Earl Stewart on Cars - 09.11.2021 - Your Calls, Texts, and Mystery Shop of Nelson Mazda, Murfreesboro TN

Episode Date: September 11, 2021

Earl and his team answer various caller questions and responds to incoming text messages. Earl’s female mystery shopper, Agent Lightning travels over 800 miles to visit Nelson Mazda in Murfreesboro Tennessee to see if the dealer will honor their online price for a 2021 Mazda3 sedan. 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. I'm Earl Stewart. I welcome you to Earl Stewart on Cars, a live talk show all about how to buy, lease, maintain, or repair your car without being ripped off by a car dealer. With me in the studio is Nancy Stewart, my wife, co-host, and a strong consumer advocate, especially for our female business. We also have Rick Kearney, an expert on how to keep your car running right. I dare you to ask a question that Rick can't answer about the mechanics or electronics of your car. Also with us as my son, Stu Stewart, our LinkedIn cyber. space through Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Periscope. Stu is also the Spymaster Director of our Mystery Shopping Report. He dispatches our secret shopper weekly to an unsuspecting South Florida dealership. And now, on with the show.

We're back live, right here in the studio in North Palm Beach, Florida, and we're reaching all over the world. We are here to help you buy, lease, maintain, and repair your next vehicle. with as little pain as possible. We do a mystery shopping report that we will discuss at the end of the show. I suppose it's a highlight. I think more and more people talk about the mystery shopping report because we go in without any identification as being a shopper, of course.

And we go through the buying process or leasing process, and we report to you exactly what happened with the car dealership. we shopped a dealership in Tennessee this week we shop mainly in Florida and we tell it like it is name the dealership we name the managers and the salespeople involved and we're very candid about what happened

if we feel the law has been broken we say so if we feel the ethics and moral codes of how a business should operate have been violated we say so And a lot of people say to me, how can you do that? Why don't you get sued more often? Well, we never got sued. And that's how we do it, because we just tell the truth.

I'm not saying we never make a mistake, but there's never any malice in what we do. In fact, we look forward to finding car dealerships that have done a good job. We find some every now and then. Pretty rare, but we do. And they're all shades of gray. We go from a failing grade, and we have a list of our failing dealers,

and then we give the grades as we go up, and we have a recommended list, and we have a list where you say, don't buy from this dealership. If you want to go to Earl on Cars.com, that's the blog that we have been feeding with information for years and years and years. You can get all that information. Meanwhile, we'd love to have you call the show. We'd love to have you contact the show in a variety of ways. Of course, the old-fashioned telephone number is 877-960-9960.

That's 877-960-9960. Now, our text number, or a lot of us, I mean, maybe you don't want to be identified on the phone or go to the trouble of calling. We've got a text number, 772. 4976530, and please make a note of that, 772, 4976530. And if you really want to be, let's say, anonymous, like I said, there's only one word for it, because that's the name of the website, Your Anonymous Feedback.com. You heard it right.

If you haven't listened to the show, you can remain totally anonymous, make any kind of of comments you want. We don't know who you are, where you are, why you are, or anything else about you. Say anything you want to say. Get it off your chest. Tell it like it is. You want to get tough. Get tough. Now we're going to edit, you know, profanity and vulgarity, but not the essence of your message. And we read it on the air and we try to answer it. Your anonymous Feedback.com. Facebook. Facebook.com. Forward slash Earl on Cars. Twitter. YouTube. YouTube.com for slash Erlund Cars.

Erlon Cars is the key. That's the hub of the wheel. And all the information that you want is available there. So your feedback is what makes this show, your comments. We have some great regular callers. We want some new colors. We always,

we have to grow. You either grow or you die. You can't just, you just can't maintain the status quo. We're growing, growing, growing. And we're all over the world now. We've actually had calls from Bali. We're all over the United States, and we need to grow. So your calls are the essence of the show. And we have another special mission, and that is parity, equality with all of our female callers, all the ladies out there. We would love to hear from you.

We're up to pretty close to 50. And Nancy Stewart, my co-host, is going to tell you about a special offer we make to all the ladies. A lot of you heard this before, but spread the word. You have a, if you're a female, you're a woman, you have a different perspective on life than men do. Let's face it, I mean, that's not being discriminatory. That's a fact of life. A lot of times, the way you look at life is a lot wiser than the way we men look at it, and we're different. And you're half the population of the planet. So for gosh sake, give us a call, and tell us what you think about buying cars, leasing cars, maintaining, or anything else to do with cars.

Here are your comments about your personal experiences. Nancy Stewart is going to tell you, if you haven't called the show, why you should consider calling a show. Just one time. I'd love to have you call every week, but if you call the show, tell them about the special offer. Ladies, you should consider calling the show because you do win yourself $50 for the first two new lady callers. We certainly love your feedback, and you'd also be helping me to build this platform for ladies and, well, how they're dealt with as far as service purchasing their experience at the car dealership.

There's a lot of good stories. There's a few bad stories. Things are improving, but the fact remains you can win yourself $50 this morning to new. lady callers 877960 and for all you others you can text us at 772-49760. You can also take advantage as Earl said of the anonymous feedback. That's a great way to get in touch with us and remain anonymous. And I have another question for you. If you have, well, taken through the months or the years, I think that Earl's book came

out in 2012, I'm not mistaken. Stu probably knows the answer to that if I have misspoken. But I have a question for you. If you do have the book, do you pull it out from time to time when it comes time to, you know, to, well, purchase a car or lease a car, service a car, anything at all? your favorite chapter, the to-go-to chapter. So I just thought I'd throw that out there, something different this morning. Give us a call 877-9-60-90-60 for you. For those of you who haven't purchased the book, you can go to Amazon. All proceeds go to Big Dog Ranch, and the book

is, well, it's not really cost that much, and it's definitely an investment, 1990. I believe from the top of my head. But it's something to have on the bookshelf and to refer to. Okay, with all of that said, we're going to go to Mandy, who is a first-time caller from Lake Worth. Good morning, Mandy. Good morning. Mandy. Can you hear me?

She's there. Yes. You just won yourself, $50, Mandy. If you email me your address, I'll get that check out to you. check out to you okay thank you so much thank you for calling welcome thank you so do i ask you my question here yes okay so i'm looking to buy a new car and i just wanted to know what is the standard warranty for for cars or you know what should i be looking for as far as what the dealerships or salesmen will offer me what kind of the standard for the warranty.

Well, what kind of car do you think about buying, Mandy, because all the cars have various warranties. Some are longer than others, some are more thorough. Have you thought about which brand or make? Yeah, so I work in construction, so I've been thinking about getting a Tacoma, and I've been doing a little bit of research on them but I've been hearing mixed reviews as far as warranty and then especially with Toyota with the Toyo Guard so I just wanted to get your feedback if you think the Toyo Guard's worth it

or you know what's expected with the Tacoma Stu why don't you give you the details on that we happen to have a Toyota dealership so we could give you the specifics without having to Google it But if you think of a Honda or Subaru or any other brand in your search to buy a new car, you should check each individual brand. As I say, they're all different. But Sue can tell you about the Toyota. Yep.

So all the Toyota's come with a three-year, 36,000-mile comprehensive warranty, and that's what's commonly called a bumper-to-bumper, even though it doesn't cover the bumpers. That's for three years to 36,000 miles, and that covers most of the components in the car other than the engine and transmission, the drive-transmission. And that's covered by a five-year 60,000 mile warranty. To answer your question about Toy Guard, no, it's not worth getting it at all. It's priced around $700, and it really covers an additional two years of maintenance that's pretty cheap. You know, a couple of oil changes, a couple of tire rotations, which is much less than $700. But you also, with Toy Guard, get an extra coat of wax on the car. It's a paint sealant, but it's really...

it's got roadside assistance, it's really not worth getting. So if I were you, I'd insist on getting a Tacoma without Toya Guard. And now, that's the warranties that come with the car. And there's mixed opinions in this studio over getting an extended warranty. It depends on how you feel about risk and the possibility that there could be a breakdown after the factory warranty expires, in which case you could be charged anywhere. And this is up to the individual dealers. So this is not regulated by Toyota.

So they can sell a warranty for pretty much any price and you'd expect to pay anywhere from $1,500 to $2,500 for a typical extended warranty. So, Mandy, just my thoughts. Whenever, you know, some consumers out there are looking at a vehicle that may meet their needs, they take into consideration how much it will cost to keep that car on,

road. So I'd like to share that with you. But as Stu said, three years, bumper to bumper, you know, 36,000 miles, I believe you said. You know, unless you foresee in the future, once that warranty is up, that you wouldn't be able to afford a repair, unexpected repair. That's whenever I would cautiously and carefully, well, I'd discuss what I needed as far as a warranty was concerned. It gets pretty tricky out there when it comes to the warranties, extended warranties. Rick would probably touch on how often he sees a Tacoma in the shop for repairs. He has one himself, too, so I know he's going to endorse the Tacoma. Well, mine's the 2013, and it's tried and true. I love Tacoma's. I love Tacoma's.

second one I've owned and my first one was in 97 so that tells you how long I've had how long I keep them and I think Mandy has a couple more questions. What else can we answer for you, Mandy? Um

Is that wrap it up? The biggest one was the warranty you know because I'm just kind of starting the process and trying to figure out what would be best but that was a big thing for me to know what to expect there. But thank you so much.

Well, you're very welcome. One other thing is the warranty, the bumper-to-bumper, the tires are covered by a different warranty by the tire manufacturer. So a lot of people get mad at the dealer because they have a defective tire, but the dealer should cooperate with you if you have a problem with the tire and work with the tire manufacturer, be it in Michelin or Toyo Guard, I mean, or Toyo or whatever the manufacturer, Goodyear, Firestone. They carry the warranty on the tires.

Okay. And, Mandy, I'm glad that we could, I'm glad that we could help you. And also, you know, you're, as far as research is concerned, and this question that you have about warranties, it's a really a gray area. and you really have to be sure what you want. But one of the sources that I rely on is Consumer Report, and there you can find a lot of information about warranties and what fits your needs.

I certainly hope we helped you this morning, and if you don't have any other questions, I just want to thank you for helping us build this platform here for the ladies. Thank you so much for taking the time. to answer my question and you've been very helpful just helping me kind of get a better understanding of how the warranties work and and I didn't realize it was for each specific car you know I thought it was just kind of across the board for each brand so that was super helpful thank you you got glad we could help you have a wonderful weekend 877 960 960 you can give us a call right there with any of your

questions, or if you can help us out in any way, if we don't have an answer, we always depend on our listeners, everybody who's involved here. We work as a team, and we thank you for being with us every single Saturday. And the best news of all, all of this is free. So take advantage of it. Back to the recovering car dealer. Okay, well, let's remind you, and then I'll introduce Rick Kearney that Rick Kearney is a sort of master diagnostic technician. We sometimes get hung up on car sales and deceptive trade practices and bait and switch advertising and buying and leasing. Maintaining and repairing your car is probably more important than the buying process because you have to do more of it by a car every four or five years, six years, but you have to maintain your car probably a couple times a year at least. Rick Kearney can answer any technical question about your car. So when you're making your calls, think about answering, asking questions that it can save you some money

and maybe help you be sure that you're taking care of your care properly. Rick has got a YouTube that we can start out with. Yep. Negan 1 says, good morning, everyone. I like to hear Earl's old sales stories. What's the craziest deal on a car he's ever done or the craziest trade-in? Oh, gosh The craziest trade-in was a couple of cows from Belgrade The craziest Cows?

Yeah, cows, yeah We took anything in trade back in those days In the late 60s and 70s It was interesting And you really take in diamond rings Children Children I only did that once, I'm only good

That's how you got me I was traded in in 1968, Bonneville. One of my favorite stories, I mean, thank you so much. What's the caller? That's Negan. That's Negan one. Yeah, I love you for asking the question. One of my favorite story truly is when I first got the Toyota ship back in 1975,

and we used to advertise a Corolla when they first came out for 2495, and we painted the car that we were advertised, we only had one, we painted the car and on each side of the car said Earl Stewart Special 2495 Special

and it was painted on both sides of the car and it was car, we didn't want to sell the car because we were selling it below our cost and it was to get the people in the door bait and switch, then we could sell your car and make a lot of money. That's back when I was evil before I reformed. and we ran that

and then when the people say well I don't want another car I want that car they say okay but you have to sign a contract that says you will not have the car painted for at least one year that's how we get our money back because you'll be a driving billboard

for this carola so that was such a terrible thing we were we were contacted by the regulators and it was an embarrassment and we had to stop doing it but I look back on that it's like a nightmare did I do something

that bad and it makes me realize that when we are doing mystery jobs and we find these outrageous practices and it makes me, it gives me a little bit of humility to recognize that one time I was there and I did that kind of thing

and here I am criticizing it so it's a cleansing feeling to be confessing what a terrible things I did in the past. The road to redemption. You're making up for it. I'm making up for it. Yeah, definitely. Is that in the, is that, what chapter is that in? Well, you know, that gets me another, that gets me another entree. I just started my second book and, and we're playing with titles. And one of the, with thoughts of the title is

redemption of a recovering cardio, redemption of a recovering cardio. So this is what I'm doing now. I'm trying to redeem myself for the sins of the past, and that will be the second book, which I just began. Yeah. Okay, let's get back to serious stuff. Real quick, ladies and gentlemen, what do you think the new book should, well, be titled? What do you think? Give us some ideas.

Confessions of a recovering car dealer that was written in 2012. I'm going to go with that date. Nobody questioned me on it. What do you think today if a new book is begun, which it has been begun? Is that a proper English? It has begun. It has begun. Hence, we need a title for that book.

Give us an idea. We are going to go to Warren, who is a regular caller from New Jersey. Good morning, Warren. Good morning, guys. How are you? Hey, Warren. I have a question. Hey, I think Paul last week we had a mess here where I'm staying here in New Jersey for the summer

that had the flood and about a dozen people I know lost their cars. I have a question because when your car goes by the board, it's a whole thing that's interesting. But I have a question to you about gaffling. Can you explain, for example, how it worked? If in other words, if you had a lease car and you have a year left, that they pay for a new one, if you have a new car, and what is it better to buy for me from you to do or from the insurance company? I mean, did they pay the whole difference?

Hey, Warren, this is Nancy Stewart. I'm not sure whether it's us or it's you. Are you moving about, we're kind of getting pieces of the conversation you're sharing with us? no can you hear me better now maybe we could start over no I think Stu could answer it oh okay I'll go about gap insurance okay I guess it can't real too

okay the question was about gap insurance and I wanted to know what the drill is on that for example if you had a lease card and had a year left did they just pay one year on the lease the difference or the whole three years if you have a new car

how long the gap insurance lasts Are you better off buying it from you, the dealer, or from your insurance company? Like, what's the drill on? I'm just curious, because so many people lost their cars here. I don't have them, some don't. Well, most leasing companies, it comes with a force-gap insurance, so that's part, that's included, the lessor, the bank actually puts the insurance on the car because it's their asset.

They own it. Is that all leasing companies do that, too? I think it's pretty standard. I don't want to say authoritatively that it's all of them, but I haven't seen one that doesn't do that. So if your car gets flooded or wrecked or whatever, it's totaled out, it doesn't matter. At that point, the gap insurance will cover for the leasing company the difference between the value of the car and what it's worth. So it's really out of your hands at that point.

You walk away clean from the car, and it's up to you whether or not you go get at least another car. But at that point, your obligation is over. Yeah, but the question would be if you do lease another car, let's say you had one year left on the lease. Okay. Are they going to pay for the new lease? Like, in other words, if you're paying $400 a month and now that lease is $500 a month, are they going to pay the difference for three years, one year?

No. Like, what would they do? No, these are two separate arrangements completely. One contract is settled up and done, and then a new lease would be a completely separate thing had nothing to do with what happened. on the other lease. Oh, so they're only paying off the lease, then that's what we do.

Correct. Exactly. So then you can walk away, not worry about it. You don't know a dime or you could release it or do whatever you wanted. And what about a brand new car because I heard they're all talking about you guys sell Gap insurance. Is that just for leases or you do it on brand new cars out the door? Well, we don't do it on leases because the leasing company does that.

If somebody's financing a car, we would recommend Gap insurance if you're in a situation where you didn't have equity or, you know, are not going to have equity for, you know, for a while. So it is really recommended. In other words, if you didn't make a big enough down payment, your trade and didn't have enough equity, if you're a positive equity when you bought the car and take delivery, you don't need gab insurance.

Okay. So that's, and what is it better up? Because I know you said you guys sell it, and but the insurance company sell it, I think. The best thing is. deal with you. You guys are the insurance company? I would compare. You can ask your insurance company. You know, we have, I think ours around $5.95 for our policies, and you could ask your insurance company what they charge. It's a one set price sort of thing. So it's, you know, you can call

around if the dealer would tell you, another dealer would tell you the price of their Gap insurance. That's great. A lot will make you come in to find out. Yeah, you don't have to buy it from a dealer. and the gap insurance sale is very profitable and different states regulated in different ways. I'm not sure about New Jersey, but how they do it. But as Steve said, gap insurance, like anything that you would buy in the finance department after you buy or lease your car, you need to shop, you need to determine that you need it,

which you just ask that question, and now you have to determine the best price. but gap insurance varies in price and you want to find one that is a you don't have to buy it from a deal you can buy it from an insurance company on the outside and try to get the right value but you're always anytime you buy a car you're going to be tried they're going to try to sell you gap insurance just to determine that the price is right ahead of time okay because again it came into fruition here because of all the people who lost the cars and have an acquaintance who had to use And he bought, paid $30,000 a year and a half ago, and they offered him 24.

It's really a take it or leave it. And actually, he said, well, what am I going to do? They offered me 24, so I'll take it. And that was pretty much it. But it was a used car anyway. A lot of people who didn't buy it are regretting it right now, I'm sure. Yeah, and the only thing is, like I said, you really don't think about something like that until a disaster happens. Yes.

You know, because you figure what's the chances of wrecking your car and needing it. But I guess, like everything else, it happens to somebody, so you ought to think about it. So I said, thank you, thank you, gentlemen. Warren, before you go, I'll tell you, the guys suggested researching, you know, before you purchase that, research is going to take you, you know, a long way, save you some money. But what I wanted to ask you was the last time you and I talked, things were quite chaotic in your neck of the woods have, you know, things settled down a little bit? Yeah, they have settled down. Unfortunately, in another town over, a couple of people were killed.

In fact, in New Jersey, around here, in all parts of the state in New York City, people were killed in the flood. It was just horrible. I mean, nobody expected it. The water just came up so fast. that people were just killed in their cars because they didn't see the water coming, and they were drowned in the cars, and some got swept in the lakes and whatever.

But here in the neighborhood, people have settled in. The cars are still on the street with signs on them, and said, don't toll them. The insurance company is going to get the car. And when I walk in the morning, I could see tons of cars. They look okay now, but they were flooded.

But it is settling down, and the street looked like a third world country because all the people had to throw out all their stuff. stuff and now the city's picking it up and it's settling back but it's like a once in a lifetime thing that you don't want to know about yeah the houses were damaged it came so on expected it became it came so fast but the cars that were damaged and the shortage of cars um are just unbelievable because people are telling me they're looking for cars and there's no use cars and the new cars they want a fortune for you know they just and people go into pennsylvania they go into western

Pennsylvania, I guess you're in the neck of the woods, you know, as far as away from the New York City areas, they can, because that's the only place that has cars is nobody that hasn't here. Yeah. Those flood cars are going to end up somewhere, unfortunately. But God bless all the people that you did mention. What an unfortunate situation when you see water coming at you in your, well, you're in your car and you can't get out. Warren, thanks for staying in touch with us. Sure, and what people got to look for is that a lot of these cars, like the neighbor, Lexuses, people got all kinds of expensive cars here, and these cars look fine. Like now that I see them sitting, you know, and they're talking to people about it, and I'm sure they're going to wind up on the black market because when you see these really expensive cars, like a Lexus, or in there, Cadillac, or whatever you see, and they look fine.

But, you know, you can just imagine somebody getting a whole of them and just getting them to start and say, oh, get Alexis. Yeah, they will. Warren, God bless you. Have a wonderful weekend. And thank you for being part of the show. You have a great show. Enjoy it. Take care, by the point.

You're welcome. Hey, 77-960, or you can text us at 772-497-30. I have $50 for another first-time lady caller. Give me a call. I have it right here waiting for you 877-960 I think we're going to go to Stu we haven't heard much from him

and he's responsible for the mystery shopping report and how eloquently it is put together and we get a chance to read that please do as it the writing is well is phenomenal Stu? Yeah we're going to kick it off with Ann Brie's text and he says

For years, people have been told that a college education is the only way to make a good living. Not true. I know that building contractors, plumbers, well contractors, et cetera, can make a very good living. There's a shortage of applicants going into the trades. Earl, if you had a magic one that could instantly fix things, what would you do to increase the number of auto technicians? What would you do to improve the education system for auto technicians? And that's from Anne-Marie. Oh, it's easy.

I would clone Rick Kearney. And I would, I'd like to have eight more, Rick's. No calling for Rick. No, Anne Marie, you're absolutely right. If there is one opportunity for young people looking to get a really good career and make a ton of money, it's auto technician. I mean, as I say, they're no longer technicians. They're auto computer scientists.

And you say you don't need a college education. That's true, except you don't need a formal training. college education, but Rick Kearney is, you know, he's a lot sharper and knows a lot more about automobiles and anything he could learn in college. He's been going to college for a lot of years. And every, I don't know how often he's taking courses. He's taking all my courses all time, Rick. Monday morning, I'm heading for Jacksonville for a week of training. There you go. Every time I look around, Rick's in school. And I'd love to have him back, because we need text. And we're short of technicians.

We're having a little difficulty. We've always had difficulty hired good technicians. Now we have extreme difficulty. And what an opportunity out there today to make some serious money and have a great career. I am absolutely unique. And there are many people out there breathing a sigh of relief for that. What, that you're not getting cloned or that you're going to be in Jacksonville for a week? Both.

Both, yeah. what would your wife think about the cloning idea oh she would be totally what does she think about the Jacksonville idea she'd be terrified well I'd be right Jacksonville she's okay with but no cloning she'd be terrified but think about an identical clone twin that you couldn't

differentiate and then you could do anything you want to send the clone to take care of your wife for a weekend and you can take off and go crazy this is terrible but how would I know if I was me or the clone this is awful I think we're going to save this for another show I think that would

a good idea yeah I'm going to interrupts too and um where was that right on that's where we were on that one okay um we are going to go to the phones where we have another first time lady caller wow we're going to go broke and we're going to talk to Asanya who's calling us from Charlotte one of my favorite places good morning how you doing Sean Osana I'm doing good. Yeah, what I was telling was we're in the Charlotte Airport. We're getting ready to hit your all's way. We came from Virginia. Oh, yeah. Hey, you texted us. Oh, wow. I love it. Oh, gosh, do I love your accent? Oh, thank you. You just won yourself $50. And if you send me, Nancy Stewart, your contact information, I'll get the checkout to you. $50.

Okay. And spread the word for us and let all your lady friends know that we have. such an offer every Saturday morning. What can we do for you, Sonia? Yeah, I just want to call and let y'all know. We really appreciate all the stuff, help the police, getting our vehicle. Oh, thanks. Well, thank you.

Drive it home. What kind of you getting? Thank you. The four-runner, that's right, the four-winner, yeah. You're driving it back? Oh, that's going to be a fun road trip. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

It's going to be a nice little journey. You got a little extra cash, too, to pick-up lunch on the way home. That's about over 13 hours all together, I think. Oh, boy. Hope you got some snacks with you. Well, listen, thank you so much again, and keep listening. Oh, thank you. Thank you very much.

Have a great weekend. Safe travels. 877-960-9960, or you can text us at 772-49-7-9-7-9-7-6-5-3-0. we're going to go back to Stu again. I'm glad she got through because she was trying to call. I guess we had a lot of callers trying to get through and it was busy, but they got through. That was great. Yeah.

All right, this is from Tom. It says, Hi, Erlintin. What are your thoughts on the new Lexus I.S. 500 with a V8? I assume these will be factory ordered to start. Do you think there will be car deals to be made under MSRP or expect to see additional dealer markup over MSRP? Or should I just go to a Mustang or a Mopar for a Swan Song V8? And like I said, that was from Tom.

I heard about that I haven't heard about it I'm glad you had heard about it Well it's you know the Lexus IS It's a smaller car It's sporty It used to be like their version of I guess a corolla

But it's a little sporty car It has a 3.5 liter V6 in it So it's still already fast They're going to make it with a V8 So this little tiny car with a 5.0 liter Big Beast engine So it's going to be fast and loud And yeah

First of all it's going to be a low low production vehicle. Not very many people are going to want to get a small car with the V8. It won't be as fast as my Tesla. It won't be anywhere near because I think it only gets like it's over four seconds in zero to 60. They wouldn't even see you in a drag race with that.

So yeah, typically. So knowing car dealer behavior, you're going to have a low production car that's special and it's a sports car. Please expect them to be, even nice Lexus dealers to be selling it over MSR pre. I don't know if I've never seen a Lexus dealer do

that, but it wouldn't surprise me. And yes, it's going to be hard to get. Even now, with the inventory shortages, you get a specialty car, forget about it. So, how long of a wait will there be? I have no way. You can't even put a number on it, can you? I mean, we could look to other examples like the Hellcat and some other, like, muscle cars that came out in somewhat recent years. There were weights, and they were selling away over MSRP. But, yeah, actually, you know, let me rethink my answer. It is a Lexus dealership. Maybe they might forbid the dealers from selling over MSRP. I don't know.

I think Rick has a comment on that, right? I was just going to say, if you heard that Tesla is actually working on trying to get out a $25,000 electric car. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Make it available to the people that, you know, the general public really. You tell you, where's the average person? No, they're coming out on.

They are? That's the talk that within another year to two years, they will have a model out that's $25,000. I would be looking at that in a heartbeat. It's all over after that, yeah. I mean, there's nothing stopping them. I'll Google it. Is they got a model name or anything?

I haven't heard a model name yet, but we need electric cars that are not priced at the point where you have to take a second mortgage on your house just to afford the down payment. Yeah. I mean, you know, I'm just saying, you know, your car was $150,000. Yeah. And for me, a $30,000 vehicle is a $30,000. vehicle is a pretty good chunk of change. I got about six of those Lexus. The rumor is that it's called the Tesla hot hatch, and it's coming in 2023.

And there's a picture. I don't know if it's a spy shot or if it's a concept, but it looks like a Tesla, and it's a hatchback. Yeah, $25,000. Now, see, that brings it to a reasonable point where the average person on the street could say, yes, they could go buy one of those. as their next vehicle or plan that that's their next vehicle. True. And suddenly we're going to see gasoline cars start to fall away. And like Europe right now has said they're trying to get a special dispensation for Ferrari and Lamborghini.

For monster cars. The supercars to still be allowed to produce a very limited number of gasoline engine cars going forwards from 25 and 30. That's what Italy is pushing for. Yes. Italy is threatening to break up the whole EU agreement on the ICUs. Because they're trying, you know, obviously Europe wants to get rid of internal combustion engines and go to full electric, but, you know, these supercars, they still want to keep a couple of. Well, Porsche is arguing against them, and they're saying that the future is an electric.

Look at the Porsche take-in, which is beating all sorts of supercars. But I guess Ferrari and Lamborghini, they're very traditional craftsmen. of things. Well, I compare it to this. Henry Ford put together a production line and made cars available to everyone and yet we still have horses. You can still go buy a horse and ride a horse. You can ride the horse and buggy. Horses aren't making greenlanders. Let's go back to the text

we're called. I know we're having our own personal everything. It might be interesting. Other people might find it interesting. Hey, wait a second. Breaking news. I got a horse. I go to a radio show. I go to a horse in the backyard. We'll get to that later. We're going to go John who's calling from West Palm Beach. Good morning, John. Hey, good morning. Welcome. Thanks. Continual caller. About the small car V8, you said there is not a big market for it, but amongst the kids and the younger crowd, if you look up or research Google, LF swap, you'll find that a lot of the Lexus is and like the 200s or 300s what they're doing is they're taking the LS Chevy motor out of the Corvettes and they fit right in to the Lexuses they're also doing like the Honda 2000s if you're wondering why these little miata meadas and the

what's happening right now is a lot of Corvette motors the V8 are finding their way into these small little cars and they are they are high hot. There's a market there. The only margin that they don't have is the fathers, because these cars, the VH make it into these L.S. And it's called L.S. Swap. And the car that best

works under this, believe or not, are the old Volvo. Especially the Volvo that had the turbo. The transmission, everything just fits right up. And it's called L.S. Swap. And they're there. But one again, they're not putting the air conditioners in because it's so

much more work to add the AC so you're so it's the kids that are buying it and like I I would buy one if it had AC and I've only seen like two of them that have AC and the one they had the the the V8 was little Honda S-2000 that I wasn't willing to sell it interesting that small power market but the V8 there's a market there and I think if they do it, and if the cars have AC, which they're going to, they can't, you can't sell a car in Florida without 80. There's a market there because there's an older generation that wants it. Very interesting. Yeah.

I think nowadays you couldn't sell a car in the United States without air conditioning. Not Florida. No. And so that's my two cents. Okay, we appreciate to call, John. Yeah, we appreciate your two cents. Without a doubt. Have a great weekend, John, and thank you for being part of the show.

Ladies and gentlemen, do you consider yourself an auto expert? You know, I think that might be just a little bit of a stretch, so all of us have a little bit of knowledge about our vehicles. But you can put this to work for not only the people in your neighborhood, But a whole lot of people out there where you can join Earl's vigilantes. And there you can, you know, let your voice be heard. Do a free hat. Help people in your community.

And there's a whole lot of good, it's a win-win situation. So Earl's vigilantes, and you get yourself a free hat. Yeah, that fits much better than that. He's trying to get it over on top of the headphones. One size fits all adjustable. Yeah, there you are. Quality embroidery. Quality?

Oh, very nice. I'm glad you pointed that out. Okay, don't forget. Now, Earl's vigilantes, also, there are some of us who can't really maneuver our way around the Internet, and there are a lot of people that are going to the Internet to purchase a vehicle. It's a great place to go to purchase your vehicle. So we need volunteers as far as that's concerned also. So if you can maneuver your way around the Internet,

with ease, think of what you could, you know, be to some senior citizen and how you could help them. We're all in this together. We all have to help each other. So, ladies and gentlemen, we're going to go back to the telephones, and we're going to talk to Paul, who's calling from Lakeworth. Good morning, Paul. Hey, good morning. Everybody, I'm on Bluetooth. Can you hear me okay? Yeah. Yeah, we can hear you pretty good. Okay, great. I am, A independent car dealer. I've been doing it for 17 years after I retired. And it's crazy times right now, to say the least.

But my point to make is I read Nation's Automotive News, and I see where Toyota is cutting production again by 300,000 vehicles. my question to you is are you going to have any cars to sell? No, we don't have any. I'm serious. We have ten cars on the lot, Paul, and it's the worst we've ever seen it.

We were doing much better by selling with a low inventory, but we've reached a point of pain. Right now, every car that comes in has already been sold. We're taking orders. And we can't, yeah, we're taking orders. We can't replace them.

So it's a low point, and it's a good question because folks out there are thinking about buying a car. It's kind of like when to get in the stock market. It's hard to know when to get in at the bottom because you know when it's at the bottom. It's going to go up again. Well, we think we're at the bottom. So I'm predicting a bottom in the car availability today, and I'm predicting that in 60 days, there will be reasonable inventories. And so

if you're going to buy a car in 60 days, you'll be able to get a far better price. Today you're paying through the nose for a car. Our mystery shops have proven this. You're going to pay over sticker. So it's a great

question. And I've even have, normally we hire salespeople, a good salesperson. Right now we're not even hiring good salespeople because we don't have any cars to sell. But that's a great question, Paul, John, or Paul, George. Paul Jones, Ringo. Also, Paul. Ringo. That's a pretty good one. Hey, also, Paul, if you have a used car, boy,

I'll tell you, this is the time, you know, you want to get, you want to just get a little more for your car, $1,000, $2,000 for your used car. There are a lot of people out there looking for it. Nancy, I wish I had, as I told you, I made a independent car dealer, I wish I had every car back that I sold in the last 18 months. I hear you. Try an email blast. Well, a dealer trying to buy a bag.

You probably are too, John. You're probably, Paul, you're probably offering a lot of money for anybody who wants to sell them a car. So, you know, if you want to go to Paul and you've got a car, you want to sell a bit, Paul, you pay a lot of money for it, won't you? Well, sure, and it's just like, you know, at demand high moxions, the prices are just ridiculous. Yeah.

There you go. I have a waiting list of good customers want me to purchase cars for them. I tell them, no, I won't do that to you. You know, you need to wait unless you absolutely need a vehicle right now. Yeah. Very kind to you to say that. Well, it's nice to talk to another honest car dealer with all you.

For sure. It's the ones that are advertising great discounts and super buys, you've got to wonder about their morality to be able to lie that blatantly to the public. And the advertising today, you look at the ads on TV, the car ads, and you swear there's no car shortage. People are great sales. They're having a labor day sale. They're having a hit sale, that sale, discount, prices cut in half, and they're lying. and it's just a terrible time to buy a car

and Paul give your are you retired do you have your dealership let's give you a plug where are you located

what do you tell well no what I do a lot of niche cars because right now that's the best thing I can do

but no I have a warehouse full cars I am a licensed retail wholesale dealer but I do it my way I retired 17 years ago. I was an executive, and I started as a hobby. I've always collected cars, and now, you know, that's what I do.

That's what you do. It's so nice to have a professional listening to the show, and I'm not just saying that because you're an honest guy, but we know we have a lot of other professionals that listen to don't call in, and you're proof of the fact that there are good people out there, that we're and currently are in the business, you just have to look and find them. So I really appreciate you calling the show. For sure, Paul.

Okay, I appreciate your program. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you for tuning in. Have a great weekend. 877-960-9960, or you can text us at 772-497-60. Don't forget we have a fantastic mystery shopper report coming up. from Tennessee.

And if you want to stay tuned for that, Agent Lightning does her magic as usual, and we really rely on her and her ability to get it done. 877-960-9960. Give us a call. Now back to Stu. All right, we have a text from Jim and Riviera Beach.

This is for Rick. Jim says, I have a 2010 Prius with 198,000-plus miles. I have an appointment Earl's shop on the 20th. My problem is that the engine started running very rough to the point that I can't drive it. Could you give me a heads up as to what might be the problem? Again, that's from Jim. It's most likely going to be one of two things. Throttle body? You, nope, I was guessing. You either have one or more bad coil packs, which there's one for each

cylinder, or unfortunately, you might have a situation where the head gasket has started leaking coolant into the cylinders. We've been seeing that on the higher mileage Prius engines. So when you bring it in, make sure you ask, and it's, unfortunately, it's going to cost a little extra diagnostic time because of what's involved to get down to this to do it. But make sure you ask them to borescope the engine. What we do is actually put a camera down inside the cylinders and look to see if there's any coolant coming into the cylinders from the engine. What's this going to cost them? Probably about two hours labor.

I can't put that in English, will you? The dollars, you know, not Bitcoin, dollars. How much would I go? But I want to know how many Bitcoin. Well, I just say, I know every size wrench to pull the car. About dollars and cents. Yeah, it's probably going to run. I'm going to say about $300, $250 to $300.

Okay. All right, there we go. Interesting. And one thing I would say to Jim, if you're looking at a bit, expensive repair and the diagnosis you just got quoted as just that a diagnosis but if you get into a big expensive repair my advice to you is trying to sell that car to somebody and let him worry about it because you're going to get out of the top of the market now and you got 190,000 miles on that Prius the warranty on

the battery is coming up and so you're looking at another possible expense you don't want to throw good money after bad and it's hard to sell a car with problems, but it's easier to sell a car any car today with problems than it ever was. You get more money for it, Rick. Now, there is a very good chance that all it is

is a bad coil pack, and in that case, what we'll do is hook a scan tool up, find out what cylinder is misfiring, and then we simply, say if it's number one, we simply swap the coil pack for one to two, and if the misfire moves to two, you know it's a coil pack. And then then you'd be looking

at the coil, I want to say, is about $180, and the labor would be right around $2 to $250. Okay. So it looks like it's not too drastic. Both scenarios look reasonable. Is it easy access, Rick? Is it easy to get to? The tens are a little tighter because they, for some reason, they put the wiper tray assembly right over top of it, and we have to remove that wiper tray assembly to get the coils

and spark plugs out. Hence the two hours. Right. That's why it's more work, because it's more labor intensive. Yeah. Okay, let's move on. All right. Okay.

We have a text here, no name. It says, have you seen the new $2 million Bentley? It has no roof. It's not a convertible. There is no roof. The roof is an extra million. It's an option. I don't know if it is.

It cannot be driven in the rain. Pay for the jokes. See? Don't they have like an electrostatic charge that goes over it so the rain simply bounces off the electrons? No, if you can afford a $2 million $2 million Bentley, you have enough cars that other cars you can get wet. This one doesn't get wet.

Wow. Okay, folks, you're listening to the team of comedians. So, Still, were you finished? Well, because it has no roof. I don't know. Because you can.

That's what we call that. Never mind. We can't say the FCC regulations you can. I open myself wide open there. You can say, I don't know, Dad. Why did you pay $150,000 for a car? Well, technically, you know, the company did, so, you know, it's inventory, right? No, it's not.

That's right. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Okay. Earl paid for that personally. All right. Good. Thank you.

Okay, guys. We are going to go back to the phones. We're going to Laxahatchee where we're going to talk to Mike. Good morning, Mike. Good morning. Welcome. Last week, somebody had mentioned that maybe in the next decade, 10 years, Ford or General Motors might not be around.

What gave them that idea? Well, it's the fact that we are a revolution in the auto sales. We're going from cars and vehicles and trucks that we know today to something that bears no resemblance. So it's a watershed moment in history, and car companies will no longer exist. There will be software companies, and Ford and General Motors

are way, way behind the curve when it comes to software. And the software is what we basically will be buying when we buy a total electric autonomous car. The autonomous is being underplayed because the electric is getting people's attention, it's exciting, it's easier to understand.

But what autonomous means is that the passenger is just that. They don't really drive the car. They will say, come and get me. Nancy and I have a Tesla. We walk out, we say, you know, summon the Tesla, and the Tesla comes and picks us up. It has totally autonomous driving, which you can't legally do because you have to be behind the wheel. You say, take me to the Taco Bell, and it takes you there, and then you say, take me home, it takes you home. So that's all software. The General Motors and Ford are manufacturers.

They take a bunch of steel and nuts and bolts and fenders, and they put it together and they sell it. Meanwhile, the software companies of the world, like Waymo and Google and, name some others do, that are out there, these are the Tesla is a software company. And the question of whether Ford GM will be around, in 10 years, can they convert from an auto manufacturer to a high-tech, artificial intelligence software company?

And it's awful hard to do. I mean, it's like you're a carpenter, and suddenly you want to become a rocket scientist. It's hard to go from that level to the other level, and I know Ford GM will try, and I hope they surprise us. I hope I'd love to see it happen. I sure is hell the whole Toyota survives, because, We have a Toyota dealership, toilet survivables in question, but they are so wealthy, as is, what's another Volkswagen, is so wealthy. If you have the billions and billions of dollars to pour into the revolutionary change you've got to make in just a few short years, you can survive.

Ford and GM don't have that kind of money, so I'm sorry I went on and on about that. It was a great question. Well, thank you. Yeah, thank you for the call. I appreciate it. Yeah, it was nice here in from you, Mike. Give us a call. We're going to go back to Stu, where he's got a lot to say.

I got these funny texts over here. We have the $2 million Bentley, and now we have one for Rick that I'm debating whether I should read out loud. We just eliminate the four-letter words. No, no, it's nothing bad. Oh. Here we go. This is from Jared in West Palm Beach.

I haven't heard Rick bark in a while. Maybe it's time to plug Big Dog Ranch Rescue again. Bark is a four-letter word. You're right. Okay, folks. All right, bark. We've got... Boof-woof!

Bark for me. We're going to need more than that. There's my... We've got Earl's book Confessions of a recovering car dealer. And speaking of Big Dog Ranch, all the proceeds go to Big Dog Ranch. You know, with the mask on, you kind of have a canine look to you. Oh, thank you. By the way, Negan says that, let's see, where do you say?

Redemption of a recovered car dealer, I think should be the title of Earl's book. I like that. Recovered, meaning he is a permanently changed person. Change the present participle recovering to past tense recovered. Well, say, now, you don't understand addiction. And to you people out there that are recovering, I'm serious. That means he might relapse. So you never recover.

You're recovering. It's a working process. And if you give up for a minute, if you have the, I was an addicted car dealer to doing things the wrong way. And if I relax my guard, I could relapse. That's a morgue at me. I have to tell you, evil thoughts creep into my mind all the time. I know. And you just, well, you addicts out there, I'm just telling you, help me out.

I mean, we have some recovering people out there for different things. Yeah, they're all over the world without a dog. We all have addictions. But that's a good suggestion. But it is, if we're going to use redemption, it'll be redemption of a recovering. We remain in the present participle. Exactly. And, you know, folks out there, picture me, pretend you're watching Moonstruck.

I'm sure. Bam! Snap out of it. And then he comes back. He comes back. He comes back. He lapses. And then he comes back.

All right. That's a visual. We have another text here. This is for Earl. How is the learning curve looking on your new plaid Model S? Boy, I tell you what, I'm just having, it's a joy to get on the car. It's exciting. Nancy's driving the car.

She's getting, she's gone. She's out on the road, driving the car. Yeah, but I'm more of a speed demon, and I have to work on that. You don't even know you're moving in the Tesla. And Earl's going, oh, look at the speed limit, look at the speed limit. And I said, I didn't even realize I was moving that. But to answer the question on the learning curve, we're still at the beginning. I mean, I asked this to still a question.

He's driving a Tesla also. I don't know. And we share knowledge. And it is, if there's a downside to this car, it is a fact that it is such a total change from a combustion engine. car. It is so high-tech, you just, I don't know that I'll ever learn. By the time I learn about the car, Nancy learns about the car, there'll probably be a software update and we've got more to learn. It's life in the 21st century, folks. Exactly. I have a question for you being as you've been behind the yoke a little longer than, well, a lot longer than I have.

The yoke's on you. Yeah, there you go. But I have a question for you. Do you feel that you're more, I'm hoping for the answer that I want to hear. Do you feel that you're more focused on driving, the road, and everything in between, rather than well, I won't mention

anything else. It could be a distraction. You're absolutely right. It's a good point. You have to focus, especially when the learning, you're at the low end of the learning curve, because if you don't, then you're serious trouble. At some point when I become totally comfortable in the car, I might be different sort of it. Right

Now, I'm Fulka City. I mean, I just, all I think about is that car and the road. Well, you've loosened up a bit, let's put it that way. And also, you're beginning to drive with one hand like you did with the Lexus. So there's some, you know, habits, bad habits that are seeping in and getting into the behind the wheel, behind the yoke. The more comfortable he becomes with it? Yeah, he's got the index finger spinning the yoke. There's a lot of safety features in that car.

Okay, off the test. Let's get to YouTube here. Rick's got a YouTube. We got a couple. Charles Reeves says, Good morning, all. I'm a first-time car buyer. Could you please tell me what is the best resource

for learning about cost of ownership? Thank you, Godspeed. Let me ask the answer to that question. What was the question? What is the best resource for a first-time car buyer on learning about... Cost of ownership? Cost of ownership.

Cost of ownership. Cost of ownership? Well, there's a lot of resources out there. And as I always talk about Consumer Report, there you can get so much information. I don't tell you what, ladies and gentlemen, knowledge is power because they not only tell you the cost of a car and how they're competing with other brands, but they talk about how much a cost to keep a car on the road. There's a lot of things. have taken to consideration when you're thinking about purchasing a vehicle. I'll hold that up for you said, Earl just handed me the consumer report. I think this consumer report is from June 2021 and here it's, you know, goes over each brand and what it will cost you. It's sort of a snapshot of a one-year, excuse me, one-year repair costs for five, to 10 year old models by brand so it's going to take you from the top to the bottom so you might

want to pick that up and take a look at it and also Edmund's Kelly Blue book I thank Jonathan for that information and there's a lot of resources out there thank you Jonathan does I answer your question I think you got it okay and from Donovan we've got I wanted to get Earl's view on if he's heard of what he thinks of a new theory in the shortage of new cars is not 100% a chip shortage, but in part done on purpose by the auto manufacturers. In short, they know the demand for internal combustion engine cars is falling a lot faster than they thought it would, and they're using the chip shortage as a way to speed up the shutdown of traditional car building. Nope.

He says, example is given to GM, made 10 million cars in 2016, but we're down to 7.7 million in 19, and by 25, they'll be down to 5 million. They're shutting down transmission plants because EVs don't need transmissions. And he gives a couple of mentions here, but he says, the change is what people want, and that's why people love Tesla, because it's different. What's your opinion? Do you think maybe that car manufacturers are actually using the chip shortage to try to convert over to electric? It's total nonsense. And the reason it is, the good thing about life in the United States is we are extremely competitive. And Ford, GM, and Tesla and Chrysler, and all the other manufacturers are viciously competing against each other. And there's no conspiracy, although fake news might have it as such that doesn't happen that way. Ford hates General Motors, Honda hates Toyota, Toyota dealers hate Honda dealers, there's a vicious competition.

And everyone's struggling to sell as many cars as they can, and that's what keeps prices down. Unfortunately, when you have a chip shortage, there's an excuse now. There's a real excuse, and it happened, and it caused the prices to go up and supply in demand. And at their heart, the manufacturers do not want to make electric cars. They don't have the profit margins. It's only 2.5% of the market right now. It's going to grow a lot, but right now to purposely stop making cars. GM probably made less cars in 2019 because people were buying less of them.

All they think about, all the manufacturers think about is how many cars can I sell? How many cars can I push on the dealers? And all the dealers think about is how many cars can we sell? and if that were allowed to operate without a chip shortage, the prices would drop, and they will drop precipitously. And the last one I have here is from Markham 50, in Vermont, by the way. A friend leased at Tacoma in 2019 for two years.

This summer, she went back to the dealer to buy it at the buyout price. They refused to sell it or help her buy it from Toyota Financial. she eventually left and dealt with Toyota directly to buy the vehicle. What do you think of that situation? Well the dealer wanted the car for himself and didn't want her to have it

and the reason why is because that buyout at the end was probably many thousands of dollars less than that Tokomo was really worth because that's one of the cars that just skyrocketed in value. So she really made out on that deal? Well if she's able to, yeah if she's able to

buy it directly through the bank Yeah, she got to steal. You have technically go through the dealership. She talked about southeast Toyota Finance. No, it was out of the region. Right, this is in Vermont, by the way. So directly from TFS, yeah, Toyota Financial Services. Oh, yeah.

Okay. Now, it's a good deal now, but that, trust me, when we're on the other side of this thing, the depreciation of these inflated values, it's going to be a much more precipitous drop. So she's going to, she might want to keep that Tacoma for a long time. All right. We have a text here from Eric. Eric says, I don't understand why the inventory shortage is so bad if you can just order a car and wait a while.

Well, not everybody can wait. Well, you see, there's a flow of microchips. It's like there's a flow of cars. So when you order a car and have to wait a while, you're waiting for the microchip to become available to build a car. So that's what it is. where essentially the demand and the volume is high all over the world. It isn't a United States thing, and so you can't go to China to buy a microchips. You can't go anywhere to buy a microchip, and the amount of cars that you can buy, you can sell and manufacture, are limited by the number of microchips.

It's pretty basic, and there's also other, there's also other shortages, too. It isn't just microchips. This COVID issue has created a frenzy among consumers. Consumers are buying like crazy. Amazon. All the retailers are having a heyday, and people are sitting home. They've got plenty of money, especially in the United States, where they're priming the pump with a huge amount of cash.

Everybody's got money, and everybody's buying like crazy. His point is he'd understand why it's a hard. for people if you can just order a car. You know, why is everybody, he's saying, if you can just order a car and wait, what's the big deal? Because a car is an emotional experience. Buying a car is, you've got an instant gratification. That's the problem with buying cars.

People walk into a car dealership in normal times. They fall in love with a car. They pay the first price the dealer has. They get homes and they go home and wonder why they got taken advantage of. Car buying should be a thoughtful person. process and you should wait a week or even months to get a good buy for the right car. So in a sense, the microchip shortage might be a good thing for a lot of people because it gives them the time to contemplate and wait and buy when the time is right.

All right, very good. And the last text before we jump over to anonymous feedback says what exactly is the difference between all-wheel drive and four-wheel drive? Which one is preferable here in Florida? Correct? All-wheel drive is you're getting power from the engine to all four wheels all the time. Four-wheel drive generally means that you can shift between two-wheel drive to four-wheel drive. All-wheel drive is actually a little better because you don't even have to think about it.

You're constantly getting power when it's needed to all four of the wheels, and the computer can control which wheel gets power and when it gets it. So in Florida, all-wheel drive is better. and all-wheel drive is better anywhere. Let me ask you this. How about all-wheel drive where all four-wheels turn? You mean all four steering? Yes.

That would be, I believe, Subaru is one of the few that actually had that for a while. Isn't that pretty good? It is, but it also involves a whole lot of extra moving parts and a whole lot of more complex systems that over time can start to break down. That holds true for every new system that comes out. And then later on, when they get it down pat, maybe it won't happen. It was pretty awesome on a couple of the cars you had it. I think it's a fabulous idea.

I can't wait to see being able to steer with all four wheels. I give you a huge amount of flexibility and safety. You could rotate in place. Well, how about parallel parking? Absolutely, yeah. I need that. Fantastic. You need that.

Actually, no, you won't because in another, in another, 10 years when we have autonomous cars, your car is going to drop you off of the door, and it's going to go park in a garage where they're going to be super tight, that you already have to worry about it. I'm silent. Actually, I'm very reassured by that future. No more suggestions. Less, less accidents.

Okay, let's go over to anonymous feedback. These are comments and questions from listeners that we have no idea who they are, and we can never find out because it's encrypted. That bad. It's that bad. No, these aren't. I don't think. So here's one. I listen. This actually came in before the show during the weeks. I listen today to the comments regarding not commenting on the face masks and COVID virus. The people complaining should read about what happened to the American Indian population when Europeans who were immune still brought smallpox, measles, and the flu virus to North America, and it killed 90% of Native Americans in the USA and Mexico. Seems interesting why no one in the media refers to what happened then, which seems to be similar to what's happening now worldwide. I don't quite understand that.

Earl's rumining, thinking about this. I think it's important, I'll take over. I think it's important to, from time to time talk about the mask and the COVID situation because it is a, it seems to be a trend in car dealerships. It is relevant to this show. this is a car show. We talk about car shopping and we talk about safety and this is part of it. You go to a car dealership that thumbs their nose at simple safety precautions that can prevent you from getting sick. You might want to reconsider going to that dealership. So the history is very interesting. I don't know if it's relevant to what's happening right now, but it is true.

So thank you for your anonymous feedback. Okay. Here's another one. If anyone ever says, that, quote, I have to charge you X fee, you go, quote, okay, reduce the total by the same X amount and charge me that fee. That's exactly right. So that is called backing out the dealer fee, but basically they lower the selling price, so the net effect is no dealer fee. And one of the reasons that you might have difficulty accomplishing that is because salespeople are paid a commission on the percent of the profit they make, the markup on the car. So with the dealer fee, that's baked in. When you say to reduce the selling price of the car, then you're cutting

into their commission. So that's when they get hard-nosed about the fact that we can't take the dealer fee off. They can take the dealer fee off or their manager can, but when they do that, then their commission and their profit, their earnings that they make on the car when they zeal it to you is reduced. A better strategy is to get out-the-door prices, inclusive of all fees from multiple dealers. Exactly. And go for the rest one. Don't even worry about the fees.

Just look at the bottom line. They can monkey around all they want above the bottom line. But when you get to the bottom line, that's the bottom line. Yeah, the average dealers and the average dealers fee in South floor is $1,000.

I mean, it's probably higher than that, but conservatively speaking, $1,000. So the commission on that, if you had to cut the price of the car by $1,000, that would, that would, it cuts the profits.

So if you're getting 25%, percent, 25% of $1,000 is $250. It's going to cost, it's going to cost that salesperson $250. Yeah, let them have at it and pin them against each other. www.W ain't going to happen.com. That's right. All right. The next, anonymous feedback.

Hello, Rick was correct again. I'm sorry, I read that wrong. Hello, Rick. No, it's hello. Rick was correct again. He's smiling. I wrote in about two weeks ago in regards to the battery light. temporarily turning on while driving when it was raining.

I think the only question Rick isn't able to answer is when the chip shortage will end, and the inventory will go back to normal. Well, Earl already answered that one. I hope everyone is well, love the show. 60 days, folks. See, that's an honorable person right there. 60. Was wrong corrected by Rick, and Rick.

Well, I'm glad I was able to help him, though. 60? 60 days, yeah. Okay, this is from Texas. Joe from Texas. Well, Joe, come on. This is supposed to be anonymous fee. now I know who you are. Oh, well, that's okay. I appreciate your show. Your dealership is the

most transparent dealership in the U.S. A previous caller back in August 28th was a upset mask were used as a measuring tool. Using a mask is symbolic that you respect the health of children, elderly clients, and mankind. Many blessings, Joe from Texas. And I'm glad that you're not anonymous because that warm my heart. And let me say this. In a way, we're wearing masks for that reason now, I feel safe with the people in this studio. We know everybody's been vaccinated. In fact, Nancy and I have three vaccinations, and we've had our booster or third booster.

So we're about as safe as you can get, and we know each other, and we know each other's habits, and we know we're all careful. So we could probably be pretty safe and take these masks off, in which case you could probably hear us a little bit better. I apologize for that.

But we're trying, to the people that are seeing we're trying to set an example we're in florida it's a hot spot for covid more people are dying here than anybody any place else uh it's our employees our other people friends neighbors you know there was a time when i didn't know anybody that had COVID now we know a lot of people that have had COVID and it's just a scary scary situation so we're trying to communicate a message to everybody in especially south florida hey, take this stuff seriously. This DILDA variant is a bad, bad thing.

And let's not pretend it doesn't exist. And I go into a retail store today, and we all have seen this, and everybody's walking in there without a mask. Nancy and I were in publics the other day. They got a big sign up, and it said, if you're vaccinated, you don't have to wear a mask. And I met somebody that very day that wasn't vaccinated, and wasn't wearing a mask.

And admitted that they were. wearing on a mask. Yeah. So it's a dangerous situation. These masks you see on YouTube and on Facebook that we're wearing is to send the message. Yeah, and so in the future, when we look back, we can easily know what year their show is on because we'll see the mess. That's another good reason, yeah. Anyway, Joe signs off by saying, in my humble opinions, simply stay home if you don't like the use of mess. Thank you, Joe. Okay, let's see. Next one. This is from Harry from Delray Beach using anonymous feedback.

Thanks, Harry. Hi, I listen to your program while I have to drive driving, so I'm submitting this question via email. In your experience, what are the characteristics of group size, okay, this might be correct, of group size 35 batteries that last the longest in South Florida.

Does that question make sense to you? Of group size 35 batteries that last the longest in South Florida. For example, cold cranking amps, cranking amps, reserve capacity, lead acid versus AGM and brand. I've been getting about two and a half years with interstate MT-35s and I think I could do better. I've had my car's charging system checked and is working

as it should so that isn't negatively affecting battery life. Thanks for advice, that's from Harry and Delray Beach. Yeah, the only specification you really need to look at the group 35 refers to the actual physical size of the battery and obviously you need to have one that's going to fit properly in your car. Cold cranking amps is the one that you're looking for. And when you look on top of the battery, if it says the amps at 32 degrees, no. You want the amps at zero degrees, which is the cold cranking amps. And the highest the number is the better. And of course, for maintenance on your battery, if you see any sort of corrosion starting to form on the terminals, the best thing is get a spray bottle.

it with plain water, let it dry, and then just put some Vaseline or other axle grease or something on there so the air can't get to it and it can't oxidize. Okay. Is that what that is? That's just, is that, that's not contents of the battery oozing out. That's just air. It is, but it's the acid, the vapor acid coming out and it's causing that the terminals to begin to corrode.

Combine to the oxygen in the air and that's the metal. And besides that, it makes you sound real smart. I love that term. I want to go by a battery right now, and I want to walk up and say, what's the cold cranking amps on this thing? What's that? How much can that puppy crank out? This question made me feel macho.

I did. I felt very macho. The interesting part is you'll see a lot of batteries. You'll see two numbers on there. And the one at 32 degrees will be massive, but the one at zero will be way, way lower. And it's a trick thing that the manufacturers do. And if the guy laughs at you, then you know he doesn't know what he's talking about.

Exactly. I'm serious, baby. I want to know. Yeah. Cold cranking amps. The cold cranking ants at zero degrees. Learned your job. I want to know.

I like that. I keep saying that. I like that. Cold cranking ants. Hey, I felt pretty macho the other night when I told the guys in the bathroom in our home, which there were water coming at us. And I said, okay, guys, step back. And I hopped on the tub, and I found the league.

I did. Like a little ninja. He dressed like a ninja. There you go. All right. More anonymous feedback. This one doesn't have a name. That gives me,

sorry, Earl gives me mean looks whenever I laugh at her colors. I'm just, I laugh at everything. All right. FYI. Yesterday I drove past the Ford Assembly plant in Oakville, Ontario. It was jam-packed with new vehicles, probably waiting for the elusive microchips. How crazy is that?

That is pretty crazy. I've seen pictures in the media of parked. I think it might have been Fords, too. I think just lined up waiting for the microchips. They're fully built and they just can't run. And that's going to tell you something about prices, right? I hadn't even thought about that. That's a great comment because that's what's happening.

I mean, we are building up a flood. And when the crack of the dike breaks and that flood of cars comes to the market, guess is what's going to happen to profits. I mean, to prices. So in 60 days, remember Earl said this. You can put this in writing. Earl said, in 60 days, car prices are going to drop precipitously. And the fact that they're building up huge inventors of Ontario,

Oakville, Ontario, but same things happen in Deerfield, Michigan. Everything's at, these cars are being stockpiled with, they're building them, and then they want to put the modules in. They want to put the microchips in. And when these microchips come in, all they've got to do is pop the chip in, and boom, the car comes, and we're going to be up to our eyeballs in cars, Rick.

Toyota Tacomas have been being sold with only one key instead of normal two so that they could save the microchips for those immobilizer keys. Well, now, Toyota has those microchips are starting to get them available, so Tacoma owners who only received one key can come into the dealership and it's part of a basically it's like a recall type situation we get a key from parts cut it and program it to the car no charge to the customer if they only received one key with their new Tacoma pickup so it's already happening we're seeing those bring them in and we're going to make it right now we're going to get that extra chip for you and this is just one little case but think when all those cars, when all of a sudden they've got that simple module that

somebody's just going to go down the line, reach under the dash, plug it in, bolt it in place, and boom, it's ready. There we go, yeah. Interesting. All right. We have another anonymous feedback. Hi, Rick. I'm sorry, hi, Rick.

Hi, Earl. I'm a long time. He's saying hi to both you. Hi, Rick. Oh, hi, hi, Earl. I'm a long-term satisfied customer. I live in the mountains now in Colorado and Mexico. I have been driving a forerunner.

It's stocked, but I do have good rich all-trained tires. They are good for snow and on Jeep trails. I can air them down to about 12 pounds for a smoother ride and better articulation on rocks. Now... Two 12 pounds or buy 12 pounds?

Two. Two 12 pounds, yes. Yep. Wow. Well, when you're going off-road and you need to get over some of those rocks on that, by making the tire soft, say the tire goes onto a big rock,

it'll actually squish down around the rock and the tread can grab the rock and literally it's like crawling. It makes it like claws. But doesn't it not hurt the tire? The wheel. Well, you're not driving high speeds. You're only doing this for like going over trails where you're going in like five

to ten miles an hour. And then when you get to where you're going to you're going to go back on the road, use an air pump and fill them back up. I had no idea you could defray the tire to 12 pounds. You should see some of the videos with these guys running jeeps on like the Rubicon trail in that.

and the Moab Trails out in Utah. And they're going, climbing up walls of rock, yeah. That you and I couldn't even get near to climbing. So if I've got tires here in Florida, and I come out and I see I have a low, low pressure of my tires, and I find out I got 12 pounds in each tire. Can I drive to the nearest source of air and not hurt my tires? If you can do it at about 5 to 10 miles an hour and it's relatively close, yes. Oh, all right.

So that's where we have a problem. These are off-road tires. These are designed to be dropped down to that question. We haven't gotten to his question yet. So he loves a 12-pound to do better articulation on rocks. Yep. Now I'm spending more. We have a problem here.

Okay. Come on, kids. Now I'm, they're fighting with the microphone over here. Now I'm spending more time in Mexico, and I need to get a car manufactured in a NAFTA. My forerunner is made in Japan. I'm getting a Honda CRV with all-wheel drive, and I have two questions. It sits kind of low, and I was wondering about adding a two-inch lift. Will this have adverse effects?

It currently has 17-inch wheels. I will put on some good, rich, all-terrines, but I'm wondering if I should get some 15-inch wheels. It seems that the 15-inch wheels put more air and rubber between the ground. That's a Rick question. Excuse me, Rick, before you answer the question, Bill, is on the phone from West Palm Beach, and I believe that he, well, has been waiting a while. Would you like to answer that, or go ahead? Let's get the bill.

Okay, well, let's go to Bill. Good morning, Bill. Sorry for the wait. No problem, guys. Good morning. I got a quick question for Earl. When you bought you Toyota dealership, did you buy it from Bort's store? No, I know the car store you're talking about, though.

That was on Dixie Highway near my Pine Egg dealership at the time. And Bart Starr bought it from a guy by the name of McCoy, Jerry McCoy. Actually, Don McCoy, Jerry was his son. But, yeah, Bart Starr owned a Toyota dealership for a brief period of time. Yeah, I think like six months. Yeah, and I think I'm trying to think maybe it was John Salupey, bought it from Bart Starr. That particular dealership changed hands several times. And became Palm Beach Toyota.

And became Palm Beach Toyota, exactly, yeah. Right. You go way back. That's a very interesting question. I was trying to think of the name of the football player that on the toilet dealership that used to be McCoy Motors was the original name. And McCoy was the very first toilet dealer in South Florida, and he was the first franchise toy dealer back in the day when Jim Moran first got the distributeship. That's some real history going way back. Yeah, I used to work down the street from McCoy Toyota at a car rental place. You knew Jerry McCoy? I didn't know him, but I used to go into their shop because they used to have an old 10-cent Coke machine. Yeah, there was no air conditioning. He had no air conditioning. He paid all his employees in cash. And Jerry was the kid. We called him Crazy Jerry. he had a helicopter and he was a real playboy back in the day and it was a you know it'll be part of my book I guess my new book

note to self yeah memories of bill that's the chapter at least the ones we can talk about yeah yeah I just left the shop that had in 1986 Crest lecrest or a Corolla that was in almost pristine condition. Wow. Amazing. Yeah, that was quite a crest of that was our Avalon back of the day,

and now, Avalon's going, but where does the time go, right? Exactly. Now, a real question is what is Toyota going to replace the Cyan XD with? Ain't going to happen.com.

They dropped the Cyan. It kind of morphed into the Toyota I-A these smaller cars. It was the Sion... What was they called it before? What was it before it became a Toyota? Well, you had the Sion I-A or the

X-A and the X-B. Right. They dropped the X-B or the X-A and they went to the X-D. Then they went to the IA and dropped the X-D. I think you're wrong. This doesn't mean anything anybody's about... They're all wrong, but... Yeah. We don't know. That's the answer.

A, B, C, D, F-G, H-G, H-G, Okay. Now we got the new Corolla Cross coming, and that looks like a pretty cool vehicle. Yeah. Okay. We have an 09 XD with 250,000 miles on it, and we still get 40 miles of the gallon on the highway. Wow. Oh, yeah. Yeah. They were phenomenal. You're a good driver. You got a light foot. That's your drive it ride. You know, it's many ways you can do with a gas guy's life if you drive it rides. suddenly he can turn it into a halfway decent driving car, gas-wise.

I shouldn't, I shouldn't have my life gets when she drives it. We don't get there when I drive it. I get terrible. I got a heavy foot. I can't get good gas mileage on anything except my Tesla. Because there's no gas. All righty, guys. Well, Bill, thanks for, thank you, Bill.

Thanks for hanging on. Okay, where were we on the calls? Rick was going to answer the anonymous feedback, just to refresh everybody's memory. This gentleman drives off-road, and he lowers the air and his tire, but he's going to get a Honda CRV, and it's kind of low. And he wants to know about either a two-inch lift and the adverse effects, or getting smaller wheels and having more air and rubber between the ground. Well, being this, the CRV is actually more of a car platform, a unibody construction, versus the forerunner, which is a truck wheel, full frame. My best advice is look around the area where you're going to be, find a local modification shop that does the four-wheel drive modifications like that, make sure to check

them out thoroughly to make sure that they're a good quality shop and they go with what they recommend. There's something to watch out for. We know just from being the business of facilitating lift kits on trucks. A lot of the vehicles have laser cruise control and other sensor things that can be can affect be affected by changing the distance of the sensors to the road and so just make sure that these are not things I've also seen more like speedometer issues come up when you when you add these giant wheels or our tires and so keep that in mind as well when you do this make sure if there's one that has a Dementity policy that will cover any problems from their

installation also because this will also technically put you out of the vehicle warranty well not our warranty but arising from that will not be covered from the warranty and I would go online and look for local forum groups for Honda CRVs and talk to some of the members there as to anything that they may have done or seen and shops that they've worked with you'll get some great information out of those folks yeah what do you think about going down to the smaller wheels so there's in bigger tires so you have that big moon buggy luck that you're going to encounter there is by trying to decrease the wheel size you may not be able to because of the amount of

space needed for the brake caliper and the brake systems underneath there. Very good. All right. Thanks, Rick. And we're all caught up. There's no more anonymous feedback and there's no more text. And I think Nancy has shut down the phone lines. We have.

Excuse me. We have shut down the phone lines. And Jonathan, I lied. I think I am having problems with my leg. Anyway, ladies and gentlemen, we are going to be going over the mystery shopping report. And that mystery shopping report is from Nelson. in Mazda and Murfreyboro, Tennessee. Did I pronounce it right?

Murphreysboro. Murphorysboro. It's a mouthful. And in Tennessee and our Agent Lightning went out there to do this mystery shop. And it's, well, you'll see what it is. So listen up and don't forget to vote at 772-4976530. We always love hearing from you. And keep the text coming in, keep the YouTube's list, we're going to have time and anonymous feedbacks

because we're getting started early on the mystery shopping report, and we will be able to get to your text and YouTube's after the mystery shopping report. So if we didn't get to you before, shoot the number, shoot the inquiry in now, and we'll get to it later. As Nancy said, we're out of state again, and what's cool about Agent Lightning is she does travel more frequently than our other mystery shoppers did. And this week, she returned to the greater Nashville area in case you wonder where Murphridgeboro is. And I'd hate to have to say Murphorishboro too many times in a row. Something about my tongue and my lips and my cheeks or something get a little tangled up. If we try to say Murphy's Borough. Maybe it's the mask.

Maybe it's the mask, yeah. Anyway, we've been to Murfrey's Borough a couple times before, once to visit Beeman-Kreisler-Dodge Jeep, and another time at Murfreesboro Nissan still deliberately put Murphreysboro in multiple times. I keep doing it.

Yes. In both instances, we were shocked to encounter aggressive, old-school practices that rivaled some of the worst South Florida dealers. And that's saying something. And we were surprised. I mean, that was, maybe I thought it was a throwback to a way they were frozen in time back in the 50s and 60s when it was really rough and that might have been. Anyway, we were very negative on Murphersboro based on their shops. So we chose

Nelson, Mazda, for a simple reason. We want to make it four weeks, Mazur Street. And Now, if you'd ask me about that before we did it, I would have said that's not a good idea. But it really has worked out well because we're able to stick with the same model car, year-make model, and we get the same franchise. So we eliminate a lot of the variables. And I was about ready to say, and we will see if my prognostication was correct, I was about ready to say, we got a problem with Mazda dealers, like we do with Nissan did.

So we did our fourth Mazda veiler. So stay tuned and see what happened. The last three weeks saw us mystery shop Southern Palm's Mazda, Mazda of Palm Beach, and Wallace Mazda Stewart. All of them probably should have received failing grades, but we just felt mercy of some kind.

And we gave them these, but they were just terrible. They were just bad, bad, bad, bad. shops, three Mazda dealers in a row. In each case, Agent Lightning chose a Mazda 3S is our target vehicle. In each case, the dealer used the inventory crisis, its justification to charge many thousands of dollars over MSRP. I mean, it's hard to believe that 75% of the transactions now are over MSRP, sticker price. And, you know, you know, year ago, sticker price was considered price gouging. I mean, if you had to pay sticker, nobody pays sticker. Well, guess what? Sticker ain't such a bad deal today. And here we are.

What's going to happen this fourth Mazza shop in a row? It wasn't just that they were charging a lot for hard-to-come-buy vehicles. It was how they were doing it. Packing on worthless, over-priced, and unwanted items, and snacking in, snacking in? Well, that's auto-correct. It's supposed to say, sneaking in. Sneaking in, yeah. Normally, I can spot the...

It's very close to the real world. I thought maybe that was a new hip phrase. I didn't know. Hey, don't snack that in on me. You snacking it in on me. All right, let's make it happen. I say it enough. I can always tell how sleepy still was when he did the report

because of the number of... I do my best. Exactly, I know he does. Yeah. It works hard. It works hard for his money. Sure does. The attitude of these dealerships, particularly from the managers, touched on arrogance.

Instead of kindly explaining the inventory situation and the higher prices driven by it, Agent Lightning was a given a take it or leave it sort of treatment. Given of experiences of the other two Murfreesboro dealerships, we didn't have high hopes for Nelson, Mazda. Agent Lightning staled herself for a battle and went in, prepared for the worst. Okay, here's the report. I'm like, I'm Agent Lightning. I arrived late morning to Nelson Mazda, Murfreesboro,

and was immediately greeted on the lot by a young lady. Now, am I incorrect? Is this the fourth young lady in a row? I believe so. I think third, maybe. I don't know about the first one, but the last two prior were female salespeople. It's interesting. It raises my curiosity is to, are they pairing women with women for the purpose of

you can sell a woman, can sell a woman better? I doubt it. Or do they just have a whole lot of women, women? Or is it just statistical? I got a fairly small sample size. Anyway, here we are. JJ. Yeah. And the only name

JJ. JJ was wearing a mask. She asked how she could help. It's refreshing. Came out and greeted with someone with a mask. Oh, that's nice. And I believe, in the last Nobody had a mask. Nobody had a mask. Not in the last four.

Yeah. So this is the fourth Mazda dealership and the only one where anyone's wearing a mask. Unbelievable. JJ, okay, okay, yeah, Jay J.J. asked me to follow her inside, said she would find a salesperson to help me. She was a greet her. Okay. She led me to an area on the other reception desk covering me a bottle of water and said she'd be right back.

I looked around, everyone was wearing a mask. wearing a mask. Very refreshing. Nelson Moster, Murfreesboro, and the Nashville area. Congratulations. A few minutes later, she returned with Josh, a salesperson. Also in tow was the M. Trady named Johnny. Both masks. Okay. Josh asked if I was okay. If Johnny shattered this today, I said to be no problem. Me and my shadow. Johnny. That was funny. Sorry, yeah. We sat down on a desk and Russ said he needed to get a few things entered into the computer, asked me for my vital statistics. That's the border's on sexism, doesn't it?

Well. I guess it's my sexism. Nobody else is. I didn't get it. Yeah, okay. You want to know if I planned to lease for finance. I said I was paying cash, but would entertain financing if there were any good incentives. Josh pulled up the inventory on the screen. out of the 35 vehicles in stock,

four of them were Mata threes. This is more Mouser 3s than any of the past shops. So I don't know why that is. Probably just a statistical fluke. Josh turned the screen to me and asked if I liked any of them. I turned the screen and said, I like to premium all-wheel drive, hatchback, and jet-placked mica. Now that sounds like a good-looking car.

I think we have a picture of it is a good-looking car. Oh, nice. Yeah. The online price was $30,545, basically MSRP minus a $500 Mazda rebate. Now isn't interesting that the dealers are still doing rebates, not as many and not as deep, but they are doing rebates. I'm not sure why. Yeah, they've all come down, but they're still there.

Yeah, interesting. Josh asked, the dealers are given rebates, but the dealers are jacking it up, and erasing the rebate and many, many times over, and murdering the customer with exorbitant profits. But I don't even know why the manufacturers are doing the rebates. But anyway, I digress. Where am I here?

Okay. Josh asked if we'd like to test drive it. I said, of course. He asked for my license and insurance card. When he saw my floral license, he asked if I had just moved here. I said he was very perceptive. and told them I've only been in town for a couple of weeks. Before we headed outside, Josh told me they were a no-hastle dealership.

And we've heard that before, haven't we, too? No hassle, right. They give their best price up front, and there's no handling. He said the salesperson, salespeople are not commissioned. And that piqued my curiosity. I mean, typically they lie about one price, but when they say that salespeople are not commissioned, And when I first read the report, I said, hmm, that's interesting.

It doesn't matter what price they sell the car for. The salesperson is paid the same. Wow. Sounds familiar. Now you're talking, yeah. Now you're talking a serious, no-haggle dealership. Is that possible? Well, we're going to find out.

We don't know yet. We're going to find out. I mean. I know. Wow. Stay tuned. Next week. No, I'm only kidding.

We should do that. We should have cliffhangers. Yeah, for sure. We went outside and found. the Black Monster 3 hatchback. The MSRP was was it $31,045? Just as I'd seen online,

there was no addendum label. I know I circled the 31, I'll tell you one in a minute. We took a brief but font test drive. Josh was talkative, but knowledgeable. Are they mutually exclusive? I don't know. Okay. I was just transcribing that.

It could be Josh was talkative and knowledgeable. No. I got the impression from Agent Lightning that you talk too much like you. Johnny's had... That's going to cost you. I know, sorry. Johnny sat silently in the back seat.

Once back to the dealership, Josh went over the features and asked me how I liked it. I said I loved it and wanted to see the numbers. Josh said, great, and led me back to the desk. Josh excused himself, walked away. I assumed to go speak with his manager. Johnny finally spoke and said to the dealership was new and still sort of under construction.

I replied, oh. I just thought that was funny. Yeah. Josh came back. He hadn't gone to consult his boss. He went to get his laptop, which he connected to a big monitor on the desk. On the screen with the numbers. It was. It was a little hard to follow it first, but I figured it out. The selling price was MSRP.

They added a 397 dock fee, a hidden fee, dealer fee. Florida tax and tag. Interesting that they did that work and did the Florida tax and tag in Tennessee. That's pretty simple. You put a zip code in. Yeah. And then took off a $500 customer rebate. Off the door $32.998.

Now that's the reason I said was it how could it have been 31 and all they added was oh okay, that's about right. Yeah. It added up. Yeah. It added up. Yeah, yeah, eyes up.

Josh asked if I had any questions. I asked if I could give something in writing. He said, sure. Accused himself again. Johnny asked, House Florida. You know, he's the recruit, trying to make conversation. He doesn't know anything, and he's trying to be nice. And, you know, God bless him.

It's probably uncomfortable. He's doing his best. And pretty soon he'll turn into a good salesperson. Josh came right back with a printout that's confirmed what I'd seen on the screen. He pointed out the $32,998, Alt the Door Price and said that they had zero percent financing for their six months if I was interested. Now, if you're really buying the car, you grab that. I mean, where are you going to get zero percent? So, yeah, unless there's a discount in lieu of the zero percent.

And that might be the $500. I don't know. You don't know. Josh went on to explain the sales process more. He said he was the only person I would deal with today. Now, that is an extraordinarily cool trend. I can't really say trend because very few dealers do that. But that's where dealerships should all be.

That's where we're looking. That's our goal. That's where we would like to be. Where you come into a dealership and you don't go from this guy to this guy, that gal, to this guy. you just stay with one person all the way through the process. What do they call it one person? Yeah, one price, one person.

One price, one person. I mean, it's a simple point of contact. Yeah, JM Lexus does that and Coconut Creek. And they're a really good outfit, by the way, if you want to buy a Lexus. Anyway, he would handle the final paperwork in financing, and there was no traditional finance department. They eliminate the box, the feared box. That's where car dealers make twice as much money as they do when they saw you the car. The box used to be feared for a good reason.

Get rid of the box. Nelson, get rid of the box. Nelson has done that. Nelson, Masta, in Murphysboro, outside of Nashville, has eliminated the box, and they eliminated the haggle, and they eliminated commission salespeople. I'm starting to tear up already here. I got to pull myself together. He said they pride themselves

with a Nelson difference. One price, no hassle, no games, one person, no managers, no tricks. Excuse me. He's getting at the clumped. I can't, yeah. Then he gave me a pamphlet that said pretty much the same thing.

I told Josh that everything had been wonderful and I needed to take it home and think it over. Josh said, that would be great. and he hoped to hear from me soon. No, wait a minute, let me talk to my manager. I mean, folks, this is an emotional experience for all of us here. Where's the tissue? Yeah.

Seriously? This is like a Norman Rockwell. I'll just use my mask. I'm waiting for the hammer to fall, and guess what? There was no hammer. A little tiny ball peen hammer, maybe. We're floored by this unexpected turn of events. We went in prejudice toward Murfreesboro Car dealers for good reasons.

we expected hell and got heaven instead. Now, of course, there's a small man who the dealer fee, but $397, I mean, I just even hate to mention it. It was cute. It was cute. A little dealer fee. I mean, I could say to them, as I said to J.M. Lexus, and I still say to J.M. Lexus, they have some old teeny-weeney thing.

Why are you doing? I mean, it's like being, if you want to be pure, be pure. Right. I mean, it's like, I mean, it's a chauvinist, you know, almost pregnant. That's a chauvinist thing. Maybe they believe the doc fee is really for doc caneling. I don't know. Yeah.

We did discover something, and there's a little caveat here. We did discover something that could be called Troublesome. I eliminated nefarious. I still like to use big words. I said mildly nefarious. Yeah, nefarious. That's a troublesome. And the online listing for the Mazda 3, the fine print indicated that the $397 dealer fee was included on the price.

In fact, it was added to the price. So I don't know why. I mean, again, this is such an extraordinarily good shopping report. I didn't even want to mention that, but we have to. We have to tell it like it is. And if you're listening, Mr. Nelson, by the way, I want to call Mr. Nelson. him. I want to call the owner of that dealership. Do not let me forget this, please, Stu. And I want to congratulate him. And I want to talk to him because he is a man after my

own heart, a car dealer after my own heart. This is the way vehicles will be retailed in all dealerships one day. And he is a pioneer. And one of the few I've ever run across. Do we know One other ones, too? I mean, J.M. Lexus. Toyota of Beaverton and Beaverton in Oregon. Okay. One price, one person. Yeah. Also, all of the, oh gosh, Avalon, we know.

Avondale, Avondale, Toyota, and his other dealerships. We're not having a lot of toilet, because we know more. That's all I know, yeah. And they are sprinkled around the United States. There are something like Nelson, Mazden, Murfreesboro, but what would you say less than 1% yeah a fraction of a 10th of a

percent yeah okay it's voting time what a happy moment this is going to be you know let me ask you this do we have a Norman Rockwell list I mean I love that I think this I love that I think this qualifies

the Norman Rockwell list yes let me show they get a painting of oh it's just so warm and fuzzy let's have the Nelson Rockwell dealer lives, and we will have easy pay from Stewart and Nelson Mazda. And Earl Stewart, Toyota. Oh, yeah, we can't.

I did it. All right. We have grades starting to come in. Mark gives him a B-plus. And from Bob gives an A for Nelson Mazda. And over here on Facebook, we have Linda, who gives him a big, She didn't give them a B. Linna gives him a B.

And I am good with an A-minus. They would have gotten an A-plus. It wasn't for the dealer fee thingy. And there we go. Wow. Rick? Got Wayne Veit with a big A-A-A-A-A-A-V, relatively speaking, a good shop, A. Are you sure your agent's identity hasn't been compromised?

Kyle in Pennsylvania, A, compared to Florida dealers, it would be a C if you're from a place like Tennessee or Pennsylvania Oh no, we have some... No, we had three really bad in shops in Murfrewboro, yeah.

Donovan, I give them an A on this, but with only one guy, how do you ask for a buy-down on the finance rate? Tim Gilliland, all things considered best in a while, B-plus. Brian Sidlako, A. Kit-Cat says, give Nelson Mazda a plug next week on your show.

Good for Nelson Mazda. Mark Anderson, this is Mark from St. Louis. B, 0% financing, no haggle, awesome. And myself, I got to give them the A. I'm going A. How about me? There you go. Same here.

I've got to give them an A, you know. Even with me questioning this commission situation, but no gains, one person got the whole thing, A. Martha on Facebook has a B-plus. I think we're reaching a consensus here. Yeah, I think, I, I've actuallyed between an A-minus and an A. I think I've got to go with Stu and do the A-1-I-I-I-I- mean, it was just... They got one more step to go.

Yeah, but it was that, it was that the $397s included. It wasn't the $3.97 dealer fee. I've still given them an A for that. It was, they're saying it was included in the price, and then they added it on. So that's a misdemeanor. Misdemeanor, yeah. Just because the amount was sold up.

All right, here we go. Folks, if you're looking for a Mazda, head on up to Murfreesboro, Tennessee. And we forgot that, we forgot to mention the price. I mean, the price. Oh, yeah. You don't see that anymore. I mean, you say what?

Because it was sticker price. I mean, you're paying sticker price for a car? Yeah. It was thousands of dollars less than. the dealers down here. Thousands of dollars. Three months of dealerships were shopped. Thousands of dollars

less. Okay. I'm still anguishing over Earl's Plius. It's really very overwhelming. I mean, let's go to Tennessee and see what's going on. This is just amazing. I love this mystery shopping report.

I think we've got some vibe. Do we have any more YouTube for text or anything on? I got one text that came in during the mystery shopping report. Let's see if there's a name on this. I don't think I have one. Okay. The text says, good morning, everyone. Is Toyota still giving dealers bonuses for hitting

certain sales numbers by the end of the month? I'm asking to see if shopping the last day of the month is still a strategy to get the best possible deal? The answer is yes. There's still the dealer incentive programs, but you're not going to get a better deal on the end. And when there's 10

vehicles in stock, if you don't take it at that price, somebody else well so right now it's a seller's market which is why Earl has been saying wait if you can if you can wait hold out for 60 days and then then the end of the month will mean something again as far as a better deal

I've got one more here from RICO West he says for Nelson Mazda give them an A and a hat from Earl I will I just text you the phone number for Nelson Mazda that's the best I can do it maybe you can speak to Mr. Nelson

Fantastic. Yeah. If Mr. Nelson, oh, well, he's not going to be listening, but this is for Mr. Nelson of Nelson, Mazda. Autograph it. Yeah. Yeah. Do what? Autograph it. Autograph it, yeah. Yeah, like a silver pen. And I'll send it in my book. We'll send up my book. Right. It's very cool. You'll have your actual, like, hair and sweat in the hat. It'll be. Exactly. There you go. We got all kinds of ideas here to put on the table. Ladies and gentlemen

Stu do you have anything else Any words of wisdom? It's been a great show I'd like to say one thing We've got time, right Jonathan? Three minutes. We're talking about We're talking about incentives and that was the last text that came in and does monster

still? They're dragging you off the stage now. Yeah, we're off. We're off. The hook. Okay, ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for joining us and let's all remember what happened 20 years ago. God bless, God bless the United States of America. We'll see you right back here next Saturday morning.