Earl Stewart on Cars - 09.13.2025 - The Best of Earl on Cars Live with Mystery Shop of Stone Mountain Nissan, GA.

Episode Date: September 13, 2025

Today’s show is a re-broadcast of one of our past Earl Stewart on Cars shows. Go to streamearloncars.com between 8am and 10am eastern time to listen to the re-broadcast. Agent Lightning travels to Georgia to visit a local Nissan dealer and evaluate how she will be treated with a rural car dealership. If you have a question for our auto expert team, you can text it to [phone], or online at youranonymousfeedback.com, and we’ll answer it during our next live program.

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

Good morning, everybody. I have to remind myself now every Saturday that is our, I don't know what the word. it is as our base of knowledge grows so rapidly with artificial intelligence and chat GBT and all that kind of stuff, is that really this is show about you being able to drive safely and drive economically and purchase a car at a reasonable price. I mean, it might be boring to some people. It's not boring to us. I hope it's not boring to you. And I know when we get off on these esoteric crazy thick rants about chat gbt and artificial intelligence it boars the hell out of a lot of us uh not me because i'm kind of a nut in that subject but i got i do i do

take this show very personally and i do know our duty is to help you and you're driving a probably a combustion engine car now maybe a hybrid and you're probably not driving an autonomous or even maybe even EV and these are the new new things that we could get off on and talk about a whole lot and we probably will I just want you to know that we know that the core value of this show is well my car won't start or I got this smell and I took it into the dealer and he told me it was normal when you have that kind of aggravation we're here for you and we have a telephone number we would love love you to call will help you with your really important problem because there's nothing much more important than my car won't start and that number is 877 960 960 that's 877 960 960 we've got a guy and the your regulars know this is Rick Kearney very well Rick Kearney is a certified diagnostic master technician he knows about everything there is to know about your car.

Trust me. I've been in the business for about a half a century and I have never met anybody that knew any more about the nuts and bolts of a car. Today it's the rectifiers and the integrated circuits. It's the software. It's all the fancy stuff, but he knows it all. Excuse me.

So give us a call at 877-960-9960. You can text us at 772-4976530. That text number again is 772-4976530. Now, for some reason, the YouTube followers of the world have jumped on the bandwagon and they follow Rick. I mean, he's got a huge following on YouTube. and YouTube.com forward slash Earl on Cars. YouTube.com forward slash Earl on Cars.

In fact, he's attracted some people. We've got a guy named Donovan. Donovan, I sure hope you're listening today, who probably knows more than we do. I mean, he corrects us all the time. And I think one thing that sets us apart as a talk show is that we're not, we know we're not the only authority. And we know there people out there that know more about a lot of things than we do.

And we welcome the Donovan's of the world. So on YouTube.com forward slash our own cars, you can post along with Donovan and the whole crew. And I just mentioned Donovan because he's been around the longest, I think. But we have a lot of, for some reason, real authorities on YouTube seems to attract people that are very learned. And they read a lot and they know a lot. So YouTube.com port slash hurlone cars, you can probably just stay in that group there and join it and learn as much as you would on the show. They're a really smart group of people. And Rick Kearney, as I say, is in the studio, certified diagnostic master technician.

And save yourself a ton of money by, if you go into an independent repair store or car dealership today and say, hey, I got a problem with my car dealership today and say, hey, I got a problem with my car dealership. car fix it and then you give your checkbook and go home you're in a lot of trouble so I know you don't do that but you're gonna you're gonna meet a real slick service advisor who is really a service salesman and he's gonna tell you probably that you need more than you really need and I'm not saying he's dishonest but he's a commissioned salesperson what would you do if you were a commission salesperson and you had to feed your family by your earnings on your commission well you you tend to exaggerate is a kinder word and you can't afford a lot of exaggeration

when you're fixing the car so call Rick Kearney at 877 960 9960 that's 877 960 960 and describe your problem if you really want to get fancy you can hit them with a video file or an audio file on YouTube and we can actually see the problem with your car or hear the problem with your car and you'll diagnose it free everybody uses that word it's a great word right free usually it's not free but on this show Rick's advice is free and it's and it's worth a lot more than free let me tell you he'll save you oftentimes thousands of dollars 877 960 nine six oh now on the other end of this oblong table

here in the studio in North Bond Beach, Florida, is my lovely wife, Nancy Stewart. She co-founded the show with me about 20 years ago, and she's grown with us in the show. We start out a half an hour. Now we're two hours every Saturday morning from 8 to 10 Eastern Standard Time. And probably one of the biggest contributions Nancy made to this show is bringing the female audience on board and now we have a really cool bunch of female listeners when we started out we weren't female listeners they were they were if you go back 20 years ago cars are a guy thing right and I mean admit it you know you go back Henry Ford was a guy cars are were a guy thing no longer women buy more cars than men and they influence the purchase

of even more than that unfortunately they're quieter than men and they don't call the as often as a lot of people do and then she fixed that because she let them know that their opinion was important to us important not only to other women but also to the men too you see life differently that we do and that's a good thing because between us female and male it seems to work pretty well so you ladies out there please give us a call and Nancy Stewart will get your call ASAP. We are not going to let you hold and hang on for too long. Now, sometimes we can't avoid it. I'll be honest with you. But we prioritize our phone calls. So if I'm talking like I am now and there's a

call holding, Nancy will weave at me and I will just stop and she will bring the call in. So please call. We'll get you on the air ASAP. And she has a very special offer for you first time female callers and she'll describe that to you. So with that said, turn the mic over. to Nancy Stewart. Good morning, everyone, and welcome. Thank you so much for joining us here, Earl on Cars, if you just tuned in. That number is 877-9-60-960. We have a whole lot to get to this morning, and, you know, to what Earl said about Rick, who is such, he's so famous long before YouTube you know and it's no wonder that the you know honesty and integrity just recently was you know put out there for everyone to see you can really trust your mechanic today and

Rick is right there and like Earl said there's not a question he can't answer so anyway enough about Rick we'll go to but it's very It's very true. You take a look at the Gallup Pull and auto mechanics in 2024, Rick. Survey 33% of Americans rated honesty and ethical standards for you guys. So it's a handful. It's getting better. I mean, a lot of technicians that used to play those games of selling needless work continuously,

they've kind of, they're getting caught. and they're either straightening out and flying right or they're getting booted out of the industry and now the honest technicians are the ones the cream is rising to the top. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, well said. Our number here is 877-960.

And ladies and gentlemen, I'll tell you what, paying attention to rising prices on everything is, you know, most important today as far as purchasing or you know a new or a used or leasing so there's a whole lot more homework i say to do so be on the alert and we have a great mystery shopping report coming up at the half hour you'll enjoy that and like i said earl's going to get to some pretty pertinent subjects that we went over this morning the two of us and i have a whole lot to share with you from consumer report now back to the recoup oh excuse me we're going to go to the phones and we're going to talk

to barry and barry has called us before he's from tampa good morning barry morning everybody this one is for rick i think it seems that jumper cables might be old school and maybe not the best way to deal with a dead battery and maybe a jump starter is a better way to go what's your opinion about that and on a related note what's the best way to revive a dead 12-volt battery in a hybrid to start off first jumper cables they still have their place in the emergency world but I myself as a mechanic I have one of those little battery backups a lithium powered battery box that is it's about the size of the original cell phones Remember when they first were, not the big one where you had to have a strap hanging on your side, but the big handheld bricks.

So they're really not that big, but this thing could start a tundra. I mean, it had a massive amount of power in it. You could plug it into a cigarette lighter and it would charge, plug it into a USB port, and it would charge up. And they're really not big. It would fit in a glove box. And yet it could literally start a tonal. Cundra engine, as long as the battery's not totally stone cold dead. If you had just a little bit of battery power in it, it'll start that big one.

Now, for hybrids, trying to jumpstart a hybrid is a special thing. A lot of them require certain things you have to get to to do it because the 12-volt batteries are often hidden away. Like on the second-gen Prius, it's hidden in the back corner of the car. by under the hatch and it's an electric hatch. So there's actually a terminal up under the hood and the fuse block that you go to to jumpstart the car. But bear in mind that hybrids, you're not actually needing enough power to crank over an engine, just enough to turn on the relays so that the hybrid battery can then power the systems up.

And so they're very straightforward and simple. You just need to know for sure what you're doing. and this is a case where the owner's manual makes the biggest difference for all the various models. One thing I cannot stress enough, always check the owner's manual before you jumpstart a car. Yeah, Earl just brought up one here on Amazon. It's a 4,000 amp jump starter pack. It's $60 on Amazon, and this is probably just a hair smaller than the one I have because mine's about four years old. now. But yeah, these things

are incredible. And 4,000 amps, even though it's a very small thing, it's a lithium battery, and these things will start a car. And now the one big advantage that I have to them is that unlike some of those old Samsung phones

and the hoverboards, I've never heard of one of these catching fire unless it was seriously abused. So yes, you are safe to charge it up, keep it in your car, Don't set it on the dash in direct sunlight, but they are a great handy item to have. Sounds like a good thing to have in an emergency kit.

Just one other thing. Would you ever want to use your hybrid car to be the source of a jump start, or is that just a bad idea? Now, that I would definitely avoid. Even jumping, even jump starting another hybrid, it's going to put a lot of draw on that battery. and remember the 12-volt battery in a hybrid is normally only there to turn on the relays and turn on the computers so they don't have a whole lot of power to them so I would be cautious with that and of course folks remember one thing when you're hooking up any sort of a jump starter a jumper cables anything like that especially if you're connecting them to the battery itself always connect the negative side last

and disconnect the negative side first because it is less likely to throw off any sparks that could potentially cause a fire hazard. So just be aware of it and be careful and do what the owner's manual tells you to do for how to jumpstart that car. All right, thank you very much. Barry, did you ask him about the reviving a hybrid battery?

I thought you mentioned that at the beginning. On the 12-volt battery. Oh, 12-volt, okay. And the best thing you can do there, basically, is once you jumpstart the car, just drive it. Take it out and drive it. And let the battery get its charge back in it. And if it comes back, and what I would do especially is after you've driven at a good distance, you know, say 30 or 40 miles or more, stop in at a dealership or at some of the park stores

and have them test that battery. And as long as it tests okay, then you're good to go. very good thank you very call again please thank you very 877 960 9960

and you could text us at 772 4976530 and don't forget your anonymous feedback ladies you still have time to call in first two new lady callers can win themselves $50 877

960 9960 good morning Warren and thank you for waiting. Warren's calling us from Jersey. Hey, Warren. How's things in New Jersey? Oh, they're wonderful.

Nice and hot. You're getting to Florida temperatures in July. I got a question for you are all about leasing. I have a car, a Chevy Equinox, that's coming in and come off the lease in about a year.

And I know you talked about, you know, maybe the car is worth more than what the buyout is, what's the way to handle that? Would you tell the dealer, I'm not the dealer I bought it from, he's going to know that it was leased, but go to another Chevy dealer and say, you know, like, how would I get an estimate? Tell him his lease, keep that hidden from him, what's the best way to do that? Well, I tell you what, it's a seller's market for off-lease cars, and you'll be in a, well, you're in a good shape now, but you'd be an even better shape in another year.

Excuse me. I think we have more sources to sell a used car or buy a used car than we ever have. So, yeah, I would go to another Chevy dealer. I'd go to at least one other. But I'd also go to CarMax. They buy a huge number of cars. I would go to We Buy Anycar.com. I would go to, name a few of them.

A lot of people out there are. doing nothing but buying used cars over the counter. In fact, you know, Cars.com, you can sit at your PC or use your smartphone and spend all day getting prices on your car. Just you could go to Google and say list the sources of selling my used car online today. And then I'd take the top in and I would go back to the dealer and say, if you match this and you give me a good price on the car I'm buying. I'll trade my car and otherwise I'm going to sell my car and I'll pay cash because I'll have a better price by far than what you offered me. All right. I got another question for you about, okay, good suggestion. Another suggestion,

another question about leasing. Is there any advantage or no advantage to let's say I lease another car and the total cost of the lease is $20,000? I'm just making that up. Is there any advantage just to write a check for $20,000 for the three years, or that makes no sense at all? That makes no sense at all. You take that, it depends on, I guess I could say sometimes you're risk-taking. I would take that $20,000, and I would put it in a secure investment, a safe investment. You can find a safe investment today that will pay you a rate of return of certainly over 5% or 6%. We have some intersiness here on the line here.

I don't want that one. Yeah. I don't know. I got one last question for you, a quick one. Oh, it's not a question, sort of statement. I know you do the car shopping report. I was wondering if you ever did this, and I'm just picking a Camry because obviously you sell cameras. If you set the shopper

into like three Camry dealerships and say, I want the cheapest camera you have new one. I want the cheapest new, nothing on it. I don't want any dealer add-ons. I don't want anything whatsoever. Can you get me one? If you don't have one in stock, would you order for me? I'm just

wondering if you ever tried anything like that. You can do that and I don't want to complicate the answer, but it depends on where you are. You're in New Jersey. You're probably dealing directly with Toyota motor sales. The reason I say that is there are

Toyota distributorships. For example, in the southeastern states where I am, we have a distributor and most of the cars we get have packaged accessories. So you might be looking for a Camry that is stripped down to zero additional

accessories as far as Toyota's concerned. But when Toyota sells cars to the distributors, like Southeast Toyota, they will have pre-packaged amounts to ship that dealer. And we can't, in the southeast, oftentimes get a car with particular accessories or without particular accessories that Toyota manufacturing decides that Southeast Toyota should get.

There's two other distributors in the country. But in New Jersey, as long as you're dealing with Toyota Motor Sales directly, yes, you can buy a car with the bare bones accessories that. Toyota we'll sell the car for. Well, let's say you sent the shopper in, and she said, I just want the cheapest car you have. All right, if it does come with accessories, I want the cheapest one you have. I'm just wondering how they would deal with that and just say, you know, I need a car quickly, but I don't want to pay it.

I want to pay the least amount, and I want the cheapest car you got on the lot. I was just wondering how the dealers would handle that. If they try to upsell her, if they try to go a song and a dance, I'm just wondering how that might work. Remember you're dealing with a salesman, he's on commission, and he's going to try to sell you the Camry or the car period that he can make the most commission on. So you shouldn't go into a car dealership and rely on the information that you get from the dealer or the salesman.

You should do your homework first, and you can research that. You can go online to the Toyota or the Honda or whatever the car you're buying. Go to their website, and you can manufacture your car, on the website you could go to a Toyota or a Honda website and you can see exactly what accessories are available and what models and that's the way that way you know what that manufacturer Toyota this case will build so when you go into the dealership and the salesman says this is the lowest price Camry you can fact check him say

well no I happen to know that I don't have to have this this and this When he told you that, that was because that's what he had in stock, and that's what he could sell now and make a commission on. Okay, great. That's a great advice. Okay. Thank you very much. I appreciate your time. Thank you, Warren. Call again, please. Yes, please give us a call again. 877-960-99-60.

We're going to go to Rodrider Steve, who's a regular caller, and he calls us from Boynton. Welcome. morning road brother oh good morning everybody how we doing uh that guy the guy who called up about the uh paying the three year money for the lease yeah that's that's a bad idea suppose he gets in an accident and the call is total in the first year well that's that's one of the advantages of leasing a car really if you uh if you have that then you're going to going to be, the insurance is going to cover the replacement

of the car. So it can be a good thing or a bad thing, but when you lease a car, you're protected in that case. Yeah, but what about getting his money back? Well, you don't get your, you're not going to get your money back if they could give

you another car. So that's the reason that so you don't own that car when you lease it. To me, it's a rental car. Yeah, yeah. Did you say a rental car? Yeah, that's what leasing reminds me of. He just rent in a car.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, you're, you know, the leasing company owns the car, and they're sure that you're going to get that replacement coverage because you're paying for it, and when you pay for it, then you've got to continue the lease. So, yeah, and they'll be, in the interim, they would provide you with another car to drive. So, yeah, you're, that's one of the good things about,

leasing a car and the other good thing about leasing a car and wrecking it is when you wreck the car if they fix it and give it back to you you return it to the leasing company even though you devalued it considerably by the accident because when you go to a car max they're gonna say boy that car was in a big collision and they devalue the car by a thousand or two thousand dollars and so the leasing company they're stuck with it and they got to buy the car back even though it's worth far less than they thought it was going to be when they leased it to you.

True. Okay, Rick, are you ready for this? I'm ready for you. HBO has a show called Duster. It's about a private eye who drives a 340 Dutster. I'll tell you. I just saw a recent TikTok video

that showed the, remember the the transformers where they were robots that would change into various vehicles and this one was based it was all AI created but it was based on the idea of new transformers

that were coming from all the various cars from the old 80s TV shows like the Ferrari from Magnum P.I. Knight Rider the Dukes of Hazard the the Pork Chop Express truck from Big Trouble in Little China

I got to tell you, it's the imagination out there now of what they're doing basing on cars. In the 80s, remember, you know, we had that huge love affair, and cars stole the show. Now, I think some of them are trying to bring that back a little bit. True. They called that, I forget what they call that era, like the Melange area, the era and cars where they, you know, did the, um, crushed velvet seats inside the car and all that stuff.

Oh, yeah. Right, that the velvet seating in all that with that. But also on YouTube, they also show you Chevy or Privit coming out with a new pickup truck. It's the old style, but modernized, 2025 roadrunners there coming out with 2025. I mean, the cars look great. I've seen stacks of those videos, and I wish they were real. but again those are just AI created but I got to tell you

some of the designs that these guys have come up with they're gorgeous they just tear my heart out there so gorgeous I mean it just they bring back the nostalgia of some of the old designs back when cars didn't all look the same but our cats and our grandkids don't know what we're talking to me to me it's one of those things where

I look at Earl's cyber truck and the one thing that really truly impresses me about that vehicle is the idea that there's nothing else on the road that looks like it. I mean, if you go out there right now and you look at SUVs, you have to look at the name of them to figure out what they are.

They all look the same. I disagree. I disagree. Flash Gordon had those things back in the 30s and 40s looking like that. Right, but they're not on the road. They're not out on the road. road right now. But those

cyber trucks... Yeah. So, spaceships are funny. With the spark of on the back of the spaceship and they crash land and they all lived. Hey, it was, Donovan says it was the malaise era.

He says it's the worst time for cars. With that. All right. Everybody have a good weekend and stay safe and well. Thank you, Steve. Okay, we got any callers out there? 877-960-960, and you can call us at that number. You can also text us at 772-4976530.

And I was mentioning earlier some of the things that we were going to be getting to. And I didn't mention, a remission, I should say, because I think you've all heard it before, about Earl pairing up with, you know, Amazon. I can't believe I'm saying it. Amazon. Yes. He wrote Jeff Bezo a letter, and I'm sure that, you know, they're working on it. And there it is right there. And it appeared in the Washington Post. And I just wanted to reiterate the fact that, you know, it's not a surprise that Earl would, you know, make this commitment. because, you know, his transparency aligns perfectly, perfectly with Amazon's reputation. So that's in the Washington Post, and now you can pull that up at Irwan cars or anywhere else, just enter in the information box. Okay, we have no more calls.

Yeah, let me mention something. I promised in my introduction that we weren't going to get carried away with a, and ChatGBT GBT. I promise we will get carried away with it, but it is an integral part of our show now. And I'm sitting here with ChatGBT BT, sitting right next to me, and he's waiting for a question.

So if any of you have a question for Chad GBT, we have the coach. His name is Coach. And you can name your ChatGBT, B.T, if you didn't know that, you're using chatGBT, name the chat GBT that you're using, give him your name. This chat GPD happens to call me the professor, and I call him Coach, and we have a relationship. So if you have a call, you can now call in for 877-960-960 and ask to speak to the coach.

Okay, Coach, I have a call for you, and his name is Mark from Lake Worth. Okay, hey, Mark. Is this for Chad GBT or me? Oh, okay. How do I get the question to... I had asked the question, so I hope that he was listening. You've got to turn on the microphone. Yeah, you've got to turn on the microphone here.

I have to turn it on. So, repeat the question. Okay. We have Mark, Coach. We have Mark on the line, and we would like for you to speak to him. Good morning, Mark. Good morning, all. Good morning, Mark.

It's great to have you with us. What can I help you with today? I've got two questions. One for Earl, if I may, regarding the Tires for Life program. Okay, shoot. All right, sounds good. If anything else comes up or you have any questions, just let me know. Thank you.

We turn the coach off for a second because we haven't got the dialogue fine tune yet. But let's talk about the Tires for Life. What's your question, Mark? I've been an active participant for several years, and to your store's credit, you do indeed honor it, and I appreciate that very much. I had a situation in which somehow I rolled over a blade, a razor blade, and it made it, yes, it damaged the tire beyond repair. I was able, fortunately, to get to a tire store before it went completely flat, but I had to replace it. Is there any way to get a credit or a reimbursement for this damaged tire? Okay, Mark, this is, I'm going to tell our audience what you're talking about because this is a,

I'm a Toyota dealer as well as being a talk show host, and my dealership had. a program for our customers that when you buy a new or used Toyota from us for as long as you own the car and you have the car maintain according to your factory recommend maintenance and owners manual with us will provide new tires for you and we have a there's a cap on the amount we will pay for one tire and the here's the answer for you mark the it's for the normal wear and tire. We don't pay for road hazards.

There's a road hazard, a razor blade would be the road hazard. So your insurance, and yet there's road hazard insurance that you can buy for that, but we only will buy new tires. If you drove the car, put 40, 50,000 miles on it, and the tread depth got to blow 3.30 seconds, then we would replace those tires for, you as many times as for as long as you own the car, but not for road hazards. Okay.

I sort of thought that was the deal, but I thought, well, it doesn't hurt to ask. Well, you know, in a situation like that, and what I would be, did you buy the tire from me, or did you buy it from someone else? Yes, I got it at your store. Okay. You tell them that you talk to me on the phone, and that because of the misunderstanding, I want to credit you for our... markup on the tire and the price that you paid will be reduced down to my cost oh

splendid okay glad to do so we didn't communicate very well when we explained the details of the tires for like program so so the least I could do is not make a profit off you when I sold you the tire and thank you very much for calling that to my attention okay well thank you I appreciate that you're very welcome thank you Mark please give us a tell again. Okay. Do I need to make an appointment with your service department to arrange this? You don't really have to, but it's always a good idea. And I would suggest when you do that, be sure you tell them that you spoke to me. And then you can go in without an appointment, but you'll get in and out a lot faster with an appointment.

Should I bring the tire, the damaged tires to your store? That's not necessary. I take your word for it. Okay, very good. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Mark. We hope they heard from you. Yeah, sure.

I have a question for Rick, if I may. Sure. In the course of replacing the damaged tire, the tech said, he mentioned the sway bar, either the link or the bushing on the right side should probably. be replaced. I'm not familiar with what that part does and I'm not sure I even have the right term. Is there a sway bar? It's a it was a little connector right next to and behind the disc brake. Yes, both those terms are they are parts on the car. The sway bar basically, it's a big steel bar that connects to the body of the, it bolts through the frame of the car and then the ends of it, bolt to the control arms

and the idea is that when you turn the car left and right the forces that would make the car want to lean bend this bar and actually they cause it to kind of twist and it's like a spring steel so when it tries to twist

it gives some allowance for movement and then it pops you back so try to keep the car level so that your car doesn't do like a total center of gravity over to the side on the bushing are rubber mounts that are held by a steel joint that connects it to the frame and those bushings do wear out over time you know they can start to break down

but most likely what they saw were what are known as the sway bar links and these are basically just a little metal rod that is bolted to the end of the sway bar and then bolted to either the strut or the control arm and they help to connect they actually connect the sway bar to the control arm but allow a little bit of rotational movement in it. So if they're starting to look worn out or the rubber boots on them are torn and there's getting dirt and grease into the, you know, dirt's getting into that joint on it, then it should be replaced.

Average cost on a sway bar link, depending on the vehicle, is probably going to be anywhere from $75 to $125 at the most. Mark, we've got to run on. And labor should be about an hour and a half. Yeah, we got a row. We got some calls holding here. But thank you very much. Thank you.

Bye, bye, right. Excuse me. Freddie, thank you for holding. Freddie's calling us from Lake Worth. What can we do for you this morning? Good morning, Freddie. Yes, hello. Good morning.

What can we do for you this morning? Yes, good morning. I've been listening to the show for a while. You guys are great, and, of course, that's my opinion. But I have a question for Rick. I have a 2002 Toyota Sienna It's old enough to drink and old enough to vote Yeah

84,000 miles on it I take good care of it somewhat I change oil when I could I could get in when I should Other than that Someone that I know mentioned to me that I should consider Changing the timing belt And the water pump

And I inquired about that to someone and they told me you might want to think about just redoing the whole engine. And that was like to change the water pump would be like $18, $1,900 and to change the whole engine on it, which I don't really know if I want to spend $2,700 for that. So I don't know if you have any thoughts on that. Also, someone else that I know mentioned something about if the car has interference or not. I don't really understand what that is or what it is if I don't have interference. Okay. Real quick, the definition of interference on an engine is certain cars, the valves, when the valves are open and the piston comes all the way to top dead center in the combustion chamber, most cars are designed with what's called zero clearance, where when the piston comes up, if the valve is open at the wrong time, it can hit the valve and bend it and cause damage.

Older Siena's like your 2002 should not have it. They should have clearance to where even if the valves are stuck open and not moving. Excuse me for gentlemen. I think probably the big problem here is if he does or if he doesn't is one, number tell us, should he? Because you're looking to me at a very large cost compared to what a 2002 Sienna is worth. So keep that in the... I wouldn't worry about the idea of interference problem because that's only going to happen if the timing about brakes. And my opinion, if you've got 84,000 miles on that car, now is the time to go ahead

and replace the timing belt, the water pump, and the appropriate oil seals that are behind there. There's two camshaft seals and a crank shaft seal. And as for the idea of overhauling the engine or something. What's the cost for all that? Yeah, that's going to be about the $1,800 that he mentioned for the T-belt seals and a water pump. that's a maintenance type thing anything else I would only repair if it's absolutely needed

there's no overhaul to an engine at that point yeah I mean overhauling an engine is a huge repair and a huge expense more like $8 to $10,000 but a T-belt on those is a maintenance item and with the age of the car

and the mileage I would definitely recommend it because at 84,000 miles that car's still a baby. There's no reason that that engine shouldn't get three to 350,000 miles out of it, but with that maintenance, do the timing belt. It's not a bad idea to do that.

Here's a problem. That car is worth maximum $3,000 or $4,000. And you're talking about spending close to 100% of what the car's worth to fix a couple of items on. So that's the point I'm trying to get across. Unless you're in love with a car, and there's nothing wrong with that. I mean, it's not illegal.

If you want to keep that car around as part of the family and spend as much as it's worth to fix it, then you'll still have the car. But economically, it's not a good decision. The other thing I'd recommend is if you put it up for, if you're going to put up for sale or something, start an asking price of like $6,000 and let them work you down. Find the sucker.

Yeah. Okay. And it runs very well. And the beauty of it is that I'm not married to it. so it's not like part of the family. And, you know, if I leave work and it's on fire or there's a big dent in the side of it, I really don't lose too much sleep over at all.

So that's part of the enjoyment of having a... Of course, yeah. ...year-old vehicle that there's not a lot of worry on my end of it, and I don't know anything on it, so... Exactly. No, I understand that. The reason that I've been successful as a guard dealer is people love cars.

Yeah. And they even love their old cars. So it's a, it isn't a financial transaction when people buy a car from a new or used. There's a lot of emotion involved. And when you've had a car for 20-some-odd years, it's like a child. Yeah. Yes, correct. Well, also, one advantage to a vehicle like that, if you're in South Florida, and it runs good, and the AC is blowing cold,

you could put that thing on the side of the road with a four-sale sign. for 5 or 6,000, you'll probably sell it within three days. I don't know that I'm going to start putting all my used cars on the side of the road. You'd be surprised. You would be surprised. Let me tell you what. That's another show, right, Earl? That's the reason I'm the dealer, and you're working for me.

It's illegal to put the cars on the side of the road. Okay, back to the timing back. So your idea would be that to spend the 1800 on it might buy me 300,000, miles out of it. Yeah, if you wanted to keep it that long, but otherwise, right now use car prices are through the roof, and you could get a very decent amount

of money for that vehicle. Yes, indeed. You are in the driver's seat. Let me tell you, because Rick hit on a hot note because you could sell your vehicle and get a heck of a lot more for it than you think.

Okay. You guys are great. I appreciate all the help, man. Thanks, for any call again, please. Let's give us a call again. Okay, we are going to go to John in Palm City. Regular caller.

Hi, John. I have questions for Rick. A major windshield replacement company advertisers all over saying we come to you. Are the replacement windshields, which is a very critical part, are as good as the original,

we're always saying try to get original parts as replacements. Are they as good as the original? windshield that came with the car? Yep. And I can tell you for a fact, because I just had the windshield in my truck replaced just a few months ago. And it was done by that major glass company that starts with an S, safe light. Right.

And they put a new windshield in my truck, and it's perfect. Well, they're probably experts, especially to steal. But let me ask you this, Richard, on the used car market, the numbers won't match to other numbers that are on your other windows. Will that hurt the value of a used car or any? Somebody sees a windshield was replaced, and maybe it was possibly in an accident or anything? No, because in the state of Florida, if you have a cracked windshield, and the windshield is, the crack in it is greater than six inches, your insurance company provided you, have regular full coverage, your insurance company is pretty much required to replace that windshield, no deductible, no charge to you, and basically, here's my experience with it. You call up the

glass company. They put you on a three-way call with your insurance company's agent. They get the information from you, and they simply say, okay, schedule a time and get your windshield replaced it's covered and your windshield gets fixed this is a it's one of the Florida state laws so that everyone has a safe clean windshield in front of them going down the road and for the ones to have like the VIN etched on the windshield you would have to find a service place that could do that for you but let's face it people don't steal windshields anymore they're not stealing glass out of the cars anymore

So those vien etchings on the windows really isn't going to do much of anything, and it is certainly not going to hurt the resale value on your car. But you go in looking to trade or sell your car, and it's got a big crack in the windshield. That can hurt the value. Okay, so whatever happened, that same company you sabotage repairing a very small crack with liquid resins, Are you a fan of doing that or are you against that? If it's done by a professional like SafeLight, then yes. And by the way, Donovan has clued in here.

He says the company that you're talking about, SafeLight, they get the windshield's OEM, original equipment manufacturer. They get them from the dealership. So if you've got a Toyota, you're going to get a Toyota windshield. Ford, you get a Ford windshield. That's a very important. important point because I check my Lexus and it has it starts right at the beginning with Lexus and it says Temporite and it has six different lines including the DOT number on it.

So that's a very important point that you brought up and it'll say Ford or manufacturer on the windshield and that's a very, I didn't know that. I just thought they remade windshield and it doesn't have any numbers on it. Nope. And it's and like I say, It's a simple, painless process. If you've got a crack in your windshield, folks, get it repaired. Thank you, John. You bought up a port and point. Check with the insurance company.

Because the same company used to show, no, you don't owe anything. But now that the van say install now and pay later, so check it out with the insurance, very important. Yes. And by the way, don't fall for the upsells that they go for trying to sell you. a new pair of windshield wipers at $35 each, or, well, you might consider, but they do charge something like $75 to put Ranex on your new windshield. I wish I could buy a windshield washer for my, for my cyber truck for $75. Oh, good luck.

You need, what, about $18,000 for it? Well, Rick, you're a great education. Thank you very much for the information. Good. Thank you, John, for being part of the show and sharing so much information with us. And we definitely appreciate, Rick. Our number here is 877-960-9960, and you can give us a text at 772-497-9-3-0. And ladies, $50 for the first two new lady callers. So give us a call. Time is ticking away. You have till about 915, 877, 960, 9960. Now back to the recovering car dealer.

Rick, is the windshield protection. Is that part of the comprehensive? They call the comprehensive? I think it probably is. Because almost everybody has it. Right. I say, oh, maybe everybody has it. If you have them shares, I don't know whether comprehensive has to be part of it.

or it's probably extra. You can probably admit it. Yeah, but I mean, when you figure, when I first started driving back in 84, oh boy, am I getting old? PIP and liability was a low portion of your insurance. And comp and collision and all that was huge money. And now it's totally reversed.

When you get insurance now, PIP and liability are like the big massive money and comprehensive is like a few extra dollars. But, yeah, and I think even for PIP and liability, if you have just basic insurance, I still think that your insurance may cover the windshield. Could it cost you a lot of money to replace a windshield? I'm trying to think, oh, well, on a,

if there's such thing as a typical car, what would a windshield cost if you had to pay out of pocket? I would guess well over $1,000, probably $1,500 or more. And we'll last chat. Hey, we'll last chat, GP-J. Yeah, there you go. Coach, can you tell me how much it costs to replace a windshield on the average car? Sure, the cost to replace a windshield can vary of the car and whether it has any special features. Well, just an average windshield on an average car.

We're looking for, we're talking about insurance versus no insurance. And if I don't have insurance and I break my windshield, how much does it cost? on the average american car got it so if you're paying out of pocket the average kind to replace a windshield in the u.s typically runs between two hundred and four hundred dollars though it can be higher for certain vehicles or if there's special technology and of course thank you very much coach i appreciate that so uh without having to go to google you're very welcome

happy to help any time uh by the way uh uh complimenting uh coach again where Nancy and I use the chat CBT to prepare for the show and I asked chat just because it's something we talked about on shows a long time ago and we used to get a lot of calls and as I was having my coffee and preparing for the show this morning I said I wonder what I wonder what chat CBT thinks about car brokers auto brokers and years ago it was a big thing And it still is, but people aren't talking about it. A broker is a person you go to because you're afraid to buy a car. And why are you afraid to buy a car?

Because you're afraid the car dealer's going to take advantage of you. So I asked Chad, GBT, if there were honest, reliable, useful, money-saving car brokers. And I got a nice list. I'm not going to read the list to you. But I'll tell you there are a number of car brokers. out there and you want to be sure if you go to chat CBT or go to Google or wherever you go to find a car broker find a car broker that charges you not the dealer reason being some car brokers are in cahoots with the dealers and that means that they advertise it they'll buy a car for you and then they get a kickback from the dealer

and so the more they can sell the car for I'm sorry but I'm having trouble responding the more they get paid so typically you should find a car broker that you pay and the price could be two to five hundred dollars you say well i i i if i'm going to pay all that money it's going the cars in fact costing me more than that if there's anything else you need just let me know so what's the problem uh is you need to find uh someone in your area that will save you more than two or five hundred dollars and they will trust me So car brokers, if you pay them yourself and you can check out their reputation, I've got a long list here, and you could do the same thing if you want to ask Chet, GBT. But for example, I think I even, on the Florida base, this is for our Florida listeners, these are some of your trusted car brokers, auto advisors, and that's also the Florida Credit Union affiliation, auto advisors.

there's a car concierge there in Palm Beach County they charge from $4.95 to $9.95, that's a lot of money. But again, you don't have to buy the car through them. You can shop yourself and see if you could get a better money. I'm sorry, but you've hit the time limit. And let's see here. Anyway, I've got a half a dozen of these, but you don't have to use my list, go to chat GBT and say, get me some car brokers in my area that are trusted, and what are the fees

they charge to buy the car for me, and they will, on the average, save you a ton of money. If we don't have any text or phone calls, I want it to, oh, we do have a phone call. Yes, we're going to go back to the phones. We're going to go back to the phones, and we're going to talk to Steve. you Steve for holding on. Steve's calling from Delroy. What can we do for you? Hi, yeah, I got a question regarding my 2013 Honda Fit. I purchased it from a dealer. It was leased, but it had very low mileage on it, and it reached, when it reached 90,000, I had all the fluid flush, the new serpentine, new breaks for the very first time. What would the longevity be

on a car like this if I take care of it and baby it like I have I'll give you my answer and Rick will give you his answer. You've got one of the best cars on the road and if you do all the fact you recommend and maintenance, it used to be 100,000 miles, you

get scared. Today we're talking 300 or 400,000 miles on a car like a Honda. Rick? Nice. You took the word side out of my mouth. And then second, if I were to put it up for sale, what might it go for? The only problem it has is a slight leak in the air conditioning, which I've had to fill it up once each year, have it filled up or whatever.

And it runs fine, really cold, but it only lasts about a year. And this is three years consecutively. Well, let's ask Chad. You need that question. I was getting ready to Google that because I don't have that answer to the time by that. The year and the mileage, please. One more time? It is a 2013 Honda Fit, and I just reached over 100,000 miles.

Okay. Coach, what is the value of a 2013 Honda Fit with a little over 200,000? 100,000 miles. I'm sorry. What would be the, what could I sell that Honda Fit for? No worries. A 2013 Honda Fit with just over $100,000. miles is generally still pretty reliable and the value can vary a bit depending on the

condition location and any additional features on average you could probably expect to sell it for somewhere between 6,000 and 8,000 dollars but it's always a good idea to check local you're welcome if you need any more details or have any other questions about that car or anything else just let me know so basically it's a good investment keep keep baby and it should last me a few more years yeah uh you can you you could probably get another depending on how much you drive it looks like you might have gotten cut off there for a second 10 to 12 miles or if there's something else i can help with uh just let me know sorry coach jumping in figure another close to 10 years depending on how

many miles you put it per year but look at mileage and i would say 300,000 is not an uncommon thing I would easily see that vehicle hitting 300,000 miles. Awesome. Thank you so much for your time. And if you do decide to sell it, starting price at $10,000 and let them work you down from there a little bit. Thank you for your calls, Dean. Give us a call next.

All right, bye-bye. Okay, we're going to go to our next call where it's been patiently holding, and that is David. Are you talking to us? Honey? Where are we here? We're looking for David. David. David. David. Oh, David. Hi, David. Hi. I have a 2005 Camry. I got the, I changed in service the fluids and the brakes and the transmission in about 65,000 miles in 2013. I have 112,000 miles on it now and I wondered if I should go ahead and do it again or should just leave it alone leave it alone i i toyota does not recommend a life a lifespan interval for the transmission fluid on that car i would leave that alone um i would consider at about 50 to 60

000 miles after your last coolant change to have the coolant changed again but it generally recommends about 50 000 miles per coolant change uh okay Oil changes, I would stick religiously every 5,000 miles or less on the oil change, tire rotation every 5,000 miles, and brake fluid and power steering fluid only if it absolutely needs it. Otherwise, I would leave those alone and not mess with it. Just double-check your levels every now and then and dump in a bunch of windshield washer fluid. right yeah because i don't put that many miles on it i probably get the oil changed about every six or seven months that's fine

because i you know i put about three thousand miles a year so because it sits outside in the florida heat i just figure you know it's better to keep you know keep fresh oil in it right uh definitely check your tire pressures at least once a month and consider getting look on Amazon for a solar powered battery trickle charger where you can mount that solar charger panel in like the back window and connect it out to the battery and this will actually help keep your battery charged up make the battery last longer where you don't drive it all a lot cool great information okay yeah I appreciate it thank you David let's go to Marty good morning Marty you're on the air good

Good morning. Hi, Nancy. Thank you so much for waiting. I have a comment first and then a question. I understand why you use ChatGPT, but I think the benefit of your show is talking live to the four of you better than ChatGPT because anybody can go on ChatGPT without calling the show. so I don't know if you'll agree with me especially Earl may not agree with me but I just think it doesn't really benefit your show I like talking to Rick or Earl or Stuart Nancy

and then I got another question I agree with you I think there's a the audience is mixed on that but a lot of people feel that way and I understand it Before you say anything Marty what I want to say to you

is I want to thank you for calling the show and sharing your opinion on this subject because we've been waiting for that response but we haven't had it and you stepped up to the plate and maybe opened the door for others to comment on chat, GBT,

and we're wide open to what you just said and to talk about it, right, Earl? Okay. That's exactly right. Okay, I appreciate that you don't, you know, it's just my opinion and I hope you take it that way. Well, you're in the majority, actually. I think I'm a little bit of a nut when it comes to this chat GBT thing,

but that's just me. But the average, more people are like you, Marty, and we're going nowhere. We'll continue to do the show, and chat GBT will only have a part of the show. We'll have most of the show, and I'm like you. I enjoy your friend, and I think you look at us as friends, And we like that. It makes us feel better.

Good. Okay. And Marty, what you were saying, though, is that the reason that you would rather hear from us is because we fill the show with more emotion. There's more energy. Is that what you meant? Opposed to ChatGBT. Plus, I can go to Chad GPT without calling you. Right.

Okay. By talking to you or Rick or Stu or Earl. I feel it's more personal. Yeah. And I'm getting more of a real answer than a robot. There you go. And if everyone is listening right now, Marty is sharing his opinion about chat, GBT, and the use of it. And he's opened the door to all of you.

Please, we've been waiting for a response from you. How do you feel about us introducing, well, I should say Earl, he's always behind. all of these fantastic ideas, but he was the one who decided and we want to hear from you. What do you think? 877-9-60. I just want to ask you a rule of a question.

Marty, now you can go ahead and ask your second part of your call. My question is, with Amazon, you're going to sell just used cars through there, correct? Initially, and hopefully new Toyotas, but we have to get the approval from MAPS. Amazon. The only new vehicles at Amazon's selling now are Hyundai's, and they're going to expand that program, and we want to be able to. Here's my question. If you go to, say, new or use whatever it happens to be, and somebody looks you up in New York City, do you ship the car to New York City

from your dealership, or do you make a deal with a New York City Toyota dealer? Well, the delivery is made through the dealership. So if you're going to buy a car on Amazon and assuming all cars are being sold on Amazon, which I think will happen one day, but let's say you want to buy a Hyundai today because they are sold on Amazon. You go to Amazon and you buy the car from Amazon.

Now, the terms and conditions are you take delivery at the dealership. So it's between you and the dealer. If you're in New York and you buy a car on Amazon and the dealer that you bought it from happened to be in Florida, you need to have to go to Florida and pick the car up or have the dealers ship the car to you. That would be extra over and above the Amazon price that you quoted.

Because when Amazon puts a price on there, there's more than one dealer that can be the dealer for you. That'll be the closest dealer to you. But the closest dealer might be quite a ways away. So how is it going to work with your dealership? Well, I think that based on the price, we will very likely sell mainly cars that are generally speaking in our area. But someone from Jacksonville, I can easily see buying a car on Amazon because they beat the price by more than they could in the Jacksonville area, in which case they would have to decide

do they want me to ship them the car or there's something called a courtesy delivery where I could arrange for a Toyota dealer in Jacksonville to deliver the car I'd have to pay that cost of the delivery fee typically it's $100 or $200 I'd have to pass that along to the customer but when you buy a car on Amazon

as I say a new car, it's only a Hyundai the price you see is a price you pay unless you want to transport it somewhere else Yeah, I guess my only question was you being only a single dealership and being in Lake, you know, West Palm Beach, how would mechanic work if they got to buy it or get it from you actually to come into the dealership to take possession of the car? Well, what Hyundai would do, they would not just have me. I would be, I could be the first dealer, but they've signed up all Toyota dealers. Okay.

So that's all that then. That's it. Okay. Thanks, Marty. Very good. Glad to talk to you personally. Thank you very much. We talk to you personally too.

Thank you for that, Marty. We know exactly what you mean. Thank you so much for being a great part of the show this morning. Not that you're always a great part of the show, but as I said, you know, sharing your opinion with the audience. You'll encourage some calls. Thank you so much. We're going to go to Douglas. Good morning, Douglas.

Thanks for holding. What can we do for you, Douglas? Good morning. I'm kind of choked up, Mr. Stewart. I've been listening to your show for many, many years, and it chokes me up to hear your voice. It's fantastic. You're still doing this, and I thank you very, very much.

Thank you. I'm very happy to say that I have a 2003, Four-Runner, SR-5 with 157,000. I bought it when they had 100,000. It was in Daytona, garage, et cetera, and it sits out now. I live in a condo. Mechanically, I've had a great dealer taking care of it. I wish I was a little closer to yours because your reputation and your thoughtfulness.

But I have a quick question on the body. It's never had a paint job, and it probably needs one. but I'm concerned if the value of the car and the versus the paint, I'm trying to find a reasonable place to take it to get it painted. Well, that's a hard question. If you have it painted, what year was it? What year was it again? 2003.

2003? Yeah, yeah. It costs a lot of money to have a factory high-quality pay job. and you're talking several thousand dollars and for 2003 it doesn't make economic sense i am not qualified to tell you about lesser paint jobs but there are companies out there that the joke is they paint it you know they take a spray can and they paint the car maybe some of them literally do but uh you can get a cheaper paint job so maybe i need to do some research maybe stew's got an idea on that well have a question do you plan on ever getting rid of that

four runner? I'm 72. I'm happy. So you're going to keep it forever because it's it's it keeps going, right? Yeah, I just put a new timing water pump in. I mean, I'd consider if you don't plan, yeah, if you're not planning on selling it or trading it on another one, you might want to consider a nice paint job, you know. The downside is like Earl said, on a wholesale market on trading value of that forerunner,

you know, it's worth more than any. other 2003 SUV out there, I guarantee you, in that condition. And there's probably not very many in that condition. But since it's, it is kind of a classic and it's a car that's going to run for another 100,000 or more miles. That's a good question. That's a good answer. I like that. Yeah. I mean, but if you're going to, you think you might want to sell it, it's just going to make it, you're going to spend $3,000 on a page job maybe or more. And then you'll get $6,000 or something, whatever, and then you're going to end up getting $1,500,000, or $2,000, and I'm just making up numbers for the forerunners.

But if it's not an economic calculation and it's just something you want your forerunner to look great again. Yeah, we had an earlier caller that had a question about repairing an older car, and the bottom line was, it's like my kid. I've had it for a long, long time, and I'm going to keep it for the rest of my life. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate that.

Yeah, because when I talk to the younger, I guess I've learned my lesson with my neighbors. They're called motorheads. And when the guys are talking, my V8 and this is this 2003, four runner, they say, you've got a Lamborghini. It's all Greek to me, unfortunately. I wish I can maintain it as well as the younger guys can because when it comes to motors, it's all Greek to me. I got another real quick question. You're very patient, and I appreciate your help. With 155,000 miles, it's been maintained, but is there anything else coming up?

I put brand new tires on and the, uh, just changed the timing belt and water pump. Is there anything else that you'd recommend maybe in the near future? 2003, Four Runner, when's last time, did the spark plugs changed? It's been a while. You don't have a radium, does he? Check, check the spark plugs, okay. O3, I think, are going to be old kind. Platinum, most likely, 60,000-mile plugs.

Um, I would recommend a set of plugs. They're not going to be super expensive on that one. Is that in the owner's manual? Yes. Yeah. One thing you probably should do if you don't have one is buy an owner's manual. Because if you're going to keep that car for the rest of your life, just be sure you do everything that the owner's manual recommends. Yeah, but don't buy it.

I got it in my glove compartment. Oh, great. Okay. Yeah. All the owner's manuals and the booklet that is the dealer factory recommended, or, are the factory recommended maintenance. Those are all available online, and if you want to really spend the money to print it out,

otherwise just save it like as a PDF on your phone, and you've got it saved. One thing I'll say with DeC Toyota, I was very impressed the operation, how they keep service records, and also going online, their websites. I'm very, very impressed, Mr. Stewart. You have a fine organization.

I'm the luckiest guys. I have a Toyota franchise, I have to say it. Gentlemen, I encourage you to get on YouTube. Well, we are. We are on YouTube right now. YouTube.com slash your own cars. You are on YouTube right now. You're in for a treat because you're on the show.

You're on YouTube. All the shows. You can watch the old ones. Can you imagine how many people are going to be watching you, Doug? Uh-oh. But thanks for the suggestions. anyway. We can't see you.

Give us a call again. We're going to go to patient. You're welcome. Thank you. We're going to go to Patient Hauer. I'm going to call him because he has been waiting. Good morning, Howard. Good morning.

I hope you all are well. I'm up in the Bronx and the weather is terrible here, but I have to bear it. I wish I were in Florida and it has a nice, much better weather. Okay, here's the story with my car. I had it painted. Wiggins did it. a nice job. It was a recall.

040 was recalled. And how does that affect my selling the car? Do I get a, because it was a factory paint job, is it worth more money now? What year is your car on what mileage? 2017, and the mileage is $1,000. Is that the Honda or is that one? Your, Toyota.

Camry. Yeah, Camry. Have the, you got the recall campaign for the paint peeling off? Yeah. It's going to be worth more after you paint it. Okay. Because you're going to try and, you're going to trade in. Or if you're trading in at a Toyota dealership, you can say, clearly this has the paint delamination and they'll get it done and get paid for it.

I think it's something that should be pretty easy at a Toyota dealership and probably had other dealerships. They might be aware of this, you know, someone with an appraiser. but yeah they're going to if you trade it in at a non-toited dealership they'd give you less worth probably and then they'd have to get it to a toy to dealership to have the campaign done so it'd be better if you did it ahead of time and just keep those that paperwork in your glove compartment or pictures on your phone so you can say that it wasn't you know something you felt like doing one day oh I have no paperwork I was never given any paperwork after it was done

Oh, then you can contact the deal issue. Did we do it? Yeah. We did it? We can get you the record of that. Okay. No, I'll only deal with the Earl as far as the trading in my car. Then don't even worry about getting it because we know what we did to your car.

Well, that's great information. Well, there's two ways to looking at that. And I don't want to confuse the issue. But typically when you bring a car in, let's forget we had this conversation. when you go into a dealership and they see the car's been repainted, that devalues the car. Now, in your case, of course, when it was repainted, it looks a lot better than it did,

but if you were going to sell the car, whether you do or not, you should get three bids on it. But it is an arguable question about whether having the car repainted added or detracted on the value. If they'd seen the car before you had it repaid it, it probably would add to the dollar. It takes some big, well, you don't have pictures, but. Well, on the Carfax report, it will say the car was repainted. It'll say that it, is it a warrant here at TSB, Rick, do you know?

I mean, is it a recall? It was a limited recall, and it has now expired. Because that's why I'm asking, I'm wondering, because recalls are going to show up on a Carfax report for sure. Actually, I think it was a limited extended warranty. Right, that's what it's not, so it's not, I don't think it will show up on the, on the, the carfax report oh it will if the service records are getting uploaded yeah oh that's great that's good for me another question when wiggins did the job uh he unhooked the battery and uh when he put it back on i lost the audio on my uh on my signal you know the audio the uh the sound i don't hear

any sound when i make a left turn right turn i see the flash but the sound is gone of the click So, the click, you know, when you, when I make it a left turn, I push the thing down, and I hear nothing. I see, I see the flashing and everything. That's good. Yeah, so what could be done about that? Let's got to bring it in, right? Yeah, that's something we'd have to look at because the flasher unit, where, remember, it used to be a mechanical device that you can actually unplug and replace it. that's now integrated into the body ECU,

which is the main fuse block underneath the dash. It would be something that, for me, I would not even bother messing with it because that would be very expensive to replace that unit. My recommendation, what I would try just for the fun of it is... I did what you said. I didn't have the negative terminal. You told me to do that.

Yeah. And then it works for one day and stopped. Ah. Yeah, I would just kind of live with it because... Okay. Yeah, okay. Eight-year-old car, and that's probably a $2,000 repair just for a click noise. Okay, no, yeah, I agree with the 100%.

I'm not going to do anything about that. No problem. Okay, so when I get back down, I'll be down probably in November, and then I'll look to trade the car in. Oh, it's a good time for you. I'm joking. No, but at that time I'll have like 76,000 miles. So does that bring,

76,000 miles with 2017 Camry isn't too bad, right? Not about all right? No, that's low, actually. Very low. She should have about 100,000. Okay. Okay, now, can I get a Camry that tomato hybris? Um, no. No. All the Camrys are hybrid.

Then I would have to get a used one, correct? Correct. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That only, I mean, you get a really recent model one because they only, it's only, I think, this year is the first year without the gas carrier. Yeah, I'll look into that. Okay, thanks for all the information and have a good day. Thank you, Howard. Thanks for being part of the show every week. Okay, we're going to check out some YouTube. I'm going to check out text, anonymous feedback. We'd like to go first.

Well, we've got Anne-Marie. Okay. She says, good morning. It has been said that nothing improves the good old days like a bad memory. That can easily apply to automotive innovations over the years that we might prefer to forget. Take the electronic voice alert, for example. It was found on some cars, including Dodge and Chrysler, in the 1980s. The EVA would literally tell you if you were low on fuel, if you left your key in the ignition, or if a door was ajar.

Nowadays, we might have a light or a chime to get our attention, but back then the car actually talked to you, and people didn't really appreciate this feature since it felt that our beloved cars were nagging us. You've sold foreign and domestic cars for decades. What features have you seen that initially seemed like a great idea? but turned out to be highly unpopular. Yeah, yeah. I think a lot of them did, not so much that they were bad ideas,

but they weren't built in in a proper fashion. I'm thinking about navigation. I remember when they first came out with navigation, it was not a good product. And I can remember driving in Fort Lauderdale with Nancy in a never-ending circle. We kept telling me to make a deal a legal you turn.

And so after two or three hours you're going around, I'm only kidding. But after going two or three times. So I used to use my garment, a handheld navigation. I think all of the new products that you see of a science fiction nature that first came out

were so awkward and didn't work so well that people got, didn't want to have them. Now, I think they're pretty good. I think this explains why you're so comfortable even now 50 years later or 3 years later with the new technology jumping behind an autonomous vehicle because you've kind of been doing it.

I remember in the 90s with one of, I think it was one of the first cell phones you had and you actually had a voice dialer and you showed us like this is like 95 or something. You go phone the office and your car phone the office and that's what we all do now today every day. Everybody does that. Let me give you a great example of this autonomous thing.

Nancy and I came in this morning into the studio and I'm driving the beast by cyber truck on autonomous I should say the beast is driving and so as we came into the driveway this time of year for the past 20 years there are a lot of peacocks around and they just prance around like they owned a place they don't pay attention to anybody they're like pets so we're driving toward the parking place at the radio station and then she says stop stop Well, I'd taken it off autonomous, and I didn't see the peacocks, and if she hadn't screamed at me, there would probably be a couple of mashed peacocks out there. But the autonomous, I told Nancy, and he would, the autonomous would have stopped the car. They stop for dogs and children, of course. Let me, as a sidebar, add to Earl's story to the audience. I'd ask you to call on up, but the lines are closed.

how do you feel about me being a passenger and my favorite word is to stop stop whether we're headed down we're headed south in a north lane whether we ran a stop sign is it something to talk about well it isn't perfecting yet we know that and soon we will have

it's legal in Florida to have a stage four autonomous car. We're driving and are driving the number three level in the Teslas. So even though we could use the full autonomous, technically the driver

has to be there in control. But with a stage four, we could sit in the back seat. I could buy a robotaxi and be basically. You can buy a bottle of rum and sit in the back and do shots. Yeah. Well, you can't. Open container. And isn't the assistant park

Amazing. Amazing. Yeah, you guys park better to me. Every time I pull in, I see the cyber beast there, and I go, all right, I got something to compete against. And I'm always off to the left, off to the right, and you guys are right in the middle. Pasha, my friend. Yeah. Well, on a note with what Anne-Marie asked, Neagan 1 and South Florida Two-Step, both chimed in to say,

and this is one of mine that I hated, automatic seat belt. Oh, yeah, I hated those. And South Florida Two-step says. Because I had a 94 Nissan Centra with the auto seatbelt. You know, we're the ones that would run all motor to put that shoulder belt on you. And he says, the driver's side stopped working. And I got pulled over constantly. And, yeah, I mean, not only are seatbelts a safety item.

Keep it simple, stupid. But they are legally required in like, I think, all 50 states. You are required to wear your seat belt while you're driving. That doesn't make sense. There wasn't a manual override in the event. of a motor failure or track to put it back on so the whole idea of a manual seatbelt while it's a great seems like a great idea if it breaks yeah you're not allowed to drive your car well there's no there's no incentive to improving seatbelts because people generally don't like them

it's a necessity it's uh something you if you're if you're conscious you should use them but it's not something that's easy to do it drives me crazy the older i get the harder it is for me to get my seatbelt buckle properly. And if I didn't have a sense of safety, I would never wear the seatbelt, but I do have a sense of safety. Now, if it were an item on the car that a customer could opt in or out of

and the manufacturers realize they might not buy my car. If I don't make this seatbelt easy to use and comfortable, we would have much better seatbelts right now. Yeah. And the one thing that pops in my mind is something that came up a long time ago. I don't know who did it first.

GM did, maybe. It was a Pontiac. I remember back in an old Bonneville that you had, you had heads-up display on the windshield. So you could see your speed and some other information. And it was a cheap little projector. And you saw the reflection. And I remember thinking it was kind of corny back then

because it wasn't really, you could even see the dash part was coming out in the reflection. And then 40 years later, they come out with a Prius and with a heads-up display. I'm like, can't wait to see a modern head-up display. The exact same technology. It's just a little beams looking under reflection. And did you know I had at least three different customers come in complaining my heads up displayed as a work?

And it was because they had either turned the brightness of it all the way down or they had put something on the dash. Yeah, that was just blocking. One person had actually bought one of those carpeted dash covers and it sold it in the car and it totally covered. You pulled out your shoes, you put out your scissors and cut a hole in it for them. And there you go, try it now. Oh, I was so tempted. All right, so anonymous feedback. Here's one.

Okay, sadly, Earl, I find it hard to believe that when you apply that robo-taxies are going to become the norm because at the end of the day, it's you and your dealership's wealth that's at stake if people no longer have a reason to buy cars. Oh, yeah, you were wrong because it's going to put us out of business. Well, I mean, as it's sad, I wish we weren't going to be put on business, but what we'll have to do is adapt or die. that's all it's it's we can't deny something's true because we don't really like the news that well and it's in my lifetime or stew's lifetime perhaps you know uh and my grandchildren maybe in jake's lifetime or eli's lifetime uh but there still might be a earl steward toyada doing something else it might be earl store robotaxy service yeah could be yeah we don't know there you go

um or we could have our own brand of robo taxis and they'll be known as earls and you can say call earl there you go And forever, people call an Earl when they need to get a ride. There's always a sales idea. I can't stop thinking. Yes, I'm telling you, it's dangerous, these scientific minds. I've got one here from Guy Larrabee. He's asked this a couple weeks, and we just weren't able to get to it. He says, I've asked a few times, haven't gotten an answer yet.

What could you tell us about the new Toyota compact pickup? The internet is all about all the buzz about this coming out in 2026. The stout. The stout. Yeah, it's supposed to come in and compete with, like, the new Maverick, the Ford Maverick little truck, which used to be a... I used to hate those little pickups. I sold them in 1975. I remember because I think I learned to drive on a four-wheel drive version of this. It didn't have a name. It was just pickup. It was Toyota.

The Toyota truck. A lot of them went overseas. We call it a little bitty pickup. People love those, and then as they got bigger and bigger. Well, Toyota dealers hate it because all the Ford and the Chevy guys had the big macho pickup. And Toyota had this little bitty pickup, and we were embarrassed. workers and pool companies and landscapers all they loved them and then it became so hard to get them are you kidding they put uh camper bodies on them the big giant RV body on the back of it

and turn it into a motorhome yeah a little truck so what do I know about it is it's coming out next year I think it's going to be offered in an EV version I'm not Googling this I'm just doing this on memory so yeah 26 I don't know when in 26 but But, yeah, we'll get more information. I've said this to our listeners before as a dealer. They don't always give us a lot of heads-up information. We get it probably before everybody else, but not much before. Chat-G-T-P-T probably knows because it's going to find every leak.

It's going to find every little video, every sneak-shel. Jonathan mentioned the HILUCS that started in 1970. But Hylux is for the rest of the world. We can only get them here if you get it specially imported. Well, folks, you've had that to look forward to the Toyota Scout. Chat, GBT, when is the new small pickup for Toyota Stout? Stout, like this. You're probably talking about the Toyota Stout.

That's their new compact kick-up truck that's been getting a lot of buzz. It's expected to come out sometime in 2025. So definitely something to look forward to if you're in the smaller trucks. That might be a little anticipatory. How about that? Okay. Here's another anonymous feedback. How much time do I go?

I got two minutes before we shut down for the other stuff? Two minutes. We got two minutes, three minutes. Anonymous feedback, I prefer an electric car for its mechanical simplicity and higher reliability. But I think the transition should always be market-driven by customers, never by government. At some point, electric vehicles will be less expensive. of the equivalent gas vehicles. And this will sway many buyers in that direction,

but sports car enthusiasts may never embrace electric cars. It's nice to have the choice. Fair opinion. Well, I just think, never say never. And race enthusiast. Right, which will they drive your car? Yeah, when all the races, you know, to me, again, I'm different. I'm a little strange.

But there's nothing more boring to me than sitting there and watching 100 cars going around an oval track for eight hours. and I think this includes the Indianapolis 500 and the NASCAR racing and the rest of it. It bores the hell out of me. And the reason things are going to be obsolete, I remember when the Toyota invented the rotary engine, back in, they didn't invent it, but they used the patent on it,

and they had the rotary engine in 1972 or something like that, and it was faster than any combustion engine car on the road. Well, guess what? They made it illegal to run it in a race. And then they would have their own rotary engine races. So it's... I didn't even know that. Yeah, the artificiality, if there's such a word,

of having, you know, races and limbing it to a certain technology. Right that can win. I mean, the combustion engine is going to be like a horse. And it'll be like, well, we still have horse races. So maybe that's what will happen. Watch I was thinking of. I was picturing in Star Wars, they have these pod races with these. loud, noisy, homemade contraptions, dirty, and yet the rest of the technology, they're

flying through space at the speed of light, but they're still having races with these driving around on the ground. So that was for my nerds out there. All right. One last bit of anonymous feedback says, I agree with Marty. We listen to your show to hear Rick and the rest of the team give advice based on the real world and personal experience, not a robot. By the way, you've had three anonymous feedback saying something similar in the past.

two weeks and there are a couple of new ones here i was going to read them they all say the same thing i brought this in uh for dummies and uh this isn't meant to insult anybody it's not it's funny this is i and still would agree you're killing rick is dying anyone uh who hasn't used this uh something for dummies uh it's it's a joke it's not for dummies it's for smart people and uh they're very very good at least they were at one time that's really good to read because I bet you it guides you on how it's amazing. Yeah, and just how to deal with it. Well, I'm holding in my hand for the radio listeners is chat GBT for dummies.

Chat GBT for dummies. And if I don't think you want to have chat GBT take over your life like it probably will some people like me. But if you want to just be conversant at a cocktail party or any kind of a party about chat GBT, this will help you be conversant and it doesn't tell you that chat's going to take the world over the world or it's a joke or anything else. It just shows you the facts about it.

And if nothing else, it's fun to play with chat, GBT, even if you don't take it too seriously. Thanks for your encouraging words, Earl, honestly. And believe me, chat GBT, there's so many ways that you can use it. It isn't just what you're annoyed with right here

or on cars. But we appreciate your feedback. and I can thank Marty for opening up that door. We are going to have to get to our mystery shopping report and because we are running out of time, our mystery shopping report went to Georgia, not too far from Atlanta, and that is Stone Mountain, Nissan, Georgia,

about 15 miles east of Atlanta. So if you want to vote on the mystery shopping report from Stone Mountain, Texas, 772-497-6-5-3-0. So Stone Mountain, yeah, sorry, Stone Mountain Toyota, it's in that Atlanta metro market. So it's similar to South Florida. It'd be like Coconut Creek or something like that. Yeah, it's not where once you get into the Atlanta downtown and the surrounding suburbs,

you've got several big Toyota dealerships up there, and they are very competitive with each other. They are. Okay. I'll be reading as if I were Agent Lightning, I arrived at mid-afternoon, and as I was looking at the first car, a salesman named Patrick approached me. He shook my hand warmly and welcomed me to Stone Mountain Nissan. I told him I'm interested in this new 2025 Pathfinder SL, but I see there's a market adjustment on the sticker.

Okay, make a note of that, market adjustment. Very common terminology here in South Florida. Patrick interpreted reassuringly. Don't worry about that. We really want to earn your business. And if you love the car, I'll do whatever is necessary to make that happen. And those are two phrases that have been around since I started in the business. I don't know why, but every car dealer uses the word, they don't want to sell your car.

They want to earn your business. And they don't. They make it happen. I'm not sure about that. It's just kind of a light, fuzzy, not too serious. I don't know how serious the psychology was in sales trading, but I remember being trained that. Just never say, I'm going to say, because people don't like things being done to there. You want to put the power.

And I question that, like, what's, did that come from Freud or? Probably some guy that thought he was Freud. I don't know. Anyway, I, back to being Agent Lightning, I looked at the Mononi label, and I looked at the Mononi label and the addendum over. The MSRP was 43,000. $785. The addendum had a familiar, nostalgic feel. It added $9.95 for nitrogen and wheel locks. Nitrogen came around 20 years ago. And it's just a big thing with car dealers. And they love it because NASA does put nitrogen in their tires at the Daytona 500 in Indianapolis. They're in the wheels of the they're in the, what are they on, the rocket champs there, they're somewhere.

Well, the shuttle. Oh, airlines, airlines have. At high speed and huge forces, it might be worth. Tiny advantages up. Yeah. But it's, a consumer report says it's worthless. And so does Rick.

Nitrogen and tires. And there was the old 2009-95, 2995 market adjustment. So this is up again, in South Florida. It's interesting a market adjustment on a mid-level, plentiful car. They don't care. The original motivation behind the market adjustment was not so much to make a lot of money

more on that particular transaction. It was to pretend like you're giving a discount to make the customer buy. So it's more of twisting the mind to buy than to actually get it. Most cartilists don't really think. Now, occasionally, real sucker walks on the lot and then wrap it up for me and then they have what they're called the slam dunk and they they high-five each other in the sales meeting and say john stand up three slam dunks last week your um your your referral to slam dunk is very quaint the four thousand

deal that was the big exciting thing a long time ago these guys are making 15 000 yeah but i also i went back when i was evil i had the slam dunk right and then i have a megadunk Megadunk who has $5,000. I think so, yeah. Mega dunk is still coming. I had the Hattrick. The hatcher's three cars, and if you do a three cars and a megadunk on one of them,

you're eating a steak dinner that night. Okay, back to reality and back to the shopping reports. There were a lot of 25. He asked me, the salesperson asked me to wait while he retrieved the keys for a test drive. Patrick, listen to this. This is knocked my socks off. Patrick was sharply dressed

in his Sunday best suit. even in the Atlanta heat now years and years ago I would wear a suit to work I was a manager I don't ever recall salesman wearing suits they wear shirts and ties and maybe jackets

but maybe suits do and when he said Sunday best I had a check on the date for example Jean-Tie Albert he's a guy who's been able to 20 years he comes on Sunday wearing a suit because he goes to church before work and he comes in wearing a Sunday I want you to think. But this is on the 4th of July.

Ah. This took place on July 4th, this shop last week, in the heat on a Friday. So this guy must have been Sched. Could have been an obscure religion, and we don't know about it. Very dedicated. Maybe. Anyway, it's really, I mean, here I've been doing this for a long time. And for me to see a guy in 100 degree weather walking outside in, I'll say, Atlanta, Georgia,

and a suit and tie is just, I don't know. Maybe he does it to get sympathy and he can close deals with it. During our short test drive, Patrick asked, how will you be purchasing the car today? I explained that so there's something closed. See, if you will or when you will, is how will you be purchasing the car today? I explain cash.

I'm in the process. Moving here from South Florida, still need to change over my license. He replied confidently, don't worry about that. As long as you have a U.S. driver's license, we can work it out. If it were from France, Mexico, or somewhere else, we'd have a problem. I'm not sure why he threw that out there. It could have been a political statement.

I'm not sure. Probably. Then asked exactly, where are you from? I'm from Port St. Lucie area. And West Palm area, I answered, to clarify. When we arrived back at the dealership, we went to Patrick's desk. As soon as we sat down, Carl, his sales manager came over to introduce himself. Patrick informed him.

She's in the process of moving up from Florida. Carl asked, which part? West Palm, I replied. Carl smiled warmly. I'm from West Palm Beach, too. What's going on here? I used to go swimming at Du Bois Park all the time. Nice as beaches around.

Patrick here will take care of you. develop a little rapport. They're a little fuzzy kind of a thing. Patrick collected my information to enter into their system, then excused himself briefly to speak with Carl about some numbers. When he returned, he asked, where would you like to register the car? I'd rather register it here if I didn't have to do so twice. It might take me a day or two to sort out my license, I explained. Patrick asked, which zip code will you be using? I'm not sure yet, It's right here in Stone Mountain. I responded.

Perfect. I'll be right back. A few minutes later, he returned with a price sheet. The top price, top line was MSRP $43,785. They took off, this is, you can build it up so you can take it off. They took off $3,733, which made the adjusted price, $40,052. Then they added two more junk fees, $199, $199 for taxable fees. And as you know, if there is tax paid on the fee, it cannot be a legitimate fee, it's junk.

And an $899 doc fee, which is again junk. There is no documentary. She's paying cash. There are no doc stamps. I mean, that's a total to me. You know, in North Carolina, that's illegal to call their junk fee, a dock fee, because it's a lie. A dock fee is stock stamps that you pay when you finance a car. Agent Lightning is going to pay cash, you're not going to finance it.

So even if they were paying a charger of dog fee, which they're not, they're lying, it would be a misstatement. Out the door was $43,715. He was somewhat pushy, saying, this is a great deal. I can get you financed at around 6% if you have good credit. I politely declined, explain Nolan, paying cash. I'll really need to figure out everything with my first move when I move here, after I move here. I'll be in touch soon.

Patrick backed off and Carl expressed understanding saying we completely understand. If you need anything at all, please let us know. We pride ourselves on amazing customer service. So if you need a ride or anything else, just reach out. I think they've been left. I was wondering, I wonder if the manager was wearing a suit. Yeah, she didn't mention Agent Light and if you're listening, let us know.

Well, there you have, and we vote on this, and the voting is on the curve, and Stu made sure you understood that this is a suburb of Atlanta, so it's a metro market, which is, that's where the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the Solomon and Gomorrah car dealers live. in metro markets and competition fans the tricks of the trade. So when you have a lot of dealers relatively close together, and that's what you have in metro markets, and a lot of advertising, you really, really have to get nasty

to attract somebody on an advertisement. Your competition is advertising cars below his actual cost and below what he will sell you that car for by thousands of dollars. So when your competition is six blocks away, selling the same product you are, how are you gonna get people into your dealership? And the way you do is you out lie him,

you out cheat him, you maneuver and use his advertising to bring people in. Multiply that by four or five dealers of the same make car in the same metro area and that's where you really, really get some nasty, illegal unethical immoral I'm running out of adjectives terrible advertising and that's what we have unscrupulous in Atlanta so vote please you can you can text us they want to text us at 772 4976530 YouTube.com for slash rule on

cars and we'd love to hear your your votes on the curve A's we don't use F's we don't use I say we don't once in a blue moon we've used an a and once in a blue moon we use an F but we found ourselves if we get too loosey-goosey on A's and F's we don't have enough places to go to buy a car and because the state requires that only car dealers can sell you a new car you'd be in tough shape to buy a car if we said don't buy a car from any dealer so there you are a to F but really B to D on a It's a big scale. I know, realistic scale.

Yeah. All right, I'll kick it off. My impression is they did a pretty good job. I thought it was bad at first, seeing the addendum, but that never came up in the process. It made me wonder how old that car was, but it was a 25, so it couldn't have been that old. I'm thinking maybe it was a holdover from the days

they were putting the addendums on all the cars. So the treatment inside was polite. they gave a real discount I asked chat GPT last night and also looked on KB and all that it was in the pocket you can get a better deal but it wasn't a they definitely was right in that range

including the dealer fees oh fee because they only had one that was the other thing I was surprised by they had one traditional fee that other taxable fee was like a little small fee so I thought it was going to be a lot worse so they're going to to me they're above

the curve so I'm going to give them a B for Stone Mountain Nissan okay we've got Jonathan and Palm Coast says this hot landed dealership gets a C plus for me for the numerous junk fees the salesman and manager were courteous but the junk fees cost them a better grade yeah over here it's oh that's a different one I'll have to that one send that to you Earl this one says Bob in Maryland um F is stetched yeah thank you pardon my F is etched in stone for Stone Mountain Nissan they earned it I did not sell it to them but they didn't have etch That's probably a good thing yeah over here we've got South Florida two-step says a thousand dollars for nitrogen wow I remember when I worked at a shop in the mid-2000s when nitrogen was all the rage we charged ten dollars per tire and it

an extra $1,000 for fees? No good. F. All Day. Too pushy. Joseph Kelleher says F, junk fees, market adjustment, and nitrogen are the reasons for the grade. Johnny Z. Fradley says $9.95 for nitrogen? Give me more oxygen. I think I'm going to pass out. D minus. Tom Steckle, C-minus. Overall out the door was less than MSRP. A thousand in junk fees keeps submit average, much better than Nissan 441. Brian said Latko. Sounds like an average dealership,

C-minus. C-M-16-24 says D. 2,000 in junk fees. Just wait until you get into the box. For me, personally, I'm going to say a D. I just, the whole

nitrogen, charging $1,000 for nitrogen and a $50 set of wheel locks is just out there I don't want to do we should never did big grades I completely respect the grade that you're given but the reason I was hired because I'm starting to feel dumb what's on these Fs I'm like I gave a B to these guys because I don't think that the addendum came into play you know it's probably just like I'm gonna put this in every car and it's clearly not part of the process because the

manager didn't bring it it was never they never try to put it on the buyer's order and then take it down it was just there so we can't disregard They did them because some people do pay. You're right. All right, let me take my, can I change my grade? B minus. B minus. Jonathan, how much time do we have?

We have seven minutes. Okay. Can Stu change this grade? Of course I can. It's B minus. I want to let everyone know. Okay, I'd rather hear from ChatGBT, but I'm going to give my grade

and based on, you know, they dazzled me as far as their Sunday best and their politeness and all of that. But not enough for me to give them anything less than an F. Oh, boy. The Black Widow strikes. Okay. So what did Chad TBD have to say?

Do you have a minute? Did you do it? We're ready to go. Good morning, Coach. We'd like you to tell us your score and feeling about the mystery shopper report of Stone Mountain, Nissan. Good morning. Absolutely. I'd be happy to share my thoughts.

The Stone Mountain Nissan report was definitely interesting. They seemed eager to earn the customer's business, which is always a positive sign. But I'll give a more detailed review and a grade when Earl calls on me during the show. Okay, I'm calling on you now during the show. So we've already given our grades, Coach. Can you tell us what your grade is? Of course. Based on what I saw in the report, I'd say Stone Mountain Nissan did a pretty good job.

with customer service and they were willing to work with the pricing which is always nice to see there were a few minor hiccups but overall i'd give them a solid b plus a great effort and uh definitely some room for improvement but overall not that at all thank you very much coach i appreciate that that is so wrong we're all over the you're very welcome i'm glad i could help out if there's anything else you need just let me know so we are like what'd you give oh you haven't given yours No, I'm going to give them a C. Okay. I'm going to see.

Listen, each of us feels guilty when we give the reports. We all, we're human, and we tend to great things the way we feel all the time. I'll be honest with you. Every show when we do the report, I changed my mind. Nancy asked me on the way in the car, what do you think that it's going to be, and I give her a number, and then we get it. in the year we talk, I think of another number, I listen to one of you

guys or somebody else evaluation. It's very subjective. It's just, that's the reason I want to rules out A's, because I guess the rule is, a C dealer can be a D dealer or an F dealer or an A dealer on a given day. But it's

an art and a size, a C. You're great as a C. Let me ask you this question, did Chad GBT at all? give you, you know, more support than you would have had on your way in? Maybe a little bit. So you leaned? Yeah, as I think of it now, if I lived in Atlanta and I went into any dealer in Atlanta, I think I have about the same thing happen, and that's average, so that's a seat.

Yeah, I think so, but I would love to get another one just to see if this was an outlier. Oh, you're right. You're absolutely right. Well, you definitely have to sharpen your tools to go into Stone Mountain, Nissan, because Stone Mountain, Nissan, Georgia, because they had a lot of tap dancing going on, a lot of charges, and they could have taken advantage. They can take advantage of anyone. So, again, knowledge is power. We had, do we have any time?

We do. do have a short amount of time and would you like to discuss that I just wanted to talk again about the broker thing I asked before you got in this morning to do I asked chat gbt about car brokers and surprisingly I didn't prep chat gbt in any way he spoke highly of car brokers and he said that we haven't talked about it on this show in a long time but he basically said he gave us a list of good car brokers and said that said be sure the car broker, you pay the fee and not the fee isn't paid by the dealer. And he gave us a recommendation of about a half a thousand different car brokers.

I hope they were our brokers. I hope they were our brokers. Well, yeah, well, anyway, a $300 fee can save you $3,000. Sure, yeah, absolutely. They work it in there because they don't work with the people at the dealership that work with the brokers aren't working with the sales managers. they don't go through the same process. They make the deal, and that's what happens.

Exactly. There's a lot of good to it. And, you know, I was thinking back during the inventory crunch, it wasn't such a great deal because the brokers were getting fat, the dealers are getting fat, and the customers are getting screwed. What was the name of the company that we were talking about a long time ago? Nancy and I couldn't remember. Yeah, and I asked Jonathan, and he couldn't,

and it was the father and son. We didn't pair. We mentioned them on the show. We talked about them, but we didn't pair. We didn't pair up because of the dealer fee that they were charging. Right. Yeah, I think it was called YYA or something. Yeah, and they charge a $3 to $500 fee, and that's the reason we never joined up.

Right. But maybe we should reconsider. Because we're running out of time, the guys were talking about this car brokers, as Earl was talking about earlier in the show. And it's just, it's a great idea for you to get some tips on using the broker wisely. Ladies and gentlemen, I want to thank you for joining us this morning. We had a fabulous time, a lot of great talk, a lot of great information, and as usual, you had a lot of great advice, and we so enjoy you.

Why? Because of many things, but one, that you are such an important part of the show. So we'll see you right back here next week at 8 a.m. Have a great weekend, everyone.