Earl Stewart on Cars - 09.07.2019 - Your Calls, Texts and Mystery Shop of Delray Buick GMC

Episode Date: September 7, 2019

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

WSVU, North Palm Beach, W-240CI, North Palm Beach, W-295 BJ Jupiter, W-223 C.J. West Palm Beach. Good morning. I'm Earl Stewart. I welcome you to Earl Stewart on Cars, a live talk show all about how to buy, lease, maintain, or repair your car, without being ripped off by a car dealer. With me in the studio is Nancy Stewart, my wife, co-host, and a strong consumer advocate, especially for our female business. We also have Rick Kearney, an expert, on how to keep your car running right. I dare you to ask a question that Rick can't answer about the mechanics or electronics of your car. Also with us as my son,

Stu Stewart are linked to cyberspace through Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Periscope. Stu is also the Spymaster Director of our Mystery Shopping Report. He dispatches our secret shopper weekly to an unsuspecting self-forward a dealership. And now, on with the show. Hey, folks, good morning.

I'm the guy you were just listening to. I don't really like the sound of myself. I've said this before. I might have to re-record that introduction, but my name is Earl. I'm a recovering car dealer, and I say that in total transparency, because some people think of this show. I hope they don't, but I know there must be some to think this is kind of a self-serving infomercial. It truly is not. I am a Toyota dealer. I've been one for 47 years. In fact, I've been a dealer for longer than that. I started out as a Pontiac dealer many, many, many years ago, 1968, to be exact. But what I've evolved into is somewhat out of a consumer advocate, and this show is a big part of it, 15 years on the air. And this is a real live radio show, by the way. This is an Internet show. It came up the other day when someone called me to do a podcast, and I didn't have a microphone to speak into my PC, and they want to know how I did my radio show. I keep forgetting with technology what it is today, you don't need a radio studio to do a show.

You can do a show from your home or office or wherever you want to. We're on the True Oldies Station, and we can be streamed live at streamerlancars.com, or you can tune in 95.9 FM, or what is that, 106.9 FM. But typically people stream us. We are international now. We actually had a call from Bali a couple of weeks ago, Steve Chimelda, a gentleman that has home in Juneau Beach, and also Bali. That's our long-distance record, but we're all over.

We've had calls from out of the country and all over the United States. And we encourage you to call because your calls really truly make the show. Nancy, Stuart, my co-host, and I were driving to the studio this morning, and she said, what's the focus of our show, do you think? And I said, well, it'll be whatever the callers want to make it.

So please call 877-960-99-60. 877-960-99-60 and if you can write this down if you're not in the car we don't want you to do anything unsafe if you can write this down please write it down because even if you don't have a thought in your mind now or contradiction affirmation question whatever it may be you'll have a call you'll think of it later in the show I promise you 877-960 9960 and you can text us. I actually think last week we had more texts than we had calls. It might have been

because we had a problem with the phone. Phones, I'm not sure, but you can text us and this is kind of cool because if you text and we don't get to you right away, we will get to you. It might be five minutes or ten minutes. Sometimes towards the end of the show, it might be next week, or we'll just text you back.

Text number 772 497-6530. That's 772 4976530. And of course, there are no end to our communication techniques. We can do Facebook. Facebook.com, o'erl on cars, forward slash rolling cars. Facebook.com forward slash earl on cars. YouTube, Twitter, Periscope. We're all over the place. Just Erlon cars and you'll find a way to talk to us. And you can see us, of course, on YouTube or or Facebook. You can see what we look like. And occasionally we hold up some stuff.

Before I go around the table and ask our panel here, my co-workers on this show, Earl and Cars, I just want to emphasize our mystery shopping report. It's so interesting, so unique. There's so much repetition on television, radio, internet, but we have something I don't think anybody else does. A real live mystery shopping report. Every week we send a mystery shopper, our current mystery shopper, referred to anonymously as Agent Thunder. Agent Thunder goes to a car dealership somewhere in South Florida.

Every week, it goes in and pretends to buy or lease a car. It's really cool. We name names, we have a list, recommend a dealer list, and another list where we recommend you don't buy from these car dealers. And the mystery shopping report results are very, very important as to which list they end up on. And we also ask your vote, because you can vote on any of the sources, text us, call us, YouTube us, or whatever you want to do at the end of the show. But it is interesting and unique, and I think the reason other people don't do this on television or any other way, it exposes you to a lot of potential lawsuits. We actually tell the truth, and therefore we are insulated, not from a suit, but from losing a lawsuit. We've been threatened with lawsuits, but they have never transpired because we do tell the truth.

If someone lies to us, we name the name of the car dealer, we name the name of the salesman, we name the name of the managers, everybody we talk to, we name. And if we get a good report, integrity, honesty, transparency, we talk about that, and we recommend that you buy a car from that car dealership. So that's coming up in the second half of the show. If you stay tuned for no other reason or if you tune back in. for no other reason I asked to tune in to the Mystery Shopping Report. My son, Stu Stewart, is back with us, and I welcome Stu back to the studio.

Had a little minor surgery a couple weeks ago, and he missed a Saturday. And he's back. He's kind of like the cyber guy. And he hears your email in here, and he sees your text first. He sees your post first on Facebook. and he kind of keeps things going. He communicates with the cyber world. And welcome back, Stu, and glad to have you.

And anything you want to say to the guys out and the gals out there? Oh, just that it's, well, first of all, it's good to be back. I hate missing the show. My favorite thing is the Mystery Shopping Report. Every week, it's something new. We always learn something, and we're always shocked. We're either shocked in a good way or shocked in a bad way. So it's never boring, so it was good to get it.

back into that and I think we got a really good one this week unique report too you just tell him a little bit I was shocked when I heard about the report and mainly because I didn't I hadn't heard of this car dealer I hadn't seen his advertising and I didn't know he was there but hey excuse me guys Howard you can hang on we'll get right with you and to Ken I love your humor about no sound and I'll take the opportunity to ask Jonathan are we very very good okay Back to Stu. Yeah, so we mystery shopped Del Rey-Biog, GMC, which is down on U.S. 1 in Delray Beach. And, yeah, we always do some background, a little research on our targets.

And I found out this was part of a group called the Garber Automotive Group. It's been in business since 1907. 1907. 112 years. Man, oh, man. Well, let's get to Howard. I hate to keep anybody holding. Howard, I didn't even know you'd call, so.

Yeah, Howard is giving us a call from. New York and he's calling about an EFC light I believe it is and that's your electronic stability control and good morning Howard how are you fine thank you how are you all doing great how's everything how's everything in Florida wonderful better than everybody thought it was it was terrifying but I would have felt better if I were in New York with you when it happened and but everything's fine And I think it was very little damage here that the Bahamas took the brunt of it, as you know, and it was a terrible situation over there. That's a real shame.

I mean, people should start donating. Yes. I know churches and synagogues are trying to, you know, donate, you have to get their people to donate because that's really important. Yeah, very important. Okay, here's my question. My granddaughter lives in Cape Cod, and she made a mistake, I believe. She purchased a car from secondhand car dealer, and it was a challenger.

2016 challenger. It wasn't an accident, but she said the accident was severe. However, after she purchased it, the electronic stability light came on, control light came on. She wanted to find out what situation is, so she brought it into Dodge, and Chrysler, she said. And Chrysler said that it looks like the stealing wheel was off, and that aligned. So that's strange, but they said they could handle it. They could align the car. They aligned the car.

The light went off, but my question is, Is this normal? I mean, should the electronic stability light go off in a situation like that with a steering wheel wasn't completely set correctly? I can answer that? I bet. I'm willing to bet that what happened was when the alignment may have been done in the accident, they may not have reset the steering angle sensors so the electronic stability control that wants to see where the wheels are turned to, if those settings aren't right, then yes, that will throw a code and throw those lights on. So that's probably what Chrysler was correcting and they, you know, redid the alignment, made sure everything

was straight and that the steering wheel was straight, and reset those sensors so that they were basically zeroed out so that the computer knows where that steering wheel is centered. Okay, because Chrysler said there's no problem, not to worry about it. So, I mean, if Chrysler said it, it wasn't a, you know, secondhand mechanic, it said it was Chrysler, so I guess she's okay. But my question, I have another question. Massachusetts is a big snow state. How's a real-wheel drive, a real-wheel car driving snow? I heard that the front-wheel drive is much better in snow.

What do you think about that? Well, they've been running rear-wheel-drive cars in the snow for 100 years, so I don't think there's really that big an issue. It's more with learning how to drive in the snow. The only other issue that you're going to see is the front-wheel-drive cars are going to have a little easier time running in the snow. Well, I was going to, let me interrupt you briefly. I would never challenge your technical expertise, but I would think...

But you're driving. I would think that it's easier to drive a front wheel car, drive car in conditions, slick conditions, including snow. Yes, absolutely. And I know they've been driving the front wheel drives for many, many years, but that was before the rear wheel, before the front wheel were invented. And I think all things been equal. if I lived in icy areas I probably would buy a front wheel drive car. That would be the preferable or

the best option, all-wheel drive. Yeah, exactly. You're right. But of course, you know, if she likes that Chrysler, if she likes that challenger, then it's just more of a learning curve, learning how to handle that car in the snow. And of course, those challengers

are, you know, some of those things, depending on what engine is, that's quite a powerful car. So there's going to be a learning curve also, learning how handle it in slippery conditions. Boy, did I ever learn how to drive in the snow. You're not going to tell us about it. Be careful.

Tell us about Pittsburgh, please. Nancy, I believe you have experience driving. Oh, gosh, do I have a whole lot of experience? My scarring moment was coming down a hill backwards, lost my brakes, in the snow. Oh, my God. Yeah, I won't continue. Anyway, what else can we do for you, Howard? No, you did great.

Thank you very much. I appreciate it, and I'll be there in a couple of months, so I'll be seeing you in person. Okay? I'll be looking for you. Wonderful. Okay. Bye. Have a great weekend.

Give us a call toll-free at 877-960-9960, or you can text us at 77-7-7-7-7-7-7-9-7-6-5-30. You know, I just got a question for you. We're talking about front wheel, rear wheel drive cars. Howard's question, why do they make rear wheel drive cars now? What is the reason, speed performance, acceleration, or what is the engineering technical design reason for having a rear wheel drive car? I think you hit it in one. It's the speed and performance of them,

and the fact that you can build a bigger engine that sends the power back to the back wheels, by having that size of the engine and transmission spread throughout the length of the car rather than trying to compact it all just in the front of the car where an engine and trans axle for a front-wheel drive has to be. You know, I have a funny story. It'll take a second, but there was someone a while ago that left Florida and moved to Denver, Rick. And when he got to Denver, he had a lot of acquaintances say to him,

you don't have a front-wheel drive? what are you going to do in the snow? And he had to, you know, he had to make some changes. It's very important. But I'm not familiar with the rear rear front backward or whatever it's called wheel drive. I'd never heard of it. Yeah, well, you got front wheel, rear wheel, and all wheel. The name of the game is all wheel drive.

And I guess eventually maybe all cars will have that. Learn something new. Okay. Give us a call, 877-960, 9960. we don't have any text coming in, so. You got a couple? Oh, we got a couple. Okay, I saw a blank. Oh, you had two little lines there. I can't see across the table. I need to use a Sharpie.

There you go. Okay, this one's from Anne-Marie. So, good morning, Anne-Marie. Thanks for listening. I hope you can hear us. Anne-Marie says, good morning. I hope everyone as well. I recently read an article on jalapnick.com that some automotive manufacturers are developing

systems where one can turn on the AC or the heat if you're up north, unlock a vehicle and start it with just a cell phone. No key fob needed. As a geyser in training, I have four questions. One, is this really a good idea? Two, do you ever get customers asking for vehicles that can be controlled by a smartphone? Three, if such a system were created, how could one leave it for maintenance? Nowadays, one leaves a key or key fob with the vehicle when it goes in for maintenance. I can't see why one would want to leave their phone at the shop with their car. And number four, what could possibly go wrong? And that was a rhetorical question. That's from Anne Marie. I can actually address this, answer a couple of her questions. Believe it or

not, we do get customers that do ask for it. And I'm also aware of other manufacturers, including Toyota that's doing a, it's called a digital key. It's an app that can be used to do a lot of stuff. They already have it, as a matter of fact. You can start your car. You can get your gas information, how much fuel you have left. And you can unlock the car. You can start. it. There is a valet mode with it so you can give a temporary pass to allow somebody to temporarily use your car. I believe you send them a link on it with, it's similar with these home smart locks that you have a home. You can give someone temporary access. It's actually a lot more control than you have with giving some of your key fob. You can give a valet or a service department

access for a short time or for just a day. And if they go beyond a certain geographical area, that you indicate you can be alerted you can put a speed alert so if you give it to a valet if you see you get alert that your car's going 80 miles an hour you know they're not parking your car so um the answer and the other uh part is what could go wrong um i don't know i guess we got to start using it for a while to find the uh what the pitfalls are um it does seem with how secure smartphones are now with biometrics you know using face recognition and thumbprint it might actually be more secure than using a key fob which can be stolen and and uh you know, you know.

I have a question on that very issue, and maybe Rick knows the answer. I have that feature on my car, and what I thought would be best about being able to start my car was the fact that I thought I could, you know, if I was somewhere, and I parked my car out in the hot Florida sun, and it's 95 degrees out there, and maybe I'm having lunch at a restaurant someplace, and before I walk out of the car, I start my car, and I thought the air-conditioned, would crank up it would cool it off and I walk out there but when I start the car my air conditioning doesn't crank up it just starts the car and as soon as I open the car the engine stops there's also a 10-minute limit on how long the

engine will run I can have you started early yeah see there is there is there a setting I don't know about why doesn't the air conditioning continue to run that would have to have a setting that should be able to be turned on. And the reason I know about the basis on it, we've had remote starts for cars for 30 years or more. And the ability to start your car with a key fob from a long distance, people here wanting their air conditioning cold, people up north wanting the car to start up and warm up in the wintertime. So when you get out to the car, the engine's already warmed up and you're ready to drive the car. And I would assume the smart key are the smartphone systems now, there's got to be a way

that it's got to have some key authorization. Because on remote starts, when you open the door or step on the brake pedal, the car would shut off unless it sees your smart key is now in the car or you put the key in the ignition and turn it on. Otherwise, that remote start is going to shut the car off automatically for security. Before we get to the next text, I have one more bit of trivia. Not really trivia, but on this. I want to show you something because we're streaming. Is this about Lake Worth?

No, if you want to, if you want to extend the range of your remote key, you hold it up to your Ford. Or under the chin. Yeah. This seems like an old wives tale or an urban legend. It's been tested. It actually tested about double the range. So if you're going towards your car and you want to unlock it. It works really well with you because you're a six-five.

Yeah. The first time I did it, I really felt foolish because when someone tells you something, it's a joke, and then after you do it, it doesn't work in the camera doing it. But this actually works. It does, and guess what? I have to stand on the hood of my car to achieve what you just showed the audience. It works even better if you put a tinfoil hat on, too. Well, it shows that you're related to Lucille Ball.

Remember she picked up radio transmissions in her fillings. Oh, yeah. They did that on Gilligan's Island, too, I think. I have a question about the remote. Something happened to me the other day. My remote was in the car. You remember this. I was leaving around 6.30 in the morning.

I had a cup on top of my remote in the cup holder, and my car wouldn't start. Was it a metal cup? Remember whenever I jumped out, and I said, I've got to find my remote. I got back in the car, and I said, the remote has to be here. I know it has to be. And I just, for some reason, kicked up. Really? picked up my cup and

my car started. She was drinking iron filings. Yeah, there had to be something in there that was blocking that because... The kale? I know there are times... Lots of iron in that, and that's what it was, yeah. Do we have any calls? I'm a surprise way we've only had the one call from ours, is that it?

No. 877-960-99-60. Love to hear from you. You know, we like your voices. We accept your text, your Facebooks, your YouTube, but love to hear your voice. 8-7-7. 960 9960 we'd love to have you call and Nancy remind them about the special deal we have first time female callers we do we have a special deal as we have every Saturday morning for you ladies that are listening if you give us a call and you're a new caller the first two new callers will receive $50 and if you'll call

at 877-960-99-60. You can receive that $50. Give us a call and say hi. Give us a call and share your story with us, maybe about leasing, buying, whatever. We'd love to speak to you. And for everyone else who would like to text us, 772-497-6530. I think we have a YouTube, don't we, Rick? We do indeed. Mr. Darkhawk, 1972, from Missouri. He's got a question here. He says, he just got approved, or I'll speak in the first person for him. I just got approved for my local credit union. Unfortunately, I've now started to waffle on what I want.

And I've now developed analysis paralysis. I'm guessing he's having second thoughts about which car he's decided to buy. And he says, has this ever happened to any of you during your car buying experience? I can see why there's just a huge number of choices out there. And to me, the best way to relieve yourself of analysis paralysis would be consumer reports. And, you know, let's face it, there are very few basic things that are important about a car. And on the bottom of the list is how pretty it is. Safety, reliability, cost of maintenance, cost of insurance,

performance. All these are covered with consumer reports. And you can literally go to any manufacturer or type of car and make a general decision and pick the very, very best. Consumer reports is the most, what's the word? They don't accept bribes. They don't accept advertising. They are pristine in terms of transparency and integrity. I'm not saying they're perfect, but when they give you an opinion on the car...

It's the most credible. It's credible. So use that, and then you can narrow your choice. You don't have to get number one choice, but just don't buy the do not recommended car. And believe it or not, they have that list. These cars, they say do not recommend. If you do, they can kill you. I mean, some of them are just flat and unsafe or bankrupt you because they can cost you so much to operate.

But that's what I would suggest. He's from the show-me state, right? Missouri, yes, sir. Show me. Consumer reports will show you. And also it might be a good idea Maybe to go and even rent One of the models that you're looking at

To drive it for a day or two Just to get a feel, you know, is that really the car you want? Yeah, exactly Okay, we got some text too, I think, don't we still? Yeah, we got one from Barry FCC lets us say jackasses, right? I think so. I think I just said it.

All right, all these jackasses all say you can't give me a price They can't give me a price because they have to see the trade car in person all BS. Maybe 5% give me a range. The rest don't give crap. This is a very profane tweet, but quarterly. Any suggestions? I'm trying to sell my 2012 S-63, not that many miles and in excellent condition. Well, you know, 10 years ago, that would have been more of a problem today. Believe it or not with our high-tech wholesale evaluations of cars, there are ways to appraise a car very accurately, not without actually seeing it, because there is the element of, am I getting an honest representation of the car? But with honest representation and description of a car, you can get a very close

idea as to what the wholesale value, which you can sell the car for. In fact, there are even sources where you can get estimated retail value. The dealers that will not give you, the information on the phone are probably trying to lure you in because they can't sell you a car on the phone. That's an old-fashioned expression I used back in the day before I became a recovering car dealer. You always have to get them inside the dealership physically present so you can take advantage of that and sell them a car that maybe isn't the right price and make a profit for you and not such a good deal for the buyer. But today you can literally buy a car online over the time.

telephone, and you can get a fairly accurate representation of what your car's worth. Carvana is a source. CarMax is a source. What's the one? We buy anycar.com. We buy anycar.com. All these are national companies that will give you not necessarily the best value for your car, but an honest value for your car.

It puts you in the ballpark, and then you can use that to start your negotiation. but always get, you know, multiple bids anyway, so. Exactly. Yeah. We have one from DVC. Question is, is there still Florida State and local tax when rolling negative equity from a trade-in into a new car purchase? Thank you, Mr. Stewart, for all you do. Well, when you buy a car and you trade and you have a trade,

you're only going to pay the sales tax on the difference. A few lines down on the bar's order you add in whatever payoff that might be. So no, you're not paying sales tax on it. You're paying sales tax totally on the difference between the sales tax. sale price, the new one, and the trade-in. But you do have to pay what you owe to the bank. Exactly. How are we doing? We have one more, and this came in from our buddy in California, and it was kind of long, so I'm going to paraphrase it. A couple of weeks ago, he texted us and had a question about whether

it made sense for him to buy his Mustang that he's leasing from the dealership instead of just turning it in and walking away. It turns out he checked into the values, and it looks like it is a pretty good deal to buy his 2016 Eco Boost Premium Mustang. His question is, even though he's been servicing it at the same dealer since he's been leasing it, would it make sense for him to take the vehicle to an independent mechanic or technician to get it looked at again for any problems that might have been missed by the servicing dealer? And we talked about this before the show.

And actually, that does make a lot of sense to do because Rick could probably chime in on that for the actual pitfalls. He might avoid by doing that. It's always good to get a second opinion, and that's, it might be inconvenient, but it's always a, it's a smart move, I think. Well, one of the dirty little secrets that auto dealers have, and it's not the dealership themselves, it's the manufacturer. Dealerships are not allowed to upsell warranty work unless it's a situation that would cause, very quickly cause more damage to the car and make that warranty claim much higher. So if there's something wrong with the car that would be covered under warranty that the dealership sees, but the customer's not complaining about it, the dealer is actually required by the manufacturer to keep their mouth shut. Let me ask a question, because that really gripes me. You're absolutely right about that.

It bugs me, too. What if it's a safety issue? Well, now, if it's a safety issue or, say, a big oil leak, something that is going to cause more damage down the road, but it's better to fix it now, then you're allowed to mention it. And especially a safety issue, yes, you are allowed to say, hey, you have the safety issue here. We can cover this under warranty. So then you're allowed to do that. But if it's something that the mechanic sees that technically wouldn't become a much worse problem, but it's something the owner should be aware of, we're not allowed to say anything while that car is still under warranty. And I beat up the manufacturers a lot, and I'm so sometimes I have to come to their defense.

One of the reasons that they have this policy is that there are dealers out there who will steal from the manufacturer, just like they'll steal from a customer. And it's called warranty fraud, and they will make up a problem and pretend to fix it, submit a warranty claim to the manufacturer, I mean the dealer, and get paid. Sometimes the owner of the car doesn't even know what's going on. They can even force the signature. So there have been some enormous cases of warranty fraud. Car dealers have been canceled, their franchises, their contracts to sell cars with that manufacturer

eliminated because of warranty fraud. And I think that that's a rationale. I still don't like the policy because I think if they don't have a trust relationship with a dealer, there are other things they could do rather than penalize the customer. Absolutely. But unfortunately, the customer is caught in that trap, you know, caught between a rock and a hard place. So, yeah, I would find a mechanic, someone very well qualified that you can trust and just ask them, hey, you know, look this car over and tell me,

is there anything that I need to know about it? Great information. Ladies and gentlemen, if you didn't get that number earlier, 877960, or you can text us at 772-497-60, and don't forget, ladies, give us a call. Give us a shout-out, say hello, win yourself $50. First, two new lady callers can win yourself $50. And I received a text last week that I'd like to, I just remember. unfortunately it's a bit of a sad story a young lady better name of Jennifer purchased a flood car she she got all the history report she got a report from Carfax and she didn't know it

wasn't on the report she didn't know that she purchased a flood car and until a couple a days later when she started smelling mildew and everything that comes with a flood car. And Jennifer, I'm really sorry that happened. You know, it's so important to always have a mechanic inspect a used car. And the truth be told, as far as CarMax is concerned, you know, it's far from the truth that they will let you know that you have a, it's a flood car. The used car is flood car. So that's the reason I think that it's always important to check with your mechanic and let him do a full inspection on that car. 877-960 or you can text us at 772-497-2-497-6530. Another text. We have a text from Chicago, Illinois. That's from Kevin.

Says, I've heard October is an ideal month to purchase a vehicle due to the fact that dealerships need to sell more of the 2019 models so they can showcase the 2020 models. Is that true? Actually, no. Not so much. They will tell you it's a case, and it's a lot of the things that you hear like that are motivations to get customers to come in and buy. It's surprisingly, the one advantage you have is to buy at the end of the month

or at the end of the year is a particularly good time. The dealers are incentivized oftentimes to sell their older model cars. Manufacturers will put incentives, rebates, to move the last year's model. But the whole idea that you can save a lot of money by buying last year's model is just actually not true. You're actually better off to pay a little bit more for the current model, the new model, than try to save a whole lot money, the old model. the depreciation usually trumps offsets all the advantages of buying last year's model and the other thing I can add to that is most of the major manufacturers Toyota Honda give it a month or two get the next the

new model year will be worth more like Earl just told you but they're pretty desperate especially if it's a high volume car you know if you're looking at a Honda a corridor or Toyota Camry wait two months there's going to be some incentive there's going to be some rebate some kind of cash incentive for you so So don't do it the first month that comes out. And also because you maybe want to shake out and read some reviews and consumer reports, things that might indicate problems with the car. Yeah, it's a tough thing to do. Sellers of any product exploit urgency.

Why to buy now. Would you do an advertisement? The ad agency says you have to give the potential buyer a reason to come in today, a sense of urgency. And believe me, that works against you. It works against the price you pay. The best thing you can do to get a good price on the car, one of the best things you can do is to take your time. And don't ever buy an impulse, on a motion, and never ever buy the same day you go out car shopping.

The car shopping experience should be at least two weeks, preferably 30 or maybe 45 days. Take your time when that car salesman tells you, this is the best price that you can get, but you have to buy it today. Just do it with 180 and walk right out. That is never the case. You can always do better by doing some more shopping and comparison, doing some internet analysis, checking with true car, Costco. Competitive shopping will always get you a better price. Yeah, I agree with you.

And you know, you used the word experience. Gosh, I'll tell you what, an event, an experience when you're purchasing a vehicle. And that's the way you should look at it because it is an important investment. you're making. It's like buying a home, buying a car. So take your time, digest it, go home, think about it. Give us a call 877-960-99-60, or you can text us at 772-497-2-497-6-5-30. Yeah, the fact that we're not getting any phone calls concerns. I mean, but Jonathan, can you call the radio line and see if you can get through? Yeah. The phones are working. Car, oh, the phones aren't working.

Okay. Then it's your fault out there on radio net. Please give us a call. Shame on you. Are we boring? You know, I got to give a shot out to everyone out there. And I'll tell you what, the panel here, everybody in the studio, we understand you're still sort of getting yourself together physically, mentally, because what a week it has been. So give us a text, if you can't put those words together, and you can text us your question, your comment, how, you know, we can improve the show, 772-497-6-5-30, and as a matter of fact, of what's really important,

Your Anonymous Feedback, Your Anonymous Feedback.com. Yeah, we get some of our most interesting emails from Your Anonymous Feedback. Y-O-U-R, A-N-O-N-Y, M-U-U-S, Feedback, F-E-E-D, B-C-C-K.com. Your Anonymous Feedback.com. We have no idea where the question comes or the comment so you can say anything you want to. Well, I want to thank Nancy for reminding me that we had that because we have a couple of anonymous feedbacks that came in early this morning. So let's get to it. This is obviously anonymous.

Why do dealers make you initial the paper with the payments? It's not a contract. Is this a ploy to create mental ownership and to attach or commit the buyer to proceed with the purchase? A signature carries more commitment than a verbal reply, yeah, let's do it. what would be a good sounding retort to the dealer of subsequent discussions in the box don't jive and they hold you with the hold you to the initial document with the payments as legal and binding as a legal and binding document I can think of only one and there is a series of symbols ampersands in other words profanity you I want a phrase perhaps containing the proper legal terms to make the financial manager stumble for words as I walk out the door

and you are certainly imagining a very dramatic, very dramatic experience. Let me just tell you, as someone who has been trained in car sales by some of the most evil trainers out there. It never really sunk in, but yeah, that's to create a commitment. When they train salespeople to sell cars, they ask you to give deposits, sign things, even on non-legal documents like worksheets. I mean, I've even seen it on a just a napkin sign here. And the idea is you're trying to get a mental commitment. I don't know if that's ever been tested out by psychological studies or anything like that. It's certainly believed by the car dealers.

But to answer your question is, no, it's not legally binding. And if you initial anything, until you sign the actual bank contracts and buyers order, you're not held to anything, it's all, like you said, it's a lot of BS. It is. Pure psychological intimidation. I think we've got a caller. We missed a caller. Yeah, a very, very important caller.

Gosh, we've missed you. John, welcome to the show. John's calling from Palm City. Good morning, good morning. I read an article last month in USA Today that ultra-car prices are down by 50% or more. For instance, they gave an example, Aston Martin, 54% is down, Lamborghini, 56%, Rolls-Royce, 48%. quite a bit on ultra cars. Now many

listeners do not buy one or own one but I just was curious as to what the reason that most people don't believe, they're interested not in buying a used ultra car but they buy

the latest new Bentley or Rose or Lamborghini and the main reason that USA states is because they want to update their gadgets. Any comment on the ultra car price? I've got a theory, John. I don't know if this is accurate, but I know that Tiffany sales have been down. The stock price is way down. And I heard the commentary on CNBC Finance Network that they think it has to do with China's economy slumping. And the Chinese have a very high percentage of the world luxury market. You don't think of the Chinese of being purchasers of luxury goods, but they do. They buy a very large Chinese.

And I think that might be the reason why the prices are dropping because the Chinese aren't buying. Sounds good to me. The other thing is one of the worst cars ever made, and you don't see them around, I don't see them riding, I don't see them, I use car lots. What happened to Walla Hummer and Hummer 2s? Were they sent to other countries? Do you ever run across one that's want to be traded or see one? I don't even see one on the road. I haven't seen a Hummer in a long time.

I think it was, Rick's got an idea. I actually just two days ago saw one of the original hummers, the big military-looking version that they first came out with, and it's the only one I recall seeing for weeks. It caught my eye because it was that old original version of it. Yeah, it's a terrible vehicle. I guess people just finally got over the novelty and said, why?

You can't park it. It's hard to drive. It uses enormous amounts of fuel, and people look at you on the road and say, you know, I know anytime I see a guy driving a Hummer, he has a low IQ. I have a gasoline truck following them. Yeah, right. I always say, are you lost? Yeah, well. Because I think they belong in the Grand Canyon or somewhere in that.

The third thing I want to mention too. I mentioned this probably last year. it's a problem again catalytic converters if you see an apartment complex or somebody underneath a car I wouldn't hesitate I would call 911

the theft is especially in some cities the theft is unbelievable because the catalytic converter contains palladium what is palladium it goes for a higher price than gold

so a stolen one and junk value is worth like $150 to $200. So this can be quite a problem. They cut them off one, two, three with a portable sewer. And before you know it, you start your car

up and you hear a terrible noise. And that's the story on the catalytic converters. Yeah, we had any problem with that recently, but we did a while back. Yeah, you're right. Yeah, big trucks and big SUVs were usually the ones that they were hitting.

Oh. Because the catalytic converters were farther back on the exhaust and easier to access. And because of the height of the vehicle, they could slide right up under it, saw that thing loose, like John says, in a couple seconds, and boom, they were gone. Oh. And another thing I want to mention, too, I ran across with myself, you can renew your license plate at a tag agency as much as three months before. But all of a sudden, you run into a situation where she said, well, you're going to need a new plate. I said, what do you mean a new plate. Well, every 10 years, we updated. That's fine. I said, okay, it's included in a fee

because they have to replace it in case with the Florida sunshine and all it could be faded, whatever. But here's the crazy thing about it. And Florida is so sharp on titles and registrations. What happens is she gives you a brand new plate, and she asks you if you want the county or if you want in God we trust or if you want Sunshine State. You have a choice, so you handed the new plate this could be three months now before you actually do on your birthday expire and guess what

you keep your old plate nonsense really they should have it surrendered give you ten days or something and bring it back to them so technically for a couple of months you have a plate that's still on a system

it won't show that car but it still has a current plate tag and sticker on it it doesn't maybe make sense makes no sense you're a great gadfly you're always pointing out things that need to improve

and that's wonderful you know that's something probably you could talk to your congressman about or write a letter to the department motor vehicles but what you describe is absolutely ridiculous well it not only

it happened to me but I thought about at the time and at the same time I'm reading an article in New York Post that called a city employee from the Department of Sanitation, you're not going to believe this, with hundreds of thousands of tickets, okay, and fines that they'd nailed him.

What he was doing, he worked for the sanitation, he knew where the motor vehicle with surrendered plates were being disposed of, not destroyed now, so he took those plates. Wow. Hard to believe. We just lost John.

I don't know how that happened. 877. 960 997-960-877-9-6-0-9-6-0-960 John very sorry we hung up on you and you've got the number I just gave it to you again I'll tell you John we were really happy to hear from you we missed you this past couple of weeks but give us a call I'm sure you've written it down that phone number 877 960 960 and excuse me I'm going to address Phillips text that he sent me from Pittsburgh and he's purchasing a new car, and he wants to know why the dealership is concentrating so much on his monthly payments and keeping them low. And I'll address, I'll give you the answer, and then I'll let the panel, you know, address it.

But this is their way of keeping, well, all these variables. inflate them. And that's anything from the loan interest, the length of time of the loan. And I'll turn this question over to Earl and let him finish the answer. I think everybody's basically a monthly payment buyer. That's what the car dealers call everyone that comes in the door. We think in terms of monthly payments. We rarely think in terms of the cash price of a vehicle. And you have a income. It usually comes in weekly or a month. monthly and you pay your light bill and your mortgage payment and your car payment. So it's not a good way to think about the price of a product.

You should think in terms of the total price because sooner or later you will be paying the total price and then some with the interest. So always check the price and get the best price before you even get into the monthly payment. Monthly payment's important too, mainly because of the interest rate. But don't ever buy a car based on the payment. Usually it maximizes the profit to the dealer. How about YouTube? Excuse me, did we lose our next caller from North Palm Beach?

Yes, we did. Oh, there was another caller, beyond John? I guess we did, or maybe, Tim, give us a call back at 877. I've got it to the moment. Okay, here's what I've got. 960, 9960. I'd like to talk about something that is, kind of an insider thing with car dealers and I've got a page from the automotive news

excuse me we are fortunate enough to have another caller and that is oh Tina's back with us again this Saturday from Benita Springs good morning Tina good morning hi y'all doing this morning good um I love a little gossip and scandal and I was just reading about a big time scandal that happened with one of the the Porsche dealerships in the East Coast. What happened was they had a salesman, and he was taking deposits for some of these very high-end Porsche cars, and people were dropping like $20, $30,000, $40,000 waiting in line

to get one of these vehicles delivered. Well, time kind of went on, and what happened with the account that he was dropping these in was, it grew to about $2.5 million. Wow. And then as that grew, now this man is married. He has 10, count them 10 children, and he was starting to get dollar signs and size.

Now, this was a salesman that the dealership had trusted. He'd worked for them for a long time, and he was very good. So what happened is he started dipping his fingers into, well, he didn't dip his fingers. He'd put both hands into this bank account, and he was living in the high life. Well, everything was all great. Everything was all great until he got caught. Then he was on the lamb for six months, and the last I heard in April, he finally got put behind bars. But he was running up like $10,000, $20,000 bar tabs.

He was taking jets at trips. He was buying all kinds of things just like crazy. He just got greedy. And unfortunately, he ended up getting caught. And the good thing about this portion dealership is they've realized the smear to their reputation. And they're doing everything they can to make it right with the customers. But the moral of the story is you cannot trust anybody that you think you can trust. Well, the same thing happened.

Funny to a, not funny, but the Porsche dealer in Fort Lauderdale, a champion Porsche, and this is two or three years ago. I guess if you're going to steal deposits, it's like a Porsche dealership or Rolls-Royce or Audi or BMW, high-priced cars, call for high deposits, and oftentimes these cars are special ordered, and so you have a good lag time when you can sit on the deposit and spend it. The protection to the buyer is always be sure you get an official. receipt from the dealership. My guess is that the buyers were getting receipts on a business card or maybe a generic receipt that someone would have bought at Office Depot. But if you're buying from Champion Porsche, you want a official Champion Porsche receipt. I suppose that if you wanted to go far enough, you could counterfeit your receipts. So if you're putting a whole lot of money

down. There's two things you want to be sure of when you get a receipt for a deposit. One, that it's a legitimate receipt from that dealership, and you can tell, hopefully, by looking at the receipt, and you can confirm by talking to the manager, and the other thing I want to be sure of when you get a receipt from a car dealer is that it says refundable. In the state of Florida, this is where I've got to keep remember where worldwide, every state's a little different. In the state of Florida, if you state a deposit, positive is refundable. That's your only insurance you can get it back. A car dealer can give you an argument even though you don't buy the car and change your mind of keeping your receipt

unless it says refundable and usually in the fine print on the receipt. Well, you know, I would think that I understand that a lot of people want the newest and the latest and the greatest, but sometimes I think it really pays to be a little bit patient, maybe wait a year or two and then get the car that you want because you're not going to take the depreciation. and you won't have to take a risk with your deposit. You're exactly right. I'd be very nervous. I never thought about deposits.

If you're buying a $100,000 vehicle, I can see a $10,000 deposit being fairly routine, and that's a lot of money. And I would want to be real sure that my money was being kept in escrow and the bank account of the dealership I bought it from, not in the back pocket of the salesman. But that's pretty scary. At least they caught the guy, and I'm glad to hear the dealer is going to be

responsible. They should be responsible, and they're stepping up to the plate to take care of the deposits. But that's a terrible situation. Tena, thank you very much for the call. Yeah, and you know, every dealership should have a set of checks and balances, and not one salesman should be dealing with a situation like that. It should be like two signatures and then an approval from a manager, and then it goes into a dedicated bank account that nobody could really touch. Exactly. The paperwork should reflect the amount of the deposit, and the paper work is the managers to see it, the, you know, the whole accounting department as a matter of record. And that would be one way to verify that the dealership had your money would be to verify with the accounting department

that I just gave my salesman a, you know, a deposit for $10,000. Would you please double check my paperwork in your computer and verify that it's reflected in your records? And that would be probably the best way to verify the deposit. Something I hadn't thought about until you're called, by the way. Thank you very much. Thank you. It's always a pleasure to talk to you all in the morning. Okay, Tina.

Thank you, Tina. 877-960-9960, or you can text us at 772-497-60. Now back to the recovering car dealer. I think we do have a YouTuber. We do have one YouTuber who has chimed in. Frank, of course, says, good morning. And his comment's kind of interesting here. I like this.

The degree of analysis paralysis is how soon you need a vehicle. The less desperate you are, the greater the paralysis. I am suffering from this. The problem I have is I'm looking for a vehicle with Ferrari-like performance, Camry-like reliability, Jeep Wrangler-like looks and comfort, all for about $20,000. I'm still looking. Laugh out loud. Well, I hope you're patient.

You're going to be looking a long time. I was about ready to talk about something that was kind of an internal thing for us car dealers. I'll hold up the page. You won't be able to read it because, first of all, if you listen to the radio, you can't read it. But even if you're streaming, it's a lot of fine print. And it's from the automotive news, and we get this weekly. And the report gives the incentives that are issued called customer incentives. Now, they used to, the Automotive News, used to publish the dealer incentives, but they don't publish the dealer incentives anymore.

I suppose there was a hue and cry from the car dealers. Now, these incentives are quite large, and they're not on the price that you see advertised. They're not on the MSRP. You're really not privy to any of the dealer incentives, and oftentimes you're not even aware of the customer incentives, unless you happen to see the advertisements that the dealer incentives. unless you happen to see the advertisements that the manufacturers do. And these incentives can be substantial. I'm looking at Jaguar here, and they're as high as $11,000. I look here at a Cadillac, it's $8,000, even Toyota to Avalon, as much as $4,000.

And these are advertised by the manufacturers. You may see them. You may not. And on the other side of the equation, the truly secret... at which you will, price reductions, are dealer incentives. Now, let's say there's a customer incentive to buy a particular car. I'll make up a Honda accord. Let's say the customer incentive is $1,000.

They may also be a dealer incentive on that very vehicle for another $1,000 or $2,000. Now, the invoice of that car doesn't reflect this, and the MSRP of that car does not reflect this. So I think you're beginning to see my point. When you go into buy a car from a dealer, the invoice is almost meaningless. The invoice typically packs in profit, hidden profit, of thousands of dollars to the dealer. So when you're told by a dealer, I'm selling to this car at $500 over invoice or $1,000 over invoice, you're actually paying that dealer a big, fat profit.

He can, in fact, sell you that car at his invoice because it's not his cost. It's really something that should be made illegal for the manufacturers and the dealers to call that piece of paper an invoice. If you look it up in Webster, an invoice says the cost of a product, and then you have the retail price. It is not the cost of the product to the car dealer. It is a packed tool to make profit for the dealer. And with that said, I think we have some text coming in. I see. That's great information.

That's from the automotive news, right? Yes. Okay. Unfortunately, we've got calls, and we lost calls. So, Alan and Tim, give us a call back, please. 877-960-99-60. I have something I'd like to say to Matt Goldapper and the management and ownership of True Oldies.

We've been struggling with these phones now for about six weeks. at least. And every week when we talk about it, you assure us the problem will be fixed. So a little shout out to the owners and the management of Truelties, 95.9. Please get these phones fixed. It's embarrassing to us, and it's very frustrating to our callers. People call the show, they like the show, and they get hung up on. It's just embarrassing to us. I hope we can get this fixed by next week. We'll resort to the text now. We're going to, I'm going to interrupt you.

We're going to go to Kaylin, who is a first-time caller, and she's calling us from Green Acres. Welcome to the show, Kalen. And congratulations for getting through the minefield to be able to call this show. Kalin, how can we help you? Yes, hi. Good morning. Good morning.

I have a question. I'm in a lease right now, and my lease is up, January. 13th. I know that's a bad time of the month. As I've learned from listening to you for this past year, I wish I knew all the information I know today from you. Thank you. And I'm really concerned about the fact that I really would like to purchase the car that I am in leasing right now. and due to the fact that I was pressured and I was the end of the day and I was like going down and I said okay

and did give in and afterwards I was very sorry because I had given in a care that I would have had all paid within two years and consequently I've been paying now going on three years for this lease and with nothing in regards turn, how should I approach them on purchasing this?

What is the death way? Well, Karen, I do like the, I have a Kia. I mean, I have a Toyota, Corolla, and I, not a Corolla, I'm sorry. Camera? Toyota, Corolla. No, it's a Corolla. Okay. And I do like it very much.

And I get, you know, excellent gas mileage. and being just turning 81. I'm very comfortable with it. And how can I go about doing this without getting whipped off as I feel like I was? Well, you have an option to buy, and it's on your lease contract. If you look on your lease contract, it's a residual value, and it was determined when you first lease that vehicle. Now, it may be a good price and may not be.

the chances are it's probably higher than you would want to pay to buy that car. Yes, it is. Okay. You might be able to negotiate the price of the car. And Stu, you're more familiar with this. And I believe that the dealer can't make the decision. It has to be the leasing company, right? That's correct.

So you can talk to your dealership and see if they can negotiate a lower price for you. with the leasing company, and if you can't, fine, if not, don't buy it. You know what vehicle you have. You can shop around on an auto trader and see what that year-make model Kia sells for on the open market. And if you want to keep that car, you can have one just like it or close to it if they won't give you a fair price. You might get lucky, and your residual could be a bargain. But before you do that, you need to determine the market value of that vehicle, and you can do that by checking with other sources.

You can talk to, you'd look at auto trader. You can talk to Kia dealers. I'm sorry, I don't mean to interrupt you, but I do have an issue that deals with used cars, deal with ships up in Maine. Oh, good. And he is going to be here this winter in Florida, and he told me he would go and help me if I asked him, if I needed him, that he would be available. So he will know the exact, you know, book value on it for a used vehicle.

Oh, that's great. So I do have that in my favor. Yeah. But, you know, again, I just wondered if you had any helpful ends that you can, you know, have me, keep me aware of. Usually the residual value is a little higher than what you could buy, and sometimes it's not. It can be a bargain, but when your nephew comes in, you can check with the Kia dealer-used car manager. I check with two or three-K-dealer. Toyota. Toyota. It's Toyota.

Toyota. Well, the Toyota-dealer-use car manager, and you can take it to CarMax. You can also check with other sources. But get a third-party verification, and your nephew can help you do that. And if you get it, you're going to buy it for $1,000 less than a residual value, it's great. you don't want to pay much over the residual value and you will know that when the time comes okay now the other question I have is do I still have to purchase it through the lease company or can I just

my bank that I deal with is a union bank and they had offered me a very reasonable price on buying the car and they told me I explained it in my situation. They will give me a check. And they said, you just hold this check in your hand, and it's an open check.

So you can get your best value. And if you don't want that, you can use this to buy. But they will be, my bank is going to be the holder, not them. Well, you'd buy it through the dealership. Yeah, the sale is still going to go through the deal. They'll facilitate, they'll do all the paperwork and the titling and registration, but you definitely can finance it with your own bank. You're bringing a check.

So even you're buying the lease vehicle out. You're not dealing directly with the leasing company. It'll be through the dealer that you're, that you leased it from. Okay. Right now, do I have to do it to them or can I go to another Toyota dealership? Toyota, are you here in the southeast? Are you in Florida? I'm in Green Acres.

Yes, I am. I'm not too far from you, believe it or not. Okay. Yes, I went into, yes. Yeah, so the leasing dealer, the dealer that leased it to you gets first dibs at buying the car, but I think you can choose your dealer, so I don't think that's an issue. You should just let Southeast Toyota Finance, you're probably leasing through, let them know that you want to buy the vehicle, and you tell them the dealership you want to go through,

and that they should work with you. Okay, all right, great. That's great information. Thank you. Caitlin, if you'll hold on. My name is actually H-A-L-E-L-E-N, and usually I, everybody just calls me H-A-L-E-N that makes it easier. Okay, Kayleen, if you have a pencil, you can jot down my number and you can text me your information, and I can send that $50 out to you. Would you like to do that?

Well, absolutely. Everything and anything helps these days. Okay. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Yes. Okay. Okay.

Six four nine eight. All right. Now I'll repeat that. Five six one, three eight six, six four nine eight. Correct. Okay. And my number is going to come up as a 508, doubly mass. Because I've had this phone now for residents nine, nine, nine.

It's 1989, and I've never given it my telephone number. I don't blame you. I live here in Florida. I understand. I'm a Floridian. Well, you send me that in a text, and I'll get you that 50. Thanks again for calling. Okay.

Thank you. You're welcome. Give us a call toll free at 877-960-99-60, or you can text us. 772-497-497-65-30. I think we've got a bunch of text over there, don't we should? Yeah, they're starting to pile up. The first one came in here on Your Anonymous Feedback.com, and it says, Hello, Earl, there's a 2019 Honda Civic Touring that a local dealer is offering just under $27,000

as an outdoor price and $9,000 from my trade to 2013 Honda Civic EXL. From your perspective, is this a good deal? I did a little background before I read this, and on the trade. in on the 2013 Honda Civic EXL, I think $9,000, I guessed on the miles. You didn't give me the miles. I put in average miles about $85,000 and came up with a wholesale value somewhere in $9,9,500. So I think that the trading is okay. Can't speak authoritatively on the price of the new Honda, but what we'll recommend is go to

truecar.com and also go to Costcoauto.com. and that's probably your best bet and how you're going to get the lowest price on the new one. The good news is it looks like they're definitely in the ballpark on the trade, but I couldn't tell you right now if the selling price on the Civic. I did go on the TrueCar, start to price it out, and I got lost in all the options and the packages and the special colors, so it's kind of tough for me to get a good price on that for you.

But Truecar.com, put your zip code in, and Costco Auto.com, put your zip code in, and you should be able to get the best price. And competition is probably, it's not obsolete. We've got all these other sources, price information now, but three Honda dealers fighting each other is the best way to get a low price. Your only challenge when you do that is to keep the apples and the apples and don't mix in the oranges.

Be sure you get the price on the exact same vehicle from three different dealers. Don't get switched to a different model or a demonstrate or something like that. And you do the same thing when you trade in. You get three bids on your train. trade three bids on your new Honda, and that'll give you the lowest price every time. Sounds good. Okay. We are going to welcome Sam to the show, and he's calling us from New Jersey.

Good morning, Sam. Yes, good morning. I'm calling regarding leaving a car in New Jersey and taking it to Texas, because that's where I work and live. So I was looking to lease the 2020 RDX from the dealers here in Jersey. Yes, Accura. I got a good deal from about three dealers, I think, because I was giving them a one-pay lease.

I don't know if it's a good idea. This is the RDX base model with 36,000 miles three-year for $17,000 for three years, including tax, tax, tax and everything what they tell me every time I go to get it they approved me but when I go to take it to get a car they tell me no we made a mistake so it's 19,000 the other two said no we can give it to you because you take into Texas and the other one said no we just won't give it to you I have to go and get it in Texas so that's one of my problems why are they not giving me when I'm there to sign give them one pay

and be done with the three years later I'll bring it back to them or I'll give it up in Texas and then possibly lease another car accurate. And this is my first time doing it. So that's something that's bothering me. Even they approve me, they don't give it to me. And second thing, is it a good idea to lease with one pay or is it really not a good idea? My credit score is 800 plus anyway to begin with. And I also made a deal up in Texas where I got the same car, four-wheel drive, even though I don't need it there, but for 18,000. I thought I could save $1,000 down here in Jersey, versus Texas. So what should I do?

Should I get it only in Texas and pay $1,000 to give me the same price, $17? What should I do? Well, I'm not familiar with Accura leasing programs, but generally speaking, the ones I'm familiar with, one-pay lease, you're paying the same amount in total lease payments, whether you write the check at the beginning or if you make payments over the course of the lease. I have seen in the past where there was,

an incentive to do a one-pays lease. If that's the case, that might make sense to go ahead just write the check up front. If it's the same, I think it makes more sense to keep your money and your bank account and not give it to the leasing company all at once. Number one, just because you let your money work for you, but also because if something changes, say you're six months out and you hate the car and you want to get out, you can get out of the lease a little bit early. And if you write them check for all the payments, you're pretty much out. You've already given the money. You don't have any recourse. To answer your question of why they've approved you and they've given you a total

for the payments and that changed, well, I would definitely try a different dealership. They could be monkeying. They might have made a mistake when they quoted you, but they also could be deceiving. Go ahead. Three dealers did in Jersey to me the same thing, basically. So they gave you an approval on the total amount of payments, and then when you came in, they said it would be more? One told me it was $19,000. Second one told me, no, we won't lease you because you're taking the taxes.

And third one just didn't give it to me, I said. I mean, I'm giving you everything up in front. I'm in a very high profession area anyway, but regardless, I don't know what that has to do with it. Regardless, they refuse me. but I got a deal in Texas, but I'm paying $1,000 more. So I just don't understand what's going on. I'd rather save money that way.

And one-paid lease, what they were telling me is cheaper, so I got into that. But again, the whole three-year thing, they're saying $18, $19, something. I was just trying to save that money there. Yeah, I'm not sure what's going on with these guys. I mean, you're doing the right thing right now. I mean, you're getting multiple dealerships to give you different quotes on the lease. I was going to suggest that because it's so easy to do online that you get in touch with a dealer in Texas

but you've already done that and it's more money. I think you're going down the right path. It definitely sounds really frustrating. I mean, if I were going to try to verify whether a one-pay lease made sense would just get a lease quote just on a regular 36-month lease and you do the total up the payments and then ask them what it would be for a one-pay

You might try calling action. You might try calling Accura, corporate, go online, and report your issue, tell them that you have the issue with three dealers, the same issue. And what that will do will generate a phone call to one of the dealerships or maybe all three of them. That will accomplish getting through to a higher level at the dealership. You never know when someone's trying to scam you, whether it's a low-level scam or a high-level. Usually, it's a low level, and the general manager of the dealership or the owner of the dealership doesn't know about it. When you go on the 800 number to the manufacturer, Accra in this case, and they go to the general manager or owner with your complaint, it kicks your issue up the latter a little bit, and you're less likely to be scammed. But give that a try.

If that doesn't work, call us back. This is a unique problem. I've never heard of this happening with three different dealerships. Usually when you go to one, it happens, and then you go to the second one, and they straighten the issue out. But this is a unique problem. Try kicking it upstairs with Accura. Yeah. Yeah, that's what I tried.

Three dealerships, starting one maybe the wrong one, second, but three, that seems real hard. The other thing is this. When I get a car like this, since this is my first time, I'm scared to get a car that I might at the end of the day. They charge me extra money for this and that and that. So I tell them to give me, or include in the price, something called extra tire wear and tear. That's what they accept and they give it to me. But when I tell them to give me a damage waiver, all three have a different thing. No, we don't offer it.

They have a $750 cap, so anything happens, you can go to your own personal insurance and they will pay for it, blah, blah, blah. And then somebody offered me, okay, there's a $2,000 limit, and you have to pay something extra. Somebody offered me there's a $7 limit. You have to pay something about $2,000 extra for that to cover you up. I'm not so clear. I rather have, when I lease it, or I rather have it protected so that if there's any dings and dangs and what have you happen, I'm protected. Because my goal is after you is to release another one, hopefully from them or the Lexus people. So how do I protect?

What do I tell them to give it to me? So it's the right one I'm buying. I'm protected properly. And at the end of the day, I don't get charged anything additional. what do I do I I would say that you know I are you are you used to having problems and dings and dents in your car the the insurance that you would buy against that would be prohibitive it would be it would be too expensive typically I think just by being very careful when you drive the car and if you have an issue with a

car dent or a ding or a scratch be sure you get an objective of value of what the cost is, but I would never recommend buying that kind of insurance. But don't they sell you something about extra variant insurance and damage waiver? That's what I'm trying to buy so that I'm protected at the end of the lease. And have you leased before? Have you released cars before? No, it's my first time. Okay.

The car that you're currently owned, I mean, how's it look? I mean, I guess what Earl was saying is, and if you typically can go three years with a scratch or a little ding here and there, it's not worth it to buy that extra, the wear and tear insurance. But if, you know, and I know people that maybe it might be in the studio right now that consistently gets little dings and scratches on their car. It might be a bargain for me. It might be a bargain for me. I wasn't, I didn't say it was you. But you were looking at me. No, I was looking at Jonathan. I was looking at myself.

Iowa 2016 CRV, that looks brand new to me. But again, I'm not a professional when you go to these people to look at every single thing and they can add it up. Sam, don't buy it. Don't buy it. It's a lot of profit to the dealer. They sell that, and that's one of the ways they make more profit on the car. It's not worth it. Just drive carefully.

It sounds to me like you're a good driver and the cost of the insurance would be prohibitive. Yeah, true. In the last seven years, I've never had an accident. again, when you park the car, people are sometimes not careful, sometimes they open the door. That's what I'm worried about. But those little dingings are really cheap to repair. The paintless dent repair, you can get, you know, for less than 100 bucks, you might be able to get a door ding out.

A lot of things can be buffed out. And then there's also, the leasing company expects a certain amount. When they drive the car, they know it's not going to come back looking like it was in the showroom. It's called reasonable wear and tear. So there might be a little scratcher, knicker here on the bumper, and they're not going to ding you for it. So, like Earl said, the insurance product is a lot of money, and you don't get a whole lot out of it.

Sam, thanks very much for the call. Yeah, I was just telling them to. And please call us back after you check with Accura. I'm very curious to see what they have to say about why you're being given in the runaround by three Accura dealers. That's very unusual. But call next week, would you please? Yeah, all in New Jersey, in North Jersey. Can you believe it? Yeah.

Call us next week. We're all curious how that works out. Thank you very much for the call. Thank you Bye bye Okay ladies and gentlemen Don't forget You can go to

Your Anonymous Feedback.com And you can voice your opinion It's completely anonymous Say whatever you want Youranonymousfeedback.com I believe that Stu has some texts We got one on Your Anonymous Feedback.com Good morning I have a 2014 and a half

Camry I remember those Part of the touchscreen is unresponsive How much should it cost to get the radio were replaced, ooh, and how long does it take? Thank you. Rick's starting to sweat there because it's not cheap. I haven't got to pay for it. So those radios are stupid expensive. I've seen them as much as $1,000. Yeah. And it's a 2014 technology radio. My opinion, the best way to handle this, go over to Best Buy or your local electronics store. and you can find a radio with 2019, actually 2020 technology

and have it installed there for less than half the price in most cases and you will get a much better updated radio with all the new features and be in a lot better shape. The 2019 radio isn't much better. So if you go aftermarket, in the future they're coming. The good stuff's coming. But right now, you can get a lot better of Best Buy. Sorry, Toyota.

Much better option there. Great advice. Next text. Next one. Hello, I'm rebuilding my credit. I'm going to be financing a car for the first time. I have a co-signer helping me with excellent credit. Is there anything specific?

I need to know about having a co-signer in the process or expectations. That's from Kyle. Well, it's more important that the co-signer know what the co-signer's obligations. The co-signer is totally obligated. Are you trustworthy, Kyle? And I would say, be very thankful. We have a lot of, being in the retail car business, we have a lot of sad stories about co-signers that get stuck with cars,

and sometimes it ruins their credit too. We have an issue now with a man whose daughter didn't make payments on the car, and he was getting ready to buy a home, his retirement home, and now he can't buy the home because his daughter didn't make the payments on the car. True story. So, yeah, be grateful, and there's nothing you really need to know that you should be very thankful to your co-signer. That's right. Just the cosoner obviously is going to have their credit run, so that's going to be on there.

And like he said, it's all up to you. We got a couple more came in. We have, oh, Rick, in California. It says, question for Earl, when did gas station stop calling high-test gasoline ethyl? I didn't know what they called it ethel. Before your time, Stu I'm just thinking of Ethel, what's that from, is that from I Love Lucy? No, no, no.

It's when fuel used to be ethylene alcohol fuel. I was thinking of the woman's name. It was an additive in the gasoline many, many, many years ago. I don't remember the year, but yeah, that's the reason they called it Ethel. It was just like, you know, he called the high-tenance. Shirley. Yeah, Shirley. We used to call it Shirley. I remember Ethel and Lucy.

I think it must have been when I was very. very young because I remember a silly, dirty joke about Ethel. Don't say, I know that joke. Don't tell it. So I had to be an adolescent to have appreciated that joke. Is that why he started smiling as soon as I read that? Okay, you're getting time out. Okay, we got one from a former Mazda dealer here.

It's from Devlin in Wellington. As a former Mazda dealer, I'm sorry, you're the former Mazda dealer, sorry. As a former Mazda dealer, Earl, can you tell me why the rotary engine failed to catch on with Mazda? The rotary engine had a chronic issue with the seals on the triangular rotor that spun around in the combustion area. And they call them the apex seals. And think about it, the RPMs on this rotor would go up to, I'm thinking, 12, 14,000 RPM. and the redline, I used to love driving those rotary engines because you could take it up to 8,000 RPM before it redlined.

And the problem was that the seal would wear out and then you wouldn't get the combustion, it would, well, it would just blow the whole engine. And they kept trying. They never fixed it. As a Mazda dealer back in those days, I made a fortune and warranty work because we would sell a rotary engine,

Mazda, in six, eight, ten months to be back, we put another engine in, then another six months had come back, I put another engine in, and I was making a fortune with warranty work. It's a shame, because other than that, it's kind of like, other than the play, other than that, Mr. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play? The same thing, other than the fact that your rotor engine blows up all the time, how do you like your car? But before it blew up, it was probably the most amazing performance car I've ever driven.

I mean, they were quiet. They had continuous, it was almost like an electric engine. There was no shift. Like a wine. It was a little bit of a wine. But just, they used to win. The rotary engines would win all the races because the races were in displacement class cubic inches.

And a 100-inch cubic-inch rotary engine would outperform a 200-inch combustion piston engine. That's all I know. Ricky, you don't anything. More about that. No, you've got it on the head right there. Covered at all. Every bit of it. When I was a little kid, I remember you had a plastic, a working model of a rotor engine on your desk back at the old dealership in West Palm. And you could turn the end and you can see all the moving parts through the clear plastic. It was really cool. It didn't look like something out of it from a spaceship. Yeah, pretty cool. All right, we got one here from Kevin. And Kevin's also in Illinois. Actually, he texted us earlier. He says,

hello, this is Kevin once again. So I'm in the market for a new. vehicle. However, unlike the majority of customers, I'm paying cash. I still owe about $10,681 in and I'm looking to trade it in. The number of dealerships are offering $7,000 and $9,000 for it. However, when I requested the total price of the vehicle, including tax, title, and license, ends up being astronomically high. Then I noticed that the payoff of my current vehicle is factored into the price. My impression was that they would pay the bank $9,000, and I would pay the negative equity and that would be transferred into the cost of the vehicle. Am I missing something? Yes, you kind of are missing something. So the way it works is first look at the transaction

just in terms of the price, the new vehicle, and the trade-in value of your car. So if they're, say, they're charging you $25,000 for the new one and they're giving you $9,000 for the trade-in, the difference there is, do the math for me, somebody, $17,000. But the point is, then at the very in, then they're going to add your total pay off. Everything you owe on that car is going to be added to that bill of sale. And so when you hear advertisement dealers say, we'll pay off your car no matter what you owe, that's true. It doesn't matter with you because you're paying for it. They're just writing a check. That's right. They're paying it off with your money. Right. So no matter what, when you entered into the contract on the loan for your current vehicle, you owe that money

to the bank no matter what. That's by contract. In the case where you didn't have negative equity, let's say you owed less than the car was worth, you would see that as there, it wouldn't increase that much at the end. But let's say you only owed a thousand on the car. They're going to add that $1,000 payoff at the end of the bottom line of your sales contract. So I can't vouch for whether you're getting a good deal or not, but I can tell you they're doing it correctly. Okay, I have a question from Carla, and she is living in the Orlando area. She wants to know if there are only certain dealers that will hold a car overnight. She's in the process of purchasing a new car.

I don't think so. I think that other than high-pressure dealers, it will push you and pressure you to take their car home right now. But if you decide on a car, certainly if you put a deposit down, I think most dealers would agree to hold the car for you. Okay. Carly, I hope he answered your question. Give us a call toll-free at 877-960-99-60, or you can text us at 772-497-6530, and I believe that Rick has got some... We've got a couple. Roger's got a really good one here, Roger Cobble from YouTube.

If you have a car with a GDI engine, gas direct injection, for an example of Mazda MX5, How often, time slash miles, would you recommend top-end cleaning, valve stem cleaning, and what method of cleaning? And what are your thoughts on oil catch cans? Well, I don't know anything about that high technology, but I do know that you should do what your owner manual recommends. My thoughts would be exactly that on that top-end cleaning. Go with what the owner's manual recommends. and otherwise, because this is kind of a new technology, the gas direct injection, it's almost like how diesel engines work, where the fuel is injected directly into the cylinder.

I would consider looking at sources like Rodent Track, some of the other high-performance magazines and sources like that to see if there's other information out there. And that's actually where I want to look to find a little information on this oil catch can. And basically, folks, what this is, is it's an added device to your car that when you have the hose that goes from the crankcase of the engine back up to the intake, it puts a little can in the length of that in order to catch any oil vapor that's going up and collect it in that can rather than let it go back into the intake manifold. According to a lot of sources, they seem to be a pretty good idea, but I wouldn't worry about it. so much on a newer car. Only if you have an older engine, they're starting to get some miles on it. It might be a good idea to help keep that engine in good condition. Boy, well, I'd be glad when we have all electric cars and we don't have to worry about this kind of stuff. Exactly.

I mean, it's just too complicated. I mean, some of these ideas are really great, but every time it's a new technology and you've got to train new technicians, and it's like a science project to fix a car. You get yourself a big fat battery that'll get you about 400 miles. Four little electric motors. Yeah, a little electric. Well, and then it'll be learning how to handle all the electronics

and the computer controls. It'll get even more interesting. My head's spinning. Can you repeat that answer? Just kidding. Thank you. www. It ain't going to happen.com. Okay, we've got another.

I've got one here from Tim and Florida, and I want to hear your answer on this one, Earl. He says, Earl, I want to buy a vehicle that will get the females attention. Tell me which vehicle to buy from you, and will you guarantee if I buy from you that I

will have to fight the females off of me? Well, that's a trap question, because I got an answer, but it would make me, you know, the evil earl, the old guy. That's right. And I have to give a feminist, or at least a neutral answer.

I was going to say maybe a, you know, like a bright red Mercedes convertible or something like that, but But that's an old-fashioned answer. Yeah. I have an answer for you. It depends on what kind of a woman you're attracting. True.

Yes. Okay. So maybe you can just finish that. Well, it's my super convertible that attracted you, was it? I still remember. Gotcha. It was your blue eyes. That was a car you offered.

I couldn't even spell Celica. Next. I was a Chevy girl. And the next one I have here is from Sam in New Jersey. He's asking on, I believe this was Sam that we were talking about with the one-pay lease for $17,000. He says, Sam from New Jersey, how do I know I'm getting a good deal in a one-pay lease for $17,000? We never discussed with dealer 36-month lease. $17,000 is $4.72 per month.

And does residual value matter in one-pay lease if my goal is to not be. buy the car after three years anyways? Well, the residual they use automatically just to calculate the cost of the lease, whether it's one pay or monthly payment. So residual also doubles as your option to buy, but it's nothing

you need to worry about if you don't want to buy the car. And the only way to compare lease prices is apples and apples with three different dealers with the same make. Be sure you get the right down payment, the same down payment, the exact same car, and the same term, and you got yourself the best deal you can get.

Yeah. And also to reiterate, unless you're getting a huge savings between a one pay and pay as you go, do pay as you go. Don't lock yourself in. Okay, we got a question here that says, I want to buy a Ford F450. You've always said to go buy from Costco. What if Costco doesn't list this truck? Or else can I get pricing like Costco? The F450, that's almost like a commercial. That's a big vehicle. That's a one and a half ton, right? That's a big truck. Yeah, Costco will only list vehicles for sale that dealers want to list for sale and not familiar with how they handle like semi-quazi commercial vehicles. You could try true car. You could try Cars.com. But like Earl always says, the best thing you do is get multiple bids from competing dealers. And I'm not sure how they wheel and deal on a big old truck like that.

And when you say the Costco doesn't list it, how many Costco dealers have you checked with? You can spread your perimeter out and go to different zip codes because if you've got a lot of Costco warehouses and your state or wherever you live, you could check with a half a dozen Costco dealers. You might have to drive aways. Well, no, you're not buying it from the Costco. Yeah, you have to drive aways to pick your car up.

Or you could take the price that you got on your Costco, maybe go to your local dealer. I'm surprised that some Costco dealer, it's up to the Costco dealer to decide whether he wants to list the cars. And so I would think that maybe there would be one if you tried enough Costco dealers. Yeah, that sounds like a good strategy. Next one, this is from Doug and Ollie. And if you guys remember several weeks ago, Doug reported that his car was hit by lightning.

Yeah. And had set off the airbags and everything, and nobody got hurt, but it was a pretty traumatic and dramatic event. So he's got an update for us. He says, my car that was damaged by lightning is still not fixed after $13,000. in repairs. And if you remember, the insurance is not totaling that out. So they're making the repairs. So it's still not fixed after $13,000 in repairs. State Farm will not total my car. And it's been almost a month now. I hired a lawyer. But is there anything else I can do? State Farm has not been nice.

You mean they're not their good neighbor? They're not being a good neighbor. Alan had something to add to that. Alan has told, yes, he's warned us about this. They said they're not a good neighbor. They can be, depending on the situation. They don't want to spend a lot of money totally in this car out, so they're going to be, looks like they're looking after their own interest right now. Doug, I think you've done all you can do.

You guys yourself, a lawyer. My guess is a lawyer will win. I've sued state farm. My dealership has. And insurance companies don't want to go to trial. They will let you sue. them and they will delay and delay and delay, but they don't want to go to trial because it sets a precedent. So I think your lawyer probably understands this, and they will probably come to you

to settle. And I think the settlement will probably be, if your lawyer says it's a good settlement, it'll probably be a good settlement. We have a long-time texture. This is Johnny and Riviera Beach who says a couple of days ago I saw a report on WPTV Channel 5 that some automobile manufacturers are going to install a backseat warning in their cars. The way it works is when you park your car, before you get out, light on your dashboard will start flashing with a beeping sound warning you to please check your backseat before you leave.

The reason for this is to warn people to check their backseat in case they have a baby in a car in their car. I think this is a great idea that should have been done a long time ago. I totally agree. Which manufacturer was that? I remember reading it, but I can't think of the name of the manufacturer. I don't know. Was it GM? I missed last week's show,

but I think a couple of weeks ago we talked about. this. Every manufacturer should. I don't call what manufacturer it was. Let me look for that. Yeah, we'll Google that. Any more text or YouTube? We have a couple more. Actually, just one more. Why did car salesmen always need to consult their managers? That's a great question. No, it's a simple question, but it's actually, I can address it. It's all part of the dog and pony show. So, technically, I mean, if you think about it, why couldn't the salesperson be authorized to give you the price of the car? The whole point is to create. almost like a triangulation.

So you've got the salesperson trying to pretend that he's working for you. So you'll hear him say things, let me see if I get my boss to do this. Or that sounds like a fair offer, sir, because I think I can get him to do this. It makes you think that you have an ally working with you, but you don't.

They're working against you up at the sales desk. So the manager is doing what they call loading his lips. So he'll say, go out there and tell him that this is a low-supply, high-demand vehicle, and the market doesn't bear it. and then they'll go back out, try to go a little bit more, and that's where the back and forth comes from.

So the answer is, why do they need to consult their managers to get you to pay more? It dates back to horse trading, and that leads into our mystery shopping report. The dealer started in business in 1907, and think back to 1907, he was a Buick dealer in 1907. You went out on the street, what did you see?

Model A's. Maybe a model A's. But you saw horses, too. I mean, back in 1907, depending on what? part of the country, a lot of people are still riding around horses, and that's the way horses were sold for a couple, two, three hundred years, however long. It was horse trading, and cars are sold, just like we used to trade horses. Ladies and gentlemen, we're going to put the lines on hold now, and we would like you to vote on our mystery shopping report that we are preparing for,

and that text number is 772-497-6530. Rick, did you have something to add to that? Just a quick note on that backseat baby alert device. Oh, yeah. There's a lot of aftermarket devices out there, but according to Car and Driver magazine, the Association of Global Automakers and the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers,

two groups that include nearly every car maker that serves the U.S. market have agreed they'll have rear seat occupant alerts in the entire passenger car fleets as standard equipment by 2025 or sooner. Wow. So not just... All those babies are going to be kindergarten by then.

All of them. Great information. But they're coming. Yeah, and you can go to consumer report.org where I read a great article on what Rick just elaborated on, ConsumerReport.org. Now back to the recovering car dealer. Okay, let's jump into the Mystery Shopping Report.

And that is, as Stu alluded to earlier, beginning of the show, of Del Rey, Buick, GMC. Has anybody out there heard of Del Rey, Buick, GMC? Is it just me? I don't remember seeing advertisements. There's a lot of car dealers in this market. I thought I knew every one of them. But this is a very quiet dealership. I was really surprised.

After the Mr. Shopping Report, we might have some time. If you've heard of Del Rey Buick, GMC, I'd love to hear a call from somebody because it's just like they weren't there. And we found it by accident. It's always, and it's a new place. Obviously, we haven't shopped them before because we didn't know they were there.

They're on US1, and they're on automobile row with all the other dealers. used to be owned by Ralph. We used to be called Ralph Buick. At one time, Ralph Bueick was the largest Beulich dealership in the USA. At one time, Schumacher was, and they used to go back and forth

between the two, back 30 years ago, I guess. Delray Buech, GMC, is part of an old dealership group with 19 dealerships. That's even crazier that I haven't heard of them in five states across the U.S. Garber, G.A.R.

B-R, B-R, automotive. And when I say they're old, they're really old. How old are they? Yes, 1907, I said earlier. Teddy Roosevelt, you must have Googled that. I did. Teddy Roosevelt was president, and that's a long time ago. 30 years before my father, Earl Stewart Sr., established his Pontiac dealership in West Palm Beach.

That's really interesting. I thought we were old. Yeah. That was really great. For hanging around for 112 years, amazing. I have to, 112 years, I have to assume they're doing something right. And from the looks of their online reputation, that seems to be the case. They have great Google reviews, Facebook, Cars.com, and Dealerator.

I noticed you didn't mention Yelp. It had a 3.5 on Yelp. A 3.5, yeah. Which is kind of typical. Yelp isn't that big around here. So you know, most dealerships, there's a big leap between their Yelp reviews and everything else. Is Yelp still kind of specializing in restaurants?

Del Rey Buick GMC is a pretty big dealership, and this surprised me. I mean, the fact they're so big, 300 new vehicles has got, and 100 used vehicles, 400 total vehicles. As you might guess, most of the used vehicles are Buick's and GMCs. However, it was a Jeep Wrangler that caught our attention and became the subject of this week's investigation. 2010 Jeep Wrangler listed online for $16,528 had an unfixed but fixable Ticata airbag recall. We sent Agent Thunder in to administer the Takata test.

Here's a report as if I were Agent Thunder. After confirming availability by phone, I headed down to Tell Ray to see the 2010 Wrangler. I arrived at 11 a.m. park. began to walk around the used car lot, waiting to be noticed by a salesperson. After several minutes in the heat, I decided to head inside to try to find some help. Just as I approached the entrance, a young man stepped outside and greeted me. His name was Adrian, and he looked to be in his late 20s. Adrian asked me if anyone was helping me.

I said, no. He extended his hand and said he could help me. I told him about the Jeep, and he offered to take me to it. I followed him, and we found it next to three others. that they had in stock. Adrian asked if I was a Jeep fan, and I said I was. Apparently Adrian was too, and we went on at some length about how beautiful they were

and nodded along an enthusiastic agreement. It's always amazing to me how people are crazy about Jeeps and how they have such a lousy rating and consumer reports. I interrupted to let them know I would like to take a test drive, Adrian paused, said he'd need to get copies of the driver's license, and my insurance card. So we walked back inside where I signed a test drive for him and had my driver's license and insurance car insurance card.

Do all the dealers ask for the insurance card? Not all of them. Yeah. And I don't even think that's necessary. You need an insurance card when the customer is going to drive the vehicle without a salesperson. Yeah. I was asked to sit on a couch.

Interesting couch. Well, I waited. He ran off again. I was then approached by Orlando, the used car manager. Orlando said that Adrian was very new, and they'd be taking takeover once we finished our test drive. Not uncommon to find new salespeople, high turnover, and new car salespeople in most dealerships. Adrian returned took me outside to his Jeep, sidling smoothly by the entrance. I missed the part where the car wouldn't start and had a dead battery.

took care of that. That's also common in used car departments. Test drive consists of nothing but small talk. We returned to the dealership in a short time, walked inside, and I was directed to the couch again. Adrian said he was going, just humorous to sofa the couch. You don't usually see those in car dealerships, I don't think. Adrian, we got some money. We have some. You call it couch. Yeah. Adrian said he was going to get Orlando, I waited for 15 minutes

before Adrian returned to tell me his manager was ready and he led me to his office a little unusual to go to the manager's office. Yeah. Yeah. Couch. Well, Adrian was in training, so... Yeah. Orlando asked how I liked the car. I told him I did

and that I looked a few other jeeps already today. I want to make sure I was buying something sound, safe and sound. I asked them if they could provide a Carfax report. Orlando said, of course, we see that some dealers provide the report right up front, advertise it online, others wait until you ask for it, but in almost all cases, Carfax or similar, report is available. The first thing I noticed in the Carfax summary on page one,

and I had two copies. I like, that's a nice touch. I had a copy, and Orlando had a copy. I noticed on page one of the words, at least one open recall. Orlando chose to emphasize the thorough maintenance records. I let him go on about how well the Jeep was maintained, as he pointed out, every service record on the Carfax report. This gave him time to get around to addressing the recall, but he didn't.

Finally, I asked about the recall, which prompted Orlando to begin studying the report more closely. he found two recalls. One was for an airbag clock spring. Haven't heard of that one before. And one was the Dakot Airbag. Double recall on the airbags. He confessed he didn't know much about them.

I told him I thought it was one that could make the airbag explode. Rick, did you have a point? The clock spring is actually the part in your steering wheel, the less you turn the wheel back and forth, and it connects between the steering column and the airbag that's mounted on the steering wheel itself. So a defective what would that do? It could

very easily not it would most likely disconnect that airbag to where that driver's side airbag would not inflate in an accident. In that case it's a good thing. Except if you're in a crash. You don't want that Ticada one going off. It's true, true, yeah.

At any rate, he confessed he didn't know about those and I told him I thought it was the one, the Takata was the one that could make the airbag explode. Orlando offered a call the service department to advise on what the recall was all about. I stopped and said

I was just, I said I was sure it was a Takata thing. I asked if it could get fixed. He said the Jeep dealer would have to do the repairs and that I wouldn't have to pay for it. This makes me even more frustrated about this whole Tecata issue. Nonchalant's.

Nonchalant. And the fact that it should be fixed by the dealer that is selling you the vehicle and we all know why it's not. It's a time factor and they like to get the cars that they trade in or buy on the lot, cleaned up and sold. Time is money. Time is money. And if you send it out

you're put on the back burner. If you're a Buick dealer and you send your car to a Jeep dealer the Jeep dealer is going to prioritize his customers and the car could sit there for a week or a couple of weeks and you don't want to do that. So you take the quick way, you just don't have it fixed. And you hope the customer doesn't find out about it.

And if you don't find out about it, but the customer may never get it fixed, hence the terrible situation we find ourselves in. Now, another thing that occurred to me in this for the first time is that you could say to the customer, or I could say as a customer, I want to have this fixed before I get it, I buy it, and if I'm in a hurry, I'll take it myself, but you don't want your customer taking your car to a competitor, albeit a Jeep dealer.

And so there's a lot of reasons why car dealers don't want to have their recalls fixed before they sell them. And none of them are good, they're selfish reasons, and it's bad for the consumer. He moved on to the sale figures which were appointed on the purchase agreement sale price was the same as the online price that's good 16,528 they added $898 dealer fees

and $749.95 in government fees which seems suspect that's pretty high I asked Orlando why the government fees were so high he asked me if I was getting a new tag I said yes he said there's 540 right there

and that's too high yeah he's got to be lumping in like electronic filing fees and things like that I believe that's the case also I looked at the worksheet and I didn't see anything about sales tax I'll look at this again let me

do you have a copy of it's too? Yeah yeah total taxes he's got it in there 115311 that's on there okay good yeah okay so positively some $495 in government fees has some non-government fees. And that's just not telling the truth. Because an online filing fee, electronic filing fee,

or dock fees, those are not government fees. You have to pay sales tax on these. And I'm wondering if the sales tax was calculated on these, we could check, but we didn't. But we can. I asked Orlando why the government fees, I'll buy, and do that. Then he said, there were other processing fees. He said the dealer fee takes care of the paperwork and getting a car ready.

Some of it was profit. He admitted that. He admitted, yeah. I thanked him for the explanation. Moving on to my exit word track, I said I was meeting family for quick lunch. I would return to take it. Orlando tried to get me to leave a deposit, but I told him he was only going to get a handshake. Smart.

There we are. We believe it was a technical failure on the Dakota test. It was not a moral, ethical failure. We hope. We don't think so. So here we are with another, we have to grade this older dealer that ever was from 1907. Do we recommend him as a Buick GMC dealer? And he technically failed the Takata test.

The other test that he failed was, and we don't have proof on this, but we think that as government fees, we're not government fees. How many tests, scores do we have? Any? We'll go around the table. I'm still getting some coming in online. Okay. Rick, what do you do?

What do you say? I say that anybody walking in there has got to keep their wits about them. I'm going to give them a C because I think that government fees line was kind of a shady deal. And, you know, like we've discussed about the airbags, but I'll give them a C a passing grade. Yeah. Orlando, by the way, is a manager, and he knows what government fees are and what are, so I could pat, you know, Adrian the salesperson, he was new, and he may have been totally innocent. I could feel the snake oil coming out there. Yeah. Nancy, what kind of a score do you want to give them?

I'd like to give Delray Buick a D. I just I didn't feel good about the mystery shopping report. There were a lot of things in it that were unacceptable. Yeah, there was no bait and switch. The online price was the price they offered

to sell it for plus dealer fees. The question being, do they reveal or disclose all the dealer fees? Stu, what do you think? Well, let me report on the grades we have coming in online. We have Ed gives them a D. Lana gives them a C-minus. Roberto gives him a D-plus.

or Deanna gives him an F. May gives him a C and then Linda Linda V gives him a big fat F. I'm going to I'm going to go with the low C. I'll do a C minus.

Yeah, I like that. I'd like the C minus. I just feel I have mixed emotions because we're talking about one of the oldest car dealers in the United States and we don't know about him and he had high ratings except for Yelp, which is not a integral rater, had good Google ratings and dealer track.

So I'll go along with the C-minus, and we'll put him on the recommended list. I think he's as good as the Schumacher's score we add. Yeah. Schumacher is the other Buick dealer in this area, and he's a GMC dealer also. So we'll go ahead with that. And we've got Ernesto coming in with a sales.

and Wayne coming in with the C on YouTube. Oh, okay. So we have another dealer on a recommended list, Buick GMC dealer. And we now have two in this market area, Schumacher, who was recommended and also. I just said Del Rey, yeah, Del Rey, Buick, GMC. You know, it's funny, if I were that dealer the oldest, I would play up my longevity. And I would say, that would get my attention. and maybe that's just because I'm a dealer,

but to call yourself Del Rey Buick and not, was it Garsner? A Garber. Garber. I say, I'm Garber Buick, and I started in 1907. Yeah. I mean, it's kind of...

I'd drive around town in the Model A. Wasn't it Ralph Buick down to Del Rey for many years? He was, yeah, Ralph. I remember my parents bought from Ralph Buick many years ago. Yeah, they were an honest dealership, as I recall. I'd show my World War I draft card. Yeah. Absolutely. Well, we've got about five minutes before we check out.

I have one other thing I wanted to talk about, which was we talk about dealer fees, hidden fees over and over again, probably the biggest culprit that a lot of you know, and sometimes I know I'm preaching to the choir here at Erlon Cars, but to you newbies, the dealer-installed accessories are every bit as damaging to your ability to get a fair price. is the hidden fees. And the dealer install accessories have a smack of legitimacy because there is a product involved, whereas with the hidden fee, it's just strictly BS.

It's just, there's nothing of value there. But you could argue that the stripes and the window tent and the window edge and even the nitrogen and the tires, I'm not sure what the value there is, road hazard, and a lot of other things. My problem with dealer-installed accessories is you don't have the right to buy them. They pre-install them on the car, and that's a sin. A true car will not allow you to add dealer-installed accessories,

and I believe Costco has a mixed reputation on that. Sometimes they say you can add them at half the price or the cost or something like that. Yeah, on all the members-only pricing sheets, I've seen that says you can have met the dealer's cost. But dealer-installed accessories and hidden fees are a no-no. Nancy's form called the Althador Price Affidavit is the answer. And if you have a copy of that, you can hold it up for the camera there. You get a copy of this. You can download it on Erlon Cars and have them sign this.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it saves you from all these hidden. fees that are totally ridiculous you stay on top of things you can get out the door without getting taken advantage of and you can download a form that I have at Erwan cars and

there's it if you can honest price no dealer installed accessories and no hidden fees if they won't sign that then you just turn around and walk out and buy from a dealer who will sign it you can get your manager to sign that you know

know, it's really important. Your salesperson, you can fax it over to them, have it signed whenever you walk into the dealership. You know, it's etched in glass, the out-the-door price. Rick, you've got it. Do we have time for one more question? We sure do. Jay from YouTube is asking, do you still think J.M. Lexus is the best place to lease a new Lexus? I went there with their one-price method and found less incentive on the part of the salesman when

getting pricing. They had more of a take it or leave it attitude. Well, that's a bad attitude, but the nice thing about getting your price is you can shop and compare it. And even with a one-price, low-price dealer like JM Lexus, you should shop and compare. And competition is your friend, folks. I'm telling you, car dealers are insanely competitive, including this one right here. And nothing will get a car dealer's attention like a price from another dealership that he has offered the opportunity to beat. So take that JM Lexus price and go to Palm Beach Lexus,

go to Auto Nation, I guess it's Del Rey Lexus. Who else is a Lexus dealer in Missouri? You got Palm Beach Lexus out in Okochobie, then you're at JM Lexus down in, is it Deerfield or? And there's got to be a Lexus Steelers. Yeah, and there's a Zen Lexus. Lexus of Hollywood?

Lexus of Hollywood. There's four or five, Fort Pierce Lexus. Melbourne. Yeah, Melbourne. Yeah, Melbourne. Get to three or four prices, but start with the J.M. Lexington. And I believe their price is a loan, but I'm not saying you can't beat it. And Jay goes on to comment also. He says he went to Mercedes, and they refused

to remove a cargo map for $150 and window tent for $199, like those dealer accessories. Go to another Mercedes dealer. Competition is your friend. Okay, I think we're out of time. Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to thank you for tuning in, and I hope you tune in again next Saturday, same time. Have yourself a wonderful weekend from all of us at Earl Stewart on Cars. We want to thank you for joining us and for all the help that we've had this morning. It definitely takes a team effort. Have a wonderful weekend. Let go. And go to me.

Go to me. Back. Go. Go. Oh, more away. Oh. Oh.

Go. Oh. Oh. Go. Heck do you. That's not.