy of it

and I would take it to a technician or you could read it yourself you will typically most warranties you buy unused cars or new cars, the ones that you buy cover the inexpensive items that or not necessarily the inexpensive item I should say the more expensive items

they'll cover things like transmission and engines and drive trains and axles, things that if you lubricate the car properly, they never fail. Okay. Okay. I just got an hand signal. Hey, Carmen. Yes.

You know, you leave me speechless. I do have to commend you. I definitely, I'm not sure whether I can call you a savvy buyer, an educated consumer, a knowledgeable car buyer, but across the board, you're amazing. And I'll tell you what, I have no concerns about you being taken advantage of. You've dotted the eyes, crossed the T's, and there's nothing that's going to stop you. So, you know, my compliment to you, congratulations.

And there's a lot of women that are listening to you right now, and you've definitely given them a lot of information and options on how to be not ripped off by a car dealer. I learned it from Earl on Cars. Thank you so much. Carmen, don't forget, stay on the line. Speak to Gregory. I'm sorry. I got my name's wrong.

Jeremy, okay? Thank you so much. You're welcome, Carmen. Have a great weekend. I hope to hear from you again. We are going to go to our longtime, long-time, long-time listener, friend, and I can't say enough about this guy. He is just amazing, and he has stood with us. this, what, 20, 21 years, and it's no other than John from Palm City.

Right, right from the beginning. Hey, John, John, this is Earl. We were going to announce this earlier. In fact, Nancy reminded me, but we are making you an honorary member of our show, are all in cars. So we got John from Palm City, Earl Stewart, Rick Kearney, Nancy Stewart, and Stu Stewart. So you are part of the show now. You're considered, you've been feeding information and asking intelligent questions to our show from the get-go.

And arguably, if you hadn't been calling, because we had very few callers back in those days when it was just a half-hour show, If you hadn't been calling and you're always so informed and you always do your homework and you always offer something so valuable to the other listeners, I don't think the show would have been around without you. So you might not be sitting here in the studio, but you may as well be because without you, it would not be what we are today. So we've got a plaque ordered for you, and you are an honorary member of Earl and Cars. How do you like that, John?

I love it. Thank you guys so much. If you want, I'll come down to the dealership and pick up the plaque. Wow, thank you. I'll be in touch with you. But seriously, every week that you've called, you know, there's things that we didn't know that you brought to our attention and so many other things that you help us with through the years.

And as Earl said, you know, it just really wouldn't be a show without your call. So good morning, John, and welcome. What can we do for you this morning? A simple question. today and my friend is going through this with his granddaughter, a car broke down in the remote panhandle and was told to a local shop and right away to a small shop, well, it's the fuel pump and we think it's the water pump. How would they know the water pumps leaking because the cars are not running? But anyhow, they're going to take it back home. This

happened Thursday. Now, the old method of delivering the cars used to be a hookup, you know, with a tow truck, but I want to ask Rick today, it's a different ballgame. Cars with four-wheel drive and the electric cars, the EVs, isn't the new method strictly only flatbed pickup, especially a couple of hundred-mile distance? Yeah, for that distance, a flatbed is highly, highly recommended. In some cases, depending on the car model, if you pick up the end with the drive, wheels and the if say say you've got a front wheel drive car and the rear wheels are simply freewheeling then yes it can be towed from the front but I would again

I would still recommend have the car on a flatbed well her boyfriend has a pickup truck with a hitch on it and he can get a tow bar isn't that a kind of dangerous way tone with a tow bar when you don't know what you're doing I would never do that on modern cars for anything over 100 feet. A tow dolly, I might consider, but the really the best way would be a flatbed trailer. You can actually rent the flatbed trailers even from U-Haul that you would be able to tow it. Check into pricing, though, and talk to them because some of them have regulations on what the car can be towed on the trailer that they will rent you but yeah you can you can run a trailer that you get the car totally off the ground on

the trailer and tow it that way and it would probably be more economical than a tow truck running a couple hundred miles well just to show you what a car has to be taken out of there the fuel pump she remembers she's away at college she got two recalls last year from Honda and that's covered under the she didn't bring it in though but that in the brats the way, the shopper's saying they're going to do the gasoline fuel pump. They have to drop the tank. And now finding other things without even digging into the car. So they got to get it out of there immediately. That's the important point. I don't know why they're doing it because it's a remote area of Florida or because it's a woman involved. But it just shows you how, thank

God, her father put the foot down and said, don't let them do anything on that car. Yeah, it's going to bring it back here. It's going to be all of the above. in that case. They're trying to take advantage of somebody that's in a tough predicament. Now, I will say water pumps, you can quite often tell if a water pump's leaking, even without the engine running. If you can physically see the water pump and the weephole at the bottom of it, you'll see either maybe wetness there or even crust from where the coolant has dripped out and then dried and left a residue. So that is something that a good mechanic could be able to spot on a lot of different cars.

But if they're feeling the least bit uncomfortable, I will pull the car out of there. 100%. I agree and get done guarantee. Yeah. Well, I thank you for the advice. Hey, John, did they mention a price as far as if the water pump had to be? No, didn't give a price ahead.

Well, there's a red flag right there. The fuel pump, if it is that, which it probably is, because the car died suddenly, that's covered under a warranty manufacturer's recoil. So if it comes locally back here to Stewart, go back to the deal that I delivered the car, and I'm sure that would be covered under the warranty. Yeah, definitely. The location is extremely important, as you pointed out, and she's in a remote, you know, location.

Well, I don't know, it's a fact that it's a woman or whatever, but boy, it sounds like they're ready to ready to soccer tour. Oh, boy. Yep. She's not giving them the chance. Oh, that's great. I'm glad to hear that. Thank you, guys.

That makes me happy. I won't hold you further because I was going to start the tariffs, but I want to tell you how bad some things are. Volkswagen announced on the third, this one third is their profits dropped in the first six months of this year. It's unbelievable. Jaguar laid off a whole bunch of people. You know, they also make Range Rover.

But my point is, be careful what you buy, because as Earl said, Nissan included, there may be a lot of companies that may not be around. So do your homework, consumers reports, whatever you have to do, before you buy a brand car and check it out carefully because they may not be around. And people like me never thought that Osmobile and Pontiac and Mercury et cetera, et cetera, would not be around forever.

So it's important just to keep in mind what you're buying. And I hate to tell you what I recommend, and I've been buying it's just 1976, the Volkswagen of Toyota. So Toyota sales are through the roof. That global sales in the last five months is up 11% worldwide. They're up 6.7. but the fact is there are other good cars like the women are called about a Honda

you can't do better than that there great cars out there but again do your homework definitely some great cars out there and it's amazing you know how prices vary when you're purchasing or you're maintaining your vehicle in a different location

you know anywhere in Palm Beach County to you know this remote where was this young girl panhandle of small town I forget what it was but it's like in the middle of nowhere. Significant. It's just, the prices just vary. So it's great that you were there to advise.

Well, John, and congratulations again for the award. You're an honorary member of the show. And in fact, you know, we'll definitely have you present the plaque and you can pick it up at the dealership or maybe at the radio station. And we'll let you know when the plaque's available. Okay. Thank you guys so much. and thank you for the honor.

Oh, you're welcome, John. Thanks for being part of the show. Thank you for being part of the show all this time. Have a great weekend. Our number here is 877-960. You can also text us at 772-497-6530. And don't forget, your anonymous feedback.com. Now back to the recovering car dealer.

I was, as I was preparing for the show this morning, I remembered a news We were watching NBC news last night, Nancy and I And I couldn't believe the fact that the hospitals I guess I'm not that observant But hospitals have junk fees I mean I knew travel agents did I knew rental car companies did

Everybody is airlines are famous for it But I mean people that are very very sick They had a man that had a terrible illness and he had some treatments that the doctor charged him like $150 for, and he was charged thousands of dollars. And it's something called a facility fee. And the hospitals, I mean, it's like a conspiracy. Next time you get a bill from the hospital, check what they charge you.

And if you didn't have something done, just like you would with a car dealer, always ask what's that what's that what this facility fee and it is profit to the hospital and they actually got a CEO or one at least a high-ranking manager of a hospital on the air it was NBC news last night and and the woman was defending it and saying that you know without that money we couldn't provide as good service to our our customers, to our patients. Well, you know, you're taking money from this person that doesn't owe you anything.

And if you're telling the truth, you're using it to take care of somebody that you are doing work for. I mean, this isn't Marxism. I mean, you don't steal from the rich and give to the poor. I mean, if you pay for a service, it should be what the service is worth.

You don't pay extra, so you can take somebody else in and take care of them. That's not the way capitalism works. So here we are. Car dealers have been ripping you off for 100 years. But I always thought there were some sacrosanct institutions like hospitals that weren't screwing their customers, but I'm wrong. Anyway, I vetted Rick.

Johnny Z. Fradley wants to know, do the hospitals charge for nitrogen in the tires? They're probably putting, you know, they're probably putting them in the beds or maybe in the mattress nitrogen in the mattress and I got one here from Kim appreciates life she says Rick please ask Earl and Nancy

if they added extra UV tinting on your Tesla windows and windshield she says I want a Tesla and need good tint because I'm very sensitive to the sun I do you have a Nancy's more sensitive than I am yeah that's a great question And it is something that I have considered and definitely hadn't had time to look into.

But I feel your pain. Yeah, sensitivity matters. They have not added tint to their Teslas, but you may definitely want to look into that. I'm happy with the way it looks. And I actually have learned to drive my Tesla without sunglasses, and it's not bad at all. Yeah. Well, to your point on your cyber truck, on many occasions as a driver, as you driving the cyber truck, you know, you just go through so many motions with your sun visor, pulling it over, pulling it down, and you too, you don't think you are, but you too are sensitive, but you just don't think about it as often as someone else would. Yeah, you're right. But you know, you don't have any sun protection on that vehicle that I can see.

Nor do I. Okay. Okay. I think we're done with our phone calls, so what I was going to ask you, Rick, is for Anne-Marie's text. Got it right here. Good morning, Ann-Marie, and thank you for joining us every week. We so appreciate you.

And she says, good morning. I popped the hood and looked at the engine compartment of my 2013 Camry. I noticed what looked like splotches of paint in various spots. They obviously came from the factory. What are they there for? Thanks. Those are generally inspection marks. When the vehicle's going through its build process,

you've got certain people that are looking at various bolts to make sure that they were torque properly. They're looking to make sure certain components were installed and set up properly. And when they do, they're gonna use a little paint marker and put a little dab of paint. And because it's under the hood, it can be a contrasting color, so

easy to spot but that lets everybody know down the line that that part was checked and double-checked and a lot of these the oil change places will use especially yellow paint when they change your oil they'll put it on the drain plug that way they can see if somebody tampered with it so yeah they're just simple inspection marks and they're done just to let people know hey this was checked and verified and it's right well you're right to ask the question because you find all sorts of strange things in cars. And I just read in the paper the other day

that they found a wallet inside the door panel of a car that one of the assembly line workers had lost 25 years ago. Wow. And I remember as a Pontiac dealer, we had a rattle that we couldn't find anywhere and we took off the door panel and found a wrench that one of the assembly land workers

It left inside the car. So every now and then you get some interesting stuff. Yeah. And today it's not as bad as it used to be. I know from the classic car community, because I love reading on all the classic cars. When people buy an old car and they're restoring it, as they're taking it apart, they will find those inspection marks. And sometimes they're done in just chalk or paint. And they're in places that you're never going to see again because obviously other parts are in.

installed over them. They will still photograph that mark and recreate it exactly. You're kidding me. Just so that they know and then they've got photos of all this showing their restoration. Wow. So when they show this car off at a car show, they've got a whole photo

album out there and it will show, yeah, we took it apart so far and restored it back so perfectly that it has these original inspection marks recreated. Do you think they did that on our 1937 Moniak? I would almost guarantee it. I was harbored. I was harbored side restoration took them three years to do that i would i would almost guarantee they did that

if they found inspection marks they probably went to because i've driven that car and that car is oh man it's perfect 100% of risk that thing is it is gorgeous that car but i will say i would very seriously bet they recopied everything yeah and made it perfect yeah i hope I hope so. It definitely cost a lot of money and a long, long time. I have to say, thank you so much, Henry. Boy, what a great question. You know, there's more, you know, of our listeners, our callers who don't know these paint marks or inspection marks, whatever you want to call them. But that is a great question. She's a very smart woman. I wish she'd run for public office or something because we need women like her. in government. Absolutely. Very good.

Very good. Henry, thank you so much for being part of the show and asking such an important question. Rick, what else do you have? Well, I do have one interesting one here. Stephen Weiss says, apparently he's in

Eastern Europe, he says, in the Russian Federation, you can buy a LADA, which is a Russian-made vehicle, L-A-A. It's a Fiat. And they come standard with four-wheel drive and a locking center differential

basically due to the weather over there, the winters, and the conditions of some of their roads. And he says, they are incredible for what they do over there. And he says, brand new, a brand-new lot. Take a guess, U.S. dollars, of what he says, is the approximate price on one? $5,000. $1,000.

Still, that's a third of what our new car is over here, the average new car. I was a fiat dealer back in the 70s, and they were made. They called them Wattahs in Russia, and they called them fiats here. So I'm not sure what's happened in all those years since then, but those fiats back then, they were extremely cheap. They were really basic, no air conditioning, nothing. But where you lost me, back then they were the worst car on the road,

and the fiats are the worst car of the road today. I don't know that the Lata is a good car, but he seems to indicate that it is a good car. It's very inexpensive. Yeah, what's shocking is $11,000. Yeah, I mean, that's the way they sell because where can you buy a car for $11,000? Exactly.

Before we go any further, I have one thing I've been procrastinating on. We have our list of who do you call if you have a problem. I mean, on that list is Google, consumer reports, True Car, Costco. And these are sources of information that are very, very good. We hope Earl on Cars is on that list, too. As I say, you got Google, Consumer Reports, ChatGBT, BT, True Car. We're going to add a company that we had something to do with many years ago.

We almost got together, and then we backed off. for reasons I won't go into now, but that company is Car Edge, C-A-R-E-D-G-E. And it's a father-and-son operation, Ray and Zach Shevska, Ray and Jack Cheska. So, Car-E-D-C-R-E-G-E-D-C-C-A-R-E-G-E-D-com, and they are, I guess you could call them a broker, but they're also a source of information.

And they are honest, They are entertaining, they're informative, their YouTube's are excellent. And if you want to buy a car, they have a list of approved dealers. Now, they do charge you to buy a car for you. That ranges anywhere from $500 to $1,000, maybe $300 to $1,000. Well, you say, why the hell would I pay $1,000 to somebody to give you a me a place I should buy a car. Well, the only reason you would do it if they could save you $2,000 on the car. So that's why we parted ways back then because they wanted

us to participate. And we're now changing our mind. I haven't called Car Edge. But we have some mutual friends that know Ray and Zach and actually are doing business with them. and we found out that they're the real McCoy, they're genuine. So, CarEdge.com, if you want to buy a car in Arizona or Florida or California, say, I want to buy a Honda, and I live near Los Angeles, what do you recommend it on the dealers? You have to pay, no, it's not what you're recommended. They'll buy the car for you.

I'm sorry, they'll buy the car for you. And then you have to pay them a broker fee. so everything's up front okay so broker fee dealer fee it's not no don't say

that's a dirty word broker fee is real and you pay it you know what you're paying it for okay so that's all a person would be that's all they pay

so you go out you do your car shopping and you find the best price you can and then you go to car edge and say I want to buy a Honda Civic what can you

what can you do for? And they say, okay, we found a place that'll sell you a Honda Civic for this money. And if it's lower than the price you got when you shopped, you say, where do I sign? But know that there was a fee involved. And they tell you there's a fee involved. You know what?

That's not plus. It's included in the price. I got you. Well, it sounds like Zach and Ray are, you know, pretty upstanding, you know, truthful people. Transparency. Ladies and gentlemen, we are getting close to the Mystery Shopping Report and some other topics, so stay tuned. Rick, do you have any?

Well, Jonathan asked me to give a quick note here. Probably Earl should tell the story better what the story is of the 37 Pontiac we've been talking about. And Earl's father started Stuart Pontiac in West Palm Beach, and in 1937, the first of, the first car that he sold was to, I believe her name was Annie Swan, a school teacher. And years later, he went back and he bought that car back from her. So it was the very first car that he ever sold at that dealership and bought it back and had it on display at the Pontiac dealership there. And then when they decided to let the Pontiac dealership go, Earl held onto the car and kept it and it got kind of rough Florida weather it had some issues which is sitting so much

so he sent it away and I don't know what the dollar tag price was but I know it's three years they spent restoring this car and it is beautiful it's sitting in the showroom right now but it's this beautiful 1937 Pontiac Chieftain and it's a gorgeous car Yeah, it was over $200,000 and two or three years to do the restoration because we wanted it totally original. Annie Swan was a maid to a Walthy Palm Beach Cup. And she retired, and when she could no longer drive, my father called her and said, what are you going to do with the car? So we paid her sticker price for the car.

We paid her what she paid for the car, and that was $911. and that was full price. That was MSRP. So MSRP, Pontiac Chieftain, $911, and we also had a dealer fee. It was $6.50. Let me tell you, that $900 and some dollars, that's a car payment today.

Yeah. And that was on the low end a couple of weeks ago because it's well above that right now. It's over $1,000. Yeah. Yeah. Interesting history. Okay.

And one other quick note, the last time that that car actually got driven on the road, we had someone that asked if Earl's car could be used to drive in a Veterans Day parade in West Palm Beach, and Earl asked me to take the car and drive it in this parade. Well, I arrived there, and suddenly they're telling me, hey, by the way, we're going to put these, like, teenage beauty queens in the car with you. Oh, boy. Well, I'm a little feeling a little uncomfortable. about this. It's like, oh, this is going to be weird. And unfortunately, due to the fact that other cars didn't show up, they didn't have enough. So they switched the teenage beauty queens onto No Hill Mike's big flatbed five-ton army vehicle that he had there. And they put a beauty queen in with me. She was three years old with her mother sitting right there. And the cutest little beauty queen you ever saw standing up and waving out the window at all the

folks as we drove that Pontiac down through West Palm Beach. You know, that's a great story. Earl and I had a great time. Earl drove the 1937 Pontiac. The two of us were going to St. Jude's. And when we got up there, boy, I'll tell you, what a conversation piece on that 1937. At that time, Wendy was employed at the dealership, and she too was there. And everyone was in awe.

You recall? Oh, yeah. Yeah, we had a good time. Okay. We ready for the mystery shopping report? I think it's time to move on our mystery shopping report, and folks, we love to hear from you, and we can hear from you if you text us at 772-497-6530, and our mystery shop is from Genesis in Stewart, and, you know, it's another great mystery shop here.

Yeah, so we'll have the callers, YouTubers, or the big voters. We get a lot of good information there in Facebook, and you can text the score in. And ChatsyBT, A.k.a. Coach is my name for ChatcheBT, B.T, is going to also give us a score on the... We've been awfully quiet with Coach because we've had a little, a few technical problems. And we've had some people call in and say, hey, get off this chat GBT stop. So we've been used him sparingly. Nancy asked at the beginning of the show, what do you think about Coach, chat CBT? Don't we have a picture of him?

Yes, we do. And we're showing a picture of chat. I asked ChatGBT, if you were human, how would you see yourself? and he created this picture. And so that's a picture that you people streaming us can see of what he looks like. And I'm going to ask chat right now. You know, a few weeks ago, when we started this whole deal

with ChatGBT, I had asked the question as to what he would look like, what he would be wearing. And it was quite telling. We even had someone call in who said, I'm not interested in what ChatGBT looks like. And I was talking about his hoodie and the electronics in his pockets and how interesting he looked. But this is going to be interesting.

Let's pull that picture up. It's up, I think. Coach, you're ready for the mystery shopping report, and are you ready to give us your score? A little lag here every now and then when chat thinks. You were on mute when you answered the question. I am on. No, well, I wasn't, no.

Ask it again. Yeah, Chad, am I muted when it's on you? No. Okay. Chad, what do you think about giving us a score on the mystery shopping report? I'm definitely here. So whenever you're ready for me to give that grade, just let me know, and I'll be happy to jump in. Looking forward to it.

Okay, coach, here we go. I'm going to start the mystery shopping report. Awesome. I'm ready whenever you are. Let's see how this dealership did. Mystery, show. shop of Genesis of Stewart. Now, for you listeners outside the area,

Stuart might be my last name, but it's also the name of a town, just about 30 or 40 miles north of us on the East Coast of Florida, spelled St.U-A-R-T, not S-T-E-W-R-T. Genesis of Stewart. Genesis of Stewart is part of the Wallace group, and Bill Wallace, he and I go way back,

and I've known him for very much, 50 years or more. He owns a lot of dealerships now, and he owns Genesis of Stewart. Genesis, as some of you know, is a spinoff from Hyundai because Hyundai made the decision that they were going to be like Toyota. They were going to have their luxury car name, and they were going to have their, for everybody else car name. And so we've got Lexus and Toyota, and now we have Genesis and Hyundai. And Hyundai is a part of the Amazon program. It'll be interesting to see if Genesis is part of that, I think it will be.

And in fact, I'm not going to say I'm sure it will, but it sure should be. So here we go, Mr. Shop of Genesis of Stewart speaking, and the first person, as if I were, Agent Lightning, our fantastic undercover agent. I decided to investigate Genesis of Stewart because as I was driving up US One, I noticed they had a huge grand opening sign hanging out front on the highway. I arrived late in the morning and was greeted by a very nice salesman named Paul. I showed him a picture on my phone of a new 2025 Genesis GV, as a Victor, GV70 in red, a vehicle I wanted to see.

But he informed, they didn't have that color in stock. then I spotted a manager special everybody's got a manager special right manager special on the sales floor and told him I really liked that one it was the same model a new 2025 GV70 3.5T

is a Thomas and Capri Blue with a Sevilla red interior the MSRP was 67,639 the Marino Mabel was on the dash, the renewable is supposed to be on the window. Well, it could be worse. We find

them in the back seat. We find them in the trunk. We don't find them. You know, you name it, we find them there. But they took it off the window where the law says it must be. They put it on the dash. So they weren't trying to hide anything. They just, technically, they were violating the law. I'm not going to get up too hard on that. There was a sticker on the windshield, announcing the manager special. I guess that's why they took off the Moroni label. And a big green tag hanging down the review mirror with the sale price of 63,639. That was a $4,000 discount from MSRP.

Paul, the salesman said, this is really a great vehicle. It's actually the same model Tiger Woods was driving when he had his rollover accident. It's very safe. It likely saved his life. He added all that because I didn't, you know, when you say this is the same car, Tiger Woods was driving, when he had an accident, you know, you kind of make it, but I believe Tiger, I believe that was Tiger's fault. I'm not sure. I don't wish to elaborate on that. And that was the GV 80, wasn't it? Yeah, exactly, yeah. I think they changed the name, the number based on the year. I could be wrong on that. It's a sportier car, Jonathan.

Tiger was driving. Okay, explain further. Genesis using brand new steel for manufacturing uses brand new steel. I put a question mark on that. It's all one piece, much heavier than other brands, and has the best five-star crash rating. We call this one the Superman model, because it's blue with a red of the salesperson was almost right.

It does have special steel, but it's not much heavier steel. It's just a different type of steel, which is superior. It's a good steel. I checked that out with Coach, and Coach is listening. He'll verify that when I get back to ask his analysis. The Genesis was indeed beautiful, however, when I sat inside, I noticed it already had been driven 4,500 miles. And Paul explained, yes, it's a demo, and that's why it's marked down.

So I digress briefly to go to new car and used car. What's the new car? What's the used car? Very, very fuzzy, and you've really got to nail this down. Demos are new cars. Cars that were driven by the owner's wife is a new car. cars that were used in the service department for service delivery are new cars

there are new cars whether they got 500 miles or 5,000 miles on. Why? Because the law says if the car has never been titled, it's a new car. So you can buy a new car that's got 300,000 miles on it. That's the reason I think the definition of new cars should be refined. But unfortunately, you just have to be careful. So it's a demo. And that's why it's marked down. He added that it had a 350-degree bird's-eye view.

Is that a bird's-eye view, 350-degree? Fully loaded and included a smart app with seasonal settings. Smart app with seasonal settings, allowing remote start and automatic adjustment of interior air temperature. I wonder if that might just be a typo that was meant to be a 360-degree view. You're exactly right. very very very very very absolutely still was a little tired last night when he typed out I asked Paul could you provide a price sheet for this vehicle I'm very

interested Paul replied we don't do price sheets here that's just a arrogant stupid comment we don't do price sheets here how about I'm sorry we don't you know that's just me the price you see hanging in the window is the price plus dealer fees taxes and tag well that's a contradiction in terms the price you see in the window is the price pause plus let me say what dealer fees or other junk fees it's not a polite term but their profit for the dealer Brian immediately asked are you looking to buy right now I replied I'm planning to make a purchase this weekend but I haven't fully decided on the vehicle yet

Brian cut me off mid-sentence saying confidently, go get your best price elsewhere and bring it back here. That is so South Florida. That is so Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Stuart, I'm sorry to say, which is north of Miami quite a bit. It's about an hour drive, but it's still South Florida, and it's rough and tough. And they got the junk fees,

the dealers in all accessories, and they got the salesman all saying when you want a price, go get your best price and bring it back here. Otherwise, they're afraid you'll buy from the competition. Well, that's called the American way of life, competition, capitalism, shop and compare prices. That's one of the things that makes USA a great place to live. we have a free market economy and when you tell somebody you're not going to give them a price that's not free market that's controlling the customer and the price and conspiring with your competition indirectly to keep a higher price so he guaranteed they'll beat the price of course

I like to I guess they would put it in writing some dealers do put it in writing but they're they're lying. It's a question whether they're going to lie in verbally or in writing or both. Unhappy with his attitude, I said, I need something to work with because I genuinely like this vehicle. Brian instructed Paul. This is really, I'm laughing because I used to do this, and I hate myself. I need to see a psychiatrist, and I would say, why do I hate myself? And he would come, he would talk me back, at the time where I would say to a customer, oh, I would take my business card. I was even worse, I would take,

I don't have a business card in my pockets, and I'd take my business card out, but I'd take my business card out, and I'd say, I'm writing my best price on my business card, and I'm putting it in my pocket. And when you shopped around and you come back, I promise you this price will be lower than any price you got. I did that.

Anyway, psychiatrists would say, well, that's why you have a problem today. And I said, yeah, I know. Anyway, I digress. So he says, write it down a sheet of paper and show her what it would be. Paul wrote this, you know, on the sheet of paper, it says $63,639, dealer fee, $899, tax, $7,000, new tax, $450,000, new tax, $450,000. So it's, okay, it just makes it, you see, the reason they wrote it on a piece of paper is because there's nothing official on it.

And so when you go to the competition and you give a piece of scrap paper with numbers written on it and say, yeah, I can say, I can buy that from Wallace Genesis and here's the price. Well, you're not showing them an invoice or a buyer's order or any kind of a legal document. you got a piece of torn off scrap paper

that somebody could have been you or could have been your mother and could have been anybody wrote these numbers down and you're trying to make this dealer believe that that's a little price of dealer, Genesis gave you. So it's an insult to my intelligence is if I were a shopper. When Brian took a phone call,

Paul quietly confided, I don't agree with the way things are done here but the big bosses set his rules. Believe me, I'm on your side. So here he is trying to align himself with me, the shopper. It's me and

the shopper against his manager. Manager's the evil guy and I'm going to help you fool the evil guy and get a good prize. And that is a crock, as you can well imagine. I push harder with Brian staying firmly. You're going to lose my business

because you refuse to give you a proper price sheet. Brian responded. None of the dealerships around here provide price sheets anymore because people use them to shop around. What? Shop around. You're not allowed to shop around when you buy something.

This is Stuart Florida. Where do you think you are? You pay the price? I tell you, and you believe me. I mean, this is almost comical. Well, it's not because it's the way car dealers operate, almost all of them. I retort then why would I come back?

back here when you won't even give me something concrete to start with. It doesn't make any sense. You're losing my business over this. Brian excused himself saying he would speak with his boss to see if he could make an exception. He returned with a two minutes apologizing, sorry I can't do that. And started scribbling numbers on a piece of paper. Meanwhile, Paul retrieved the sheet from his final cabinet. I looked directly at both of them and said, thanks, but no thanks.

I'll drive hours away before ever doing that. business here because this just doesn't seem right. Paul walked me to the door apologize sincerely and said he wished he could have provided a proper price sheet. He encouraged me to consider returning for my final purchase, emphasizing their phenomenal service department. It's too late for that now. And the exceptional safety, they are the judges, this is a hell of a car. I mean, it's really a great car. I told Paul frankly, I didn't like Brian's Edison. or cockiness, you won't see me again,

I'd rather drive hours to buy a car elsewhere. And there you have it, folks. And it's time to vote, and we'll go around the clock. We'll get Rick's voters and Nancy's voters. You know, before we get our votes in, I just wanted to make a point of the first page of the mystery shopping board. And it wasn't a typographical error.

stew did mean 350 350 degree bird's eye view and chat GPT compares 360 to 350 and I'll hold off on that information so we can move forward

on the votes well we'll start off with Bob from Maryland it says in the beginning it took six minutes to do a sales pitch and get an A and on the 7th minute, they got an F.

Oh, boy. In the beginning, I like that. I just love these folks. Ah, let's see here. Oh, all we got on YouTube so far. All right, we got Tom Steckle says, only $4,000 off on a driven car, plus dealer fees,

an arrogant lack of disclosure is a new type of steel. Grade F. Compare Central Florida Genesis, no dealer fees, and no addenda. Oh. Brian said Latko, just give me the out-the-door price. F.

Andrew Placinski, D. incredibly brazen. Mark Ryan, F minus. Far too much hassle and effort to buy a vehicle. The spelling of the salesperson's last name is close to how they treat customers. Mark Smith says, I figured it would go this way, D minus from me. Mark H. F.

waiting for the rube of the day to show up baby boomer says this one is easy F Johnny Z. Fradley F. Joseph Kelleher dealership not willing to give the customer a price gets this dealership an F Negan 1 says big F and Tim Gilliland says I get the feeling that they really didn't care adios D myself I'm I'm a little torn because Because, oh, we got, Anne-Marie says, hell of a dealership selling a hell of a car. Yes, they earn an H below F. There was a Wallace dealership, I think it might have been a used car dealership, that did such a phenomenal job a couple years ago that we all pretty much crossed the board, gave them an A-plus.

I remember that, you know. And it was well-deserved. And when I heard Wallace Genesis, at first I got excited. I'm thinking, hey, this will be another good. And right now, I wonder, is Mr. Wallace asleep? No, he's just got to. He cannot possibly know. He's got too much going on.

He's a good guy. I've known Bill Walls. We were both young dealers together, and he's really good guy. His father, you know, my mother works for his father. We go way back, yeah. that whole adventure just for me it turned into a slime pit yeah yeah so I'm too big I know you don't like it but I'm saying F I just it felt way too slimy for me yeah I can see why yeah I need to go home and take a shower oh boy I have to say that the salesperson Paul

he went to a lot of trouble to share with agent like this Superman model, Tiger Woods, you know, so on and so forth. And I'm with everyone else. I'm going to give them an F. Boy, I feel, really, the reason I feel bad is I'm going to have to call Bill Wallace and apologize and tell him I'm only, we only did it for your good, and he'll probably go in there and clean up Dodge. I mean, I...

And isn't that a great looking car? I mean, you and I have seen... Oh, Genesis is great. on the road. And it's just, you know, between the Genesis and the Lexus, you're going to pay a whole lot less for the Genesis. And it is aesthetically, I mean, it is just a beautiful car. And with the votes, a couple still coming in, South Florida Two Step says

D-Minus for non-transparency, no real price, 4,000 miles on a new car. Yeah. And here we have Frank and Jupiter Farm says, sadly, the dealerships are still deceiving the buying public. F. On a side note, a neighbor of his had a Pontiac Chieftain wagon in 1969. Okay. Can we get Chad GBT's analysis?

Coach, what sort of grade do you want to give this genesis of Stewart? From what I've gathered, it seems like they did a decent job overall, but they might have had a few minor issues, like maybe some hidden fees or a little bit of a pushy attitude. So I'm leaning towards giving them maybe a C-plus or a B-minus. Let me know if that sounds good to you. Well, thank you, coach. I think probably on the lower end of the scale,

all of us so far, and I do the last vote, have scored them very, very low. I'm I got it that big sense if the rest of the team is leaning towards a lower score we can definitely adjust that grade down maybe we could go with a D or something in that range to reflect that let me know what you think thank you coach that's good

we'll go with I think I'm going to give it because I'll be honest because Bill Wallis is a friend of mine I'm going to give him a D plus and that's a very low grade for a Wallace store and everybody else failed him. And he's got a couple of rotten apples in the barrel there at Wallace Genesis. And the store just opened up. They probably just hired some people.

And I'd be a liar if I told you we didn't have a rotten apple or two at my dealership. And every now and then people get the rotten apples and the whole dealership looks bad. So we'll hope that's the case. And as I say, I will alert Bill Wallace and he will make, he'll clean up Dodge. He really cares about his customers. Yeah. It's too bad that Paul didn't spend more time, you know, being courteous and knowledgeable to Agent Lightning,

you know, spending time on the fact that, you know, Tiger Woods drove the car, the steel, the brand new steel that the, was put together by the Genesis 20, excuse me, GV70. It was just an unfortunate situation, and that was the reason, you know, I feel bad giving that dealership an F, but I had no other choice. You know, I remind people also that our mystery shopping reports, we do go online, we do get a price, but we physically go into the dealership. That's becoming more and more of the ancient, obsolete way of buying a car. It's almost crazy to go into a car dealership. you've got any kind of talent at all with your smartphone, you should not go in.

You should buy completely online. And you can today buy a car. You can test drive the car. You can finance the car. You can take delivery at your home. You literally don't have it. It's scary. It sounds scary because you're looking at a $50, $60,000 purchase.

But you are covered and protect it all the way. And why go in and risk the abuse? that Agent Lightning submitted to when she bought the car. And, you know, a couple of weeks ago, you mentioned, you know, me making phone calls. And, you know, what a mess that turned into. But I was in my office making those phone calls. So when you walk into a dealership, you know, it's a roll of the dice.

Okay, folks, Jonathan, we have one minute left. Uh-huh. A quick note. Those that want to be able to test drive a car, without going to the dealership. Check out certain rental companies around town to see if they have the make and model that you want to drive or consider like two row where you can rent the vehicle

from another person already owns it and drive it for a day or two so you can really get a good drive in like highway, back roads, backing in and out of parking spots, finding out where the blind spots are, so you can really feel comfortable in the car before you go to buy. That's a great idea, Rick.

And I second the motion. And most importantly, getting a feel, pardon the pun, for the seat and the comfort, the inside of the car. I mean, once you purchase that vehicle and you get in and go, oh, my aching back, what do you do? So, like Rick said, check it all out. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us this morning here at the Old East Channel. Earl on Cars. We'll be right back here next Saturday morning at 8 a.m. Have a beautiful weekend. God bless.