Earl Stewart on Cars - 09.10.2022 - Your Calls, Texts, and Mystery Shop of Schumacher Volkswagen

Episode Date: September 10, 2022

Earl and his team answer various caller questions and responds to incoming text messages. Earl’s female mystery shopper, Agent Lightning visits a local Volkswagen dealer to see what they have on the lot and how much over sticker they will charge for a new 2022 Volkswagen Atlas SUV. 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. Sign up to become one of Earl's Vigilantes and help others in your community to avoid getting ripped off by a car dealer. Go to www.earlsvigilantes.com for more information. “Disclosure: Earl Stewart is a Toyota dealer and directly and indirectly competes with the subjects of the Mystery Shopping Reports. He honestly and accurately reports the experiences of the shoppers and does not influence their findings. As a matter of fact, based on the results of the many Mystery Shopping Reports he has conducted, there are more dealers on the Recommended Dealer List than on the Not Recommended List he maintains on www.GoodDealerBadDealerList.com”

Good morning, everybody. Well, you got us back. This is our second day back after a little COVID hiatus with Nancy and me. And guess what? We've got Rick Kearney back. He was out last week with COVID, and he's back. Tested negative twice with the PCR test. He's healthy as a horse, and we're glad to have him back.

He's an integral part of the show. Did you do that horse? That wouldn't bad. Nancy does have a good horse impersonation. But if you have those questions on mechanics, electronics, computerization, what do you want to call today of the complexity of the cars that were driving? You got Rick Kearney back live in color and person right here on our stage. And all you need to do is call 877-9-60-99-60. That's 877-9-60-99-60.

And you'll be put in touch with one of the smartest guys. on cars you'll ever find he knows how to fix about anything been doing it since he was a kid he's been working for me we have a car dealership by the way it's a Toyota dealership but this is not an infomercial I repeat this is not an infomercial this is a consumer advocacy show if you heard the disclaimer at the beginning of the show this station disclaims any responsibility for my big mouth I mean if I say something really really crazy they're absolved of responsibility. So stay tuned for lots of crazy stuff, but it's true. And what you hear from

us will be the facts. And back on the subject of Rick, he really, really can help you save a lot of money. I don't know about you, but after having COVID recently, I'm still a little bit nervous. I don't like the idea of mingling when I have to do something, whether it's by a tube of toothpaste or buy a hot dog or buy a shirt. I tend to try to maintain a what is a careful, respectful distance from others. And a lot of you feel that way. So instead of bringing your car into Midas or one of the other independent shops out there,

the pet boys, there's a million. Different auto stops, cars. Yeah, Firestone, good year. Firestone, yep. So wherever you're going to take your car, you're going to be next to a person. And they may or may not be wearing a mask.

Probably not today. and you have to trust the fact they're going to be safe. So save yourself that exposure. Call 877-960-99-60. Describe the symptoms of the problems with your car. If you're really cool, you've got a smartphone and a camera on your smartphone. Take a picture of the issue.

Do an audio file. Record the noise. Describe things carefully. And let Rick diagnose your problem. It can save you a few thousand dollars and maybe even prescribe something you can. could do yourself. Now, my son, Stu Stewart, he's rapidly approaching the radio station right now. A little bit late. He should be walking in the door. He says his ETA was 804. That's right now.

So he should be bursting through the door in the studio. He's in charge of our mystery shopping report. And for those new people, if you don't listen to anything else, stay tuned. The latter part of the show, we play a live. Well, it is live. We don't record it. We record it. It was this week two days ago. We go into a car dealership somewhere. It could be out of state.

Most of them are in South Florida. This recent one was in South Florida. And we pretend to buy or lease a car. And we record exactly what happens. We name the dealership. We name the salesperson. We name the managers. And we tell you exactly what happened.

If they broke the law or they violated ethical or moral codes or we we just tell you exactly what happened and uh guess what nancy and i have been doing the show how many years nancy long time about 20 years and uh seems like 30 years right but we have never ever ensued now you know why because the perfect defense you got libel and slander you lawyers out there know this the perfect defense is the truth and that's what we do we just tell the truth. Sometimes it's unbelievable, but the people that committed to crimes, the car dealership, here comes, Stu. And there's your presence, Stu. It's right there. If you really want to be entertained and educated, tune toward the end of the show where we

will do our mystery shopping report, and Stu will tell us all about it a little while. and we're not going to reveal the details of the mystery shop we just allude to it because it is something that's very educational and we keep an archive on these mystery shopping reports at Earl on Cars

in fact just about everything we do on the show is archived we have podcasts we have this website Earl on Cars.com and when you have time just navigate to earlancars.com spend a few minutes on the side

and see what we have. We've been doing that blog for about 20 years, too. So we have Mr. Shopping, of course, we have a list of recommended car dealers, and we have a list of those you should stay away from because we put a grade on every Mr. Shopping Report is the end of the show. And my blog is on there.

How to Buy My Book is on there. New book coming out, by the way, very shortly. And we are here to help you buy a car without being ripped off by a car dealer. Nancy Stewart's sitting next to me, my co-host, and she's been with me through Thick and Thin. She is a female advocate. She really gets nervous when women are taken advantage of.

I know this is a 21st century, and I know women have come a long way, but they haven't come as far as they should because of the resistance and the attitude and the culture. And that really riles Nancy. So she speaks to our lady audience, but more importantly, she encourages the women, our listening audience, to call the show. We think we have a huge number of women listening, and we just need to encourage them or to call and share their experiences, their opinions, their suggestions, with us live on the air. So Nancy, you'll tell you more about that.

The mic is all yours. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome. And I want to thank all of you. You've certainly been instrumental in getting us to where we are here at the Old East Channel, and it has certainly been a ride, and we've enjoyed your company. Give us a call toll free at 877-960-960, or you can text us at 772-497-6-5-30. And ladies, for the first two new lady callers, give us a call. You can win yourself $50 this morning if you are one of the first two female callers.

877-960-99-60. Gosh, we've got so much to get to, and I think you can classify everything. We just keep talking, electric, electric, electric. It's here, folks, whether we like it or not. So, with all of that said, don't forget your anonymous Feedback.com. Take advantage of that and stay tuned and stay with us for the next two hours. We're going to learn a lot from you and you'll learn a lot from us. 877-960-99-60.

We are going to go right to the phones where Chris from Palm Beach Gardens is calling. Good morning, Chris. Good morning. Hi there. Thanks for taking my call. I listen to your show regularly and I enjoy it. Thank you. My question is it refers back to a show, maybe one or two shows ago, where you talked

about fees imposed by dealers when one goes to exercise the purchase option at the end of your lease. Yes. I have a question related to that. I have pulled out my lease agreement. It specifically says there are no additional fees, and it gives a purchase option of $18,000. The vehicle now is selling for, on the Internet, $27,000. My question to you is, would a dealer pay the lessee to not exercise their purchase option but to turn in the vehicle?

That's a great question. What Nancy said earlier about us learning from our customers, that might be the simplest solution, especially if you don't want the car or need the car anymore. It saves you a lot of time and aggravation. I would say yes. I mean, I'm a car dealer. We have a Toyota dealership in North Palm Beach, and if one of my customers came in and he had a off-lease car that would have a market value, to me, that would be thousands of dollars

more than the lease option to put. purchase, I would be happy to buy that right from the lessee and benefit. Oh, we do that all the time, yeah. People with equity in the cars are taking cash or using it for more down payment or whatever they want with it. Yeah, but I'm thinking that often, I, for our listing audience, this is something that should be suggested if you don't want the car rather than spend the time to sell the car yourself, and that's a really time-consuming thing.

There's no one in better shape to sell the car than a car dealer, obviously, so if you could just do the deal on paper between you and him and be sure all the eyes are dotted the T's across in this legal document, then that would be a great way to benefit from your very, very low purchase cost. Thanks very much for that call, Chris. Yeah, that was a great call, Chris. Thank you. I'm glad I started the show off with a good call. Have a great day.

Thank you. Thank you. Give us a call again. 877-960-99-60. Gosh, I wonder when I'll lose that raspy voice that I've acquired from COVID, maybe five, 10 years. Okay, folks, don't forget that text number 772-497-6530. We're going back to the phones where Howard, a regular caller, is calling us from Jupiter. Good morning, Howard. Good morning. I hope you all are well, and it's a nice day today. actually for September. It's not that bad. A couple of questions I have for Rick.

I noticed that I have a 2017 Camry and I can't add any transmission fluid. And I think it's a good idea because I think people were abusing it and putting too much fluid and ruining it. But my question is, how do you change the fluid now? and why was that change, why was, it changed that way so you can't add transmission fluid? The 2017 Camry went to a WS-type fluid, and straight out of the repair manual, it says inspecting the fluid level, it actually says in the repair manual, well, I'm paraphrasing a little, inspect for leaks.

If no leaks are found, the fluid level is correct. And the way to actually change that fluid is we use a special machine that pumps the old fluid out and pumps new fluid in, measures exactly how much comes out and returns the exact same amount. They're specially designed that the amount of fluid in there, if it's off by even just, say, three or four ounces of fluid, it can actually cause shifting issues. and they're very temperamental on that we have found but once that fluid level is correct they're good for life and straight from the factory it has said this is a non-maintenance type transmission

in other words the fluid does not have a maintenance interval there's no need to change it ever unless you are in some really extreme conditions if you were driving around up in Alaska point Barrow Alaska the Sahara Desert where you've got really extreme conditions then you might consider needing it done

once in a while like 100,000 but otherwise nope it's good for the life of the car you never need to mess with it Howard this is just one more example of our cars proceeding toward total non-maintenance the electric vehicle

that will be here before we know it will be virtually non-maintenance maintenance free of course you'll still have repairs but as far as the car itself, there'll be virtually no maintenance. So you and I are about the same age, and we grew up in an era where maintaining a car was a major proposition. And the whole industry grew up around that,

and we're going to this unbelievably rapid change now where everybody that's relying on repairing cars for a living is going to be in trouble unless they change too. And the dealers were in an uproar about it, the manufacturers, everybody's excited about it. It's good, it's bad, it's terrible for the people that make their living from repairing and maintaining cars. Yeah, every summer, every fall I used to change my transmission fluid.

I'm talking about 30 years ago. Yeah. And the car seemed to drive better after I changed it. So I actually felt that what was happening is that the transmission flu was getting degraded fast. and now the next question is when do you change the coolant Rick

the maintenance requirements on your car should be 100 I believe 100,000 miles for the first interval and every 50,000 miles after that for the coolant I don't know is that in the manual yes it is in the manual yes in your glove compartment you'll have a separate smaller book that has the maintenance

the factory recommended maintenance intervals, and it will show each interval all the way up to like $150,000, and it'll tell you when you need to change that. Howard, again, the owner's manual is, we recommend on this show only do the maintenance with your dealer or your independent technician repair shop that's recommended by the manufacturer of the owner's manual. And then my next statement is,

whoever reads the owner's manual, I don't. And here you are a very, very careful guy. I mean, I get the idea you didn't know something that was in the owner's manual. They make it hard, agreed. I mean, some of these owners manual are like Encyclopedia Britannica for you folks old enough to know what that is. You know what Google is, but we used to have big, thick books. Well, there's still a big thick book out there. We carry around in cars called Owner Manual.

They make it so thick, people just don't want to pick it up and look at it. But the best rule you can use to save you money is when you take it into a repair shop, don't listen to what they recommend. Don't do what the dealer or the independent repair shop recommends. Find the daily, monthly, yearly maintenance on your car based on age and mileage. And don't do anything except that. Now, the bad news for all the repair shops out there in five years, I don't think there'll be an owner's manual on repair and maintenance because there won't be any.

And that's a change that's going on that very few people owners are aware of. But maintenance is going to be minimized very rapidly. It's actually, there's a separate book, much, much thinner that has that maintenance log in it for you. For Toyota. Yeah, it's a separate book. Most companies do it that way. Well, not Lexus. Lexus has it in the same book.

Really? Well, that's annoying. Okay, my last question. Break fluid. My nephew called me up. He said, the Honda dealer said I should change the brake fluid. I said, how many miles you have? He says, I have 50,000 miles.

It says, stop, don't do it, walk away, don't use that. So, Rick, when do you change the brake fluid? If I look at the break fluid and it's dark brown, I would recommend it. If it still looks sort of straw yellow color, I don't recommend it. Okay, so do you check the brake fluid when the car comes at the service? Yeah, you just take a flashlight, shine it on the reservoir, and if that fluid looks like it's yellowish, you leave it alone. Okay, that sounds great.

Okay, thank you very much for all the information, and you have a good day. Thanks, Howard. Howard took me down in memory lane. you know I don't I don't recall having a any kind of a manual back in the 50s 60s in the 70s right out there at your car Saturday morning I'm from Pittsburgh hey take a look at that dipstick hold that up to the sky you're checking out the the color and all that and you feel it the same thing with the transmission fluid the same thing with the what was the other thing he break all that all that stuff and you just knew how to do it back then it seems like an easy task and that was something that you did on the weekend and tires don't forget your tires well the nice part is that book that comes in the glove compartment you could turn to each page that it shows each mileage and have them sign off and stamp that you did that service is that right yeah you've got a spot for you to sign off on it folks i hope

you're enjoying the show we have a lot more information for you and we'd love to hear from you and all the information you have for us 877 960 99 Don't forget, ladies, first two female callers, you and yourself, $50 this morning, 877-960, 9960. Now back to... Well, I'm going to give out the anonymous feedback again, because we get most of our, for some reason, written inquiries on that. You gave it out before.

I'll give it out again. Your anonymous Feedback.com. Folks, you use that, Y-O-U-R-A-N-N-Y-M-U-S. Anonymous. You're Anonymous Feedback.com. We don't know who you are, where you are. We can't come and get you because we don't know where you're living. It'll be totally anonymous, say anything you want.

And we get a lot of that. Most of the people that use that are just saying, making constructive comments, but I think it's a privacy thing. People just don't necessarily want to know where you are. That's good. So Your Anonymous Feedback.com. Let us know what you think or have a question for us. we will get to it at some time during the show.

Okay, Rick. I had a couple of them here. One from Negan 1. He says, I have a question for Earl. After watching the DeLorean documentary on Netflix, he says, did Earl ever have a chance of becoming a DeLorean dealer, or did he turn it down back in the early 80s? Actually, my recollection was I would have loved to be a Deleurion dealer.

The car got so much hype. DeLorean was such an interesting. interesting guy. He was real flamboyant, a great personality, told it like it is. He was kind of a jerk in a lot of ways, but he was a little bit like Elon Musk. He was smart. He would say some dumb things, but when the smoke settled, you had to respect the guy. But he never got it off the ground. And there were very few DeLorean dealers, probably if I had been offered it back then, I would have grabbed it. Of course, the rest of history, he never got to off the ground. Oh, yeah.

Excuse me, Rick, we have a couple of telephone calls. Excuse me. But one question before we go back to the phones for the ladies. What was a deciding factor for you as far as choosing a car of your choice? And also, you know, if I

didn't say this this morning, you can simply call and say hello. And what a great way to win $50. First two female callers, $50. $877-960. 9960. We're going to go to John who has been holding in Stewart hang on Laura we'll be right with you good morning John good morning I have a I have a question for Earl I think it is

oh great okay so Earl I went down and I why didn't go down there I did it over the phone I put down like $500 on a hybrid a Highland or hybrid it's gonna be like seven Yeah, seven to eight, nine months, maybe they said. But my question is, since you're the big Toyota dealer guy, do you have any special insights or whatever with information from Twitter? Do you think there's the car world and general? We have to ask Toyota.

Yeah, yeah. We don't have any inside information. We have the information that Toyota gives us. We see trends. hybrids are extremely short supply and the parts and the you hear microchips all of a lot of other things particular for the hybrid with a high demand

Highlander is one of the most popular of the hybrids so we only know what Toyota builds or decides to build right now we see trends and if you were told seven to nine months and we told you that

that's the latest we know from Toyota what I would recommend you do is you check with your dealer and you regularly and if that changes we will let you know the only time we can give

a manufacturer or dealer can give you a more precise time is when they see that the car that you ordered they have decided to build that and when they decide to build it, we could come pretty close within a few weeks of when that car will arrive. But until then it's a lot of guesswork.

We've had customers, frankly, on some very obscure models that have waited over a year. When you look at your car, you look at the color, the trim, you look at the hybrid versus combustion engine. If a hybrid is a big swing factor, we can get cars like Corollos and Camry's and the combustion an engine in a very short period of time, comparatively speaking. So talk to your dealer, and if there's a compromise you can make on that Highlander hybrid in color or trim or some other things, it could expedite it. So my recommendation would be think of what you might want to compromise on that vehicle.

Look at your Highlander hybrid, say, you know, I don't have to have a blue one. I'll take a red, green, white, give as many varieties of colors as you can, and I don't have to have a sunroof, I don't have to have this, I don't have to have that. Give them as many variables, and then when they see the plan to build the next Highlander hybrid, they can take one of your choices, plug it in the system, and get your car very quickly. Okay, so with your expertise or your knowledge of the whole car deal, do you think that is there any, any trend that the prices might drop, which in the next, like... Say that, I'm sorry, say that again, please. If prices might drop in the next, how many soon? Yeah, six months or at the end of the year or whatever. Probably not.

Probably not by the end of the year. We've seen some softening and lowering and use car prices. Right now, as far as the supply line of new cars, it hasn't really changed, and we don't see it change in the next six months. But as we get more information from Toyota, but we've been roughly seeing a steady stasis of the amount that they can produce and the amount they can allocate. John, have you given the dealer options in the order description? Color, for example. Yeah, we give a color. So we wanted the moon mist or whatever, the blue color, but we said we would take a white one or I think she said a red colored one, you know.

Okay, the more, the wider the variety, the variety you could go. If you could say five colors were okay instead of three, that would help and any other accessories. But, you know, the more uncompromising you are on the options, equipment, and color of a car, the more uncompromising you are, the less likely. you're going to get expedite. So stay in touch and keep updated. I don't know where you bought the car, but if I were a buyer, I would call at least every two weeks. There are dealers out there that would take a higher price on your car, and I hate to say it, but sometimes the car comes in. They have potential buyers that will pay maybe $1,000 more than what. Your price was and they sell your car to somebody else. So stay on top of it and get a regular

update. I give it to you guys to get the $500 to your dealership. Okay then we're honest we won't do that to you but you folks listening out there once you have the VIN number the vehicle identification number then you have a legal document so I'm speaking now not to you John but to other dealers out there or other buyers out there. Stay on top of it until you can get the vehicle identification number of the car you ordered. Then you can prove that they sold it to somebody else at a higher price. And once they know you can do that, it's highly unlikely they will. But thanks for the call, John. That was very informative. That was a great call, John. You're doing a great job as far as keeping in touch and not setting these limitations that slow your

you know, your delivery down, so I see you getting your vehicle sooner than later. Give us a call again. 877-960-99-60, or you can text us at 772-497-6530. We're going to go to Laura, who's calling us from Stewart. Good morning, Laura. Good morning. I just wanted to basically just have a statement for all of you. I just want to thank you all for doing this for us.

And I just recently found this, this show, and it takes a little of the stress out of going car shopping nowadays. Thank you so much. Well, we love to hear that, Laura. I thank you very much for the compliment. When did you find the show? Actually, about a month ago. Oh, you did? Interesting.

Yeah, this oldie station, I heard it advertised and all that. But I just recently listened in, and I caught, you know, I saw, you know, it had a list of the shows. Interesting. I saw, you know, Earl Stewart's like, oh, I know that name. Wow, that was a great find. And they got great music, don't they? When we were getting ready to open the show this morning, the music is quite energetic. I love it.

But, Laura, I haven't heard from you before. You said the last month. Yeah, first time, just wanted to say thank you for doing us. Well, you're welcome, and we want to thank you, Laura, for being a first-time caller, first-time female caller. So you win yourself $50 this morning, and if you leave your information with Jeremy in the studio, in the control studio, I should say, he'll get your information, he'll give it to me, and I'll get that checkout to you this afternoon.

And please spread the word. We're trying to build a platform here for ladies like you and like me and to join in the conversation every Saturday morning. Well, I'd say, I used to work at the tax collector's office. Oh, you did? So it's like, yeah, so it's like, you know, when you tell people, you know, you're at the tax collector, it's like, oh, you're one of those people. You know, it's just kind of the same.

It's like, I have to go to the dealership. It's, oh, I feel your pain, you know. Isn't that the truth? watch out for her yeah right exactly but um it definitely gives gives us a little

edge on things not a lot but enough yeah exactly yeah yeah well I hope we can help you out every Saturday morning if you do tune in or even once in a while

but thank you for today thank you for calling and don't forget that information and I'll mail it out to you oh no problem thank you very much you're welcome 877 960 9960

your anonymous feedback.com. Don't forget to text 772-497-6530. I believe I interrupted Rick. We got one other here from DaySpring. He says, hello, good morning. I have a question on allocation. Once Toyota slash Lexus has given the dealer an allocation, does that mean it's already built or already in port? Average time to delivery. He says, I reserved a GX-46. and the salesman told me they just got an allocation for me, so I'm trying to gauge time to delivery. They haven't been built yet. So these are cars that are an allocation, cars that are going to be built. They have interim vins. The VIN number that they have that we can use to track is not the same VIN number that you will have on your car when they actually print it on the plates at the factory. So, but generally speaking, once the vehicle has been built,

it's about six weeks or so before it arrives at the port or the dealer somewhere around then six weeks so all that time that everybody's waiting nothing's happening and it's a frustrating thing no one's working on your car no one's thinking about your car

no one's planning to build it it's just then when that car is going to be built anyway then that's when the mad shuffle happens the manufacturer looks at the sum total of all the orders and demand for vehicles and you're looking at hundreds of thousands of people out there

and you're just one guy or one gal that order that car. So they don't look at your car. They look at the cumulative number of cars just like yours. And when a whole bunch of people want to buy the same kind of car you want to buy, then they start allocating cars for production to their dealers. And that's... Exactly. They get information on historical sales and also the reps, the manufacturer reps,

are in constant communication with us. So our guy, Joe, who's a great guy, by the way, It's getting feedback on traffic, on internet leads, on just what kind of models people are interested in, and that all trickles right back up to Toyota. And you heard it right here, folks. That was Stu Stewart. How many consumers know what he just shared with you? Obviously, not many, but you heard it right here on Earl Stewart on cars. This is the kind of information that helps you.

It helps you a whole lot. And your questions help us. So give us a call 877-9-60-99-60 back to Rick And DaySpring just replied He says, oh, okay So I have time or maybe a lot of time With a thumbs-up emoji

Yeah, yeah Well, thanks for the question, Day Spring Yeah Thanks for the answer, Stu Okay, back to the recovering car dealer Well, let's a text, do you Got any text over there or not a few back? Well, you know, we got one from Amarate, don't you?

Of course. Good morning, Annery. Good morning. Amory says good morning I hope Rick is feeling better this week and everyone will stay well Hey I'm the last one I'm the last one in the show

I'm the last one in my family other than my brother who hasn't gotten COVID Okay Queen Elizabeth the second died on Thursday And I'd like to mark her passing with a little bit of history Princess Elizabeth joined the auxiliary territorial service The ATS, the women's branch of the British Army

In spite of her protective royal parents objections. She became the first female in the royal family to be an active duty member of the British Armed Forces. She chose to be a mechanic, just like Rick. In a six-week training course, she passed a military driving test, learned to read maps, and worked on repairing engines. The Associated Press at the time named her Princess Auto Mechanic. She remained an active driver throughout most of her life. Reportedly, she taught her children and grandchildren to drive. the National World War II Museum says that even in her 90s, Queen Elizabeth was known to diagnose and repair faulty engines

as she was taught to do during her wartime service in the ATS. She was the last surviving head of state to have served in World War II. Queen Elizabeth II never had a driver's license because in Great Britain all driver's licenses are issued in her name. Therefore, she could not officially issue a driver license in her own name to herself. However, Prince Charles got his license. license in 1967, I'm sorry, King Charles got his license in 1967, Princess Anne got hers about a year later and Prince William got his in 1999. There is some serious royal trivia

right there. Wow. I had no idea. Wow. And Murray, you really, you really get the good stuff. Thank you. Very interesting. Anne Marie. I got chills. I got chills. What a queen. It makes me, I think, I think of Rick in a whole new light now. What a woman. Whenever I see Rick, I always think of Queen Elizabeth. about the second where's my crown it's where you should I see your crown from here thanks Anne-Marie okay we have a more more text here oh this is from Victoria she says hello this is one of your first two female callers today Victoria I'm sorry that was today Victoria Carlisle just texting you that giving her oh she's just giving her her

mailing address for $50 okay that came in on the text that confused me for a second Okay, and I'm going to go back to the phones, and we're going to go to Lisa, and she's calling us from Jupiter. Good morning, Lisa. Good morning. How are you? Well, thank you. Welcome to the show. Oh, thank you so much. It's my first time calling, and I have been, I knew about the show about a year.

My brother listens every Saturday morning, so now I've become a listener. And, of course, I'm a big, big fan of Earl and his, you know, I bought every car I own from him. I am so happy with the service department. I feel like they help me even when I'm in a bind. So I just want to say that before I get to my question. Well, thank you so much. And we certainly appreciate your company. Most of all, I appreciate you helping me build a platform.

This morning, you're going to win yourself $50. You can share your contact information with Jeremy, and I can get that check out to you. Your question? Absolutely. Thank you for that. So right now I drive a 2009 Camry with just about 109,000 miles on it. So I know that, you know, right now it's not a good time to get a new car, and I know that these cars can go for many, many hundreds of thousands of miles. And I realize I'm keeping track of how much I'm spending each year versus how much, you know, like to get a new car.

I get the month, like the dollars part. My question is, as I drive, like for instance, if I'm going to be driving an extra 30,000 miles a year because I'm getting a job that's further away, is there like a safety issue with driving a car this old that much where maybe I should be looking for something new? or as long as I keep up with the maintenance, it should be no different than driving, you know, a fairly new car. Well, at least I know Rick is chomping at the bed here. I'm chomping. But I'm going to jump ahead of him.

I know you're chomping about it. I'm chomping. You're lucky. You've got a quality car. Yes. I mean, you bought it. The Toyota Camry is one of the most reliable cars in the world. I'm going to assume that you took care of it and did the owner's recommended maintenance.

before I made the decision, I would take the car to a trusted person, mechanic, maybe Rick, or anybody that can go over a car and give it a diagnosis. This is a great shape, medium shape, bad shape, or in between. And if your Camry's in good shape, and I'm pretty sure it is, because you did take care of it, that's good for another 100,000 miles. And there's no reason for you to worry about that car as long as you continue to have the owners maintenance done but save yourself a lot of money the price you'd pay for another car today is thousands dollars more than it would be probably a year from now you know Lisa this morning

there was a clip that ran on channel 5 and they were talking about used in new cars and the length of time that consumers are holding onto their vehicles it's just an amazing time you're sitting on a gold line but you need that car so you're going to hang on to it sounds like as if that you are very and have taken care of your vehicle. After Lisa, after Lisa hangs up, we'll have Jonathan run the clip on the Channel 5. Yeah, and you can stay tuned for that, Lisa. Take a look at that later on in the show. But it's amazing the people that I speak to that are hanging onto their car.

Remember back when, when the consumer was hanging onto their vehicle for maybe 10, 12 years? Huh, now it's 14, maybe 20 years. And matter of fact, I know a young lady. name is Lisa, and her car is a 20, it's 20 years old. Why? She takes care of it, a lot of miles on it and a lot more miles to go. It's a great product, Toyota. Hey, Lisa. Here's what I'm thinking. Do exactly what Earl says. Go get your car checked out. Buy it a little bit of time until prices do come down, maybe next year. But here's the deal. Relatively speaking, your car is not as safe as the new cars are on the road because you have a 2009 camry and there are so many

incredible safety features that have come up in the last decade that your car doesn't have and um rick can touch on some of those things but i would wait a little bit what wait you can your car is fine for now and then wait till price is stabilized and maybe consider a brand new one if you're really concerned about safety right right well i'm not you know i i keep up with it through you know through earl's place so i feel like if they tell me i know i know something I'm going for it I don't question anymore and I feel like they're keeping me you know everything I need they're giving me so I just was thinking because I'm gonna that may be increasing so many miles that was the

only issue but from what I hear from you guys I'm still good to go absolutely you're an educated consumer you're staying on top of things but Stu's information great information you know what to do but I'd like to buy another Toyota sure there's no reason for me to go anywhere else when I have it. You know, it's so good for me right now. Absolutely. Thanks for all, Lisa.

My opinion, keep your car. Yeah. Don't. I will. Keep driving that one. It's paid for. Keep driving it until the wheels fall off. Lisa, it was great talking to you.

I have a couple of calls backed up. Please leave your information with Jeremy so I can get that check out to you. Very good. Thank you all for your help, and it's been a pleasure. Thank you. the word, keep listening. We're going to go to Jerry, who's been holding in West Palm Beach. Good morning, Jerry. Yes. A little bit of nostalgia two years ago I got out of the Army, and my first car was from

Doug Stewart on 2006 the highway, and it was a red, it was a 70 red Pontiac Tempest. Oh, boy. Tempest. I remember. And anyway, I'm calling about the little oil thing, reminder on the windshield in the effort, left-hand corner. I only drive about 500 miles a month, and I'm about Earl's age.

How important is that sicker as far as mileage and time goes? Yeah, I was put on by the service department where you bring the car. Yeah. Yeah. It's a good idea. As long as it conforms with the owner's manual, Jerry, a few miles as you put on a car, you shouldn't have to come in more than twice a year every six months. And the main thing is to check the tires. You want to be sure it's safe. And it should just be a preemptory check. You don't want to spend a lot of money. Rick, you have a comment. Yeah, running standard, obviously you're going to be running standard oil in your car most likely. it's oil change about every 5,000 miles

and a tire rotation every 5,000 and just do a good inspection, that's all. I don't think he's driving the 70 Tempest anymore. You're not? No. Why not? It was a fire answered red V8 with a 350-hirt ship.

Well, Jerry, by the way, that was my half brother, Doug Stewart, and 1970, that was two years. I was selling used cars. over in the used car lot. So I was two years after I came into the business. And that is really some good history. Thank you for bringing that memory back. And one time I ran a 68 must passback on 45th Street and military trail. And I had him on the takeoff, but he beat me top end. We have

289, 4th Street End of story So I appreciate your I appreciate you talking with them If you have time, Jerry, if you can come by our Toyota dealership in North Palm Beach The first car my father sold Stu's grandfather

And it was 1937 And we sold it to a woman by the name of Annie Swan We repurchased the car from her when she couldn't drive anymore and we've had it restored so that 1937 Pontiac the very first car that my dad sold in 1937 is on our showroom floor so if you want to take a look at it come on by love to have you see it okay all right maybe I will and I appreciate it all right thank you that was a great call um do you have your kayak with you do I what you have your kayak with you I do not you're kidding no not that by the way anybody wondering about why the name name Pontiac Tempest sounds a little familiar. Go re-watch the movie, My Cousin Fini.

That's what it is. I knew it was in my brain somewhere. I just looked it up because I was thinking, was there really a Pontiac Tempest? It wasn't that a Plymouth, but no, the Posse Traction, the... I bet I've watched that 200 times. Anyway, 877960. Let's go to John, who's calling us from Palm City and has been holding.

Thanks for your patience, John. It's great to hear from you. Good morning to everyone. I want to go back to a topic we discussed earlier this year. And right now, you know, what are you all saying, not on my backyard? Well, again, it's the catalytic converter. Okay. Last month, Palm Trem, which is the public transportation for Palm Beach County,

33 buses of theirs in a yard. They took the catalytic converters off them. At the same time, Massey exterminators in Port St. Lucie, all their vehicles in one yard, they completely clipped off the catalytic converter. The reason at that time I asked Rick if he had anything in the shop, well, according to New York City statistics, and the theft is up beyond belief in Staten Island alone, it's 670% above what it was last year,

each other borough was way over 200. But the New York City figures say 95% of the catalytic converters theft is from the Honda Accords. So I just want to be aware. Now it's in our area. It's a crisis. What happens is the people are using the metals from this

recycled, and it's going into the electric vehicles, batteries. So it's a problem. It's probably due to the recyclers, the red fault. I mean, a van, a U-Haul van, was stopped on a Jersey Turnpike, a speeding, and they checked it out and it was over a thousand of these catalytic converters. No way to find out where they came from, but they claim a lot of it with Staten Island

because that's actually attached to New Jersey and was going to a recycler in Philadelphia. Incredible. So I just want to, I don't know what Rick can recommend whether we buy this lock for the catalytic converter. It's a very serious problem, especially if you're driving a Honda record. Aren't they like just sawing through these things as a lock and a hurt? What we're seeing in the shop is a lot of the trucks, the bigger trucks, because they're raised up in the air. So what happens is people are getting these battery operated sawzals, where it's a reciprocating saw.

They roll up under the truck. It takes about a minute to do the two cuts, and that catalytic converter is in their hands, and they're gone. So locks aren't going to help. Well, the locks can help because what they're doing, different companies are devising these big devices that, bolt around the exhaust and run all these cables and shields around the catalytic converter so you can't simply remove it without cutting out a giant section and of course when you're walking around with something that's six feet long in your arms you're much more likely to get caught as opposed to a one foot long catalytic converter they're also making shields that can be bolted up underneath

why are people so fascinated with catalytic converters i mean it's it's the rare mineral I know, no, I didn't mean that. I know why they steal them. But we talk about it a lot on the show. I think it's the idea that there's a menace out there that's coming to get you and it's something to worry about. Yeah. I mean, buy an EV and you don't have to worry about it, right? Yeah.

Rick, I have a question. These professionals now, and they're removing these catalytic converters quick, not like it was before. Yes. But are they targeting the vehicles that have two catalytic converters? Are they that educated? All cars have two. almost all are they all

have to talk about bagels we like to talk about bagels catalytic converter well you know bagels are a very

important topic and I think we should move on to that subject right away we could talk about Jupiter donut just the fast question

though does anybody know the year that they started the catalytic converter 1970 71 or 72

I think I just hung up on John no I'm only kidding I did 75 1965 1965

and there was big problems with it that had a sofa smell, they changed the catalytic converter twice on it, and then finally they did some, the adjustment with the air computer, and then it was fine.

But it was a terrible, the car was an early one, and it was a terrible, like a sofa, like an egg smell. Yeah, Chrysler was known for that. If their fuel mixture wasn't right, their catalytic converters would create a horrible odor.

That's what they finally fixed it with, the fuel mixture. Okay, thanks. Thank you, Allison. Thanks for the call, John. You got anything else? Does that have a Honda record? Yeah. All right. Thanks, John.

We so appreciate hearing from you. You're a breath of fresh air. Always have a lot of great information for us. Have a wonderful weekend. Thank you, guys. You're welcome. Stay tuned for that mystery shopping report. You remind me of the, we're watching Frazier, how Julie

rules her eyes back. That's what you did over and over again just now. Frazier says, you're going to freeze like that. You hate those catalytic converters. No, it's just, yeah. Okay, folks, a little humor here. 877-960. You can text us at 772-4976530,

Your Anonymous Feedback.com. Come on. Give us some interesting questions that you couldn't give us. Can we roll the video from the Channel 5 that we were going to roll before, when, after a article? Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. We're going to roll. Jonathan's going to take care of rolling that clip.

Yeah, this is from Channel 5 was on the news this morning, and it has to do with used cars and older used cars and desperation of people buying transportation. So Jonathan will roll that right now. A white Jeep sits in the driveway of Yassini Amara's Palm Springs home. I love this car, yeah. It's not the car that I originally intended to purchase, though, or that I paid the $3,000 down for. This is the car she planned on purchasing, a 2021 Mazda CX-5 selling for a great price with a local auctioneer. Three weeks later, he backed out of the deal. And even though I wasn't happy about it and happy for the reason and I wasn't happy about the reason he was giving me, I still said, well, I still need a car, obviously. So I need the money back.

But Mara says that never happened and police are now investigating. An unfortunate setback because finding an affordable new or you. used car these days isn't easy due to inflation and supply chain issues and I went car shopping at three dealers the prices were ridiculous the price of a used car was the price of a new car pretty much with no money to put down up front Mara is now spending seven hundred dollars a month it's a lot more expensive for her Jeep an unattainable number for a lot of people so here at your shop in West Palm Beach how often would you say you see a brand new

vehicle come in we have we're really not seeing as many you new vehicles excuse me as we used to well the prices of use cars have gone up so much in the last two years between the ship ship shortages inventory shortages that now dealers are demanding more money for the cars so Ron Katz and his crew at this Midas shop are busy fixing up older cars this Camry is a 2016 that he says his customers are driving for a lot longer these days it used to be people would keep their cars eight years. Then it was 10 years. Now it's 12 to 14 years the average person is keeping their car for. In order to save their hard-earned money until prices start

coming down. Not something I planned on having to do. Mara warns, that's your best bet. What if that was the last bit of money I had? What if I had no way to feed my children after this or something? I'm so lucky that I'm not in that position and then I have a wonderful, like, supportive family. What if somebody didn't have that? In Palm Springs, Jessica Bruno, TV, News Channel 5. Well, that's something that all of us are thinking about, are thinking about buying a used car. And the best thing you can do is if you've got a car, an older car,

and you're taking care of it, hang on to it. If you buy a used car, Stu said earlier, the prices are coming down a little bit on used cars, not at all on new cars. And even though the prices are coming down on used cars, they're still priced way over with a ultimately will be. So, be careful. Don't, there's no such thing as a free lunch.

And when someone offers you a really great deal on a used car, do a lot of checking and be sure you have an independent mechanic. Go over that car. If you have to pay him $50 or $100 to check it over, it's worth that expenditure. And you need to do a Carfax report, and you do need to do some shopping. But if you have to buy a car, buy one.

Don't buy a car today, used or new, unless you have to. Yeah, do your homework. Knowledge is Power, 877-960, or you can text us at 772-497-6-5-30. We're going to go back to the phones, and Kevin's been holding from Miami, and Kevin, I hope you're still there. I sure am. Oh, boy, do you have patience. Thank you so much. Welcome.

Yeah, no worries. Long-time listener, first-time caller. Yes. Excuse me. so to your point um no one should buy a car right now unless they need to and unfortunately i need to um i had a honda civic that i had uh owned and kept well maintained for 13 years that recently got totaled someone hit it while i was parked out in front of my uh out in front of my house so sadly i am hoisted into this ridiculous car market right now and uh i have identified kind of

have a good replacement vehicle. I'm looking to purchase a new Mazda 3, but getting frustrated, as everyone says, by the high-pressure sales tactics and the high prices with a lot of dealers. So I had a couple of questions for you guys. The first one being sort of what is a reasonable reach for my search, like how far should I be looking outside of my area? And then the The other one was just regarding dealing with those high pressure sales tactics. You know, do I really need to buy something within the next 24 hours to hold a price someone gives to me? I think the main thing you want to do is be sure you know about the type of car you want and about the price you want to pay as far as how far out of your area you should go. I think the more flexible you are on there, the better chance that you'll get the right car at the right price.

When you're dealing with a used car, of course, you have the unknown quantity. You need to be sure the car is right. So that will be a little bit of a difficulty. You don't want to buy a car that's 500 miles away at a dealership somewhere because you're going to have to have that car checked out by an industry. mechanic that you can trust. So think in terms of your flexibility, but always have whatever you decide you want to buy,

checked out by your mechanic, meaning the person that you have paid and his loyalty is to you, and you pay him. When he gives you a check and a thumbs up, then you've got yourself a reliable car. Backup to that, and you can use that maybe before the mechanic, as a Carfax report. They're pretty accurate, pretty reliable,

and with a good Carfax report and a good endorsement from your mechanic, then you just have to worry about price. And I say the prices will be higher today. If you're flexible on the car, just like with a new car, if you said, I want to buy another Mazda 3, and that's all I'm going to buy,

your chances of finding a good buyer slim and none. You have to look at a number of different cars that you would be flexible to accept as a used car. Consumer Reports is a great source. You can go to online to Consumer Reports or go to your local library and look at the used car recommendations. They have cars that are within price ranges.

If you want to spend $15,000, $20,000, less than $10,000, they have used cars recommended by price category. But do all your homework like that, then go online. and you can use auto trader as a source of cars of that year-making model and then draw a line around where you live and

see how far you're willing to go to get the car checked out. Sounds like a good plan. Thanks for your advice. And Kevin, I don't know whether you subscribe to Consumer Report but I'm going to tell you what, the amazing information that they have every month

really focusing on vehicles, no doubt, because of the climate that we're in right now. But the last couple of issues, last three issues, it's amazing. Use cars, new cars, safety features you really, really should have if you're going to get a used car. So it's really worth subscribing to. And like Earl said, if you haven't, you can pull it up on the Internet at ConsumerReport.org, I believe it is. Thank you so much for your call. Fantastic. Thanks for your suggestion.

And thanks for listening. Look forward to hearing from you again. Our number here is 877-960-960, and you can also text us at 772-497-6530. I think we're going to go to Stu. Sure. We've got some more texts. We have one from Steve in West Palm Beach. Steve says, loves the show.

I love the show. I have a 2011 Toyota Avalon, which is giving us a tire pressure sensor warning. Is it true that a steady light would mean air? pressure an air pressure issue in a blinking light would be the sensor itself issue and would that be covered under the tire warranty itself as far as the mileage because it only has 16 000 miles on the new tires and apparently the sensor is shot yes and no uh for those in the know the tire pressure sensor is actually replaces the rubber valve stem so the way you tell if your car has sensors versus a different type system is you simply look at the valve stem if it's rubber and can wiggle

then you do not have sensors in the wheel except for the newest cars out now uh 20 21 22 can have rubber stems but they all have sensors i didn't know that and well the older cars like is a 2011 avalon it'll be a metal valve stem if the tire light comes on and stays on solid then then you have one or more tires low on air. If the tire light comes on and blinks for about 30 seconds, then goes solid. You have one or more sensors that have either the battery has died or the sensor has stopped working. Rick, is that accurate on all makes or cars?

Pretty much, yes. Or the sensor might have gotten broken when they were mounting your last set of tires. And that actually happens quite often if the technician. is not trained properly and doesn't know properly how to handle those sensors. Most likely on an 11, you're talking an 11 year old car, almost 12 years old. Probably the battery has died on one or more sensors or the sensors have stopped working. And due to the cost of what it costs to program them versus replacing them, you know, once one is that age, you might almost be better to replace all for at once.

I would have it checked out by a mechanic to see how many sensors have stopped working. And it will also show in the data list on their scan tool whether the battery life has started to degrade. And that may be a good indicator of replacing more than just the one sensor. Okay. And it's generally not covered under any warranties because that would be the original factory warranty on the car because the sensor doesn't get changed when you replace tires. There you go, Steve.

We all learn something. Steve, thank you, because now we know about, I didn't know that either. I saw your face starting to look astonished. That's amazing. It is definitely amazing. Thanks for that, Rick. We're going to go back to the phones and we're going to talk to Marty in West Palm Beach. Thank you for holding, Marty.

Good morning. Good morning, Marty. Good morning, Marty. Great. I got a couple points I want to make. First point, you see what the weather is doing in California, and they're telling people not to use charge. their cars from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. I don't know the percentage of electric cars in

California, but I assume it's a lot more than Florida. What would they do if everybody was driving an electric car now and didn't have 220 lines, didn't have garages, didn't have ways to charge their cars? So I think the electric car eventually, yes, it may be wonderful, but I'd say with gas gas stations and gas cars, number one, are not going to go out of business yet for a long time. Well, that's my point. Well, they might not have any choice, Marty. You know, this electric vehicle revolution is coming on so strong.

Here's an interesting article. Nancy and I were talking about in automotive news this morning. A Buick has decided that they are not going to be building anymore combustion engine cars after 2000. Well, they're not going to introduce any more new cars. So in 2024, they will only be planning to build new electric vehicle cars, total EV. So Buick is doing that. It's probably going to kind of a gentle motors trend, too.

And they're buying out, they're offering to buy out all the dealers, the Buick dealers, that don't want to accept that. So you can see the trend. And just see, Marty, it's 15% market share. of EVs in California. That's like Toyota's national market share. Hey, folks. Well, that's, I understand that, but see, California said in 2035, not that I'm going to

California, hopefully I'll still be around in 2035, but they're saying that they're not going to let any gas, you know, it has to be an electric car to purchase a new car in California in 2035. Well, that's still 13 years. down the road well you the manufacturers are sit up and pay attention when California speaks because as Stu said 15% of the cars that are built are going to California are driven and so if I'm General Motors I'm Honda on Toyota and the customer that buys 15% of my cars says I'm not going to buy any

cars from you unless they're all electric I'm going to listen to them real carefully as far as the like the rolling blackout and the prohibit prohibitions on charging or the request to not charge. Yeah, that is a big problem. I don't think that's an EV problem, and that's a power problem in California and a heat problem. Quick note here from Donovan. I got one other question for you.

I ordered a fully loaded Camry with a driver assist package back in March. Your sales managers there tell me so far they're not building anything with the driver assist package. well to me number one I've had the 2020 camera with all the stuff on it I don't really need another car now so I can wait you know I can wait it's not an urgent thing but I don't want to give up any of the things that my current car has so what do you say just you just got to wait it out then right I think he's got to wait it out we get right now they're not building them with that package and we see that all the time Toyota offers a bunch of

packages. I imagine other manufacturers do the same, but they just don't build them. So you might see these in the, Marty, you know this. I'm just saying this for all the other listeners. You might see something online or on the brochure and you just can't get it in a certain region. So that's what, that's what Marty's facing right now. When inventory picks up, we have the ability to do something called a DPMS and that's kind of like a special order. It's not something that's really useful right now. We're at the mercy of the supply chain. When things start to improve, we might will have a better chance of trying to do something a little bit pick up a vehicle that doesn't have uh that has a package that we don't normally get in this region so hang in there

marty i appreciate your patience well i'm planning on the 24 okay well you might that might be about what you're going to get so thanks marty all right have a good day everybody great hearing from you mardi give us a call again rick well just uh donovan actually came in with this one he says California is also saying not to run your air conditioning or electric hot water heater in that four to nine time slot. California has always, for many years, had problems with not getting enough electricity. And right now with the huge droughts there, one of their biggest suppliers, the Hoover Dam, is not running at full capacity because they don't have that huge water pressure to create electricity. So they're going to have issues there. But let's bear one thing in mind.

130 years ago, as we were transitioning, most of the population got around by horse and buggy or on horses. It wouldn't a lot of gas stations. And, you know, we transitioned into these cars. Suddenly, we had automobiles on the road. We built the whole infrastructure. But even now, in 2022, we still have horses. People still rely on them for a lot of different areas. There are still horseshoers.

There are people making saddles. Coopers. there will be gasoline cars on the roads for the next 50 to 60 years or more. They're still going to be out there. There's still going to be a need for mechanics. It's not an instant overnight change, but it's also going a lot faster than what we did in the switch from horse to cars. Thank you, Rick. Hey, Rick, as far as the electric portable chargers, are there really worth the money that you're going to spend on those?

what do you mean portable it sounds like as if you can carry it around it's like a suitcase of some sort but Consumer Report did you know they did a research on these electric vehicle chargers and the portable chargers

and it was quite an interesting article and they asked whether they're really worth the money I think it's probably something that you would use at home in your garage to get you to the next charging station. I have not seen these. I would have to do some research on that.

Is that right? They're probably pretty heavy. Oh, yeah. Interesting. I would imagine they'd be massive. Consumer reports really ahead of their time. It was an interesting article, ladies and gentlemen, take a look at it.

You can pull it up at consumer report.org. 877960. Texas at 772-4976530. We're going to go to David, who's been holding from North Palm Beach, Good morning, David. Good morning. Just a quick question here.

What is Toyota awful with their driver assist that is different than the adaptive cruise control and blind spot and the one it holds you on lane? Well, one of the cool things is lane trace assist, and it's neat. It's very much like Tesla's autopilot, but they don't call it autopilot. And what it does is when you're on the highway, and it uses the laser cruise and all the other systems. It basically will steer your car in the lane. It'll keep you right in the center of the lane at the speed that you set. And it will also slow down and speed up according to how traffic is going. It'll even stop the car if cars come to a stop.

So that's probably the closest thing to driver assist. Also, I think that also... Yes, go ahead. Excuse me, I'm sorry. What you just described, Adaptive Cruise does all of that. It doesn't turn the car. It steers the vehicle. So you can...

You're supposed to keep your hands on the wheel, and if you remove your hands from the wheel, it'll ask you to put your hands back on the wheel. You just kind of rest them there, and it will turn the vehicle as I've done this on 9.95 is a little unsettling the first time I did it, but it will turn in the lane, and the lane goes the other way, and it will keep you in that lane. The other part is a little bit less dramatic and a little less scary when you first experience it, and that's lane keep assist, and that is when you start to, if you drift towards, and a lot of vehicles have this now, if you drift and you start drift out of the lane, it will nudge you back, and so it keeps you,

in the lane. And that's separate from there is the lane departure alert where that will beep if you go over the line and then you move yourself back in. David, in the October consumer reports, they list the devices, safety devices that are most popular with the public and they recommend that you consider these when you buy your next car. The adaptive cruise control is 63% satisfaction. The most new device, so to speak, that's most popular is blind spot warning. I love my blind spot warning. And number two is adaptive cruise control. Lane centering, which Stu was just talking about, is 60%. And then the last one is automatic emergency braking. And Rick and I were talking

about that before the show started. But these are devices that are amazing in keeping you from having an accident. They're really, you get used to them, you rely on them. And once you own a car, with these in those in their your car you don't want to buy one without it it's really cool you can only buy some escalades in different states that have their automatic drive control is that correct i don't know if they're i mean i know that i know municipalities have rules on as far as like what kind of uh automated driving i don't know if by if by state i would imagine you're probably right but um i haven't heard anything in florida well thank you very much you've always been a lot of health i appreciate it oh you got it thank you

Thanks for the call, David. 877-960. And you can text us at 7-7-2-49765-3-0. We have a very interesting mystery shopping report that took us to Schumacher Volkswagen, so stay tuned for that. I think we'll go back to how'd you like that, Rick. Interesting, isn't it? Interesting article.

It basically sounds like it's a gas can that you're going to carry along for your electric car, but it looks like the prices on those are very expensive. Over it's several thousand dollars. And the weight of each of those items would offset, you'd use up so much extra power driving around with that carried in your car that it would offset any chance. I mean, now the company that brings it to you for an emergency recharge, that I can see as a reasonable thing.

But like the article says, if you just plan ahead on your charging and keep an eye on your power level of your car and don't let your car get low on charge, you're in a better shape. It's sort of a look at things to come and the options that we now have, all of us, on everything. Stu? Yep. I got a text from Bob. He says, good morning with the shortage problem on hybrids versus regular combustion vehicles.

I just did the numbers of what the break-even time would be for comparison. This is based as an old guy like me, it would be approximately 10 years based on 5,000 miles per year using the miles per gallon for regular and hybrid. For example, a corolla model and a regular carola hybrid. So it doesn't make sense to wait forever for a hybrid, just a thought. Now, normally I would jump in and try and defend because I know a lot of calculations have been done, and the break-even time is, in most publications, is less than 10 years. And of course, that's based on a lot more miles because Bob's driving 5,000 miles per year. But one thing he said, just using current MSRPs to see the difference.

Now, that, this, that, when you soon as you said MSRP, the whole formula gets thrown out the window because no one's selling them for MSRPs right now. So if you're going to buy a hybrid, almost no one. Almost no one. And, and this is not supposed to be a commercial. But, yeah, when they're selling them for thousands over MSRP and even more for a hybrid, your, your break-even calculation gets even more messed up. So that's a very, very good point. Thanks, Bob. And we have some anonymous feedback.

And here's a great comment. It says in May, I put down $500 for a Prius, an order. About a week ago, a manager from the dealer called and said that the model Prius, the same model and the same color that we asked for will be arriving in late October. He noted the price, however, which was $2,000 more than we agreed to in May. I questioned it, and he basically said, take it or leave it. Is this yet another car dealer scam? Yes, but it's almost like standard practice.

days with orders. Like Earl has put on the store, you need a rock-solid agreement on that order that the price that you agree to now will be the price that you pay when you get in, and that it's your car. No one else can buy it. And unfortunately, there aren't any real enforced rules that prevent that from happening right now. Now, we're going to see a lot of calls, get a lot of calls in about six months when the production comes up with the demand and these cars that have been ordered for months and months start to come in. You'll see a lot of these cases where they lock you in at a high price. You're going to be the other end of it.

You're not going to want to pay the high price. So when you have an agreement with someone to buy something, you want to lock it in if it's a good price. And if it's not a good price, you don't want to lock it in. So you need a legal contract at a good price. and with a legal contract you have to identify the specific vehicle and the only way you can

it was the VIN number so we talked about that earlier in the show but yeah you should if you want to buy a car today and you shouldn't but if you do and you come up with a price and you want to buy it for that price

when it comes in then you need to bind yourself and the dealer with a VIN number and his signature and your signature otherwise you don't have a contract But remember, a binding contract has to bind both parties, you and the dealer.

Here's an interesting comment from the forces aligned against EVs. I'm just kidding. Interesting to read that pollution from tireware created by the increased weight caused by the heavy battery in an electric car is about 400 times greater than the pollution from the tailpipe of a gas diesel vehicle. I'm going to have to just make a note. we'll have to verify that because that's a pretty bold statement that sounds completely not true it is expected to increase do the increasing size and weight of electric vehicles i don't think electric vehicles are increasing in size and weight i mean i think the object is they would decrease over time but electric vehicle tires are a lasting a surprising short amount of time are very expensive to replace right i would also i would also say on that count that technology is not standing still tires either right and I would think by the time all electric vehicles are prominent on the road you're gonna have something in a way of a tire that is completely different than today's tire I've never understood to me a tire you

know taking a tire and filling up with air and driving it for X number of miles arcane having to keep replacing it and then they could blow open and the whole tires seem like an acronism yeah and the new whatever these vehicles are going to roll on will be not even imagined today. There's materials and high-tech materials that will be taking care of the place of rubber that they squeeze out of a tree. Yeah, right. They boil a tree and they put it on your car and then it wears out.

Okay, here's another message from the forces of doubt. When I need gas from my car, options are available to look for a better price. I doubt there will be, I doubt if there will be multiple options to shop for a better price for electricity from a why do you doubt that it says no gas buddy to shop for electricity well okay i'm going to go home and i'm going to make an app called electric buddy actually they do have an app and it's called sharepoint and it's a national network called sharepoint you have it on your phone and we have some at our dealership and you just go on a map and you can find the charging and it gives you the rates at which you're charged if you use it most of them are free right now most people are

allowing people charge for free that will probably change when they get more prevalent when it's Well, it costs per kilowatt hour is constant within a region. Correct. But the people that use the charge port station, they can decide if they're going to charge the going to charge the going rate or more or less, or free. They're deciding the markup over what they pay for kilowatt hour. And that's a regional thing, but you're right. The independent chargers are. And I apologize for having a mocking tone with it.

It's just there, but there is. You said, how are you going to compare? Here's the answer. You go on an app and it tells you exactly just like Gas Buddy, and it's probably better than Gas Buddy, in my opinion. All right, that's it. We're caught up. Sorry about that.

I like EVVs. Great information, Stu. 877-960-9960, and you can text us at 772-497-497-6-5-30. Rick, do you have anything for us down there? I want to do something personal. get this on camera Jonathan can you give this on camera now I drive a Tesla

and Tesla has a fully autonomous software that can be engaged when you have a perfect score so Nancy and I she drives about half the time we have struggled and struggled to get our driving record up to 100%.

So, if Elon Musk is listening or watching, Elon, please flip on our autonomous software, and we will be able to drive our Tesla and just say, take us home, take us to the studio, take us to the dealership, take us to Taco Bell. We're looking forward to that. So look in your records. When did they turn it on for you? I don't know. I just happened this morning.

I saw you texted me. I was so, I dropped off the 94. He texted me at like 5 o'clock this morning. He's all excited. Yeah, he would put that 94 on my car. We were talking about it at 3 o'clock this morning. Anyway. Exciting life.

Very, very excited. And if anyone knows Elon, will you call him? Elon is, Elon's busy. He's a very busy man. I'm begging you, Elon. He's got SpaceX going on. He's opening lithium refineries. And I have a whole lot to say about that score.

but I certainly can't say it on the air. Talking about things that are personal, let's talk about the queen again. You know, there's so many things that we don't know about the queen. I think that a lot of people just think, oh, she's the queen, and she's waited on 24-7. My goodness gracious, what a woman, what a mother, what a wife, what a person, extraordinary talent that she had. I don't think she even drove a car. She drove a car She was a wild child

She drove a range rover She was wild She took joy rides She was out of control She also drove ambulances And it is just It just goes on and on And like I said

She was a wife, a mother And she was She was in World War II I mean she was in She was really something Ambulance driver Doesn't that sound exciting? Oh the guys here are

are so excited, I have to restrain them. Okay, ladies and gentlemen, we're going to move on. Hey, what can I say? 877-960-99-60, or you can text us at 772-497-6530. Earl, you broke Johnny's heart. Johnny. Johnny Z. Fradley, just about the time that you were starting to mention your score, he came on and he said, has the plaid been to the racetrack yet?

they closed the race track yeah they did shut down moroso you took too long you had plans you were going to go when I had to tell him that you had finally hit your hundred score and there was no way you were going to jeopardize that well for you

for you Tesla fans out there this is interesting we talked about this before the show I can run a red light I can go 160 miles an hour there's a lot of things you can do that do not charge against your safety score, but they have it broken down by those factors that have caused the most actions. That's the software that you have to, one of them, the big one, is following too closely. That's one of the hardest things, breaking suddenly, turning to,

swerving too fast, and they have some other things like that. But it's not easy. Nancy and I both. It's a tedious, tedious drive. Earl and I would be much safer on the racetrack, and our score would remain at 100 and autonomous that would be a reality right now not a reality well imagine the folks out in places like

Nevada Utah Montana where they've got those long open highways sure that's where you no traffic and they can just open up and let it go that's where when you purchase a plowed in a week's time you achieve 100

and you keep 100 it's a very tedious drive right here on the road any other text story, let's go. Yeah, Marty chimed in. He was listening to us, talk about the safety features, and he wanted to point out that he says rear cross-traffic braking is also a great safety feature.

It's in addition to rear cross-traffic alert, and it's really is awesome. You're backing out of space. I love that. Not only does it beep when the cars are coming, and it's amazing how far it can tell how it sees somebody coming way down in a parking lot, but if there's a pedestrian or another car that pulls up behind you and you don't cash it in time, it will stop your car. and you won't have that accident. And these parking lot accidents, like the most common kind of accident,

and this bit of technology is basically eliminating that. That's really cool. And it's more of a nuisance than a safety thing, but it probably saves billions in repairs to consumers. Just a little chip in your car. Well, think about the average fender bender in a parking lot. You bang into them. You've dented up your bumper, your fender.

You take your car to the repair shop. They get the insurance company involved. By the time it all gets said and done, and they finally get your car repaired and back to you, your car has been out of operation for weeks on end. You've been in a rental car, so another car is having to be used. You're paying, the insurance company is paying, and it's a huge expense. Weeks of aggravation and frustration and hassle. Then your car is never quite right.

You know what the irony of the whole thing is? Look at how wonderful that is. You know the irony, the reason that's so expensive and everything is, because of that sensor and the bumper. Yeah, yeah. So we're making bumpers really expensive, so they protect themselves. It's kind of funny if you think about it.

But when it prevents that accident, think of all the frustration you just took out of your life. Exactly. It makes life better. It made your life that much nicer. All right, we got another text. Good morning. My name is Juan Carlos.

My son is 22, and has a 2016 Honda Civic that works great and is looking to lease a new car for the big LCD screen. I used to connecting the mobile phone, the infotainment stuff. It's got the blind spot monitor, lane keep assist. What pitfalls should be avoided when leasing and is leasing the best choice? My son has no set manufacturer in mine, but I told them to get either a Hyundai or a Toyota.

I know car prices are very high right now, and I appreciate any guidance you can give. Yeah, leasing all thing, leasing is not designed to be a better or worse. It depends on the individual and what your needs are. Leases used to be subsidized more by the manufacturers, encouraged by the dealers, because they're more profitable. And when you lease a car, one of the best things about a lease to the manufacturer and the dealer is they're probably going to lease you another car. They have their talons in you.

They know who you are, where you live, because you have to make that payment to them every month. When you buy a car, you're footloose and fancy-free. You can go anywhere you want. They don't know where you are. And you can disappear off the radar. So leasing is always a big thing for manufacturers and dealers. And they would advertise leases a lot. And they would subsidize a lease. So five years ago or four years ago, you could lease a car with an inflated residual, which would lower your monthly payment. They would have a lot of financial incentives for you to lease instead of buy because they know who you are and they'll lease you another one. That's not true anymore. So it's a wash today at one as to whether

you lease or buy. And when I see a wash, I use a rule of thumb. All things being equal, I recommend you buy. But I don't recommend you buy today, but if you're going to buy today. Buying is probably a better option. Do a lot of shopping, listen to this show, go to Consumer Reports, use Costco auto buying program. That will be coming

up as the subject. If you're listening now, you ought to listen to this mystery shopping report because it's about using the Costco auto program. So if you're going to buy a car, use a Costco auto program. Be flexible in what you buy. And

that's my answer. my two cents is when people think about leasing and I'm just guessing your son is pretty young and people get attracted to leasing because usually they'll see an advertisement for a low payment so they might be driving their car going gosh I'm paying $600 a month I just saw an ad for a brand new car you know for $259 that sounds great often that perception is is not accurate because when you get into the fine print and the ad it requires a ton of money up front to get that payment So you'll look in there, three, four, five thousand dollars to get the low payment. So maybe talk with your son about, you know, explaining about car dealer advertising

and just find out what his expectation is for a lease payment. I know he's going to probably think it's a low payment. But right now with the inventory of situation, dealers, incentives have been pulled back, and that includes incentives on leasing. And so really it is lower, a lease payment today, all things being equal will be lower than a normal purchase, a loan payment, but it's not going to be as great as a lot of people think they are just based on what they see in dealer average. And not to beat this to death, but also leasing is for a lot of people that, we're car dealers,

and a lot of our customers who like to lease, they like to lease because they want to get a new car every three years. And they get a fresh car with fresh components and blah, blah, blah. And the mentality is that you're never going to have a problem with a car if you change every three years and 25, 30, 40 years ago, that was extremely true. Today, the cars are so maintenance-free and so reliable and so advanced that you can keep a car for five, six, seven years. And so there's not a problem in buying a car anymore. Leasing used to be a real, you know, for the people that wanted to have the new car all the time. And you don't want to have a new car all the

time anymore. You can buy a car and keep it for 10 years. if you want to. And that'll be plenty of safe and reliable and maintenance-free. What was the age of the texture that needed the car? His son was 22. 22? Yeah. Boy, that's quite a decision to make. You know, it was a whole lot easier for me when I purchased three different vehicles for three daughters today.

What a complicated situation, you know, depending upon their age. so okay folks do you have any more i have no more no more and rick just a quick thought and i heard they were looking at a hunday we just had a hunday santa cruz that came through the shop as an inspection on a used car 22 hunday santa cruz i got to tell you whoever designed that car knocked it out of the park that is one beautiful awesome looking vehicle nice i'd be jealous anybody gets that one that's a nice car you have to be careful by stereotyping brands and when the Korean cars first came to this country they were junk and now boy talking about playing catch-up the Kia and the Hyundai depending on the

model you can check consumer reports they built some pretty fine quality cars so don't don't buy the same make because it's been reliable and you recognize it things are changing folks and on top of it mainly with consumer reports and you just heard it here from a technician the Hyundai Veracruz Santa Cruz Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz.

Vera Cruz is in Mexico. It's just, I'm a car nut. I love cars but when you see cars that they all start to look the same and then you see something that somebody really made something look different and made a really nice looking car

it catches the attention. It's awesome. You talk about things looking different you know we're these new electric vehicles that are coming up the shapes you know the models the sizes of them did you take a look at the delorean did you take a look at the delorean i mean uh consumer report did a phenomenal report on these vehicles how about that cyber truck i mean you talk about shapes and sizes i'm not knocking this Santa Cruz i'm just saying that what's every what's past as prelude or what's old as new again it looks like a brat like one of the old car that little

is similar yeah like a little tiny car pickup truck they got its inspiration there but it's a much bigger vehicle like a seven old 70s vehicle

I know they are nice awesome yeah okay were you ready for mystery shopping you know why I thought it was Veracruz and said

Santa Cruz see all you old guys out there can appreciate this Vera Cruz Mexico was my first port of liberty when I was in the

Coast Guard okay and we had a 36 hour liberty uh in Veracruz Mexico and I was, and I was only seven. And either was in trouble, didn't you?

And I was only 17 years old. Is that where you got that giant? Is that when you got that giant, giant tattoo on your chest? Oh, don't like, don't tell anybody about that thing. The Clippership, I should. Now we know. I had that removed. Now we know. Okay, mystery shop of Schumacher Volkswagen.

This is a dozy, folks. This is a mystery shop to listen carefully to. It will be online at Erlon Cars. We'll post it there. It is a classic mystery shop. You're going to get a lot of good information out of this. We're focusing on the Costco Auto Program. One of the best ways to get a great low price on a new car.

But as we've discussed over the years, car buyers must be wary of the many pitfalls that are associated with the program. Now, they're only as good as a dealer that is the certified Costco dealer. It isn't the Costco name that you're relying on. It's what pulled you in to consider it, but you have to be sure the dealer is playing the game straight. We feel the program doesn't do enough to prevent dealers from freely using some of their most insidious tactics,

charging surprise dealer fees of the last minute and adding dealer installed equipment. We've also discussed how many, if not most, Costco members sometimes do not follow the rules of the program and expose themselves to the risk of being taken advantage of. This happens when the Costco member doesn't go through the official process of submitting their purchase inquiry on the Costco Auto Program website. Despite these problems, Costco members generally have a better time buying a car than most. They certainly get good prices. That's why I've confidently endorsed the Costco Auto Program over the years.

However, it needs to get better. The Costco brand is so respected and admired that its name deserves a process that is representative of the member experience at a Costco warehouse. It should not be associated with surprise fees or overcharging for worthless unwanted accessories. Small but significant changes to the program would make a world of difference. Now, here's something you probably don't know about Costco and the auto program. The auto program was actually administered by another company. And that other company got into the program back in 1976, 1977. They assumed the Costco Auto Buying Program administration and enforcement.

And they're called the Affinity Development Group, A-A-F-D-G, Affinity, like A-F-F-F-F-I-N. and ITY and they have a multiple other sources of endeavors and they are one endeavor is to administer the Costco auto program and for that reason Costco themselves are not really on top of it but the affinity program if you if push comes to shop and you call attention to a deviation of the program that's not right with the dealer you deal with they will come to the rescue But as Stu wrote the report, and it's an excellent report, the way it was written up, warning you to be very, very diligent. Our Agent Lightning that actually made the shop expressed her frustration at the awkwardness of the program. She was on hold for a long time when she was trying to get through to Costco.

And she herself bought a new car not too long ago. And she's a Costco member, by the way. She didn't use the Costco auto buying program, and I suspect one reason being of the awkwardness. It takes a lot of work. For example, a day short supply of cars, you have to shop all over the place to find an auto dealer that carries and prices the model that you want to buy. Lost my place, I got off on Iran. Okay. Having said all that.

said all that. How does the Costco Auto Program even work these days? During this crazy upside-done car borrowing world we find ourselves in, with car dealers out of inventory and prices soaring to unimaginable levels, is Costco still the way to go? Well, guess what? As I said earlier, Agent Lightning is a Costco member. Okay, here's the report on speaking as if I were Agent Lightning. It was frustrating to navigate my Costco search. Many makes of vehicles just weren't showing up on Costco Auto.com. I called the Costco Auto Aether number for help. She was on hold for a long time.

I spoke with Kimberly, who said that limited inventories meant I might have to expand my search area and be willing to travel. And by the way, she wasn't really talking to Costco. She was talking to the affinity development group. I spoke with Brendan. Oh, I think he skips on it. Oh, okay, yeah. With Kimberly's help, I found that Schumacher Volkswagen at West Bond Beach, very close, had pricing for a new Volkswagen Atlas SUV. She submitted my info, and within seconds my phone was ringing.

And interestingly enough, that is a vehicle that Agent Lightning would consider buying because she does have one. Right. She owns one. So actually, it would have been a perfect car. I spoke with Brendan, who wanted to set an appointment with me, one of their authorized cost go reps. I agreed to meet at 1145 a.m. before we, uh, oh, ended, sorry. It, auto is correct. Before we ended the call. Okay, before we ended the call, Brendan said that the dealership really wanted to make deals today. Here we go. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He asked about my trade and seemed very anxious to get my used atlas. I showed up 45 minutes before my

appointment, was greeted immediately by Yaris. I told my, which is the name of a Toyota vehicle. with Brennan, who told me to ask for an authorized Costco rep when I arrive for my appointment. So if you're going to do this, if you're going to use the Costco program, online they should list the Costco representative. Now they may list somebody who's not there anymore, but always double check. And when you get to the Costco member dealership, ask for the name of the Costco representative. If you don't, folks, if you just get the average salesman, if they've got 20 salespeople, there's probably only one rep from Costco. There's 19 hungry wolves out there that are going to try to sell your car that's not on the Costco program.

Why? Because the Costco program has super low prices compared to what they could sell the car for. And if the average salesperson at that car, sells you the car, he's going to make a lot of money. If he sold you the car on the Costco on the Costco auto buying program, he's probably going to make nothing, or at least a very small commission. So be sure you get the recommended Costco auto buying salesperson. Where am I? I lost part to check him. Oh, you're assured he could take care of me.

Yeah, okay. And he said they didn't have specific Costco reps. Okay, okay. They said he didn't have it. That would have made me nervous. They didn't have a specific rep, but you plow forward. He moved on and asked me if I was looking to purchase today and want to know what vehicle I wanted.

I told him I was there for a new Atlas. He asked if I had a trade in. I told him I was currently driving an Atlas, but I wasn't trading it in. The artist like Brendan before him was extremely interested in my potential trade, obviously. paid probably less for the car, far less for the car, that you could sell it for today. And he loved to have the opportunity to do the same thing. When I explained I wanted to give it to my kid, he mentioned I may be able to get some kind of loyalty incentive, and that would be from Volkswagen.

Yars led me over to the Atlas and started talking about it while I inspected the stickers. The MSRP was 42,385, and there was an addendum with a $2,995-995 mark. market adjustment, standard operating procedure these days, folks, addendums. Schumacher's list price was 45, 380, which they called, and this, I don't like this, folks, total MSRP. That's bad. Illegal. It's a violation of federal law. The MSRP is a legal term.

It's a term stated by federal law that says all cars must display that all. cars must display that on the vehicle. And you can't change the MSRP. So what Schumacher did is they changed the MSRP, they raised it by almost $3,000, and they called it the same thing again, total MSRP, which is untrue. So I say we call a spade a spade, here we are. This whole paragraph here is a black mark for me on Schumacher. Yeah.

Schumacher Volkswagon is breaking the law folks. But even before, they're breaking the love, but when you said, hey, this is just the way the games play these days, but it's extra shocking when you have like a dealership like Schumacher, who was, to me, who's kind of like us. You know, it's like one of the good guys, and now they're playing the game with this market. And the salespeople, you know, you can't, you know,

you can't be everywhere all the time. And, you know, Chuck Schumacher, I'm sure is a very honest, moral guy, but he's got 15 dealerships or something like that. he can't be at each place all the time and he's got salespeople out that are violating the rules and they're saying it's hard to tell people stop making a lot of money for me

exactly and they're on commission okay we went back and sat found seats at his desk I had to wait for 15 minutes while I listened to him and another salesperson try to figure out the Costco order program all right so you see how often that gets used and it's true because during the hybrid during the COVID crisis Yeah, we're not doing that. Nobody's buying cars in Costco unless you're really diligent.

They came back over with a document titled Volkswagen North Palm Beach, preferred customer plan, and by the way, this is not a Costco document. No, this is their document. My personal information was printed out in the upper section. There was space for me to sign agreeing to the statement. Customer will own now the figures are agreeable, which is... Emphasis, not mine. Ludicrous, yeah.

There is capital bolded and underlined. Yeah. So, you know, you don't ever commit to buy anything if you don't have a price that you shop and compare it and you know you want to pay it. So they were saying that they're only to give me this price if I agree to buy it now, which is absolutely ludicrous, insulting your intelligence. and I would suspect illegal, not sure about that. Handwritten in ballpoint pen with the words, 400 below MSRP, 350 and 400 below MSRP, 350 and total 750.

You always explained it was 350 below MSRP, okay. Now that is what the Costco program says, that in order to put a price on the recommended program, it has to be $350 below MSRP. Let me tell you some of the folks, you're not going to find cars at $350 below MSRP anywhere else. And you might not even find them at a Costco dealer because they're not going to tell you the truth. We'll find out as we complete this report. So here we are, the gold nugget.

We did our work. We went through the frustration, a lot of frustration. We found a dealership that was going to sell this Volkswagen Atlas at $350 blow MSRP. fee. That is hard to believe. Okay. Plus another 400 with a rebate. Yeah, yeah, with a rebate. The other salesperson at Costco pricing sheets and showed me the discount. Now, always asked to see the Costco member sheet. We have a copy of that. We'll show you what it looks like in a minute. But if you've got to do the Costco program, number one, beware. You're going to find it hard to find a dealer.

that has your model available for sale. You might have to travel a few miles and you might not be able to find it at all, but Costco member, auto member program is the best way to go. I told them about my trouble online and how a Costco representative had helped me. I told them, I was told, I would not be charged any dealer fees.

Yaris was quick to point out the $995 doc fee, the $279 tag agency fee, and the $98,000, $98 electronic filing fee that will list on the member only price sheet disclosure. So they will mention that. They have to mention that

and you take that out of consideration into the price you're paying. So it's full disclosure. The only danger of these hidden fees is the fact that they're hidden. So if they're on the Costco member price sheet, which you have to ask for, then

they're no longer hidden and the danger is gone. Now I'm going to show you If you're streaming this, this is what it looks like, the Costco auto member price sheet. And every Costco dealer recommended can show you this price sheet, and it will be a doozy of the deal by today's standards. And Agent Lightning did get this. And so now we know, we now know that the price that she's being quoted is a limit. legitimate price, and it is the Costco price, and

now we're talking success. Yaris said he needed to find his manager to okay the big discount. He was about to give me. He said they would normally sell the Saddliss for quite a bit above MSRP. I believe that. So he needed

a sign off. I'd like to have a picture of the manager when he saw this. He was back at 15 minutes like, yeah, what? Right. We haven't had a Costco member buyer, and here in a year and a half. You sure? I mean, this had to be hysterical. She better be going into the box right now.

He probably went up the next level, maybe called Chuck Schumacher. Do we have to keep doing this Costco? Right. And then they might not be members of the Costco. Oh, cancel our Costco membership. We can't do this anymore. The top line was the actual MSRP, 42, 385. They took off a thousand making price of the vehicle.

41385. Then they added the $39 hidden fee. They added the $379 hidden fee and then $9.95 prep fee hidden fee. Out the door was $46,112. He said I got additional $250 off because I currently own a book value. So that's, I didn't do the math here in the report, but just want to point out that so she got a total of $1,000 discount. That was $350 from the, that was Schumacher's discount for being the Costco program. then there was an additional $400 from Volkswagen, and then there was another $250 because she earned one. So that was that she owns a Volkswagen. That's a loyalty discount.

So they took $1,000 off. But then they added back on about $1,400, about $1,400 prices. So it's a great deal. It's still $400 over MSRP. It was? Yeah. After all that, it takes $1,000 off and you had $1,400 back in. I'm sorry, poor it.

I'm glad you told me. Yeah. Well, with the fees, with the junk fees, that put it, put some about 400 over MSRP. So, so this needs to be reported to Costco. Right. And we will do this and we'll actually report this, as I said before, to Affinity Development Group.

And if we'll have Agent Lightning do this, it'll be interesting to see the procedure, what happens. And Agent Lightning will go onto the guys of, you know, she was duped. Yeah. But, but, but it's still a good price. It is. It's a good price.

I think the only thing, like getting into the grading aspect of this, I think they're going to, I'm going to give them a pretty good grade because they did give, to get $400 over MSRP on anything that is almost the best deal in town. It's not the best deal in town, but it's almost the best deal in town. But as far as Costco's concerned, a deal is a deal. They have to either follow the rules or they'll be canceled. They were clumsy with the process, but they ultimately produced a member-only price sheet and gave them the right pricing. But they have to be $350 below MSRP.

Oh, even with the fees. With the fees. Okay. See, I was, yeah, it's been so long soon as it's at a Costco price. I forgot this. Well, Josh was the one that told me about that. So I didn't know it either. Costco, if you're listening out there, and you're a Costco member,

Costco says that they have to sell you a car at $350 below MSRP or else it can't be on their Costco member price sheet, which explains why a lot of a dealers don't put cars on the Costco member. member price sheet. So there we are, and we'll vote on this, but the vote is whether or not this was a, you'll have to search your own conscience and say, is violating the Costco rules enough to take you off the sheet? In this case here, it was actually a good price by today's standards, but it was a violation of the Costco membership rules. Okay, so I got a C for confusion from Bob.

I'm confused Stu's confused I am I'm not confused Jonathan Wilton Okay Jonathan Wilton says based on the information given

It's not possible to give Schumacher anything but an F so that's pretty harsh I'm coming in higher than you than you Jonathan They're going to get a C

from me It is a couple of things I don't think you can lower the grade so much for messing with the rules but taking money from a customer

that you can so I'm going to get to see Mark gives him a C, too, and a couple of mad faces. So he didn't like it. He didn't like having to give a C. So that's my official grade. C. Rick? I've got Mark Anderson from St. Louis.

B. B. bought a car from Costco program, and it was delivered on a pallet, he says. Interesting. Kirk and West Buy God, Virginia. Disappointing misrepresenting the MSRP. And on top of that is the hidden junk fees on the car. Costco price sheet. A good price, but still in violation of the Costco program. Misdirection earns a D. Johnny Z. Fradley, you had me at fake MSRP, F. Tim Gilliland, market adjusted hidden fee, hidden fee, D. Brian Siddlako, Costco is the way to go, C plus. Wayne Veit with a

D minus, Mark Ryan with a D plus. And myself, I'm going to follow Stu's lead. I'm going to go with see and say it hey they you know they could have done a little better but still in today's market that's it's a good price that's a good price on that vehicle let me read this quote from Josh and in my text I want to be I checked to be sure I wasn't wrong Costco requires us to be $350 off MSRP on any available model that we choose to include in the program the pricing sheets display all models and will either show the discount or state is excluded so here we are a direct violation of the Costco auto buying member program it so we we know that was the case question is how

do you score based on that and we'll go to I have a question for you do you have a choice to become this is rather rhetoric I already know the answer do you have a choice to become a Costco member any one of the dealerships Yes. They have a choice. They have a choice of Costco or something. Yeah. Okay. Here's how I roll. We're going with Costco. Wow. What a brand. What a brand. Do you need to, you know, have your defenses up and your boxing gloves on? No. Costco is great. How about Schumacher family, brand? I don't know. This backward thinking, you know, that I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm reading into here.

It just isn't necessary. You know, there's not too many things today that are, for a lack of another word, sacred. And for this mystery shopping report that I certainly don't agree with at Schumacher Volkswagen, I give an F. There we go. You and,

wait, who get, we have, you have one of your comp, Jonathan and Wellington. Failers. Phail them. All right. What's the final? I'm going to hold off until I see the results of the follow-up with Costco and the ramifications, and we'll see how that goes. But I'm a, I'll, I'll, what is our average score if we average today without me?

Without you? Yeah. Rick and I gave him a C. Nancy gave an F. I think there's, it's pretty, it's, there's, there's, there's polarization. here is season. Call it a D. Okay. Well, we'll give them a D, and then we will reevaluate based on their decisions with respect to the Costco auto buying program, remaining a member, and honoring the... Okay, let me ask you this question. Do you believe that as a Costco member, a Costco member, that

that dealership should follow the rules? Of course, absolutely. They have an option. They don't have to be a a Costco member. Exactly. Okay. Another great show, a great shopping report. And everybody's healthy. Everybody stay that way.

What do you have for me, Jonathan? Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for joining us this morning, right here on the Oldies Channel. Gosh, we have a great time on Saturday mornings, and we hope you do too. You are an amazing part of the show. Have a wonderful week,

and we'll be right back here next Saturday morning at 8 a.m. Thank you.