CarEdge Live Dec 1, 2025

AMERICANS CAN'T AFFORD NEW CARS & REFUSE TO BUY | Episode 972

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36:50

Company

Carhedge Pro

Carhedge Pro is a website that helps people find good deals on cars by giving them information and tools to compare prices. It can give you a discount if you buy through it.

Term

MSRP

MSRP is the price a car maker says you should pay for a new car. It’s like a starting point before salespeople offer deals or discounts.

Car

F-150 Lightning

The F‑150 Lightning is a fully electric pickup truck made by Ford. It has two motors for power and can travel about 300 miles on a single charge.

Term

electric vehicles

Electric cars run on electricity stored in batteries, so they don’t use gasoline. They’re cleaner and can be cheaper to run.

Term

EVs

EVs means electric cars. They use electricity instead of gasoline.

Term

federal tax credit

The federal tax credit is a money‑saving offer from the government that cuts part of your taxes if you buy an electric car.

Term

used cars

A used car is one that someone else has already driven. It usually costs less than a brand‑new car, but you should check its condition before buying.

Term

auctions

An auction is a place where people bid on cars. You can sometimes get a good deal, but you need to know what the car’s condition is before buying.

Company

Stellantis

Stellantis is a big car company that owns many different brands, including Jeep and Dodge. It was created when two large companies joined together.

Car

Jeep Renegade

The Jeep Renegade is a small SUV that can handle off‑road adventures. It’s popular for its compact size and rugged style.

Concept

used car

A used car is one that someone else has already driven. It’s usually cheaper than a brand‑new car, but you should check its condition and history before buying.

Car

Lexus GX

The Lexus GX is a fancy SUV that can handle rough roads and still feel comfortable inside. It’s made by Lexus, the luxury brand of Toyota.

Concept

buyer’s market

A buyer’s market means there are more cars available than people want to buy, so you can usually get a better price or extra perks when buying.

Car

2026 Toyota Corolla Cross LE's

The Corolla Cross is a small SUV that looks like the regular Corolla car but has higher ground clearance and more cargo space. The 2026 version is newer, so it has better safety tech and a smoother drive.

Concept

124 days supply of new vehicles

Days supply tells you how long it would take to sell all the cars a dealer has right now. If it's high, like 124 days, it means there are lots of cars left and buyers can ask for better deals.

Term

XLE

XLE is a name Toyota gives to the nicer version of its cars. It usually has more seats, better sound systems, and extra safety gadgets.

Term

LE's

LE is a label that shows the car has more fancy stuff inside and out, like better seats or extra tech. It usually costs a bit more than the base model.

Car

CPO 330i

The BMW 330i is a popular car that feels sporty and has good handling. A CPO version means it’s been checked by BMW experts and usually comes with extra warranty protection.

Car

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It's noon here in Ventnor City, New Jersey

and our nation's capital, Washington, D.C.

And this is Carhedge Live for Monday,

December 1st, December 1st!

With your host, me, Ray, here in Ventnor.

Yes, sporting the Alphandore Grace hoodie.

And well, Zach, in some dealership somewhere.

Okay, so he's in his little WeWork office

and it's about the size of a cupboard.

How are you today, handsome?

You are full of energy this Monday morning, pops.

I love to see it.

I'm doing fantastic.

Thank you, everyone, for tuning in and joining us

for another episode of Carhedge Live.

Americans cannot afford new cars and they refuse to buy.

We got some new data that we're gonna look at today

and discuss.

Dad, before we do.

Yes.

Today's show is brought to you by Carhedge.com.

We've been running our Black Friday promotion

since, well, Black Friday, and it ends tomorrow.

The countdown is going back at Carhedge.com.

We are offering $300 off our car buying service

and 30% off Carhedge Pro.

Just to make it very clear to everyone here,

Carhedge buying service, concierge,

this is soup to nuts, we do it for you.

We have a team of concierges who every single day

get customers the best possible car deal.

They're doing all the work, locating the vehicle,

getting you the deal, and then ultimately

just getting that vehicle in your driveway.

You can start with a free consultation

to see if this is a good fit for you,

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You can learn more about how that works

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That includes dealer invoice, price, and so much more.

So anyway, there you go, that's what we're up to

on the sales side of things.

Had to get that off my chest.

Now, Dad, shall we go into the meat and potatoes

of today's show?

We're doing meat and potatoes?

I love meat and potatoes.

We've got an article in Wall Street Journal this morning.

The Wall Street Journal, American consumers

lose patience with high car prices.

Then, Dad, you flip over one more slide,

and we've got car buyers are finally pulling back

from $1,000 plus monthly payments.

The share of payments in this category

has dropped to 18.5% for new cars

and 5.9% for used cars.

This data coming from carscommercecars.com.

And then, Dad, we also have the average monthly

car payments in all 50 states,

and we're gonna look at some of those today on the show,

and they are scary.

You combine with all of this the fact that sales

for the new vehicles actually slowed down

year over year for the month of November,

and you have the scenario wherein,

where Americans are finally choosing

to not purchase these vehicles

because, well, they just can't afford them.

Well, I don't know if they're choosing not to buy them

or they're refusing to buy them.

They just can't afford to buy them.

And at a certain point, reality has to set in.

If the reality is that you need to put food on the table

and a roof over your head,

and you wanted that $60,000 Ford pickup truck,

and then the payment on that $60,000 Ford pickup truck

is $1,000 a month,

and the reality is you go, I can't afford that.

So you're not refusing to buy.

You're just finally accepting reality,

and perhaps, just perhaps,

the manufacturers will begin to accept reality

and realize that they need to broaden their customer base

as opposed to continually narrowing their customer base.

I think that's what I find fascinating.

The Wall Street Journal doesn't, every single day,

write articles about customers not buying cars.

I mean, American consumers lose patience

with high car prices.

That is the, I guess, professional way to say

Americans can't afford new cars and they're refusing to buy,

but it's the same story,

and it's the story of the fact that the average MSRP

for a new vehicle is above $50,000.

That automotive news tracks listing prices

for new vehicles every single day.

It's above, whoops, there it is, it's above $50,000.

This is a big, big bite to ask someone to take,

and ultimately, we're seeing more and more people

refuse to do it.

And, Dad, you don't even have to go that far

to start to rationalize why this is so difficult.

I'll just jump quickly here to the Car Edge car search

because I want to look at a monthly payment.

First vehicle that pops up here, we've got F-150 Lightnings.

I'll click on the less expensive one, the $68,000 one,

and I'll go down, Dad,

to the monthly payment piece of the page.

Let's find it here.

I mean, this is just a big monthly payment.

How many people can actually afford

a $1,500 a month monthly payment?

Apparently, 18.5% of American buyers.

Okay, yeah, so that's the data we got from cars.com.

We're down, which is shocking to say,

but we were up closer to 20% of all consumers

who purchased new vehicles had over $1,000 a month

monthly payment.

We're down to 18.5% for new cars

and 5.9, call it 6%, for used cars.

But it's just a lot of money.

It's a ridiculous amount of money.

It is, there is no way in hell any,

and I'm trying to think of a way to phrase this

so that those who keep participating

at greater than $1,000 a month

realize the damage they're doing for the rest of us.

And what do I mean by that?

If there's 18.5% of the people that are buying vehicles

and they're willing to accept a monthly payment

in excess of $1,000 a month,

then manufacturers say to themselves,

what do we need to lower the prices for?

Why do we need to figure out

how to produce less expensive vehicles?

And even though that number's dropped

from like 19.5% to 18.5%,

it's still a sizable percentage of those people out there

who were buying vehicles.

And it really makes no sense to me,

regardless of how much money you make,

why would you ever spend $1,400 a month

for a depreciating asset?

I mean, just why?

I wanna be clear though,

because we are starting to see the ramifications

of people refusing to buy.

Sales are actually down 8% year over year.

Now, a lot of that has to do with electric vehicles

or pull ahead on EVs.

And last year there were EV sales

and this year there won't be

because obviously the federal tax credit has gone away.

But dad, more and more people are finally refusing

to purchase these vehicles, which last time I checked,

let me find it here.

Give me one second.

Drum roll, please.

Oh, give me a drum roll.

Something pops.

No drum roll?

Oh, I didn't hear that part.

I was busy trying to clear my throat.

Come on, man.

We've got used vehicle inventory climbing.

And then let me go back here really quickly.

We've also got, load more, new vehicle inventory climbing.

Almost three million.

So you've got this moment in time

where customers are refusing to shop,

but at the same time, dad,

manufacturers continue to produce vehicles.

And fortunately, we're starting to see more used cars

show up in the used car lanes as well

at the auctions and on daily lots.

So this has one impact and one impact only.

Prices go down.

So it is a little bit of a story of like,

the people who are still spending $1,500 a month

right now on a car, like sure,

they are propping the market up.

But there are fewer and fewer people doing that.

That's what the data is showing.

Yet the manufacturers keep producing vehicles.

When supply increases and demand goes down,

what happens to prices?

There could not be more clear indication

that we are in a buyer's market

and will continue to be a buyer's market is my estimation.

And if I may.

Yeah, here, full screen.

Full screen for if you may.

This is not really a full screen moment,

but what I was going to say is,

I think part of the reality is

that we're in the holiday season

and lots of people are going to be spending lots of money

for holiday gifts.

And those people who are going to be spending lots of money

for holiday gifts, more than likely don't have the money

that it is that they're going to spend for those gifts.

They are going to put them on credit cards

and other lines of credit

because people just readily don't have

that type of cash laying around.

Sure.

Especially when we are confronted with the fact

that everything seems to be more expensive today

than it was at this very time a year ago.

Sure.

I would expect that sales for December

are going to be slower than last December.

All right, I want you to be explicit here.

You're saying sales broadly for retail?

Are you saying sales for cars?

What are you saying?

Sales for autos I think are going to be down in December

compared to December of last year

because people are just realizing

they don't have enough money to go around.

I will say though, Dad, that becomes the conundrum

because for those of you that have been patiently waiting

on the sidelines,

the more people take themselves out of the market,

the more people that refuse to buy,

it does create this moment of opportunity.

So it's very much a balancing act here.

And obviously we try and walk that fine line

as we provide the information.

But Dad, I think you're right.

There are fewer people shopping in November.

That data we already have.

What indication is there that it's all going to pick back up

and be better in December?

There isn't one.

If anything, we're seeing more inventories sit even longer,

which means cars aren't selling.

And we know, Dad, we saw in November,

manufacturers did increase their incentives a little bit,

but not nearly enough to what we think there needs to be.

We had 42 0% financing offers in the month of November.

I cannot wait to see if we crack 50 0% financing offers

in the month of December.

That's the conundrum.

It is a buyer's market.

And if you've been waiting patiently,

now is the time to strike while the iron's hot.

And also every single person that does transact,

that does buy, provides an incentive to the manufacturers

to not increase their incentives,

to the dealers to not decrease.

So it's an interesting thing.

And for those people who waited.

Yeah.

Who waited and want to be able to take advantage

of that shift from a seller's market

to somewhat of a buyer's market.

Those are the very same people that might realize

that even though they can get a better deal today

than they could 12 weeks ago,

that they might not have the money to be able to do it

between holiday shopping, cost of groceries,

cost of automobile insurance.

Yeah.

You know, those people who patiently waited

so that we were in a timeframe where they could expect

to finally have the leverage,

might no longer have the financial ability

to use their leverage.

Sure.

I'm gonna leave anomalies to the side.

For those of you that have been patiently waiting

and you have the means to do it,

yeah, you've got way more leverage today

because your peers have refused to buy these vehicles.

And you transacting and purchasing

does add demand back into the market.

But I think broad strokes,

what we are seeing very clearly,

again, the headlines this morning,

it's not like the Wall Street Journal every day

is writing this article.

American consumers lose patience with high car prices.

We have the latest data from Cars Commerce

showing that there are fewer people

accepting $1,000 monthly payments.

Like this is a good sign for those of you

who continue to wanna see, quite frankly,

dealerships in pain and consumers with leverage.

Like that is what you're seeing here.

So in that Wall Street Journal article,

which I haven't read because I don't have a subscription

to the Wall Street Journal.

Yeah.

What do they say that the American consumers are saying

that leads them to believe that, as they put it,

Americans have lost patience with high car prices?

I mean, at the end of the day, dad,

it's just that they can't afford it,

that people want cheaper prices.

They wanna go back to having

not $1,000 a month payment.

That's the premise of that article

is that as MSRPs have gone up,

we've seen for the longest time

enough shoppers sustaining the market.

And as you've always said,

eventually you're gonna run out of people in the market

and there's just fewer customers now.

And that ultimately will force prices

to move back in a different direction.

Were there any quotes from any of the manufacturers

as to them saying in corporate speak

that maybe they realized they've gone too far

or are they still being somewhat optimistic

as to what the future holds for them?

I don't have exact quotes for you here,

but of course, the corporations think,

I mean, there's actually a really funny story

about Stellantis with their Jeep Recon

coming out with all sorts of quotes

after they got knocked for poor build quality

and things like that.

The corporations are gonna say

what the corporations need to say.

But we are seeing these headlines

and these data points paint a very clear picture,

which again, I sound like a broken record,

but less people buying cars

because they can't afford them,

refusing to shop ultimately puts a lot of pain

on the industry.

I really cannot wait to see,

the November car deals, by the way,

manufacturer incentives, they end today

in a lot of instances.

So we don't have December 0% financing yet

or December lease deals, things like that,

but obviously we will compile them and we will share them.

I'd be shocked if there are fewer deals this month

than there were last month.

I'd be shocked.

I would think if sales went down in November

or from November of 2024,

that yeah, manufacturers tend to be reactive

much like car dealers tend to be reactive.

And so the reaction to the slower sales typically would be,

okay, we need to increase the incentives

to try to encourage people to come in,

to give them a reason to come.

So I just think the problem is that the stuff

is just so utterly expensive

that the size of the incentives,

I think to encourage a broader market

would have to be significantly more

than what they have been.

Yeah.

I don't see how you get the average American

to come in to try and take on a 750 to $1,000 a month

car payment based on the type of incentives

we're seeing today as being good enough

to get them to do that.

And again, I just want to continue to ring the bell

and then we're gonna switch gears here.

If you are in the market to buy a new or used car,

I've talked to so many people this weekend

that were like, you know,

I've been thinking about buying a car.

Please, please, please,

the market dynamics are so different today

than they were a year ago, six months ago,

a couple of years ago.

You have all the leverage in the world.

So then the dealership says,

oh, we're selling cars at MSRP

or no, our advertised price on that used car

is our best price.

The answer is no, no.

There are some pockets of exceptions.

If you're trying to buy a Lexus GX, sure.

That has such low supply, not enough and too much demand.

But for 99% of cars out there right now,

it is a buyer's market.

And as more people continue to take themselves

out of the market,

it will continue to reinforce that it is a buyer's market.

So if you do choose to make a move here

between now and the end of the year into next year,

please note that that dynamic had shifted

the data all points to it.

And we see it day in and day out in our work.

We've got thousands of customers

using our concierge service.

We have seen incredible deals

that we're able to provide to customers

simply as a function of market dynamics.

Lots of hard work,

but at the end of the day, it's market dynamics.

Well, and if I may,

the customers always had the leverage.

Of course.

Because the customer can always say no.

And that is the most powerful two letter word

that you have in your toolbox

when you're shopping for a car.

Yeah.

They can tell you,

oh no, we can't discount the car any further.

And you can simply say, okay, no, I can't afford it.

It's still too expensive.

I guess I'll have to leave.

You get up, they start to leave and they go,

well, maybe we can find a few more dollars.

So don't ever lose sight of the fact

that it's your money they need.

It's your credit in order to sell cars

or it's your good credit that they need

in order to be able to place a loan for them to sell cars.

They like to pretend that they have all the leverage.

They don't, unless they're selling cars to each other.

They need you.

Don't ever forget that.

Kind of like during World War II,

the US Army needed you.

Well, dealerships need you

unless they're selling cars to each other.

And trust me, these salespeople aren't.

They have better things to do, or at least tend to do.

They need you.

So as long as they always need you

to be the ultimate customer,

use that powerful two letter word, no,

until you can get what it is that you want.

And eventually, not in all cases, but in many cases,

at some point the dealers will acquiesce to some degree

to either get to the number

that you have suggested you'll buy it at,

or at least closer to that number

that you have suggested you'll buy it at.

So never forget you have the ultimate power.

They need you more than you need them.

Don't ever forget that.

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Dad, we've had a thoughtful contribution

come in here from Mitchell.

Can you guys check for me?

Thank you, Mitchell.

Can you check for me?

2026 Toyota Corolla Cross LE's in 08859.

Let's spend some time here, dad, trying to help Mitchell out,

get a sense for what's going on in Parlin, New Jersey

for 2026 Toyota Corolla Cross LE's.

All right, here we go, dad.

I went to the car edge car search.

I feel like it's like Toyota Corolla Cross, excuse me.

08859 within a hundred miles.

There are, this is insane how much inventory Toyota has.

1,344th and a hundred miles of this particular zip code

in this area.

There's a 124 days supply of new vehicles.

That means folks, for all the new cars for sale

in Parlin, New Jersey,

it's taken dealers 124 days to turn them over.

That's really high.

That means that as shoppers, you have a lot of leverage.

That being said, I've clicked on a couple here, dad.

Here's an XLE, which is a bit more expensive.

And I'll come down here.

We've got some LE's.

I've clicked on one of these in another tab,

which are less expensive.

Let's take a peek, dad.

But with that, obviously MSRP invoice price.

And then let's look at what the day's supply situation is.

We've got a $32,000 MSRP, 31944.

Dealer invoice price on this, 29,867.

We've got a target discount range

from the CarEdge algorithm.

That's pretty aggressive, around 10%, around 10%.

So we are seeing some deals on this.

That being said, let's come down here.

52 days supply, which is quite high for Toyota.

It's still quite low in the grand scheme of things.

Dealers in this area have sold 239 of this particular

vehicle in the last 45 days, yet they have 274 for sale.

So this could be one of those vehicles

where you actually can get a little bit of a deal.

I can see space here in the chat saying,

supply is not a problem, nine to 10% off MSRP

before the $750 Toyota financial services rebate.

So there you go.

Obviously, dad, I want to create some space

for you to comment on this, but there's the data.

You've got the data on the screen.

You've got space in the community.

I think there's a really awesome opportunity here, dad,

for someone to take advantage of the fact

that this is a fairly high supply Toyota vehicle.

Well, it is for Toyota.

I mean, we could look at other models

and the numbers would be significantly flipped

where the total sold in the last 45 days might be 400

and the total for sale might be around 250.

So that's showing that they're turning much more quickly.

This happens to be a model that isn't turning

as quickly as some of their other vehicles.

And so even with Toyota dealers,

there are deals that can be had.

And it also depends regionally.

It also depends on what part of the country you're in.

But obviously in Jersey, in this area of Jersey,

you should be able to get between eight and 10% off.

Love that, love that.

Car Edge Pro, that's the data

that we're referencing right there.

So obviously you can get access to that yourselves

and it's great to validate it with deals that space.

One of our community members is seeing,

one of the Car Edge team members

and community members is seeing as well.

From Matthew.

Thank you, Matt.

Appreciate this, Matthew.

Good to see you here as always.

Been watching.

The CPO 330i is a potential daily driver.

They wanted 29.9, offered 27.

Would have been a taker at 28.

They said no, and now it's at 28.

Time to offer 25.

If that is not the sales pitch for our company,

I don't know what is.

Buying a car is such a pain in the butt, Matt.

That is hilarious.

Yeah, yeah.

I can't imagine how many deals get passed on by dealerships

when a customer offers a bit less

than what they thought they wanted to take.

And then suddenly within a week or two,

they're at the number you were at or lower

in an effort to try and sell it.

And that salesperson and sales manager

must be mad as hell at each other

for not having taken a profit.

There is no shame in selling a car and taking a profit.

Might be a smaller profit

than you thought you were entitled to,

but there's no shame in taking that profit.

You can't get hurt taking that profit.

Completely agree, dad.

Completely agree.

Pops, we've got an incredibly thoughtful contribution

that came in right here.

Thanks, Ark Photographer.

We really appreciate it.

You guys mentioned $1,400 a month payments for a Ford truck.

Would you say that's true for a more affordable car

like a Nissan Sentra, Kia Soul, Honda Accord, Toyota Camry?

Thanks for what you do.

Girlfriend watched your videos

and got a good deal on a 2025 Kicks.

Then break this down a little bit.

Can people end up buying a Nissan Sentra,

a Kia Soul, a Honda Accord, Toyota Camry,

and have a $1,400 a month payment?

Is that even possible?

If they were asleep when they signed the papers.

Or it could be short, short loan term, right?

Yeah, it could be a short-term loan.

It could be somebody with bad credit.

Yeah, we see that.

At a very high interest rate loan.

But typically when you're looking at cars

in the $20,000 to $30,000 price range,

and if you're going to finance it for 60 or 72 months,

it would be hard to have a payment

in excess of $1,000 a month.

But I guess if you put your mind to it,

you could do just about anything.

Yeah, but I mean,

there are more affordable vehicles out there, obviously.

That being said,

some of those vehicles really struggle to sell.

For example, that Nissan Sentra,

for whatever reason,

Nissan continues to struggle to sell them,

even though they do represent

some of the most affordable options

out there in the market.

Ark, glad we were able to help you and your girlfriend.

Thank you so much for that very kind

contribution from Matthew as well.

Yeah.

Hops, this one ain't a profit,

started at $36,000 in August.

So we've been documenting here on the Car Edge live channel

how used car prices are evolving in the market today.

Matthew, if you have the VIN handy,

let me know so I can pull up the vehicle detail page

and look at the price history.

36,000 down to, now you're going to offer them 25.

That's a big drop in a short period of time.

And the dealerships down to,

they would take the 28 that he would have bought it at.

You know, sometimes depending upon

how long the vehicle's been sitting.

And so it was there in August, we're in December.

You know, the dealership has to look at it and go,

okay, at this point we own it for way more

than what it's really worth.

If we have to take some type of loss,

take the loss and move on.

Take that $28,000 that you could have had

and put it towards buying a vehicle

that hopefully you can turn a profit on more quickly.

It's all about inventory management.

It hasn't changed in forever.

I mean, it's cash flow and inventory management.

You have to look at what's sitting

and you have to figure out how to get it out of there.

And you have to look at your pricing.

And if you haven't had a whole lot of activity on a vehicle,

then your price is too damn high and make the adjustments.

And you can't always justify the price of the vehicle

based on how much money you have in the vehicle.

If you overpaid for it, that's not the customer's fault

that's trying to buy it from you.

That's your fault for overpaying for it.

This is the time of year where we see

a lot of strange behavior from car dealers

trying to not get desperate,

but ultimately needing to get desperate

to sell inventory to move it along.

Gonna see lots of interesting pricing behaviors,

negotiating tactics, et cetera,

especially this time of year,

as like we said at the outset of the show,

more people are choosing not to purchase vehicles.

And as a result, it's putting pressure on the industry

to lower prices.

As prices go lower,

it brings more people back into the market.

This is the juggle, right?

This is the thing that we're all trying to balance.

And it does create that opportunity

for some weird market dynamics.

One more comment here from Matthew,

then we'll switch gears.

I paint metered it.

It's a good car.

There you go.

Matthew knows what's up

when it comes to buying a used vehicle.

Well, the truth of the matter is,

you should paint meter a car.

And most dealerships have paint meters.

The used car manager probably has one or two paint meters.

And you can always ask your salesperson,

oh, by the way,

could we borrow the used car manager's paint meter?

I just, I wanna take a closer look at this vehicle.

Yeah, we're not gonna go too into the depths.

So let me explain what a paint meter is.

We are going too into the depths.

Go for it.

Okay, a paint meter is,

it measures the thickness of the paint on a vehicle

and say it's eight millimeters thick.

It measures in some areas

and then in another area, it might be 12 or 14.

Well, that would indicate that there's extra paint there

because I don't know, there had been an accident

and it has been repaired.

So the reason you wanna use a paint meter

is the thickness of the paint should be the same

on all the panels.

There should not be a wide fluctuations

between the thickness of the paint

on the front fender and the rear fender.

So that's what a paint meter is.

Used car managers have them.

They usually use them when they go to appraise the cars

because they wanna see if a vehicle's been in an accident.

I wanted to spend some time looking at monthly payment data,

but we're actually gonna do that on tomorrow's show.

Instead, dad, I need to address a comment

that was on our most recent show.

Dad, this came from a gentleman named Dale.

So I'm pulling this up on the screen here.

I keep hearing about your free consultation phone call.

But when I called yesterday,

your secretary, Tony, said I would have to pay first.

That is not free if you ask me.

I even sent you an email and you still have not responded.

Either your phone consultation is free or it is not.

And this kind of got a lot of upvotes

and that brought a lot of stress and disdain to me

because not only did Tony,

who is not a secretary on our team,

she's one of our customer support representatives,

have a 20-minute engaging phone call

with this community member.

I also followed up via email multiple times, as did Tony.

So I wanna really set the record straight here,

which is I replied back.

Hi, Dale, Zach here.

Tony called you twice yesterday.

Both went to your voicemail.

She also emailed you.

I also emailed you after your original comment

on another one of our videos.

And I let you know that I was going to listen to the call,

talk to my team, and get back to you in full today.

We are here to help.

That was on Thanksgiving, by the way.

We are here to help.

The consultation call is to help figure out

how we can help you.

We offer free support in so many ways

and I encourage you to check out our forum.

You can also email me directly or my dad

and we will try and assist you.

I'm gonna continue here,

because this is really important to me.

To Zach, I don't know what phone number Tony called,

but it wasn't my phone number.

My cell phone makes an entry

whether you leave a message or not.

I checked and there was none.

I have not checked my computer today for email messages.

I am on the West Coast Pacific time,

so I'm a three-hour difference in time.

I am also a late sleeper,

especially after the Thanksgiving holiday.

I will check my emails in just a sec,

as today is a slow day for me.

I got the message from Ray

that he would forward my message onto you.

That was the day before Thanksgiving.

I didn't think he would respond till after the holiday.

Look forward to reading your email.

Thank you, and I wanna be clear here.

There's a lot of people, dad,

that slam us for being salespeople,

that we're just trying to take advantage of people.

And I wanna set the, yeah,

can't tell if it's the car salesman sleaze

or his son who does the talking

about their $1,000 service 40 times a video.

Y'all, on Saturday, I called Dale twice,

that's the first time he did not answer.

The second time he did, I was grateful for that.

We had a nice 20-minute conversation,

and I encouraged Dale, ultimately, dad,

to go test drive some vehicles

because he's not quite sure what he wants.

He's not sure if he wants a 2013 to 2018 Toyota Camry

or if he wants the Leesa new vehicle.

More power to you, Dale.

I hope you figure out what you want.

Once you do, we'd be happy to help you

get the best deal possible on that

and have an awesome shopping experience.

What I also communicated to Dale,

and I'm gonna communicate here to our community,

is Tony is not a secretary.

She's a really important person on our team.

She's a customer support representative, not a secretary.

Tony talks to dozens of people every single day,

and I have the utmost respect for her

and what she does for our team, so not a secretary.

Made that very clear to Dale.

The second thing is, do we have opportunities

to improve how we communicate our services

and make it very clear what we offer

and how we provide value?

Of course we do, and I want all the feedback in the world

to get better at doing that.

And I also do not want to misrepresent the efforts

that we put in to try and meet our community

where they are.

The phone calls, the emails, the text messages, we're on it.

We might not always get it right,

and when we don't get it right, we own that.

But I do not like seeing comments that paint a picture

that we are not putting our best foot forward

to try and serve our community

and serve the people who put trust in me, my dad,

and the 50 people who work at CarEdge.

So there was something about the secretary comment

that really irked me, felt degrading

and a little belittling, and so I made that clear to Dale,

community member who I greatly value,

and I know Dale tunes in later in the day.

Dale, I know you're probably watching this

at three hours in the future.

I hope you don't mind this, but this is very real for me,

and we're here to serve.

And I really enjoyed our conversation the other day,

and I really hope there's an opportunity for us

to serve you and help you once you've figured out

what you want.

I just wanted to take a couple minutes, Dad,

because that did not sit well with me

when I saw those comments coming in,

and I just really wanted to take a moment

and set the record straight.

Well, I'm glad you did.

Here's one of the things I learned early on.

We will never be all things to all people.

Some people are just not going to be happy with us

regardless of what we do or how we do it

or how we might bend over backwards to help them.

It's just that simple.

And if 90%, 95% of the people that we deal with

are pleased with how we've dealt with them

and they found value in what it is that we offer,

God bless them.

In the five to 10% of the people

that we just can't make happy, God bless you as well.

Yeah, you know what?

I don't judge those people.

There is something about how me and my dad

present ourselves here or something about the services

and products that we provide back at CarEdge.com

that don't work for you.

I'm not offended.

We are not all things to all people.

We show up authentically, and I want to be so clear,

we want to get better, desperately.

I am so freaking grateful that Dale shared his comments.

I listened to the 20-minute conversation.

Were there coaching points in there?

Of course.

Are we going to be better off because of it?

Absolutely.

I am grateful, very grateful for that.

And the five to 10% of people who don't like us,

I learn something from that.

I get curious.

What about how we showed up was not helpful to those people?

It is so valuable.

And I want to make sure people understand

that our principles, our character,

the values that we bring, this is not some BS thing.

This is not BS.

This is our lives.

This is we go walk around in public and people know us

because of what we've been able to build here.

Thanks to each of you.

I'm not trying to put any bad name on the Shefska last name.

I love being able to walk around and like, you know,

we help people.

That's why we do this.

We help people.

So anyway, just wanted to share that.

And Dale, I know you're going to watch the show later.

So feel free to text me or call me.

I offered him our $300 off concierge promo in perpetuity.

He wants to use it a year from now.

He can get the 300.

I want to help the guy, really do.

But I also want to like, you know,

you're convicted in the values

that we as a company strive for.

As I used to say to people when they would send me emails

with issues that they might've had, I encourage that.

There is no way for us to get better

if we didn't know that we let somebody down, okay?

If we let somebody down and they kept it to themselves,

we would not know.

And so that there wouldn't be any way for us

to make any additional improvements

to what it is that we do.

But we also, I also understand it at 74 plus years old,

we will never please everybody.

That is an impossibility.

And so we strive to please the most people we can

and we'll do our best with the people

that we have a hard time pleasing.

You know what, and I bet you dad,

in the six years that we've been working on CarEdge,

we've gotten better at being able

to meet more people where they are.

I think when we first started this,

especially our products and services,

they were not as mature and fully formed as they are today.

I am certain we're able to meet more people

where they are today.

I think in our content, you know,

we always have opportunities to try

and be more accessible to more people.

But anyway, we could go on.

I could talk about this forever.

I don't see a huge need to continue to belabor it.

Thank you for listening to my little commentary there.

If we can help you folks, I will do my,

what was that comment, my 4,000th pitch of the show.

CarEdge.com, there are all sorts of great resources,

both free and paid.

Yes, we do have paid services to help you buy a car,

paid products and services to help you buy a car

because we've got an incredible team that's on payroll here.

I feel very proud of the folks that work here

and to be able to provide a good living to them.

But anyway, check it out, CarEdge.com

if we can support you in any way,

shape or form, otherwise we'll be back tomorrow.

I'll be in person, side-by-side with my dad,

making my way down to Ventnor City, New Jersey.

Can't wait to be there with you, pops.

Well, I'm looking forward to it.

I know there's supposed to be a nor'easter coming through.

So you picked a great day to come to the shore,

but we will do the best we can.

And knowing that I'm on the fourth floor,

even if we have floods tomorrow, we should be good.

All right, folks, we'll see you later.

Thanks so much, dad.

Yep, love you, handsome.

See you tomorrow.

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0:00

36:50

AMERICANS CAN'T AFFORD NEW CARS & REFUSE TO BUY | Episode 972

Carhedge Pro

MSRP

F-150 Lightning

electric vehicles

EVs

federal tax credit

used cars

auctions

Stellantis

Jeep Renegade

used car

Lexus GX

buyer’s market

2026 Toyota Corolla Cross LE's

124 days supply of new vehicles

XLE

LE's

CPO 330i

Nissan Sentra

Honda Accord

Kia Soul

Toyota Camry

2025 Kicks

paint meter

2013 to 2018 Toyota Camry

CarEdge.com

About this episode

Original notes