They’re using your license plate to look up your car and generate a price offer faster. It helps the system identify the vehicle without you typing everything manually.
Employee pricing is a special discount that’s usually meant for employees. Sometimes a company offers it to regular shoppers for a limited time to encourage buying.
Concept
250th anniversary of America
That’s a big anniversary used as a marketing theme. Car companies sometimes use big holidays or milestones to offer discounts for a limited time.
“Short in supply” means there aren’t enough trucks available compared to how many people want them. If that’s the case, it can be harder to find the exact truck you want and you may need to act quickly.
“In the pipeline” means cars that are already on the way or planned to arrive soon. If there aren’t many in the pipeline, the dealer won’t have many trucks coming.
“Wholesale” here means dealers getting cars through the normal supply chain from the manufacturer, not buying them like a regular customer. It’s about how many trucks a dealer can get allocated to them.
The Buick Roadmaster is an older, large car that was built to be comfortable and roomy. In a conversation, it may come up as a reference point for what people used to drive or what kind of big vehicle they’re comparing against today.
The window sticker is the official paper on the car that shows the price and what’s included. In this segment, they’re using it as the starting price before discounts.
The Lexus ES 300h is a Lexus sedan that runs on a hybrid system, so it’s designed to get good fuel economy. The speaker likes it a lot and is using it for long highway trips.
Term
highway miles
Highway miles are miles driven mostly on faster roads where you don’t stop as much. That kind of driving usually wears things differently than city driving.
The Toyota RAV4 is a compact SUV. The speaker is looking at it because they need something that can tow a decent amount while still being efficient at the pump.
Road noise is how loud the car feels from the tires and the road while you’re driving. The speaker is saying it’s not always just the car—tires and the road can make a big difference.
“Limited” usually means a higher trim level—basically a more equipped version of the same model. If the tires are noisy, the owner might change them right away to fix the sound.
A “trade” usually means trading in your current car when you buy another. What you get for it can be good or not, depending on the car’s condition and market demand.
The BMW 5 Series is a nicer, more upscale sedan compared with typical everyday cars. The podcast mention is about someone who leased a 2019 530i and has been sharing their experience with it.
A “leak” means some fluid is coming out of the car. If it happens often, it can be a sign of a problem that needs fixing before it causes bigger damage.
“German cars” is a general way people refer to cars made by German brands. In this conversation, the host is talking about how those cars can be expensive to fix as they get older.
The fuel line is the hose/tube that brings gas from the tank to the engine. If it leaks, it can cause fuel smell and other issues, so it should be repaired.
This sounds like a warning related to the mirror sensors. Some cars use sensors in/around the mirrors to help with alerts, and they can trigger warnings if they’re not working right.
Term
used car shopping experience
This is a discussion of the process of finding and evaluating a pre-owned vehicle. In practice, it often includes comparing listings, contacting sellers/dealers, arranging inspections, and negotiating based on condition and known issues.
Company
CLA dealer
They’re talking about a dealership in Odessa, Texas where they found the car online. The exact dealer name isn’t fully clear in what was said.
This refers to a 2016 Ford Expedition with about 110,000 miles. The Expedition is Ford’s large, family-oriented SUV, and the mileage level is typical for a used-car purchase where condition and maintenance history matter a lot.
If the car smells like cigarette smoke, it usually means smoke got into the interior. That can be hard to fully remove, so it’s something to take seriously during a used-car inspection.
The Mustang GT is a sporty version of the Ford Mustang. It’s the “GT” trim, usually meaning it’s the stronger, more performance-oriented model in the lineup.
Sometimes car deals depend on incentives that change day to day. When the offer changes, the dealership may need to redo the deal or adjust the paperwork so the price still makes sense.
Incentives are discounts or special financing deals that can make a car cheaper. If the discount changes the next day, the dealership may have to redo the deal to match the new offer.
Car
2018 Denali
Denali is a higher-end trim level from GMC. In this case, the caller says their 2018 GMC Denali is a diesel truck, which matters because they talk about emissions equipment after the warranty ends.
Term
deleted the death system
The caller says they “deleted” an emissions system on their diesel. Emissions systems are there to reduce pollution, and removing/disabling them can sometimes make the truck feel better or get better mileage, but it may not be legal and can cause other issues.
Diesel exhaust fluid is a special liquid diesel cars use to clean up their exhaust. It gets added into the exhaust system so the car can reduce pollution.
The urea sensor helps the car measure and control the diesel exhaust fluid. If it breaks, the car may not be able to clean its exhaust properly and you can get warnings or reduced power.
The Environmental Protection Agency is the U.S. government agency that sets rules for vehicle pollution. Here, they’re changing guidance that affects how carmakers monitor emissions.
NOx sensors are sensors that check how much pollution is in the exhaust. The idea here is that future systems may use these sensors more because they tend to be more dependable.
Concept
emissions systems on diesels
Diesel emissions systems are the parts that clean up exhaust after the engine runs. They use sensors and fluid dosing so the car can meet pollution rules.
Fuel economy is how far you can drive on a given amount of fuel. The hosts are saying emissions equipment can make the car use more fuel to go the same distance.
Smog is dirty air, often caused by exhaust from cars and other sources. The hosts are saying that rules and technology for car emissions helped reduce it over time.
An electric vehicle runs on electricity from a battery. Instead of using gasoline, it uses an electric motor, and you usually charge it at home or at public chargers.
Hydrogen cars make electricity from hydrogen to drive the wheels. Instead of charging like an EV, you refuel with hydrogen—though there are fewer places to do that.
Term
walking into a spaceship
This is a metaphor for modern “cockpit” design—large digital displays, advanced driver-assistance interfaces, and highly integrated infotainment. It points to how feature-rich today’s cars can feel, even if the controls are complex.
This refers to the in-person “delivery” or “walkthrough” process where a dealer explains how the car’s infotainment and driver-assistance features work. Skipping it can mean you don’t use key functions correctly, which reduces the real-world value of the car.
The Dodge Charger is a car that’s made for everyday driving but can also be built to feel sporty and powerful. If you’re having trouble finding how something works, it usually means the car has a lot of features and the owner’s manual helps you locate the right settings.
The owner’s manual is the instruction book for your specific car. If you can’t find a button or feature—like opening the trunk—it tells you exactly where it is and how it works.
The Toyota 4Runner is a Toyota SUV that’s built to handle rough roads better than many regular cars. The listener is driving one now and is asking whether she should switch to a leased vehicle instead.
The Toyota Camry is a regular, everyday car that’s meant to be comfortable and easy to live with. The podcast mention suggests the speaker likes Toyota cars they’ve owned before and sees the Camry as a familiar option.
Model-year inventory timing is basically when the new version of a car shows up at dealerships and when the previous year’s cars run out. The caller is saying this can affect what’s available to lease or buy.
Leasing means you pay to use a car for a few years, but you don’t usually own it. The host is saying you should put down as little money up front as possible so you keep your cash instead of losing it later.
A down payment is money you pay right away when you start the lease. The host’s point is to keep that upfront payment small so you don’t tie up (or lose) your cash.
When you lease or buy a car, you usually have to pay fees to register it. The host is saying it’s okay to cover the required registration-related costs, but don’t add extra cash on top.
The “Car Pro” website is the online place where the person got help and got a quick response. It’s being used to connect shoppers with someone at a dealership.
These are extras the dealership adds to the car—like accessories or protection packages. They can change the price, so it’s smart to check exactly what you’re paying for.
The finance department is the dealership team that handles the paperwork and financing arrangements (loans/leases) and often presents optional products. It’s where many “add-on” charges and payment-structure discussions happen.
They’re suggesting a method for choosing a dealership—look for one that’s “certified” by Car Pro. The idea is to get a better, more consistent experience.
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Hey sweetie, your mother showed me this Carvana thing for selling the car.
I'm gonna give it a try. Wish me luck.
Me again, I put in the license plate. It gave me an offer. Unbelievable.
Okay, I accepted the offer. They're picking it up Tuesday from the driveway.
I haven't even left my chair.
It's done. The car is gone. I'm holding a check.
Anyway, Carvana, give it a whirl. Love ya.
So good, you'll want to leave a voicemail about it.
Sell your car today on Carvana.
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This is the CarPro Show, the home of straight talk and honest answers about everything automotive.
With Jerry Reynolds, the CarPro, a former two-term chairman of the Ford National Dealer Council,
a member of the Texas Radio Hall of Fame, and sixth time winner of the Texas Auto Writers Association Award
for Best Radio Show in Texas.
Jerry's partner is Todd Chambliss, great voiceover guy, and sixth time winner of the Darch Championship at the Golden Spur Bar and Grill.
Here they are now on the CarPro Show.
Thank you very much for joining us. This is the CarPro Show, and we thank you for being with us today
as we start the month of May. And I promise you that if you will pick up the phone and call me,
I'll give you straight talk and honest answers about anything automotive except mechanical questions.
I don't take those, and if you want to call me and ask me if you've got a great deal on your car,
that's the only time I'll ever lie to you. I'm going to tell you, yeah, if you've already bought it
and you just want to know if you've got a good deal, I'm going to tell you, yeah, because I don't want you to feel bad.
So there you go.
800-926-7777-800-926-7777 is that phone number, and I'd love to talk to you about what you're thinking about doing.
May is the month that every car dealer looks forward to.
It was always my favorite month of the year. It's every car dealer's favorite month of the year.
And there's a couple of reasons why. It's a long month.
It's a 31-day month.
It comes with five Saturdays.
It comes with a holiday, Memorial Day.
That makes it a six Saturday month, believe it or not.
That's not physically, of course, but that's the way.
The math ain't math in there.
No, but that's the way we felt it. We felt it because Memorial Day is the biggest.
Other than the end of the year, you know, like Christmas Eve or, sorry, New Year's Eve,
this is the biggest one day of the year.
It's Memorial Day.
So yesterday, Ford rocked the automotive world, and nobody saw this coming.
But they brought back employee pricing and tied it into the 250th anniversary of America.
Which was kind of cool.
And I was just shocked.
And one of the reasons I was so shocked was because their number one selling vehicle, F-150, is short in supply.
So why would you do employee pricing when your number one seller is not very plittiful?
And I honestly, I mean, if you're Ford, you can't ignore the F-150 no matter what.
You can't come out and say we're going to do employee pricing on everything except our number one seller.
I mean, that wouldn't play out very well.
That's bad optics.
Oh, yeah.
But so they included those.
So my message to you is if you're thinking about a Ford truck, you better make a move and you better do it now.
Because we knew that they would be the Ford dealers all across America.
We knew they were going to be short in supply by the end of May.
Now there's a chance that they will be completely out by the end of May.
And that wouldn't surprise me.
And they don't have much in the pipeline.
I talked to a Ford dealer in Dallas, Trey Russell, five star Ford Kelton this morning on the Dallas show.
He tried to get for his, it's called wholesale, but it's when you buy cars from the factory.
You said I don't have a meeting and you figure out how many you need.
He wanted a hundred and fifty to be produced in the month of May.
He got thirty.
Oh, my gosh.
He was already short in supply and now he's only got thirty more coming in.
This is one of the biggest, this is the biggest dealer in Dallas, Texas.
That's what you're up against if you want a Ford truck.
The old roadmaster, Todd Chambliss is here.
Yes, indeed.
And on the Dallas show, you were given some examples of some of the vehicles Ford had and what kind of savings.
So I got to tell you, was it the, was it the F-150 or the Explorer?
He had nearly ten thousand dollars once you did all the math and it was an F-150 power boost.
That's what it was.
They're hybrid twenty twenty five model super crew seventy seven one fifteen on the window sticker.
After employee pricing and the rebates, it came down to sixty four seven fifty seven.
That's twelve thousand three hundred fifty eight dollars off sticker.
That's crazy.
Wow.
On a very desirable truck.
Now, if you're outside of Texas, that number could vary a little bit because there's a forty five hundred dollar rebate
that Ford's got on top of employee pricing on these trucks.
It could vary.
It could be more or it could be less depending on where you're listening from.
But if you're in Texas, twelve thousand three hundred fifty eight dollars off MSRP on one of the most popular trucks that they have.
And since you said they are, those aren't plentiful in supply, if you're a little bit forgiving on some of the colors or features,
I mean, now is the time to move because of the tremendous savings with employee pricing.
And even if you got your name on a list, it's going to be worth even a little bit of a wait, I would imagine.
Yeah, it probably is.
But the twenty twenty fives are going to go first because they've got employee pricing plus rebates.
So, you know, if you want one of those, you better snag it or you're going to miss out.
Let's talk to David in North Richland Hills, part of the Dallas Fort Worth Market.
David, welcome to the Car Pro Show.
What can I help you with?
Hey Jerry, hi Todd, how are you guys?
Hey, we're doing good.
Doing good. What's up?
Well, I'm thinking about doing something probably stupid, but I thought I'd call you and get your advice.
I am on my third Lexus ES 300 H. I absolutely love it.
I've got a twenty five and driving it right now to Houston.
I drive back to Houston about once a week.
So most of my driving is highway miles.
Yeah.
But I need something that'll tow about three thousand pounds and I need good gas mileage.
And so I put it into AI and it said I needed a Toyota RAV4.
So I went and was able to went down to Freeman and actually caught a RAV4 on the parking lot, which is incredible because they're usually gone.
Yeah.
Test drove it.
I was very concerned about the road noise issues because I had driven one previously and it's not the quietest vehicle, but I was really impressed with the twenty six.
And so I've got a twenty six limited on order that should be in at the end of May.
And which which one which one did you drive?
Which model did you?
I drove the XLE, I believe it was.
XLE?
Okay.
The one that's right below the limit.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So the limit would probably be a little bit quieter.
And you know, when you when you run into a road noise issues, a lot of times it's not the car.
It's the tires and manufactured auto manufacturers by the they put out bids for hundreds of thousands of tires at one time and they put the cheapest tires that you can get on a car in most cases.
So when the limited comes in, you might you might immediately swap tires if you experience that road noise again.
But I don't think you made a bad I don't think you made a bad move there.
It's a great vehicle gets great mileage out on the road.
Your visibility is going to be better.
Getting things in and out of the back of it's going to be easier.
Hey, I think you did good, David.
I appreciate the call.
Your trade could be worth a lot or not.
Find out which by calling Jerry Reynolds the car pro at thechays.com car pro listener line at 1-800-926-7777.
Welcome back to the car pro show with Jerry Reynolds the car pro.
I'm Todd Chambliss and this week's classic car of the week, a very cool car.
Lots of people have already been guessing it's a it's a it's a fancy convertible, the lovely blue color.
And if you'd like to go check it out, it's on our Facebook page.
Matter of fact, this particular car is going to be at the Mecom auction in Indianapolis Saturday, May 16th.
Make your guess as to the correct year make in model of this car.
And if you are correct, you go into the box with a whole bunch of other folks who have guessed correctly and then randomly will draw a winner.
What do you get?
Well, you get an auto heat shield perfect for your car.
It's cut exactly to your windshield.
It's going to really come in handy when the weather gets a little dicey out there, either hot or cold.
If you don't follow us on Facebook, go and get the link from the bottom of car pro dot com.
That's all you got to do.
Now we've got a full bank of calls, but try the number anytime you wish.
It's 809267777.
And this Ford employee pricing thing has broken.
You know, it's just upset the Apple cart.
Oh, it wrecked my Friday.
It really does totally wrecked my Friday.
So the newsletter out, everything was squirrely or everything was just great.
And then it became squirrely because you had to go say, uh, oh, well, now we got to go and send a special alert out, which you did.
Well, I got, I wanted to tell everybody because the four dealers found out Thursday night, the ones that were still awake Thursday night at 11 o'clock.
Wow.
At night.
I've never seen that before.
That's crazy.
And so our deadline, we were already past our newsletter deadline by that point, so it was done, ready to send.
And so I put out a special bulletin to our Dallas subscribers, Dallas, Fort Worth, North Texas subscribers, because that's the original list.
We didn't get to it for the national plus outside Texas.
I don't know what the incentives are.
So besides, besides employee pricing, I didn't know how much the rebates were.
So it was going to be very difficult to do.
But bottom line is we do have a question of the week this week.
And that question is, what's the one thing you wish you'd have done differently when you bought your last car?
Well, mine would have been going with the lease instead of buying it because this is before I joined the show.
Yes.
And I didn't really take your advice or ask it.
It's all on me.
And the car I have is great.
It's a 24.
Tell you right.
I love the car, but I would have gone with the lease and probably gone up to the highest trim level.
But you got it from one of our dealers.
I sure did.
At least I knew that much anyway.
Come on.
There you go.
All right.
Let's talk to Bob in Los Angeles.
Bob, welcome.
What can I do for you, sir?
Give me some advice and direction, please.
Okay.
I have a 2019 BMW 530i that I leased new in March of 2020.
I've had the car since then when the lease was up.
I bought it out of the lease for a number of reasons.
I still have 13,000 on the car and there, and I can't begin to tell you that since 2024, the car has either a leak or a problem every month.
Bob, how many miles are on it?
68,000.
Wow.
I mean, I talk a lot about German cars, about Mercedes and BMW and Audi and the rest of them.
They're at 100,000 miles.
They're going to start giving you trouble and they're expensive to fix.
But that's early.
68,000.
Before I even hit 49,000, I had to replace the radiator and the water pump before 48,000 miles.
So you got one of those.
Yeah, you just got one of those.
Now, at $13,000 that you owe was 69,000 miles and a very popular car traded.
Just traded.
You're not going to be in trouble.
Even with all the problems, like there's a light, there's the engine light is on.
My mechanic says that there's some a minor, minor micro leak in the fuel line somewhere.
The trunk light just started coming on, saying that the trunk wasn't closed, but it is closed.
I get a warning thing when I'm driving that says that the sensor for the side view mirrors, that goes off.
I can still drive the car.
The car handles great.
Right now, I have a leak, a coolant leak, which is probably the sixth one I've had in the last couple of years.
My mechanic thinks it's the radiator.
I said, how could it be the radiator?
I just got the radiator replaced three years ago.
Anyway, it's a problem.
I understand.
It's frustrating.
I get it.
But, Bob, before we run out of time, you don't need to tell the dealer that you're going to try to trade it into all of what you've told me.
Let them figure it out for themselves.
They're big boys.
They do this for a living.
They'll knock off some for the check engine light, and they'll put it in their own shop, and they'll fix it for a fraction of what you would pay.
So just trade it in.
Don't give them the history.
Here it is.
And let them do their own thing.
I got some great dealers in LA.
Use them.
They'll take care of you.
Skip and Houston.
Welcome, Skip.
What can I help you with?
Yeah, I just need to tell everyone about a used car shopping experience I had.
Yeah.
I've been looking for a Ford Expedition team ranch with a little over 100,000 miles on it since the prices kind of break about them.
And I found on the internet a perfect match at a CLA dealer in Odessa, Texas.
I live in Houston, of course.
Yeah.
2016 Expedition team ranch with 110,000 miles for around $14,000.
I'm in Houston.
I was preparing the plow to Odessa to check it out.
I was first contacted by Alstor Civil Aid.
You know, that's an awesome human who wanted to help me in schedule the appointment for the test.
And I explained that I would be flying in from Houston and need all the issues with the vehicle.
I was almost immediately contacted by Mario Warren, who didn't use sales there as well.
He told me it had normal wear, straight body, but it had issues like only one key fob.
And that it had a strong cigarette smoke odor.
And I told him that the smoke smell was the deal breaker.
Yeah.
And thanked him for his honesty and haven't saved me a flight to Odessa.
Yeah.
I want to shout out to Alstor Civil Aid, Allison and Mario for their honesty and being up front with me.
Well, I applaud them too.
I don't know anybody there, but I will tell you that that's a rarity these days.
And boy, to be completely honest with you, that was, I wish every car dealer in the country was that way.
But if they were, I wouldn't have a radio show.
I wouldn't be needed because I think people would do the right things.
That was one of the articles that was in yesterday's free newsletter that came out that I wrote a commentary on.
Car dealers should turn each other in.
They should report each other.
And that's anti anything that you're ever taught in the car business, you know, snitches get stitches.
And that kind of stuff.
But, you know, maybe the tide's turning, maybe dealers have figured out.
They'll sell more cars if they do it the right way instead of trying to figure out how to screw somebody.
Skip, thank you for sharing that.
I hope that dealer's listening.
Mom, can you tell me a story?
Sure, once upon a time a mom needed a new car.
Was she brave?
She was tired, mostly.
But she went to Carvana.com and found a great car at a great price.
No secret treasure map required.
Did you have to find a dragon?
Nope, she bought it 100% online.
From her bed, actually.
Was it scary?
Honey, it was as unscary as car buying could be.
Did the car have a sunroof?
It did, actually.
Okay, good story.
Car buying you'll want to tell stories about.
Buy your car today on
Carvana
Delivery fees may apply.
And welcome back to the car pro show.
Jerry Reynolds is that car pro and I'm Todd Chambliss.
We have a question of the week.
Always fun to do these and we're looking for your responses to this question.
What's the one thing you wish that you had done differently when you bought your last car?
Oh, we had a caller on the Dallas show.
Oh, yes.
That bought a brand new Mustang GT from one of our dealers on Thursday.
And Friday.
And then Friday they announced employee pricing.
He was really good about it.
He was great.
Yeah, but.
He was such.
You mentioned buying a car like they didn't even know so they weren't holding anything
over on it.
Oh, they had told it.
If they'd known, they'd have told it.
They found out at 11 o'clock that night.
So it was already well done and over with.
But gosh, what a beating to go and say.
I just bought it on the very last tip and I could have waited one day.
So that was what he'd have done different.
I'd have waited one day.
Oh, I felt sorry for him.
Golly.
That's sad.
But you know, hey, I've been there.
I've I've.
When I own dealerships, it happened all the time.
So made by Carl in the last day of the month.
The new incentives come out the following day and they're better.
Yeah.
But then sometimes they would fall.
The incentives would drop the following day and you know, that same person wouldn't
want us going back to them saying, oh, you got a bigger incentive yesterday.
We got to redo this.
So it all works out the end.
The good news is for the people who use my dealers and do it the right way by going
through my website, they got a great deal.
And and would it have been better with the employee pricing?
Probably.
Yeah.
But they still got a great deal.
They have nothing to.
They got nothing.
And you got taken care of and you know that this is a somebody you can trust and you'll
probably go back to them.
I'll imagine.
I promise you.
Let's go to East Texas and talk to Ken in Tyler.
Ken, welcome to the show.
Hello there.
Good to talk to you, Jerry.
You too, buddy.
I got a question.
I've been driving GM pickups since I've got my first driver's license.
And currently I'm in a 2018 Denali with a Duramax diesel.
Yeah.
And I've got about 160,000 miles on it.
And when it when it fell off of the warranty period, 100,000 miles, I deleted the death
system and it increased my mileage by about six miles per gallon.
I don't doubt that.
So I'm wondering if in the future, if you have any kind of a crystal ball that you could
look into that and say in the future, they're going to because the death region system is
such a detrimental thing to fuel economy.
If they're going to say it's not working because eventually I'm going to need to buy
another pickup.
Yep.
And so, you know, I usually when it's around 300,000 miles, I trade it.
So I'm looking at spending quite a bit more for, you know, whatever year model it is.
Am I going to have to worry about or deal with the death when I do that?
You are most likely.
Now, I had an article in my free newsletter on April the 7th about on this exact topic
on what to look for in the future as far as diesel exhaust fluid.
And what we have found is that the issue, the thing that goes wrong the most with the
death is the sensor, the quality.
There's a quality sensor.
Some people call it a urea sensor, but that's the thing that is failing the most under the
upgraded guidance from the Environmental Protection Agency.
Automakers are going to be allowed to use alternative methods to monitor the emissions.
Nox sensors, which is probably going to be the way that they go, and those are very reliable
unlike the urea sensors.
So what we think is going to happen is that the diesel exhaust fluid is not going to go away.
They're still going to require emission systems on diesels, but they're going to do away with
the one thing that's given the most trouble.
That doesn't really solve the issue that you had, which was you got much better fuel economy.
And there's no doubt.
And look, every car on the road today would get better fuel economy if it didn't have
pollution controls on it.
But the bottom line is we used to have a severe smog problem in America that doesn't exist
today because of cars and it's because of these things.
Now, with that said, Ken, we'll have a new administration coming up.
We don't know which side will win.
We don't know if the Republicans will win or the Democrats will win in 2028.
But lots could change again and it may change for the better and it may change for the worse.
Nobody knows.
But for now, automakers are going to be able to, going forward, do away with those urea
sensors, which is the big main problem of the diesel exhaust fluid that people have that
cost them so much money to fix so that they can pass the emissions test.
And that's where we are.
That help?
Well, it kind of answered my question.
We're always going to have this diesel exhaust fluid.
Yep, it looks that way.
But it seems ridiculous to me that using more fuel to get the same distance, it would be
more economical and probably less pollution if you didn't have to use as much fuel.
You're right.
You're 100% right.
And I don't know where the answer is.
I don't know where that middle ground is because when the government does things, they tend
to go too hard and too far one way or the other.
And I think that's what's happened here.
I think we went too far with it.
And will it swing back too far the other way?
And look, automakers are skeptics now because the last administration before the current
administration was shoving electric vehicles down everybody's throat, including the automakers.
And the automakers have lost now a documented over $100 billion by jumping into electric
cars so fast because the government pushed them to do that.
Then the new administration comes in in 2024 and they reverse all that.
So we don't have to drive electric vehicles.
Now we have a choice.
We can drive electric, we can drive hybrids, we can drive diesels, whatever we want.
We can drive hydrogen cars for that matter.
So the manufacturers are scared to spend billions of dollars to change because the next
administration could reverse everything.
I feel sorry for them.
I really do.
They don't know where to go.
Ken, I appreciate the call.
Well, it's been a while since you bought a car and now you're ready for a new one.
And all these features like walking into a spaceship and NASA or something like that
with all the new safety stuff and all the entertainment, all the other great features
they have there.
You might get a car and if you don't take the time to go and let the dealer spend a
few minutes with you to go over the features and explain how they work and make sure you're
up on it, you're not getting the best bang for your buck, in my opinion.
And that's part of your advice this week in the newsletter on a Vice Com called Feature
Overload when your car is smarter than you.
And part of your advice is like take the time and don't be in a rush to get out of there.
Let them explain everything so that you can properly use all the stuff on this brand new
vehicle you bought.
Trust me, it happens to me.
I had to go to the owner's manual on this 2026 Dodge Charger I'm driving this week.
I couldn't figure out how to open the trunk.
There's no button on the inside.
There's no button on the key fob.
Oh, really?
There's a little bitty button on the back of the car and I didn't see it.
Usually you reach up under a lip or something and there's a button that you push.
Yeah, there's a catch or a little release or whatever?
Yeah, well, this one was built into a piece of black trim and it's a little bitty square.
Interesting.
And it's not up under anything, it's sticking out and once you see it, you can't unsee it.
Right.
But I couldn't see it at first.
Okay, good eyes.
Yeah, you do.
Holy cow.
That's crazy.
Let's go to Sylvia in Houston, Texas.
Sylvia, welcome to the show.
Thanks, Jerry.
You're welcome.
I'm so glad to be talking to you.
Well, thank you.
I've listened to your show for so many years, so I'm excited that even though I'm an old
lady, but I've still got a car question.
Well, I'm happy to help.
I have heard you say that the lease programs for Toyota are the best in the business.
Yep.
And I am, we're early 80s, and I am driving a Toyota 4Runner that I love.
I've always had either Lexus or Toyota cars.
Yep.
And so I'm thinking maybe at our age, the best idea is for me to trade in my 4Runner
and get a lease, but I've only leased one car through the year.
So I just need some advice.
Should I?
Are there any 2024s left?
Will Toyota do a lease on the 2026s that are coming out?
Or what would you tell me?
Toyota never has old models.
They build and send them to the dealers in a rapid manner.
So about the time that the 2025s run out, the 2026s come in.
And we just saw that with the RAV4.
A lot of my dealers, and I got some good ones in Houston, Sylvia, but a lot of them ran completely
out of 2025 RAV4s before any 2026s came in.
Now, one thing I would tell you to do is go to my website, carpro.com.
You'll find my dealers there.
But at the top of the page under car buying resources, there's an FAQ page there.
And it's divided up into sections.
One of the sections is a senior citizen section.
And one of the stories there that you can click on and read is something that I wrote,
which is six reasons why senior citizens should consider leasing.
And I'll tell you why you ought to look at it.
And you sound like a great candidate for it.
Now, the one thing I want you to know, and I want you to remember this.
This is the most important thing.
Take the money that you have in your forerunner, whatever it's worth.
Take that in cash and put a minimal down payment on the lease and keep your cash.
If you put all that cash down on a lease, it's gone at the end of the lease.
So take the money out of the forerunner, put a minimum down just the tax title license,
take the rest of the money, put it away and save it.
267777
Hi, for another happy listener's story.
This is a gentleman that you, Jerry Reynolds, met at the San Pat Museum.
And Richardson, is it?
Oh, Farmer's Ranch.
And 2024 retired officer gave you some badges from Montgomery County.
He drove all the way from Houston area to five star Ford right there in the Dallas,
Fort Worth area with a Trey Russell there via the car pro website.
He did this through the website 15 minutes later.
Got a text response.
He's trying to help his son buy a specialty car and he was trying to go in Austin,
but just it wasn't working out because it wasn't one of your dealers, honestly.
So he got with one of your dealers and got on the line with them pretty quickly.
Monday, he started the communication.
By Tuesday, he drove to Carrollton to five star Ford and got with getting the test drive going,
talked about some dealer installed items and even got really good treatment from the finance department.
All these things he said, he was not getting from one of the dealers that was not as a part of your show.
And he said that they were they were fantastic to him.
He got the best treatment and it was worth driving all the way from his home to five hours away to Dallas, Fort Worth to get his car deal.
300 miles.
That's crazy.
But it happens all the time.
It does.
People drive like even farther with what we did just a few weeks ago.
I think it was like from was it Arkansas that someone drove in?
No, it was a Lubbock Lubbock listener on KFIL came to Dallas, Fort Worth.
Yeah, I remember that one.
It was a five hour it was a five or six hour drive.
Yeah.
And just super happy.
Yeah.
You can have a good experience and you may not have to drive that far.
All you got to do is go to carpro.com and once there, click on find a car pro certified dealer near you.
Put in your zip code, pick a brand and the closest dealer will come up.
They may be a ways away, but as you can tell from that, it's worth it.
800-926-7777.
Knowing the right time to trade is a huge thing right now.
As the car pro Jerry Reynolds on the Chase.com car pro listener line, 1-800-926-7777.
Wishes, wishes and misses.
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Why have we asked our contractor we found on Angie.com to be our kids legal guardian?
Because he took such good care when redoing our basement that we knew we could trust him to care for our kids.
We only met a month ago.
About this episode
Ford’s surprise employee-pricing move drives the first half of the show, with warnings that F-150 inventory is already tight and a real-world example of big savings on a 2025 PowerBoost. The hosts then field practical listener questions about switching from a Lexus ES 300h to a RAV4 for towing, trading out of a troublesome BMW, and shopping a used Expedition. They also dig into diesel emissions changes, DEF sensor problems, and advice on Toyota leasing and keeping cash on hand.
