Earl Stewart on Cars - 12.21.2019 - Your Calls, Texts, and Mystery Shop of Napleton’s Palm Beach Acura

Episode Date: December 21, 2019

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

Good morning. I'm Earl Stewart. I welcome you to Earl Stewart on Cars, a live talk show all about how to buy, lease, maintain, or repair your car without being ripped off by a car dealer. With me in the studio is Nancy Stewart, my wife, co-host, and a strong consumer advocate, especially for our female business. We also have Rick Kearney, an expert on how to keep your car running right. I dare you to ask a question that Rick can't answer about the mechanics or electronics of your car. Also with us as my son, Stu Stewart, our LinkedIn cyber. space through Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Periscope. Stu is also the Spymaster Director of our Mystery Shopping Report. He dispatches our secret shopper weekly to an unsuspecting South Florida dealership. And now, on with the show. Well, good morning, everybody. This is Earl Stewart Live.

You just heard my recorded voice. And I got some good news for our regular listeners. Rick's back, Rick Kearney, our certified diagnostic master technician. He escaped for one week and got away and had a real nice vacation. He put us in panic mode. Yeah, exactly. We did okay. Yeah.

But anyway, we're so glad to have him back, and I'll talk about, now we can honestly answer questions about fairly technical stuff on cars. We were cheating last week with Google, and then we had a stand-in off-site for Rick, and then we had to text and go back and forth. A little awkward. So this week with Rick Live and in color, sitting to my right right here, he can answer virtually everything. I've got to throw virtually in there because sometimes we have to do a little research on questions. But cars are so complicated today that I'm so glad that he'll be able to answer questions. The problem with the cars today, the good news and the bad news, is that they're so high tech and there have been so many improvements. That's the good news.

The bad news is they're so hard to understand. And if you're like me, and here I've been in the car business over a half a century, when I get in my car, there's still about 25 or 30% of the buttons that I don't know what they do. And I don't get the full use out of my vehicle. And I'm probably not getting the use of something that could be serious, like safety. So if you have any questions like that, just give us a call to 877-9-60-99-60. that's 877-960-99-60 or text us at 772-49-6-5-30 that text number again is 772 4976530 now for the new folks that this tuned us in accidentally maybe you know true

oldies station doesn't tell you what we do here true oldies is a great 60s 70s I think some 50s too music I love it Because I was born in 1940. You need to break it to 80s are considered oldies now. Yeah, that's terrible. So anyway, if you're looking for music, you're not going to get it here. Although, I'll sing a little ditty to you, if you insist, but I'm only kidding. What this show is all about is how to help you avoid being ripped off by a car dealer.

That's kind of like the vernacular. I could say avoid being taken advantage of. But that's why we're here. And we'll help you any way we can. If you're in the process of buying or leasing a car, call the show. And we'll give you some tips, some advice that you've already bought a car and you'll want to know how to have it maintained or repaired properly and safely. And honestly, we can help you there.

We love your anecdotes. We love your experiences, your daily experiences out there in the Wild Wild West of buying cars. And that's what it's like buying a car in South Florida, or for that matter, just about any state. Florida is really the Wild Wild West. We got a lot of laws. Actually, we don't. We have a few laws, and the laws that we have are not enforced, and that's very sad. Mystery Shopping Report, Stu Stewart is in charge of that, and he is our master spy.

He sends the volunteers out into the cold to pretend to buy or lease a car, and we usually respond to an advertisement. Sometimes we find a car, in fact, we usually find too many cars out there with dangerous recalls, and we buy those, you know, on paper, pretend to buy, and see how much disclosure we get. And we name names, and we name dealerships, and we post the shopping report on my blog, erlongcars.com. So if you want to read any shopping report we've done for the past many years, you'll probably find your dealer if you live in the South Florida area and we shop just about everybody of the little guys the big guys and we shop multiple times we typically go back if we get a good report to see if they're still being good or vice

versa so that's kind of what this show is all about we're also streaming that's important because we're evolving here used to be a radio show but doing this for 17 years I can't believe it just me and Nancy half an hour show this radio station was owned by a different group of folks. It was called CD radio back then. And then she and I were on for half an hour. And it's evolved to an hour. And here we are, two hours.

Hey, hey, maybe we'd go to three hours. I don't know. We thought about that. It feels like as if we're in a suite compared to where we were. As long as we went to 11 instead of starting at 7. We can add an hour, but it's on the backside. I'd love to have a guest person come on, you know, a consumer advocate type of person. Rosemary Sheehan in California.

Rosemary, if you're listening, she is one of the most amazing pro-consumer, car buying consumer advocates there is. Rosemary Shahan, Google that, and see what she's done. Her company is Cars, that's the acronym, C-A-R-S, maybe Stu will Google that because I can never remember. It starts out with consumers. Consumer action. I don't know.

But anyway, she invented the LemonLock. Can you believe that? You know, Lemon Law, that's part of our parlance now. If you buy a new car and it's a lemon, it's a dog, it's a Bow Wow, and you really want to get some help from somebody, all the states now have Lemon Laws that allow you to do that. All of them are a little different. Well, Roseberry Shanhan wrote the first Lemon Law in California probably, I don't know, 30, 40 years ago. I've got to know her for sure. And she's amazing.

Excuse me for a moment. Tina, we'll be right with you. Well, let's not wait for Tina. Let's talk to Tina, our very, very best caller. Thank you, Tina. That's right. Good morning, Tina. Hi, how are you all doing this morning?

Great. Hey, Tina. Hi, how are you? Welcome back from vacation. I hope you enjoyed. Thank you, Tina. It's good to be back. Oh, you're welcome.

Thanks. You know, this time of year, a lot of people are traveling. They're going up north to see family or some family are traveling down here. And, of course, part of traveling includes not just, as aeroplane flight, but it includes renting a car. And we talk all the time about buying a vehicle and how you have to watch for a lot of pitfalls.

But apparently, these car rental companies have come up with all kinds of crazy fees, and they almost make car dealers look honest by comparison. So I wonder if we can talk a little bit about watching for pitfalls when you're... I know I'm using that word again, but watching for pitfalls

when running a car. Yeah, yeah, you're absolutely right. Right. I think that the rental companies invented the hidden fee. Maybe the car dealers copied them. But it's interesting. I happen to own a rental company. And so I'm aware of what the competition is doing. And they lose money on the advertised rate of the car. Kind of like car dealers. Car dealers cannot sell you a car for what they advertise the car for. And they trick you. into paying more. Rental companies do the same thing, car rental, whether it's Hersavis, Enterprise, they all do the same thing. And they have the extras, but the only difference between the rental companies and the car dealers is rental companies will sell you the extras or try to. And I'm not so sure they always do. I'm sure their car dealer or rental companies out there that sneak the hidden fees in just like car dealers do. But you probably, for example,

are covered in your rental car by your current insurance in your regular car or even your homeowner's insurance. Most of the insurance companies will have a clause in there that protects you when you rent a car. But what the rental car companies do is they sell you more insurance, insurance that you don't need. And they also will gaff you on the gasoline. And they can charge you anything per gallon if they want to. If it's in the fine print, then it's legal. And you have to bring, you're supposed to bring the rental car back with a full tank of gas. So if you're bringing it back at a half a tank, they'll charge you for the full price that you wouldn't have to pay. You could buy it for 50 cents a gallon less

if you did it before you brought it in. And it's little tricks like that that you have to watch out for, Tina. I think, did I sum it up okay for you? Yes. And another thing that you have to watch out for is like if you're going to a foreign country and decide to run a car there, they can slap you with thousands of dollars worth of feet. It could be an absolute nightmare. So if you decide to go to a foreign country and you want to run a car, make sure before the car even leaves the parking lot, you take photos of the car inside and out, take photos of the odometer. That way they can't try to pull tricks on you afterwards. And one of the most notorious car rental companies that you should really think twice about is a company called sixth s ixte stay away from that company

they have had more public relations nightmares than any other car company i can what is that again tina spell that one more time i x t six i haven't heard of them they usually rent yeah they usually rent like luxury vehicles but you might want to think twice before running from them yeah absolutely You know, my brother can't ever return to Italy for a car rental fiasco there. I think he damned knocked off a side window in one of those narrow alleyways. I think he got a ticket. And so he's on the watch list. Well, that's funny.

I can't return either because I wrecked a motor scooter in Italy. It runs in the family. Yeah. And I can't return to Jamaica because I wrecked a car in Jamaica. That's one of the things is a left-hand drive. I know that's not what you're called about, Tina, but, you know, I don't ever rent a car when there's left-hand drive. I mean, I'm so used to driving on the right.

I just can't feel safe. I took the bus. Well, Tina, thank you. That's a good angle on rip-offs. We talk about cardio. Don't buy their gas either. Don't buy their insurance, don't buy their gas. And don't rent at the airport.

That's another good piece of money. Tons of scams out there, Tina. Yes. What it comes to renting. We love hearing from you. and we love you being part of the show every week, so we all want to thank you and have a great weekend. Thank you.

Thank you. Ladies, Nancy and I can't do this by ourselves. We need you. Please call. Thanks, Tina. I think you just opened the door, Tina. Have a great weekend. Hey, Gina, from Texas. Good morning.

Hello. Good morning, Gina. Welcome. Are you? We're doing great. what's on your mind now you're what part of texas you're from tina who's uh lubbock is that right interesting do we do we know a dealer in lubbock no i know a dealer in amarillo and baytown

just outside of houston oh okay i got some relatives out there in texas out in austin and just uh Dallas all over the place are you a first time caller gina Yes, I am. Congratulations. You just won yourself $50. And if you'll text me... Really? Yes.

I'll give you the text number where you can send me your contact information so that I can get that $50 out to you. 772-497-6530. Okay, thank you. Did you get that down? Read that again, so be sure we get it down right. You want to read it back to me?

me? I'm going to let you give it to eat again. 772. 497-65-30. Okay, Tina. What's on your mind? Do you have any questions about buying a car in Texas, or I guess they have dealer fees in Texas like they do all over? We call them hidden fees now, but have you had a good or bad experience out there?

that you'd like to share or maybe just ask us a question. I have a question. I'm having a, it's not a little car. It's a motorhome. Okay, motorhome. And I check the oil on it, and it's got a plastic tip on the end of the oil stick. And it looks like it's broke off. Hmm.

And if it's a broke off inside, should I try to get some to clean it out, or is it going to hurt anything? if it's just a plastic tip I wouldn't worry about it too much at the next oil change when you bring it in for a service because you said it's a good-sized motor home yeah it's pretty good good size it's not a huge one but I noticed that it broke off it I don't know when and I'm worried that it is inside for sure Rick what would it cost her to fix her that she wanted to get it out of it was worrying or what would be the procedure and approximate cost for her? The cost to be hard to say without knowing the exact model and how it's designed,

because they would have to lower the oil pan. Right. But there's a very good chance. A lot of those bigger vehicles like that use a larger drain plug. So there's a good chance that when they change the oil, if the mechanic knows that piece is in there, he might be able to use a little pick and just kind of fish around in there and maybe actually get it to come out through the drain hole. Yeah. So, I mean, you might be able to get that taken care of for almost nothing, very low cost, if anything. But the main thing is you want to make sure you just replace that dipstick, get a new one in there,

so that you can get an accurate idea of how much oil you have in the vehicle. I'm really surprised if they would do that. What make-motor home is, Tina? Gina. It's a 2000. Yeah, it's a jenn. 2004 and the manufacturer

is it a Winnebago or what time? It's a Fleetwood. A Fleetwood? Okay. I think I'll probably have to call a place that has

wrecked ones maybe and get a new dipstick from it. Well that'd be great if you could find that. You could Google it do a search and you might find you might find they use dipstick. I mean they have everything else used online and that'd be way to save a lot of money.

Yeah, I would check out one of the sites that I like to look at for aftermarket parts that are relatively inexpensive is Rock Auto. Oh, yeah. It's R-O-C-K-A-U-T-O.com. And it's amazing the variety of parts that they have available that are way less expensive than dealerships. And a dipstick should be a very inexpensive item. even if you had to get it from a dealership, you know, from a motorhome place, a supply store,

that should be a relatively inexpensive item, like less than $20. Oh, okay, that's great. Yeah, that's a great. Rock Auto, write that down, everybody listening, Rock, R-O-C-A-O-C-A-O-D-com that Rick just reminded us of one of the great sources of auto parts, truck parts, RV parts, and they're huge. They are absolutely huge, and they have virtually everything. thing, the prices are great. Rockado.com.

Well, Tina, thanks very much for the call. Hey, Gina. This is Nancy. I'm going to repeat that number again. 772-497-6530. Your contact information, you can send to me at that text number, and I'll send you the 50. I'll buy you two dipsticks. I'm sitting here in the dark, so I think I've got it wrote down, right?

Okay, not only did we answer your question, but we're paying for your dipstick. How about that? Oh, yeah, that'd be great. I just don't want to worry about it tearing something up with it running and that old plastic piece being in there. I understand. Well, that plastic piece will fall to the bottom of the oil pan, so it's highly unlikely that that's going to cause any damage at all anyways. It'll just sit down in the bottom of the oil pan. It's a highly unlikely that bothers her

Just like it bothers me Like when the doctor says It's highly unlikely That what you have there is going to kill you That makes me feel a little better I've heard that before I'd like to have a positively not going to kill you Instead of highly unlikely

Tina thank you very much Has a great call And give us a call again Gina Please do Yeah and spread the word in Texas We'd love to have more Texans call We love Texans I'll spread you all over the

Oh thank you I like that. Love that accent. Okay, thank you. Have a great weekend. Hey, Rick, there was a day whenever I went to the junkyard and I got parts for my car. Are there still junkyards out there? Yes, there are.

And still the old pick and pull yards where you go there with your tools, take whatever parts you want off the car. You go up front and you pay for it and away you go. Yeah, and the mafia uses that. They put bodies in cars, and then they crush them. And then, you know, that's where Jimmy Offa is at a junkyard. I heard they crushed him and made him into Hubcaps. Yes. There you go.

He became Jimmy Hubcaps. At any rate, that was a good old days, and I used to have a whole lot of fun. Hey, kids, come on. Mom's going over to the junkyard. Got to get some parts for my car. 877960, or you can text us. That's 772-497-6530. And don't forget, take advantage of Your Anonymous Feedback.com.

Your Anonymous Feedback.com. Say whatever you want. And you remain anonymous. Nancy and I were talking to the car on the way of the show, and we were talking about, gosh, we sure would like to have a car salesman or a car dealer call the show. And I said, well, they wouldn't want to be identified, and they wouldn't, it might recognize their voice.

This is perfect for Your Anonymous Feedback.com. And we'd love to have somebody out there. Nancy says, I'd just like to hear a car salesman justify, rationalize the way they sell cars. This is how we do what we do. How they know, you know, that the car they advertise, cannot be bought for the price, and then explain it. And you can do it on your anonymous feedback.com. We will read it and we will comment on it. But you can get it off your chest.

And if you're afraid, you know, we'd make fun of you. You're afraid you get in trouble with your employer. Your Anonymous Feedback.com. We probably got a bunch of them cropped up over there, don't we, Stu? We have a few. Yeah. Now we are going to, we're on a roll this morning with the ladies. We're going to go to Santa Cruz, California.

Wow. And we're going to talk to Gail. Good morning, Gail. I love Santa Cruz. Good morning. Are you a first-time caller, Gail? I am a first-time caller. You just won yourself.

$50. Wow. Oh, my gosh. You're kidding, but I do have a question, though. Oh, that's perfectly acceptable. I can give you the text number, Gail, for you to send me your contact information. Do you have a pencil handy? Hold on, hold on.

Okay. Yes, I do, but let me get my eyeballs. Okay. Take your time. Very exciting. California, Texas. We can announce it. We can get to the questions and let you know.

You can take your time with the pen, tablet, and ask your question. Because, like I said, we're on a roll, and we have another female caller waiting. Get out of here. So what can we do for you this morning, Gail? I don't believe in. I have a 2002 deep, sports Jeep. Oh, gosh. My daughter just gave it to me.

Anyway, so it's fine. but my bottom tail lights that has double tail lights and the bottom ones are out I didn't even realize it until my girlfriend told me. Anyway, I went and got light bulbs she tried to help me change the light bulbs and it's still not working

so now my next thing is is it something electrical in the lights the tail lights or is it a fuse does that make sense? Why am I glad Rick's back? What do you think, Rick? If both sides are out, the first thing I'd be doing is find a good technician that can check it properly and just make sure that you're getting a power and ground to it. But on older vehicles like that, especially jeeps where somebody might have been kind of off-roading a little bit, if the ground wires have started getting corroded or a little bit of dirt or something has gotten in and have messed up that connection, that can cause those lights to go. out very easily.

Okay, okay, okay. Thank you. And one more piece of advice. When you're doing that, be sure you get the price up front as to what they estimate it's going to cost you. They can't always tell you exactly because, as Rick said, it's more of a diagnosis. But have the price conversation before you turn them loose on your Jeep and try to find a service here, a department with a good reputation.

and you don't want to spend a whole lot of money on a 2002 Jeep and those diagnostic time can mount up before you know it. Yeah, one other thing I'd recommend, as silly as this sounds, go on the internet to the forum sites for Jeep owners. Ah, good idea. And I guarantee you there's somebody in your area that will, if they haven't already experienced this problem and conclude you to where to look for it,

they will be able to point you towards a, mechanic, either a dealership mechanic or an aftermarket mechanic and outside mechanic, that they trust wholeheartedly because the Jeep community they're some incredible people and they will

find mechanics that they will trust and they'll make sure to take care of you. Great suggestion. Thanks, right. Okay, great. Thank you. You know what? My son-in-law, because my daughter gave me the call, my son-in-law had mentioned to me, they kept

that car for quite a few years. But they live far from me. They live in Marin, Tiburon, California. And he said, if anything goes long, let me know, we will find a Jeep specialist down here in Santa Cruz.

Because, see, that car was taking care of like it was a brand new car. But they went to someone that specialized in Jeep. So you're reconfirming what my son-in-law told me. But he said he would find

somebody. down here in Santa Cruz for me. Well, spread the word Santa Cruz. Tell all the folks out there in California to give us a call. We really appreciate you calling the show

from. So far away, what time is it in Santa Cruz? It is 525. I'm up because I have to go to work. I have a new schedule and I start working on Saturday. I'm up getting ready to go to work. Wow. Thanks for... 5.25 a.m.

Thanks for taking the time to join us with your business. schedule. I'll give you that text number, if you'd like. You can send me your contact number. Yes, I have, I have, mm, go ahead. 772, 772, 497, 6530, 6530. 6530, great. Thank you so much. You're welcome. Thank you. Happy holidays. Spread the word, Gail. Thank you. Okay. Bye-bye. Give us a call, tool free.

877-960 And remember We have a mystery shopping report It's always a doozy And don't forget to read Earl's, well, one of Earl's columns that I have in front of me And that's an open letter to

Governor Ron DeSantis, Speaker Jose Olivia, President Bill Galvano and Attorney General Ashley Moody And the subject Enforce Florida Statue 5196

Very controversial, column. In fact, so controversial that hometown news didn't want to run it. And after we talked to them, they agreed to run it and the op-ed section of their newspaper, hometown news. And even more so exciting, this particular article, they are going to contact the individuals to whom I wrote the letter, Governor DeSantis and the others. And they're going to ask them to comment on this letter, which they felt was too controversial to run in the regular part of the paper. It basically says we've got some laws on the books that should be enforced and they're not being enforced. So the open letter was sent to the president of the Senate and the Speaker of the House, the governor, and, of course, the Attorney General, Ashley Moody. Ashley Moody is the one that really should be talking about enforcing these laws. But the legislators also a lot of wonder, they make a law, they should think that it should be enforced. So it's a good question, and it'll be interesting. Next week we'll let you know who responded to hometown news to comment about my column.

And we'll see what happened to run in Florida Weekly the following week this week in the hometown news. and, of course, you're going to read it right now online at earluncars.com. Yeah, very interesting. We're going to go to Karen, who's been holding from West Palm Beach, and John will be right with you. Good morning, Karen. Good morning. You're welcome. How are you?

Well, thank you. What's on your mind, Karen? Okay, so I have a 2017 Lincoln MKC that I bought coming up of. a lease. About two months after I had it while driving on I-95, all of a sudden, my radio was playing, but my windows wouldn't roll down, the air conditions shut down. It scared me half the duck. So this continued for a little while. I would turn, sometimes I'd turn the car off, and then it would go back to being normal, and other times I would get in the car, and the windows, same thing wouldn't roll down. The radio would still be on, but the air wouldn't come on. And, of

course, in the Florida heat, it was really hot. So I took it into the dealer. They had it for eight days, and, of course, they couldn't recreate this situation. So they gave the car back to me. So this was, oh, approximately March of this year. So a couple months ago, coming out of work, it did it again. And, of course, they're asking me to bring it in the minute it doesn't, but, you know, You're not always in a position to do that. And it took me four or five times shutting the car off and on and even pulling over to get the windows to roll down and get, you know, the air cranking. Well, the other day I was back on 995 again, and I heard this like wind blowing. And I looked at my tailgate was up.

And I had not opened my tailgate. So I pulled over to the side of the road. I hit the automatic button to close it, and it wouldn't work. So I had to physically get out of the car and close the tailgate. So I'm really frustrated, and I don't know. I understand the workings of electronics that they do have to recreate that. But I'm kind of just made, and I don't know where to go from here. Well, before Rick addresses this, and this is definitely something for Rick, you said this was an off-lease car.

Did you lease the car, then exercise your option to buy it, or did you buy it from somebody else because the car had been leased to someone else? No, it was, I bought it at the dealership. It had just come in off of a lease. Off of a lease. The reason I asked that, and Rick Kinadrya says, is it sounds like this might have some water problems. And if this is a flood car, there might be a record.

Have you checked the Carfax report on this car to see if it's been in a flood or had anybody examine it to see if it looks like, It had been partly underwater. I'll throw the ball into Rick's court. Well, they gave me the car. They showed me the car fact report on the day that I bought the vehicle. It just, the car had just come in that morning when I came in that afternoon. And it was exactly what I was looking for.

So I'm not sure that they did a total, you know, look over of the car at that time. You know, they gave me a really good deal. and you know but like I said the eight days that they had it they just couldn't recreate it but you know I have a warranty on it up to 100,000 miles at this point I have 37,000 miles on it and you know I just really want to document because I don't know if the dealer can do anything this continues to happen it kind of scares me you know when you're going you know 75 80 miles an hour and things start shutting down

Karen I don't know what kind of warranty you have but I kind of doubt it would cover things like electronics and things of this nature, 100,000 mile to cover maybe the power train. Do you know exactly what type of a warranty and what it covers? I don't have it with me. We're all right at the month. I'm doubtful. I'm sorry to say that it would cover this.

But Rick, you go ahead. What do you think? This one's a very weird one because you're definitely. got some electrical gremlins going on there and I would be very very concerned about this because it's a safety issue right off the bat if you've got a back hatch opening while the vehicle is traveling that's a major safety issue and I would be taking this vehicle back to where it was purchased I would inform them that you will not retake this vehicle back until it has been repaired and confirmed repaired, a possibility may be the vehicle's been in an accident at

some case that was not reported on Carfax or has been in a flood or something like that that's not been reported to Carfax. But this sounds like a very scary situation simply because you've got electrical gremlins going on here that could put you in a very dangerous situation. Well, Rick, she could have somebody look at her car independently of this dealer. and a qualified individual could tell her if the car had been in a flood, I would think. Yeah, I would definitely have an inspected outside if you can, preferably by another Ford dealership because they know what they're going to look for. And at the very minimum, I would start in contacting factory representatives

and say, hey, you know, please help me. I've got a bad situation here. And this is one of those cases where that polite percentage, assistance will pay off just don't take no for an answer, but just keep being nice. What are your car is? Keep working up. She said it's a 2017. Oh, 2017, okay.

Yeah, so with only 37,000 miles, so I would be talking to the factory and saying, hey, please help me because they need to be stepping up and really making sure they find this problem, because this is safety-related at this point. Right, right. I got

them. Okay, well, thank you. I was advise to call into your show and I guess it helped me so thank you very much. We'll keep us personally care and let us know how it works out, call us next week and let's see if it was resolved. We hope so if not, we can maybe

give you some more help. Okay, perfect. Thank you. Give us a call to all free. Thank you. 877-960 or you can text us at 772-49-65-30. We're going to go straight to John, who's calling us from Palm City.

Good morning, John. John from Palm City. Good morning. Good morning. Yes, I have the copy from hometown news, and it's specifically about, you mentioned it. You mentioned it in there. It's the Florida Statue of 501.976, parenthesis, 16. Yes.

And I hope it reaches the right party. We know the new Attorney General is very aggressive, and let's open it. That will go, you know, and further information to her. But what I want to ask you, and also in hometown news and other newspapers, I usually read the legal notices. And many times in the legal notices, it's a towing company, and it's printed like two, three weeks ahead, and it talks about the cars with the serial number,

and it specifically says no title issued. What in the world good is it for somebody to bid on a call like that? and it don't get a title. It would probably be strictly for parts. Isn't there a way that those towing companies or any repair shop can put a mechanics lien on a car and get the title? Is it so difficult if I bring my car in like a transmission place

and it's a $5,000 bill and I don't pay them and it sits there for months, aren't they entitled to get a mechanics lien and get the full title on a car? Can you inform me more about that? I'll give you, for instance, the outfit that picks up scrap cars from dealers and body shops, which is a publicly traded corporation, which is where all knows who they are, their Copart, C-O-P-A-R-T. Over 5 million cars per year are scrapped, many of them total salvage.

Copart also has a website. You can buy their cars. They have 165 junkyards in the USA, 205 auction facilities, and you're, look them up on a computer, and you can bid on them. Many of them know all total wrecks, but with every call, you get a full title. Can you tell me, Earl, how difficult it is for these so-called, well, not Copa, because they have the titles. But when you see a legal notice and it says no title issue, is it so difficult in a state of Florida for a towing company or repair shop to put a mechanics lean on a car? Stu has an answer, I think.

I mean, a tow company that you can sell a car without a title, and generally it would be just for parts, but I can't answer how difficult it is. I imagine there's a certain amount of red tape you've got to go through in Florida, but you can't apply for a new title for a titleless car. You'd probably have to furnish a bill of sale, but then you can also be really careful because you're exposing yourself. I mean, the car could be stolen. There's lots of risk with that. I think it's probably not worth the effort to get a car. they're probably pretty cheap because they don't have titles, I'd say probably the most valuable, you know, useful for parts.

Well, John, we'll get an answer for you. There's one person in my organization that can answer it. Her name is Janet Gets, and she's probably knows more about title work than any person in the state of Florida. And that's a complex question, but we'll get you an answer. I don't have it right now, and I don't think we can even Google that, but Janet Gets will know the answer. we'll even text her now. We might be able to get an answer during the show. If we do, we'll announce it.

Okay. Well, I was just curious because basically what the heck good is a car without a title, I wouldn't trust it. I understand. That's a great question. There's got to be a way. I would say there's got to be a way to get a title, but it's probably so cumbersome and complex and time consuming that people don't go to the trouble to do it. But usually there's always a way to do something, except nobody knows how to do it. And you brought that to light, and now we're going to come up with an answer. Okay. Well, thank you very much. Thank you, John.

Thank you, John. Give us a call toll free at 877-960-99-60. And, Karen, if you're still listening, if you were a first-time caller, text me your contact information at 772-497-6530. And I want to thank all you ladies for opening the show. It was a great feeling. I'd like to feel that every Saturday. And to the ladies that are listening right now, give us a call.

It's not too late. And share your information. You know, I was talking to Earl this morning about the automotive news and how things have changed. They really have changed. You see more women in the automotive news as general managers. And also this news recently. about the mock E, is that what it was called? The Ford will debut in 2020.

Yeah, Ford's an all-electric car. Oh, yeah, all-electric. And you know that there were a third of the women who were responsible for the technology to put that whole thing together. So we're really turning a corner here for the women. And here at Earl Stewart on cars, we are building a platform.

So ladies, I'm taking a moment to thank all of you. And I know definitely that Stu is ready and willing and able. Every Saturday morning we get here, we got a backlog of comments and questions on your anonymous feedback and also the text line, 772-4976530. We'll start with the anonymous feedback. Earl, I went online at Google and checked out the new H. Greg Store. As of 7.30 am on Sunday, they have 34 at 5-star reviews, in quotes. No review is specific enough for me to believe that these are real reviews.

In regards to the rigorous inspection, this is done post-purchase, yes? If so, then there's a chance that a rigorous inspection could fail a car, and H. Gregg would be forced to sell that car to another used car dealer or send it to the scrapyard. Now, what are the odds that H. Gregg would do that? They get the cars, they inspect these cars themselves, which means nothing. If H. Greg would employ a third party to inspect these cars, then you can trust that. that company's inspection report. Slightly related is the Motor Trend quote unquote certification. A dealer can establish themselves as a Motor Trend certified used car dealer, but the used cars are not inspected by Motor Trend. They're just inspected by the dealer's entry-level technician.

Motor Trend is a trusted name and it is a selling tool. Motor Trend does not see the car. The so-called inspections are worthless. Self-certification is a joke. It needs to be back by a third party. Who is that third party? Your trusted mechanic. Take that. used car on a test drive to your mechanic for a $120 inspection. If the dealer won't let you, then walk away. Well, that's mostly good advice. The motor trend, I would take exception to motor trend and car and driver, you know, Hot Rod and all the other car buff magazines, take a lot of advertising from the manufacturers. And if you advertise heavily in Motor Trend magazine, there's a good chance that one of your cars will be the motor trend car of the year.

My only source for objective, totally transparent, honest evaluation of automobiles is consumer reports, not Motor Trend. As far as the Google reviews, you know, Google is the most reliable source of reviews, but you can sure fool everybody, and the hackers and the scam artists are finding a way to hack everybody. when I'm looking for a product I usually trust a Google review what I do is I try to ignore the five stars and the one stars and look at the three star reviews Stu advised me

to do that and it's true because nobody's perfect a five star doesn't make sense and nobody's well I won't say nobody's terrible there's sometimes they are a one star but emotionally people will do a one star the three star people are not

totally satisfied but they're being objective and they usually give you some specifics and names and so on and so forth. So Google's pretty informative. I don't know how H. Craig got 32 Google reviews in one day, but my guess would he probably had. H. Craig probably asked all of his employees to do it. Well, there's a lot of companies out there that offer reputation management to card dealers. And they have computer programs that will send out requests to their customers to fill out reviews. And full disclosure, we use that. But like you said, you have to read all the reviews and actually read what they're saying. I'll believe a five-star review. If I read it and it seems pretty intricate, they tell a great

story of some exceptional thing that happened. That's great. But most of them, especially just stars or great service, I don't buy. But I also look at the one-star reviews, too, because you might see something that's, you got to look at them all and kind of make a decision on it. You know, Amazon got a little trouble recently, and Amazon's my hero. Amazon verified. the purchase of the product, and it's one of the few places you can go and really get. When I saw it, when I buy a product, I sort it from four stars and up, and then I read the reviews. But it was just out in the news press, Amazon got slammed because they were phonying reviews. And if you read the reviews, you have to kind of study them.

If they're too simplistic, they're kind of obvious that somebody's being paid to say, I like this company very much. And then the guy says it six more times. Yeah. The other thing is to look at disparity between different review sites. You might see a guy with great Google reviews and like one-star Yelp reviews. So just got to make sure. Okay.

All right. The next one. Hello, Earl and Stu. I have a question about a new 2018 cars being advertised right now. I see some Kia and Mitsubishi dealerships selling and advertising new 2018 cars. Why would they keep 2018 model year new cars in the lot and not offer a deep, discount a year ago to move them off the lot. Related to this question, Rick, if the 2018 new car sits on a dealer's lot for two years

without an oil change, could that affect the reliability or warranty of the car, which happens to be two years old? P.S. Love the show. Specifics below, and they send a link. Well, it probably wouldn't affect the warranty. It should, but it probably wouldn't. They'd be too embarrassed to say that the man bought the car, 2018, that sat on the lot for two years with one of their dealers, and the dealer didn't change the oil. But it's a good, I wouldn't buy the car because you don't want to buy a car that sat for two years. And they obviously didn't do a very good marketing, merchandising job,

and the car isn't too popular. And maybe a reason why the car didn't sell. Maybe it was ugly, or maybe it had some problems. Stay away from those kind of bargains. If you've got a two-year-old car, there's too many other good bargains out there to even worry about buying it. Yeah, addressing the first part of the question. It could be the model itself, but generally it's an indication of just poor management at the dealership. There's no reason two years later that new car should still be there.

Like you said, a car could be hidden on the back lot, nobody's paying attention to it, and that could indicate all sorts of other problems you might run to it that dealership. And the car might have a lot of miles on it. You know, a new car can have 20,000 miles on it. Florida law, and I guess a lot of state law, is absurd. All a new car means is it's never been titled. You can drive that car, put 300,000 miles on it. roll it over, wreck it, and scratch it, and do everything else to it.

But in Florida, it's still a new car. And you can advertise it as a new car. It's absolutely stupid the way the law is written. That is absolutely true. Next one is a question. It's a link to a Mitsubishi ad at Miami Lakes Automol. And the question is, is this an ain't going to happen.com situation? So I won't read the whole ad, but basically it's a new 2018 Mitsubishi Eclipse.

Hey, there you go, a new 2018 car right there. MSRP 24-645 sale price 18998 you save 5,647 is it I mean it could be here's what's going to happen for sure this should be is it's going to happen they're going to add a lot of hidden fees to that price so the discount's not going to be quite as good I would guess and I don't know for sure on a on a new 2018 Mitsubishi which by the way are not exactly selling like hotcakes these days there could be a large factory rebates on those things they could be getting helped in the manufacturer it's probably bait and swish you know when a car dealer really wants to sell a bow wow a real dog of a car something that has it you accidentally ordered you know it's got purple interior and a green exterior and you're going back to the 70s it's a stick shift and you know I mean you know occasionally dealers just make big mistakes and there's a they get cars get shop worn they get dealer traded from dealer to dealer lot rot and then you know we call it lot rod it just sat there The tires are square.

So what they do with these cars sometimes is they give the salesperson what we call a flat commission. A typical sales commission in South Florida would be about $200, maybe $250. So they'll say, if you sell this real dog, we'll pay you $1,000. So you come in on a normal car, and then with some smoke and mirrors and little flimplam, you drive out on the dog and the salesman pockets a thousand dollar commission. And you'd be very careful of that. That's true. This one's going to make me laugh.

Good morning, Earl and Stu. Just FYI, West Park, Florida is a tiny little town that is mostly industrial with a couple of houses and a few dozen trailer parks. I said, where's West Park? Yeah. I said I thought it was in Illinois. Anyway, a couple of houses, a few dozen trailer parks. They're located in Broward County just north of Dade County jurisdiction east of 441. They were infamous in the 1980s for being totally corrupt.

having a helicopter on their police department, even though they had, like, six police officers. Their police department was taken over. This guy really hates West Park. Chief says, I want a helicopter. Right. Give me one of them helicopters. They're in the air. Yeah.

That's going back to the 70s. Their police department was taken over by Broward County Sheriff's Department decades ago. Now, the city itself is full of head shops, strip clubs, and warehouses mostly. I would not let my dog. My kind of town, West Park is. He says, I would not let my dog live in that town. Well, that's terrible. I mean, we're going to get some bad feedback from West Park.

We're going to have a whole, like, West Park, like, the town council is going to sue us. The good news is that you don't know where West Park is, so it shouldn't concern you. Yeah, the officials in West Park, don't worry. There could possibly. be a coup d'etat. I'd be very careful. There was back in a couple of decades when the Broward County took over. So all right. Okay. Hello, Earl. I'm the, this is another anonymous

feedback comment. Hello, Earl. I'm the Toyota of Hollywood buyer you spoke about last week. I just wanted to add two things. First is before I even went to the dealership, I made an appointment with the salesman. A few days later, I had an appointment setter, and that was in quotes, from the dealership called me to confirm I was coming into the dealership. I told the appointment setter I was coming in to buy a car if the salesman gave me the very best deal in the area and that I'm aware of all the rebates Toyota Hyundai and Honda were offering. I also told him that if I walked out without buying a car, that was because the Toyota salesman didn't give me the very best deal. The appointment set of responded, oh, you're going to get the

very best deal. Then we have a little laughy face emoji in there. Second thing, I wanted to add that as ad is that we knew what we wanted but were able to be a little bit flexible like with color and availability. We're open to consider anything but red in that loud Toyota blue. I like that blue. Rick's truck is that blue. If I wasn't sure what I wanted, I wouldn't have been so blatant with my intentions to either the salesman or appointment center.

And I just think that's, you know, great comments. I mean, you went in there prepared and you let them know what your conditions were. And to our listeners who weren't familiar with that, particularly inquiry, we did. Mystery Shop, Toyota of Hollywood, the largest Toyota dealership, or second largest in the United States. They're huge. They sell over 1,000 cars a month, and it's just gigantic. They do a lot of very aggressive advertising and full disclosure. Stu and I are friends with the owner and Craig Zinn, and extremely successful in that area.

We don't like the way they're advertised new cars when they really use cars. It's done legally, but it's borderline, ethical, but that's full disclosure. The point I think I'm making now is that even in a large dealership that has a lot of aggressive sales tactics, if you go in there pre-warned, forearmed, and ready to deal, and they know that you're an intelligent consumer, is it. gentleman who Texas is, anonymous feedback, and you let them know that you're not going to roll over and let them take advantage of it. You can get a good deal. And I think this guy probably got a good deal. Yeah. Let's switch over to Facebook real quick on our live Facebook

feed. It's on Facebook.com forward slash Erl on Cars. You can see what we look like if you tune in. From Steve, he says in the old days cars were sold with 36-month loans, after which your car is ready to be replaced. How long is the useful life of a typical car to do? day. Long time. I don't think we know. I think that a well-care for, I'm going to get the expert over here, Rick, I'd say you can keep a car for 10 years and with a half a million miles if you take care of it.

If you buy a 2020 today, that you can drive that until 2030 if you take care of it. You're a lightweight. That's the reason I deferred to the expert. I bought my 97 Tacoma pickup brand new. I drove 270,000 miles, 17 years in that truck. Wow. I finally decided I wanted a new one because I wanted all the new toys and features. And I sold my truck to a guy.

It took me 48 hours to sell it. And he came back to me about a week and a half, two weeks later. And he said he felt like he could get in that truck and drive it to Alaska and back without a problem. Yeah, that's true. And what year's truck was that? That was a 97. Yeah, see, so even back then they were reliable.

Today, they're even more reliable. Here's a problem on that question. It isn't a question of how long a car will last because you want a car that's safe. And safe as a relative term. You know, when you bought a new car in 1955, that was a safe car. You probably picked a safe car by 1955 standards. but by 2020 standards, that 1955 was a death trap. So if you buy a 2015 car today, you have an obsolete car in terms of safety.

So you buy cars today, not because they're going to wear out, they won't. I mean, they'll last, you know, longer than you will, maybe. But what will happen is, relatively speaking, they won't be safe, they won't be as comfortable even. There are a lot of things. Cars are improving at warp speed today. So you buy a car, a new car, because you can and you want to because it's a much pleasurable, more pleasurable, and a much safer driving experience. My vehicle right now is a six-year-old Tacoma with 110,000 miles, and I figure I'll probably get something new in about another 120,000, 130,000 miles on it. But your truck that you have is not as safe as the new trucks.

Not quite, no. Yeah. But I'm one of those that. I know. I will run it till the wheels fall off. Nothing wrong with that. But they'll just keep going. Nothing wrong with that.

Exactly. Excuse me. 877-960-9960, or you can text us at 772-497-930. And we have Howard on the line from Jupiter. Good morning, Howard. Yo, Howard. Good morning. Happy holidays to all of you.

Thank you. Hey, Howard. Thank you. Okay, here's the story. I was a secret shop of myself. What happened is that my friend, I'm not going to mention his name, he had to turn in his lease car. And when he did that, over the phone, they gave him a price of $57,000. It was a three-year-old Mercedes.

So he said, he called me up because he knows I'm, you know, interested in cars. He knows I call your show. He says, you think that's a good price. So we looked at the internet, and it was a great price. So we went down, he drove his car, I think it was Bremen, right. And sitting around, and then he saw the salesman, and I didn't want to be up front with him, so I was sitting a little bit away from him. So he says, okay, I think I want to buy the car, this price that you gave me, $57,000.

So then all of a sudden I saw starting arguing with the guy and my friend is a little older than he's 90. I'm pretty close, but anyway, I say he's my older friend. So I saw he was getting agitated. So I went over to the salesman or whatever he is. He was in the office, one of the offices, I guess. This guy. I said, what's the problem? He says, he wants to charge me at 995.

$5,000 more, you know, for a dealer fee. So I said to the guy, I said, you told him on the phone, it's $57,000. So then he said to me, yeah, but it's a dealer fee, you know. I said, what do you mean the deal fee? You gave him a price over the phone. He says, we charge your dealer fee. I said, well, you gave him a price over the phone. Can you make an exception for him?

He says, if I make an exception for him, I have to make an exception for everybody. I think that's the mantra Yeah, yeah straining right there So then I said to him, you know, your legal fee is illegal Your fee is illegal He says, what are you talking about?

I said, you can't just So anyway, started negotiating He started negotiating down from the deal of fee And then finally I called my friend aside I said, look, what are you dealing with these guys? This is not an infomercial again, I said, we went to Toyota. Why don't you lease the car from Toyota?

So he said, okay, he left. He gave the car in, and his wife went to Toyota, and she leased a car for three years. And guess which Toyota it was? Avalon? I know. Earl Stewart. Oh, well, thanks for the plug, Howard. You know, on this dealer fee thing, it's interesting.

I got a call the day before yesterday. Nancy was in the car from a lawyer in Chicago and he's representing a bunch of insurance companies and the insurance companies are raised in hell because the people that they erect the car and it's a total and the insurance company says you can replace the car for this much money

and so they find a dealer and they have the car that the insurance company's replacing and then the dealer adds a $995 dealer fee and this particular person is representing insurance companies because they don't want to pay the dealer fee and he called me because he Googled dealer fees and I popped up and he says

you don't say you're not telling me Earl that all the dealers charge a dealer fee I said I'm telling you all the dealers charge a dealer fee except for me and I told this lawyer that so this is what happens with the lease companies too you're absolutely right Howard the leasing company probably Mercedes leasing contractually obligated

to give your friend this car, sell your friend this car for $57,000. A contract option to purchase for the residual value, $57,000. And then they're allowing Brayman to gouge the poor buyer who has a contractual right to buy it for $57,000. Now they want them to pay $58,000.

And that is just absolutely terrible. absolutely well thanks very much for sharing that with us I don't know why I don't know why Florida doesn't pursue this you know well it's a political thing or it's a classic yeah it's a political thing they Florida Automobile Dealers Association the National Automobile Dealers Association all dealers and dealers have got a lot of money and they and they have a lot of PACs political action committees and they support a lot of Canada And if you take the treasury of the dealer associations and add it to the dealers themselves,

they are powerful. They elect the Attorney General, they elect the Senators, they elect the representatives. And our legislature, you know, if you don't, it's kind of like NRA. If you bump, if you buck NRA, you're not going to get reelected. If you buck the car dealers and their associations, you're not going to get reelected. So it's politics and it's a terrible thing. terrible thing. If there's a lawyer listing out there, this is a perfect class action suit. It should be suit on, the class would be car buyers of Florida. And the car buyers of Florida

should do class action on the dealers that are charging dealer fees. And it would be a huge, it'd be a huge amount of recovery. Can you imagine recovering the hidden fees on every car purchase on behalf of the consumers, it'd be a huge recovery. And that's what you lawyers out there ought to look at. You ought to be drooling on that one. It would be in the, I'm going to say, billions of dollars. Okay, I got one other hint for a little tidbit that I want to throw in about tire's entire pressure. You notice that the temperature is going down in night, 10 degrees or more, and it goes up.

You lose one pound. Rick, see if I'm, this is correct. You lose one pound of air at every 10 degree drop. Is that correct, Rick? Yeah, it's approximately correct. I mean, it'll vary across the nation, you know, different climates than that. But yeah, that's a pretty good thumbnail to go by. But when the temperature goes up, you don't gain that loss, correct?

Actually, as temperatures go up, pressures will increase a little bit. I mean, it's basic physics. That's Avogadro's law. But not enough. Habababar. Yeah, but you're still losing air pressure. So my suggestion is the next month or so check your air pressure because it's going to be less than, you know, in the warmer weather.

And don't put nitrogen in because that's a joke. Right? Right. And what I do, you know, but. I don't know how long I could do. I have a little compress in the back of my car. And this time, you know, a year, when it gets cold, I check my tires. And I check my tires on the dashboard when, you know, I'm driving.

And then I noticed that it drops, and I put a little more air pressure in. Now, how accurate is that gauge on your dashboard? what as far as as accurate as the tool that you put in to check the tire pressure. Believe it or not, those things are incredibly accurate down to a tenth of

a PSI. Very, very good. And you know what the new ones? We'll actually tell you, like, through the app and I get really excited about technology things, we'll tell you in each tire the exact pressure pounds per square inch in each time. I didn't know that. It's fabulous.

And it will also tell you the temperature. Yep. And the one thing not to forget, don't forget the spare. Check your spare tire pressure because most people never check it. And I guarantee you 90% of the cars driving around on the road today, their spare tire has maybe about 10 pounds of air in it. That can be very dangerous. Okay, Rick, one other question before I leave you. Some cars don't have a spare. They have a little gizmo that you pill, you know, if you have a flat.

Yeah, the fix of flat stuff. Is that a joke? Does that really work? For me personally, if I had a car that was set up to use that stuff, I would not use it. I would call a tow truck. Yeah, last resort. Simply because of the idea that I would prefer to use a small compressor and fill the tire back up and try to get somewhere to get that tire repaired or replaced. simply because of one major factor.

Anytime that you use a fix-a-flat-type chemical, it's going to destroy the tire pressure sensor and it's going to cost you another couple hundred bucks. No, that's wrong. I didn't realize that. Howard, you know what? Back in the day, fix-a-flat, I wouldn't be without it. And I was a little reluctant then to use it.

But like Rick said, how about the deterioration that takes place? You know, I think I'd explore my other options, but back to you talking about whether your tire is cold or not in the temperature out there. Boy, I'll tell you what, that PSI, real important all year round. It affects everything, the amount of gas that you eat up, the wear and tear on your tires. So I'm a stickler for that. Back to Rick. And Rick, yeah, Rick, you told me that I should put in like five more pounds of air over the recommended tire pressure. You said it doesn't do any harm if you were added like five more pounds.

I believe you get better gas mileage. Is that correct? Yes, but I also say do not exceed the maximum safe pressure that is listed on the sidewall of the tire. I've got a question on that. have you ever seen a tire explode because they had too much air in it? Only on the internet. What would happen? What would happen if you have a tire and the higher pressure was 35 pounds, 40 pounds, and you put in 50 pounds, what would happen?

A lot of center wear. Odds are it would just wear the center of your tire. But you're taking actually, at that point, because you've got a much harder pressure in the tire, you're taking a little bit bigger chance that when you're out on these wonderful South Florida roads and you hit a pothole, it could not only blow the tire, but because it doesn't have that extra sponginess to it, it could damage the wheel. If you didn't know you had too much air, you just know you had a blowout, you know, a blowout, that's all you know.

Okay. Well, thanks, Howard. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thanks, Howard. Give us a call again. 877960, or you can text us at 772-497-6-530. Don't forget your anonymous feedback.com.

I believe that Stu still has some backed up, and then I have two. But before that, I have an epiphany. You have an epiphany. Yes, I have these things that come to me every now and then. I'm very aware of these epiphanies. Here's a new product. It's a compressor. That's Howard mentioned the compressor.

It's a compressor that we sell, we'll get an Amazon store, and we'll sell this, and this compressor will pump nitrogen into your tires for all the suckers out there that are buying nitrogen from the car dealers. And in the fine print on the compressor, it will be, say, 78% nitrogen. And all you have to do is plug it in, and you put it on the tire, and it pumps nitrogen, and it's true. It does. It does. It does. 78% nitrogen and we'll charge we could probably get $59.95

for each one of those compressors. It's true. I think you can get more than that. It takes it right out of the atmosphere and puts it in your tire. Nitrogen. Why don't pay your car dealer buy it from Acme Compressor Company.

I know a guy in Indiana who could put that company together for us. I really appreciate Howard calling with the comments about the air pressure because that's going to save us a lot of phone calls tomorrow morning when everybody calls put their tire pressure lights on. So, exactly.

Just give it a little time. Let it heat up a little bit. Okay, anonymous feedback. Good morning, Earl and Stu. I have a question about your dealership in the Costco car buying program. With your prices posted as your lowest price, is the price still lower

if someone went through Costco to buy the car? Could a person get a cheaper price going through Costco than if someone walked in and got the lowest price posted on the window sticker? Additionally. if someone bought a car while Toyota was offering big manufacturer rebates would your dealership then have to offer the same discounted price through the Costco program even if the manufacturer's rebate was no longer available thus you could buy a Toyota through Costco as cheap as it previously purchased Toyota from your walking client who purchased during a manufacturer's rebate period which is no longer in effect I would like to feel this one please too because I want to make it quick because we don't want to advertise our dealership Unfortunately, yes, and I say unfortunately because we are a one-price dealership and we want to have to honor that to everybody. But the Costco Auto Buying Program requires us to offer a lower price.

So we do follow the rules of the Costco program. So yes, if you're a Costco member, you go to CostcoA.com, it'll be a lower price. Regarding the rebates, the rebates are applied to the Costco price like any other price. By law, by the Costco contract, yes. Yeah, and both the rebates are no longer available. nobody gets the rebate, whether you're through Costco or buying through this traditional process. And just to make a point on the Costco Auto Buying Program, first of all, you have to understand it is not Costco that it's a separate company, separately owned, operated, and management managed. Costco has sublets their Costco auto buying program.

It bothers me a little bit that they identify so strongly with Costco, but Costco does endorse. it and Costco recommends it, but it is not Costco. And the other thing about the Costco auto buying program is it is not administered as strictly as it should be. Now, I'm speaking about the auto buying program that I recommend, so I'm just being critical of a program I recommend because nothing is perfect. The Costco auto buying program requires a dealer to sell you a car at the lower price, not the lowest price, a lower price, a lower price that then you sell that exact car to anybody for. So what Costco auto buying program doesn't understand,

or Costco obviously doesn't understand, that is a losing sale for the dealer. If you have to sell a car, car dealers do not make a whole lot of money just selling new cars. They make their money by adding on accessories and hidden fees and financing. But in terms of the new car department, every time you sell a car by Costco price, in terms of net profit, you're losing money. Now, it's good for you, the buyer, but it also makes it difficult to buy the car,

and you have to dot your eyes, cross your teeth, and be very careful when you go into a dealer who is part of the Costco Auto Bike Program, because he'll do everything in his power to raise the price. But if you stick to the rules, go online, you can get a whopper of a deal. That is correct. this is the best anonymous email we've ever gotten. I have heard that any new unsold previous year models, i.e. the 2019, will be removed from dealerships and send to an abandoned airport in the desert. Is there any truth to that? Well, we've heard about that, too. We can't confirm or deny this.

You know, I had a little flashback in my many, many, many years in this business. is we used to get a lot of car, a lot more cars, Toyota's from Japan, and they come across in the container ships. Is that what they call it? Containerships? And we had a situation where there was a hurricane, and all the cars, you know, not all of them, but a lot of them got to rattle around and salt water, and it was really a mess.

And they had to scrap, you know, just sent to the junkyard and smash a thousand cars, some crazy thing. Rick, that'd be fine to watch. Many years ago, when they would send me for training at the actual port in Jacksonville, they let us drive down where the big ship was offloading the cars. And they had a line of cars where a ship in a storm, one car broke loose from its tie-down straps. And they said it tumbled around in the hold so much that it took out like 40 cars.

And all these cars were lined up and they were just smashed. Was there a video of that, like a security? Oh, I wish there was. But it was horrifying to see all these cars lined up. But they said it just tumbled and bounced around in that ship. Why do we like destruction so much? Because we're boys. Well, some of us are.

Well, I was going to comment on that. I think that I would probably enjoy watching heart surgery or something like that rather than the demolition of all those vehicles. Well, you do watch. You watch surgery videos. I've heard about what you do. By the way, Earl, Carmen Green says, I'll buy that air pump if it's 98% hydrogen, 21% oxygen, and trace amounts of proprietary glasses. We've got Carmen Green on YouTube.

It's already ready to buy that pump. That's a deluxe model. That's $2,000. But I go for the one for $295 that gives you 78% nitrogen. I'm glad the physicists are listening. And I do flashback. You know, Rick and I were in an AP physics class together, so we know a little bit about these things.

A little bit, yeah. Okay. I think Nancy's got something. I do. Yeah. I have a text message from Carmela from Pittsburgh. Oh, Carmela. What a beautiful.

You get a lot of texts from Pittsburgh. Mama Mia. She's a Pittsburgh gal. Carmela wants to know how she can get the best deal on a car loan. And from my experience, Carmel, I can tell you that, you know, know, you really need to secure multiple lenders and take a look around and take a look at your local bank, some of your credit unions. You've really got to do some research to save some money on that. And I'll let Earl take over and he can add some points.

No, you answered it exactly correctly. Competition is the way to get the lowest interest rates, the lowest car price, the lowest price for a bag of strawberries. I mean, whatever you buy, competition is your friend. And if you go to two banks, you'll get a better price than if you go to one bank. And if you go to five banks, you get a better price if you go to two banks. I have excellent advice to add to that. And that is, there is a common misperception out there that if you submit a credit application to multiple dealers, that it's going to hurt your credit score. That is not true. in a reasonable period of time, I think it's just within 30, 60 days.

For a similar purchase, you're entitled to go out there and get the best deal. Your score will not be impacted at all. Some salespeople will tell you that it will. As a matter of fact, they'll warn you down. I don't go on any other dealerships. They run your credit. It's going to kill your credit score. That's not true.

They're either lying on purpose or because they're stupid. Or misinformed. So with an uncertain time frame. Yeah. And I think it's longer than 30 days. I honestly do. I think it does not hear your score. Now, if you start applying for credit cards in Amazon and this and that,

the creditors will think that you're about to go insane on a spending spree, and it might hurt your score. But if you're shopping for a car or a house or whatever, you're fine. It has been known to happen that it does mistakenly lower your credit score, but does few and far between. No, not if you're shopping for a car. If you're going to a couple of different dealerships or the dealers submitting your application to different banks,

it won't hurt your credit score. They're aware that it's a car your purchase. Oh, sure. Okay, Carmilla, stay in touch. 877960-99-60, or you can text us at 772-497-6-530. Don't forget, we have that mystery shopping report coming up from Napleton, Palm Beach, Accura. And we've got a whole bunch of text. It's going to be great.

Mystery Shopping Report coming up pretty quick. Yeah, we're about halfway through. WWW, your anonymous feedback. Take advantage of it. Now back to Stu. Similar question. This comes on your anonymous feedback.com. Rick, since it's more common now for people to keep cars 10 years or longer.

We've done that one, don't we? Nope. Is it harder to work on those cars when they come in, for example, finding parts, repair manuals, etc. It can get a little tougher, but the biggest issue we see are, like, northern cars, as they get older, rust and corrosion. There's a lot of mechanics that I talk with online from northern states, and they say the blue wrench is their best friend, and that's that oxyacetaline torch. Well, the question is, can we get parts for the 10-year-old cars? Absolutely. Yeah, not a problem.

10-year-old cars, even up to 20 years, it's still, because cars are lasting so much longer, and the parts manufacturers are out there, they're available. 20 years is not a problem to still find parts for most cars. Yeah, I have a 1937 Pontiac on the showroom floor of my dealership, and I had that restored, and they restored that car about, what, 15 years ago? Yeah. And 1937, and every part is original Pontiac part. So, I mean, of course, we paid a lot more than you would normally have to pay, but parts are available somewhere, somehow.

Now, it's just a question of price sometimes. And, of course, don't forget the idea of junkyards. I know it sounds bad, but there is a company called LKQ, which is like kind quality. Yeah, they don't call them junkyards anymore, do they? No, there's salvage yards or recycle centers. Sure. And there are a lot of parts from cars that are recycled and reused. We get them all the time.

Okay, we got a bunch of text here. Yeah, we do. Earl, a ship filled with cars destined for Australia is infested with stink bugs. Supposedly the ship is being routed to an alternate destination for a biochemical warfare on these bugs. From the bug standpoint, I'm sure they were hoping from a night for an ice cruise to Australia. I wonder if this sudden change in destination and less than stellar treatment will affect trip advisors' ratings for cruising to Australia in the bug sector. You are drunk. I don't know who said that. I had no idea.

Did you see that one? No, I missed that one. All right. Chinch bugs? Stink bugs. Stink bugs. Yeah, I think that was a late night, anonymous feedback. I came at 7.30.

He probably doesn't remember. He sent it. It was a long night. It is Saturday morning. It was a long Friday night, 733 a.m. Thank you for the interesting, for the interesting text. Next. Okay, this is.

All right, we got some criticism here. You guys need to do a better job when you get a caller on the radio show. You always have long, uncomfortable moments as soon as you thank the person for calling. You should thank them, then immediately ask them for their questions or comments. Not everybody knows how to act when they're on a radio program.

You're supposed to be the pro. Help your callers. I think that's constructive criticism. I agree with it. I feel awkward. And, you know, we're not professionals. We're car guys and gals, and we don't do radio shows for a living.

But maybe we ought to take a lesson. from some of the pros. And, you know, what I don't like to do is hang up on people and mute people out. That's a little trick that most of the professional talk radio shows do. And it sounds smooth. It sounds better for everybody. But some poor guy is still talking, and you put them on mute, and you're talking. And so we try to...

That's rude. Maybe we're wrong, but we're trying to be polite to the people. And there's a little satellite delay sometimes, depending on... I don't know what. Where in the world they are. Yeah, where in the world they are. And so I hear it all the time on the CNBC. I watch CNBC all the time.

There's always a pause. And when they're talking to China, Hong Kong, it's always embarrassing. And you talk over each other. And, you know, let's look at it this way. That's real life radio. And it's awkward sometimes. We're not polished. And we have to do the best we can.

I always like that when they're interviewing somebody in China. And the question's over and they keep nodding. and they're listening. Yeah, those reviews are really very difficult because of that delay, and it happens. That's the way it is. But at any rate, we're going to go to our next female caller, and her name is Tara from Deerfield Beach. Good morning. Yes, good morning.

I would like to know in an accident, at what point would I know if I needed a change of car seat. Are you tuned in here? I would actually err on the side of caution on that one. A car seat for a baby, if that vehicle was in any sort of collision that could have been enough impact, if I even thought there might be the least bit of damage to that car seat, I would replace it. I mean, we're talking a precious life here.

I wouldn't even take that chance. I would replace a car seat if that vehicle's been in any sort of heavy collision at all. And you know, Tarrell, what I'd also do, I'd ask my insurance company to cover that because I don't see how you argue against that. The insurance company say, well, is it broken? Is it cracked?

And you can say no, but my trial will ride on that and I don't want to take a chance. If you put an insurance company on the spot, I wouldn't be surprised if they wouldn't cover it. And I would tell them it's been subjected to extremely heavy, stress. Good point.

I see. Good point. That's precious cargo your career. Yes, well, thank you very much. Thanks for calling, Tara. You're very welcome.

That's a great question. Give us a call again. Great question. Yes, of course. Thank you. Thank you, Tara. Okay, Stu. Rick, what you?

I got them. I got them lined up. Jerry, Texas, and says, last week I bought a 2017 Camry from a Nissan dealer here in Iowa. The car had only 8,036 miles on it. The car was a lease return.

I negotiated the whole deal online and went into test drive of the car, and all was well. I paid $17,500 plus tax and license only, no fees or add-ons. The car is fantastic. Thanks for your advice on your older videos for buying a car online. Wow, I love a success story. That is wonderful. Kansas. You know, we do a little research maybe on dealer fees, hidden fees, in Canvas.

There's a long time ago We had a list of dealer fees But I don't think they do that anymore In the 50 states But it wouldn't surprise me if Kansas Was a little bit more honest Than a lot of the other states This is Iowa

Iowa Well Don't say that We have fans in both states Iowa is unique and special In its own way in Kansas Iowa is amazing I have friends in Canada

Just outside of Kansas City All right This is from Andreas all right we're getting goofy here we're drunk just kidding Andreas last week texted us about dredging the bottom of the ocean

in search of car dealer's ethics I like that he sent us a and I'll get this to Jonathan he'll put this on the video later on so go to YouTube look for our broadcast today but he's a picture of a dredging barge off the coast of some beach

ejecting words such as spot delivery, lease switch, bait and switch, 84 months, hidden fees, service plans, nitrogen. And so his comment was, Earl, my team and I have been hard at work, searching the ocean for dealer honesty, integrity, no luck, see for yourself what the depths have spewed forth. It's great. Thanks, Andrea. Andreas, you know what? You have a future career in graphic design.

And if you're impressed me, it's good. Okay. good morning when buying a used car is the F&I office still a big profit center for a dealer is it likely that I could get a lower price on a used car so if I tell them I intend to finance with the dealer and then pay cash after getting the best price. Yes, I mean, that's a, that is a great tactic. I mean, talking about fighting fire with fire, dealers being dishonest with you, be a little dishonest with a dealer.

I think that's what do they call that poetic life? license, you can say, I'm not going to, you know, I'm going to finance, I am going to finance the car, even though you're going to pay cash. And they can say, well, I changed my mind. But the finance department is an opportunity for a two or three thousand dollar profit. The car itself might be only a thousand or two thousand dollar profit. Make twice as much oftentimes in the finance department. So if they think they got a shot at you in the finance department, they're just liable to cut the deal a little thinner because if they don't sell you the car, they can't get you in the finance department.

It's called making up for it in the box. I get so many people say to me, Earl, don't I get a better deal if I pay cash? Totally, counterintuitably, no. When you say, I'm going to pay cash, that dealer knows he's only got one chance to make a profit, and he's going to max it out when he sells you the car. Give him the hope that he can take you into the box, into the finance department, and make a couple grand. And then say, oops, change my mind.

Here's a check. Yeah, that comes from the misperse. that the dealer is actually financing the car for, like, you're getting it in piecemeal. It's not, the dealer gets paid in full from the bank, your payments to the, you're going to the bank. The other thing to mention here is the texter is referring to a used car. In a new car situation, there are situations where there is a factory rebate that you get for cash, but that goes away and finance. So in that case, it's a different situation.

That's a small percentage of the sales, but it does exist, and a factory incentive, on interest rates are legit. Yes, but you might lose a cash rebate by going for the special. And oftentimes there's confusion about that. You get one or the other, but you can have them both. Yeah, and that was from Travis in Ohio, which is an inferior state to Kansas, just like Iowa. I'm just kidding. Have we kept track of this?

Listen, Santa Cruz, California, Iowa, Texas, what I say? In Texas. I mean, this is, you know, we're becoming. coast to coast I got you got you another state here Seasons greetings Earl and Company This is Ben from Pennsylvania

And we also had a Pittsburgh texture for Yeah exactly When I first when I purchased my first Mazda from a local dealership 15 years ago They mailed service coupons to me Which I subsequently used I realized after a few years of using them For service and parts

That they are on average 20% more expensive than other dealerships in the area when I don't have coupons to use. Are they more expensive because I have been put on their coupon using, on their coupon using customer list, the naughty list? Or do they just gouge everyone? They probably galsge everyone. Yeah, they should have a menu, and if they don't have the menu,

you should be able to check. Certainly your fast service, oil change, tire balance, and all that kind of thing should be listed with the prices, and the coupon should come off that price. if they don't have a published price list, you're in trouble. Yeah, because you have no idea what the discounts coming off of. You have to have a reference point. Rick, you got somebody on YouTube?

I've got a couple of them here that I've answered them online already, but I wanted to bring these out on the air. Raymond is asking about his 2016 Camry, he says, other than the oil change in tire rotations regularly and faithfully, he says, what can he do to make the car last longer? And it actually ties in with our earlier comments there. The best thing is follow the factory recommended maintenance, and this is on any car at all, look for the book or online for the factory recommended maintenance for your car,

follow that religiously, and basically just drive your car in a decent, reasonable manner, keep your tire pressures up. And the best advice that I can give you on that otherwise is pick one. one brand or one station for fuel and try to stick with that one particularly because if something happens that they have a problem with their fuel because of being a regular customer and showing proof that you buy your fuel there, they're more likely to stand by it and take care of you if they have an issue and fix it for you. Other than that, cars just keep right on going. Well, I would add this, although maybe that's not what he was had in mind.

In terms of the resale value of a car, the cosmetics of the car, the looks of the car are very important. And as a car dealer, we trade in cars sometime that we're just mind-boggling, beautiful, and you get emotional. And if you have a car and you can keep it in the garage and you wash it regularly, you'll wax it regularly, and you're careful about the interior, maybe even have seat covers, I mean, I don't know. People can get fanatical about cars. But we've had cars that came in that were so well cared for that we would just get emotional in how much we would allow in terms of trade and allowance. And you can get a lot more money from a car dealer by a, I recommend this. When you're ready to trade a car or get a bid on a car, get it washed and wax and detailed.

If you have to spend $200 to get a wash and wax and detail, that will pay that and a lot more from the dealer's appraisal. Great information, that's for sure. Absolutely. A lot of people don't know that. Okay, guys, we're going to go to Ron and Singer Island. Good morning, Ron. Good morning. Good morning.

Thanks for taking my call. You're quite welcome. I just wanted to say something in regards to thank you, Michelle, because I bought a 2013 Toyota Corolla from a used car local guy. And I asked him about the... the airbag, the Takata airbag, they said, oh, no, no, it's not a problem on this vehicle. And, you know, but I'll tell you, you guys did a really great job.

What I did was I took it over to the dealership, and they said, yep, I put in the van, or they put in the bin, and came up saying that, you know, it need to be replaced, which you did, and I'm very happy about that. But I will, I am going to go, go back to see this guy just to mention to him that, you know, I guess a lot of the used

car people don't want to address this issue possibly or put a, put it, like put it throwing a monkey wrench in the situation in the sale. So they, so anyway, I wanted to thank you because listening to the show, it really brought this Takata airbag. I know off and on that comes up and it's a big issue and also a very dangerous situation. Thank you, Ron. That makes us feel good because we sometimes think people aren't paying attention. Nancy just showed me a article that was in the paper, the local paper the other day. U.S. probes, four automakers, and Takata Airbag Recall. This was just

in yesterday's paper. Every day, almost more is popping up about this Takata Airbag recall. And part of my letter to the state legislature and to the Attorney General and the Governor was about this Takata thing. Do something about the Takata. I don't know why use car dealers and new car dealers are not aware. I think sometimes they just haven't had the sense of urgency put in them by their manufacturers and by the media about how dangerous these things are.

It would take them a half a day to take that corolla you bought to a toilet dealer. And the toilet dealer would gladly fix it because the toilet dealer gets paid by the manufacturer to fix it. And take it back and now you sell a safe car. But instead of the dealer you bought it from was either uninformed or lazy. And that's not a good excuse when that Ticcada airbag could explode and kill you. And thank you very much for calling and making that point on the air. to, yeah, I just wanted to thank you because in listening to the show, you know, I probably would not have been aware of that. Maybe would have come up somewhere down the line. You know what I'm

saying. Well, thanks very much for the call around. Interesting, too, which was an interesting when he said, everything's done, they call you, you know, okay, great. And I said something to the effect. I said, oh, well, you replaced both airbags. And he said, no, no, the problem was just on the passenger side so I guess for that particular year vehicle evidently there's either two different

type of material or two different two different companies one the takata on the passenger side and another manufacturer or on the driver's side I was just I wasn't aware and I thought they were both the same company

well that's your question And Ron, and be honest with you, we are, as a car dealer, we are in the dark a little bit about who the manufacturers are of these airbags. We, up until this thing hit the fan about four years ago, nobody that ever heard it, Takata, and we didn't know what they made. And all the manufacturers were handling all this. So it's a lot of confusion. There's a lot of lack of transparency. We know that Takata airbags have been installed in new cars. as recently as two years ago

and we know that they knew when they installed those that in five years they'd have to recall them in this case here with you said this is a 2013 Corolla correct

yeah that's a 7 year old car and hopefully the other driver side airbag is not a defective airbag by Takana but it seems a little puzzling to me, that they would have two different manufacturers, airbags, and that 2013 Corolla?

Not necessarily, because I've actually, in order for manufacturers to be fair across the board, we used to have cars that on a V6 engine, you would have one side would be NGK spark plugs and the other side Nip and Denzo spark plugs. So, I mean, they will mix up manufacturers. in order to say, okay, we're not monopolizing. But don't you agree that Ron would feel a lot better if he knew that that airbag on the driver's side was not a Takata? Absolutely. And I don't think we can look at it and tell, can we?

No. There's no way to know who the manufacturer is. I mean, they're never going to do this, but that should be listed on them, at least on the card, like let you know what's on the end. What are you getting? At least today. Yeah, it's actually, yeah, I think it's a great idea. I mean, it's... Should I, I guess, not to interrupt, but should I at some point come in and, like, a couple years, come in and just have them run the van and see if there wasn't a recall on the driver's side, or is...

I think what I'll try to do, and because of your call, I will try to contact Toyota, and I will ask them why we cannot communicate to the customer to make him feel safe to know that he does not. have a tecotta airbag i would feel and rick explained it to me i didn't know the answer i i i it seems silly that we would have two different manufacturers of the exact same part in a in a car and rick explained it to me that that's the way they do it i'm going to contact toyota and i will i will hopefully have an answer for you by next saturday okay thank you the show is great it's great, and this stuff wouldn't come out unless it was for the show. Exactly. Well, thank you, Ron.

To everybody there. Appreciate it. Okay. Thank you, Ron. All right. Have a great weekend. Happy holidays. You too.

Happy holidays. Okay, real quick, I've got a text message from Katie and Sebring, and Rick, you can help me out on this. She asked about the valves on her tires and whether they're just as important to maintain. Before I turn it over to Rick, to my knowledge, they're made of rubber, so they're going to deteriorate over time. So what do you have to say about it, Rick? Well, it used to be that you had rubber valve stems on all the tires, and we would recommend replacing them when you are replacing the tires. However, now, with most cars, almost all of them having tire pressure sensors, some of those are made of rubber. some of them are actually a solid plastic and metal mount so there's really it depends on the manufacturer

but I don't think there is a maintenance interval planned on any of those anymore and because they're so expensive we generally don't recommend replacing them for that as a maintenance thing okay there you go mystery shopping report we got four we can run through rapid fire on the last four text if you'd like well why we do this let's let's do that right after we got time that one be sure you sure we got time mystery shopping report of napleton's palm beach acura nothing like a good old napleton mystery shop over the years at napleton's dealerships have provided our show the greatest variety of car dealers shenanigans i love that word shenanigan i did that for you than any other auto group late last year we investigated napleton's palm beach acura for our advertising on 2008

Chrysler 300 with the takata airbag recall they got a pass on the kata tecata teara tests, but they chose to sell the target vehicle at auction for unrelated reasons, we assume, prior to H&X arriving. A car just wouldn't there. Yeah, no car. The bait and switch sounds like, but we don't have the proof. The sales experience wasn't too bad. They suggest an alternate car in the same price range.

Other than the almost $1,200 in hidden fees, they went pretty easy on the shopper. We put Naples Palm Beach Acre on our recommended list. Of course, that's grading on the curve. We can't do an absolute grade because there'd be no place to buy cars from in Florida. This time, we went in to investigate a new car at. Naples, it didn't fare as well. It's the last time.

It was in the spring of 2017, and Agent X was treated to a sporgasbord of old-school car dealer tactics. An addendum, overpriced, and unwanted dealer-installed accessories. We talked about nitrogen earlier. large hidden fees, high pressure tactics. It wasn't pretty. It was absolutely nasty.

This week, we found an ad online for a brand new Accura, ILX, Accra is a luxury car with an eye-catching low payment. $89 a month. $89 a month for a luxury car. Can't go wrong. You can't resist that. And I wonder to myself, who believes these. I'll take three.

Who believes? Does it boggle your mind like it does my mind That people actually respond I got a Rolex here for a hundred dollars I don't know people buying Sucker born every minute I don't know Anyway

We'd have a hard time believing that payment Even if the ad was for a Kia Rio that's about the cheapest car you could buy To be fair the ILX is the least expensive Accur but still electric car And the only one with a starting price below $30,000. That is the ILX.

Still, to put things in perspective, a new, comfortably priced, comparably priced, 2,020, Toyota Camry L.A. will lease for about $200 a month. I won't keep you in suspense, of course. The offer wasn't as great as it appeared to be, and you knew that, because we're preaching to the choir here.

Our audience is an educated, a group of educated consumers. And, of course, there was a small matter of the fine print. I like that. small matter. Thank you very much. Very good.

Stu is a good writer. Very creative. The details just ruined everything. $3,59 do its signing. Fine print. $3,599 do its signing does not include first payment

or acquisition fee. Oh boy. But wait, there's more. Leases plus tax tag title tag $89 first payment, $5.95 acquisition fee. $899 dealer fee. One of the few dealers that really calls the dealer fee a dealer fee. I call it a hidden fee. $199 dock processing. Minimum $7.40. That's pretty strong. Typically, you see $7.20. That shrinks the audience a little bit. It does. Lease is allowed $7,500 miles per year. That's right. $7,500. That's the cap on the amount of miles you can put on the lease car per year. and they charge you 25 cents per mile.

That's about as high as you see. I've seen higher, but that's high. Deal are not responsible for typical type of graphic errors. Of course. And, of course, you put the stock number in there, which means there's only one car available at that price, and who cares. You don't want to buy it anyway.

The out-of-pocket comes to about $5,600, $5,600. Worse than that, the allowed 7,500 annual mowers are half the miles driven by the average motors. Average guy, gal, drives 15,000 miles a year. You only get half of that. And if you were to lease this vehicle and drive it as much as most people do, average, you'd be stuck with another, ready for this? $5,600 in over mileage penalties.

And they don't tell you this. It's in the fine print. Right. I mean, I'm telling you, this is, okay. It's bait and switch, and that much is clear, but catching the trick that only half is fun. We sent Agent Thunder there to find out how they deal with a customer who takes the bait, speaking as if I were Agent Thunder. I walked in the showroom of Mapleton's Palm Beach Acura, mid-afternoon Friday.

That's I don't know, Cacharby Boulevard, that's correct. West of the Turnpike. It was really nice, was decorated for the holidays, with red and white acres, arranged on the floor. A man directed me to the receptionist's desk where cheerfully. woman asked for my name, phone number, and driver's license. She then told me that a salesperson would be by shortly to help me. I wanted around the cars waiting for the salesperson to find me. Apparently they were having trouble finding one. I heard an annoyed-sounding manager trying to get somebody on the phone. Just after that, I was approached by a salesman named Jose. We talked about

the ad. I acted very excited to have found a new car advertised for such a great payment. $89 a month for an Acura. I told her my wife's lease was just ending and we were looking forward to cutting our current payment by over two-thirds. Jose began to explain that the car on the ad was just a base model. He said base, you know, kind of like...

With a sneer. You don't want a base. He went on to say that I'd be better off with a better equipped. I'll X. Jose reviewed the different packages who were available, please. That was pretty clever, Jose.

It was clever, but it wasn't honest. But we've actually had salespeople say, that's just the ad car. Yeah. You can't buy that car for that price. You can't buy the car, leased a car for that payment. That's just what we use to get them on the door.

We've actually had salespeople say that, and in a way, I respect that more than what Jose's doing. Jose is going for the subtle, for the professional, Payton Switch. I told him, I'm okay with the base model. I just want that payment. Jose replied that I'd have to come up with like, now it comes out.

I'd have to come up with like $5,000 to get there. I mean, I like the word get there. That means I'm lying to you. You can't do it for the monthly payment, and you have to get $5,000 that I didn't tell you about to get the $89 payment. But he says just to get there, $5,000. Don't go there, Jose.

Yeah. It's always best to put down less, saved money. Now he's trying to get on my side. You don't want to put $5,000 down. I mean... He totally took the focus of the deception of the ad and made it seem like he's advising him

and Jose's good. He's a pro. I bet he's been there a while and I bet he's one of their top salespeople. He's a pro. I asked him why they would advertise like this. Jose replied that Acura... His blame in the manufacturer. Acra has just

tried to do what everybody else does with catchy payments. I mean, why didn't he just say Accra is just trying to do what every other car dealer does which is lie, cheat, and steel. Ed Napleton is doing, he's just trying to do what everybody else does.

Accra, although I will say the manufacturers leave a lot to be desired and they're advertising. Accra doesn't do this sort of thing. It went on to say that you give me that payment, but again, I need to come up with a sizable chunk of money. Chunk of money.

I told him my wife weren't me about this possibility. He asked what my current payment was. I said the lease on my accord is $2.70 a month. Jose said we'd be able to work with something out and suggested we go look at the car and drive it. Okay. I waited a while for Jose to get the car. Then we went outside, looked it over, took it for a spin up and down over the Trembi Boulevard. Incidentally, there was an addendum.

Here we go again. An addendum, phony Monroney, also known as, for 18. $1,895,895 for a bunch of nonsense accessories like nitrofil and unlimited vehicle appraisals. That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. They also mentioned the snacks in the waiting room. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, unlimited vehicle appraisals.

So you will appraised my train in 25 times, but will you give me different prices? No. But I'll just appraise it. Here's what I'd like to see a Napleton, Palm Beach, Acura, buy a car there, and then go in and get $1,895 worth of snacks over the course of their ownership. I could do, though. Jose DeGend. Mr. Thunder, what would you like me to do? I wouldn't advise putting that $5,000 on a lease.

It would be wiser to keep that in your pocket. Don't you agree? Now, that's a classic professional clue. You know, you start people saying things that they have to. answer yes to and they have to nod to and you keep on getting and pretty soon they're in a yes nodding frenzy and then you slip it to them pop it to them and they say yes one too many times and they get i feel like i'm at like 80s era earl stewart salesman get them nodding get them nodding and then slip it to them okay we walked we talked about my three-year old honda he asked if i'd be

interested if I could keep my payment close to that lease under $300. There's another sales tactic in there is to make them think about and remind them that you're talking about a three-year-old Honda versus a 2019 Accura. Subtle, good. Jose left me to get my deal worked out. He returned with a no frills lease worksheet with just $1,000 do at signing. My lease payment would be $298.53, including tax for $36. months there was no mention of annual miles uh boy i tell you five thousand dollars bam and you don't

find out about that till you turn your lease car in and then you have a heart cardiac arrest five thousand dollars and that's what happens every day folks that happens every day the worksheet was confusing but it appeared to the selling price which is also the capitalized cost was $21,822. This included $2,143 in fees. So they put their hidden fees into the capitalized cost. So the selling price had over $2,000 worth of BS fees, hidden fees. There was also $1.99 listed in a line labeled maintenance,

which we believe was not maintenance, would make no sense. But I think this may have been a $199 dock processing. They even mislabeled their dock fees or their hidden fees on the worksheet and called it something that it wasn't. It wasn't maintenance, but they said it was maintenance. Let's see here. Only 211.40 was being used. Oh, no, no. You missed the 498.

Oh, 498 and aftermarket products. And we don't even know where that came from. I don't know what that is. Yeah. I mean, the addendum was $1,800. So what we have here. is total confusion, which is exactly what the car dealer wants to do. He understands it.

He can read that worksheet. He know exactly what it says. You can't lead it. I could understand it. And you're afraid, and here we are, Stu and me and Agent Thunder. We're professionals. Even we could not understand the labels, and the poor consumer has no chance. also as much of this

also as much of the $1,000 I have to come up with a period to be covered to cover fees only 21140 was being used as a true down payment there was a $1,500 rebate, okay like I said confusing as well I told Jose there was no way I could come home

with a $300 car payment after I told my wife we'd be under $100, $89 a month I told him I believed he was giving me a good deal I just had to convince my wife with that. I'm telling them that so I can get out of here. That's the exit. And get home, yeah. So, Apple log, what time we got? Okay, we got time.

We tried to get a real price on the true car for a new 2019 Accura ILX, but it was impossible to do this. We did see that Naples Palm Beach Acura was the only listed true car dealer for Accura in our area, and that's a shame. I'm starting to worry about True Car.

I hate to do this. i don't know if you still own any stock in the company i sold all my stock let me be honest with you it sucks it's it's it's worthless now yeah that's terrible and we use them um and we put our prices up there but you why didn't you tell me this a year ago when i didn't wouldn't take such a bath on my true car and i saw that you were suffering from the sunken cost fallacy i didn't want to ruin your ruin your day well i'm very sad about true car even though i'm very sad about my stock also yeah that's trying that the whole family The ad was classic bait and switch, and Jose had no intention doing the switch part once Thunder was baited.

At least in some strange way, Jose was being honest about the realities and what choice did he have. I mean, he just schmoosed it to make it go down easier. However, some things remain unanswered. What were the annual allowable miles? What was that maintenance thing? There is no maintenance. The aftermarket thing. We don't know.

We have reached out to the dealer for clarification on these items. but as of now, we've received no response. So that means they don't have an honest answer. And I'm looking at the worksheet here. And what a joke it is. I've circled some of the suspicious items. And it's just a damn shame. The best part on the next page is the addendum picture.

All the addendum, yeah. Oh, I see it. No, there's right there. I see it on the very top line. First year maintenance, $1.99. and so that was maintenance. They packed maintenance into the thing he didn't ask for it.

Isn't that illegal? I think so, yeah. Well, it's definitely analytical. I don't know. I don't know. We'll have to check with our attorney on that. But this is silly. This is for $1,865.

And this is a phony Monroney. It's right next to the regular Monroney label. And they have the first-year maintenance, unlimited multi-point inspections, which means you can come in as many times as you want for our mechanics to try and find something wrong with your car and of course that's a real valuable thing

especially when there's nothing wrong with your car pre-vacation checkup that's worth a lot of money a local shuttle service that's that's a priceless unlimited car washes and vacuum if they have time and you want to wait four hours service loaner vehicle program

I don't believe that That's probably warranty. Wheel locks, nitrophil. Now, there's a valuable point. I could go on and on. They put a bunch of worthless stuff here. UIP waiting area. Yeah.

Unlimited Carfax reports. Appearance protection package. Window, tent, touch, a pain door cups. A bunch of nonsense for $1,65. Anyway, that's Napleton, Accura, Okeechobee Boulevard, and West Palm Beach. And we need to... We got grades coming in.

There we go. It doesn't look good. George gives him an F. Linda gives him a big fat F. And then Judy gives him a BFF, which I interpret to me in a big fat F, like just like Linda, and Ed gives him an F. And I'm following suit. F from me.

Okay. Rick? I'm going F all the way. Yeah. Got a feeling. We're waiting to see what YouTube's will say, but wow. Yeah. Nancy, Black Widow?

Well, I'm going to, I'm on Amazon right now. on pricing and horse whips. And I see I can get a real deal here. You're going to send us him through a horse whipping. And I'm going to go over and see Jose. And we're going to have a talk behind the dealership. I'm going to give them an F. It's repulsive, disgusting.

It doesn't leave me speechless. And wow, what a shame. You can do business the right way, but they choose the wrong way. Yeah, I think we have to. fail them. And I will say this. Jose and the other salesmen that work there are kind of like hell prisoner. If they want to sell cars, they've got to do it with the Napleton way. And Napleson is fully responsible for his own advertising. The advertising is what's so bad. I mean, the essence of the evil in this is the totally lying, cheating, deceiving advertising. And if you

work at Naples, you've got to play the game. And that's what Jose did. He's playing the game. He isn't forgiving him, and he shouldn't do it, but the salespeople, I could sometimes feel sorry for him. Mark Anderson, F, Mark Ryan, F, Wayne, F, and Carmen grading on a curve, and it's, that's got to be one heck of a curve, C-minus. Yeah. Carmen's got an interesting curve there. I think it may be a curlicue curve. Yeah. You know, every time we fail somebody, and I think about the vast number of dealers that do as bad or worse, I hope we're being uniform in our grading. We failed them, and I'm feeling a little bit guilty. We do our best.

It is subjective. You can't get around that. One interesting note is on that mileage limit, we recently actually had a car come in to the dealership that they were driving for. Uber Lyft, and the fellow had gone over his lease by such an amount that he owed $12,000. And that was on a reasonable mileage lease. Oh, my Lord. So can you imagine if somebody with 7,500 miles took his car and started driving Uber? Thanks for your input, guys.

Well, the driver bear some responsibility there. We're going to, well, first of all, I'd like to thank Stu. Boy, I'll tell you what, weekend and we got creative rating. by the expert. Amory, we're going to get your answer your question next week, promise. Thank you from everyone here at Earl Stewart on Cars, and I want to wish everyone a happy holiday. We'll be right back here next Saturday morning.

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