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I remember, if I may, there was a time in my career when there was the great recession and I got let
go. I was looking for a job. The interesting thing is when you look for a job and you go on
to every dealership's website, because I would want to learn a little something about the dealership
that I might be willing to apply for a job for it, because there has to be, philosophically,
there has to be a match. Well, if you read the about section about every dealership in America,
these are the greatest, nicest, most customer-friendly people in the history of mankind
until, of course, you work for them and until, of course, you try to buy something from them.
It is, words, to quote a friend of mine, words are hard, but words are easy to come up with a
press release that says, oh no, we are really, we are, it is unbelievable how concerned we are
about our customers and our ability to take advantage of them. It is, it all starts at
the top, ladies and gentlemen. Okay, what do they say? The fish rots from the head? Well,
at a dealership, it's the same thing. It all starts at the top. If the owner, if the dealer
principal is willing to employ deceptive sales practices, that's where it starts and every
member of his team is going to take the lead from him. It is, hey, it's okay to lie, cheat,
and steal and, well, I better be a better liar, cheater, and thief than anybody else. And so,
until we can change the thinking of dealership principles, the owners of these dealerships,
to say to it or to see to it that they want to do it the right way, nothing's going to change.
And I, I've read the damn comments. I see the comments and, and you know, you're always
bashing car dealers. Well, there is so much news generated every week about dealerships that are
doing stuff that they shouldn't do. And, and so yeah, that's why I bashed dealerships. It's,
I think I said it the other day, if there's 18,000 new car franchise dealerships in this
country, and we want to be really, really, really generous, maybe 1,000, maybe 1,500 of them
do it the right way, and the rest of them fall into the category of we are just going to take
advantage of as many people as we can. And if and when we get caught, it was just a cost of
doing business. When we write that settlement check to the FTC or to the State Attorney General's
office, because we ain't never going to admit any guilt. And we are just going to put out a
press release that says, Oh, we are looking into our policies and our procedures, because
whatever we need to do to make it right, we're going to make it right, because we're here
for that customer. They're there for the buck. And don't ever forget that. I'm off my soap
box now. Maybe five, six years ago, I ruined any chance of ever having another job in the car
business. But it's just how I feel. I can't hold those feelings back. There are certain times
in your life where you have to call a spade a spade. You have to call it like it is.
And if most of the dealerships that we encounter are so full of BS and so full of themselves,
that we just have to call them out. I'm sorry. For the good ones out there, we're going to say
wonderful things about you. The SHOMP organization in Denver, they do a great job. It's a
negotiation-free selling system that they use. Earl Stewart. Hey, we're just trying to say some
nice dealers out there. In my opinion. In my opinion. All of that was in his. In my opinion.
So here's one of the cool things that ties to this, which I would be surprised if more
state AGs actually aren't reaching out to us soon, dad. It's because we've actually been able
to, with the AI bot, capture so much data. And I want to share some examples of that really quickly.
So folks, just in the past week, we've gotten 2,500 out-the-door quotes from dealers. And we're
figuring out ways that we're going to share this information on our website on caredge.com.
But here's an example of an out-the-door quote we got. And you can see right there. It says
there are $4,588 in add-ons. Again, the AI negotiator reaches out on your behalf,
creates an alias for email and phone number, contacts dealers, negotiates on your behalf.
You can then interject and all that fun stuff. The reason I'm bringing this up is because dad,
if you go to the actual listing of this vehicle from the dealership, you can see it right here.
I pulled it up on the screen. And it's a 2025 GMC Sierra 1500. They have it advertised at $48,634
today. If I go back over to the caredge website, so give me one second here. I'll pull
this up on the caredge website. We can see the price history here. They've been all over the
place on the advertised price. So they've kind of been all over the place. But today,
they've just loaded up $48,634. They've got a sales price, an internet price,
purchase allowance, a bonus cash. There's your price, right? $48,634.
I'm guessing that's my price until I actually go to buy it.
So here's the deal, folks. This is what the AI negotiator does. But more importantly,
this is actually all of the data that we are able to capture and then share with our community.
Here's the actual out-the-door price when you contact the dealership. So the discount's actually
larger. Somehow, we got a $7,246 discount. Oh, no, it's the same exact discount, excuse me.
Yeah. $7,246. So that matches so far. Yes. Selling price, $53,134. So we've lost
purchase allowance and the bonus cash, it looks like. Yeah.
Okay. So we'll have to ask a question there. They've added now $1,000 for window tint, $1,000
for door edge guards, $1,295 for graphene ceramic exterior protection, $1,295 for infotainment screen
protector. And then obviously, we have the dock fee of $999. The rebates, though, there they are,
the $4,000 in rebates. They did come back except we were at $27,50 and $70. So like a little bit
fuzzy on the math, but our total out-the-door price. Yeah. Even if we back out the taxes here.
So let's back out the taxes because we're at $59,502. Back out the taxes. So we're at $56,000.
We still went, we went from $48,000 to $56,000. And last time I checked, I'm pretty sure the AI
negotiator, the AI bot, didn't ask for window tint, door edge guards, graphene, ceramic
exterior protection, infotainment screen protector. And to be explicit, this is the
type of crap that these dealerships do and we're able to obviously capture.
I would have to ask, a window tint for $999, is that for my entire neighborhood?
Will you do everybody's car? Door edge guards and ring guards. Oh my goodness gracious. $1,000
for that. $1,000 for $20 worth of clear film. Seems so reasonable. And I am sure if you go to
this dealership's website, they are going to talk about how the customers are so important to them
and being a part of the community. And let's see if we can even find where it says that they're
going to add add-ons, right? Because we've got a price here. No asterisks or anything.
Please note we turn our inventory daily. Oh good. Let's go to the bottom of the page. Let's see here.
Prices do not include tax, tag, registration, any dealer installed accessories or dealer provided
benefits. Additional fees include a pre-delivery service fee of $999, $98 tag fee, $199 and 75
cents electronic registration filing fee. So there they go. They're covering their butts
right there to make sure that they're doing things legally. It's just a heck of a pain
point if I'm actually a customer trying to buy this thing. Okay, so yes. By the letter of the law,
are they advertising it legally? Yes. Is the law set up so that it is not a deceptive practice for
the customers out there? Yeah, the law is set up to favor the dealership and not the consumer.
That's what the problem is. This goes on in state legislatures throughout the country
where for whatever reason our elected officials who are supposed to represent us don't give a crap
about us. They give a crap about filling their pockets. I am sure that a lot of these laws are
structured with the aid of dealership associations and lobbying groups. Those lobster dinners
ain't cheap, but they're very tasty when somebody else is picking up the tab. For sure,
pops. For sure. This is one of those situations where I'm going to say, we've got to get the
lobbyists out of this. For sure, but I don't want to make this- We're working in our benefit.
I don't want to make this too much of that type of show. I was bringing it up because again,
what happened in Pennsylvania, we had a dealership group actually reaching $130,000 settlement. Again,
when you read the article, there's another quote from it. Many customers discovered higher
final costs due to the dealership disguising add-on costs that they were then reluctant to
remove when discovered. Is that not any different than what we're describing here and showing
and demonstrating? Again, what gets me excited about it is we've now built a system that
doesn't require human beings in the loop, the AI does it, to be able to name these bad actors.
No. I think it's great that this is the type of data that at some point, if a state reached out
to us, we could share that information with the attorney general's office or whoever might be
asking consumer whatever it may be. This is the type of stuff that the hope is will finally level
the playing field between the customers who are trying to purchase these vehicles and the sellers
who are trying to sell these vehicles. Exactly. It's actually a benefit for everyone involved
to bring this data to the forefront. Pops, let's switch gears. We've got our update here
briefly. Ford, up to 105 recalls so far this year. The latest one, let me pull it up from
automotive news, 500,000 vehicles here in the United States over brake fluid leak.
All right. We've got Ford Edges from 2015 to 2018. Lincoln MKXs from 2016 to 2018.
Yeah, man. This is F-ed up. Yeah. Brake fluid incontinence. I don't know,
do they have the pens that they can put over the system to capture that brake fluid?
So that I don't know, when you hit the brakes, there's actually fluid in there that will work
for the whole day. We're getting, I mean, actually, how many days have we passed so
far in the year? How many days so far this year? Wait for it. There's 125 days remaining. So what's
that mean? We've been through 240 days. Ford's averaging a recall every other day almost.
God bless them. Everybody's got to be good at something. Okay. And they have found their
specialty. And their specialty is having to constantly recall their vehicles because they just
don't build good ones. I don't know any other way to say it. If you're Jim Farley and your
executive team at Ford, you can try and put as positive a spin on this as you would like.
But the only way to put a positive spin on it is to say we are revamping how we build things
so that what we build is actually a quality vehicle as opposed to when we said quality was
job one. Obviously, we didn't mean it because it turned out quality was job none. It is,
I know Ford had a better idea and apparently the better idea was to build a worse vehicle.
I don't know. The bean counters must have done the research and came to the conclusion while
it's just cheaper to fix them for the people who actually bring them back for the recall
than it is to build them right in the first place. So yeah. Isn't this nuts, man? It's
another one. It is beyond nuts. It is... We're going full screen again. Okay. It is
how does a company like Ford retain the management team that it has when they have, for the last few
years, proven their incompetence when it comes to being able to build a quality vehicle without
issues? The rewards for that should not be continued employment, big bonuses and big salaries.
The rewards for that should be you're out. You don't deserve to work here. There are people who
do know how to run businesses like this. Obviously, these guys don't. These guys and gals don't. So
it's it just seems to me that it would be time for someone on the board at Ford to say we need
to make a change. Just, you know, and I'm available and I don't you know, I can do just
as good a job as they're doing because I don't know the first damn thing about it
and apparently neither do they in my opinion. You're a funny man. And I do it for less.
You do it for less and still be happy. Again, folks, if we can help you out with anything,
say goodbye to car dealership games forever. Check it out back at caredge.com. Again, J.P.
Phil, thanks so much for the big update you made to the AI negotiator not ready for AI.
Take advantage 20% off our negotiation expert service and our concierge car buying service.
Saw a comment early in the show about Rivian. If you're looking to buy a used Rivian,
our team can help. Obviously, if you're buying a new one, you don't need us. Don't even don't even
think about it. Check it all out, folks, back at caredge.com. You got questions. We got answers
down at the bottom of the AI negotiator as well as our car buying services. Please, folks,
please, please, please. If you're in the market, you know anyone in the market,
send them our way pops. I'm out tomorrow. You're on justice. So we have a show tomorrow.
I'm also going to be out on Monday, but you know what? Everyone's off on Monday. So enjoy the day
off on Monday. We're back on Tuesday, you and me or caredge live, but you're here tomorrow. So
please, everyone, tune in tomorrow with justice. Well, you know what? I'll be here because I enjoy
my conversations with justice and maybe he won't censor me as much as you do.
Oh. See you on Tuesday, folks. Love you. Have fun this weekend here, Sima. I love you.
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About this episode
Concerns about the car market's current state are highlighted as hosts Ray and Zach discuss alarming data on loan-to-value ratios. With banks reportedly inflating these ratios, many consumers find themselves in precarious financial positions, often owing more than their vehicles are worth. The episode delves into the implications of these practices, including prolonged debt cycles and limited refinancing options. Additionally, a recent settlement involving a Pennsylvania dealership group for deceptive sales practices is examined, emphasizing the need for transparency in the automotive industry.
Today on CarEdge Live, Ray and Zach discuss the latest data from TransUnion. THIS IS NUTS! Tune in to learn more. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com
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