Earl Stewart on Cars - 12.08.2018 - Your Calls, Texts, and Mystery Shop of Hendrick Honda in Pompano Beach

Episode Date: December 8, 2018

Earl answers various caller questions and responds to incoming text messages. Agent X visits Hendrick Honda in Pompano Beach to purchase a car with an identified Takata Airbag Recall. Earl Stewart is one of the most successful car dealers in the nation. This podcast gives you the benefit of his 40+ years as a car dealer and helps you turn the terror of buying, leasing, or servicing a car into a triumphant experience. Listen to the Earl Stewart on Cars radio program every Saturday morning live from 8am to 10 am eastern time, or online on http://www.streamearloncars.com. Call in with your questions during the live show toll free at [phone]. You can also send a text to Earl and his expert team during the live show at [phone]. We are now on Facebook Live every Saturday between 8am and 10am. Go to facebook.com/earloncars to also watch it live or to watch a replay in case you missed it. Uncover additional automotive tips and facts at http://www.earlstewartoncars.com and follow Earl's tweets @EarlonCars. Watch Earl's videos on www.youtube.com/earloncars. “Disclosure: Earl Stewart is a Toyota dealer and directly and indirectly competes with the subjects of the Mystery Shopping Reports. He honestly and accurately reports the experiences of the shoppers and does not influence their findings. As a matter of fact, based on the results of the many Mystery Shopping Reports he has conducted, there are more dealers on the Recommended Dealer List than on the Not Recommended List he maintains on www.GoodDealerBadDealerList.com”

Welcome to Earl Stewart on Cars with Earl and Nancy Stewart. Reach them with your questions at 877-960. Here's Earl and Nancy. Good afternoon. Good morning. Good morning, everybody. I'd like to make a special announcement to Earl and Cars. This is our first anniversary on the True Oldie Station.

That's right. Rick Kearney brought us all cups, and we have our little coffee mugs here. Earl Stewart on cars one year now we've been around for longer than that we're about 14 years different radio station but we've been doing this a long long time again to let all of you newbies people who haven't tuned in to us before on the truly station this isn't a musical event we're having here this is a how to do it on how not to be ripped off by your car dealer I'm Earl Stewart I'm also known as a recovering car dealer in total transparency I've been a car dealer for over half a century 1968 I started in the car business and I did a lot of things the wrong way I've changed a lot of the way I do things and I've really become more of a consumer advocate I've got a group in this studio here and we're going to for the next two hours we're going to help you in the painful process unfortunately the

painful process of buying and leasing cars also maintaining and repairing cars car dealers operate like they were in the last century and not just the latter part of the 20th century the mid and the early part of the 20th century it's kind of like the dark ages car dealers are frozen in time the way they retail their services and their cars the gallop annual poll on honesty and ethics and professions and I apologize to you regular listeners because I know I talk about this every week, but I have to give validity to why we're here, but the Gallup annual poll on honesty and ethics and professions ranks car dealers dead last, or next to last,

or 2017, we haven't finished 2018 quite yet, but 2017, car dealers ranked next to last, just above congressmen in terms of honesty and ethics. Now, that's a sad statement. Of all professions, of all companies that you patronize car dealers are next to last and the way they treat you in terms of transparency and honesty. There's a long explanation for that. My last blog and newspaper column was why are car dealers doing it. It gives you some of the specifics if you'd like to take a look at that. And I encourage you to go to earluncars.com.

www.orgoncars.com and read that blog it's an explanation because it's an anomaly really for retailers in the 21st century. 2018 Apple, Nordstroms, Costco, Target.

There's so many great retailers out there, Walmart, places where you can go and be treated with honesty and integrity. And we get used to it. Can you imagine going into Target and you look to buy a television set and when you go to the cashier the cashier gives you a dealer fee or a target fee or an administrative fee maybe a hundred bucks or 200 bucks

and you say what's that and they say we all do it all the target stores charge that that's what happens when you go into buy a car you get a price it's advertised you shop around you find the lowest price on television online or wherever you're shopping and you go into the car dealership and you pay another $2,000 and it is actually considered legal in many cases even though the state law in Florida says that you must include all they call them dealer fees as a generic term for all the different extra fees hidden fees the car dealers add so that's why we are here That's why Earl on Cars exist to help you. We're live.

It's very exciting. Just think about this. If you've never done it, you're sitting in a studio with some really smart people. I'll introduce them in just a minute. And you've got a live mic, and you've got 20,000 people out there listening to you. And we've got a lot of people streaming us at Facebook on Facebook. Facebook.com. 4 slash earl stewart

facebook.com forward slash earl on cars I'm sorry Facebook.com 4 slash earl on cars if you stream us you can see us and listen to us

but 20,000 people now it's kind of scary but it's also an adrenaline rush it is really exciting because anybody can call in it's live you can say anything you want 877 960 9960 877

960 99 you can call me right now and you can say anything you want and it's live so that's exciting and it really gets us pumped up here in the studio and as I say I'm not alone a big part of owning a car today is the mechanical issue electronic issue is probably a more accurate term and Rick Kearney sitting to my right Rick is a mechanic for you guys that were born in the 40s and 50s he's a technician that If you're born in the 60s and 70s, and if you're born and you're a millennial type of person, he's an auto computer scientist because what you drive right now is a computer on wheels.

It really, truly is. And there's far more computer power. Well, there's four more computer power in this iPhone I'm holding in my hand than there was at the rocket that put the first man on the moon. And there's even more power than that in your car. So, Rick Kearney can answer any question on any car, vehicle, truck, van, SUV, mechanical, computer, electronic, or otherwise. And I'm not going to say he's perfect. I mean, we're none of us perfect, but he gets about 99%. He bets about 990.

And I love to have your call with questions. One of the things he can help you with is your maintenance and repair, which is something you have to be worried about. you're always afraid when you go into a car dealership or an independent repair shop are they really telling you the right thing if you're worried if you've got a symptom and you're afraid that the diagnosis from your local car dealer is too expensive call rick and ask him that question now if you're a woman if you're a female listener or a watcher on facebook.com poor slash earl on cars we have nancy stuart nancy stewart is my wife but she's more importantly

my co-host, and she is a very strong advocate of female ladies' rights, and she has been in the car business with me. She knows a lot about what you have to look to differently than a man. The fact of the matter is women are sometimes taking advantage of more than men when they go into a car dealership. First of all, men run most of the car dealerships. If you're walking to a car dealership, you're going to find 90% of the employees in their salespeople in every department

they're men it's kind of a man's world and you know hashtag me too we're going through a revolution now so nancy has really found our spot on this show and let me ask nancy to tell you especially if you've never called the show why if you're female you should I'm going to tell hulio to hold on for just a second

and I would like to welcome everyone and thank you for tuning in Earl Stewart on cars. And as Earl said earlier, I represent the women and just trying to, you know, create a platform here for them someplace to come and share their thoughts, their complaints, or to let us know that they were treated as they should. And also at the same time, we have $50 for the first two new lady callers, and you can win yourself $50. Nice time of the year to win yourself, $50. No conditions.

So the first two new lady callers, if you want to call and say hi, or if you'd like to share your car buying experience, we would love to hear that. And as I said earlier, I'm here to bring to the attention to the auto industry that, wow, I mean, to capitalize on women and this financial opportunity, you'd be crazy. not to because we make up a huge part of the car buying experience. So with that said, 877960, 9960, or you can text us. You can text us at 772-4976530, and we are going to go to Julio, who's holding from Miami. Welcome to the show, Julio. Thank you very much for having me. I have a question for you.

First of all, I came to this country in 2004 from Cuba, and I was driving a 1957 Chevy in Havana. And we was making our own parts. We could not get the original part from Ging. So we have to make our own parts. So you've got to be an engineer. I think we're going to be better than Rick, because Rick can't make his own parts.

I don't think so. I don't try to make my own parts, no does everything else I can make my own dinner but not my own parts but I have a question about a Camry I have 2018

I want to get traded for 2019 is there a difference somebody told me everything the same thing except the the radio so maybe you can explain this for me.

I'll leave that up to Stu and to Rick. Mechanically, technically, Rick, what is the difference between the 2018 and 2019? Not a whole lot mechanically. I believe the engine and drive train are remaining the same. However,

Stu, correct me if I'm wrong, aren't they getting Apple car play in the 19 Camry? That is correct. That's the big change. Now, there might be some small cosmetic, you know, touches here and there, but the big one is the introduction of Apple CarPlay, which I'm really excited about because I think it's a great, great application.

It is. I got to say, when they first got Bluetooth in cars and everybody was trying to get their phone connected to the radio, it was a nightmare. And Apple CarPlay is one of the simplest ways to have Bluetooth and that streaming audio in your phone in your car. It just, I got to say, it's about time. Huli, I would say this, the car, the 2018-2019 Camry are very close. And if you just bought the 2018, you'd be advised to hang onto that vehicle for a couple of years.

You'll experience a large amount of depreciation if you trade it in on the 2019, and you're not really going to get much advantage unless you're absolutely nutty about the Apple Carplay, and that would be an expensive treat for you to have to pay that much. but hang on to that 2018 for at least another couple years and then price out the 2021 and see what they'll probably will definitely be so big advantages. Unfortunately, I think this is the world that we're dealing with now. Technology changes are coming so rapidly that almost every year

you're going to miss out on the next best thing. Yeah, yeah. And it is frustrating. Yeah, my problem is I have a four-cylinder, and it's very good but I want more to get on the high you know

Miami is a tough place to drive so I need a what happens in the four cylinder when I press down on the accelerator it doesn't kick in immediately I like a six

because it gives you more what do you see the word in English more power more power pep holy I'm a little surprised at that because it was my impression that the four-cylinder was pretty peppy. And the four-cylinder's going back a few years were kind of lethargic

and you really couldn't get any get up and go. But I didn't, let me ask Rick, is there a possibility there's something, should he have a dealer take a look at that? Cars under warranty. Is there anything that you can think that might make that car a little peppier? Not really, because it's going to depend on what previous car he had, what he's comparing it to because his original car

would have been say he came out of a car that's five or six years old the 2018 Camry is all drive-by-wire electronic so there is a minor delay when you step on the pedal there's a moment's delay before the computer

opens that throttle and gets it is a 2019 different not very much but you may notice a slight difference by going to a six you may feel a little more power from it and also they're doing the now the direct injection

which that's going to take another moment for it to kick but once it does it's got a lot more power to it have you driven a 2019 Camry or actually have you driven a six-older driven but you know I figure he's six-cylinder got to be much better than a four-cylinder right?

Yeah it depends on Julio but I guess I've been a Toyota dealer for 50 years, not 45 years, something like that. And I remember back in the earlier times, the four cylinders were really, I just hated to drive one. And then they really did a great job on getting the power out of the four cylinder. So the relative difference between the four and the six today is much narrower than it used to be. But it's up to you individually. And before you do anything like absorb that expensive depreciation to trade a 2018 in on 2019, I would go into a car dealership and I would drive a six-cylinder 2019.

And you could also at the same time check out the Apple Play. And then you would look at the cost, which would be substantial to make that trade. And you just have to make your own personal decision. Is it worth that much money to me to have the Apple Play and the additional power of the six-cylinder? Yeah, I would definitely drive one first. Thank you very much. I'm going to be up to Bocca. I'm going to Boko.

Maybe I stop into Earl Stewart. I love to meet you, Julio. It's encouraging to us to know that we're reaching Miami. Are you on Facebook or are you on the radio? I'm on Facebook. Facebook, okay, great. Love that reach we get with Facebook. And I love to have you call in again.

And let Julio know where you're going in a couple of weeks. Yeah, exactly. By the way, Al Nancy and I are taking a cruise, and we're going to go to Havana. And we did the same thing last year. We loved Havana so much. We had a tour guide that had a 195 Chevrolet Bel Air,

and we spent the day and began the car business. We went to a lot of the shops that you alluded to where they actually made parts for cars. And we saw some machinery that dated back to the 60s and 50s. Yeah, lathes and whatnot. And we saw the amazing work and skill of the Cuban workers over there. As you say, you couldn't buy the parts from the United States, so you had to fabricate them. And I just, I have never had a better time.

That's the reason we're going back this year to see all those incredible cars. I'm 77 years old, 78 in a couple of few days. And I remember the 50s and the 60s, and that was my favorite time, the first time that I really, really enjoyed cars, and I saw Pontiac Convertibles, 1958, 57, and it's really an amazing time. So I bet you miss that. I know you love the United States, but I bet you miss those cars, don't you? Yeah, but I don't miss it when they put my uncle up against the wall and they shot him. I don't miss that.

No, you're good. We had such a great time, Julio, and it was just so amazing, just like Earl said, that, you know, We've visited these places where they're building their own parts because they can't get them. And it was really fascinating. I'm 76. He's, well, Earl said he'll be 78 in a couple of days. We had a great time. It just really bought back a whole lot of memories of the type of cars that I used to drive back in the 50s.

We really appreciate your phone call. I hope you kept us a call again. To Julio, Rick. Hey, you know, Julio, those cars in Havana now, they're actually becoming more like Rolls-Royces. Yeah. Because of Rolls-Royce, traditionally, every part was handmade and hand-crafted, and the cars were hand-assembled. And when you think about it, that's what those cars are becoming. They're becoming Rolls-Roy's classics because they're having to be cared for by people that just love those cars and have to keep them running.

Yeah. You know, I know it's a necessity as well as to love, but I think that's pretty awesome. Yeah. I mean, the ability to do that, that's fantastic, sir. Hula, you're a very interesting guy. I'd love to have you call again next week. And if you get up to Boca or near North Palm Beach, I'd love to meet you in person. But please call again.

Thank you very much for taking my call. Have a good day. You're welcome. Look forward to hearing from you again. Give us a call. 877-960-99-60. Do you have a story to share with us? We'd love to hear from you.

Give us a text if you're a little shy. 772-497-6530. We're going to go to Jeff. Jeff's giving us a call from Jupiter. Good morning, Jeff. Good morning. I finally bought my first car from Al Stewart out of the week ago.

Well, thank you. We moved here from my family in 1968. I always have eye on your place down there. Always go down that way once in a while. Way back when, you've been there a long time. Yeah, in 1968. Yeah, that's when I started the car business. Never had enough money to, never had enough money

to go in there and get a car back. Then I had to go in a car back. military in 68, and when I got home, my severance pay, I had enough to buy a Super Beetle, Volkswagen. I remember those. I had one of this. I soon found out that I thought the only thing I could pass were bicycles.

It was downhill, at the top speed, 6 mile an hour, and I had air conditioning, you know, and I lost 10 an hour when I put that on. Anyway, this was for a friend of mine that got a young lady that needed a hand. I had a great, big, huge S-O-E that got eight miles a gallon, and she's out of work, and a single mom after 25 years. And I keep her busy here to help me clean the house. And I've been getting so much, I was able to do the right thing for and not turn my back on her, and it started to change her life.

Took her dad and her down there about a week ago, and a salesman took us down to the East Carlin. And we picked out, he had a, he had a 2011 camera there with only $46,000 a miles in my new condition inside and out. And it was terrific. She was able to drive at home that same day, and it just changed her life. That's great. Well, that was very nice of you to help her out with that. It's, I've always said that the right used car is a better value.

It's in a new car. You get a lot of new bells and whistles and fancy stuff on the new cars. But in terms of just good transportation, you take a two or three-year-old or even four- or five-year-old, used car, certified, something that's been taken care of, carefully. Great value lasts for a long, long time. And I bet she was very appreciative of you taking your time to help her buy something that was more practical. She actually was in tears. She couldn't believe anybody would do that for her.

I know not to do your arms of poor men. I wouldn't have to no reward anything. Sure. Just everything that's happened to me. Well, it speaks to the problem that women have. It just changed their life. Yes. We couldn't have done any.

I don't think we could have found a car like that anywhere else or a salesman. That was Tolanist and Sheriff Ford and helped us out so much. I don't know if I can mention any names for the names. I'll just say named after a train for that line now. He was terrific. Very kind of. Well, thank you, Jeff. And, you know, it's nice that you would help people like that.

A lot of folks listening that you know people that need some help, we advise people never to go into a car dealership by themselves to buy a car, for that matter, even to maintain a repair car if you're talking something expensive. So if you have someone like Jeff available that understands cars and how to deal with car dealers and a little bit about mechanics and fuel mileage, whether you think you know what you're doing, or don't, it's always good to have a companion, or maybe a couple

companions. To go into cardio ship by yourself, you're asking for trouble. And there are a lot of Jeff's out there. You just need to find the right person who will take the time to help you. So, Jeff, thanks again. I sure hope you can call on again to the show. I'm excited. We'd love to hear from you.

Yeah, one other thing, I bought a used car years ago in Northern Indiana. It was, I remember the Chelle from a used car lot, and I found out you've got watch some of those used car places because that winter up there we had the snow and the flush built up on the quarter panel and I went to kick it off and there must have been a least a five-gallon ball of bongo fell out of there. Oh my gosh. That's something else. Anyway, nice

duckling to you out. Thank you, Jeff. Have a great weekend and hopefully we'll hear from you next week. Take care. Thank you, Jeff. Keep following us. 877-960-9. 9960, where you can text us at 772-497-6530. We'd love to hear from you. We're going to go to Tina. She's a regular caller, and she calls us from Benita Springs. Good morning, Tina. Hey, Tina.

Hi. Hi, how are you all doing this morning? Yeah, we missed you last week, Tina. Yeah. Yeah, Alaska, I wasn't able to get on for various reasons, but I'm back. Oh, thank you. Anyway, 2020, anyway, 2026 is the year. for Volkswagen.

It's going to be very interesting to see what happens. You heard the big announcement, right? No, I don't know. What's happening in 2026? Oh, yeah. 2026 is the year that Volkswagen is no longer going to make gasoline-powered vehicles are going all-electric. Really?

Well, you scoop me on that, Tina. Where did you, was that on the recent news? It looks like it's all over the internet. Yeah. Why, we dropped the ball. That's the reason we need you to call every week. You need to keep us on top of things. We need to miss that.

That's terrible. You know, it's funny. It's like a little aside. My wife always asks me, if, you know, did you hear about this? I'm like, yes, I've already read the Internet. And apparently we failed to do that in this case. Is that? That's okay.

I mean, Stu, if you want to go ahead and look up the information. That way you can share a little bit more detail. I just kind of stand through it. But this is my worry. I think we're going to need to have a funeral here because we're going to have a funeral here because we're going to have to have a funeral eventually for the manual transmission, and that really breaks my heart because that's what I prefer to drive. But my point being in mentioning this is that with all of these electrical vehicles coming on the road,

I really think it's kind of happening now, but I think eventually the joy of driving and having a raw, unpolished, just driving experience isn't going to be either. Like before OBD1, before electronic fuel injection, you had a machine, you had a car, car. And you were one with the car. And I really feel with these electric vehicles that you're not going to have that same tactile feeling. You're not going to have that same experience that you would if you drove something much older, a classic vehicle. And, you know, I think the driving experience is going to get more generic. It already is, but I think it's going to be even more generic, if that makes me sense. Well, it's sad. And I, you know, I'm there with you. I can still

remember the thrill of my first car, 1951 Pontiac. It was a straight eight, six-cylinder, only option was a heater, and it was the biggest thrill I ever had driving that. And I still don't drive a stick shift anymore, but I enjoy it when I do. It's a lot of fun. But, you know, think back to your grandfather, a great-grandfather, the thrill he had with his horse and buggy. And, you know, the people that get used to, whatever they get used to, the millennials and the kids today in their 20s and 30s, they just don't care about cars. And I know there's a lot of people that feel like that,

want to feel that raw power, the vibration and all that. But, I mean, I think I fall on the other side of it. The first time I drove a Tesla and feeling that acceleration, that silent acceleration, to me that was a thrill. It was like flying a P-50 Mustang fighter versus a, the glider. Silent speed. There's a YouTube channel called Tesla Racing,

and they actually have a video where a Tesla goes against a Honda CBR 600 sport bike. I've seen that. Now, there are very, very, very few cars that can literally drag race against a motorcycle in a quarter mile and win. And the Tesla smoked that Honda. twice. But that's not why Volkswagen's going to all electric in 2026. And I kind of wonder, you know, Tesla flaunting their acceleration, you know, they're appealing to about one-tenth of one percent of the market

that they'll be trying to sell cars to. And it's not just the speed. I understand what Tina's saying, what you're saying, it's you are on a, it's almost like riding, more like riding a horse. You are at one with the car. You feel that vibration and the acceleration. It is a different experience altogether. Dana?

Well, fortunately, the younger generation, like you says, there's probably this perceived, there is this perceived thought that the younger generation really isn't into cars, but if you get on YouTube, there is a thriving community, especially mostly of young men under the age of 30, that really are into cars.

They really are into performance. There's a gentleman in Texas, I think he's probably in his 30s, but he used to have a TV show. He takes old trucks, and he makes them into super high horse tower vehicles. He builds them from the frame and the ground up. It's amazing what he does. I can't remember his name.

But he has a shop, I do believe, outside of Austin, Texas, somewhere. If I find it later, I'll link it. But, you know, the whole car enthusiast thing dying with the younger generation, that's not necessarily true. No, I, but I, but some of these, yeah, and some of these guys that have these YouTube channels, they have like 300,000 subscribers, a million subscribers. One of the fun ones, he's always doing stupid stuff. He buys and sells cars, and, uh, some of the mistakes he makes his money to shake my head.

But have you ever heard of Hoovys Garage? No, no, hoovies. H-O-O-V-I-E's garage on YouTube. Oh, my goodness. The things he buys, the things he works, and it just makes you shake your head like, dude, what he's doing, but it's so entertained. I don't think these are going to go away, Tina. And he just recently, and he just recently bought a McLaren, okay?

And now he posted a video of, like, 11 things that's wrong with my McLaren. This is a guy that took his old 9-11. He did an LS1 swap, and he blew the motor just recently. He comes a $3,000 into this car. Putting a Corvette motor in a Porsche. Oh, like I should know that. You and Tina know that. I don't know that.

But anyway, my point being that the younger generation, the interest in vehicles is grown, actually. Tina, one thing to remember, though, even though cars were invented to replace the horse and buggy, but there are still horses everywhere in the world. A few buggies. That's what I was going to say. People still ride horses.

You've got horse races. You're going to have car races. You're going to have drag races. You're just not going to have. people on i-95 racing anymore right you're going to have uh autonomous cars are going to be all electric probably ride sharing and you're not going to have people you know drag racing from stoplights they'll be drag racing out of morosa you'll take your kid out to the racetrack hey you want to drive an old-fashioned car son yeah wouldn't it be something but i think you're

right i think there will always be a spot for horse racing and car racing but not on the highway but not dog racing yes yes yeah but i 95 is already a race track anyway so what's the difference I mean, if you don't drive 80 miles an hour or more, I don't know if you're going to be flattened. Hey, Tina, we were talking earlier about get up and go and all that, you know, what kind of an engine you want. But it takes me back to the days back in Pittsburgh, and I got myself into a bit of trouble. And what I called it back then was a zoom-zoom, because I took my dad's car. I was probably only about 14 years old, and I told the girls, because I was kind of aggressive. And I said to the girls, I said, let's go out and we'll drag race.

And I remember the 1957, I think it was a bell air that he had. And boy, the zoom, zoom, I loved that sound, and the sound of the motor. And, well, the car world certainly is changing. And, boy, I'll tell you what, I'm 76 right now, and I can still feel that adrenaline. It was so much fun. And it was worth getting into all that trouble over. So there's my story. up my childhood.

Did you ever get your license back after that? I don't remember. Did you ever get your driver's license back after that? I'm not sure. Never got it back. Tina, thanks very much for keeping us sharp and honest. I'm so embarrassed that we didn't know that Volkswagen was going all electric in 2026. And that tells you something because Volkswagen is now the largest auto manufacturer.

They beat out Toyota for the first time. So when the world's largest auto manufacturer is going all electric in just seven years. I'd say we all agree to read Automotive News on Friday. Yeah. It tells you that there's still some people out there that don't believe it. And here's another interesting thing. If you watch to follow the stock market, the stock market has been terrible the past several days. And with a mini crash or whatever you want to call it, guess which stock was up sharply.

and guess which auto stocks were down sharply. All the stock, auto stocks, were down sharply last week, except for Tesla that was up. So just when we thought Elon Musk was down for the count, he's back up again. The Tesla stock is back up again, and now you tell me about Volkswagen.

It's going to be all electric, it's going to be autonomous. It's happening. You can't stop it, whether you like it or not. But, Tina, you are a great caller. I'm requiring you to call back in next week. It's mandatory. You better, because I think that's where I make a fool out of myself.

We've got to have you out there to keep us honest. And that's going to be the last show for a couple of weeks, right? We're going to take a little break for the holidays. Tune in next week, Tina, because that will be our last show until January. We'll be back on January 3rd, I believe. Yeah, yeah. And I'm looking at the article that Tina referred us to here. It's in Forbes.

And so they're actually planning to make a $22,700 electric vehicle a lot cheaper than even Tesla's cheapest model. and they're actually beginning their electric VW production by the end of this year and by 2022 they expect to have 22 all electric models available. So even before 2026 there's going to be 22 available. Does it say what the battery range is? Because that's the key. You know, once you get the battery range consistently 350, then the combustion engine is gone. You've got to have the mileage.

You can't have that range anxiety even in cold weather. So the problem is in Minneapolis, can you drive? an electric car, you know, when it's 20 below zero. Versus Phoenix, yeah. It doesn't say in the article here, but I'm sure the information is out there. They'll have it. The battery technology is moving like the speed of light. Wait, Tino, you got us all excited.

Hey, I want to apologize to Jim. Jim's been on hold. He's calling from Hope Sound. Welcome to the show, Jim. Good morning. Good morning. Hey, Jim. Welcome.

How can we help you, Jim? morning um this is uh i have a 2005 toyota preas and i called you guys last year and it was the first january of the new year so i called you because i had my prius at a shop and they diagnosed that my brake actuator was bad and i called earl stewart parts in december and talked to the parts guy to find out about the brake actuator and he told i asked him if there was any uh warranty or calls on the brake actuator for this car, and the man said, no, but we sure do sell a lot of them. So I asked him what the price was, and he told me it was like $1,700, and I could have it for $1,200. So then I called your show the first January of this year and talked to you and Rick

about the brake actuator, and you had told me that it was covered under warranty until December of that year. So I told you my situation, and you told me. me to come on down to Earl Stewart and North Palm and you'll try to take care of me. So I took the time off, went down to Earl Stewart, told him everything, and had my phone with the record of the call on it in December. So they said, we'll try to do something, try to do something. They offered me an orange and everything else. But the bottom line is they came back after I said, oh, we can't do anything for you.

But you can call Toyota, and they might be able to help you. So I called Toyota, and they brush me off pretty quick, and I'm just kind of upset. set because I feel like you're no, a man in a team is no stronger than its weakest link. And as a result of your parts guy telling me that there was no warranty or recalls on this, it's going to cost me a lot of money. I've been driving the car for a year with the brake actuator ticking and picking and picking every time you put the brakes down. So you know, I thought you guys should have kind of taken care of it because I had my phone.

I had the recall of when I called the parts guy. And he said, oh, I said, is there any reason? Nope, but we sure do sell a lot of them. So I've been driving it for a year, probably a little bit dangerously. Yeah. And I just figured I wanted to call you guys back, and I know you're trying to help people, but you're no stronger than your weakest link. And as a result of your parts guy telling me that there was no warranty or recall on it.

Well, Jim, I get it. We're wrong, and you appreciate your calling me, and appreciate your calling. But you're absolutely right. I've got no defense. We're wrong in that aspect. And what I'd like you to do is give us a chance to make it right. If you've got your, do you have a pencil handy? Yes, I do.

All right, my personal cell phone number is area code 561, 358-1474. Did you get that, 561? 358-1474. Call me after the show. And the show lasts until 10 o'clock this morning. Okay, so when do you want me to call you? After the show. This show ends at 10 a.m., and if you'll call me after the show,

I'll put you together with our service manager, and we will... Yeah. Yeah, I talked to Rick before. You were very helpful and everything, but it just didn't help me because I think you know the cost of this job, you know. And you told me you could give it to me at a reduced rate, but I still think that's an arm and a leg for 2005. Well, we'll do it. You know, there is only 110,000 miles.

Yeah, your car is 13 years old, and we'll do whatever we can to help you. Yeah. Thank you very much for the call, Jim. Okay, thank you. I'll talk to you after the show. Take care. Bye-bye. Thanks, Jim.

877-960-9960. That's our toll-free number. We also have a text number, which is 772-497-6530. Nancy is looking at me anxiously there. I always look at you that way. You're so handsome. Okay, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for tuning in. As Earl said earlier, give us a call toll free at 877960 or you can text us 772-496-5-30.

And we have Rod, who's been holding, and he is calling from West Palm Beach, I believe. Good morning, Rod. Good morning, all, and very happy holidays. Your first caller there, Julio, I believe his name is. He was talking about the 2018 versus the 2019. How about this? Try what they call a K&N air filter. It'll stop that little bit of a lag, hopefully.

And also it will breathe a lot better. Sure would be cheaper than trading in on the new vehicle worth a shot. It sure wouldn't. Now, give me that air filter again. Is that K like KLO and N in November? K&N? K&N, yes. Very good. And Rick, what do you know about those? I hadn't heard of a K&N air filter. Yeah, that company's been around for quite a while. The only drawback that I've seen with them is the, it's a reusable filter that means about every 30,000 miles.

You have to take the filter out and wash it with special. chemicals. Well, that's very interesting, but that would be well worth of if it will accomplish what Rod said it will. So it eliminates that lag when you accelerate a four-cylinder, you don't get, or a six-sinder for that matter, that electronic lag. Yeah. Great.

Wow. Well, that's very good information, Rod. Well, you know, it takes a village. Yeah. Have you been using this on a Toyota or another brand? uh put it on a put it on a dodge or four seven which uh which is which is a sort of a pig there dodge uh oh six dodge and uh and boy what a difference wow but yeah you got a you know every 30 000 that you that you uh it costs a lot more for the k and in the first place but once you put it in

uh every 30 000 you're saving uh you're you're saving so much more on air filters plus it breathes a lot better I mean, it aspirates right from the beginning. So that's the advantage. I'm not a technical guy. So the advantage is that the air filter, let's the air pass through easier. Therefore, this affects the performance in the lag. And I got Rick Kearney, who knows more about Toyota's than anybody,

and he's saying, yes, they do work. So that's something I didn't know. We always recommend OEM, original equipment manufacturer parts, but in this case here, the air filter, and you say the K&N is a lot more expensive, but the return on investment in terms of performance and the fact that you don't have to keep buying them, you just wash them every 30,000 miles, offsets the increase cost. The oil is very important that you put in. It's like, you know, the new style oil baths sort of gives you roughly one third more horsepower, at least 25%.

Wow. That's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's cheap. Well, we're going to have to do an experiment on that, and Rick is the man. He does, he's our, he does, he does them, when we have an idea, like we talked about, you know, ethanol-free fuel, and we did a test on that. So now we'll do a test on this K&N air filter, and we'll report. report back to our radio audience, measure the cost comparison versus the factory filter and see the performance. Would that increase your fuel economy? It actually does because of the suction, you know, just all the way around. By the way, put it on your vehicle because you're

the lead foot. I will. I will. Thanks, Rod. I appreciate that. Rod, I tell you. I love this show. They're a lot cheaper. Stay off the roads, people. Rod, thank you again. Hey, listen, I love to hear this kind of stuff from you guys that have actually.

You're a do-it-yourself or you do this kind of stuff. Look under Rick Hood and there's probably one there already. He's just not telling anybody. Okay, Rod. Thanks again. Great call. We're going to report back to you next week and I have a little data from our own test on this. Thank you very much.

Rod was very informative and entertaining. Ladies and gentlemen, where can you go? Where can you go? Who can you tune into one Saturday morning and get so much entertainment, information? What a great show. And also, by the way, the first two new lady callers, they get themselves $50.

I'd love to hear from the ladies. I'd like for you if you did purchase a car this week or lease a car, whatever it was, whether it was service, How did you feel when you walked into that dealership? Did you feel like as if that that particular dealership had received the memo that we are in the 21st century? And they were going to capitalize on an enormous sales opportunity because you were a female and because there are so many of us purchasing a vehicle, 877-960-99-60, or you can text us, 772-497-9-7-7-2-49-7-7. 6530. We're going to go to Patty, who is a first-time caller. Welcome to the show, Patty.

Thank you. We listen to your program every Saturday and find it very informative. Thank you. I'm very happy to hear that. You won yourself $50. Oh, yay. Yeah, so if you stay on the line when we're finished speaking, you can leave your information, and I'll get that check out to you. Well, thank you very much. What can we do for you this morning? Well, I have a 2015 Honda CRV, and I was driving my car this week, and the air pressure, tire pressure light came on, and we checked the tire pressure in each of the tires, and it seemed to be the right pressure.

We did call a local auto repair business that we do business with, and they told us that sometimes it has to do with the cold weather that we had this week that would affect the tire pressure and the tire pressure light. So the light won't go off, but we were told that we also have to use nitrogen in the tires. Oh, my goodness. I appreciate your advice and counsel on that. Well, Patty, they gave you some good advice and some bad advice. Yes. The good advice was the temperature definitely affects the air pressure. And, of course, your indicators go off sometimes.

In a cold snap, we get a lot of calls at our dealership because they wonder about their tire pressure. And it's just temperature variation. Nitrogen is totally worthless, and you should never wait. your money on nitrogen. Consumer reports debunked nitrogen a couple of years ago. They did an extensive test. Every tire that is sold in the United States was tried with nitrogen and without nitrogen, just regular air. And when I say without nitrogen, most people don't know that the air we breathe is 78 percent nitrogen. You're breathing nitrogen right now. Nitrogen is in your tires right now. So when someone sells you nitrogen, they're selling you something you already have.

But the consumer reports says there's no advantage, mileage, or any other advantage in using nitrogen and tires. The argument they give you oftentimes is that NASCAR uses nitrogen in the tires and airliners, airplanes use nitrogen in their tires. So unless you're going to drive 220 miles an hour around a track for six hours, you don't want to do that. Or if you're going to take your car up to 30,000 feet in an airplane, you don't want to do that. But, yeah, don't worry about the indicator light. When the cold weather comes, it's just something. Fortunately, we don't have too many of those cold snaps in South Florida, so you don't have to worry about.

Rick has a point. I do have one question. When you first start the car, does the light come on and blink a few, for a little while before it goes solid? Or does it simply come on solid? It just comes on solid. Okay. And did you check the spare tire?

No, we didn't check the spare tire. A lot of manufacturers have a fifth sensor in the spare tire. So if your spare tire has gone a little bit low, that will kick that light on. They do that just to mess with you, though. Well, actually, I look at it and I say the spare is the most important tire to have a sensor. Because whoever checks their spare. It's designed to keep things interesting, drive you crazy a little bit. Yeah.

Too much detail. Well, how do we turn the light off? Yeah. Well, the first thing I would do, check the spare tire. and make sure it's full because if your spare tire is low that'll turn that light on once that

all five tires are at full pressure that light should automatically turn off and if it doesn't if it doesn't you need to go to the Honda dealer and have them check it but I would say 99 times out of 100 it's going to be the spare tire on your

car and once you put air in it and you start the car up about five minutes after you start the car that light should be off Patty, do you have a spare tire in your car? Yes, we do. Good, okay, because a lot of cars don't anymore. Yeah, some of them don't have them, Patty.

But great advice, you know, unless you're going to, well, Daytona 500 or something, you don't need any nitrogen. Everybody's selling nitrogen. I don't know why, but I want to thank you for calling, being part of the show, helping me build a platform for the ladies here, and, as I said earlier, stay on the line and give us your information. I'll get that check out to you. All right.

Thank you very much for your help. Okay, and give us a call again. Thanks. I think we've got some textures. 877-960 or you can text us at 772-497-60. Dawn's been holding from Hope Sound, and she is a first-time caller. Wow. So we are going to take her call, and then we're going to get to Stu

because the Texas are kind of piling up over the time. there. Good morning, Dawn. Good morning. How are you? We're great. Thank you for giving us a call. You just won yourself $50. Wow. Thank you. No, you're welcome. And when we're finished with our conversation, if you'll stay on the line and give the gentleman in the control room your information, I'll get that check out to you. Okay, thank you. What can we do for you this morning? I have just recently A friend of mine purchased a vehicle for me there at Earl Stewart in Lake Park. And it's my first Toyota. And I had the most wonderful experience on purchasing the vehicle.

A nice gentleman that I've known for a few years from another friend that I used to take there to have his car, his Toyota service, that I worked for, Lionel, the salesperson. I've known him for years. and I went there and he was still there and we had just went there on a whim. I wasn't expecting to find a car, get a car. I found a wonderful car with very low mileage on it and I just love it. I've had it a week now and this is my first newer car.

It has very low miles. It's my first Toyota and I'm just loving it. Well, that's great. I really appreciate that. And I just wanted to say how I really appreciated the entire process. that I went through. It was very easy. It was very nonchalant.

It was very friendly. It was very comfortable. And it was so easy that I couldn't believe it. That's such a great story. I'll be sure to tell Leonel that you call that will really make him happy. It might be listening now. And he might be listening now. And I just want to tell the rest of the audience that the $50 that we are paying you now

was because you're a first-time female caller. It wasn't for the endorsement. We're not paying you $50 because you call up and complimented my dealership or Lionel. So that's full point. No, no, this is my first time calling. I didn't even know about the show until a friend of mine told me about it,

which is why he had taken me there in the first place to help me get a car. And he did. And out of the kindness, out of his heart. And don't come across too many people like that. And same thing with Lionel. Like I said, I've known him for years. A wonderful, wonderful salesperson.

first car that he brought me out, it was it. You know, Dawn, what a nice conversation that we're all having here right now. And I picked up on a few things that you just said, number one, you were really surprised that he was still at the dealership, not much of a turnover, you know, whenever you're selling cars the right way. And the other is that, wow, this can really be a great experience, and sometimes it's a disaster. So I can feel the excitement through the airways, how happy that you are and what a great experience. That kind of advertisement goes a long way for women because we don't want to be

taken advantage of, and it still happens today. And not all of the... That's very true. That is very true. The auto industry has a lot of improvements to make, and I think one of them for, as I said earlier, that, you know, you can, it's a win-win situation. I mean, let's just cash in on this sales opportunity because there's women everywhere, purchasing vehicles, leasing vehicles, and most of the service drive is filled with women who are getting their cars serviced. So thank you so much for the great experience that you shared with us.

I can only say thank you guys because I never thought that I would have such a great experience. and that it would be so easy, not taking advantage of in any way, shape, or form, was able to work out, you know, everything to my favor with no problems. And I could have, I felt like I could have went there alone and probably, and I'm most, I'm sure that I'd gotten the same deal. I'm glad that I brought someone with me, only because I don't know a whole lot about cars, you know, and especially a new car, getting a new car, what to look for and whatnot.

And like I said, I feel like I could have went there by myself, and I would have gotten the same deal, definitely. And I'm just ecstatic about my car. I love it. Like I said, my first Toyota, it's so easy to drive. It's so smooth, and everything was serviced and neat and clean and beautiful, and I just love it. Perfection had been achieved, and what a priceless feeling. Doesn't it feel good? I mean, what a priceless, yeah, what a priceless feeling.

And I also picked up on what you said, I could have gone alone. You know what? Whenever ladies call me and they tell me that they have had a great experience, I call it the wow feeling. Thank you so much for your conversation, Dawn. Stay on the line. Like I said, I wanted to thank you, and I hope you guys have a happy holiday as much as you've made me happy. I'm so happy. so much happiness oh we're feeling happy happy happy thanks i can't i can't help it i tell everybody

because i just i can't believe it yeah great advertisement thank you so much thank you for helping us build a platform here for the ladies i hope to hear from you again you're welcome thank you for this show also this is a this is a nice platform to get out um people's comments and and especially you know on how you know all this goodness that is there that you know, for us, women, to be able to go out there and find a deal and not be felt like we're going to be taking advantage of because you're just a woman, you know what I mean? No, we are just a woman. Yeah, yeah.

We're people, too. Yeah, we're just human beings that want to be treated, well, the right way. The same. Yeah. So, anyway, thanks again, Dawn. Hugh, have a great day and a happy holiday. Happy holidays to you, too. Stay in touch with us.

Nice conversation. 877-960 or you can text us 772-4976530 we're going to go over to Stu who has a lot of text to share with us yeah a little catch-up to do but real quick I did look up the battery range on the VWs and they say that they're going to beat the Tesla Model 3 and Model X with a range of 250 up to 375 miles on a charge that sounds pretty good Yeah, that sounds pretty good, but it doesn't sound as good as I thought it was going to be. I thought the Tesla had a 350-mile range battery. Well, this 375 would beat that by a little bit.

Yeah. All right, so we have a few questions to catch up with. The first one is from Amory, and she texts us almost every week, and she wants to know what's the difference between the windshield wiper blades besides price that the dealer sells and the windshield wiper blades found in Costco. And I'm looking at you, Rick. the difference in price no besides price besides price yes um if you don't know the answer just say i don't know i can make a guess but truthfully i don't i don't know specifics i can guess just like

i would guess it quality but i would yeah i honestly have to say i don't know Costco has a very very uh diligent product program when they choose anything they sell in their stores and they will not sell a bad quality. My guess is that the Costco windshield wipers are as good, maybe better, but certainly as good as the factory versions. But the problem is you can only buy them in a package of 700 at a time. Oh, that's true. 55-gallon drum full of.

And only at a 15% markup. But I really, if it was any other, we as car dealers in full transparency, I am a car dealer. And most car dealers are brain. brainwashed, I am, that it's always better to use the original equipment manufacturer parts. Part of that brainwashing comes from the manufacturer because they make a huge amount of money selling parts and from the car dealers, and we make a huge amount of money selling parts. So if we think you're going to an aftermarket location like Costco and buying windshield wipers, it makes us car dealers very nervous.

We just had a caller earlier that talked about an air filter. that was a wiper blade bind guide on consumer reports there you go oh nice not forget our advice that's fantastic so he was talking about an air filter that he claims is better in terms of performance and possibly even mileage than the factory we're going to rot test that and we're going to check it out but there are aftermarket products out there let's be realistic that are as good or better than oem but you're never going to find a card dealer that'll tell you that except this one, and I'll tell you that, because I'm more of a consumer advocate than I am a car dealer. You have to be, if you want to be safe, you stick with the original equipment manufacturer parts

because as a rule, 99% of original equipment parts are pretty good. Every down and then you get a lemon, you get a problem, but most of the time it's safe. Rick has got the comment. I will be completely honest here, completely transparent. the last two sets of wiper blades that I have bought for my Tacoma pickup were from Walmart. Wow. I happen to be in Walmart.

They were very inexpensive. And to me, wiper blades, I replaced my wiper blades after no more than six to nine months. I will never use wiper blades more than a year simply because I want my windshield crystal clean at every moment. I want to be able to see properly for safety's sake. I agree.

And I look at that expense as being a very minor cost compared to being able to see through my windshield clean at all times. And if he worked for somebody else besides me and said that on live radio, he'd get fired because he works for a car dealer. But maybe we're not car dealers here. We're only going to suspend. And Stu has looked at us up on consumer reports. The quality was great. Can you pull up the best windshield wipers? Not great, but decent.

On the article I saw, didn't list the best ones, but it had some really good advice. And the advice along the lines, what Rick said, replace them every six months to get the best performance. And they also said, before somebody tells you that you have to replace the blades, get a clean rag with some wiper fluid, and wipe off the blades. And they said, you'll get a few more months life out of them before you have to replace them. And they said, really, you don't have to spend a lot of money on quality blades as long as you're replacing them because they will wear out.

So there you go. Go to Walmart, go to Costco. Sure. I think you could do that. And Marie, I think we answered your questions. We have some war-tax, too. Along with that windshield wiper fluid, I know, I maintain them myself. Hey, Kathy, give us a call back.

You were on hold, and, you know, you may have had something else to take care of, but we'll be here until 10 o'clock. So if you get a chance, give us a call back at 877-960-99-60, or you can text us at 772-497-6-5-30. Now back to Stu. That's right. We have some more text. There's no name on this one, but it says I recently bought a brand new F-150 pickup.

A week after I took it home, the differential went out. The dealers being very helpful and told me that warranty will cover replacing it 100%. Is that okay? Will the truck be the same, or should I try to get them to get a new truck for me? they assured me the truck would be just as good as new. Well, the truck will be just as good as new, but I don't blame you if you're feeling bad about it. And it is a worrisome thing when something like it happens.

Brand new Ford F-150 and your differential quality problem, somebody dropped the ball when they built that differential. But they'll put a new one in, and you probably 99.9% won't have another problem. I totally agree with that. And I'm actually surprised because Ford trucks, I've got to say, their quality is high. It's way up there. So for that to happen, it's a very rare occasion.

But they're simply going to remove all that assembly, basically. They'll replace it with a new one. And bear in mind, most of these vehicles are now all built modular anyways. That was assembled at a factory that all they do is build those rear end differentials. They ship it to Ford at the assembly plant, and it's installed. So somewhere along the line the ball got dropped And they're going to take care of it and fix it for you But you know give it a little time

But I think you're going to be just fine You should be completely comfortable with the vehicle I will say this I will say this Putting myself in the customer shoes It's like having a car wrecked This differential replacement will be a part of the record Yes For that vehicle now if you have a fastidious

used car buyer when you trade that truck in, and he goes to Carfax, and he looks at the Carfax report, he will see that this new Ford F-150 had its differential replaced a week after you bought it. If there's two Ford F-150s on that used car lot, and one has never had the differential replaced, and the other one is, which one would you buy? I'd buy the one where the differential had never been replaced. So there's an argument to be made that the value of that F-150 is diminished by that repair the car dealer will never agree with you on that and you would have to make an awful strong

argument because they are not obligated to give you another car um you can try and go to the manufacturer explain your reasoning but if you're going to keep that truck for a long time i wouldn't worry about it yeah and i'm glad rick said that about the modular um parts the way they do it because i can imagine what you're thinking you're picturing your brand new truck and pieces on the shop floor with grease around it and it gives you it kind of takes away the joy of a brand new car and so i get it's a it's an emotional thing but it's completely valid so all right uh next text comes from uh joe and boyton and it's a question for rick he says what is the most reliable car manufacturer with the cvt transmission Toyota yeah i'm sorry i'm prejudiced there i am completely prejudiced

the Toyota Corolla and all of our hybrids have a CVT transmission and for those that aren't aware this is what's known as a continuously variable transmission what that means is we've all heard about the different speeds in a transmission if you compare it to like a to a stick shift where you're shifting gears for first second third fourth fifth however many modern automatic transmissions can have as many as eight or 10 speeds or gears in an automatic transmission.

But a continuously variable transmission has a set of large pulleys inside with a steel belt and it actually has an infinite number of gear ratios that it can go through by its design. So you're never actually going to feel it shift gears. When you step on the gas it would be kind of like a golf cart or a Tesla where the vehicle simply accelerates smoothly and continuously with none of that

as it shifts gears. I think he probably knows what the CVT is, and that's the reason. Well, I want to make sure our other listeners understood that too. Here's what I think. I had a caller, I had an email or something a few days ago, and he asked me, would I recommend that he buy a car with a CVD transmission or a regular transmission? And I said that the CVT is the state of the art.

And I said that, but they're just like regular transmissions, there are manufacturers that make good CVTs. And that was this question, which makes the best. So when you're buying a car, don't buy it because it has a CBT transmission. Buy it because Consumer Reports says it's a better vehicle. And if you have a consumer report recommendation on a manufacturer's vehicle that has a conventional transmission over the one with a CVT, buy the one with conventional. That would be a much better choice. It's all, all what, sooner

or later, all cars, you know, probably sooner, all cars will have CBT transmission. So it's, it's a matter of, consumer reports, you can't read it often enough. That's right. Ladies and gentlemen, if you didn't jot that number down, you can give us a call at 877960, or you can text us at 772-497-6530. Now we're going to go back to Stu with some Texas. he's received. All right. We have a text from an anonymous caller but I think you've spoken to him before. He says, straight eight was

my first car, the 53 Buick. Three on the tree. Earl said straight six, eight, a little brain fart. By the way, the red phone works. Earl picked it up and he returns his calls. He called me back in Oakland. Thanks. Thank you.

I said, I think I said straight six and then I corrected myself it was a straight eight. Yeah, I'm just reading it. Oh, yeah. No, that's what it was. It was actually, I had a friend that had a straight six, and it was his first car, and I had a straight eight. Interestingly enough, as I digress and go with my flashback, his six was faster than my eight.

And I couldn't understand that. We both had stick shifts, and I don't know why his six cylinder was faster. Weight? Could be, yeah. The weight of the vehicle, it could even have, maybe his reaction time was a little better, too. Exactly. You know, catching that green light. Yep, and we're kind of caught up.

But John Neal didn't make a nice comment. I think it's worth reading. I think it is worth reading. John says, I find it amazing that Earl can broadcast live from the water's edge of the Atlantic Ocean seven days a week with very little technical problems. But you have so many problems for a highly sophisticated radio station. And John, yeah, you speak the truth. You couldn't have said it. We're going to get this fixed, though.

It's not our fault. It's Comcast. Well, yeah, I mean, I will say this because it is frustrating. We have contact. I say we, the management of the, and the ownership of this radio station, True oldies, has talked to Comcast. Comcast told us they were boosting the bandwidth, and they didn't. And we have, we're struggling now to with an upload of five megabytes of bandwidth, which is nothing.

Well, the download they fixed, that's blazing fast. But that's not helping us. So we're getting too technical here, but we can't. understand why between the owners of this radio station and Comcast and direct communication, they can't get the bandwidth. We could watch somebody else's live Facebook video perfectly. We just can't broadcast ours. Yeah, so we're on Facebook alone, so you folks out there on YouTube and Periscope and what

else we're trying to do it all. John says, suggests using your iPhone for the radio show. Does all they have any advice for us? If you are on Facebook, if you have Facebook, if you have a smartphone, you can go to Facebook.com for slash rolling cars. Facebook.com forward slash Earl on Car. It's working. It's a little spotty.

Well, we have to lower the resolution, and then it varies up and down. Sometimes we lose the audio, and it just makes no sense. Yeah, so, folks, if you just want to hear the show and you're having any issues with this, the Facebook video, go to streamerloncars.com, and that takes you to the radio. station's website and you can hear the live audio feed right on your computer or your phone. Great idea. Great advice. And also if you have an app like Tune in Radio

where you can like find radio stations, just you can find 95.9 FM. Is that where? Yeah, 95.9 FM. High heart. 95.9 or 106.9 FM. Michelle has a text

and Michelle says that she has a 2013 Ravre and her navigation screen is impossible to see in the direct sunlight. What can she do for that? Unfortunately, there's only one real answer that I know of. And I don't know where to find this.

I'm going to have to search for these to get a proper company. There is a company that makes a shield. It's basically just a shade that hooks with Velcro onto the frame of the radio, and it extends out a couple inches to put a shade over top of that screen. know you're holding so hang on we'll be right with you go ahead and bring yeah it's it's that's unfortunately that's the best answer we really have toyota i got i got a suggestion if you're wearing polaroid sunglasses that can hurt your reading of any sort of screen so i so i uh there'd be some distortion there yeah in fact i asked my ophthalmologists the other day

i said is there such a thing as uh sunglasses without the polaroid and he says yes but You shouldn't wear them because you need it to protect your eyes. And I sometimes, to be honest with you, we'll have to take my sunglasses off to be able to read my instruments. Or see how much gas you put in your car. Yep, yeah, exactly. I wonder how many people, because I've heard that a lot. I wonder how many people have to do just that.

I know I'm one of them. So AutoZone, pick up a shield. Or look on Amazon.com. Okay. Because Amazon's a great site. Yeah, it is definitely a great site. I would be willing to bet you can find one on there without a problem. Okay, Michelle, stay in touch with us.

Let us know whether you find that shield on Amazon.com. Give us a call tool-free at 877-960, or you can text us at 772-497-6530. We're going to go to Rod, who's giving us a call back from Lake Park. Hi, Rod. Yes, good morning. Some time ago, you all were talking about dash problems on vehicles. Right. And just want to give a heads up that many times you can get on it through Internet

a plastic, plastic molded piece that just fits right over the dash. Quick, easy, peasy, you can get them in different colors, all that stuff. That carpet stuff, I think it's funk. Yeah, yeah. I think that's really, where do you buy that, Rod, Walmart or? Just Google it, just Google it on Internet. get it straight from the source or J.C. Whitney or

whatever, but usually I just go straight to them. I get them for a lot of customer friends, so. So it's something that's custom. If you're driving a 2018 Honda Civic, well, you wouldn't have a crack dash

on that maybe, but an older one, you can get one that's molded directly for that particular dash on that making model. Even year old 51 Panayaki you could have got them for. Wow, that's cool.

Great information, Ron. They make them for anything. It's roughly, roughly eighth of an inch thick, and it just goes right over. You can either use the glue, or I just lay it over it, and then if I've got to clean it, and then, you know, sort of sunglasses before your dad. Yeah, some of these dashes are actually dangerous, Rod, because not only they cracked and ugly, but they also have melted, and they reflect the sunlight, and we have, I I've had customers with this problem that call me up.

I get blinded when the sun reflects off my melted dashboard into my eyes. So that's very good information. Rick has got a comment. Yeah, I just looked it up online. Are you talking about a company called Dash Top? Well, there's so many. There's so much competition. So any of them, yeah.

Yeah. I'm finding this. I used to get them out of North Carolina, a place that I got a lot of auto parts from for rebuilding engines. and they had the side of it, but I found out later through the net, I could get them straight and direct, get them cheaper. Rod, what line of work you? What do you do?

What's your profession? You sound like you a car guy. Do you own your own company, or are you just do work for friends? For 56 years I've been working on cars. Wow. You've got a lot of knowledge. So I'm retired now or semi-retired. You know, every once in a while, I've got.

friends and need help. And basically, I sit in the chair and tell them what to do. Great. Well, you, you sit in the chair and you tell our listeners what to do because you've given us two calls today, and they've both been very interesting and very valuable. And I thank you so much. I hope you can continue to listen and call in every week. Well, we're going to get together. You and I or somebody about me becoming one of the crash test dummies for the vehicles. By the way,

if I showed up in a crash test outfit, you think that it'd be a little over the top? If we did a YouTube on that, we'd probably go viral. This is such a good idea. I'll tell you what. That's a great idea.

You're not only know your stuff, but you've got a great sense of humor. Well, I think I got everybody in the place they're laughing on that one. A good show. They can't take our sense of humor. They can't tax it, anything.

We won't let them. God bless you. Thank you, Rod. For sure, Rod. Bye for that. Thanks for being part of the show. What a great sense of humor. Okay, I think Ollie's calling from Boca.

I'm not sure. Hey, Doug, are you there? Doug. Hey, how are you? Good. How you doing? I'm doing good. I wanted to know if Toyota's,

Is thinking of bringing back any of the, like a Celica or a Supra or in the future, or if that's probably not something that they would do? They are, and the new Supra is coming out in the spring. And I was told a couple of years ago it would be the summer of 2019. It's actually, I think, March, $2.00 will get the remodeled all-new super. So it's pretty exciting because I don't think they've made it since 1998. It's been 20 years. Over 20.

97? I think it was 97. 96 or 97 was the last supra. I'm pretty close. Yeah. Yeah, my friends got one. It's amazing. But I guess the new ones are going to be quite prohibited.

Are you thinking I getting one for Ollie? Exactly. There you go. Hey, Doug, I was That would be the cat's meow. Yeah, it would be. I was trying to post a picture. You asked if we had a vehicle for Ollie, and we do.

We have a, well, actually, no, we donated that, but we had a small electric toadet tundra. I think it was a perfect size for a cat. Yeah, for people don't know Ollie is a kitty cat. Oh, how sweet. Ollie is part of the family of Doug's family. and he also loves to watch television. He watches the sunrise that I live Facebook video on Doug's Mac, and he sits there and watches it,

and Doug sent me a video one time of Ali. Now, here's a kitty cat sitting there watching a sunrise and enjoying every minute of it. So he's a very unusual kitty cat. That's a soulful cat. Yeah, you know what he said too? He said he'd rather live with you guys because every morning he could go out to the ocean.

Oh. Very, very smart. He found out about the big dogs and he said, never mind. He found out about the big dogs and he said, never mind. Well, thanks very much. Everybody's looking forward to that new Super Celica. It's just that that vehicle was missed so much that finally by popular demand, Toyota says we've got to build it.

And it's going to be a doozy. I've seen, you know, the pictures of it. And I bet they have an all-electric model before long. I hope so. You know, I'll be getting that one. Yeah. Ollie said he wants to come into the dealership and try out that car. Is that possible?

Absolutely. We have to photostat his driver's license first. That's true. He might be a little bit nervous. There are a lot of dogs in the dealership. Yeah, we do have a heads up. Well, I told them two paws on the wheel at all time. Exactly.

Ten and two. Thanks for being part of the show We really appreciate you and your wife and Ollie Give us a call again Okay, bye bye bye-bye We're going to go to Howard who's been holding from Jupiter He is a regular caller Good morning Howard

Good morning, thanks to take my call Oh, you're welcome Nice talk to you guys Good morning, I like the cool weather Oh, love it Okay, so here's my question. I picked up a little screw in my tire, and it wasn't the side, it was in the middle. And I have a kit that I, you know, in the old days, plug it.

And I could have done it myself, but for some reason, I didn't think that was a good idea. I had to be right in there place for all tires, so I pulled it in, and I still was not losing air. It seems to prove with the ceiling it. And they said they don't plug anymore. Florida doesn't allow you to plug a tire. It has to be fixed from the inside. Is that true, by the way? Well, Howard, we consider it.

And I think a lot of people consider plugging insufficient. I talk to people that do use plugs and they don't have problems. Is it screw on the sidewall or they tread? in the middle in the sidewalk, right in the So what happened is that Tires Plus pulled it out

and of course 50, 50 if they started lifting so they broke the side down and they fixed it from the inside they put some patch they used heat

I believe and they said to me that they're not allowed to plug a tire anymore I don't know if that's true or not. Well, it's a company policy. There's no law against plugging tires. There's no state or federal law.

But there's some people that consider the plugs. I think they've got to be, I'm talking, and I'm not the expert. Rick is. Plugging a tire is less safe than a patch. Yes, because when you're plugging a tire, the first thing they have to do is they have to actually ream the hole, and you're taking a chance on damaging the steel belts in the tire. I mean, they've already had

some abuse from whatever object has gone through it versus an internal patch where we take the tire off the rim, we buff the inside and use a vulcanizing glue, and then put a patch on the inside versus a plug

that you're attempting to push down through that hole. But the patch is a lot more expensive than the plug, and people sometimes have to make economic decisions. And when you're talking about safety, accessories like your bricks and your tires. You have to think real hard.

But when you consider the cost of a patch versus a plug, I've talked to people that have said they've been plugging their tires for the past 50 years and never had a problem. But you heard what Rick said. I think a lot of it from what you're telling me, explaining to me, is that it's in the operation. If you have someone that's careful when they do a plug and understand the hazard of doing more damage to the tire than was.

done by the screw that you pulled out, then you've got a less likely of a problem if you don't understand that. It can be safely done, but just someone's got to be trained properly to do it is all. Okay, Rick, I'm trying to figure this out. If you plug it from the inside, I figure the tie will not have to be rebound,

but if you were, I'm sorry, if you patch it from the inside, I don't think there'd be a problem. call them rebalancing the tire but uh i once had a bit of buck at a time was it not a balance that had to be rebalanced i think of that well you broke up a little bit but i think what you're asking is do you have to rebalance the tire after you patch it and technically it should be rebalanced because you've taken the tire off the rim and put it back on but there's a mechanics trick to that we take a piece of chalk and we make a mark where the valve stem is on the tire so that we put the tire back

in the exact same spot and therefore it does not require rebalancing. Great. That's great. But they might sell you one anyway. Well, a lot of places will sell it, but it doesn't need a rebound. So there's a valuable piece of information, yeah. And truth be told, if you go to like a tire kingdom and some of the bigger tire stores, they'll patch your tire for free.

They will repair your tire for free For a safety factor Why would they do that? I'm not sure what their corporate decision was Maybe they simply want to have someone say Hey, I like this place Because they took care of my tire for free And when I need new tires

I'm going to go there by them So if I pull in the tire kingdom And I say I got a flat tire here I want you to patch that tire for me They would do it Some of them will do it for free Some of them, yes Okay

I know because I have actually, I stopped at a place in Jacksonville. I had a flat tire on my truck. I had to change it out for the spare. And so I stopped at a tire place there. And I don't even remember the name of it. I'm traveling on the road. And they patched my tire for free.

So there's one tire store. You don't remember the name in Jacksonville that patched your tire for free. But there are some places that will repair tires for free. There is, for sure, the one in Jacksonville. And on the other hand of it, maybe they're hoping the idea that when you do need tires, you'll come back to them. Yeah. That's a good point. Now, that's the way to build some goodwill.

Okay. Howard, I hope we didn't confuse you, but I think we covered that for you. I think you did. Thank you very much for the information. Okay. Have a good weekend. Thank you. Tell Cy we said hello.

Talk with you soon. ladies and gentlemen remember we do have that mystery shopping report coming up in a little while and it's hendrick honda from pompano beach and remember you two can rate this mystery shopping report by texting us at 772-4976530 and don't forget you can also help us up by giving us some advice your opinion all kind of things at your anonymous feedback.com your anonymous feedback.com. Now back to Stu. Okay, we have a couple of texts that came in.

First one is from Ann and Durham. We have a long-distance caller. Cool. Texter. My 2015 Chevy Volt has chrome accents on the dash and reflects the sun causing a terrible glare. It's unsafe. And the Chevy dealer says there is nothing that can be done.

Any suggestions? Well, I think there's got to be a way to dull that chrome. I mean. Sharpie. Yeah, I guess anything pop in your mind right? The funny one. Believe it or not, my recommendation would actually be like a flat type of nail polish because it would actually stick better than the Sharpie would.

But yeah, that's actually become a common issue. As a matter of fact, on some of our Camrys, the design had chrome accents on the dash that were reflecting sunlight here in South Florida so severely that they have changed the design on some. And then what I would do is I would, it depends on how proactive you want to be, I would certainly email the dealer and I would make the point that this is a safety hazard. And I would also contact the manufacturer. You could do that on the 800 number, make a record of it.

If you could confirm by an email, that would be good too. If you really want to get proactive, you could take a picture of your dash and you could contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Association. That's how they get their information on recalls from the rank and file, the car drivers of the world. This crack dash problem that I alluded to earlier where the dashes were melting, and when they melted and then they dried, they become like glass reflecting light and became a danger.

locally in Palm Beach County, WPTV, Channel 5 jumped onto this, and they went around and they made the issue at their consumer division at Channel 5, WPTV, that this was a safety hazard. The manufacturers actually in Little Old Palm Beach County got the national attention of Honda and Toyota and some of the other manufacturers and initiated the recall of these dashes to replace them. So, when you get the attention of the public on the safety issue, which is not easy to do, you've been listening to us about Dakota Airbags for two and a half years. We can't do it on Takati Airbags. But, and if you want to do the email, you might want to call your local consumer reporters and tell the dealer. But once you say safety, you wave the safety flag, you're a lot more likely to get action than any other way. You're going to get some attention, that's for sure.

All right. we have one more text here and it says good job guys you're doing the one thing that retailers never do you're educating the consumer the best friend of an honest salesman is an educated consumer when you're a salesman you're trying to explain to your customer how things are the right way they're not educated they doubt 50% of what you tell them an educated consumer is the best friend of an honest salesman the worst nightmare of a dishonest salesman is an educated consumer and you can't pull the wool over the eyes of an educated consumer a dims a disson honest salesman has nowhere to hide when an educated consumer calls them out. And on the subject, everyone has a story of car buying. Do not, and I repeat, do not

buy cars from Toyota of Hollywood. And then he mentions the good. Harvey S. at Plantation Ford used cars. The guy is a gem. He is honest. So thank you very much. Thank you. How many of you old-timers out there in the audience remember Sims' clothing? Sims' men's

clothing. I remember that. S.Y.MS out of New York. And his motto was, for many years, was our best customer is the educated consumer. I want to steal that, as a matter of fact, but I didn't do it. It's not too late. Just a quick side note here.

Good Year Auto Services, so any Goodyear Tire store, if we can repair the flat within RMA guidelines, we'll do it for free. That's Good Year. That's right on the web here. Discount tire. Don't let a flat tire slow you down.

Discount tire provides free flat tire repairs regardless of where your tires were purchased and the tire choice will do your free flat tire repairs at the tire choice so that's three places i got one local areas i got another one check tire kingdom i got one this is cable who's watching us live on facebook he's he's uh enduring our live facebook video uh he says tire kingdom on route one in juno beach recently did a wonderful job helping me with the tire issue and did not charge not one penny Very appreciative. Thanks, cable. That was the same exact place that I was, I stopped at, and they helped me.

It was unconditional, and that was whenever we lived in Juneau Beach, right there on U.S. 1. Why didn't you just come by the dealership? Too far away. All right. We're caught up, yeah. That adds credibility, so not only is there a store in Jacksonville that Rick can't remember, but we also have added. Well, I'm getting up to an age. Good year.

and discount tires, and the other one was... Tire Kingdom, right in Juneau. That actually will fix a flat free. Yeah, great place in Juneau Beach. And it does say on Tire Kingdom's website, normally they're charged for patching an internal patch with tire pressure maintenance systems, the tire monitor system, is $20.

This is special, then. So they probably, you know, in a lot of cases, I bet the manager will make the call of just take care of it No, there's something else that you read, and there was something within, and there were three letters, guidelines. RMS guidelines. I'm looking that up right now. It's interesting to see if there is such a guideline, and that way we can answer these questions better. It'd be kind of like a federal or maybe a state.

We'll find out and let you know later. How are we doing on the text? We caught up. We're all caught up, and we have no callers there. Remember, ladies and gentlemen, you too can rate our mystery shopping report. All you have to do is text us at 772-497-6530. If you'd like to speak to us, we still have time. 877-877-697.

What am I talking about? 877-960-99-60. Oh, and by the way, Stu, I sold a car that day. Did you? Awesome. And Juneau Beach. to the guy working car kingdom of hendrick honda in pompano beach hendricks honda and pompano beach how many of you know who rick hendrick is he's uh he's uh well you do that

rick hendrick is a interesting character and he goes back he and i are kind of like contemporaries he's starting the car business a little later than i did but about and he's from charlotte north carolina yes he's from north carolina yeah and uh he was a farmer. I mean, he was just a good old boy, and then he started out selling cars, and he's built a car empire, 200 and some odd dealerships, and he's big and racing, you know, NASCAR, North Carolina, and he has a racing team. Interesting. And it doesn't have that many dealerships in South Florida, so we shopped him in Papano Beach. Hendrick, Ondan, in Pompano Beach. He was one of the youngest, I think, car dealers ever. I mean, he was. He was one of the youngest, I think, car dealers

ever. I mean, he's a little bit younger than you, but back in the early 70s, he was 23 years old. He was not to go, you know, too much history, auto history, but he was caught up in the big scandals of the manufacturers selling franchises, and he was actually deposed.

I don't think he ever got in trouble, although he may have, but he was buying Honda franchises from Honda, and they put some Honda manufacturer folks in the Slamer. And back in those days, they didn't award a point you had to bribe somebody to get a Toyota franchise or Honda franchises. Oh, but I digress.

And let me get into the mystery shopping report. This is our 22nd week in a row that we've gone after the Takata issue, the mystery shop, to find out if folks are going to be sold cards with dangerous hand grenades. We've done a lot more than 22 shops, but 22 consecutive shops. in a row yeah yeah we've been shopped them for two and a half years probably well over a hundred only one dealership in the past 22 that we shop

in a row only one dealership passed a test the takata test and that was a bill wallace dealership and it's called easy pay cars of all the places you wouldn't think would pass one of these buy here pay here

a little mom and pop we call them but it wasn't owned by Bill Wallace big chain dealer, and this was absolutely amazing. The car salesperson, and I think he also owned, while he was a manager, he refused to sell the car because it had a defective Ticada Airbag. And then they fixed it. Then they called our shopper back and says it's all ready to go. Yeah.

It did the right thing. So probably one of the greatest shops we've ever had, and they're on the recommended list. An honest man, trustworthy. Honest. So kudos to Bill Wallace, and kudos to the manager there. What the bad news is that all 20 that we've shopped so far were not disclosed. 20 in a row have not been disclosed as we went in and not just tried to buy a car with a defective to car the airbag, asked specifically if the car was safe.

Three times we asked, and we would ask about the car factory report, ask if there was a recall, 20 in a row. So what does that tell you about the safety of buying a car in South Florida? i use car in south florida it's russian roulette yeah it is exactly and that's a great name for it russian roulette our investigation this week led us to a 2009 nine-year-old vehicle honda civic huge amount of honda's out there with bad airbags they are the leader they apparently use this vendor for the airbags more than anybody else they also sell a lot of cars so this 2009 honda civic has a fixable passenger side to cut the airbag recalled and it's advertised at Hendrik Honda in Pompano Beach. It's a Honda dealership, that's the good news.

So why wasn't it repaired? He obviously, the dealership knew it was recalled because he's a haunted dealer. He knew where the car was and it's easy for him to attain the rebag, the airbag. And Honda reimburses it totally. He makes a profit when he fixes that. There's no reason why. Carelessness, pure carelessness. Once again, a 9-year-old car,

just the right age for explosives in the airbag inflator, to deteriorate, ammonium nitrate, and become dangerously unstable, and boom in your face. The Honda Civic is an extremely popular model. It's priced at just as when we looked at online. $6,998. A very attractive and affordable purchase for many consumers, How many people say, I want to buy a used car under $10,000?

Everybody wants to buy a cheap use car. And this is a very, very popular car, not to mention the fact that it's a Honda with a great name per quality. The Hendrix Auto Group is one of the largest private dealer groups in the U.S. They have no excuse not to be on top of the Takata recall crisis. We dispatched Agent X to see if they would handle it appropriately. and here's the report speaking as if i were agent x i called ahead to make sure the civic was there and available for sale i spoke with a salesman name mozl good job good job it's a city in iraq yeah i was going to say mosul but it's mosul uh he said the car was there tried very hard to get me

to come in right away i told mosul i couldn't make it then until the next morning he sounded disappointed when he said he was off the next day he offered to set me up with another salesperson and he partnered with Jonathan Mosul collected some information from me and we agreed on 1145 a.m. appointment time he said Jonathan would have the car ready for me to buy then next morning I headed down to Hendricks Honda and Papano. I arrived at the scheduled time asked for Jonathan and waited for a few minutes for him to greet me at the front desk in the showroom. But he wasn't prepared. Nope, didn't expect me. Jonathan asked me to wait to the desk while he made sure the car was there, find the keys, took about 10 minutes,

he found the keys, he led me outside, and we began to look. Then suggested the car might be across the U.S. 1 on another lot, worrisome. That there's no communication between Mosul and Jonathan apparently. We both crossed the street to the other lot. We searched. It took 15 minutes to find it, but we finally did. The car was pretty dirty, terrible, but it looked like it had brand new tires. I asked Jonathan to open up the car. I said that it looked like the car hadn't been ready for sale yet. I asked him about the inspection process. Jonathan described Hendricks 130 point inspection. He said they did a thorough safety check, Rattle off the names of several components that were carefully checked, the brakes, the tires,

the fluids, gaskets, electronics. I asked if it was mechanically sound, the three questions that we always ask. And listen carefully, these are three questions that you should ask when you're buying a used car. One, is it mechanically sound? Two, is the car safe? Jonathan said it was. He said it was mechanically sound also.

So, and then the third question, I asked about accidents and damage, and he said he'd have to get a Carfax report, and he'd print it out for me, and we would check it later. We took the Civic for a test drive. It was nasty inside. And bear in mind that Mosul is driving in the passenger side. Jonathan. Jonathan. Sorry about that. He should have made it check to see how nervous he looked.

And, of course, up there. Sometimes Agent X is driving in these dangerous cars. Nine-year-old, ammonium nitrate unstable, Florida, the number one state. And by the way, in Carfax, that car lived its entire life in Florida. Now, it was up in Gansel for a little bit, but most of the time was in Fort Lauderdale. So it's a dangerous car. I mean, it truly is. I noticed on the Carfax report that it says that the airbag hasn't been fixed because it's passenger side,

they advise the owner to not let anyone drive in the pasture. Now, my question is this, and it's really not as rhetorical, because I know that no one would answer me, if you have a hand grenade that goes off in the pastures side of the car, and you're on the driver's side. I don't want to be anywhere in that car. I don't think that's going to do you any good. No, not at all.

And I never thought about that until I read that, but it is an explosion with steel shrapnel killing the passenger and you're sitting, how close is a Honda Civic? You'll just get lacerated on the right side of your bottom. Everybody in the car. The car was dirty. The steering wheel was deteriorated badly. That's a safety issue.

We got back to the dealership and returned to Jonathan's desk. I reminded them about the Carfax. He left me to go get it. He returned and reviewed the vehicle history report. To my surprise, and to my surprise, Jonathan disclosed both a damage report and the airbag recall. So, kudos. 20 times in a row,

this is the 21st. This is the first time they did that. So let's give them. He didn't hide from it. He didn't hide from it. Referring to the recall, he said, it should be fine. I asked him what he meant by that.

He said the airbag was probably replaced during their inspection, probably. Now, why was it on the Carfax? Because there's a time lag. I'm he saying there could be. Either he was wrong and it hasn't been fixed or it was fixed an hour ago or yesterday and the computer had not had the data hadn't seeped to the computer. In any case, he's doing better than pretty much everybody else.

At least they're talking about it. And the Carfax could have been done a month ago. So it's possible that it could have been fixed. But he says, no problem. We're a Honda dealership and they are and they can fix it easily. I asked me, you could find out if the year, but he turned to the buyer's order, but before we discussed the figures, it began to tell me about the Rick Hendrick Auto Group and how their reputation demands they only sell the best used cars.

He said they had 103 locations across the country, and they grew that large because of the quality of the vehicles they sold. Boy, that is what I call it. They call that puffery. That's legal. That's legal. It is. It's puffery, and puffery is legal.

You could say we have the best car dealership, and they can't sue you if you don't, because puffery is legal. And a lot of us are very susceptible. That sounds like a very old term. Yeah, puffery. Very. It is an old term. I'm tired of this bother that.

It's a legal theory. It's a legal term. And you think buffery, you think about a vape pipe. You might. Yeah, really. Where's that coming from? What's up with that? That's why you're up.

all night. That's from Sherlock Colts. You need to lay off some of that puffery. At any rate, we're moving in. He said, to ensure the quality of the cars that Rick Hendrick sells, they charge, this is,

listen carefully, because this is a new one to me. This is why I love doing this. To ensure the quality of Rick Hendry's cars, they charge a UCI as in uniform Charlie Idaho, UCI fee of $1,495.

Before I ask what a UCI, I could ask what a UCI was. He said they also have a $799 dealer fee. Did he call the dealer fee at that time? That's what Agent X wrote in the report. Yeah, okay, because on the buyer's order, it wasn't a dealer fee. But they make sure that they priced the car accordingly so the dealer fee doesn't really affect.

affect the price. I struggled to comprehend the logic of this, but let him go on. And so it begs the obvious question. So wait a minute. I'm still struggling. If they take the dealer fee and they price the car accordingly to include the dealer fee, then why don't they take the dealer fee included in the price and not have to worry about calling it a dealer fee? We know why they do. Why do they separate it? You're being rhetorical. I'm being facetious. Yes. Anyone, when he was done with this $799 B.S, I said, what the UCI was?

What is the UCI fee? He said, let's review the numbers. That's known as deflecting the question. And when he went through sales training, they said, when they ask what the UCI is, you deflect that and you go on to change the subject. Tai Chi. Yeah. he wouldn't tell me what the UCI was

he showed me the selling price that was $2,000 higher than what I'd seen online $8,995 is what I said online and then he added the $1,495 UCI I thought that was some kind of

infection then a $799 fee on top of that now here is the name dealer administrative fee remember a rose is a rose is a rose I don't know I don't think that would smell like a rose I think it smelled like a horse appellate a dealer fee by any name is they got these acronyms going they should call it the UCI

and the DAF then we have and I think we got the wrong number here I think this is a typo the 2485 and non-tax fees when I looked at the buyers order did I get that wrong well everybody makes mistakes except me the number is $205, $205.50. So they've got... No, that's taxable. Oh, you're right.

Yeah, I'm always right. I'm sorry. It's the Stuart Curse. The real Stuart Curse. So now we have a $1,495 UCI. We have a $799 administrative fee, and we have a $20, what I say, 50 cent. Taxable fee.

Taxable fee. Taxable fee is just another name. for a dealer fee as is dealer administrative fee as it UCI fee and we still don't know what the UCI fee is do we but we're getting there

I asked Jonathan if he was crazy I love AJ Nex I said from one I can see you added about $2,500 of bogus fees to an inflated price already he said he wasn't crazy and explained again

that the UCI was there to ensure the vehicle was reconditioned properly we're getting closer and safe to drive. I asked Lally what the heck is a UCI. Not to be confused with a UTI.

Finally. Finally, he gave me the UCI stood for used car inspection. Now, I'm going to pay a car salesman to inspect the used car that he's trying to sell me, okay. And I'm going to pay him $1,045. Now, I'm a

car dealer and I can tell you, you're rarely spend if they were charged trying to charge it. That's double. You don't spend $1,495, recondition a used car. The average is maybe $300. So that's adding insult to entry. He said they charged

this on all their used cars. I asked them why they didn't include this fee in the price of the car. I asked them why the cost of any work they did wouldn't be part of the cost of the car. They're selling. Johnson said, it didn't matter if the inspection was charged separate.

or built into the cost, the bottom line would be the same, then I would have thought, then why do you do it? Well, he channels you. Agent X channels you on his next statement. I said it did matter because the price I saw on the web was $4,500 less than what he's trying to sell me the car for. Jonathan said he'd better get his boss. He better.

Why you do that? As he left, now bear in mind, now let's go back. to Rick Hendricks, okay? He's got 100, 200 dealerships. He's one of the largest chains privately owned. He's breaking Florida law. Yes. Florida law says that you have to include your dealer fees by any name and the advertised price of the car. This might be how you do things in North Carolina. Yeah. And North Carolina, by the way, I happen to know, they have an even more strict dealer fee. And North Carolina. Well, it might be South Carolina. They actually have to justify

what those fees are for. We've been on the air, this station for one year, other stations for 14 years. We've never been sued. Rick Hendricks, Honda, you're breaking the law. And sue me if I'm lying, because that's libel. Or is

it slander? Verbal versus written. Liable or slander? Truth is a perfect defense. Rick Hendricks, Honda, you're not telling the truth you're breaking the law at any rate he came back with the manager john john said that jonathan had told him that i had concerns with a ucii and the dealer fee said the car was priced to factor those in and he directed to my attention the bottom line price of 12,220 he said the outdoor price was all that mattered uh i did a face bomb i had to google that this is a

face bomb they have emoji for that face bomb okay i did a face bomb. John said if he didn't like the price, he could suggest another vehicle with a lower price and began to list a few vehicles that would work for me. Hard clothes. This is hard clothes, old school. John said that the most he could do for me was maybe a few hundred bucks, but he would have to clear it with the use car manager. He left. Richard came in, the used car manager, hammered me, hammered me some more. All he was doing is reinforcing what was said. I asked Richards about finding out if the recall work was ever done. He said it probably was.

I asked to see a document and confirmed it. He said he couldn't get that. But that's not the least of, that's the least of their problem. They passed a decadet test. He printed out another buyer's order with the online price, $69.98, but with the same bogus fees. $2,500 in added fees. He said that was the best he would do. uh and that's a story so here we are okay we got three minutes left kids he passed the

takata test thumbs up first one in 20 shops 20 mystery shops but the rest of it was bizarre so quickly as we take the grades online we'll go around the room nancy stewart i'm gonna go last i'm going last okay rick i call it an F they just too they did get the takata in there but too many games were played and for a Honda dealership not to do the recall that is something that they get paid for I'm going to pass too

I know why Nancy did I'll go next to less or yes Stu what's your grade well I'm getting grades coming in on the internet we have Neil gives them a D plus Linda

graded them twice she gives them an F and then a triple F now John our friend he didn't get him a grade Oh, no, John gives him an F, and Ed gave him an F, and then Dean gives him a C-minus. I'm going to give them, because this was a Dakota shop, I'm going to give them a D-plus. Pass them.

D-plus. Okay, we're going to go with a D-plus. I think that's the best we could do on that. But they pass, but you've got to be careful when you go down there. Yeah, you have to be careful, but I was still motion to overcome. by the fact they passed as a codot test. Yeah. First one.

Travel cautiously. It just pays to do your homework. Ladies and gentlemen, I want to thank you for tuning in to Earl Stewart on Cars. And we enjoyed your company. We'll be right back here next Saturday at 8 a.m. So have a wonderful weekend. Let's come. Oh, more than the way.

Wow. Oh. Mm. Mm. Go.